Welcome to Wonderland!
So what happens with a fairy tale after it’s happily ever after? Obviously, life goes on and things won’t remain the same as when we left them. Well, SyFy has taken the liberty to give a possible scenario for the sequel of Alice in Wonderland with their mini-series Alice.
Alice (Caterina Scorsone – 1-800-MISSING) is a part time martial arts instructor who has fallen for the mysterious Jack Chase (Philip Winchester – Solomon Kane), who she sees beaten and kidnapped by a white haired man with two ponytails (Alan Gray as the White Rabbit) – but not before he slips her a ring, which is at the center of a power struggle in Wonderland. Of course, this is followed by a run in with a mirror and a fall. If you know the story of the original Alice in Wonderland, then you know the premise for this Alice is to find her way home.
It’s the sub-stories that make this truly intriguing. The Queen of Hearts (Kathy Bates – Misery) is keeping the populace of Wonderland in control with serums extracted from the emotions of "oysters", people from our dimension that have been captured and have their essence harvested while they gamble, and always win, in the queen's casino. Also in the queen's court is the King of Hearts (Colm Meany – Star Trek: The Next Generation/ Deep Space Nine), Ten of Clubs (Zak Santiago – Caprica), 9 of Clubs (Alessandro Juliani – Smallville), the queen's assassin Mad March (Jason Schombing – Tin Man) and inquisitors Dr. Dum and Dr. Dee (Eugene Lipinski – Fringe). On the resistance side is Hatter (Andrew Lee Potts – Primevil), Dodo (Tim Curry – Rocky Horror Picture Show) and the White Knight (Matt Frewer – The Stand), as well as the queen's son Jack of Hearts (aka Chance) and the Duchess (Charlotte Sullivan – Smallville). But the looking glass that is used to bring the oysters to Wonderland has lost its power source, which both sides are looking for – and is, of course, the ring.
So, we’ve got Alice who is trying to find her way home while being chased by the Queen of Hearts and her court as well as the resistance, because she has the ring. Oh yeah, and Alice is looking for her father who disappeared ten years ago.
Rounding out the cast is Harry Dean Stanton as the Caterpillar, Timothy Webber as the Carpenter, Tom Heaton as Duck, Eileen Barrett as Owl, Dave Ward as Walrus and Teryl Rothery as Alice’s mother.
Alice will not appeal to some people, but I enjoyed this version of the classic tale. It is fun identifying the characters and situations and making the connections to the story. Both the similarities and the differences alone are worth watching, but a compelling story is crafted using the characters and events from Lewis Carroll’s Alice stories, with a modern twist. The story, coupled with some good characters, my favorite being Matt Frewer as the White Knight, makes this a unique viewing experience. Alice isn’t going to be for everyone, but it’s for me.
