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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland cover

The translucent cover of Michael Burnham's copy of Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The spine of Burnham's copy

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (also commonly referred to as Alice in Wonderland) was a children's book written by the 19th century Human author Lewis Carroll. The book tells the story of a girl named Alice who followed a White Rabbit into a fantasy world called Wonderland ruled by the King and Queen of Hearts, only for it to turn out to be nothing more than a dream. Other characters included Alice's cat Dinah. The book's sequel was Alice Through the Looking Glass.

In 1986, when Doctor Gillian Taylor was beamed aboard the Klingon Bird-of-Prey HMS Bounty, Admiral Kirk welcomed her with "Hello Alice, welcome to Wonderland." (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

Alice illustration down down down

Alice falls "down, down, down" the rabbit hole

The book, along with Carroll's other works, was a favorite of Amanda Grayson. She frequently read it to Spock and Michael Burnham when they were children. Amanda gave a physical copy of the book to Burnham after her graduation from the Vulcan Science Academy. (TAS: "Once Upon a Planet", DIS: "Context Is for Kings", "Lethe")

Burnham often quoted excerpts from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to herself, including an instance in 2256 where she led an aggressive animal through a Jefferies tube aboard the USS Glenn. She later lent her physical copy of the book to Sylvia Tilly. (DIS: "Context Is for Kings")

Shortly after the war with the Klingon Empire, Sarek caught a glimpse of Michael reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. After telling her "Old habits die hard" she expressed her surprise that he ever knew that Amanda had read the book to her. (DIS: "Brother")

In 2267, Dr. McCoy noted that the Shore Leave Planet looked like "something out of Alice in Wonderland", causing the planet to create versions of the characters White Rabbit and Alice. (TOS: "Shore Leave")

In 2268, when Captain James Kirk planned to disable the Alice series of androids on Planet Mudd using gaps in logic and high doses of irrationality, he told Pavel Chekov that he was going to "take the Alices on a trip through Wonderland". (TOS: "I, Mudd")

Alice and other characters appeared once again when the USS Enterprise returned to the planet in 2269. (TAS: "Once Upon a Planet")

In 2365, as the crew was analyzing wreckage from the Charybdis, Captain Jean-Luc Picard said in response to the analysis, "Curiouser and curiouser." This response was first said by Alice in the second chapter of the book. (TNG: "The Royale")

Excerpts[]

The rabbit hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself, but instead found herself falling down a very deep well.
She was now only ten inches high, her face and body brightened up. She was now the right size to go through the little door into that lovely garden. (DIS: "Context Is for Kings")
This excerpt, recited by Michael Burnham in "Context Is for Kings", differs slightly from the original book.

Cheshire cat illustration

The Cheshire Cat offers little direction to Alice

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to." said the cat.
"I don't care much where." said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go." said the cat. (DIS: "Brother")

Background information[]

The script for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Move Along Home" stated that the poison chamber of the Chula game was like a "cocktail party out of Alice in Wonderland."

The illustration on the front cover of Burnham's copy of the book was by the 19th-century illustrator John Tenniel, who drew ninety-two drawings for the book's 1865 edition. This particular illustration originally appeared in Chapter 12: Alice's Evidence.

Former special features producer Robert Meyer Burnett used the title Alice in Wonderland as an analogy for Star Trek: Discovery when he discussed the in his eyes dodgy science employed in that series in a roundtable session with the staff of the YouTube channel Midnight's Edge. [1]

External links[]

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