First look at chris Riddell's Alice's adventures in Wonderland illustrations. Both Alice books coming 2020!

This image is from the UK Lewis Carroll Society, who are hosting a talk with Riddell in December. 

Alice and the Unicorn for Through the Looking Glass. Art by Dagmar Berkova. 

What is the Use of a book review: Night is Short, Walk on Girl by Tomihiko Morimi

(Illustration of Otome by the blog Tsubaki)

NOTE: Apologies this review is so late! 

TRANSLATIONS NOTE: Can be read in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai and now English

Otome is a new student at Kyoto University with an eccentric way of thinking and a boundless sense of curiosity. This is the tale of her wondrous, bizarre year of exploration in an unreal version of Kyoto and the many adventures she has. It is also the story of her would be boyfriend, Senpai, who cannot find the right way to approach her and becomes entangled in a parallel set of adventures as a result. 

night is short walk on girl is what you would get if you threw Carroll's Alice, Neil Gaiman's sense of urban supernatural and jean pierre Jaunet's Amelie into a blender. This novel took its time to be translated (10+ years to be exact) but it is every bit as wonderful as its 2017 anime adaptation, and which you prefer comes down entirely to personal preference. 

But there is one major difference between the book and its film: time. The book takes place over one crazy year whilst the film has everything in one dreamlike night. Again personal preference will dictate which way of telling this tale you prefer. 

On one hand the all in one night approach is more carrollian, but on the other side Morimi's novel being set over a year is more detailed and there is a sense of real companionship among the characters. Otome's friendships with party girl  Hanuki and maybe supernatural entity Higuchi feel more closer in the novel. We get more backstories and even more segments (since even though the film was a very faithful adaptation, things were left out) 

In terms of character Otome here is more eccentric and more naive about people, her naivete lessens as the year (and book) goes on and she becomes more attuned to the world around her. Senpai also has a parallel narrative which mirrors this. In this sense the novel has a coming of age function that the film for the most part lacks. 

Honestly this novel is a little glowing gem. Surreal, quirky (without being cloying) and ever so carrollian. 

NOTES:

• SiFi Enclopedia has some good notes on Morimi's other work (and is the only comprehensive guide in English) 

• Morimi's novel The Tatami Galaxy is set in the same place as Night is Short... despite only featuring Hanuki and Higuchi as returning characters. Tatami has not been officially translated... yet. 

• Although there is an anime TV adaptation of Tatami and plenty of TV and film adaptations of Morimi's other works (all are subtitled in English, for international friends, check availability) 

• Here's an awesome essay about the adaptations of Morimi's works so far. 

• This guide details the real life locations that are mentioned in the novel, including Bar MoonWalk, the very real bar that fictional Otome starts her weird adventures at. 

• I want more translations of this author's work. Just saying. Apparently a lot of them are connected in places and themes. 

Orange Marmalade by dagmar berkova for Alice's adventures in Wonderland

I LOVE Berkova's illustrations for both Wonderland and Looking Glass. Should really get a copy... 

First extra from New Zealand's Wonderland exhibit: Christmas Parties!

(Image via TePapa, originally by ACMI)

The first extra from the New Zealand tour version of ACMI's Wonderland (opening November) has been unveiled. 

If you're lucky enough to get to New Zealand in December, you can also as an extra have a Wonderland themed Christmas Party or dinner. Details here. 

No news on if the Alice is Everywhere film festival will appear in New Zealand or UK next year just yet. 

More news on ACMI Wonderland on tour as soon as I can find it! 

A confusing, potential lead on Thames Television's 1973 ATTLG...

So she went on, wondering more and more at every step 

(Art by Blanche McManus, via illustratedlookingglass) 

You might remember that a long while ago my good friend Phantomwise dug up some information on the 1973 Thames TV adaptation of Through the Looking Glass (not to be confused with the BBC adaptation from the same year)

Information on this version is still extremely difficult to come by (still haven't found any photos or clips) but I have found a possible potential lead on where it might be stored archive wise.

The story of this Alice is complicated by the fact that the company which produced and financed it no longer exists in a technical form. 

Thames TV was dissolved due to financial problems in 1992, with their programme archives going to Pearson Television. Several takeovers and distribution deals later, its safe to say that Thames TV's Alice might be either in Fremantlemedia's archive or Boat Rocker Media's

archive. 

After Thames was acquired by FremantleMedia it was merged with another Fremantle company, Talkback Productions, to form a new independent production company Talkback Thames; consequently Thames ceased to exist as a separate entity. However, on 1 January 2012, the Thames brand was revived and Talkback Thames has now been split into four different labels; Boundless, Retort, Talkback and Thames within the newly created FremantleMedia UK production arm. [1]

 In November 2011, it was announced that, from 1 January 2012, the Talkback Thames brand would be split into four different labels within the newly created FremantleMedia UK production arm. [2]

I've listed both companies here because in 2018 Canadian company Boat Rocker Media

brought a large stake of children's programming and archives from Fremantlemedia, 

and I don't know if Thames's Alice was among them or not.

 In January 2018, Fremantle sold its children's production studio and library to Canadian studio Boat Rocker. [3]

If anyone else can shine a light on which archive its in (I'm not really sure if its in either!) it would be extremely helpful.

References:

Thames Television, (2019, august 9th)  Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Television

Talkback Thames, (2019, May 20th) Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talkback_Thames

Fremantle (Company), (2019, September 9th) Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fremantle_(company) 

Fremantle Archive, (N.D) Retrieved from: https://www.focalint.org/footage-and-content-gallery/directory/member/1199/fremantlemedia-archive 

Boat Rocker Media (N.D) Retrieved from http://www.boatrocker.com/contact/ 

UPDATED "A Film for children... Perhaps." UK's channel 4 and the curious history of Svankmajer's Alice.

Recently re-reading Clare Kitson's essay on the 1988 surrealist adaptation of AAIW, Alice, I was struck by a rather unusual section.

Kitson was a commissioning editor for animation at UK TV's channel 4 in the late 80s, where she oversaw part of the funding for Jan Svankmajer's Alice.

Due to pressure from the then Czech government, as his short films had grown increasingly political, svankmajer had sought out international money to fund Alice. 

Amazingly Kitson notes that "channel 4 boldly signed the deal, comitting £70,000... in the full knowledge that.... the film may not even get made"

Here's where the story becomes curiouser and curiouser. The other commissioner of the film, German TV channel Hessischer Rundfunk, had offered up the money from the children's department. Yet Svankmajer's film is absolutely not for children.



To solve this, a strange compromise was struck. Channel 4 would show the film in full at midnight, in keeping with their late night offerings which had a reputation for being unusual or in some way controversial.

The film would also be cut into 6 episodes and shown to a family audience over the Christmas holidays. 

"the film was sold as a six-episode serial as well as a feature film. Both versions have been aired on Channel 4." (Animesuperhero) 

Channel 4 worked with the ITC (UK TV content regulators, now called ofcom) to cut any content which was deemed unsuitable for a young audience. This would have likely been a mammoth task.



What was cut for this version? Clare Kitson remembers that "the nails in the pot of jam (during the rabbit hole scene) were removed"

Finding any record of this cut version is nigh on impossible.  Sadly there appears to be no real record of this except for Clare Kitson's essay for the BFI.

I would honestly love to find this cut version. It sounds fascinating! 

UPDATE 6/9/10:

I have managed to find a TV Schedule for December 1989 which confirms that yes, the 6 part vesrion does indeed exist.

A further look into the BFI archives reveals 3 tapes, one stated as with voiceover at the beginning and end. It also has a runtime of 13 minutes, which is plausible for this cut version.

This year marks 20 years since Karoline Leach's groundbreaking research...

It really is 20 years since Leach's In the Shadow of the Dreamchild. 

Can you believe? Where's the time gone? 

I'm extremely thankful for this research as I'm sure many of us are. It contextualised Dodgson in his era and pointed out gaping holes in prior biographies. 

Its influence can still be felt now in Carroll academia as it spurred Jenny Woolf's concise biography and analysis and later influenced Edward Wakeling's analysis of Dodgson's letter circle.

Not bad for something 20 years ago was being called to be forgotten by older scholars who hated to see holes in their research being exposed. 

Perhaps the only downside in this is the split among Carroll scholars: one which is slowly being repaired over time as more experts are influenced by Leach. 

I only wish Leach's research had impacted the general public's view of Mr Dodgson and fiction about him. That seems to be stuck in a pre Leach time limbo at the moment. Here's hoping that changes soon.

Happy 20th anniversary, In the Shadow of the Dreamchild!

A quick look at some of the treasures in the magic of Alice in Wonderland exhibition in Japan!

Just some of the wonderful treasures in the Magic of Alice in Wonderland exhibition currently in Japan.

These images are courtesy of the exhibition's Instagram. 

The exhibition catalogue features all of this plus an essay by World expert Edward Wakeling: unfortunately it is not available to order online....