New documentary featuring Carroll out in 2020 (by ARTE)

Franziska Kohlt's blog and twitter informs us that there is a new documentary on the way, featuring herself as well as Edward Wakeling. This will air in France and Germany. 

A new series of TV documentaries on famous books and their origins, manuscripts and authors will be hitting the screens in early 2020 – and last week we started filming for the first episode in Oxford, which is about the origins of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – and some, perhaps unexpected, links and sources (including what the University of Oxford’s crest has to do with Alice’s dream)! I am extremely honoured to appear on it as expert alongside collector and Carroll scholar extraordinaire Edward Wakeling.
The documentary will be available on French and German Television, and online after it’s aired, for those elsewhere!

I welcome the idea of a thoroughly researched documentary with world experts and scholars.

However considering the disaster in 2015 with the BBC documentary, I am also extremely nervous. 



As to date there has been no progressive and considerate documentary. I hope ARTE do their research and can present us with a nuanced look at Carroll, his life, and the era he lived in. 

Please. Please.

Operahaus Zurich's production of Turnage's Coraline is BEAUTIFUL

 

NOTE JANUARY 2025: NEIL GAIMAN IS AN ABUSER, I WROTE THIS PIECE FAR BEFORE ANYONE KNEW. PLEASE READ THE SIDE OF NEIL GAIMAN HIS FANS NEVER SAW, BY LAUREN STARKE (TRIGGER WARNINGS APPLY)

Honestly these production photos are everything I could have hoped for. Unlike Giles Cadle's
designs for the world premiere and co productions, Zurich's Stefan Rieckhoff actually injects colour into the designs and makes the opera feel its own thing, rather than incorporating design ideas from the 2009 film.

Compared to this (for both houses in the opera)



there is no competition.

Now if only Operahaus Zurich could film this production for DVD (please!) 

Endless list of favourite adaptations: 1972

ENDLESS LIST OF FAVOURITE ADAPTATIONS: 1972'S ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND

Perhaps the adaptation for many people. This used to air every Christmas when I was younger. Loved it then, still do. One of my favourite adaptations of the first book. 

These lovely press images are from Diomedia and Alamy. 

The weirdness of Alice VR...

NOTE: As this is not an adaptation of sorts, it can't go on the film/tv/media list. Sorry.

MAJOR SPOILERS. THIS REVIEW IS BASED ON SEVERAL YOUTUBE PLAYTHROUGHS.

I couldn't find this for PC so I had to content myself with youtube walkthroughs. Sorry. 

Watch a full walkthrough here. 

Interview with makers of the game here. 

Alice VR (formerly called A.L.I.C.E) is a 2016 VR and PC game by Kalbater which transposes parts of Lewis Carroll's Alice's adventures in Wonderland to a distinctly si-fi setting. The player takes on the role of Alice, who upon having awoken from a cyogenically frozen sleep, lands on a strange alien planet and has to explore in order to collect fuel for the landing ship. 

Along the way, an AI voice called Heart guides you, white rabbit etchings are everywhere, shrinking and growing beams help you get to tricky to navigate environments and yes, you bump into a familiar cat, rendered as a cute yet creepy robot. Later on you meet a projected image of the Hatter and have to answer weird riddles, and at the end you traverse an unusual garden. Curiouser and curiouser....

Unfortunately all that I have listed above is about the limit in how carrollian this game actually is. That's not to say there aren't any carroll-esque things in there either. Inventions such as green gas which knocks Alice unconscious and triggers strange dreams, or a building full of rails which as you traverse, down becomes up, are all ideas which lend themselves well to a carroll-esque tale. 

I suppose the real problem I had whilst watching playthroughs of this is that the landscape Alice finds herself in is desolate and empty. I could have done with more Carroll characters and more things in general to bump into.

The main story arc involving piecing together the story of the abandoned planet through audio logs seemed to come from a different game. I would have been far more content with just wondering around. The game makes the error that many inspired by carroll things make which is giving us a story when there isn't meant to be one.

That being said, focus too much on the story and you'll miss a lot of the delights here. Its a joy when anything even vaguely carrollian happens. Because this is spread out, you're made to wait, making it all the more delightful when you stumble upon gryphon factory or answer a projected hatter's riddles.

In a way, this is more carrollian than a lot of carroll inspired games out there, as it does inspire a sense of wonder and confusion. There are even multiple references made to the fact Alice's adventures may not be real at all...

There are two endings, and you should be able to guess the bad ending fairly early on (trusting something called Heart in a carroll based tale is never a good idea!)

The good ending is.... bizarre, including a weird twist about Alice and also having a neat reference to Lewis Carroll himself.  

Or maybe Alice never did wake from crogenically frozen sleep at all? 

If you like slower paced things, I'd definitively recommend this. It has none of the dark takes that american macgee's Alice has and in that sense, is a breath of fresh air for carroll related games. 

Alice VR is on PC and VR (if you can find it)