Linda Woolverton's screenplay for Tim Burton's new Alice in Wonderland has very successfully been kept under lock and key. This has led to a certain amount of confusion or even misinformation springing up and circling reports of the film. Thankfully, having been shown a full copy I can now report that all of the early information I was given by sources close to the film seems to be completely true.
The big surprise for most people, I think, will be that this is at once an adaptation of and sequel to the Lewis Carroll books. This is thanks to a plot wrangle at least as clever as that in Abrams' Star Trek. Essentially, Wonderland is both a real place and a recurring dream of Alice's. In this film she's dreaming of it at a somewhat later part of her life than in the books, so certain things are different. This is just one clever element of a truly charming and surprising screenplay that I'm now really very sure will become a true humdinger of a movie.
To fully understand the script immediately one would need a glossary of terms. Thankfully, Woolverton prepared one and it was circulated to cast and crew. I've had it explained to me, so I'm going to pass on what I know to you after the break.
Here in alphabetical order are the various terms you'd need to fully understand the screenplay. While a handful come from the books, most of them appear to be brand new.
Bandersnatch, The: evil creature under the control of the Red Queen.
Brillig: 4 o'clock in the afternoon. When one begins broiling things for dinner.
Crims: The central area of Underland.
Downal wyth Bluddy Behg Hid: Down with the Red Queen, the slogan of the Resistance.
Ezel: High, go higher, go up.
Fairfarren: Farewell. May you travel far under fair skies.
Frabjous day: The day Alice slays the Jabberwocky and frees Underland from the oppression of the Red Queen.
Frumious: Dirty and smelly.
Futterwacken: The Underlanders' dance of unbridled joy.
Gallymoggers: Crazy.
Gribling: The day Alice will return to Underland.
Guddler's scut: Thief's butt.
Gummer Slough: Dangerous swamp of thick viscous mud.
Horunvendush Day: The day the Red Queen took control of Underland.
Jabberwocky: A deadly creature employed as the Red Queen's ultimate weapon.
Jubjub Bird: A Bird under the control of the Red Queen.
Kiotchyn: 'Heads' up or 'pay attention'.
Naught for usal: It's no use trying.
Noge: Go low down.
Nunz: Wait or 'Don't go, not now'.
Oraculum: The Calender of all the days of Ulnderland. Each day has its own title and illustration.
Orgal: To the left.
Outlands: The untamed land to the west of Witzend.
Outlandish: The old language spoken only in the Outlands and used by the Underland resistance as a secret code in the revolution against the Red Queen.
Pishsalver: A potion that makes one shrink.
Queast: A land to the east, but 'not in the least'.
Quillian: The following day after Alice returns.
Saganistute: A wise person of poetry and vision.
Salazen Grum: A port city where the Red Queen lives.
Shukrn: Faeces. Ewww.
Sloth: Slowly
Stang: To the right.
Slurvish: Selfish or self-centered.
Snud: A region in the south of Underland.
Tulgey Wood: Where Alice meets the Jabberwocky.
Underland: The real name for the place Alice calls Wonderland.
Upelkuchen: A cake that makes one grow.
Slurking urpal slackush scrum: rude or dirty words of the most foul meaning.
Witzend: The western land where the Mad Hatter and March Hare were born.
Yadder: Far away. Way yadder beyond the Crossling in Snud.
