Glossary Of Terms For Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland
By Brendon Connelly/May 8, 2009 11:50 am EST
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. Zounder: A warning to ’look out behind you!’
Glossary Of Terms For Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland
By Brendon Connelly/May 8, 2009 11:50 am EST
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. Zounder: A warning to ’look out behind you!’
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.
