- For other uses, see Through the Looking Glass.
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a sequel to the children's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and was written by Lewis Carroll in 1871. The book is also known by the truncated titles Alice Through the Looking-Glass and Through the Looking Glass.
The narrative was a dream of The Red King, with its characters aware that reality would cease for them if the king woke up. (TTN novel: The Red King)
Entering the looking-glass world triggered a sense of disorientation. (TOS novel: Strangers from the Sky, TNG novelization: Descent)
History[]
In 2078, Colonel Adrik Thorsen stated to Zephram Cochrane, "'The time has come', the Walrus said." He was quoting from a poem recited to Alice by Tweedledee and Tweedledum. (ST novel: Federation)
In 2153, Charles Tucker III experienced an out-of-body dream he compared to Alice Through the Looking-Glass. A healthy version of himself tried to revive a comatose version of himself lying a biobed in sickbay during the Enterprise (NX-01)'s voyage through the Delphic Expanse. (ENT - Strange New Worlds short story: "The Dream")
In the 2230s or 2240s, James T. Kirk and Spock both read the novel during their childhoods.
In 2249, following a crippling attack on the USS Enterprise as young Jim Kirk crawled through a long, dark corridor after his father toward a wrecked sensor pod, Kirk considered the whole experience like having gone through the looking-glass into an alternate dimension. (TOS novel: Best Destiny)
In 2264, the seemingly unreal experience of having been transported by Parnab from planet M-155 to Earth 200 years in the past affected Lee Kelso like the aftereffects felt in Through the Looking-Glass. (TOS novel: Strangers from the Sky)
In 2267, when Trelane acted as judge in a deadly mock trial, Kirk thought of the scenario as being in Looking-Glass Land. (TOS - Star Trek 11 novelization: The Squire of Gothos)
In 2269, when Leonard McCoy reported having been chased by The Playing Cards and the Queen of Hearts on the Amusement Park Planet, Spock stated that they were characters in Alice Through the Looking-Glass. (TAS episode & Log Three novelization: Once Upon a Planet)
- They actually appeared in Carroll's earlier novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
In 2369, William T. Riker was stunned after encountering a group of individual Borg. While recuperating in the observation lounge of the USS Enterprise-D, he experiencing disoriented "looking-glass moments", then felt it again after Data began behaving abnormally. (TNG novelization: Descent)
In 2371, Tuvok referenced the book when he stated that Chakotay "was taught to believe six impossible things before breakfast." Kathryn Janeway recognized that the quote was originally made by The Red King, and B'Elanna Torres knew that it came from Alice Through the Looking-Glass. (VOY - Invasion! novel: The Final Fury)
In 2373, Harry Kim described some elements of Through the Looking Glass to Torres as they tried to figure out their circumstances. Bringing up the funhouse mirror concept inspired a realization of what type of technology was helping hide Kes. (VOY novel: Marooned)
In 2380, Commander Christine Vale drew a parallel between the threat posed by the waking of The Red King character in the novel with an entity encountered by the crew of the USS Titan on Oghen known as the Sleeper. (TTN novel: The Red King)
Excerpts[]
- The closing lines of the novel were reprinted in DS9 - Mission Gamma novel: Cathedral:
- Ever drifting down the stream
- Lingering in the golden gleam
- Life, what is it but a dream?
- A conversation about reality within the looking-glass was reprinted in TTN novel: The Red King:
- “Not you!” Tweedledee retorted contemptuously. “You’d be nowhere. Why, you’re only a sort of thing in his dream!”
- “If that there King was to wake,” added Tweedledum, “you’d go out—bang!—just like a candle!”
- “I shouldn’t!” Alice exclaimed indignantly. “Besides, if I’m only a sort of thing in his dream, what are you, I should like to know?”
Characters[]
- Alice
- Bandersnatch
- Humpty Dumpty
- Mad Hatter
- The Red King
- Tweedledee
- Tweedledum
- The Walrus
Appendices[]
References[]
- TAS episode & Log Three novelization: Once Upon a Planet
- TOS - Star Trek 11 novelization: The Squire of Gothos
- TOS novel: Strangers from the Sky
- TOS novel: Best Destiny
- ST novel: Federation
- TNG novelization: Descent
- DS9 - Mission Gamma novel: Cathedral
- VOY - Invasion! novel: The Final Fury
- VOY novel: Marooned
- TTN novel: The Red King
- ENT - Strange New Worlds short story: "The Dream"
External links[]
- Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Through the Looking-Glass article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
- Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There article at Fandom's Alice in Wonderland Wiki.