The Characters of Tim Burton's version.

Have you ever asked yourself after watching Tim Burton's version "what's with those characters? They're nothing like how I remembered them from the book/Disney's animated version!"

Ever wonder why Johnny Depp's characterisation of the Hatter just wasn't mad enough?

I know why. I hope you can follow without the aid of pictures. It all starts with the Red Queen.

Or is she the Queen of Hearts?

She's both. That's how it works, that's what they did. You can see the consistency in Crispin Glover's performance as the Red Knight/Knave of Hearts. Now you can notice a pattern, see the March Hare in the White Queen's kitchen throwing pots and pans and yelling "Pepper!!"? That's because he's also the "Duchess' Cook", which means the White Queen must also be the Duchess (who I can only think of as the biggest rival to the Queen of Hearts in AAIW).

So what does that make the Hatter? Well, he seemed to be the direct opponent to the Red Knight, so I guess that makes him the ....

So what does that make the Dormouse? Why was he so hyperactive rather than sleepy? And what about the Cheshire Cat, or Tweedledum and Tweedledee? The White Rabbit? The Dodo??