The Mad Hatter (Sebastian Stan) takes his daughter to market in an Alice in Wonderland-themed episode.

This week’s OUAT prompted me to do something it hasn’t often. Think, real hard. I pondered an idea that hadn’t even entered my realm of possibility since the first frames of the pilot. What if…Fairy Tale Land (FTL) doesn’t exist?

I understand it seems like a given, the whole premise of the show centers around The Curse that has imprisoned them in “our world,” but what if that world is just imagination? What if it’s just a memory of a time that never was? “Lost” has tested the boundaries of alternate timelines/dimensions and life and death before, why not now? Heck, what if Storybrooke isn’t real? What if that isn’t reality, meaning an external world outside sensory experience, and they’re trapped in an psychological illusion, a la “The Matrix?” OUAT has proven to be a much more “accessible” program than “Lost” was, but could Kitsis/Horowitz be secretly constructing another sci-fi mindf**k?

Probably not. But even if the show is influencing the mere consideration that’s a huge positive. Since the pilot set up the structure of the two universes—one in the past and one in the present, existing as two separate worlds (even that is shaky when you think about the existence of magic and remnants of FTL materializing in the real world)—that relationship has gone unquestioned and untested. Until last week, when FTL memories bled into real world factuality.

This week expedited that bleeding by introducing the Mad Hatter a.k.a Jefferson (Sebastian Stan). In Storybrooke, Jefferson is a lonely man in a mansion who knows about The Curse, and believes his only way back to FTL is through his magic hat (which normally serves as a portal to Wonderland). During his real world stay he hasn’t been able to make a hat that works. The magic is absent. But he believes the good sheriff, Emma, is his glimmer of hope. When she came to town, the clocks started working (I guess they hadn’t been for like, ever) and this was proof to Jefferson that she possessed magic and he’s had a telescope fixed on her office ever since. That’s a normal reaction, right?

So, when Emma goes out looking for escaped suspect Mary Margaret, he walks along the road waiting to stage an accident. He’s not one of those freeloaders trying to get a settlement, he wants to earn the sympathy of Sheriff Emma and a ride home so he can drug and kidnap her. And well, that’s basically what happens. And surprise, surprise: Mary Margaret is there too, all tied up and stuff! It is worth noting though, that after Emma has been subdued by the sleepy tea (tea’s his thing, remember) she wakes up bound and gagged, but escapes from her restraints wicked easily. It was kinda badass. She uses her mouth to move a pillow to the floor, stomps on it so a tea cup falls off the coffee table, then uses the jagged edge to cut herself free. Where has resourceful Emma been all this time? Now I’m much more sold on her leading a police force if she can evade capture so well.

Over in FTL, it’s a hard knock life for a retired Mad Hatter who is also named Jefferson (more shattering of boundaries!). He’s a poor fellow who struggles to provide for his daughter, Grace, and she’s his whole world. So when the the Evil Queen (EQ) comes knocking, asking him for a favor that requires his special talents, he’s tempted. EQ could ensure that Grace never want for anything, but he decides abandoning Grace would be more detrimental than their current financial woes. Still in need of his skills, EQ (whose fairyback look was absolutely boobtastic this week) manipulates him by disguising as an old woman selling a stuffed rabbit at the marketplace. Grace thinks it would be a perfect addition to her dinner party (HA!) but Dad’s short. The cruel, masquerading queen doesn’t allow him to haggle and denies the girl her toy. This inspires the change of heart within Jefferson to help out EQ—just this once—in order to better his daughter’s life.

At the manor, cunning Jefferson intercepts the ladies as they escape, holding them at gunpoint. He forces Emma to tie up Mary Margaret again. He directs Emma to another room where he relays his Curse knowledge. Emma is still in denial, despite Henry’s insistence and frankly some damning evidence. Clearly, Jeff’s creep factor is through the roof, but we know he’s right and not crazy. But we’ve been conditioned to trust Emma’s judgment, and though he is separated from his daughter—she belongs to another family in Storybrooke that he spies on with his other telescope—a sane person doesn’t hold people at gunpoint to get what he wants: unless you’re Liam Neeson from “Taken,” or Jack Bauer on “24,” or…pretty much every man searching for his family in the movies or TV, ever. Therefore, I’m inclined to not believe him, but that would defy one of the fundamental truths of the show. The psychopath does make a salient point, however, about the dialectic of stories and truth and how the distinction is blurry at best. He also makes a poignant critique about how most people seek out a magical solution for their problems, but refuse to believe in magic. These sorts of philosophical questions are uncharted waters for OUAT, and probably too heady for its audience and too loaded for its breezy subject matter, but their bold attempt did not go unrecognized.

While holding Emma hostage, demanding she use her apparent “magic” to make his hats work again, he’s also escorting the EQ to Wonderland. She needs to retrieve something the Queen of Hearts stole from her. Upon entering, a expertly CGI-ed hookah-smoking caterpillar appears atop a giant mushroom, but then it speaks and CORNFEST 2012 begins. Roger Daltry (of The Who) lends his voice, and what do you guess he says? “Who…are you?” Am I the only one who finds this to be just the WORST case of needlessness? He literally says one line and it’s one of his song lyrics, and an unnecessary piece of dialogue in the first place? I know their budget has seen an influx due to ratings and it’s done wonders for their VFX, but REALLY? Rant over.

Jefferson and EQ approach the Queen Of Hearts’ maze, and we learn suddenly that the EQ can shoot fireballs from her hands. I wish they would outline exactly what her powers are, because at this point I assume she can get out of most situations. What she retrieves after she burns through to the center of the maze is her father, in a box. No, I’m not just making things up! This, however means tragedy for Jeff. Only the same amount that entered can leave Wonderland, and EQ has no qualms about swapping him out for daddy dearest. An odd detail, EQ shows remorse in her face when she breaks the news that he’s stuck, but her words convey cruelty, saying if he really loved his daughter he never would have left her, a bitter pill to swallow. ALICE IN WONDERLAND REFERENCES ALL DAY! Sorry.

Captured by the Queen of Hearts’ men, Jefferson initially withholds information of how he arrived in Wonderland, but then in a too-hot-for-TV move, a knight cuts his head off. But alas, no blood and he lives. They promise to reattach his body only when he shares the truth, so he tells them about the hat. Turns out to be a bad move since now he’s trapped in Wonderland until he can make the Queen of Hearts a new hat. And he lacks the magic necessary. So we’re left with the haunting image of Jefferson surrounded by mountains of misfires and mounds of failures.

Emma starts to question Jeff’s madness as she tries to craft him a magical hat, and she seems to empathize with his quest to reunite with his kid. We’re also treated to some weird chemistry between the two. Their breathy speech and close proximity imply they could kiss at any moment, but it might just be the palpable desperation on their tongues. And just as we start to believe Emma believes, she whacks him upside the head with his telescope. After a struggle, Mary Margaret kicks him out the window. When they look below to see the damage, his body is gone and his hat is bottom up. Did the hat work? Has he crossed over? No, John Edward get out of here! Oh, that’s a reference to the TV medium John Edward…oh never mind.

Flipping Mary Margaret the keys, she gives her the choice to run or trust that she’ll exonerate her. She implores she also stay because she doesn’t want to lose her family, “or friends or whatever.” So they hurry Mary Margaret back to the cell before Regina knows she left and Regina scolds Mr. Gold for not holding up his end of the bargain. Shocker of shockers, she was behind the planted key and Gold put it there. Apparently, he’s a double agent, which makes sense given he never scratches a back that won’t scratch him back, but I do believe he has taken a side. I’m unsure which, but my money is on him wanting to usurp Regina.

Our final scene is with Emma and Henry at a school playground. Grace, whose name is Paige in the real world walks by. Emma recognizes her from mad man’s telescope and asks Henry if she can inspect his book. The picture of Grace is a side profile, so there’s no guaranteeing a match, but Emma requests she keep the book. Is she FINALLY believing? It seems like this is the season’s ambition is to finally turn that tide, but I hope not. There needs to be a bigger payoff then “Emma’s on our team!” For the most part though, this was a harmless episode. It neither excited me, nor incited my wrath save a absurd use of a rock legend. It was equal parts detoured into Wonderland and focused on the main story. I’m anxious for the trial to be over and so relieved that next week they’ll finally address: what did Snow White do to ruin EQ’s life? They have laid such importance on this event that it will be hard for them to live up to expectations.

Sebastian Stan owned his spotlight this week, not overselling the madness or drowning out the established voices. Though Mad Hatter’s fairyback was par for the OUAT course, using a child as motivation, I liked that Jefferson acknowledged that the Curse is not being in the real world, it’s being separated from the ones you love. That detail might prove important later on. I could imagine a difficult decision down the road where a character might have to choose between the worlds. All speculation now, but thematically it’s significant that we have this consistency in message for the fairybacks. It’s an acute lens through which we can view them going forward. For keeping the ball rolling on the “bleeding realties” track and for maintaining a grave tone without frolicking into cheesy sentimentality territory, as the series unapologetically tends to, I’ll give credit where credit is due: there’s some magic in Storybrooke.

LOS ANGELES — Disney Interactive Studios released some video, character images, and screenshots to go with the game’s E3 debut.

The game looks pretty adorable, so all you Disney superfans will want to check these out. The screenshots include scenes from “Alice in Wonderland” and “Monsters Inc.”

Company line: “Disney Universe mixes up, for the first time, characters and worlds inspired by both animated and live action films from Disney’s Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, and Walt Disney Pictures. Players will enjoy this fast-paced, multiplayer action-adventure game, available Fall 2011 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and Windows PC/MAC.”

Movies or television series’ are not just about the actors, but about the visual aspect of what you are watching, especially when it comes to the science fiction and fantasy genre, which sometimes relies heavily on CGI and such.

In the world of film making many steps are taken to bring you that visual aspect and most times we don’t think about the hours, days and processes that go into the work.

A company in Venice Beach, CA called Lightcraft Technology, has created the perfect camera system to improve the production pipeline. Click here to read a little more about that.

Eliot Mack, the founder and system architect of Lightcraft Technology has for the past 8 years been helping filmmakers work in real time visual effects with the system he developed with Co-Founder Phil Mass called Previzion.

We asked Eliot some questions about his camera system and here are his answers:

BLAST: Why did you create this product? What was the thought process behind it?

ELIOT MACK: I started building Previzion out of frustration with both the traditional production process (sets, locations, etc.) and the traditional visual effects process (tracking, keying, rendering, compositing, etc.) I had learned enough VFX to complete about 2 shots with standard methods, but simply could not believe how hard it was to do basic things, like pulling a key well or matching a lens accurately. At that point, I understood the underlying math and could start building a system to handle the repetitious, boring tasks like lens matching and camera position tracking.

BLAST: What movies/TV shows might the readers have seen this unique tech involved in?

EM: The productions with the widest viewing audience are probably “Alice in Wonderland,” the 2010 Tim Burton film, and “V,” the sci-fi television series.

BLAST: What future projects might this technology be used in?

EM: The two major areas we work in are feature film/high end episodic previsualization, and real time finishing, where the show is composited on the stage. We’re being used on complex stereoscopic motion pictures, to integrate stereo live action cameras and animated CG characters, as well as in telenovelas, where the production volume is high but the keying has to be very good. The underlying connection is our focus on high accuracy and image quality.

BLAST: Is this the only technology of its kind in the market today? And if no, how does your company differ from others?

EM: There are other types of real time keying systems that have been used for years in TV news, weather, and sports. Previzion is the only commercial real time system that is specifically designed for the demands of motion picture and television VFX production.

BLAST: How will Lightcraft Technology benefit movie making in the future?

EM: Previzion lets productions do much more creatively while saving money. Visual effects open up the storytelling palate, but the cost and complexity has limited their use. We’re already creating photorealistic sets that render in real time and fit on a thumb drive; painting a wall green and setting up some tracking targets is a lot less expensive than blocking off city streets or sending an entire production crew to some remote area.

BLAST: Where do you see your company in five years? In 10 years?

EM: We’re going to continue making the systems faster, more accurate, and easier to integrate into productions. Most people think of visual effects as limited to science fiction or summer blockbusters, but the rate of VFX speed and accuracy available in Previzion lets a wide range of productions use them.

BLAST: In regards to film school/students do you see your Lightcraft Technology being utilized in school as a teaching method?

EM: Very much so. In fact, we think that the technology could change the nature of student films. Our photogrammetry tools make it possible for a single person to go out with a DSLR and capture enough stills to create a photorealistic 3D background model. Students can expand the scope of their projects while they are learning to use the same on-set tools used on the largest VFX projects out there.

BLAST: For the average movie enthusiast who loves film, will they see a difference between traditional methods of creating film (actors filmed in front of a green screen) over your Lightcraft Technology?

EM: Previzion is in many ways similar to traditional VFX work. It uses the same blue and green screens and some of the same 3D modeling tools to create the backgrounds. The key difference is the speed – it’s a complete visual effects pipeline that happens to run in real time.

In “Alice in Wonderland,” director Tim Burton takes Lewis Carroll’s time-honored tale and converts it into a fantastical, eye-popping 3-D joy ride for the attention-deficit “Avatar” loving generation.

The most notable thing about “Alice” is that visual stimulation never stops. First, we meet a wayward, unhappy Alice (Mia Wasikowska) mourning her father’s death on the day that she receives a very public proposal from a ginger lord with digestion problems. Burton doesn’t miss a detail of the prim English countryside or its snobby, corset-wearing inhabitants.

When Alice uncomfortably edges away from the waiting crowd, a rabbit leads her to a large hole, which, of course, she falls into. This scene is 3-D at its best, with Alice swishing past books and chandeliers and bouncing on top of beds.

Fans of the cartoon movie will be confused with what follows. There is an unexpected implementation of plot, and while favorite scenes such as Alice shrinking and growing are left in, the scene where she cries herself a river is left out. Instead of following Alice on a disjointed acid trip of a journey, we soon find out, through the vehicles of the White Rabbit (Michael Sheen), the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), Dormouse (Barbara Windsor), and Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum (Matt Lucas) that they are looking for an Alice who has visited before to come and release them from the dominion of the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter). There is a bit of dissension about whether this Alice is the same Alice, and this is one of the plot points that gets tedious. Alice, of course, doesn’t remember being here before, and the only person who is convinced she was is the Mad Hatter.

Alice makes her way through Wonderland in an array of fabulous dresses (kudos to the costume designer), making friends with the Bandersnatch, fooling the Red Queen and eventually fulfilling her destiny by slaying the Jabberwocky.

Burton takes liberties with the original story and comes up with a plot that is painfully similar to The Chronicles of Narnia — a young girl stumbles into a world of kings, queens and talking animals. She then finds that she’s “chosen” and must rescue her little friends from a domineering queen and return the power to the benevolent ruler. The mystery of the story that is supposed to keep the audience guessing, whether or not this Alice is the one who will fulfill the prophecy, is at first, confusing (why wouldn‘t she be the right Alice?) and then annoying with repetition.

Wasikowska gives a seamless performance in this, her first major leading role. She is appropriately bold while conveying Alice’s youthful nature. She doesn’t lose herself in the potentially sappy storyline of “Am I just Alice or am I Alice?”

Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter is one of the more anticipated characters — right up there with Stephen Fry’s Cheshire Cat — and he doesn’t diappoint. His clownish clothes and spastic hair fit well with his fluorescent eyeliner and his overwhelming personality. Depp’s only misstep is his accent — is he British? Or Scottish? He had a lisp, but now he doesn’t. What could be attributed to his apparent “madness” just comes off as confusing and inconsistent.

Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter play arch enemies — and sisters. Carter provides a great deal of comedic relief as an evil, yet pitiable, Red Queen who plays crochet with a hedgehog (as the ball), uses pigs as footrests and is wildly jealous of her well-liked predecessor and younger sister, the White Queen. Hathaway brings a quirk to her perfect, gracious character, but overacts in some scenes. For instance, one wonders if she got tennis elbow from holding her arms up like she’s waltzing 24/7.

But the movie works as a whole. It’s visual (the motion capture technology is impeccable — from Stayne’s spindly daddy long legs to the queen’s bulbous head), it’s funny (Alice has a dry sense of humor that is funnier because it’s unexpected…well now I guess I’ve ruined it for you), and it’s heartwarming. Each character is relatable and sympathetic, from the ridiculously brave dormouse to the heart-melting loyalty of Bayard, the hound. And lastly, for those who aren’t fans of 3-D, worry not. This movie isn’t filled with action scenes where things are thrown at the audience ad-nauseum. The 3-D is mostly unnoticeable and only enhances the scenes when it does anything.

Don’t miss this movie — it’s a substantial upgrade from the cartoon, and it’ll leave you wanting more.

The latest cinematic version of Alice in Wonderland hits the theaters today. It’s the sort of movie that millions of people love before they’ve even seen it. It’s a strange story tale for sure, but one could argue that the weirdest character connected to it won’t be seen on screen at all: the author.

Lewis Carroll, the 19th century Englishman whose real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, did more than pen a series of books that’s way trippy even without Tim Burton’s imagination. When not teaching math at Oxford, Carroll did odd hobbies. He was into cryptography and word games and created (among many other things) a game similar to Scrabble. His came up with new weights and measures, systems of postage, and ways of gambling. He made weird inventions like a device to write notes in the dark using one of his invented alphabets.

This photo of Liddell dressed up as a beggar-maid from 1858 has been digitally retouched.

But none of these quirky diversions are as shocking as his interpersonal life, and there’s no way to say it except to come out and say it: It’s widely believed had a thing for little girls. Yes, THAT way. And by little girls, I mean from really little up to about Lolita age, give or take a year.

Carroll, not a bad-looking guy, is supposed to have had no interest in adult women. In fact, he didn’t care much for adults in general. He far preferred the company of young girls with whom he would dine alone in his quarters. In Carroll’s mind, the difference between adult and child was laden with metaphorical dichotomy: corruption versus purity, subterfuge versus honesty, disinterest versus wonderment.

This, and the theme of transformation, is expressed throughout his works. It starts with the "drink me bottle" and the "eat me cake" Alice finds upon landing in the rabbit hole. Given a psychedelic update in the 1960s, these became Jefferson Airplane’s one pill that makes you taller and one pill that makes you small. Wishing kids could have the perks of adulthood without growing up, Carroll fantasized about ways to control the process.

You’ll be grateful to know that almost no one claims he actually consummated any of his infatuations. You’ll be less glad to know Carroll’s other major hobby was photography. Unfortunately, we’re talking (as Eric Idle once said in a skit) "CANDID photography." Snap snap, nudge nudge, say no more.

Alice Liddell, the young girl upon whom the fictional Alice was based, had a relationship with Carroll that started when she was four years old. There’s no indication that she was ever photographed au natural by the author, but the infamous "Beggar Maid" photo is a cause for concern. In it, she wears a sort of tattered nightgown. The photo is carefully posed, so what it reveals can’t be blamed on a Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction. Say no more.

Other photos taken by Carroll are of fully naked children. Of these, only a handful survive, and they’ve pigmented so they look more like oil paintings than photos. Even so, they’re not the sort of thing most folks want found on their hard drives.

Most scholarship about his sexuality can be summed up as follows. "Dodgson? Oh yeah, HUUUUUUUGE pedophile. Very repressed, probably didn’t even know it himself. But still."

Yet for every general consensus there are revisionists who challenge it. Some say that Carroll’s photographs were considered fashionable by his Victorian contemporaries who were used to seeing, for example, naked kids posing as cupids on greeting cards. Some look at his diaries and claim he actually was dating adult women, and possibly even gettin’ some. They note that Carroll’s intense relationships with children were considered a bit idiosyncratic, but no was got wierded out enough to sound an alarm.

When Alice Liddell was 11 years old, her mom put an end to her relationship with Carroll. But there was no scandal, and Carroll went to his grave decades before people started calling him a pervert. Even in her old age, people with questions about Carroll would "go ask Alice." His former muse had nothing terrible to say about him, nor did any of his formal girlfriends, some of whom kept in touch with him after they were married.

If Michael Jackson made and openly displayed the types of photos that Lewis Carroll did, the King of Pop might have gone to jail for child pornography even if he beat molestation charges. That penalty, and the scorn that goes with it, is something we’re enculturated to expect. But outside the realm of familiar expectations, it’s harder to make judgments using same mental, moral, and emotional tools that usually serve us well. It may be tough to know how we should feel about Carroll’s proclivities which were (albeit some just barely) within the societal norms of his day.

One last bit of good news. Mia Wasikowska, the actor who plays Alice in the new movie, is 20 years old. If you can’t get Carroll out of your mind, her age alone should cut the skeeve factor way down.

SAN DIEGO — “Edward Scissorhands” director Tim Burton made his first-ever visit to Comic-Con International today and was welcomed with huge cheers from Hall H’s 6000-strong audience. Burton was there to discuss “Alice in Wonderland,” his highly anticipated re-imagining of the classic novel.

The film stars Johnny Depp (who made a brief surprise visit during the panel — Burton later claimed that “Johnny decided to drop by” after having been in the neighborhood “walking around dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow,” though Burton’s grin proved this fan dream false), Mia Wasikowska, Anne Hathaway, and Helena Bonham Carter.

During the presentation Burton and panel host Patton Oswalt showed — three times — a trailer for the March 2010 film. Narrated by Depp’s Mad Hatter, the trailer gave glimpses of the Cheshire Cat (voiced by Stephen Fry), the Queen of Hearts, and a variety of scenes that appeared to be wholly original to this version, including a romp through a forest of mushrooms and a seemingly beefier role for the Mad Hatter, a character that only appears in a few Alice tales.

Certainly the question of how exactly Burton’s “Alice” compares to the source material, that is “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and the sequel “Through the Looking Glass” is on everyone’s mind.

When asked about his motivation to do the film as well as his connection to the source material, Burton said, “Seeing other movie versions of it, I never felt an emotional connection to it. It was always a girl wandering around from one crazy character to another, and I never really felt any real emotional connection. So it’s an attempt to really try to give (“Alice in Wonderland”) some framework of emotional grounding that has never been in any version before. So that’s the challenge to me. You know every character’s weird, but it’s to try and give them their specific weirdness so that they’re all different. All his characters indicate some kind of mental weirdness that everybody goes through, but the real attempt was to try and make Alice feel more like a story as opposed to a series of events.”

A lot of the intrigue with Burton’s “Alice” also has to do with the rumored changes he has made to the original story.

“It’s not a sequel because there are so many stories in Alice in Wonderland,” Burton said. “The goal was to take the randomness of the books, taking elements of the book and making it its own stories. A lot of it is based on the Jabberwocky poem in one of the stories. And that’s not a big part of the story, but we’re just using elements of all the books because that’s the nature of them, and they don’t really follow a specific linear structure.”

There are also a few changes being made to the famous Mad Hatter, which Burton calls an “iconic character.” Some of these changes can also be attributed to Johnny Depp. “(Johnny) tried to find a grounding to the character, something that you feel, as opposed to just being mad. In a lot of versions it’s a very one-note kind of character and you know his goal was to try and bring out a human side to the strangeness of the character. Any time I work with him that’s something he tries to do so that’s no exception.”

Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” is also going to be presented in 3D, though it was originally filmed in 2D and will be converted to 3D.

“We didn’t do it with a 3D camera. We did it where we got all our information from different cameras,” Burton said. “There are maybe three or four reasons for that. One was the time element, where you know we didn’t really have five or six years to make it. Also I felt the techniques we were using — the pure animation, the live action (but manipulating and doing strange things to that), plus the other elements we’re adding into it — it just gave us more freedom to get the depths and layers we wanted in the time we were dealing with. Plus for me I couldn’t really see the difference. This seemed the right technique and the right approach to do it.”

He went on to discuss his personal view of the growing trend of incorporating 3D technology into film.

“I’m personally not out to make it a gimmick. I think it puts you in this world more, plus with the Alice material, the growing and shrinking and the weird kind of spaces and places you’re in, it just kind of helps with the experience. The gimmick elements are kind of falling by the wayside. Now it’s just more about an experience. (We had) “Nightmare” (“The Nightmare Before Christmas”) converted to 3D and I mean, I felt it was almost the way it should have been. You felt the texture of the puppets more, you felt things that you actually felt when you were on the set. I think that that just enhances the experience and makes things — in a lot of cases with the textures and things — the way you wanted it to be.”

In closing, there is also a bit of news about Burton’s future projects. He’s been rumored to be going on to do “Dark Shadows” once “Alice in Wonderland” is complete, and he said once asked that “Dark Shadows is the plan, if I ever finish this one.”

There is also some potential for more original projects like Burton’s acclaimed “Edward Scissorhands.” When asked if he planned on beginning an original project, he said, “Oh yeah, I mean — you know those are always kind of inside. Yeah I’ve got a few lying around and I try to sneak them in somewhere. Yeah, um — yes. Yes. But nothing right at this moment.”

“Alice in Wonderland” hits theaters in March 2010.

SAN DIEGO — One of the cool things about being a magazine is that we have super-fast access to some cool stuff like these photos.

These days, with amazing websites like IMDB.com, consumers are permitted to know every detail about a film almost as soon as the producers decide them. ‚ Gone are the days when you had to wait to see a commercial teaser or, God-forbid, a theatrical trailer before you could even know for sure if a movie was coming out.

That’s why we’ve all known and are thrilled about the fact that Director Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, James and the Giant Peach) is throwing together what is sure to be a masterpiece recreating the well-loved children’s book, Alice In Wonderland. The star-studded cast includes actors Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Alan Rickman, Michael Sheen, Helena Bonham Carter and newcomer Mia Wasikowska, who is playing Alice herself.

We’ve known all this for some time, and it doesn’t even come out till March.

But thanks to the wonderfulness of the internets, we have something to keep us entertained until that day comes. ‚ New promotional images of the characters have been released, depicting Alice (Wasikowska), The Mad Hatter (Depp), The Red Queen (Carter) and The White Queen (Hathaway), reports Ryanseacrest.com.

The costumes look great, all the actors seem to fit their roles, but does anyone else feel like the photos were taken by someone who usually takes yearbook pictures? ‚ Could we not find something besides the granite blue backdrop? ‚ Perhaps a natural field setting or perhaps even black and white, but if this is the backdrop, it seems more fitting that the actors should be leaning forward on their elbows and perhaps be smiling awkwardly through braces. ‚ But that’s just me. ‚ Let’s hope Burton finds something different for the film itself.