Iris and Panda get caught up in the archaeological investigation of a mysterious skull and an equally mysterious tea set. Since Iris has been suddenly exiled by her people to 1970's Earth, not unlike a certain acquaintance of hers, she introduces herself as a MIAOW investigator and tries to figure out where the skull might come from. Soon enough they find a digging machine called the Jabberwock, inside of which are the White Rabbit and the Mock Turtle, both very confused. The bus takes the gang down further into Wonderland, while the White Rabbit and the Mock Turtle try to live a normal life on Earth and accidentally become TV celebrities. Iris fights an actual Jabberwock, and eventually confronts the Queen of Hearts, whose deranged scientific experiments caused this whole mess in the first place. She turns out to be Harriet Dodd, a rogue MIAOW operative (and landscape gardener) who used an improbability drive (well, alright, a "feasability generator" — well, alright, a dodo) to create Wonderland many years ago. Harriet now just wants to destroy it all, and although Iris hesitates, Panda helps her out and blows everything up.
Tropes
- Alice Allusion: The entire episode.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Used a few times over, notably when Panda, narrating, gets into an argument with the characters he's talking about. Also:Iris: We 'ad a psychedelic moment!
Panda: On audio?! - Organ Theft: The Queen's head is so big because she's got the brains of five people. Literally.
- Mysterious Past: Iris reveals to Panda that she's part of the "Clockworks", and stole her bus when she realised how stuffy that society was. The whole thing sounds uncannily like a drunken version of the Doctor's backstory.
- Narrator: Panda narrates this adventure.
- Noodle Incident: Iris worked for MIAOW in the 1960s, during "that business with the robot Guru and the holiday camp in Wales" when she met The Beatles. Also, the time the cast of Crossroads was transported to the moon by Samurai Jelly Fish.
- Pastiche: Of Jon Pertwee-era Doctor Who.
- Take That!: The episode lovingly pokes fun at "Zagreus" a few times.
