My original theory was posted on the Yahoo! La Femme Nikita discussion group, and got a feedback from "Genie" which I'm also including..

Asher:
So everybody pay attention.
My big theory is that as "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" were Carroll's(Dodgson's) look at English life and especially the academic regime of Christchurch College Oxford so LFN is the updated version with our modern-day Alice played by Peta Wilson.

Here Genie replied:
Interesting theory...I had never thought of comparing the two
beyond the obvious references. Unfortunately, I haven't read either Alice in
Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass in over 10 years, so I doubt I'll be
able to contribute much here...but I look forward to seeing others
responses.

And I couldn't resist remarking:
It's always worth a re-read !!

(firstly I'd like to announce that I saw (and purchased) the French film almost a decade before I got hooked on the series format)

When Nikita went missing from section she was declared by Operation as being "off the board" a reference to LookingGlass World being laid out as a Chessboard
Op.s himself could be found sequestered in the Tower (even with Quinn..) a reference to the Ivory towers of academic life where Alice was written

A lot of the later episode titles (up the rabbit hole etc..) are obvious lifts from Alice
as was the (unexplained) White rabbit(remember Jefferson Airplane) that cued Nikita's memory recall.

Here Genie helped me out and filled me in the intel

The white rabbit idea was a nod to the fans, some of whom had given
a stuffed white rabbit - the one we see in the tag of the episode - to one of
TPTB. (Forgive me, but I forget who the gift was from and exactly which
one of TPTB received it.) So, I find it interesting that the white rabbit fit
in so well with the Wonderland theme that permeated much of the 4th season,
especially Time Out of Mind - the idea that drugging Nikita & throwing her
into the asylum was akin to throwing Nikita down a rabbit hole and into a
realm that was as twisted and confusing as Alice's situation.

Here I again displayed ignorance: please let me in on what's TPTB (The Paul Tea-party Briefing .. not!) (Takes Practice To Believe .. maybe)
Turns out that it's the powers that be.

Now as to who is who some are a bit forced some I haven't fully thought through
and I'm sure somebody else came up with this before me

Nikita herself is Alice no explanation needed.

Mick Schtopel is an excellent Cheshire Cat but what's behind that smile???

Genie: Mick was a complex character that hid a lot behind a "smile"...although in Mick's example, his whole attitude was his facade, not just the toothy grin.

Paul (Operations) reminds me of the mad hatter as his briefings are like the tea-party and they both have a problem with time "we're on an accelerated clock"

Genie
Oh no...I'm never going to be able to watch another briefing again without thinking of that. There is also one other example I can think of where the two characters correspond - there were times when I was sure Operations was quite mad - in fact in Slipping into Darkness, he actually was.

Madeleine on the other hand is the queen of hearts and anybody who disagrees with her "off with his head"!!

Walter really fits the description of the white knight toward the end of Looking Glass from all his inventions to the "shaggy hair ... gentle face and mild eyes"

I had a problem drawing the parallel between Birkoff and Humpty Dumpty because it's true that this "egghead" ended up with "a great fall" but Seymour was a lot more sympathetic.

The two (who are they?) "paramedics" who come in to give injections and so on fit the bill as the walrus and the carpenter and by the time they've finished "they've eaten every one".

Once again Genie to the rescue:
Who are they? They go by many names - The most common is "The Torture Twins." Officially they were known in the script as "Devo 1 & Devo 2" at least until late in the series, when they suddenly were dubbed Henry & Elizabeth.

Now that really gets me going along with Pere Ubu, the Residents, the highly underrated Pylon (from Athens, Ga like their contemporaries the B-52's) one of the bands to come out of the US new wave ie post MC5,stooges,NY dolls and pre Dead Kennedys was Devo as in de-evolution try

http://www.freedomofchoice.com/devo

Henry & Elizabeth of course remind me of Henry the eighth (six wives) and Elizabeth the virgin queen

Those were the ones I had (almost) no problem with now for the rest Michael as the White Rabbit in a hurry and Alice in pursuit.

Davenport as the Jabberwock that gets slain by the bounteous boy George as the caterpillar.

Out of the rest of them, this is the only one I don't see...probably because, as I said, it has been years since I last read the books. In what way do you see George as the caterpillar?

It was a tough call mainly the manner of speech the whole enigma of this character who was more of an unknown factor than a known who ended up with a transformation and was depicted in the illustration to the book in academic gown
that even reminded me of his raincoat Quinn as the duchess and last but not least.

Adrienne as the Red Queen

After the publishing, on the new updated Yahoo! Group, Sandy added her thoughts about the parallels between LFN and Alice, some of these thoughts took things to a whole new level of understanding (overstanding)(outstanding)..

The person that wrote the tale was named Dodgson but wrote under Lewis Carroll ...... Unlike the pictures we've all seen of "Alice" the true girl was actually a dark haired child, a member of the parish of Dodgson's I assume.

****Alice Pleasance Lidell was the daughter of the dean of Christchurch College, Oxford, where Dodgson was fellow, deacon and curator, and published books on mathematics.****

Now, of course, Nikita had had her "makeover" and Michael wasn't aware that Quinn was Nikita until she told him. At that time, M & N ran off together with Maddy and Op's uptight about losing their jobs at Section, Permanently.

Now, as you know Alice fell down the rabbit hole, she kept falling and falling as what she thought a very long time, perhaps this could have been Nikita the years she was learning to be a "good little operative" and suddenly when she finally stopped falling, there was a key on a table, the key wouldn't fit so around Alice went again .......... wondering if this how Nikita felt while in training..........after the 2nd time around, it fit. Let her into a small tunnel, many of time Nikita was forced, driven ran through tunnels altho' Alice wanted to see the flowers perhaps Nikita was basically thinking of freedom and a life she wanted to live on her own. Coming around again Alice now saw a bottle, afraid to drink it perhaps it was poison or such but curiosity took the upper hand and so down it went and also down went Alice to a very small size. Do you think that Nikita might have zeroed in on the bottle, wishing, hoping it could be poison, that the life she was being forced to live and the person she was forced to become was too much?

****like the episode where she had to pass judgment on a trainee called (Karen?)****

When Alice shrunk to such a small size and forgetting the key went back and was unable to reach the key to get out of the tunnel and into the garden where she wanted to be. This seems to me that Alice/Nikita didn't want to be where she was. She didn't like what had happened to her and wanted things to be right again.

Going back to the table she spied a box under the table, a piece of cake with the words eat me were on it. Alice ate, Alice grew larger and larger like Nikita, getting better and better at being an operative.

****Nice idea, wish I'd thought of it...

As Nikita went on with her forced operative position, the better she became. But she also had what so many didn't, competition.

So that's the theory so far, folks.

Alice links:

http://www.sabian.org/alice.htm
http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/wonderland/

ASHER THOMPSON