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Dune Scores Huge Ratings
aldheorte writes "CNN is reporting "out-of-this-world" ratings for the now-complete Dune mini-series. Apparently, 3.06 million homes tuned in, making for the biggest orginal series in Sci-Fi Channel's history. I think it is a fair to good adaptation of a very difficult work, though I would appreciate a doubling of the episodes including more scenes from the book as well as more background on all, especially supporting, characters."
I've also decided that the ultimate goal for any living human being is
to get to be in one of those "I am Sci-Fi" commercials. I immensely enjoyed the series, and look forward to them continuing the saga.
Read the book, and pay attention in the early chapters that provide history and context.
The main personal handgun or long gun of the day is a sort of laser. These lasers interact explosively (on the order of a small fusion bomb) with personal force shields that are very common. Hence the shields preclude the use of the lasers except as a form of suicide bombing.
The shields completely stop fast moving projectiles like bullets and shrapnel but allow air and slow moving solid objects to penetrate. Hence the art of knife fighting is very important as hand-to-hand combat with a sharp, pointy object is about the only way to get past the shields without significant collateral damage. One main story point about Paul is that he is trained in this knife fighting technique by the best fighters of the time, and he ends up being very, very good at it. He teaches these skills to the Fremen, making them more deadly warriors than anyone else within the strictures mentioned above.
Finally, the whole story was set in a historical context which is hyper-influenced by the "Butlerian Jihad". This was a conflict which apparently affected the whole interstellar civilization. The basic premise of the Butlerian Jihad was to overthrow and exterminate mechanization of human talents and emphasize, glorify and enhance human abilities in the humans themselves. The Prime Directive of the Butlerian Jihad was something like, Make no machine which can usurp the authority or ability of humans. Associated with the hatred of machines was a passion for extending human abilities. Hence you get the human computer "mentats" (Thufir Hawat)), the political genius of the Bene Gesserit (Reverend Gaius Helene Mohiam), and the incredible fighters (Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halek). There was strong opposition to even exploring non-human methods of accomplishing just about anything, including fighting. The overwhelming emphasis on combat was for personal, hand-to-hand fighting of humans not seperated from each other by the hated machines. Major military forces generally had two classes of weapons: mass destruction with nuclear weapons and large, highly trained fighting forces. That was it, no subs or tanks or aircraft carriers. War was conducted either with great big bombs or hand-to-hand with almost no in-between.
These plot points are absolutely necessary to support the importance of Paul's training and the fighting abilities of the Fremen in relation to the similarly trained and constrained Sardaukar. Indeed, the main reason that the Emperor helped bring down Paul's father, Duke Leto, was that the Duke had come close to raising and training his own army that was as good as the Sardaukar. Paul succeeded in the Fremen where his father's efforts with his own army were cut short. All of that knife fighting was very, very important to the story. Don't just dismiss it as silly within our own military context of today.
In the business section of all things, CNN has a good article on the making of Dune.
You will find a number of insights into their decisions, plus a good rundown from Alec Newman's point of view.
You can find it here
My vote for the worst FX goes to the (twice shown) kangaroo mouse ("muad'dib")
FREMEN: What name do you want? Your real name isn't good enough.
PAUL: What do you call that little creature?
FREMEN: Pikachu ?!?
I read Dune (all 9 or 6 books in the trilogy, depending on how you see it) I thought I was the only one. But why are geeks (like myself) so attreacted to and enthrawled with this work? I've been wondering about that alot lately. Does anyone know why a bunch of bit pushers in so interested in a world with alot less technology? No 'computers' per se. No Internet. Why? Why? Why?
-Feyd was perfect. Foppish, cunning, and deadly all in the same breath. Bravo.
-Paul is a Bad Ass in the second and third installments. In the first episode he was a whiny Luke Sywalker character, but he is one of th main reasons the series got better as it went along.
-Chani (sp, it's been too long) is also a Bad Ass, and she is HOT. My kind of woman.
On another note:
-The Fremen "army" looks more like the rabble from the Life Of Brion than any kind of army. They are supposed to be deadly warriors, not kids with knives.
-The Sardaukar berets just serve to make them silly. It's an interesting style, but they have to look as potent and menacing as possible.
Overall, a great series. I can't wait until the next one comes out.
"He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil."
*Ahem*
Please allow me to add my thoughts to this most worthy subject. I'd like to start by pointing out that (and its so obvious I shouldn't have to write it but...) the different mediums everyone is comparing against is quite different and should be treated differently. A book is much different than a movie. A movie is much different than a miniseries for different reasons. (Where else can we see so many dang Sun commercials for starters!) In this respect one can only pay homage and/or differentiate where the need arises. Having said that I'd like to say to all the naysayers (And there are so many of you), learn what you are looking at and try not to impose your net of thought onto it. The first step in understanding is knowing that you do not know. My greatest joy in watching this series so far is not knowing what exactly to expect next. Lines which are changed from both the book and movie ("Tell me of the waters of your home world, Muad'Dib") to be more poingnant and lean are both necessary and elegent. Scenes which are changed for the medium such as the hunter-seeker scene, which was probably the most to-the-book scene from David Lynch's Dune, was changed to get rid of those blasted voice-over-thoughts. ( Side note: The voice overs was the NUMBER ONE COMPLAINT from the series so leaving it behind was more than necessary). Other scenes were added compared to the movie and then changed from the book to get the point across (Dinner scene for example). Yet others where so to the book, it was beautiful (Jamis' fight and funeral). And still, yet other scenes where omitted due to their lack of addition to the plot point due to such a short amount of time. Witness that the first movie drastically cut down the scenes where Thufir is being manipulated by the Baron Harkonen and that the mini-series doesn't include it whatsoever as if they did it on cue. With all these points in mind, all in all what we are witnessing is probably most of what we can expect from a visual adaptation of dune.
The watermark by which you can identify a visual book interpreatation is how much you have invested yourself into what you are seeing and how much you can understand. If it gets the point across and you're on the edge of your seat, even if you haven't read the book, then they've succeeded. So now the question is, what is the main point of the book? And since the Sci-Fi Channel is going to the next two books, what is the main point of the series?
Well there are two points really. First theres the bigee...The Fallacy of the Messiah... The archetype of so many stories of our religions/myths and of course the cause of so many deaths of our people in his name. Paul doesn't want this but has no choice and the universe pays the price. The Bene Gesserit prepares DUNE with this classic myth and everyone falls hook line and sinker, including Paul.
Secondly, on the science fiction aspect, the whole book series can't get off the fact that a Kwisatz Haderach can "see" into the future. Later on, everyone is so scared that another KH will come along and lock them into a present where nothing is new. In other words, seeing into the future makes the present into the past and locks them forever out of the unknowable present such as the one we enjoy today where anything can and does happen. His son, Leto II, was the only one who could bring them out of what Paul Muad'Dib did to them. And if the Sci-Fi Channel is going to do the next two books, they MUST at least do God Emperor Dune which in my opinion is the most interesting and rewarding of all the books. The last two books which deal with the BG almost exclusively, I'll admit, would also be a good adaptation since they're getting hunted and lots of action can ensue.
Having said all that, I have only one gripe... an inconsistent use of the pre/post commercial "DUNE" screen. Some people are trying to tape these as best they can you know!
Duke Leto
The DVD is supposed to be out in March 2001, with 30 minutes of cut scenes (mostly gratuitous nudity of people getting into and out of their stillsuits).
Absurdity: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion. -- Ambrose Bierce
There are two technological paradigms that aren't explained adequately in the mini-series or the David Lynch movie, and the lack of adequate explanation may puzzle those who haven't read the book:
In the Dune mythos, "thinking machines", i.e. robots and computers, are either banned or regarded as an abomination. Neither screen adaptation mentioned this, as far as I can remember.
In the Dune mythos, much fighting is done with knives and low-tech weaponry due to... shields! The shields stop any object that is going beyond a certain speed. Lasers and shields didn't mix in the mythos, either. These shields are seen in both screen versions, but their functionality is never explained.
Overall, I like the mini-series, though. Chani is one sexy babe!
The only thing that we learn from history is that nobody learns anything from history.