Posted by
Hemos
on from the it's-out-it's-out dept.
mani writes "The Sci Fi Channel's interpretation of Frank Herbert's classic epic Dune has been released on DVD today. Here is an in-depth review of the 2-disc package."
Or maybe provoke discussion, but hasn't it occurred to anyone that Dune is not a Science Fiction Book? It takes more than just being "set in the year 10,899" to be Science Fiction. The technology is incidental to the story. It's about mysticism and feudalism.
Oh yeah, and Star Wars isn't Science Fiction either.
Re:dvd evil... maybe not this DVD
by
boarder
·
· Score: 3
First of all, what does "Don't give the MPAA! *ahem*" mean? I don't understand that phrase at all.
Besides, what does the MPAA have to do with this?
It wasn't a motion picture that was released in
theaters or anything. It didn't get a rating so the MPAA had nothing to do with this.
Maybe you meant the DVD CCA?
Even then, it doesn't require their consent to make a DVD so they weren't involved there. The show was put on (I think) by the SciFi channel and they aren't part of the CCA so you're not supporting the CCA. It was distributed by Artisan Entertainment (which may be in the CCA, but I'm not sure), but they are a major place for independent films so you may want to support them.
Or maybe you are talking about the lack of legal DVD movie players for Linux?
I thought there finally was one. If not, I think you can use the new DeCSS program that was written in C to decode and play in real time which would make it fair use if you delete the copy you make of it everytime.
The only reason not to buy this DVD would be if you didn't like the show. The same goes for some foreign/anime films.
On the plus side, the religion in Dune makes a bit more sense than Co$. Maybe Herberts should have started a religion -- at least its copyrighted texts would be better written.
-----------------
--
------------ /* You are not expected to understand
New RLE DVD Compression scheme
by
seanmeister
·
· Score: 3
I've been waiting eagerly for this DVD - it's the perfect test bed for my new lossless DVD compression algorithm. Dubbed the "William Hurt Compression Algorithm", this RLE scheme saves space by finding all of William Hurt's scenes and using a single frame of William Hurt to span the duration of the scene.
I guarantee that the viewer will not notice the difference! (At least, not in this movie...)
Well, when the Dune mini-series came out on VHS I rushed to get it ASAP since I don't get the scifi channel and unfortunately missed it. While I love the Move, the book and even the Mini Series I was really disappointed with the VHS quality. The whole 6 hour epic was shoved on one tape! They were to cheap to make it 2 or even three higher quality tapes which I would have gladly paid more for. The more you shove onto a tape the more the quality degrades. The video was ok, pretty clear, but it could have been better. The audio was horrible. I had to endure static and hissing through out the ENTIRE film. I was really disappointed because of that. It's not like it was a little hiss here and a couple of pops and cracks there. Instead it hissed the entire movie and not just a little soft hissing, very loud distracting hissing.
At first I thought it was equiptment failure, so I cleaned my tape heads and checked all the cables. I even tried other movies and none had the hissing so only the tape was left. I tried the tape on another vcr and television with the same results.
It looks like the only way to get decent audio is with dvd, but apparently the video will be "fake" On the VHS the Video was ok but the audio sucked so if you want a copy better decide which is more important. I was very displeased since I loved the miniseries and really wanted a good copy. oh well....
Please hook me up with what you're smoking...
by
alexhmit01
·
· Score: 3
The movie was utter garbage. Evven the extra long uncut version is crap. It doesn't cover the story, it unpleasant to watch, and requires reading the book to know what is going on.
I love Dune, read it a few times, read the first four books (was rereading them a few months ago to finish the series, but real life interfered), used to play on DuneMUSH II for hourse on end. But I hate the move.
The mini-series hwoever, was extremely entertaining AND true to the story. It captured the feel and flavor of Dune. I truly feel that you saw Dune. Sure you missed out on the Mentats, the true importants of Dr. Yueh's deception, etc., however, the essence of Dune (a plot within a plot) was there.
Sure their was silly plotting to feminize Irulan, but the story was there. I felt that this was Dune.
I have it sitting on tape just waitting to get a Dune-watching together.
Another reason that this series rocked? The original movie was painful, and sucked. It was unpleasant to watch, and if you hadn't read Dune, don't bother. This was fun even if you hadn't. My girlfriend watched it with me, and afterwords, she finally picked up my copy of Dune to read. This was after months of my prodding.
This mini-series was good, and probably got people to read Dune that hadn't yet.
There's an interesting backstory to this DVD, about why it doesn't have the director's cut, anamorphic widescreen, decent special features, or Dolby Digital 5.1, as was originally advertised. You can read more about it here. The short version is the consumer got screwed by inter-studio bickering and inane licensing issues. Oh, and if you liked the series, save your money, because they'll be doing a special edition DVD soon.
-- "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" -Salvor Hardin
Slashdot Mirror
Oh yeah, and Star Wars isn't Science Fiction either.
Trolls throughout history:
Jonathan Swift
Besides, what does the MPAA have to do with this?
It wasn't a motion picture that was released in theaters or anything. It didn't get a rating so the MPAA had nothing to do with this.
Maybe you meant the DVD CCA?
Even then, it doesn't require their consent to make a DVD so they weren't involved there. The show was put on (I think) by the SciFi channel and they aren't part of the CCA so you're not supporting the CCA. It was distributed by Artisan Entertainment (which may be in the CCA, but I'm not sure), but they are a major place for independent films so you may want to support them.
Or maybe you are talking about the lack of legal DVD movie players for Linux?
I thought there finally was one. If not, I think you can use the new DeCSS program that was written in C to decode and play in real time which would make it fair use if you delete the copy you make of it everytime.
The only reason not to buy this DVD would be if you didn't like the show. The same goes for some foreign/anime films.
IANAL, but I play one on
1) The week before the airing, there were a few water-cooler conversations about the upcoming movie.
2) After it aired, nary a peep was heard.
If it was indeed a flop, it was a silent, unmourned one.
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
On the plus side, the religion in Dune makes a bit more sense than Co$. Maybe Herberts should have started a religion -- at least its copyrighted texts would be better written.
-----------------
------------
I guarantee that the viewer will not notice the difference! (At least, not in this movie...)
--
Well, when the Dune mini-series came out on VHS I rushed to get it ASAP since I don't get the scifi channel and unfortunately missed it. While I love the Move, the book and even the Mini Series I was really disappointed with the VHS quality. The whole 6 hour epic was shoved on one tape! They were to cheap to make it 2 or even three higher quality tapes which I would have gladly paid more for. The more you shove onto a tape the more the quality degrades. The video was ok, pretty clear, but it could have been better. The audio was horrible. I had to endure static and hissing through out the ENTIRE film. I was really disappointed because of that. It's not like it was a little hiss here and a couple of pops and cracks there. Instead it hissed the entire movie and not just a little soft hissing, very loud distracting hissing.
At first I thought it was equiptment failure, so I cleaned my tape heads and checked all the cables. I even tried other movies and none had the hissing so only the tape was left. I tried the tape on another vcr and television with the same results.
It looks like the only way to get decent audio is with dvd, but apparently the video will be "fake" On the VHS the Video was ok but the audio sucked so if you want a copy better decide which is more important. I was very displeased since I loved the miniseries and really wanted a good copy. oh well....
The movie was utter garbage. Evven the extra long uncut version is crap. It doesn't cover the story, it unpleasant to watch, and requires reading the book to know what is going on.
I love Dune, read it a few times, read the first four books (was rereading them a few months ago to finish the series, but real life interfered), used to play on DuneMUSH II for hourse on end. But I hate the move.
The mini-series hwoever, was extremely entertaining AND true to the story. It captured the feel and flavor of Dune. I truly feel that you saw Dune. Sure you missed out on the Mentats, the true importants of Dr. Yueh's deception, etc., however, the essence of Dune (a plot within a plot) was there.
Sure their was silly plotting to feminize Irulan, but the story was there. I felt that this was Dune.
I have it sitting on tape just waitting to get a Dune-watching together.
Another reason that this series rocked? The original movie was painful, and sucked. It was unpleasant to watch, and if you hadn't read Dune, don't bother. This was fun even if you hadn't. My girlfriend watched it with me, and afterwords, she finally picked up my copy of Dune to read. This was after months of my prodding.
This mini-series was good, and probably got people to read Dune that hadn't yet.
Alex
There's an interesting backstory to this DVD, about why it doesn't have the director's cut, anamorphic widescreen, decent special features, or Dolby Digital 5.1, as was originally advertised. You can read more about it here. The short version is the consumer got screwed by inter-studio bickering and inane licensing issues. Oh, and if you liked the series, save your money, because they'll be doing a special edition DVD soon.
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" -Salvor Hardin