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Sci-fi Channel's Children of Dune
jazdogg writes "Caught the trailer last night on the Sci-fi Channel for the new Frank Herbert's Children of Dune mini-series. I only hope this series is better than the previous one." I dunno - I liked the last Dune series, and am looking forward to this one.
Would anyone else besides me like to see Sci Fi channel concentrate more on adapting SF literature than on recent bad horror films?
I think it's exciting. IMHO nothing has yet quite captured the feeling of the book.
The last Dune Series was great... sure if you had watched the Lynch movie it wasn't the same, but Paul Atreides was cast better in the series than in the movie and all in all the casting was better.
I'm looking forward to seeing this must convince the housemates to TiVo it...
dune was only really inspired in the first novel.
beyond that, it got tired. Herbert even has selective memory of some things... in the first novel, Paul had a son he named Leto, but his son was killed.
Afterwards, when they have the twins (children of dune), they carry on as if that first child never existed (one of the twins is even named Leto).
It seems to me that the original Dune novel was intended to stand on it's own. Herbert gave into the pressure of his publishers and screwed up an otherwise perfect and mysterious universe by putting out a series of weirder and weirder sequels.
I never understood why people didn't like the Sci-Fi channel's Dune, especially since the movie was so mediocre. I liked the fact that it was more about the story than the special effects.
-
Given, the books are great, but could it be that these attempts to make TV series out of Herbert's work doing more harm than good? I mean just look at what over-commercialization has done to the Star Trek franchise?
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
I have this love-hate thing with David Lynch movies. Most of them I hate, but even in the bad ones, you can tell that Lynch is really working his ass off stylisticly.
I didn't read Dune before seeing the David Lynch version. I still thought that it was a hell of a movie, despite its many problems. (I hate Kyle Mclaughlin almost as much as I hate Ben Affleck.) Even having read Dune, the Sci-fi mini-series just left me flat up next to the sheer style of the first movie.
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The Sci-fi movies are going to make Dune the phenomenon it should be, the only problem is figuring out how a dune enthusiast is going to wear that huge metal collapsable wall that they show in the promos.
The last scifi channel dune series was better than the orignal movie, IMO. Among other things, they showed more of the story. And the chick was hot.
Did they do Messiah? Did I miss it?
I liked the last series, and I thought it was better than the Lynch movie, FWIW. I'll have to go back and watch it again now.
As I read the article, it seems to me (and please
flame/correct me if I am wrong) that this is not intended for the movie theatres, but intended for television.
I strongly feel that these type of movies should be on the big screen. Even if there is no decent plot (and I know the Dune will have a plot), magnificent scenes should be seen on a large screen in a decent, comfortable theatre.
I remember the original Dune. I loved some of the epic scens on the large screen in a decent theatre
with a good sound system. In fact, even though I am not a Dunnite and did not understand the plot, I still sat through it twice just for the scenery.
I later saw portions on a TV screen. The small screen does not do this type of movie justice. Only if someone has a decent home theatre type TV system with a dedicated room and good sound would a Dune type picture be worth putting on TV.
I really feel that these folks should release the series into theatres and then make it available via DVD/tape for the TV crowd.
I apoligize in advance if I read the article incorrectly.
Mark
Cleara
Paul had a son he named Leto, but his son was killed. Afterwards, when they have the twins (children of dune), they carry on as if that first child never existed (one of the twins is even named Leto).
Naming a child after a person who died is common in some fictional universes. In The Giver by Lois Lowry, after Caleb is killed in an accident, the people of the village name the next child Caleb. In effect, Caleb is dead; long live Caleb. Heck, look at Nickelodeon's The Adventures of Pete and Pete, where two living brothers have the same given name.
Then again, I've never read any of the Dune series. Leto's surname wasn't Haxor, was it?
Will I retire or break 10K?
Is it one of those SD Dune series spinoff that features miniature/younger/cartoon versions of original characters, aimed at younger audioance and toy sales, just like SD Gundam?
Dune is a part of the must-read list, as far as the first book. The movie/tv stuff paled in comparison.
Before I read another "is there no shame" post, herbert is getting what he deserves: paid. This guy has a trmendous imagination and the motivation to organize it. I support the commercialization of anything, because it means it's popular. Unlike free-as-in-beer software, there is a place for "selling out" as much as possible. Fiction has a commercial lifetime, and capturing the sweet spot is part of the game.
Let the Dune franchise flourish.
mug
Hopefully in this one they can at least get the shadows of live actors consistent with the shadows painted into the sets. It was so distracting to see 2 people with their shadows on their left standing in front of "beautiful desert scenery" with shadows on the right sides of the mountains.
"I thaw dat on duh T.B, so it mus be trooo!" (Booger-eatin' moron accent)
Nah...Leto II.b
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
Wasn't Children of Dune the third book in the saga? Are they planning on incorporating it with Dune Messiah (which would be more than a little tricky, IMO), or are they simply going to skip the second book?
first... this isn't really relevant, but i'll comment anyway.
there are no computers in dune. thus no operating systems.
if an inaccurate operating system ruins a movie NOT about computers for you.. i think its a sign that you need to get our of your basement more, and try appreciating that all the world does not have that crt glow
The sci-fi channel can't produce anything. This CoD will suck as bad as their remake of Dune did. They should not make things, but buy them already made from other people.
Eat at Joe's.
I never read the Dune story. Doesn't interest me. I *did*, however see the Davis Lynch movie. It was fine. Some of the special effects blew, but that was to be expected. Last year I see the Dune mini-series.
Or tried to. Paul came off as a whiney spoiled brat and the costumes were *clearly* stolen from Liberace's closet.
My friend and I got about one hour into it before we'd had enough and put on something worthwhile.
No, this is not flamebait ot trolling, I'm stating a viewpoint. My viewpoint is the mini-series and I', sure the sequels aren't worth the time from a casual fan POV.
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
....that this one has a budget of more than $20. I mean, last time SciFi did this, while the writing was pretty good, the acting (particularly Duke Leto) was like watching Al Gore. More than half the sets were sand filled soundstages with cheap backgrounds painted on the backgrounds.
Why was the second novel skipped? I sure hope they merged Messiah and Children together, otherwise there will be some SERIOUS plot holes and it will make as much sence as Lynch's version of Dune.
Maybe that's why they blew Duncan to peices in the first movie so they don't have to complicate things and bring him back as a ghola...
It was gay gay gay. Dune the movie was OK though.
Eat at Joe's.
You're a fool. A notable point in Dune is that there are no computers. In fact, Herbert explains that millenia before there was a robotic revolution, leading to a banning of computers of any sophistication. The Mentats are human computers, performing such calculations, although they are an industrial society. Spaceflight is accomplished through the mental powers of Navigators to bend space.
Your post was completely off-topic and irrelevant.
Sorry if this is harsh, but you shouldn't post just to post.
"Stumble before you crawl"
...was too...clean. I always thought of Arakis as a really dusty, grimy place...the mini-series /looked/ as if it was filmed on a clean soundstage.
And as for the acting...*sigh*.
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
that might be so, but in movies computers are generally supposed to work flawlesly(unless a computer problem is part of the plot) and any viewer is supposed to get a genreal idea of what the computer is being used for. you might enjoy watching the user search through man pages to then type some cryptic command, but most people prefer the use simply talking with the computer
another thing is that not everybody wants sci-fi movies to be realistic.
The Sci-Fi channel's versions are cool, if only to show that good storytelling nowadays doesn't require a $200 million budget. Yes, the backdrops in the first Dune series were obviously painted. Transcribing the story behind Dune to any multimedia format is exceedingly difficult, as so much of the story goes on in the characters' heads. Sci-Fi's version did a reasonable job of telling the story.
Look into the future, after the fall of the RIAA and MPAA, to a time when actors and sports stars make a wage commensurate with their offerings to society. You'll probably be lucky to see cinema half as elaborate as what you see in this telling of the story. More power to them.
How's my programming? Call 1-800-DEV-NULL
I just wish they had put some of this money into another season of farscape...
-- it's ridiculous how many people misspell ridiculous... (damn, damn, damn...)
The cast and backstory.
:)
Will Daniela Amavis become the next Natalie Portman?
Ash nazg durbatuluk, ash nazg gimbatul Ash nazg thrakatuluk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul
Its easy to understand why Sci-Fi would make a miniseries of Dune, since it's a great book. Were it not for Hollywood's sequel mentality, it would be a lot harder to understand why they're making a miniseries of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune (which Sci-Fi is mashing together for the Children of Dune miniseries), which are not great books by any stretch of the imagination.
Here's some advice for those who haven't read any of Herbert's many Dune sequels yet: Don't. Not only were they not as good as the original, they weren't even in the same league. If you ask just about any serious science fiction reader, they'll tell you the same thing: Read Dune, then STOP! Dune Messiah sucks, Children of Dune sucks less than Dune Messiah, but still isn't a tenth as good as the original, and God-Emperor of Dune sucks the farts out of dead cats.
If you can just pretend that Herbert never wrote anything after Dune, you'll avoid wasting your time reading inferior sequels and tarnishing your memories of the original.
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
. . .only the special effects were so bad as to detract from the quality of the film. They were tastelessly low-budget and a lot of it could be cut.
Say what you will, the Lynch version looked a lot more polished. Since this is a movie- a visual representation- I can't but be interested in the L&F of a film.
Also, I'd like to rehash the fat-Gurney observation. How hard-pressed were they?
Back in your box, River.
Those triangulated costumes were so off. Every article of clothing was super-flamboyant and incredibly off (esp., the Baron's red pyrimadal hats). Herbert gives very specific description on colors and styles that were totally ignored. Also, the iambic-pentameter was a little silly. The casting was lame. The acting diplorable. It captured only brief glimpses of the book (whereas, Lynch's Dune, at least, grabbed the "feel" of the book).
No...it's okay...I wasn't using my Civil Liberties anyway
Children of Dune was the third book in the series, wasn't it? What are they going to do about Dune Messiah. I read Dune Messiah and if I am not mistaken, Paul and his wife(the non princess one) both died in it(Paul was blinded and he walked off to die in the desert) and Duncan Idaho was brought back to life. How are they going to fit that into the story without having to do at least parts of Dune Messiah in flashbacks or something? Or are they just going to screw the story completely?
There's a growing sense that even if The Future comes,
most of us won't be able to afford it.
-- Lemmy
actually that is not true, the bending space (folding) was strictly for the movie. The navigators are able to use the spice to see slightly into the future, to know where things WILL be in space, and navigate around them before they are actualy there. You must be prescient to do this, as flight at those velocities would not allow you to react, so you must proactively steer your ship around where things WILL be in the future. Its not about folding space, its about seeing the future.
I reject your reality
How in the hell can this be off topic? Didn't you see the movie - by eating all that spice, it turned their hands blue. Cripes, mods, get a blue i mean clue.
I consider myself a fan of the series. I got started by seeing the Davis Lynch version of the film sometime in '89. That got me interested enough to read the books. In hindsight, the Lynchs' version isn't faithful as it could be. But it is loaded with style, good actors and great locations. As a stand-alone, it fares pretty well.
Now zip forward a decade or so and I keep hearing about Sci-Fi doing their version of "Dune". The majority of opinions I hear say it's pretty good. I eventually get around to renting the DVD, and you know what? I had to force myself to watch the whole thing. It's that bad. The costumes are lame (someone here made a comment about the costumes being stolen from "Liberace's closet". That's a pretty accurate statement.) Their use of soundstages are far too obvious (A lot of the backdrops look like they were painted by high-school kids.) and a majority of the acting was just piss-poor BAD. Whenever Alec Newman (Paul Atreides) spoke, I cringed as if someone were running their nails down a chalkboard. William Hurt slept through his role as Leto, seemingly there to collect a paycheck and nothing more. I could go on and on. But what I don't get is how I seem to be in the minority! Hey, if people want more "Dune" and Sci-Fi is willing to give it to 'em. So much the better. Just don't expect me to counting the days until the sequal airs.
First, you complain because you couldn't understand a film that tried to stuff a huge story into 2 hours, then you argue that film is the only way to do it justice.
Would anyone else besides me like to see Sci Fi channel concentrate more on adapting SF literature than on recent bad horror films?
Naw... I looking forward to Tremors: The Series... the 3 movies were quality cheese and I'm hoping the series is just as campy.
Lynch (Even moreso in the Alan Smithee version) took great liberty. You might say, Peter Jackson-type liberty, with Dune.
The thing with Lynch though is that he didn't destroy any characters. He glossed over many details, he may not have given certain characters enough detail, but, face it - adapting a novel to a movie does not work well. A good novel cannot now and will never be translated fairly into two and a half hours.
The only glaring part that stands out of Lynch's movie is the creation of 'Weirding Modules'. That's right, they never 'existed' in Herbert's tales. I can only assume that Lynch created them to provide a logical reason for the audience in regard to the Emperor betraying House Atreides.
In the books, it was quite simple, yet ridiculously not. The political and military reasons were supremely detailed and intricate, yet after reading them, anyone could see why the Emperor would see a need to eliminate House Atreides.
'sides, if you're willing to stretch things, the invention of weirding modules wasn't a horrible thing. In the books, the primary military reasoning for the destruction of House Atreides was that the Duke's commanders had trained their men to be near-equivalents of the Sardaukar. And indeed, some were possibly better.
The Imperial Crown's power existed *solely* because of the Sardaukar. Ignoring the checks and balances of the Guild and the Lansraad, they were, in theory, the supreme military force that none could dare stand against.
Hence, when House Atreides started producing a force equally potent, and also started gaining popularity in the Lansraad, the Crown did what anyone in power would do. Eliminate the competition before it becomes a real threat.
Anyhoo, I'm glossing over far too many details here. And the movie was forced to gloss over even these details. How could it not? People don't go to see movies with people sitting around plotting all day. They want action. Lynch had to give it to them. I believe he did it in a way that didn't quite do the novels justice - but it could've been much, much worse.
As it were, as for the casting whines that I see here, the Lynch movie had a far superior cast to the Sci-Fi miniseries. Max Von Sydow, Patrick Stewart, the guy whose name I can't remember who played Leto.. Sting! For the love of Bob, Sting was *perfect* as Feyd Rautha!
I'd kill to have Lynch do Messiah, Children, God Emperor, and the rest.
Right statement, wrong story.
YOU FAIL IT!
dude -- he was trolling. He just wasted your time. Click on his user name to pull up his user page; most of his postings are moderated down for trolling.
He's all happy now. "I wasted some peoples time!!"
I didn't like the last one, and yet I was drawn to it... Too big a fan of the series, I suppose.
The costumes were OK, but can someone PLEASE smack down the hat designer? The big floating sail covered with butterflies was a bit much, and every time Feyd walked onscreen with that ridiculous triangle behind his head, I had to start singing..
Triangle man, Triangle man...
seven two six five
seven four six one seven
two six four two e
Who needs Hollywood when your own offspring will milk your legacy until it withers and dies- oh, wait, it already HAS withered and died. I guess now the appropriate cliche would be "beating a dead Shai'Hulud" which is something many of you guys out there can relate to. Hoo hoo!
Further sequels from Hollywood:
The Color Of Dune: a pool shark hits Arrakis and comes within one step of hustling the trust deed to the palace. Muad'Dib manages to weirding his way around a tricky three ball combination to win the day. Stars Tom Cruise as the dumb guy.
Look Who's Taking Dune: Yet more children are exposed to their ancestral memories in the womb, and squirt their way out into the new world chatting up a storm and calling storms down from the skies. Stars John Travolta as the dumb guy.
Dune - The Revenge: Ravenous sand sharks infest the deserts of Arrakis. A malfunctioning transport full of children and Bene Gesserit nuns (or whatever) is stranded in the middle of the Great Erg, and hilarity ensues! Starring Owen Wilson as the dumb guy.
Dune 3 - Cruise Control: Muad-Dib must somehow rescue a band of Fremen from the back of a bezerk sandworm rigged to explode if it's speed drops below 50 mph! Starring Keanu Reeves as the really dumb guy.
Dune & Robin: Arrakis. Schumacher. Show tunes. Do the math. The horror... the horror...
The Quisatz Haderach's New Groove: Muad'Dib is transformed by a nanotech accident into a llama, and hilarity ensues.
ObBeowulf: Soon they will have enough sequels for a Beowulf cluster. Ha ha. :-\
--- Ban humanity.
Here's to hoping Sci Fi goes all the way to Chapterhouse.
It's not flamebait! It's based on hard facts and scientific research and shit!
Do you honestly believe that people will use anything resembling what we recognize as an 'operating system' or even a 'computer' in the year 10,000? Especially in a fictional world where 'thinking machines' are illegal? Just a thought.
I thought we were supposed to be boycotting the Sci-Fi Channel because they cancelled Farscape?
CowboyNeal is my Sci-Fi channel
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
Let see, that would be Sandy and Loam?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I think it's great that Dune fans finally get to see some Children of Dune in a tv series. It's always fun to watch something that you've read about millions of times.
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Check out Dune - Spice Opera. The links aren't working right now, but it seems the webmaster is working on it. You're guided to another site while s/he sort things out, but that one was very slow for me. Anyway, you might get the Spice Opera CD from Kazaa or something too.
:-/
I don't think it's something you can get from a store, or even order that easily.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Sorry, I completely forgot to mention that it's a soundtrack CD released by Exxos for the computer game Dune, but I think it matches the Dune "theme" remarkably well. You might not like all tunes in it, but I really like the sound of Ecolove and a few others. Pretty unique music style.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Stephen King's "IT" was just on the other day. What a great flick! What we must hope, however, is that they don't take "Dune" the movie to the level that "Oliver" the musical took Dickens's classic. I've just finished reading the latter, and plan to purchase and begin reading the former this evening. Oliver Twist is a fantastic book, yet the musical makes it look completely stupid. Case in point: the most famous scene of the musical (the close-up shot of the fat wide-eyed Beadle bellowing "MORE?!?!?!?!" into Oliver's face) never happens in the book. In the book, the Beadle just gets deathly silent (still wide-eyed) and whispers in shocked astonishment: "What did you say?" /. community (not).
I'm excited to read Dune. I know I'm lagging behind most of you, in that I haven't read it yet, but I'm excited to gain friends in the
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The last two books, which are basically one large book split into two pieces, "Heretics of Dune" and "Chapterhouse: Dune" are the best books in the series, which you didn't even mention. It takes place thousands of years after God Emperor and kicks ass in much the same style (though not in the same ways) as the original Dune. After the claustrophobia of the fourth book, the universe in the fifth and sixth book is too large for even any of the characters to understand.
If you're going to sit through God Emperor, at least get the payoff of reading the last two.
Personally, I think I'll pass on this mini-series. I didn't like Dune Messiah or Children of Dune nearly as much as Dune.
They just didn't have the same "spice" as the original.
"and the fact that the prequels, each one of them, are written better than Dune itself."
The prequels are entertaining, but they are hacks.
So I'll assume you're "Joshing" me.
"or maybe even the intelligence to follow Herbert's increasingly bizarre plot meanderings"
There were no bizarre plot meanderings in "Dune". Sequels are a different matter, but Dune holds up after repeated reads. It hangs together.
You probably like "Star Wars" "novels" and the worst abomination of them all... Anne McCaffrey novels.
There was great hype about the SCI FI Channel's production of Frank Herbert's Dune when it was released. I remember a great portion of SCI Fiction oriented websites were debating the merits/demerits of both productions with regards to Herbert's own literary work. I find it only natural that the debate would continue about the next production. Oddly enough, I find the Dune series (literary works) intriguing. Very rarely do you find the creation of such works so very rich with detail. So complete is the marriage of ecology, religion, political intrigue, and human nature into the fabric of the Dune series that there is virtually no gap in the story. The underpinnings and background of the Dune universe leave no question of "how", "why", or "who" in the story. I plan to reserve my comments on whether the new SCI FI mini-series will be good or bad until after I've seen the show. Besides, SCI FI could do much worse in picking a literary work to produce as a mini-series.
Anybody read the prequels by Brian Herbert? Thoughts?
To know is to have knowledge....to understand is to be enlightened.
I have read the first four books in the Dune series and seen both movies (I saw the series on video).
I would have to say that the series version is the worst. I fell asleep through the last little bit of it but woke up for the conclusion. I agree that the series followed the story a bit better than the Lynch version, the Lynch version followed the spirit of the book a lot better.
The series was completely emotionless. One example is when Leto dies and the Baron goes on this little intellectualized rant about how great it is to be alive while in the Lynch version, the Baron basically just screams, I AM ALIVE! The emotion of it is so much better. I was so disappointed with William Hurt's performance. He was so cardboard.
The conclusion of the series almost made me puke. The conclusion was that royalty will marry for political reason but will always love their mistress better. That was such a stupid conclusion to the movie. Herbert did deal with marriage and royalty but I think that he was more concerned with Paul's transformation and the status of Arakis in his conclusion. The Lynch version ends with rain and water, which was more pertinent.
As for the casting, I think Lynch did a better job. The actors were just so much more real and emotionally involved. I think they really got into their roles. Kyle MacLachlan was on Konan one a coulple of years ago promoting something. He was doing quotes from Dune with Konan. He obviously loved doing Dune.
I can understand why some people would not like Lynch's version but I have no idea how anyone could like the series. It was really a piece of crap. It bastardized the spirit of Dune.
Have any of you seen the cartoon intro to the Lynch version? On video it always comes with the Princess Irulan intro but one time when it was playing on TV, it had a cartoon intro. I thought the cartoon intro was very cool, it explained the background to the story quite well such as the Butlerian Jihad so that people who had not read the book would know why the technology was as such.
actually, navigators don't bend space, machines bend space. Navigators use their prescience to pick the right path through space, hence them being called navigators.
Like some people, I watched the David Lynch movie before I read the book. In fact, I read the book more or less concurrently with the showing of the miniseries. All in all, screenplay-wise, the miniseries was much more faithful to the book, and the casting was generally better. I really do want to like the miniseries more than the movie... however, I'm having difficulty.
This may sound shallow, but what absolutely DESTROYED the miniseries for me were the desert scenes. I can understand that some scenes have to be done on sound stages. However, those backdrops couldn't have been more obvious if they had painted images of Tux the Penguin on them. I watched those scenes, and all I could see were those damned backdrops. I never felt I was watching characters on Arrakis. I was watching characters on a cheap Hollywood soundstage pretending to be Arrakis.
I remember reading somewhere that they intentionally did that, to make it seem more unreal. Well, guess what, guys? It didn't just look unreal, it looked FAKE. I'll watch Children of Dune, but I seriously hope they learned from their past mistakes.
Just my $.02...
The first one was awesome compared to most TV adaptations...sure beat the hell out of David Lynch's version.
for example, the king of pop has 2 sons named Prince. George Forman has several sons named George. I think (but am FAR from certain) that Prince and his wife named their second child after their first one, who died before or very soon after birth. If I am wrong about that last one, all apologies, I am not in a position to research it at this moment.
The truth doesn't care what I think.
Then your really going to dislike the rest of the books. I only got through the first 3 books. At the end of the 3rd Pauls son, Leto, becomes a god-worm...no shit. Then from what I understand, he rules the known universe for 10,000 years and then destroys mankinds space-farring ability...and dies. It's all about Messiahs. Hell, the second book is called "Dune Messiah".
Do yourself a favor and go find a book called "The Many Colored Land" by Julian May. It's 1 of 9...Easier reading than Herbert, but not lacking in the details. It's like Lord of the Rings meets Dune meets Star Wars, only better.
If only someone could combine the Sci-Fi channel's adaptation with the Lynch movie's special effects and costuming. Ya gotta admit those pannels behind everyone's head were a bit much, and the S.T.T.O.G. sets were just lame. (Exepected one of the foam rocks to fall over at any second.) But the adaptation from the book was MUCH more faithful than the Lynch film.
As far as the books themselves go, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune were not Herber's best works, mereley prequels to his next great accomplishment, God Emperor Dune.
God Emperor would rock as a movie. (If done correctly.)
"That's no moon"... Obi-Wan Kenobi
When this was first announced, it was said that Zelazny's Amber Chronicles were to be made into a series as well.. Does anyone have any more information on that?
...the above post must be moderated (-1 Deadpan).
Spice! Get it??! ROFLOLOLOL!!!$@#$^
That's the funniest fucking thing I've read all yea....oh wait, actually that's not funny at all. In fact that is about as funny as mass genocide.
Is it supposed to be some play on the spice channel vs the scifi channel? Is there some obscure spice reference in this show that you're pointing out ?
Geeze, we're talking about a low-budget production by a basic-cable channel. If you were expecting a special-effects extravaganza, then you were obviously going in with a complete lack of clue. Hell, I was impressed by the mere fact that they tried to show sandworms! :)
:)
What I was hoping for (and what I got) from the SciFi Channel version was focus on the story. The Lynch version was incoherent and confusing, and all the fancy FX merely distracted from and obscured what little bits of the story he had left in. If I want fancy FX, I'll go watch the latest Lucas potboiler. But in general, I'd rather have unconvincing backdrops and a good script than the most realistic computer-generated Jar-Jar.
Even compared to Lynches version, the Miniseries did a while hell of a lot more wrong. The guild ships MOVED? Sorry, they just move through TIME, they dont create warps and fly into them. They are always stationary. They are also HOLLOW, not wide open. Guild Navigators were also horribly incorrect, Lynch was spot on from the novels. It's been a while since i've seen the Miniseries, but I remember nearly every character had a fatal flaw (Outside of the terrible acting) that ruined the series because the screenwriter forgot to actually read the damn novel.
Farscape wasn't that bad! :)
...which is a solitary star like our own sun.
Regardless of whether you liked the prior mini-series or not, wouldn't you hope that the new series will be better than the last?
I don't think anyone out there wants the new series to be worse than the prior series.
"Yeah, I want the series to suck!"
The costumes were the worst part about the series. The still suits were cloth! Like that'd stand up in a sand storm...as if!
The second worst was that the Sietch walls were natural instead of carved. The book made it quite clear that the Sietch's were carved out of living rock. At least Lynch got those aspects right.
All Lynch did was change 3 things; Spice makes you fold space instead of seeing into the future, the Weirding Way was a force instead of a teaching, and Ornithopters don't have flappy wings.
I can't help but wonder if Farscape's budget went to fund this. If it is anything like Taken, they made the wrong choice. Be prepared to see this on SFC at least 4 times a month for the next 3 years if not longer.
Str8Dog
using System.Darkside; public
Mainly because it went into more detail about the houses. Lynch made a very pretty Dune and stylish but I didn't get the sense of the politics of what man was capable of or rather incapable of. After thousands of years man is still being controlled from a few rather than from the many we've become pawns in political infighting and religion still controls are destiny.
The miniseries brought this out whereas the movie was pretty but very little substance. I'd take substance over beauty everyday!
I can't wait for the next miniseries.
Save Pangaea!! Stop Continental Drift!!
I just finished reading Children of Dune and if the mini series can get Leto in his sand trout stil suit correct then it will be worth it. So far my only problem is that they consolidated the second two books. Bastards.
No sure what is you point about the still suits - were they supposed to be made out of high-tech microfiber with nanoprobes? I wonder how does arabs survived centuries in Sahara with cloth. These are fremen - extremely low tech. Anyway nothing can stand up in sand storm even fremen find shelter.
p g
;-)
There were numerous carving in the sietch - gods and stuff. Posssible example here
http://www.scifi.com/dune/images/desktop4.j
I did not attack Lynch's changes but rather his tacky even kitschy style. I find the visuals of his version of Dune fugly. It is like comparing Apple Aqua to RedHat 5.0
Well, I have heard about this for some time, but I never manage to be watching sci-fi when they have the ad for this on, so I have no idea when it is. Anyone actually bother to find out so that they can enlighten me?
I started watching the Dune mini-series. Some dialogues were close to the book but a lot more were distorted, included with some actions.
Princess Irulan showing up in Arrakis in THAT dinner and flirting with Paul was too much for me.
I really hope this sequel does well enough that they can justify continuing the miniseries further.
My favorite Dune books are Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune. The thought of seeing them really makes me very, very thrilled.
Dude, Where's my Sandworm?!
Kineska: Cinema, soapbox, music & musings
Messiah and Children are the weak middle and I'm glad Sci-Fi Channel is combining them to pick up the pace. God Emperor is just a big bunch of fun starring the best blowhard since Jubal Harshaw. Heretics and Chapterhouse are likewise enjoyable and even at times profound.
So you, dear reader, can calibrate for my biases, let me expose myself. For me, a good sequel is one which adds depth to the first book (so I'm the kind of person who considers The Silmarillion to be important, but not exactly coherent enough to be "a book"). I don't expect to have the same kind of experience as when reading the original. I pretty much expect "weak middles" maybe I shouldn't be so tolerant.
The two Brian Herbert/Kevin Anderson books I read were worthless. Any real Dune-head can daydream better Dune stuff at will.
Frank Herbert's last three books in the series are a good place to leave it. Yeah, so there are better books to read, but not many of them are sequels. If you're in a sequel/series mood, God Emperor, Heretics, and Chapterhouse are just fine.
Obviously, the Lynch movie was way better because of Sting. I mean, who can forget "I WILL kill yooou!" Classic.
bad horror is cheaper to replay rather than producing your own programming. scifi channel couldn't afford a program like farscape, so it's doubtful they will do too much unique programming...
Large print giveth, and the small print taketh away
I only hope this series is better than the previous one
...)
Better is always good. (Wait, no ! What I'm saying ? 'Better' is the foe of 'good' ! Whatever
I liked the mini serie. I've read the whole books a few months ago, then watched Lynch's movie and didn't liked it at all. I think the mini-serie is more accurate (still with some twisted facts, but it didn't hurted me as much as the "LoTR" interpretation.)
Irrelevant news and morons using moderation to mod down what they disagree on. 2018 resolution: so long.
i wonder when they are going to be showing the first series in australia?
I know you are psychotic, but please make an effort.
I think Lynch got a lot closer to breaking paradigms in his production design and it was more elegant...very original I thought. Probably reflects budgets. It's a matter of taste I guess. I liked the book, Lynch's movie, and the series all about the same. Each one had something a little different to bring to the table.
YBHT.
Anybody read the prequels by Brian Herbert? Thoughts?
Yes, I've read them both, the "Prelude to Dune" trilogy as well as the first book of the "Legends of Dune" trilogy.
Well, the "Prelude..." was really intersting, but slightly less dense and exciting as the original work. But it was a really good read nevertheless.
The "Legend..." trilogy however is a completely different story. Judging from the first book and the outlook to the remaining two, the idea seems to be to introduce everything that exists in Frank Herberts universe, really everything. It seems strange to me that in all those tenthousands of years, nothing happens and suddently the Suk doctors and the Bene Gesserit and the Mentats and every other freak club^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H guild just pops into existence. And everything and everybody is connected by a very limited group of places and characters, with the authors having such a rush...
So no, I don't want to see the "Prelude..."/"Legend..." works to be used for film or TV mini-series/episodes whatever. I wish Brian Herbert and Kevein J Anderson had stopped after completing the "Prelude" trilogy.
Excellence: Moderate (mostly affected by comments on your karma)
For some insight on why the film looks the way it does, perhapse you should hit the library and look for an art book by H.R.Giger "H.R.Giger's Dune" or something like that. He did almost all the set and character designs based off of the book, and a lot of his vision was used in the film, but toned down a lot.
"Many machines on Ix...New machines. Better then the ones on Richesse"
Ix was as I recall the only planet left that had substantial computerized technology.