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Sci-Fi Channel Making Dune Miniseries
devphil writes "Variety is reporting that the Sci-Fi channel is producing a six-hour, three-part Dune miniseries to air next October. The Yahoo article is
here." Mmmmm. Sure hope it's better than the Dune movie was.
I saw the film in the theater way back when it was released (Imperial Six, T.O.), and on video and T.V. a few times. One time though I remember seeing a longer version on WUTV in Buffalo. Does anyone have any info on the extended version?
Tom
HEY !! no hold on here a minute .
DUNE , the movie was a fine film .
It was ( in my opinion ) very true to the story and the feel of Herberts universe .
Bash it again and feel my Gom Jabbar , buddy .
(The four hour was better for people that hadn't read the book )
Your Squire
squireson
Important Science fiction ( such as anything written by Herbert or Penrose ) that focuses on sociology and how people's interactions are modified by technology or the lack of it is very important to a large number of nerds .
How can we discount ( as unworthy of discussion ) the effects our working medium has on other people?
Your Squire
squireson
I barely tolerated it at first, but seeing the longer cut a couple of times on TV gave me more appreciation for it vis-a-vis the book (which I love and have read many times).
Can't remember the original version so well anymore, but it seemed as though some of my favorite scenes from the book weren't in it, but were in the long version.
The long version also gave me much more appreciation for Kyle MacLachlan (sp?) in the lead role -- who I thought was a lousy choice at first.
I even have the soundtrack, and enjoy most of that (despite not having heard anything else by Toto I thought was worth buying).
So while a new series on Sci-Fi might be a great thing, I don't feel it'll automatically be better than the movie, especially given some of the other great aspects of the movie (e.g. some of the "lesser" roles -- gotta admit, it's a bit strange watching Patrick Stewart in Dune now compared to before his doing ST:TNG).
Wish 'em all well, though, and might even tune in, since I can get Sci-Fi (though with some hassle, as it's scrambled, requiring me to actually use my cable box to tune it in instead of my VCR/TV setup...thank goodness for the convenient A/B switch I finally installed, mainly to watch MST3K).
Practice random senselessness and act kind of beautiful.
In true geek fashion, several years ago, I was looking at the boob-tube, trying to find something to watch on a Sunday Afternoon.
The main attraction was the Super-Bowl. I surfed the other channels, and I saw the opening of Dune.
The only thing... It wasn't the live picture of Princess Irulan, but a male voice and book illustrations.
I then watched the full 3+ hour, commercial-free show. (Who's going to buy ad time against the Super Bowl?) It was great.
I was watching the Sci-Fi channel last month and stumbled into the beginning of the same cut. I threw in a tape and figured I'd just catch what I could. Then it re-ran, so I have the entire show. Hot damn.
At Media Play I looked at the DVD package, but it's running time was the same as the short version video tape.
I hear that the original cut was 6+ hours, and was shown at a couple of SF conventions. I haven't any proof, though.
Also, a new book was just written by Frank's son, based on his father's notes. Don't know yet if it's a good read or not.
My 2 liters
hanzie
********* sig: If you don't like the law, get filthy stinking rich, and buy a better one.
"it's a bit strange watching Patrick Stewart in Dune now compared to before his doing ST:TNG)."
Actually, it's a bit strange hearing anyone say "Young pup!!", especially Patrick Stewart.
Corollary to Moore's Law: The IQ of new computer owners is declining.
The seventh book in the Dune series is out in case anyone hadn't heard .
...
It is called 'House Atreides' and is written by Brian Herbert ( Franks son ) and *mumblemumble* Anderson .
It is a lighter read and is wonderful in that it shows some of the more prominent 'races' in their less developed stages . Bene Gesserit are still more or less Human in this prequel etc
Highly recomended . Also there is a note in side the book that Dune7 will follow ( that is the title that Frank Herbert held for the sequel to Chapterhouse )
Your Squire
sqruireson
The main weakness of the the theatrical adaptation was its attempt to sum up as many of the books in the series as it could in three hours. Unless the Sci-Fi version paces its miniseries to cover more depth in its storytelling, it will be nothing more than an adaptation twice as long as its predecessor, yet with the same abridged plotline.
When David Lynch made DUNE, it was too long. The Final cut was a brutal one and the movie sucked as a result (so much so that Lynch had his name removed from it). I would like to see the whole thing but probally never will. It would have been great to get in Lynch and have him cut up his origional into 6 pieces for the attention challanged. but alas... Frank Herbert who worked on the film with Lynch encapsulates the problem with this quote: "Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo) spent a couple of million dollars in pre-production of his version. He even hired Salvador Dali as his production designer. Nothing ever happened. I'm not quite sure why it fizzled. Without exaggeration, his script would have made an eleven-or-twelve-hour movie. It was the size of a phonebook. It was pretty anti-Catholic, too." Frank Herbert
There are two versions of the DUNE movie. Well, really there are more, but just two important ones. There is a "short" one, like 2 and half hours, which was shown in theaters and is out on tape, and it credits David Lynch as director. There is a 3 hour version, which came out on TV and was reshown by the sci-fi channel recently, that has David Lynch's name removed and credits Alan Smithee.
Several years before the David Lynch Dune, there was a plan to make a Dune movie. This is the one that had HR Giger and Salvador Dali for artwork and Pink Floyd for music. After Jodorowsky spent several million and had nothing to show for it, Hollywood canned it.
I've seen the movie (2h-version) a couple of times and thinks it's quite good actually. The movie is strange, somewhat confusing and the characters are weird, just the way I like it.
Maybe not too faithful to the book but this is still one of the best SF-movies out there.
I saw the twenty-seven hour version that was only released in Burkino Faso. It was good, but there were a few things I didn't remember from the book, like the dwarf^H^H^H^H^H short person telling Stilgar in a dream that Paul was the One.
I wouldn't mind seeing the miniseries; the first book was incredibly awesome, two could have been better and longer, and the rest... well, I didn't rush out to buy the latest sequel.
It looks like Herbert Jr. is going to do a Christopher Tolkien; I look forward over the next decade to reading the secret writing of the Bene Gesserit Volume 8 : The origin of the Kwisatz Haderach myths.
*GASP* you didn't like the movie?!? I watched that thing like four times! Dune rules and Sci Fi is gettintg better... They used to only play crappy rerun shows but now they gots da goods... Farscape is one of the finest shows I've seen in awhile. I still have to kick their asses for cancelling MST3K though.
If you think you know what the hell is really going on you're probably full of shit.
If you think you know what the hell is really going on you're probably full of shit.
jdube is who I am.
ok, so there are a ton of things that go missing from the book to the movie. but. think of this. the only reason i read the book and all the subsequent books was because i saw the movie. I also happen to have the three issue comic version. Of course if i could get my hands on the full blown movie i would go apesh*t. Now we can knock the movie sure but that could potentially turn others away from herbert altogether. And lastly (thought i would go on forever didn't you) without the movie some people would never get an idea of Herbert. They might just go on thinking that the only sci-fi in the world revolves around the Enterprise and is fought with light sabers. Frankly (no pun intended) I'd take a bad Dune movie over a good Star Wars flick any day (especially the new ones) Star wars is good for the kiddies but gimmes a break.
-
Dune was the first Adult SF novel I read, way back when wheels were square. It was and still is my favorite book. Frankly, the movie had some good bits, but I just about puked when I saw them training soldiers how to use the, ah, um, (God, am I getting senile...) sonic thing. I don't remember any such device in the novel. What i ~do~ remember is wanting to get my hands on some "spice", mainly to see if it was as good as LSD...
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--- Think of it as evolution in action ---
I hope the series gives out more background information than the movie. The greatest failing of the movie, in mine honest opinion, was that it attempted to achieve its atmosphere through whiz-bang special effects instead of through good storytelling. I found myself wondering "What's in the box?" and "Who exactly is Captain Picard/Sting playing again?" throughout the feature.
Once I actually read the book, the movie was much more enjoyable, as I could finally sit back and watch it without wondering what everything meant. Here's hoping I won't need the book for the series!
On an almost unrelated note, I've got this annoying feeling that our good friend Iain from "Star Wars" should be playing the Emperor instead of this Giannini guy--and not just because of the title! As Palpatine, he had almost exactly the character I'd expect for this role. 8)
-W-
Is it all journey, or is there landfall?
--Ellison & van Vogt, 'The Human Operators'
I have heard of this version... Yet all other information I have seen has only indicated the ~2 hour video release, and the three hour television release. Do you have any furthur information on the 27 hour version you mentioned?
I have only seen the video version, and I always thought it's greatest weakness was attemption to summarize Paul's time with the Freman in what seemed like five minutes. I believe they would have done much better, for a two hour movie, to completely eliminate that part, and simply have Paul disapearing into the desert as a child (my other complaint about the movie... Why the same actor??? Paul shouldn't be 27 when he sticks his hand in the box...), and then skipping to the end of the movie, with Paul older, leaving what happened in the time he was gone left to the book. If it was done right, I think this could have been a really nice, reasonably lengthed film.
When I saw the movie, I thought they did a great job on the end, and I probably would have liked the beginning better if I hadn't been mad at Paul being far, far too old.
MetallicBurgundy
Give me a break. The movie sucked.
The stillsuits looked like Batman and Robin rubber-fetish gear, and they had to tie the whole incoherent mess together with Irulan narrating the story.
The stupidest thing of all, it *rained* at the end.
This story is *always* going to suck if you try to cram it into two hours. A six-hour miniseries *might* do it justice.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
I always thought that was a pretty good movie.
"I WILL kill you" - Sting
Finkployd
Butlerian Jihad One thing that folks seem to forget is that the whole Dune galactic civilization is the aftermath of a total revolt against "machines in the likeness of humans". Hence, mentats etc. - sgage
I purchased the long version from Revok in Canada. (http://www.revok.com).
Unfortunately, I cannot judge my version verses the US theatrical release, as it's been SOOO long since I've seen the short one.
The best place for information about the long version is above. (However, I'd be glad to add to it, if anyone has any questions).
I recommend Revok quite well, however DO realize that most of what they sell are vid transfers of things that are not available in the states by US distributors. (For further information about this, read their FAQ).
I'm just stating this because sometimes the picture quality can get a bit weak in some of their products. The transfer of Dune is quite good, though.
The theatrical adaptation only had plot from the first novel.
However, I think you might be confusing the fact that at one point the film version was possibly going to be a trilogy....for the first book.
Oooohh! Will it have Sting in it ? Will it ? Will it ?
And Kyle MacLachlan ? OOOOh, yes, yes yes yes !
"Is that Patrick Stewart, or has someone thrown a chair on-set ?"
By this I mean fremen=arabs, spice=oil, strong religious motivation. I think the movie came out on or about the gulf war so these resonances ran contrary to contemporary western patriotism, though it should have done OK in iraq. All that genetic manipulation was a bit sus, though good fun of course. The best thing about it was the way people could be trained to beat any computer.
The problem that I have with the Dune series is that Frank Herbert didn't fully follow the implications of his world. He wanted a feudalistic society, but with modern "stuff".
Unlike guys like Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Robert Heinlein, et. al. who come up with a world, then go back an make sure it hangs together, Frank Herbert makes these hodge-podge worlds that would fall apart at the slightest disruption.
Sorry, I'm not inpressed.
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In this context, the movie is great! Princess Irulan's prolog sums up things perfickly, and off we go into the wild blue-tinted yonder.
On the other hand, if you've never seen the book, then film-only "literacy" bites you on the ass at this flick.
Can anyone find a transcript of what Thufir Hawat is saying into the mike when the attack is brewing ? It sounds way cool, very much like he's a stand-in for computers after the Butlerian Jihad. I just wish I knew what the heck he was saying.
I really liked the orginal movie. Sure it's not exactly accurate to the book, but when making a book of that maganatude into a movie you tend to lose something in the translation.
"When I look down I miss all the good stuff, When I look up I trip over things..."-Ani DiFranco
As far as Space travel & spice were concerned, Dune mentioesn somewhere that other methods of space travel existed, but that this was the only safe one. Again other drugs were used to give Guild Navigtors prescience, but again Spice is much more effective [as well as bing addictive and fatal if you don't keep taking it].
Shields *did* protect large emplacements [specifically the ducal palace], and AFAIK didn't necessarily kill the laser gunner - but the action of a laser hitting a shield causes a nuclear explosion, which was not good for anyone in the vicinity. However large emplacements were still vulnerable to infantry attack, and since most defensive weapons would also be stopped by shields, the benefit of large fortifications would perhaps be reduced.
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
One thing that is good is that the miniseries format is far more suitable for a novel of this scope than is a film. There have been several miniseries based on novels that have worked out very well, the ones that immediately stick in my mind are 'I, Claudius', based on the novels by Robert Graves, and of course the magnificent 'Smiley's People' starring Sir Alec Guiness, based on the John LeCarre novel of the same name.
I know it is a bit much to expect that Dune will be done at the same level (I think that these two miniseries are the best things ever shown on television) - I am especially concerned that three two hour segments is not enough. But it could easily be better than the movie.
By the way, I first read Dune in the original form published in the old large format Analog magazine when I was in my late teens. The Dune illustrations in Analog by John Schoenherr are still by far the best IMHO. Analog of that era was generally awesome, too.
space.com ran a series of articles about Dune some time back, including one about the mini-series. Go here for a complete list of their Dune stories.
Come on, given that it was an attempt to cram
a sweeping epic into (checking my video [1]) 2 hr
17 minutes is a tough job. Watch it a couple
of times. As another poster said, it grows
on you[2]. And as a Twin Peaks fan, seeking Kyle
is great. Plus Cpt Piccard, is in it, and
Lady Jessica is pretty hot.
- ac
[1] Hey, we got a color tv this summer so now
I can watch the tape in COLOR! This afternoon
is shot...
[2] Or you will decide it is awful and hate it
more each time you watch it.
The army using sound was mentioned in the book. They never used the actual wierding modules, but as I recall, when Paul and Jessica meet Stilgar for the first time, the same agreement is made in the book regarding teaching the Fremen to use it. I think the movie put far more significance (SP) on it than the book did, but it was mentioned. Other than that the movie was pretty good, turning a serveral hundred page book into a two hour movie means that a lot of things are going to get cut out or done poorly. Several other things that I thought were important were left out also. For instance, Paul being trained as a mentat, and the fact the Thufir Hawat was not only a mentat but also the Master of Asassins. One of the lines that sticks out in my mind from the book is by The Lady Jessica, "Where Thufirs Hawat goes, Death and destruction follow." Anyway, the book is at near the top of my list and the movie was not too bad, though I would give almost anything to see the original 6 hour version.
Hockey - Canada's gift to the world
Take that back! You must've been intoxicated seeing as Dune was awesome. Sean Young made it all worthwhile herself alone.
They've GOT to cast Patrick Stewart back. I mean, he hasn't been in anyting GOOD lately. I think it would bolster his position in the Sci-Fi realm - show that he can play OTHER Sci-Fi roles other than my fav - Cpatin Picard. Ok, the Christmas Carol stuff was good, and so was the Tempest, but I think it'd be great to see hime reprise some older roles.
DUNE is a needlessly Byzantine overblown lump of pseudological buzz. As a science fiction fan who is friends with several SF writers, I felt DUNE was a vastly overrated work which devoured much of the rest of Herbert's working lifetime due to its tremendous popularity. However, Herbert's most effective novel is still his first, known variously as UNDER PRESSURE or DRAGON IN THE SEA, published in 1965 or so, shortly before DUNE. Set in a then near future of depleted oil reserves and sereptitious superpower resource wars, the novel is set mostly on board a four man minisub returning stolen oil to the West. One man on board is a traitor. Another is an undercover psychologist trying to figure out which of the other three is the traitor. Such early promise is replaced in DUNE by hollow profundity and stupid mistakes - in DUNE MESSIAH, for example, the ghola Duncan Idaho uses the secret Atreides sereptitious gestural language to communicate with the late Duke Leto's concubine the Lady Jessica, both knowing that they are being observed by her daughter, the Abomination St.Alia of the Knife, whom they know remembers everything known to each of her ancestors up to the time of their parents' respective conceptions, and hence would know this secret Atreides sereptitious gestural language both through her father, Duke Leto as well as through the Lady Jessica if she'd learned it by the time that she'd conceived St. Alia while Paul was already a teenager. See what I mean? All flash and no bang, as the SAS antiterrorists say. Well, Frank Herbert was hardly the only writer to get sidetracked by commercial success. It's our fault: if we keep buying crap, more will be produced to meet the market. Demand better!
Well, I totally dig the movie.
It's a unique vision of a sci-fi classic. I saw the movie long before I read the book, so I was happy to see more detail in the books. I expected that a LOT was left out of the book, because the thing's like ca. 600 pages long.
However, having read the whole series, I was totally bored by #4, Oy that was some BAD writing!
However, ChapterHouse Dune more than made up for it.
There's actually a two-part chronicle of the different versions in "Video Watchdog" which I highly recommend of you're totally into tracking the different versions and why.
Personallu, I'll take the original theatrical release.
Pope
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
The problems with the original was very bad special effects, bad script and bad editing.
But the casting was near perfect as far as I'm concerned, the direction of the cast was good too. The art direction was great!
But some books just don't translate well into movies.
I love him with all my heart and soul, but keep him away from this baby. I'm still glad he never directed RotJ.
my name is a killing word indeed.
when Push Comes to Shove
W/o the stupid weirding modules and 80's induced editing of most of the drug references and implications (amazing that you can watch the whole film and never be hit in the head that this is a DRUG movie) this film would have worked - also minus the lame voice over. What I would have done (unheard of in the 80's) would be to make a 45 minute pre movie or long trailer explaining the background and hyping the movie at the same time. This could have avoided a hell of a lot of plot mangling and lame dialog. Visually the film was 80% on target except largely for the comical and totally laughable Harkonnens...more faults come to mind, maybe the movie did suck... I fully expect the SCIFI network to make an even worse film, their track record is low budget cheesy space opera crap...this is a book (like Cronenberg's lamentable adaptations - hey maybe HE should have stepped in for Lynch in '83!) that is never going to make a successful filmic translation. It should be left alone, truely excellent science fiction (and there's not much of it on the level of 'Dune' - Delaney is one of the few others who transcend genre to such a degree...) is far to intelelctually rich to escape Hollywood's inevitable Buck-Rogerization/Lucasification (Star Wars - what utter excrement!) http://www.linuxstart.com/~prion
DUNE as you may or may not know is not only a movie, and a book, but a six book series that Frank Herbert wrote. The series is absolutely fantastic. Yeah, books 3 and 4 are kinda slow but 1,2,5 & 6 make up for it.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is Herbert wrote an awesome world and a fantastic story around the planet Dune. I understand Dune the movie got a lot of complaints from movie goers, but that is probably because they couldn't appreciate the wonderful world Herbert had created.
It is a clear case of one of those movies - to really convey the wonder of the story - would have to be 4-5 hours long. But audiences don't sit for that long so Lynch had to do the best he could in the limited screen time. If I had never read the book I would probably think it sucked too.
As it is, I read the book, and I think the movie is a fantastic visualization of the main parts of one of the most fantastic epic Sci-Fi stories ever written.
-- Long live the fighters!
BTW: Anybody realize that my pseudonym is a Dune reference? (Just not book 1).
The only ones who *ever* copied the BG powers was Paul, Alia, and Leto.
Essentially the BG had developed an advanced yoga/chi physiological training for the human body, as well as tapping into 'spiritual' psychological threads of the human psyche.
They had tremendous control over themselves, and because they knew the human body and psyche so well, had tremendous control over others.
With the help of spice, they also had prescient powers.
The Honored Matres, if I recall correctly, had, by and large, some degree of physical control over their own bodies, but without access to the spice, had no prescience and did not have the true ability of controlling others through Voice.
They did have drugs, of course, but they had little in the way of powers compared to the BG or any of the KHs.
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
I really don't have high hopes for this version of the movie, either. The problem is that motion picture studios insist on reducing a complex drama exploring philosophical, political and sociological issues down to a simple good guys vs. bad guys plot, then adding special effects. Presumably, they do this to increase its popularity at the box office. However, this oversimplification does a great disservice to the original story. In a well-written sci-fi story (as I believe the Dune series is), the future setting and advanced technology are literary tools used to create a framework for examining whatever issues the author wishes to study. To reduce this to mere melodrama is to excise whatever literary value the original novel may have possessed.
I'm afraid I don't really expect much out of a visual representation of the series. The problem is that Dune is a very internalized, very intellectual series. It's been a while since I've seen the movie (I watched it once and hated it), but I believe that it failed because it's very difficult to visualize the thoughts going through a character's head. They could try adding voiceovers to add that component in, but again, so much of it happens that every scene would take forever as each character individually voices his or her thoughts. Not only that, it would probably begin to grate on the nerves after a while. Despite all the above, I'll still probably watch the miniseries just on the off chance that it does succeed. Dune has to rate as the most extraordinary piece of science fiction I've ever read, and a well done TV movie version, even if it doesn't match up to the book, would still be a treat.
You can read about Jodorowsky's Dune here: http://www.hotweird.com/jodorowsky/dune.html There is some fascinating concept art from HR Giger, as well as an incoherent ramble by Jodorowski. If I remember correctly, Herbert and Jodorowski had serious disagreements over the script... I think Jodorowsky wanted Duke Leto to be castrated onscreen, or some such nonsense. Ridley Scott (see Alien, Bladerunner) was also considered for the director's chair, and would have likely been the best choice for it, considering the alternatives.
I read the book(s) years ago and last saw the movie about 10 years ago. I thought the movie was pretty good, the problem is that science fiction, for the most part, does not make for good movies. Most good science fiction deals with ideas and alien ideas at that. What I would like to hear would be a really good radio dramatization of Dune. Present the story and let the imagination fill in the pictures. The sand worms in Dune are better imagined than seen.
A good example is the wonderful radio version of Star Wars done by NPR. Even better are the Ruby stories done by ZBS (www.zbs.org I think) and the Jack Flanders fantisies also by ZBS.
Radio beats video for coding, every time? Note that I am describing dramatizations, not readings. A good dramatization can bring even a dull story to life
steemheet@hotmail.com
Yep... the gunner gets it also in the
lasgun/shield interaction.
When I first saw the movie, I was at base Borden (Canada). It started with the Princess (which I missed most of because I was buying popcorn), and included a scene I've never seen anywhere else... The Shadout Mapes presents Jessica with a worm tooth dagger. She descibes how the dagger is a living and holy thing, and requires blood. Mapes then exposes her chest, and offers herself up as a sacrifice for the blade. Jessica takes the dagger and merely draws blood from Mapes's chest. Mapes gains even more respect for Jessica.
Yeah, I had totally forgotten about the earlier version, with Dali and Giger doing the art. (*WOW*) ..but it does explain why, when I read Herbert's short "Tourist's Guide to Dune", with illustrations (Giger I think?) and wondering why I didn't remember any of those sweeping cityscapes from the movie; despite Herbert's footnote that the images *were* derivative of a "soon to be released" picture. I might be off on the title of that piece; it was included in the anthology Eye.
Seems to me the real question isn't whether Dune was a good movie; but, can the Sci-Fi channel make a decent mini/series. I'm sorry; but, their recent attempts at new series have just sucked. I'm a huge science fiction fan who will go see pretty much any sci-fi movie without much compunction and I have to say Farscape, First Wave, and Poltergeist are basically unwatchable.
had 15-20 minute introduction? I remember seeing a version that set the scene for the movie by explaining the background for Dune. There were a few artist renderings (evil machines enslaving humans, humans overthrowing them, etc.) that really put the movie in context.
I had actually read the book a year or two before seeing the movie, and the prolog gave me information that I'd somehow missed in the books.
I have heard of this version... Yet all other information I have seen has only indicated the ~2 hour video release, and the three hour television release. Do you have any furthur information on the 27 hour version you mentioned?
He's kidding, you dope. There's no such version.
27 hours, my ass...
Consciousness is not what it thinks it is
Thought exists only as an abstraction
Yes , I remember Brussar and Miles Teg being Bashars . Heretics and Chapterhouse . Your Squire Squireson
I have to say I like book three 'Children of Dune'
It is a wild ride watching Leto II make the choice.
Maybe it is disliked as it is tragedy and does not have a happy or heroic ending.
As a wholesale Dune Nut I am looking forward to any thing Dune'ish. Even bad TV Mini-S is something.
PS: Watch me(The Fremen) get trashed by the Great Houses in a PBEM game here
I was at a science fiction convention a few months before DUNE (the Lynch movie) premiered. Frank Herbert was one of the speakers. He said, "It begins the same as the book, and it ends the same as the book, and I think that's about all an author can ask for."
We in the audience had no idea how desperate Herbert must have been (at the time) to say something nice about the movie.
My wife summed it up best: Herbert's novel was all about political struggle and environmentalism. Lynch made an action film.
A friend of mine (Mark Leeper) enjoyed the film for providing illustrations of several scenes from the novel. Another friend of mine had a shorter, harsher review: "Yuchh, blech!"
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I must have seen the European version then, because the scene of the Navigator folding space is still very vivid in my mind today~
Have a Great Day!
>Lynch made an action film.
;-)
Soooo, that's so bad? I like action flicks myself, this one was awesome!
Movies don't have to be the same as the book. If you want it that way, then why even read the book in the first place? Stick to reading the DUNE series novels if you like it that way, if you prefer a good action movie, with some excellent sets, costumes, and scenery, check out the movie. As far as action movies go, this one beat the hell out of a lot of 'em.
The movie is best enjoyed if you have read the book, and you keep an open mind about things. You'll just need to remember to consider this a "different" Dune. Then it'll rock. I bet if this movie had been called "Doon", and all the other names of things in it changed, it would be quite popular...
slave to the rave!
rave to the grave motherfuckers!
The Dune game for Amiga is one of the best games I have played. I just loved the whole mood in the game, especially the music. The game was my first encounter with the Dune universe, and both the book and the movie has been great dissapointments!
You could always point a lasgun at the shield and set it off when you weren't around. Do it from space if you have to.
In the later books it tends to get a bit tedious Frank Herbert tends to try to be a bit too "clever", all that "A predicts that B will do this coz B's left earlobe is wiggling"... Going through all of that got a bit tiresome after a while.
having read that rant, I am glad the that Jodorowski didn't get to make it.
-- Jeff Paulsen
I actually tried to read his little rant, but it was way too much. His total deviation of the books destroys the story. In his attempt to remove the man from the myth, he kills what is best about the Dune series which is the details.
Yes, I'm also glad he didn't get near it. It would have meant an even swifter death. Although he movie was quite bad, it still motivated me to read the series of books. Seeing Jodorowski's crap would have made me flush the books down the toilet.
The fact that so many seems not to like it only :)
:)
makes me love it even more! *grin*
It's so wonderfully _weird_!
I _like_ not understanding what's happening
until the forth time I watch it...
I think it's about as good a The Matrix...
Not sure which one of those is my all-time favorite...
And I haven't read the books!
/Daniel - weird == good
-- No, no -- Not that one!
They should include the multiple story paths and endings in Dune 2(000) games. Why bother for just one ending when there are already 2 more?