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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.
The version of Dune released in theaters was approximately two hours long. However, later they released a 3 hour version of the film which is called the "Alan Smithee" version because director David Lynch disassociated himself with it (Alan Smithee is sort of like "John Doe" or "Anonymous" for directors). I believe the miniseries uses the same footage as the 3 hour version of the movie.
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tmk29@columbia.edu
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.
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
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 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.
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'
Check out http://us.imdb.com/AlternateVersions?0087182 The third comment points out that the 6 hour version does not exist, since only about 5 hours of film was shot anyway, this is apparently confirmed by Frank Herbert himself in his intro to the book Eye.
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."
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.
www.eFax.com are spammers
Well, to begin with we have the original Lynch production that was shown in the theaters (as a side note, Lynch was offered to direct Return of the Jedi, but passed in order to do Dune), and was released as both letterbox and regular cuts. This is the version that is narrated by Princess Irulan. There are two more versions, one that started as a director's cut, but which Lynch disavowed all influence with, and the intro is with paintings and a male narrator. The third version is one that you will probably won't be able to find, as a station in Cal. pieced together segments of the two previous versions into one movie. This is not available commercially. A good url to use to find specifics about these is http://members.aol.com/hiphats/arrakis1.html hope this helps, padan
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.
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 don't remember any "sound" module stuff in the books. I think that you must be confused. The Weirding Way was the Bene Gesserit method of fighting. It involved having very finely tuned reflexes and staying at the edge of readiness.
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.
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion, it is by the juice of sapho the thoughts aquire speed, the lips aquire stains, the stains become a warning, it is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
My bad, previous is wrong quote, I don't have my Dune DVD right now to check either. Sorry.
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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