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Sci-Fi Channel Making Dune Miniseries

Posted by Roblimo on from the couch-potatos-need-love-too dept.

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.

8 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. The book really helped. by Wayfarer · · Score: 3

    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'

  2. Corrections regarding versions by XaOsGoth · · Score: 3
    There is a lot of talk about various lengths/versions of Dune, and I thought I'd clear the fog a bit. Here's what IMDB has to say about the various versions:
    Theatrical version is 140-minutes long; network TV version, disowned by director David Lynch, is 190 minutes long and features outtakes and additional footage. The TV print credits "Allen Smithee" as director. The theatrical release features a brief introductory narration spoken by the "princess". The TV version has a longer spoken introduction by a narrator, with still paintings and drawings used to bring the viewer up to speed on the story. The TV version (available on Japanese Laserdisc) lacks the blue color in the Fremen's eyes, indicating that the scenes were cut before special f/x were added. A third version of "Dune", seen on KTVU in San Francisco in 1992, is the only one that edits together footage from both the theatrical and TV versions, putting back the violent scenes (such as the "heart sucking sequence") and theatrical versions of some scenes (such as Paul and Jessica running from a thumper). Also, Lynch's name is restored at the end (watch for the "Assistant to Mr. Lynch" credit). Contrary to popular rumors, no 6-hours long director's cut, ever existed. The only "director's cut" of the film was the one shown theatrically; Lynch never had a hand in any other version of Dune. Lynch's original intention was for Dune to have been about 3+ hours long. To that end, about 5 hours was shot. This is also confirmed by author 'Frank Herbert' (qv) wrote in the introduction to the book "Eye". It would be impossible for a 6-hour version to exist and even a 5-hour Dune would mean the inclusion of many scenes never intended for the final version (for reasons of redundancy, etc.). It is only necessary to read any of the final scripts for the film to realize that there was never any intention of making Dune more than 4 hours in length at the very most: the script for anything more just was never there. There are two theatrical versions available in Europe, the only two differences between being the short scene in which the Navigator can be seen "at work" folding space; and a very short clip showing the cheek of Duke Leto torn open.
    This information may be found at http://us.imdb.com/AlternateVersions?0087182. I own a copy of one of these versions, and based on the description and my memory, it is version 2 above. (There are some scenes missing in my version from the theatrical version, but it includes a narrator and still paintings as illustrations for an intro).
  3. I hope it's better than the BOOKS! by wowbagger · · Score: 3
    I found the Dune books to be much like a rollercoaster: It started out up, and was pretty much downhill from there.

    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".
    • He wanted knife fights, so he has to develop shields. But shields prevent seige engines from attacking your castles, so he had to come up with the lasegun/shield interaction to prevent shields from being used to protect large emplacements. But then he had to make the lasegun explode too, or else you could cap your enemy from a distance.
    • A feudalistic society cannot exists with a modern information processing infrastructure, so he creates the Mentats and outlaws computers. However, a computer has so many advantages over a Mentat that somebody is going to break the rules to get the advantage.
    • He wanted witches, so he creates the Bene Geserit. However, if they can develop the mental powers they have, so could anyone else.
    • If everybody had access to space, you could just drop large rocks on your enemies. So, he places space travel in the hands of the Guild. However, if the guild is not held in check, they rule. So, the spice dependancy. Question: if spice is needed for space travel, how did we get to Arakis in the first place?

    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
    1. Re:I hope it's better than the BOOKS! by CrosseyedPainless · · Score: 4

      Knife fights/shields/lasguns: There are ways around all the pseudotechnological difficulties he throws up. I think he was just adding a little flavor. Nothing to get bent about.

      Mentants v computers: mentants have advantages over computers, too. And, the Ixians are forever breaking the rules and getting slapped for it.

      Bene Gesserit witches: It's expressly stated that the Bene Gesserit "powers" are the results of training and psychoactive drugs. Sure, anyone could develop those powers; anyone who wanted to duplicate Bene Gesserit training. Man, that objection is really dumb. That's like saying karate blackbelts are unlikely, because, like, anyone could learn to do that stuff.

      And finally, Answer: I don't have the books handy for quotechecks, but it goes something like this: "There are other poisions Guild Navigators can use to work their tricks, but once they use melange, there's no turning back."

    2. Re:I hope it's better than the BOOKS! by coyote-san · · Score: 3

      You are missing the bigger picture here. The first few _Dune_ books are set in a world which is deliberately static to prevent a return to a period of human enslavement by machines. (The latter books show the consequences of the God Emperor and subsequent scattering.) Anyone who attempts to get an edge based on technology will be universally resented (Ix), with the people who manipulate the body (Bene T.) and mind (Bene Gesserit) not far behind. Such a society *will* reach a point where force and response are exactly matched.

      As for some of your specific points, the Guild controls interstellar travel but each major house is fully capable of "dropping rocks" on its enemy. Remember that the Atreides family nukes were stored on one of the moons. If they drop rocks, it was because of the same social pressures not to use nukes against a population.

      Also, I recall seeing nothing that said that a "lasgun" had any correlation to lasers. In fact, _Chapterhouse Dune_ has some comments from Idaho which clearly stated that lasguns and shields are both products of Hoffman's equation and that the "feedback" described in the first book falls out of these equations. No doubt you would immediately object that Idaho admits that nobody really understands those equations and hence it's inconsistent to claim that they're understood well enough to produce lasguns and shields. :-)

      --
      For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
    3. Re:I hope it's better than the BOOKS! by H3lldr0p · · Score: 4

      You're missing the whole point to what Herbert was talking about in the first place. Dune was never meant IMHO to be the Sci-Fi people believe it to be. For any careful reader it is more of an analysis of what Government really is and where Governments have room to move in.
      I ended up reading all 6 books in one 3 month streach a few years ago, and for the most part I never once was aware of Herbert trying to push any technological view of anything. He really goes out of his way to keep technology as far out of the turning points of his stories as one could possibly write. Hence, I believe the problems you have with the stories themselves. These are stories that are suppose to be about ruling a large population, and the reactions that people ruling have.
      If you have the time and paitence, re-read the books, but do so with a different mindset. Read them instead in the same way as you would read The Prince. Read it in the same way as you would watch Citizen Kane. This is what the stories are really about. Not Sci-Fi.

    4. Re:I hope it's better than the BOOKS! by TeknoDragon · · Score: 3

      If everybody had access to space, you could just drop large rocks on your enemies. So, he places space travel in the hands of the Guild. However, if the guild is not held in check, they rule. So, the spice dependancy. Question: if spice is needed for space travel, how did we get to Arakis in the first place?

      well, I really liked the books (say 1,2,5,6 -- 3 was a snooze and 4 was halfway to a romance novel)

      but I believe the answer to your question is in the "Dune Encyclopedia" (wish I had one)... apparently there is some alternative to guild navigator travel, performed by computers/robots (i think) the only problem is the machine revolution and something about the computers/robots not doing exactly what they were supposed to (going too fast i think?)

      of course it's been a long time since I read this... so you should go check it out yourself

      I think that they should make more dune movies... someone should get Lynch on the phone (did I mention his nephew goes to WSU -- CE major and a good friend -- ahh bask bask bask)

      condense 2 and 3, leave out 4 -- taking a few years break, and do and release 5 and 6 within a few months of each other... I'd go! damn, I'd buy the DVD...

  4. Miniseries Format by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 3

    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.