Well, I have read the books... several times, including re-reading Dune last week to remind me of the story lines.
Spice-addicted eyes:
Herbert describes the eyes of the serious spice addicts as blue-within-blue, no whites; some of the older Fremen eyes are even indigo. Later books mention being unable to see the pupils either.
The spice-essence and crysknives (made from sandworm teeth) are described as glowing, so maybe this is where they got the glow idea.
Neither the film nor the miniseries quite captured the "no whites" aspect of the eyes. I think they may have experimented with different eye looks but having solidly dark-blue or black eyes would look quite disturbing.
My biggest gripe with the eyes is that the UV-reactive contacts or whatever they used aren't always straight; they look crooked in some scenes. In the scene with Liet Kynes inside the ornithopter while the worm attacked the crawler, did anyone notice that one eye was glowing, one wasn't? This was distracting. I thought for a moment that maybe it was intentional, because they were trying to illustrate that he was half-Fremen ("Liet serves two masters").
Worms:
The worm definitely looked more lively and believable than the one in the Lynch film; however, the teeth were kind of large to be making into crysknives. Maybe there are smaller teeth inside.
Ornithopters:
The ornithopters are described as gaining lift from both flapping action and jet-assist. The ones in the series seem to have turbo-fans in wings that can be moved to aim the direction of lift. They don't flap, but it didn't seem too bad a compromise.
Missing Scenes/combined scenes/altered scenes:
(SPOILERS)
In the book, Princess Irulan does not meet Paul until the end of the book. Bringing her in with the Saurdaukar for the dinner party is an interesting move; it sets up a different dynamic, since he will actually know something about the woman he (SPOILER!) will marry for political reasons at the end of the story; there will be more of a three-way dynamic with him and Chani. Not necessarily a bad change, depending on how it is played out.
We've scene some of the Lady Jessica's special abilities with language, but we haven't had a scene where the Shadout Mapes tests her and gives her a crysknife, symbolizing her role in fulfilling the prophecy. Also, we haven't seen her use Bene Gesserit Voice to control the pilots, so we are still missing a sense of her special powers.
We don't know anything about the Bene Gesserit breeding program and their quest to create a Kwitsatz Haderach (super-being). It will be interesting to see whether this is played up or not in the mini-series. One of the big flaws in the movie was that Paul developed literal Godlike abilities; in the book, his only "godlike" ability is his prescient vision; he is also a master of the Bene Gesserit fighting disciplines, Voice, and has developed himself into a combination Oracle/Mentat, but he doesn't have any physical superhuman abilities.
The hunter-seeker sequence was done differently; another Fremen woman was in the room, but I think this was done so that he could explain what was going on to her, and thus, to us. This wasn't necessarily a bad change. It lets the directors avoid the excessive use of internal monologue.
The detail involving the Harkonnen water ritual (guests slopping water on the floor, natives lining up to buy the squeezings from the towels) is a good one. It helps to indicate that House Atreides is committed to ending the abuses of the Harkonnen period.
Guild Navigators
I thought the Guild navigator sequence was quite nicely done, actually. Herbert gives out almost no details about the physical characteristics of the Guild Navigators in the books, except that they float on suspensors in tanks of spice gas, and that they are altered human forms. I don't think it is accurate that no one has ever seen one. They have human attendants. (Funny hat people #3).
Mahdi
The Fremen are calling Paul Atriedes "Mahdi" in a sort of questioning way, wondering if he may be the "Voice from the Outer World" coming to fulfill their prophecy. They aren't sure yet. They aren't calling him "Muad'Dib" yet. We've only heard that vaguely, in a dream sequence.
Leto's Betrayal
The Duke's betrayal sequence was handled reasonably well; we have some understanding of Yueh's motivations. It wasn't clear that Yueh actually took care of Paul and Jessica by providing them with stillsuits and survival kits and left Paul, but this was implied because he left Paul the ducal ring.
Baron Harkonnen
Well done; he is very fat and carries his weight on suspensors, but he doesn't fly maniacally around the rooms as in the Lynch film. He doesn't have horrifying acne. We hint at his interest in tender young boys without resorting to the weird "heart plug" stuff where he kills them and smears himself with their blood; that was pure Lynch over-the-top psychotic.
Language/characterization
Gurney does not threaten to castrate him in the book. He winds up with his knife poised to kill him and says ("we'd have joined each other in death.") "singing soprano" just sets the wrong tone as far as I'm concerned. It's a bit too flippant. In this scene in the book, Paul is genuinely frightened by the viciousness in which Gurney attacks him, testing his training to its limit. He may be a snotty adolescent but he still has some respect for his arms-master and sword-master. Which leads me to...
Paul's Character:
I'm a big unsure of Paul's snotty, depressed character. In the book, he's very confident of his abilities, and troubled by his prescient dreams and by the move. I'm reserving judgment until I see how they develop his character. Remember, he is supposed to display such amazing charisma, loyalty, and judgement that the Fremen would willingly die for him. Some serious changes have to take place to make this believable!
Slashdot Mirror
Spice-addicted eyes:
Herbert describes the eyes of the serious spice addicts as blue-within-blue, no whites; some of the older Fremen eyes are even indigo. Later books mention being unable to see the pupils either.
The spice-essence and crysknives (made from sandworm teeth) are described as glowing, so maybe this is where they got the glow idea.
Neither the film nor the miniseries quite captured the "no whites" aspect of the eyes. I think they may have experimented with different eye looks but having solidly dark-blue or black eyes would look quite disturbing.
My biggest gripe with the eyes is that the UV-reactive contacts or whatever they used aren't always straight; they look crooked in some scenes. In the scene with Liet Kynes inside the ornithopter while the worm attacked the crawler, did anyone notice that one eye was glowing, one wasn't? This was distracting. I thought for a moment that maybe it was intentional, because they were trying to illustrate that he was half-Fremen ("Liet serves two masters").
Worms:
The worm definitely looked more lively and believable than the one in the Lynch film; however, the teeth were kind of large to be making into crysknives. Maybe there are smaller teeth inside.
Ornithopters:
The ornithopters are described as gaining lift from both flapping action and jet-assist. The ones in the series seem to have turbo-fans in wings that can be moved to aim the direction of lift. They don't flap, but it didn't seem too bad a compromise.
Missing Scenes/combined scenes/altered scenes:
(SPOILERS)
In the book, Princess Irulan does not meet Paul until the end of the book. Bringing her in with the Saurdaukar for the dinner party is an interesting move; it sets up a different dynamic, since he will actually know something about the woman he (SPOILER!) will marry for political reasons at the end of the story; there will be more of a three-way dynamic with him and Chani. Not necessarily a bad change, depending on how it is played out.
We've scene some of the Lady Jessica's special abilities with language, but we haven't had a scene where the Shadout Mapes tests her and gives her a crysknife, symbolizing her role in fulfilling the prophecy. Also, we haven't seen her use Bene Gesserit Voice to control the pilots, so we are still missing a sense of her special powers.
We don't know anything about the Bene Gesserit breeding program and their quest to create a Kwitsatz Haderach (super-being). It will be interesting to see whether this is played up or not in the mini-series. One of the big flaws in the movie was that Paul developed literal Godlike abilities; in the book, his only "godlike" ability is his prescient vision; he is also a master of the Bene Gesserit fighting disciplines, Voice, and has developed himself into a combination Oracle/Mentat, but he doesn't have any physical superhuman abilities.
The hunter-seeker sequence was done differently; another Fremen woman was in the room, but I think this was done so that he could explain what was going on to her, and thus, to us. This wasn't necessarily a bad change. It lets the directors avoid the excessive use of internal monologue.
The detail involving the Harkonnen water ritual (guests slopping water on the floor, natives lining up to buy the squeezings from the towels) is a good one. It helps to indicate that House Atreides is committed to ending the abuses of the Harkonnen period.
Guild Navigators
I thought the Guild navigator sequence was quite nicely done, actually. Herbert gives out almost no details about the physical characteristics of the Guild Navigators in the books, except that they float on suspensors in tanks of spice gas, and that they are altered human forms. I don't think it is accurate that no one has ever seen one. They have human attendants. (Funny hat people #3).
Mahdi
The Fremen are calling Paul Atriedes "Mahdi" in a sort of questioning way, wondering if he may be the "Voice from the Outer World" coming to fulfill their prophecy. They aren't sure yet. They aren't calling him "Muad'Dib" yet. We've only heard that vaguely, in a dream sequence.
Leto's Betrayal
The Duke's betrayal sequence was handled reasonably well; we have some understanding of Yueh's motivations. It wasn't clear that Yueh actually took care of Paul and Jessica by providing them with stillsuits and survival kits and left Paul, but this was implied because he left Paul the ducal ring.
Baron Harkonnen
Well done; he is very fat and carries his weight on suspensors, but he doesn't fly maniacally around the rooms as in the Lynch film. He doesn't have horrifying acne. We hint at his interest in tender young boys without resorting to the weird "heart plug" stuff where he kills them and smears himself with their blood; that was pure Lynch over-the-top psychotic.
Language/characterization
Gurney does not threaten to castrate him in the book. He winds up with his knife poised to kill him and says ("we'd have joined each other in death.") "singing soprano" just sets the wrong tone as far as I'm concerned. It's a bit too flippant. In this scene in the book, Paul is genuinely frightened by the viciousness in which Gurney attacks him, testing his training to its limit. He may be a snotty adolescent but he still has some respect for his arms-master and sword-master. Which leads me to...
Paul's Character:
I'm a big unsure of Paul's snotty, depressed character. In the book, he's very confident of his abilities, and troubled by his prescient dreams and by the move. I'm reserving judgment until I see how they develop his character. Remember, he is supposed to display such amazing charisma, loyalty, and judgement that the Fremen would willingly die for him. Some serious changes have to take place to make this believable!