Dune

[Mylochka]

Dr. Sparky Sweets lays down some mad analysis of the novel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxq2ztkE0eE

[Impaler]

I love Dune, both the books (but they do get weaker as the series goes on) and the Lynch movie (except the rain).

But I did NOT love one of the prequel books by Brian Herbert, it was called House Harkonnen and after something like 300 pages their were no less then NINE completely independent plot threads on at least 5 different planets that were being rapidly bounced between.  It felt like I was reading nine separate books because not a single thread interacted with another and the mental gymnastics of it all was far more taxing then the story pay off so I just put the book down half way through.

[Valka]

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[Mylochka]

I agree about the TV adaptation -- after you've seen Jurgen Prochnow as Duke Leto, it's really hard to accept anyone else in the role.  It's not like William Hurt did a bad job.  He just didn't quite convey the detached, effortless nobility of the duke the way Prochnow did.  Likewise, I thought Frances Annis had an otherworldly, somehow tragic beauty that was so appropriate for the role of Jessica that the other actress (although a very competent performer) simply did not possess.

I thought the Lynch movie was a fabulous adaptation of around the first 60 pages of the book, but then seemed rushed to the point of being incomprehensible as the plot tried to progress.  The TV version did a better job, but still didn't capture what I liked best about the book.  Concentrating on the plot -- as you must do when you adapt for film or television -- loses the feel that Herbert was able to capture so deftly that you are reading (with all the impotent wisdom of hindsight) the history of a profoundly significant series of events that had different meanings for a whole ranged of beings living in a fully realized universe.

[Buster's Uncle]

I was surprised that they got Susan Sarandon for the miniseries and didn't have her as Jessica...

[Valka]

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[Impaler]

I watched only fragments of the mini-series and found it too low in production value, admittedly due to being spoiled by Lych. 

Also I generally watched the extended directors cut when it appears on TV which I don't find to be rushed, I can imagine that it would in any shorter format, even in 4 hours their are several sub-plots that get left out such as Paul's first son being born and dieing (and admittedly this event even feels rushed and disconnected in the book too so I understand why it didn't make it into the movie).

[Valka]

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[Geo]

Darn, know you've let me watch half of episode 1 again.

[Buster's Uncle]

Again -I say this every time discussion of the movie v. the miniseries comes up- I'd love to be able to run the two together, keeping the best of each.  You still wouldn't get a very good Baron that way, and neither Paul thrills anyone, but there are definitely many superior elements in each over the other, and at least the Paul in the miniseries was not Kyle MacLachlan.

The movie had -generally- better costumes and sets, the miniseries a better script.  I'd venture, for example Shaddam's lines from the miniseries would work better performed by José Ferrer - what he had to say in the movie was just embarrassing to watch.

Both projects had to courage to put exotic future people in silly hats - and the movie surely did better at portraying exotic (to a fault, even, this being a Lynch movie).  I think somewhere in the middle, a combination of the best parts of each would be a joy to see...

[Valka]

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[Impaler]

But it's Patrick Stewart carrying a Pug into battle while giving a war cry.  How can we not love that mental image?  The fact that were even hear talking about it now 20+ years later shows how damn good that one brief scene is, we all remember it. 

If it (or other bits of the Lynch movie) breaks logic that's one thing, but I don't think the pug betrays or compromises the character of Gurney which should really be our over arching concern when a story is adapted to the screen.  Busters point about Shaddam's poor dialogue is more to the point, dose it betray the character?  I honest can't remember having much of an image of the Emperor from the Books.

[Buster's Uncle]

I just want to mention this about the movie: Francesca Annis



 

[Valka]

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[Buster's Uncle]

What a shame the Lynch movie made the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mothers bald. That's ridiculous.

It is.

It really is.