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Dune-Mini Series on SF, worth seeing? (1 Viewer)

Steve Christou

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The Dune mini-series is premiering on SF channel in the UK.
Anyone seen this? Was it faithful to the book?
I'm a fan of Frank Herbert's Dune novels and loved David Lynch's 1984 film.
I didn't have high hopes for this, because it was being made for tv.
But I saw the trailer recently and it looked interesting.
Were there any witnesses to this SF event? What was the verdict?
POSTED BY STEVE MUAD'DIB.
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TomRS4

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Steve,
You've got to give some of us a chance to reply to your question.
It doesn't have quite the budget of a motion picture, which is evident, but the mini-series blows the movie out of the sand. Watch it.
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Craig P

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Definitely more true to the words in the book than the Lynch movie. Obviously, they can't cover everything, and in the interests of presentation, they gave Irulan a slightly expanded role. Furthermore, there was at least one scene that was changed a bit to play better on the screen without hearing Paul's thoughts as you do in the book and Lynch's movie. I didn't object to either, as I could understand the reasons for the changes, but there were some viewers who didn't take too well to them.
There have been heated arguments about the "feel" and "tone" of the respective treatments -- there are some folk that believe, rather strongly, that Lynch's treatment is truer to the book in this regard, despite the liberties taken in literal matters.
Do note that there is a decided "stage" look to the Sci-Fi miniseries in some of the outdoor desert scenes.
I thought it was worth my time.
 

GaryM

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Note that there is a Region 1 DVD of this mini-series available. I found it of sufficient quality to add to my small collection of SF films. I may also pick up the Lynch movie version from 1984, which is for the most part, inferior.
Gary
 

Richard Travale

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I enjoyed it very much when it aired on Space here. I would definitely recommend it.
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Chris

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I thought it was excellent, the DVD is definitely worth while if you are a Herbert fan.
The series started slow, but had much more of the detail and scenery richness that was missing from the Lynch movie.
I'd give it a solid recommend.
 

Scott Kriefall

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It was certainly truer to the novel than Lynch's movie version, but it suffered from some rather poor acting. The actor who portrayed Gurney was certainly no match for Patrick Stewart, and William Hurt was surprisingly quite boring as Paul's father -- he seemed to be sleepwalking through all of his scenes. And Kyle McLachlan was more interesting in the role of Maud'Dib than was Alec Newman.
On the other hand, certain roles and actors -- such as Baron Harkonnen and Dr. Kynes/Liet -- were much better in the mini series.
Both the mini-series and the Lynch movie are worth seeing, IMHO...
 

Robert A. Willis Jr.

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Took advantage of Columbia's latest deal and ordered Dune. I realy enjoyed it despite the fact that it is not anamorphic or DD 5.1.
To me its better than the movie and if you have read all of the books, truer to Herbert's vision. :emoji_thumbsup:
 

CaptDS9E

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I loved it. I have the original region 1 release but i cant wait to get the new Special Edition

capt
 

Jeff Kleist

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Don't buy the current DVD. In June we get it anamorphic, in DTS and a ton of extras



Yes, I too call this the "Stage" version of Dune :)



Was it faithful to the book?



Umm, yes and no. The first part is abysmal They make up tons and tons of things, mix up events for no reason, it's very annoying. The second part is better, and the third dead on.



I'm a fan of Frank Herbert's Dune novels and loved David Lynch's 1984 film.



The Alan Smithee edit of the film is the closest in spirit and style to the book. Major problems with the stage version of Dune



1-Costume designer on crack. I'm sorry, but the Reverend Mothra and her cowgirl entaurage do not instill any fear or awe. More of a giggle. And I'm not at all threatened by the Saudaukar pastry chefs "Freeze, or I will bake you into a fine crust!"



2-The backdrops wave during the battle scenes :)



3-Some actors are all wrong for their parts. The Lynch cast was perfect. Good examples are Gurney and the Emperor



THE GOOD POINTS



1-They kill Paul's son, they didn't chicken out

2-Once they hit the book verbatim, it's VERY solid.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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Strange, I thought Patrick Stewart was horrible for Gurney. I think he would have made a great Leto, but he's just far to distinguished for a character of Gurney's background. I much perfered this version to the Lynch version. Sure, the costume designer was defineately on something, but it adds to the charm.
I have the original DVD, but I'd hold out for the SE version. When I got the current version (which is by no means poor), we were told that an SE was impossible for Region 1:angry:.
 

Adam Barratt

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I just saw the R4 DVD, and the stage 'feel' is greatly emphasised by anamorphic enhancement, and actually became quite distracting (the backdrops and many of the CGI effects are glaringly fake). The disc also had the most edge enhancement I've seen in quite some time. Some of the actors were poorly cast (as mentioned above; I could barely discern what Duncan was saying through his thick accent, and Gurney's Cockney accent was a little disconcerting). Much of the disc set's supplemental material focussed on the cinematography and set-design but I found them both a let-down.

Nevertheless, it's worth checking out if you haven't seen it before.

Adam
 

Steve Christou

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I saw it and I didn't hate it, it wasn't as bad as I had feared.

But I thought some of the actors were pretty colorless and no match at all for the cast of the 1984 epic, problem is I like Lynch's film so much that I can't imagine anyone else playing those parts, Paul, Stilgar, The Baron, etc, the cast of the original movie were all just perfect IMO.

The effects of the mini-series were interesting on a tv movie-ish level, the cgi wasn't perfect but some of it effective. The sets were cleverly done considering how limited the budget was.

I think this is an above average SF series and look forward to the next series, which they've already started filming I believe, and its good to see a fuller version of Frank Herbert's classic novel transferred to the screen, if only the actors weren't so damn average, even William Hurt looked like he was sleepwalking thru his role.

I hope that one day a SE of the 1984 Dune will appear on dvd, with plenty of extras and with many of the scenes from the Alan Smithee edit included, I have a copy of the long version, 173mins full screen, stereo surround and with Japanese subtitles.
 

Jeff Kleist

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The Smithee cut is available on DVD in the UK, and in Japan. Since the Japanese disc is about $70, I skipped it personally and went for the cheaper UK version.
 

Lee L

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So, what is the story behind the Alan Smithee edit? I saw that it was on TV a couple of weeks ago but I did not watch it. Don't directors use that name when they do not want to be associated with a film anymore or is David Lynch just being his usual self here?
 

John Berggren

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I really quite enjoyed the extended cut of Dune. I had taped it on the original run through on Sci-fi and didn't get around to watching it by the time the DVD was announced. When the DVD came out I was sure it would be followed by a more proper edition, so I only saw this about a month ago when the super 3 disc edition arrived.

I was very impressed. David Lynch's Dune always lacked something for me... I never quite understood or identified with the characters. The miniseries really worked for me. I wholly understood the story. I can't wait for Children of Dune!
 

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