Sci-Fi version of DUNE

[duchess of malfi]

I find the Baron to be much more nasty and creepy in the movie as opposed to the mini-series. And Sting was very cool.

One interesting thing in the extended edition of the mini-series is all of the naked people, that I am told were not shown on television. Due to my crazy work schedule in the hispital, I was not able to watch it on the tv, so do not know what else they might have added.

I think of the three treatments of the Dune books on film, I actually like the Children of Dune miniseries best. I thought Alia's madness was very well done, as was Leto's sand trout thing...

[matrixman]

A new DVD release of Lynch's Dune? Must...get...it...

I find the Baron to be much more nasty and creepy in the movie as opposed to the mini-series. And Sting was very cool.

Yes, the movie Baron is a truly nasty monster. Very memorable. The miniseries Baron suffers by comparison.

Sting was actually the main reason I got interested in the movie and the book. This was back in the day when a rock star still meant something to me. Because I was still on a high from the Synchronicity era, the Police song Tea In The Sahara just naturally played in my mind when I read Dune and saw the movie. Kind of a neat synchronistic connection, don't you think?

80's flashback time...

[Variol Farseer]

To each his own. I found that the miniseries had one enormous virtue which the Lynch/De Laurentiis version conspicuously lacked: You could follow the story. I saw the Lynch version when it was first released on video back in the 1980s, at which time I had not yet read the book. I came away saying approximately: 'Beautiful set of illustrations. I wonder what story they're trying to illustrate.' It was a succession of visually stunning set-pieces recreating various scenes from the book, rather than an effective retelling of the story. I found the miniseries much more coherent.

Many people I know, and most reviewers, had the same problem. (The first user review on IMDB says: 'People say this is a great movie if you've read the book.') I think Norman Spinrad summed it up best in his review in Asimov's. He pointed out that Herbert himself was sitting at Lynch's elbow, making sure that the screenplay included lots of good lines from the book; but Herbert knew nothing about how to tell a story on film. You can't simply have the characters walk on and read their dialogue aloud. (Spinrad should know; he's done a lot of work for both Hollywood and print since 1960-odd, and been highly successful in both fields.) In trying to be faithful to the text of the book, Lynch had to leave about 90 percent of the story on the cutting-room floor.

There was another thing that the miniseries did far better: stillsuits. Don't tell me anyone could survive 10 minutes in the desert in those broiling black rubber fetish suits the Fremen wore in the Lynch film.

[matrixman]

Good point about the movie stillsuits, Variol. I totally agree that it would have been a hot and smelly affair in all that rubber. Also glaring was the fact that there was no protection for their heads! D'OH! They would be eating dust in a sandstorm in no time flat.

I concede that the wardrobe in the Lynch film is more about fashion than function, but I'll still take its kinky, baroque fetish over the visually bland attire of the miniseries.