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New DUNE Trailer Up, and a Bit Of A Review
El Cosmico here, I'm actually in an extreme hurry as I write this, so bear with me. Or don't . Doesn't matter to me.
Anyway, there's a new trailer up at the DUNE website, you can find it at: http://www.scifi.com/dune/events.html, it looks good to me.
That trailer will be showing in about two weeks in theatres. Anyway, I came across a tape, which some of you asked me about because Harry made a few...choice comments about it.
I'm not really even sure where it came from, or quite what it was. On it, about 45 minutes of clips from the upcoming DUNE mini-series. Random clips. In no special order, at least not that I could tell. Harry didn't care for it. Here are my thoughts.
First, the material was unfinished, and in small segments. I'm not sure for what purpose it was made, or which, if any of the scenes were finished.
One of the things you're going to need to do if you're going to enjoy this series is put the Lynch movie out of your mind. Wipe it. Forget it. Don't bring that baggage with you, or you'll be sorry.
Why? Because in spite of the problems with the Lynch film, the LOOK of the Lynch film is distinctive and wonderful, at least in my opinion. So, anything that differs with that look will naturally disturb your mind. Unless you put that Lynch film out of your mind.
A few other things to think about here...Patrick Stewart was Gurney in the Lynch movie. Would YOU want to be the actor put up against Stewart's scenes? It's inevitable, every time you look at the new fellow (forgive me, I don't recall his name), you're going to see and hear echoes of one of the finest actors of our age, Mr. Stewart. Not an easy thing to live up to.
That being said, I think they could have made a better casting choice for Gurney, but the fault, in my opinion, is only half his.
The sets in this series, I still believe, are very interesting, elaborate, in many cases really very well done. I liked a lot of what I saw. I also liked, with a few exceptions, the costume designs.
Many of the characters were well done, but again, they suffer from comparison to their equivalents in the Lynch film. The Baron, of course is one of these, as is the Duchess Atreides, and while William Hurt does a FINE job as the Duke, again, it's inevitable, I hear Prochnow's German accent, and somehow I miss it.
Now, Herbert didn't write the Duke with a German accent. Here, as with so many things, it's a question of expectation. Not of expectation of quality, because there is, I believe, a lot of quality in the scenes that I saw. What I'm talking about is expectation of specific methods of performance and content.
This will be a problem for many viewers, unless they make a sincere effort to watch this mini-series as a work on its own. As a work on its own, I consider the scenes I've seen to be significantly above average television. Good, but not outstanding, and not excellent.
At times, though, I disagreed with the choices being made, the most significant being portrayal of the members of the Guild. To be fair, I don't think anyone could ever have hoped to top the Guild Navigator in Lynch's film. Unfortunately, however, that doesn't excuse the very limited (only a few seconds) portrayal that I saw, which, I must say, I didn't care for at all.
In other words, what I've seen is a mixed bag. Highly mixed. Mixed and mixed and then mixed some more again. After that, it appears that mixture was added. Finally, the whole thing was finished up with a large measure of mixing. Then, it seems that someone snuck in and secretly mixed a bit more.
What was I talking about? Oh yeah, I need to go. I'm pressed for time. I've got shenanigans to be up to. Bourgeois business. I just wanted to answer the emails you folks have been sending me...the frantic ones asking "What was ON THAT TAPE?" Well, folks, lots of stuff was on that tape. Some of it was really good. Some lukewarm. Some bad. I don't know what's going to make the final cut. I do know that even if this show is as mixed as the tape I have, I think it will be worth watching for sci-fi fans. I also know that if you can't get the Lynch film out of your head while watching this, you're asking for trouble. Anyway, go check out the trailer, look at the pictures they have for you there. I'm sure we'll have more on this as we continue to be pulled through this terrible, inevitable, one-way dimension of time.
Hasta El Kwisatz Haderach,
-El Cosmico
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I love David Lynch's version of Dune. The imagery was right on. But the storyline suffered. I think its better just to check this out when we see it and then judge it.
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Visually, it's quite impressive. FX technology and filmmaking in general has allowed what was made in 1984-85 to be made today for a fraction of the cost. But some of the casting choices are not impressive. My biggest beef is William Hurt as the Duke -- he's a very low-key, passive actor. He made a wonderfully appropriate Macon Leary in THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST, but just the way he delivers that one line about "desert power" is so flat, so without affect, that it bodes badly for his whole role...
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I read all of the Dune books before I watched Lynch's screen adaptation, and I have to say that, while good on its own, the film doesn't even compare to the books themselves. The problem with adapting Dune is that it is a universe unto itself, and two hours or eight hours isn't enough to encompass all of what Herbert wrote. So, if people that were fans of Lynch's film are going to have to put that out of their head to enjoy the miniseries, I guess the same will stand for fans of Herbert's novels.
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Even if they follow the book perfectly, what looks like the worst casting possible will doom this film. I will probably watch it out of morbid curiosity, trying not to make the following associations. Baron Harkonnen = Fred Flintstone, The Duke = Ned Flanders, Paul = AIDS patient, crysknife = 5 ft long tooth. The horror, the horror...
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Man, I loved reading Dune in the early '70s. Brilliant, visionary, complex drama, with a real sense of the dynamics of history and a powerful ecological message. Then I saw the David Lynch movie. What an ugly piece of nonsense. A freak show. (The only thing good about it was the score.) It actually ruined the story for me for a couple of years. But it was not surprising, given how Lynch took his one really good idea, Twin Peaks, and made it more and more silly and irrelevant. (Imagine what Lynch would have done with X-Files. It wouldn't have lasted two seasons.) I have no idea what to expect of the Dune miniseries, but at least it will flush the bad taste of the Lynch movie.
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I once knew a guy who got his foot into the production's door and therefore got to watch some minutes of this shit-fest. This sucks so very hard, it makes you hurt bad. Amateurish actors sounding as if they were on tranquilizers, sets so boring and dull...Skip it and keep worshipping the excellent Lynch film. That's "Dune"! This is Shit!
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Lynch's movie LOOKED awesome, but some of what he did was simply unforgivable. Headless stillsuits. Those silly sound guns. Paul's sound super powers. But the look, awe, the look...
I do hope that the SciFi channel Dune isn't a total shitfest. You have GOT to give it up to SciFi and USA for even attempting this, and I for one want to appauld almost ALL thier attempts at original programming, particulaly Invisible Man and Farscape.
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First of all there was no Atreides Duchess, Lady Jessica was the bound concubine of Leto Atreides I, not his wife.
Why do they ignore the basics? I'm a total Dune freak and watching these trailers I can't help but sit here going: Wrong...wrong...wrong...wrong... The uniform colors are wrong (Harkonnen:Blue and white, Atreides:Black and red, Corrino:Black), the family genotypes are wrong (Atreides:Greek (Dark skin, black curly hair), Harkonnen:Slavic (light skin, strait blond hair), Corrino:Germanic (Redheads), and if, as I think I saw for a second, the ornithopters don't have flapping wings I am going to scream.
There's no doubt I will watch it, but my hopes are not too high. -
I remember going to see this back when it came out, I brought 2 other friends of mine with me. They gave us a frigging sheet of paper that gave us definitions of words/things in the film! I knew something fishy was up. 45 minutes after the film started we walked out. What a Piece Of Shit (tm) this film was. I tried to watch it again, some years later on VHS rental, but I turned it off after about an hour. Then someone prompted me to watch the Alan-Smithee version with the extra footage, same effect. After 1 hour, I just couldn't take any more. What an ugly, dis-jointed, incoherent crapfest Lynch created. Putting this film out of my mind before I watch the Sci-Fi Channels version will be extremely easy to do, because it was such a forgettable film. The Sci-Fi version may turn out to be crap too, but I couldnt possibly be any worse than the Lynch version.
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Critics were yelling sell-out even before the movie opened due to Lynch doing a big-budget sci-fi film with Dino De Laurentis. I for one, loved the film for its moodiness, lush visuals and its being intelligent and focused on conspiracies and allignments rather than laser battles. Its failure at the box office ensured that we saw few "serious" science fiction from then on and instead were subjected to STAR WARS and ALIEN ripoffs by the dozen. I hadn't read the novel yet when I saw the film (I have since and loved it too), but of course if you compare 99% of film adaptations to their source novels they will be disappointing because the reader always has their pre-conceived notions as to the way it should've looked. The film has to be looked at as standing on its own apart from what the novel is and in my opinion Lynch's Dune succeeds very well.
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Actually there are 10 different dimensions of time (eleven if you count the 'express checkout lane' dimension).
Read the Elegant Universe for details.
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I loved Lynch's Dune. It had
style, awesome music,and I always
thought the woman who played Paul's mom(I think Francesa Annis?) in the movie was a babe. Is that weird? The duke from the book was tough and mean. I just can't William Hurt pulling it off. -
Oct 26, 2000 2:08:44 PM CDT
Kinda hard to get Lynch's Dune out of our minds when you pepper
by cranialleak
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I loved the book Dune. I liked the 84' movie, the casting was perfect...even Sting was OK. I'll give the new one a chance no matter what any critic says. It looks great so far, casting not withstanding.
I have to agree with OOuncklefuckr, the books (after the first Dune)where boring as hell to no end. But the lastest Dune books rock. Papa Herbert just didn't pace thing fast enough for me, The "House" books have the epic detail of Dune with the pacing of Star Wars. Very Cool. -
It better not freakin' rain at the end of the TV movie...
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...most important thing about DUNE...THE SANDWORMS!
it was the reason i loved dune so much in the first place, because the sandworms just blew my mind away...and watching the sandworms in CG in the trailer put a smile on my face. what you guys think? lynch's worms, or sci fi channel's worms? -
The DUNE series is brilliant! The reason it is brilliant is not because of plots but because of the characters! The character development in the entire sereies is outstanding and there aren't many novels or series of novels that can compare. 00UncleFucka is correct. The plots themselves aren't very exciting. The intresting thing about these books is that Herbert allows you get inside the characters heads. You actually know what the characters are thinking which is something you don't see to often in today's pulp sci-fi.
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Greetings
First off the Dune Books absolutely rule. I've read them many many times, and i say that the Lynch Film was total utter kack. The book Struck me more as an ancient Rome epic set in a relly original Universe. What i saw in the trailer was an enriched vision of my own imagination. The Lynch film although conceptually rich was, just a bit too rich, and too much rich food makes you want to puke. And did they have to make the baron so absolutely disgusting, what did he have Small pox? I mean even with suspensors he could have moved just a little more slow graceful, he moved like a overweight pregnant yak, given that he is a overweight yak. Concerning the length a two hour movie is an insult to the rich universe that is Dune, and 6 hours seems about right to me, 2 hours per book. I'am eagerly looking forward to seeing this effort. Hopefully soon. Cheers! -
By Shai-Hulud, they've actually got flapping wing thopters in it- Against my better judgment, I am beginning to like this production...
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I actually thought Lynch's version was a good movie, before I actually read the book. It may look good but everything is so rushed that it strips the heart right out of the story. The Alan Smithee version was cut together by some studio hack and includes FX test footage in some scenes. What I've seen of the SciFi version appears to be far more in the spirit of the book. Evidently SciFi likes it enough that they have given John Harrison the go ahead for a sequel covering one or perhaps two of the Herberts follow up books.
And by the way, the guild navigator never appears in the book Dune. They are not described until the second book, Dune Messiah, in which one plays a crucial part.
I will agree that Herbert is a hard read, but worth the effort.
I really like the way some of you illiterates have the nerve to call
anyone's creative work a shitfest. -
Seems I got into some nasty crossfire from some oh so fuckin' hard'n creepy motherfuckers, who thought my previous rant was premature and just plain stupid. Well guys, here's to you and the loudmouthin' geek in us: Be it good, be it bad - it's fuckin' sci-fi, so let's get over this "awh, it'll suck - no, it won't"-crap. We'll have that discussion after having seen this stuff, and step down a bit. Even I will suspend my disbelief until then and give this shit a chance. And IF it sucks, to hell with it. If it doesn't, I'll eat my balls in shame! There you got it. Will you stop flaming me now, asshole?
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It follows the scenes in nearly identical order, particularly in the 'uncut' version. In terms of atmosphere, I thought the characters were well-cast and reflective of those detailed in the novel, with the possible exception of Feyd. In any event, most folks I know who liked the book liked the movie.
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... I've known several poor readers who had a problem with Herbert's prose....
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Production design: Fabulous: Technology that has become so integrated with society that it has become "ornate", and fits perfectly with the society's art, culture, fashion, architecture, transportation, etc. etc. An excellent interpretation of Herbert's descriptions of IXian, and other technologies.
Guild Navigator: Nothing like the description Herbert gives in Dune Messiah.
Sardaukar: Crap. Looked like they were wearing hefty bags with flashlights in their hats, PLUS, they used charged particle or laser weapons which had been banned because of the effect they had on Holtzman fields.
No Ornithopters: Unforgiveable. Maybe the cinematic effects technology now exists that could give us believable flapping flying machines.
"Weirding Modules": Perposterous. The writers just couldn't figure out way to explain the "wierding way" of fighting as practised by the Bene Gesserit, nor the Bindu Prana mind and body dicipline necessary to fight in this way; so the COPPED out with the stupid vocal projection weapons.
Fremen. Well portrayed. Culturally. The blue in blue eyes effect even worked well.
Still Suits: Good design except for omitting jubba cloaks and hoods.
Baron Harkonnen: good portrayal except for interpretation of his body suspensors. In the novel he wasn't a "flying fatman", the suspensors subtly aided in supporting the Baron's prodigious girth. And he was one diseased MoFo by this time of his life, so there; to whoever it was that questioned how gross did they have to make him.
Shai Hulud: good but not great... I could go on and on. The film did many things very well but the stuff it screwed up really stank. One big example. They came up with a great effect for the personal shields, and a good explanation of "shield fighting", and then contradicted the whole thing by having Idaho killed by a projectile weapon that passes through his personal shield; just the kind of weapon the shields were designed to thwart. Idaho was a Ginaz Sword Master and was killed by poison blade to the head while fighting multiple opponents... This new version almost has to be better if they are faithful to the book in regards to even just the few examples I have brought up here.
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