I was wondering if the Dune miniseries from 2000 or thereabouts is any good? I haven't seen any of the screen adaptions from the Dune universe yet..

It's certainly good enough to watch.
Low budget considering the size of the undertaking, good cast but direction leaves something to be desired. They did try to go by the books, to their credit.
The first one covers the first book, the 2nd mini series covers the next 2 books.

The movie from the 80's is a lot more fun to watch, although it only follows the book in the basic storyline. Watch it with an open mind and it's very enjoyable.

My basic run down,

The Dune mini-series is definitely worth watching as it does stay considerably loyal to the novel and the actors who played Paul, Baron Harkonnen and Gurney were quite good.

What bothered me is that the sets and costumes looked really cheap and the rest of the cast ranged from mediocre to horrid.


The Lynch film has a much more compelling and epic feel to it but it is not as faithful to the novel. The cast however is far superior and the soundtrack is great IMHO.

So I'd say you should watch both.

The mini was shot with a tiny budget in Prague IIRC, so other than the main cast the rest are local Czech actors. While the girl who played Chani was good (better than Sean Young actually), others like the ones who played Mentats Thufir and Pitr were not. I think things like the Harkonnen and Sarduakar uniforms were appropriated elsewhere (from historical dramas?) and used.

They did things more like it was a play, actually, so if you don't like seeing outdoor scenes that look like they're indoors, you'll be ticked at that.

Second miniseries was quite good, although the ages of the various characters was really messed with.



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Its worth watching but its definitely cringe worthy. I think Panzer nails it pretty well. A few good actors and the worst special effects you've almost ever seen! This is a story that needs the 3 part movie Lord of the Rings/Hobbit/Peter Jackson treatment. Shia Lebouf (sp?) as Paul...... I'm killing myself here.......

EDIT: Bruce Willis as Gurney Halleck and Scarlet Johannsen as Jessica, alright I give up lol.....

there is a TV edited version of the Lynch's versiond that make the movioe more accurate to the book but is still far from the miniseries.

BTW if you want Scarlett Johanson as Jessica, Vin Diesel should take Gurney's role

Just for even mentioning that you should be forced to peel potatoes for 2 weeks. lol

The problem with the extended cut is that it gets rid of the excellent intro with Irulan's monologue and replaces it with a lame backstory intro complete with cheap camera zooms on paintings and pictures. Oh, and the male narrator used for that extended intro and throughout the film is lame too.

^LOL Yeah reminds me of Stan Lee narrating an Incredible Hulk/Spiderman cartoon.

Sorry can't resist Arnold for the Baron!!!!!!

Yeah, I still prefer the original movie. It would have been nice if they had put the water reclamation business in that one though, if nothing else. They didn't really stress the fanatical conservation of water part very well.

Two of the deleted scenes dealt with that issue. One scene showed the Fremen reclaiming the water from Jamis' dead body and then giving the water to Paul. The other scene was where Liet Kynes meets with Leto, Paul, Thufir, Gurney and Dr. Yueh to solidify their alliance and ending with Liet spitting on the floor as a sign of respect.

Of course the mini had both those scenes in always.

Anyway, if Scarlett is Jessica, Paul would be like 3. Vin doesn't seem the type to wax lyrical, either.



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The guy who played Baron Harkonnen in the Lynch movie would be hard to top. Watch the scene where he pulls that boy's heart plug and tell me you don't want to vomit based purely on the expression he gets on his face. He was scary-prison-gay. The Baron in the mini series was funny-lispy-gay - too laughable. I wonder if John Goodman could pull it of in a re-remake?

So who will take Sting's place? A rock star again? I don't even remember who did Feyd in the mini series. Maybe let Justin Timberlake do it while he still looks young.

Sigh, the problem with me trying to cast a Dune remake is that I haven't been keeping up with new emerging talents. I keep thinking of actors that have been around for a while.

LOL! The problem with Justin Timberlake is that he's good at comedy but sucks at drama so he wouldn't make a good Feyd. The guy who played Feyd in the mini-series was some unknown actor but I think he did a decent job.

I don't know, I thought he was surprisingly good in The Social Network. Didn't even know he was in it until we saw it not long ago. Can't see him in this though. Maybe a compromise would be Ryan Phillipe, somehow I often get them mixed up, but Ryan's a good actor. Might make a good Paul come to think of it.

Here's quite an entertaining read about Lynch's "Dune",

http://www.avclub.com/articles/wtf-case-file-170-dune,44718/

I watched the Lynch film again tonight and I am convinced more than ever that even with its flaws, the movie has so many memorable visuals and performances that at least for me it's a work of art. Brad Dourif and Dean Stockwell didn't have much screentime but they definitely made the most of it.

PM, is the blu-ray worth rebuying it if you have it on dvd? Or do you have it on dvd?

I don't have the bluray so I can't comment but I know it's very cheap on Amazon so it's most likely worth getting. I think it's around 15 bucks for the bluray version.

If you have the special edition 2-sided DVD with theatrical + featurettes on one side and extended on the other, the Bluray is the same except the extended version is missing. It's just theatrical + featurettes, the same as on the DVD.

So I decided not to get it because it wasn't restored or anything and the picture improvement isn't dramatic.



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I forgot to say that the dvd version Jedi mentioned does upconvert very well on my bluray player so it does look really good even if not quite high def.

Not much point if it hasn't been improved. Maybe in the future.

Unfortunately, with Lynch washing himself of it there's not much left to be done with it unless there's a restoration and I find it hard to believe that will be seen as cost-effective.

Meanwhile, the Blade Runner Bluray set looks great. Speaking of, I watched it back when I got my 1st BD player but not since. I should watch it again. Maybe when I finish the extras in the Alien set and the LOTR set...



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