Pretty much this ^

I've read all the books written by Frank. Haven't read the 'cash in on my daddy' one's. Don't know why really. I think I can separate them in my mind but I've never been into books written "in the spirit of", be it friends or family of the orignal author.

You met Frank? How did that come about?
I once met the icelandic au-pair Tolkien had to brush up on his icelandic. That's the only connection I've ever had with the greats

The world is too complex for a 2 hour movie. There are things in the movie I liked but all in all it's a mess of a movie.  The '3+ hour' version is better but there is so much that could be better it's frustrating to watch them.

The stories are too niche (like John Carter) but sometimes I fantasize about MMORPG style game but that's just mental masturbation.

There were nice things in the tv series but like the movies they did not really do the job.  I think the 3 x 3 hour LOTR treatment would be nice but it would probably be a sinkhole for money. It's just to niche for mainstream movie goers.

But I feel like most things in life (books, movies, music etc.) if everybody like and "get it" it's so watered down and pseudo intelectual it's basically crap.

Who would play who is one of my favorite party games. But I'm coming up blank on somebody to play Paul. I tried looking over actors in that age range on IMDB and nobody seemed to fit the bill. I would put the casting directors from Game of Thrones on the job. I feel they have not put a put a foot wrong.

Mother Superior was well done but the whole Bene Gesserit Sisterhood aspect was shallow. But I guess that's basically the movie's main overall problem.
Lady Jessica was good but the hair was... well... of an era.

The Weirding Shield was just asinine and the stillsuits looked like mock up prototypes.

And the music... oh god... Dune, Highlander, Blade Runner... I blame the drugs really.

Yes, that's right, there were dozens of little aphorisms e.g. 'The predator strengthens the stock' or 'Never sit with your back to the door'.
I liked how Frank Herbert began his chapters with pithy quotes from 'historical sources' as if these were from archival chronicles. That was a good device.
All those Houses of the Landsraad - it was more about medieval Europe than orthodox sci-fi with technology being all but expunged.

I didn't mind the Toto score, and the 'Prophecy Theme' from Brian Eno.

The first book is definitely the most cinematic - the Paul & his mother in the desert sequence was very memorable, and the finale with the sandworm attack on Arakeen.

Hardly anything happens in the other books - just talking 'n stuff.

10-episode self-contained series: sounds great. Can you have a treatment on my desk by 9:00AM tomorrow?

There's a few DUNE references in Star Wars - Tatooine as desert planet, moisture farms, the sarlaac pit as stationary sandworm, jawas/sandpeople as who live deep in the desert, the krayt dragon skeleton is elongated like a sandworm. Gary Kurtz gave a Weekend Masterclass Course in London last year about making Star Wars and cited a long list of influences, including Dune.

The aesthetic of Dune (a retro future with robes and aristocracy and priesthood and no technology) fits nicely with the modern genre trends.
Even since it became apparent space travel wasn't going anywhere, it's fantasy that's overtaken hard sci-fi in movies, novels and TV shows: Game of Thrones, LOTR, Narnia, Camelot, Harry Potter, superheroes, etc.
What few proper sci-fi movies there have been recently (Sunshine, Event Horizon, Supernova, etc) are just haunted houses in space rather than a vision about the future. In the 1950s & 1960s was the golden era of hard sci-fi (with shiny jump-suit uniforms, comparing & contrasting various utopian civilisations, impact of technology, etc)

So a movie adaptation of Dune can be made to fit more with the fantasy elements (giant sandworms and period costume) rather than the hard sci-fi elements.