Big fan of Dune. Read the first four when I was in school, met Frank Herbert just before he died and saw the movie at the cinema a few times. Have since preferred both the Alan Smithee '3 hour' cut and the TV series for going into greater detail. Haven't read the 'cash in on my daddy' sequels/prequels - have you?

I don't think a 2 hour move can do justice to all the complexities of Dune, no matter how awesome the effects. It's not an action movie nor should it be a SPFX extravaganza. A 3 x 3 hour LOTR treatment would be sufficient, but I can't see Hollywood greenlighting a glorification of 'Taliban guerillas' (desert-dwelling religious freedom fighters with Arabic names fighting evil corporations extracting spice/oil from the sands).

A lot of the criticism about John Carter was directed at its bland scenery. Dune's is potentially even more bland.

What did you think of the 'filmed on a Prague soundstage' TV series?

Frank Herbert visited Australia for a Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention in about 1984 when the movie came out and I met him a couple of times in Sydney for a lunch and for a signing. Got the trilogy signed and Chapter House Dune signed - which I subsequently sold on eBay over 20 years later (somewhat regrettably).

Who would you cast for Paul these days? A mature 15 year old... hmm... that's charismatic warrior intellectual...?

There's a few things the Lynch movie did well: the supporting cast was good (Jessica, BG Mother Superior, Duke Leto, mentats, etc) and some of the production design was okay.

But Arakeen was non-existent, the Harkonnens were caricature moustache-twirlers (complete with cackling), 
Patrick Stewart was wasted, Duncan Idaho even more so, where did that sonic weapon stuff come from?, and it was incomprehensible to anyone who hadn't read the book. And Paul shouldn't make it rain at the end.

I'm currently taking another go at reading Dune as a direct result of the topic coming up in the LOTR thread.

While I am having an easier time of it than I have on previous attempts (I'm about halfway through), I still find it extremely frustrating and the only reason I haven't thrown it against the wall yet is because I'm reading it on my Kindle.

It's not the made-up words and concepts that are getting me -- as a regular reader of scifi/fantasy I'm used to that kind of heavy lifting -- it's the way characters behave that I can't always get my head around. I get the broad strokes of the political intrigue and tensions, it's the nuances that elude me.

About half the time, Herbert seems to understand that I'm not going to realize the significance of a certain word choice without it being explained, and there will be conversations where every innocuous sentence will be followed by three paragraphs of the other character mentally sussing out how every word and breath meant something, and what it was (good luck visualizing that, BTW -- no wonder they haven't made a decent movie yet). That's fine.

But then there's other conversations that go like this:

And I'm going... what the fuck are they talking about?! When they're so deep into the subtext, and Herbert declines to explain what that subtext is, it's impossible for me to track the conversation in any meaningful way, aside from like I said the broad strokes "Okay, this guy's pissed at her because...some reason...which leads to his actions later."

A lot of neat ideas for sure but, man.

What's your favorite text or quote from the books?

For me I always liked

But probably the most famous one is the "Fear is a mind killer"

Yeah the 'historical sources' bit was nice. Don't know if he was the first but you see this all over the place today.

The music always bothered me but then again Toto and Brian Eno were never my guys to begin with.

Trivia: The Landsraad is an Icelandic word - "Landsráð" meaning "lands council"

Why would you get a tattoo of a personal motto to remember in a spot that you will never be able to see?

I think you could make three movies out of F.Herbert's books but they do lack some cinematic quality.

rtambree like you said:

Because of some personal problems I haven't seen John Carter but I suspect that's some kind of Johnny-come-lately explanation. I don't think the scenery makes or brakes a movie. Rich breathtaking scenery is a bonus but if you have a compelling story these things should not matter (Lawrence of Arabia).

How about Band of Brothers style single season 10 ep. production?

We would have the Paul's story as a through line where we would follow his lineage. But we would also explore Bene Gesserits better (don't make them bald), the political movers and shakers of the universe. Same goes for the Navigators guild. Time could be spent on political, religious, ecology and technology aspects of F.H's world building.  If we draw from all five of Herberts book but use most of it as a reference to the world building (like P.J. drew from The Silmarillion for the LOTR trilogy).

The main mantra making 10 ep. single season Dune would have to be "show it, don't say it". Get rid of all the inner monologues.

p.s. I would like to see Edric but he's not in the first book.

Last edited by AshDigital (2012-03-26 07:57:52)

I might give Dune a go, I watched half the Lynch film and wasn't impressed then saw how large the actual book was and got intimidated!

My library has Dune on audiobook.  Gonna give that a go. 

Dug the movie when I first saw it back in the 90's.  Tried to read it maybe twenty years ago but did not possess the proper mindset to get very far into it.

I was never really a fan of Dune, but I've watched the movie a couple of times and I like the odd realism juxtaposed with the insane fantasy weirdness. I like the suit designs and a lot of the technology.

I watched a painting demo where the guy was painting a portrait of the main guy's little sister as an adult (she becomes queen or something?), and he talked about the books and why he liked them and why he liked the movie and why he didn't like them, etc. It was pretty interesting. I'll see if I can dig it up. I have to have favorited it somewhere. The painting was fucking awesome to boot.

EDIT: found it

OK, so I guess he doesn't talk much about Dune. Maybe he goes more into it later in the video. Watch it cause it's an awesome painting and the guy is awesome at painting (if not at providing commentary...)

Last edited by Squiggly_P (2012-03-28 03:47:55)

A movie adaptation of Dune would look like John Carter only with less action.

No one's touching Dune with a ten-foot spice pipe.

This ^