Reviews

SciFi's Frank Herbert's Dune has aired and now its time to see what everyone thought of it. Below are comments from others, if you want to add your own opinion head to our forums or head here if you don't have an account.

I actually like the miniseries, though I saw it only once, before having read the book. I understood almost nothing, so I think that noone should watch it without reading the novel. But the miniseries is fine. Of course, some things do not match: like Paul should be around 16 in the beginning & should have black hair. But movies really rarely match original texts. I think the miniseries has both good & bad sides. Personally I hate Kyle McLachlen (Paul in Lynch's film), so I'm pretty okay with the miniseries cast.
- Chani2000

I saw the miniseries about 3 years ago and frankly I feel like it totally raped the book and was a piece of shit. I have never screamed so much at my TV as a did when watching that travesty. I LOVE that freaking book and to see so much of it laid to waste on the screen was upsetting. SPICE IS THE COLOUR OF CINNAMON, NOT GREEN. I mean really, how could they possibly have screwed that up? Then there was the character of Paul, who in the book is wise, curious and noble and in the mini-series is all whingy like my ex-girlfriends and for some reason acts like a real pussy. And Irulan, Irulan is barely mentioned in the book at all, apart from at the very end, and in the mini-series she had a major role and seems to know whats going down. Finally, personally I thought Chani was meant to be hot, not really rough, beaten-around-with-the-ugly-stick looking like in the mini-series. Granted, the personal shield special effects were good, so much better than Lynches film, but thats about the only thing it had going for it in my opinion. Now, the Alan Smithee version of the David Lynch version, that is the closest i think they have come as far as a decent, close to the book version. Sure, that whole wierding module thing was crap, but the rest was pretty close. I'm sure that plenty of people will disagree with me, but hey, this is just my opinion, if you don't like it, sit down and read the book again and see what I mean. If you still disagree...What the fuck do i care? I don't know you!
- Matt Munro

I think that they should have found characters which fitted the description of the book.
Like Irulan should have blond hair. Duke Leto should have black hear, and so on
- Thorup

I've just paid the $30 bucks to get the "Special Edition - Director's Cut" version of the sci-fi miniseries. I'd already seen the miniseries in its original running time, so I thought I'd do some comparing and contrasting. Some of the transitioning is updated between the original mini & this "Special Edition - Director's Cut," which is welcome. The added 30 minutes of footage is a welcome plus.

I have in my possession now both the Director's Cut of the Harrison miniseries on DVD & the (pirated, I'm guessing by the look of the quality of some of the footage) 3+ hour Lynch movie.

I don't know... there's changes from the book made in each theatrical incarnation that would sort of leave it up to the individual viewer which one(s) they'd feel feels truest to the spirit of Frank's book.

If the sci-fi channel & Harrison are going to be adapting all of Frank's books... well, we're going to *have* to accept his interpretation of Dune. There's things I don't like about the miniseries, sure, but not enough to make me critique it too harshly.
- NeoDevilbane

I think that it is quite obvious why any of us are yet to be completely pleased to any cinematic version of the incredible dune novel. The thing just don't get enough budget ! yes you can call it a TV mini-series. but most mini-serieses are really poorly done and budgeted relatively to what a script like Dune requires. So what I hope is that one day someone will understand that this is a story great enough to invest in and will show us the true magic of Dune through the screen.
- Overrider

The miniseries was a full let down. I expected more than what was presented. Two thumbs down.
- PM

i thought it was a good representation of the book no one can expect the movie to be as detailed as the book there is no way.
- fedaykin

Well how shall i start...... i bought the DVD verion of the miniseries a couple of days ago and it's incredible... I first saw parts of it on TV and I think it was pretty good... but somehow... this DVD version is so much better.. The special effects and picture quality is so great... I just love it!!! though it's not a movie I had as much fun watching it as watching gladiator which i think is one of the best movies ever....
Costumes: How can anyone complain about the costumes!! I think they were pretty cool.. Harkonnen in red and black armor and stuff... Sardaukar purple to black and fremen in their own desert colour... I also like Irulan's dresses alot...
The acting was also pretty good in my opinion.
And when it comes to following the book..... i was quite pleased... it was way better than the movie...
So... Conclusion... love it, adore it, buy it... (DVD version if possible cuz it's really worth the money) :-)
- Rene Smeitink

Ok, read the books, saw the original movie and now the miniseries last night (bought the VCD and watched with my girlfriend)... I have this to say...
...It was just way too long. There were so many portions of the show which were not necessary to the overall presentation of the miniseries. There just seemed to be countless, dragged out scenes one right after another. TEll you the truth, this miniseries seemed more like a tribute to fans of Dune than anythign else. I mean, sure in some respects it was more accurate than the original movie, but speaking from a directorial/editorial viewpoint, i would say that it could have been cut to a 2-3 hour miniseries instead of 4-6 hours. A LOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTT of wasted film just to show teh fans how accurate the miniseries can be.
Then there just was no atmosphere at all to this miniseries. There was no sense of drama, fear, foreboding, digust, loathing or anything. It seemed like the interest was more to "show" the viewer the book than actual storytelling and a creation of ambience. The sets were terribley cheesy and cheapskate. I've seen better CGI done by kids in schools. I'm not shitting you there.
Design-wise, the buildigns, costumes etc... were terrible as well. I have never in my life seen such bad design. If i taugh my students anythign liek that I'd most likely get thrown out of my job. The choppers also looked damn shite. seriously. We've played PC games with vehicle designs. Wont say more cos too much to say.
Just want to finish off by saying that on it's own, the original movie was far superior to the miniseries. It had atmosphere, ambience, mood, emotional weight, and that "deep space" feeling to it all.
- firecow

I loved the miniseries a million times better than the movie and for the most part it was true to the book. I just wanted to say that the Harkonnen were absolutly brilliant compared to the movie. The movie portrayed them as... Things. Same goes for house Corrino as well as the fremen. These people are human and should not be portrayed as anything else. The movie had Harkonnen going around in an absolutely detestable environment doing disgusting things in thier free time. The fremen were completely mindless, thoughtless automatons. Oh - two complaints about the movie and the miniseries: The Arrakeen sky is RED, and the Baron does not fly dammit! One thing I admire about the miniseries was the bond that Gurney and Paul had. I've never had such an image of freindship and plain fun as when Paul and Gurney talked above the banquet. It was short lived but I felt quite a bit of compassion towards both of them. Granted Thufir and Duncan had almost invisible roles, but that can be expected as one can only fit so much material into a single space. I guess the single greatest thing about the miniseries was that it was completely believable. Characters doing things for reasons and everyone having a personality identical to the book. Yes, that is of course in comparison to the movie. :)
- Duracien

I may be young and pretty naive, but I can tell a good movie, or miniseries, from a bad one. Personally, I was very impressed by the Dune minisries. They kept in the most crucial bits of info from the book, added some defining features, and creating a perfect balance that makes it great. I mean, let's face it; the one thing about turning a book into a movie (espicially a scifi book) is to remake explanatory dialogue into action sequences so the audience can understand what's happening, and be amazed by the special effects. The main reason Lynch's movie stunk SO badly was because they did not have adequate abilities to do this. For instance, the scene where Paul is meditating in the desert is to a.)show the audience how he has changed from part 2to part 3 and b.)to depict his vision of Arrakis after his victory. Another example is when Paul is describing his powers to Jessica after he takes the Water of Life. I mean, what do you want more, a stunning sequence of a person telling another an incredibly important fact, and spark a revelation in the audience, or a slow, drawn out discussion between two people about a topic that only one person on Earth ever truly understood. All in all, I am very pleased with the miniseries, and encourage other people to see it.
- Greg Brew

I agree that some important scenes are left out, like when Mapes gives Jessica the crysknife, or Paul's words when Kynes meets Paul and Leto for the first time. Leto doesn't seem very convincing, and Yueh's and Thufir's costumes suck. The rest is really good.
- Valentin

I think the first book is one of the 10 greatest SCI-FI books ever written, might even be top 5 material. It has everything anyone could ever want in a piece of fiction, a riveting plot, great characters, substantial and interesting themes and enough information and interactions that one can read it over and over and never tire of it. I understand that a 2 hour movie, even a 6 hour mini series cannot do all of that justice. So I was prepared to be unimpressed and was by the Lynch movie. It seemed to follow the use the characters and the general universe of Dune but the story cahnged so much that I thought it was a different story. The performances of the actors was at best medicore to bad and I didn't ever develop the identity with the characters you do while reading the book.
The Miniseries was much better than the movie. The acting was good to medicore, strangely the most medicore was that of William Hurt, the most known actor. Granted the role of Duke Leto is one with a early exit, it seemed that he was just working thorugh it. I didn't get the strong natural leader appearance at all. The other roles were satisfactory, however I think the lessening of the support characters roles such as Thufir Hawat, lessens the complexity and richness of the story. Why would a Duke or Baron with the wealth of a planet hire what appeared to be subservient barely competent advisors. The same for the Doctor.
One of the scenes deleted from both interpetations and I feel is vital to the story is the short scene between Paul and Doctor Kynes/Liet. Here I think a very important fact is established. Liet and Paul have reached an understanding and Liet has accepted Paul as man worth following. In return Paul has pledeged himslef to the Fremen and their cause. Because this scene has been left out I felt that it doesn't show the the personal chrisma that Paul was able to exude. I felt that the rest of the interactions with the Fremen throughout the novel are for the most part stylized and ritualistic. It is important to show that Paul is also capable of making a mistake as he did in his scene with Liet as well turning the situation into something positive. It also explains why Stilgar was able to find them.
The increased role of Irulan is acceptable to me. She has a very critical role in the following books and to make sure that the viewers of the series understand her is important. However the miniseries didn't include the fact that she was Bene Gesserit Trained which is also of vital importance in the following books.
I liked the Fight scene between Feyd and Paul in the Series and I think the Baron was much more beleivable as well. The Emperor was well played. The performance by the actor who portrayed Reverend Mother in the beginning was medicore.
All in all it was a vast improvement over the movie. I do agree with some of the other posts here as to costumes, why change what the book described?
- Starman

I recently purchased the VHS edition of the Mini series. After reading some of the articles listed I thought I make a few things clear to everyone.
Firstly the reviewers here state that the pronounciations of characters/ family names in the Mini Series are inaccurate. Actually after hearing records of Frank Herbert's reading of excerpts of his books from the 70's I can say that these pronounciations are "spot on" to how Herbert pronouced them. Except for the Name Atreides (Herbert pronounces this as A-TREYEHH-DEES as opposed to the 1984 movie/ 2000 Mini series pronounciation A-TREY-DEES!!)Although this is not to say that the Herbert pronounciations are wholly accurate in the literary sense!!. Personally I prefer the Lynch pronounciations (And so did Herbert in the end!!)
As for the Mini Series itself it does cover the original book very closely although the director has made some of his own changes as well. But you must remember that with movie adaptions from novels the viewer is seeing the visual summary of someone elses interpretation of the book. (In this case it is the Director's)
The Mini series is quite well made for a TV adaption. Here are the good and bad elements of the series:
THE GOOD THINGS ABOUT THE MINI SERIES:
THE SETS: Some of the sets like the Emperor's palace and the Atreides palace are quite lavish and vast.
THE ACTING: Some of the acting is very good such as the portrayals of Chani, Alia and the Baron who are all very accurate representations of the characters described in Herbert's novel. The actress who portrayed Jessica was also good (I found "her" Jessica to be much more affectionate towards Paul than the character in the novel/ 1984 movie.
THE FIGHT SCENES: The fight scenes (like the one between Feyd and the slave in the beginning are very well staged!!). But they are very different to how Herbert described combat in his book.
SOME VERY GOOD SCENES: The Water of Life ceremony is very well done. I also liked the full explanation of the relationship between worm and spice by Chani to Paul. It was much clearer than the 1984 movie.
THE BAD THINGS ABOUT THE MINI SERIES:
THE OVERALL (BAD) ACTING: The overall acting is bad. I thought the performance of William Hurt as Duke Leto to be very pallid. He murmurs his lines and comes accross as quite bored. (The Duke in the book was a very loud and stern character. But he was a charasmatic leader of men). Other weak performances include (for convenience sake I won't mention the cast names) Gurney Halleck who was greatly miscast.
The actor who plays him keeps moving his arms when talking like he is a Thunderbirds puppet. His accent is so thick and his voice so hoarse at times he seems inaudible. Which is strange because Halleck was meant to be a Troubador (i.e. a poet) and so his voice should be more softer/ euphonous!!.
The actor who played the Guild Ambassador was laughable. He kept moving his hands when talking as if he was conjuring up magic. He looked like he was pretending to be Dracula with that stupid voice and hand movements.
The Emperor, Princess Irulan and the Reverend mother Mohiam are terribly portrayed by the cast in this series.
THE SPECIAL FX: There are good effects like the navigator and the worms but overall the effects are quite weak. Especially the Ornithopter effects which look like cut scenes from the DUNE 2000 PC game. The exteriors of the Atreides palace look fake as do the desert backdrops.
The body shields (which appear in only one scene in the entire 4.5 hour series) look like bad negative scratching. Also confusing is that the Lasguns in the series fire like machineguns. I am a big fan of very good CGI but I much prefer good stop motion FX (as in the 1984 movie) to the bad CGI in the mini series.
THE COSTUMES:
There are some very good costumes in the mini series such as the Fremen (who look exactly like they are described in the book) and the guildsmen. The Atreides troopers also look OK. But overall the costumes are TERRIBLE. It seems like the higher the level of authority the character has the more stupid the hat they must wear (Such as the Emperor and the Reverend Mother).
The Sardaukar are all dressed as an eighties version of Shakespeare's Romeo. And you'll cry laughing when you see Irulans cocktail dress!!!. And Feyd Rautha looks like he's got a kite stuck to the back of his neck throughout the entire series!!
It is a pity that Harrison decided not to use exact costumes as described from the novel (Such as the grey unirforms and black helmets worn by the Sardaukar and the Blue feudalist uniforms of the Harkonnen etc)
THE MUSICAL SCORE: Does sound tragic towards the end but overall sounds quite weak and irrelevant.
THE DIRECTION:
John Harrison's direction is flawed. His overuse of stock footage during the battle scenes are quite noticible as is his lack of pace during the series.
His presentation of certain characters in his script are wholly inaccurate such as Feyd Rautha (who Harrison conveys as a 2-faced spoilt rentboy!!) not like the noble gladiator and heir as described in the book. I also do not like the way Harrison has him trying to assassinate his uncle the Baron of his own accord.
In the book he was corrupted by POW Thufir Hawat who put him up to it. And the plan of the Baron to have Feyd kill Rabban in the series was never mentioned in the book. The plan was that Feyd would simply replace Rabban as governor of Dune in the attempt to win the loyalty of the people of Dune.
Finally Harrison assumes that everyone who watches this Adaption has also read the book. Lack of important expalantions (such as the Bene Gesserit mind powers) and the lack of narrative for key scenes as well as the omission of the "inner thoughts" of the characters only serve to confuse non readers of the book. If any non reader was slightly confused by the 1984 movie they would certainly have no hope of finding clarity in this adaption.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON 1984 MOVIE AND 2000 MINI SERIES.
Some readers of the book criticised Lynch for his changes in the Dune story (such as Weirding modules, heartplugs etc). But one must remember that Lynch was updating the story as well as adapting it. Techno Feudalism is considered belonging more to fantasy than the SCI FI genre. And a SCI FI film containing big battles where intergalactic armies stab each other with little daggers would be considered too cheesy for a contemporary "Star Wars" audience. So Lynch cannot be blamed for any diversion from the book in this sense. As for the Final scene in the 1984 movie where Paul makes it rain on Dune. Lynch was only trying to make a big climatic ending instead of the wimpy anti climatic ending of the book (which is featured in the Mini Series).
Cinema audiences prefer big finales to low key melodramatic endings like the one that's featured in the book. So Lynch was only trying to make and ending that would please the mainstream audience and SUPRISE the readers (By indicating that Paul actually was the KWISATZ HADERACH who had universal powers instead of him just "pretending" to be this superhuman as conveyed in the Herbert's book).
So Lynch was quite right to make the changes he did. By the way Harrison duplicates this in his own production by showing Paul praying on top of a podium in front of the Fremen while a flow of water (that he creates with his mind) pours on top of them (Funnily enough It looks like he is peeing in front of the Fremen).

Overall the series is ok and I look forward to the next installments that Harrison will bw directing. But I think Non readers of the book should probably stay clear of this series because they will find it very confusing as it is clearly aimed at anyone who has read the book. unless of course they are massive SCI FI fans. I would strongly recommend them to watch the 1984 movie instead which has better effects, costumes, acting and directing. Overall the 1984 version is the better representation of the book thanks to Lynch's vision. Who if the rumours are true is going to release a definitive full version of his classic DUNE next year.

VERDICT : MINI SERIES 7/10 : 1984 MOVIE 10/10

By the way anyone who agrees or disagrees with this they may email me.
- Wilz

I was pleased the way more of the story was included yet there was still some things missing.
The look of the destert was all wrong. It didn't look like a real desert, but more like a 'studio-created' desert.
Why did Paul have so much trouble killing Feyd?
- Dark Shogun

THE MINISERIES WAS INCREDIBLE! About 4 years ago, I first watched the 4 hour Lynch film on the Sci-fi channel. The story interested me, and when I found out it was based on a novel, I went right out and started reading it. Once I had completed it, I realized that it was the greatest novel in not just in the genre of science fition, but in american literature overall. Also, after finishing it, I realized that Lynch's film was a steaming pile of dog shit that ruined a truly beautiful universe.
I am very glad that someone else felt the same way. Namely, John Harrison. When I discovered that the sci-fi channel was remaking it as a 6 hour made-for-TV movie, I jumped for joy. Just before it aired, I spent the month of November rereading Dune. After seeing the whole thing, I was thoroughly impressed and very glad that it was made. I will now conduct a film to film analysis (with book comparisons here and there) of the two films.
I know those who have been reading these reviews feel that many repeat themselves, so I'll try not to repeat them.

1. SCRIPT
A 4 1/2 hour time frame can tell much more than a 2 hour time frame. Many have complained about how Herbert's famous "inner monologue" was not included in the miniseries. I understand why Harrison did this and am kind of glad he did it. I have a quote for all of you who disagree with me.
"Novels are about what people think; plays are about what people say; screenplays are about what people do."
As a fan of all three media, I agree with this credo. This is why I disliked the inner monologues of Lynch's film and was glad it was removed. Finally, the miniseries stayed much closer to the book. It made very few cuts, and trimmed and rearranged to include the important scenes and plot points. There are two scenes from the book that I wish they had included. The Feyd-Rautha slave battle scene and the first Dr. Yueh scene. That fight scene is important to the character of Feyd-Rautha because it reveals how weak he is. I wanted the Dr. Yueh scene because my favorite piece of technology in Dune was the Orange Catholic Bible, but since they underplayed the character of Yueh, I let it slide.

2. CASTING
I thought that the casting in the miniseries was much better than the movie. Since the script of the Lynch movie was so bad and underdeveloped, the acting wasn't that great. Alec Newman really showed us the evolution of Paul from boy to man (stubble and spiked hair) while Kyle MacLachlan gave a very stale and unchanging performance. Gurney was better (don't get me wrong, I respect Patrick Stewart, but P.H. Moriarity seemed much more like Herbert's "ugly lump of a man"). The Baron was much better because he seemed more like a fiendish politician as opposed to Lynch's disgusting raving madman. Saskia Reeves turned out a better performance as Jessica (script) as did William Hurt as Duke Leto. The same goes for Stilgar, Feyd, Rabban, Irulan, the Emperor, Reverend Mother Ramallo, and Otheym (an important member of the Fedaykin). The parts of Chani and Dr. Kynes were better because they were both better talents. I will give Lynch the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam. His was a lot truer to the book. I was unsatisfied with the characters of the Mentants and Yueh, but I accepted it and will get to why later.

3. COSTUMING
I thought the costuming in the miniseries was much better than in the movie. I thought the colors and robes were much truer to Herbert's vision than Lynch's black depressing creation of dark rooms, drab uniforms and bland bodysuits. The stillsuits with robes looked much better, but I will get to that in the Fremen section.

4. SETS
Many people have complained about there being backdrops. They have asked "Why were they so cheap? Why didn't they shoot in a real desert?" DOES ANYONE OUT THERE KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT TELEVISION AND FILM! First of all, this is a made for tv movie, not a feature film. And another thing, do you people understand what comes with shooting in a desert? It is expensive, uncomfortable and incredibly time-consuming. They actually were originally planning to shoot in a desert, but they didn't because of the reasons I just listed. I personally thought that Harrison's desert backdrops were an ingenious stroke of compromise, and felt more like the Dune I imagined than Lynch's. In an open desert, one can't create the desert to their liking or control conditions. On a sound stage, they can, and they can do what is necessary to make the weather more connected with what's going, there by making it closer to the book. I will talk about the desert more in my next section.

5. CGI
CGI made everything much more impressive. Harrison's worms looked less like slow lifeless earthworms and more like living breathing creatures of majesty. The ornithopters looked more like the insects that Herbert described and less like spaceships with stubby little wings (and they were everywhere, just as Herbert had intended). I personally think that Dune 2000 has the best ornithopter, but Harrison's still look really cool (the use of only one real lifesized ornithopter was a very clever budget saver in my opinion). CGI also made the Water of Life changing sequence much more like I had pictured from the book. Finally, CGI created the epic superwide shots of the desert and Arrakeen that were just plain beautiful (Lynch could have never done anything like that back in the 80s).

6. MENTANTS (and other underplayed characters)
I was very unsatisfied with how the characters of Thufir Hawat and Piter De Vries were dumbed down from human super computers to mere advisors. The same with Dr. Yueh. I have accepted this though because the overall product is still so very good. Harrison went for a stronger focus on Arrakis existence than Imperialum existence (which is OK).

7. IRULAN (the overplayed character)
Many have complained about how Irulan had a big part in the miniseries. As I've watched the miniseries a couple of times, I have learned to accept this. In the novel through the passages from her books, we discover that she is an observer. She plays this same role of being just an observer in the miniseries, but merely more directly. One scene that I greatly disliked was when Paul and Irulan were having a deep personal connection during the dinner party. Paul's relationship (and marriage) with Irulan is everything but personal, and the fact that she plots against him in Dune Messiah makes this moment in the miniseries even more distasteful.

8. FREMEN (most important)
Lynch's Fremen were TERRIBLE. The drab, poorly designed stillsuits (a noseplug? period?) and absence of robes made the Fremen look like a bunch of funny little space men on the sand. The fact that there was no depth to them didn't help either. Lynch's Fremen were not a culture. They were Paul Atreides' personal army of vengance who didn't need to appear until Paul needed them.
Harrison's Fremen were beautiful. Their beautifully complicated earthtone stillsuits (full head cover and face mask) combined with hoods and robes made my vision and the vision that Herbert described unfold in front of my eyes. Harrison's Fremen were a living breathing culture; fully equiped with day-to-day operations like food preparation, small talk among people, and children running around playing. Now that I think about it, I don't think there was a single Fremen child in all of Lynch's film. How sad. Harrison gave his Fremen a more natural feel, which was what I imagined while reading the book. Harrison's Fremen were so much better that it made me want to cry. They were so beautiful.
The worm riding was better and truer the book as well.

9. THE WIERDING WAY
What is the Wierding Way?
According to Herbert, "a flash of robes, and Jessica had Stilgar against the wall". The Wierding Way is a method of hand-to-hand combat that requires lighning-quick speed and agility.
According to Harrison, The Wierding Way is a method of hand-to-hand combat that requires lighning-quick speed and agility (as represented by a sped-up frame rate).
According to Lynch, The Wierding Way is a stupid ass gun that requires you to hold a black block in your hand, strap and smoker's speaking box to your throat, and yell some gibberish to make the block fire a laser (that sounds REALLY difficult to learn). Lynch's Wierding Way can BURN IN HELL!

10. PRONUNCIATION
Why is everyone making such a big deal about pronunciation! So they say Harkonnen a little fast, BIG FLIPPING DEAL! Find something better to bitch about.

11. NAMES
I agree with with most people that the names of Usul and Lisan-al-Giab should not have been cut; but unlike most people, I understand why they did it and accept it. Lets face it, the American public is stupid. I seriously don't think they would have been able to handle Paul having 2 Fremen names and 2 Fremen messiah names, and Harrison understood this too. So I understand. I don't condone it, but I understand.

12. GUILD NAVIGATORS
The Navigators in both works make me want to puke! Guild Navigators in the Dune novel are not funny fish things floating in tanks, nor are they majestic winged creatures. They are MEN. Simple, ordinary, physically unchanged men. The only difference between a normal man and a Guild Navigator is that the eyes of a Guild Navigator are so blue from spice consumption that they are practically black. Being a fine writer, Herbert avoided such cheesy scifi cliches and went for a more symbolic approach. As for the Steersmen in Dune Messiah, I don't like them and wish they weren't there because they weren't in the first novel (but that's another story entirely).

In conclusion, I believe that Harrison got it right and the miniseries will usher in a whole new plethora of Dune fans that the Lynch movie could not (take a gander at Matt Powers' review on this very page (9th one down)). I personally think that Harrison's work should be praised and viewed by all, while every last copy of Lynch's film should be burned and forgotten. Its rather sad that one man can spent 60 million dollars to end up with 2 hours worth of crap while another can create a 4 1/2 hour masterpiece of cinematic adaptation on a 20 million dollar budget.
I think now that a proper film version of Dune has been created, Frank Herbert's spirit can finally rest easy.
- Kevin Brinn

I had only heard of the book and movie with Sting from my husband who said the book was good but the movie was not. I was glad that my introduction to Dune was this fantastic miniseries. It had me riveted and I was just overwhelmed by the great FX. I got a copy of the book and have begun reading it. It leaves Star Wars in the dust!! George Lucas wishes he made this flick!! This series is a must see for all sci fi fans!!
- Sarah Fretz

Both David Lynch and John Harrison have contributed
interpretations of Frank Herbert's work which are partly complementary, partly contradictory, but (both of which) are completely valuable.

Having read the novels *before* seeing either the MiniSeries or (the DVD version of) the movie, I can appreciate Lynch's sincere attempt at a "complete treatment" of Dune (despite the "weirding modules", and Lynch's own trademark darkness & perversity). However, I think that without serializing Dune (as in the "Star Wars" series), the next-best format (in terms of length) is the Television MiniSeries. This format, and Harrison's assemblage of stellar talent, makes me appreciate Harrison's treatment as more remarkable than Lynch's, despite (as others have pointed out) the smaller budget.

* * *

About the Baron's rhyming - although several other commentaries expressed irritation with this seemingly out-of-place vehicle, it is obvious to anyone familiar with Shakespeare (for example, read Henry V, or even watch Olivier's or Branagh's film, with its end-scenes punctated by rhyming sonnets) that the rhyming couplets are intentional nods to the "Shakespearean" elements in Dune, like the sweeping historical narrative (albeit history of events 10,000 years hence), political intrigue, and (hooray!) Herbert's bard-like psychological insight into the many affairs and motivations that make us human. Although not a part of Herbert's narrative, I think this rhyming by the Baron was an addition by Harrison that will prove to be prophetic - Herbert's Dune series may one day be considered not only as a "New Classic", but may even be inspiration for *future* revisitations of these noble, tragic archetypes - The melancholy Paul, both ruler and victim of fate, etc.
There's something about these characters that capture our imaginations; the fact that other contemporary artists (such as these two directors, Lynch and Harrison) are intrigued by the Dune universe, is tribute to Herbert's legacy.

"The play's the thing."
- Xeromboteles

First all the people who say oh well its wasnt in depth enought well of course not, it cant be anymore indepth than the book and do to that it woul have to be word for word and 12 hours long. I loved the mini series. Im hoping Harrison will look into mini series for the other books particiulary god emperor of dune. I like harrisons style. there was just something about the episoads that I liked.
- Thufir Hawat

Here's the simple review: I love it.

I don't see how anyone can complain about this miniseries. Granted its not perfect to the book series in plot and details, but in case you haven't notice, there's a lot of depth to the Dune universe. It would take twice as long as the miniseries just to get all the details into the show. Unfortunately, they don't have the time for that. If you write a show with a whole ton of technical terms, you'll lose the audience that doesn't know the series. Believe it or not, the key of television is not the show, its the advertising. No advertising, no show.

I've watched the first two parts, and the last part is on tonight (SPACEcast).
- Michael DeGroot

I think the Dune mini series was great. Although some of the plot has changed from the novel but I think they did that just to make the story understandable for people who haven't read the dune novel. Thats why some of the terminlogy like CHOAM wasn't mentioned that much. The settings were gorgeous like the palace hall with its marble walls and floor and the furniture just to name a few areas. The acting was good for a mini series. I hope this mini series attracts a lot of new people to get interested int the Dune series. Just like myself. I just got into Dune after playing Dune 2000 and I'm just reading the novel right now. Oh yeah I just have one question. I haven't seen any mention of House Ordos in the Dune novel. Were they part of Frank Herbert's creation? If so what novel are they featured in? House Ordos is my favourite house.
- Byron

I thought that Harrison's version was well executed, mainly because of it's longer duration. It's plain to see the end result from more time to explain things, though I still had to explain it to my sister (I had to explain Wing Commander to my sister as well, but I digress).

There were somethings that I liked from the miniseries, and somethings that I preferred from the Movie. Lynch had some A-list actors on board, but I think that the Baron was far more beliveable in Harrison's version, not to mention the Emperor. Alia was much better; she didn't have that creepy voice that she did in the movie. It will make for a more tragic character later on when Dune Messiah comes out, since she is physically normal, but cursed with a mind advanced beyond her years. But Lynch's representation of the Mentats Piter deVries and Thufir Hawat were much more developed (as much of an oxymoron as that sounds).

One thing bugged me throughout the movie, dispite the fact that more of Herbert's book was finally being told: Every so often, the Fremen would be just outside their Sietch without their stillsuits, a big mistake for a people who go to such strides to preserve water.

On the other hand, with Lynch's version, you have it raining at the end.
- Nicholas Faubert

I'm not even sure if anyone is still reading these reviews or still cares about them, but after reading many of the reviews on the site, I felt like I had to put my own two cents in. Of course, if you have seen the first Dune movie, directed by David Lynch, you cannot help but make comparisons between the two. The only thing I have to say in that regard is that the new Dune miniseries did something that the original motion picture version could not do: it made me interested in the story. I have known for some time that an entire series of Dune novels has existed, but after seeing the original movie, I had decided that they were not worth my time. It's for this reason alone that I think the original movie is horribly lacking. When I was watching the miniseries, I was surprised at how multi-layered the story was. Since the miniseries, I have bought and read the first Dune novel, which I have enjoyed very much. Another comment about the movie: the use of internal monologues. The movie is stuffed full of them. A reviewer before me harped on the miniseries for not having any internal monologues. Obviously, anyone with this opinion doesn't know anything about making television or movies entertaining. Internal monologues are fine, when used properly, but when your entire cast is talking to themselves instead of to each other, you have a serious problem, because nothing is actually happening. The very nature of movies is that you are shown things whenever possible, not told. If you can show the same thing visually, then that's how it should be done. And my final complaint about the movie is the interpretation of the Weirding Way. No-where in any part of the first novel do you see anything about anyone using sound waves as a weapon, or the name Muad'Dib being a "killing word." No armies of Fremen riding worms yelling "MMMJOT" or whatever it was. The fact that this was absent from the miniseries made me very curious, and I was actually shocked to find out that it was created solely for the movie version, and I felt cheated that something so prominent in the movie was not even a part of the Dune story after all.

Now, getting to the miniseries:
As a whole, I believe the miniseries to be well done. Well written and well acted most of the time, and as miniseries' go, very well directed. For my first comments about the miniseries I'll try and limit myself from comparing to the book. Though I think the miniseries overall was head and shoulders above the level of the movie, there are still several things that bother me about it.
1. The Arrakis backdrop. Knowing a thing or two about the rigors of producing films and television, the idea of creating a backdrop to hang in a set instead of filming on location is a wonderful money-saving idea. However, if it doesn't look good, it's still not worth much in the long haul. To be fair, many shots with the backdrop work nicely. However, the examples of it not working are also very numerous. When dealing with a backdrop, it's important to make it so that it can be lit consistently with the actual set environment, which is something they apparently did not consider for the miniseries. When it is night, and the cast and the sand under them is blue, and the long distance dunes in the background are still a sandy yellow shade, you have a problem.
2. Story gaps. You can't watch the miniseries without occasionally feeling like the characters in the story know something you don't, and they aren't going to share. Reading the novel helps immensely, but as a stand-alone peice, sometimes you are left going, "Huh? What just happened?" It takes a few viewings to figure it out without the book as an aid.
3. Costuming. While the costuming was colorful and often lavish, giving you a better feel of the aristocracy and politics of the Great Houses that is the driving force behind much of the Dune plotline, often they miss the mark. Costumes that are too complicated, or just plain silly looking, often show up. The worst example is the Sardaukar warriors, that look like black clad Pillsbury dough boys with funny-looking hats. It's a breath of fresh air when Paul and Jessica run off to the Fremen, who wear simple, loose-fitting, basically normal clothing.
4. Bad Guys rhyme. Why? Why does Baron Harkonnen rhyme? Why does he look at the camera sometimes when he does it? Is he talking to us?
As far as good things go, there are plenty:
1. Worms. Immensely better than the grey, laughable earthworm looking monsters in the movie, these worms are dynamic and threatening, and a lot more fun to watch. These worms are the Makers.
2. The Weirding Way. The Voice and the Weirding style of fighting are MUCH BETTER. The fights are actually coreographed, and entertaining to watch, and the fast, blurred motions of the Weirding Way are fun to watch. On the other hand, I was disappointed with how underused it was.

Now as far as comparing it to the book, I would have to say that the miniseries is much more faithful. Unfortunately, in the effort to make a very faithful adaptation, they messed up in many places:
1. Thufir Hawat. The Atreides Mentat. Head of security at Arrakeen. Where is he, I wondered? The pudgy guy in the purple outfit is your answer. This quite prominent character is left in the lurch in the miniseries. A sad thing, really. Also, Piter is horribly underused as well. One wonders what the big deal with a Mentat is... they don't do much of anything in the miniseries. They sure had plenty to do in the novel. Thufir had a whole subplot...
2. Shallow Depth. The characters in the novel do a lot of thinking... a lot of talking to themselves, just as every novel character does. When adapting for a movie or TV show, these interior conversations and thoughts have to be expressed somehow, especially when they contain important plot information. The miniseries declined to do this 90% of the time. What results is a faithful adaptation to the surface events and dialogue, but without the immense, rich depth that was behind everything in the novel. So much of the Fremen mystique, the spiritual angles, Paul's transformation from boy to Messiah, and the motivations behind many actions are lost, and leave you with a sense of "Why did that happen?" After reading the book, and getting a sense of why things were the way they were, the miniseries comes into a whole new light. However, it should have had it's own light. Several of the Harkonnen scenes, which seem to be scenes designed just to remind you that there are still bad guys out there, should have been scenes illustrating the power struggles within, and the Baron's ambition to be Emperor. Instead, the scenes are two dimensional. Many other scenes are like this, and after reading the book, you enjoy the miniseries very much for rarely contradicting the novel, and occasionally being very clever, but I was often left with the feeling that much of the show was a mass of missed opportunities. It could have been much better.
3. Princess Irulan. Sure, she's a major part of the Dune story, but as far as the first book is concerned, she's only a scribe... and observer after the fact. While the scenes written featuring Irulan are well constructed, well acted, and fit nicely into the Dune plot, they are ultimately unneccesary, and absolutely fail to do what Irulan did in the first Dune novel, and that was give a massive amount of insight into the events of the novel, through the eye of history... adding more of an epic feel and adding richness to the story, making it seem more real. All there is to praise for actual worth in the miniseries Irulan is the strong performance by the actress and the fact that Irulan does play a larger part in novels to come. I think the better alternative would be to use Irulan as a Narrator of the Dune story, as she was in the novel. I think this would have been much more successful.

Overall, I felt the Dune miniseries was a very good try, and a much better attempt than Lynch's Dune, which seemed to muddle about in dark, forbodeing locations, following a plot that was confusing most of the time, and with a disgusting Baron that hardly does justice to the book's villain. However, the miniseries was not everything it could have been, which leaves me with the sincere hope that Dune Messiah yields much better results. Neither the movie nor the miniseries captures the true depth of Dune. My advice to everyone is read the book. The true vision lies there, and with your imagination, it'll never be wrong for you.
- Matt Powers

The Dune miniseries that aired on the Scifi channel from December 3, 2000 - December 5, 2000, was perhaps the worst screen adaptation of a science fiction novel I have ever had the misfortune of seeing. The horror, omissions, and ridiculous fabrications of the miniseries are so immense, I am almost at a loss as to where I should begin.
Perhaps the greatest omission of the miniseries, that is found in both the novels and David Lynch's film, are the inner monologues. These are essential for character and plot development, as well as providing a richer background in which to tell the story. One scene in which the inner monologues are essential to the story is the one that finds Liet Kynes examining Paul's stillsuit before they, along with Duke Leto, are to venture into the desert. Instead of having Paul state that "it seemed the proper way" (which is also an important phrasing) when asked how he knew to wear the stillsuit and then having Kynes think to himself "...he shall know your ways as if born to them..." (which is extremely significant for understanding the legend of the Kwisatz Haderach among the Fremen), they decided to have Paul give some adolescent wisecrack about it appearing right, in a rather unbearably snotty tone.
Such omissions are too numerous to catologue, but I shall attempt to briefly list other unexcusably annoying aspects of the movie:

1. Pronunciation: 'Leto' is pronounced 'Lee-toe', not'Lay-to', and 'Harkonnen' is pronounced 'HAR-KOE-NUN', not 'HAR-kuh-nun'. Frank Herbert worked with David Lynch to develop the sceneplay for the film Dune and was present during filming, so, I believe, it is safe to assume that the pronunciations used in Lynch's film Dune are those that Herbert intended.

2. Casting: Leto and Paul should not have been cast as aryan Übermenschen, but rather as greek-looking, since 'Atreides' does mean 'son of Atreus'(re-read your classical mythology text).

3. Costume and Set design: The desert scenes did not appear as though they were shot in a desert, but rather an empty room that had been filled with sand. The lighted looked artificial and the backgrounds were horrible. I thought that painted backgrounds were not used in any films made after the 1950's, unless it was for the appeal of having a painted background in and of itself. The costumes were horrible all around. Again, see my comments about Herbert's connection with the film Dune. The costumes were far superior. Lynch showed us how stillsuits should look, and that image, which cannot be removed from my mind, is much much much cooler than the rags they had them wear while they were playing in the sandbox. The same goes for the Spacing Guild uniforms. The ones used in the miniseries looked like velvet pajamas with dunce caps, and the navigators did not look like mutated humans, but angels. What were they thinking?

4. Baron Vladmir Harkonnen speaking in rhyme. I believe the idiocy of that is immediately obvious and no comment is necessary.

5. The added scenes with Princess Irulan, Shaddam IV, et. al.: These scenes were not in the book and contributed absolutely nothing to the movie or the plot, expect to make it worse.

6. Lack of back-story: If the movie were my sole source of knowledge of the Dune Universe, I probably would know nothing of the Butlerian Jihad, the political and historical significance of CHOAM, the Spacing Guild, and Bene Gesserit, that there was a planet called Ix, how far in the future these events take place, or why the Kwisatz Haderach is so important to begin in the first place.

7. One omission deserves special mention: When Chani (pronounced "CHAH-KNEE" not "CHAINEY") speaks to Paul in reference to his homeworld, she says, "Tell me of the waters of your homeworld, USUL". The point is that the miniseries entirely ignored the fact that Paul was given a secret name by Stilgar to be used only by those in his Sietch. Ignoring that not only makes the miniseries even more unfaithful to the novel, but denies viewers any insight into the structure of Fremen society.

and finally,

8. The death of the Beast Rabban: I know it must provide more dramatic appeal to have Rabban killed by a righteous and vengeful Fremen mob on the streets of Arrakeen, but that simply did not happen (neither did his personal public executions of Fremens). Rabban was killed by the Emperor, which says something important about the social structure of the Empire and the personality of the Emperor that, so it appears, the producers, in their infinite wisdom and superior knowledge of Dune, decided not to include.

In closing, I wish to state that I hope for the sake of the integrity of Dune and the great enjoyment I have received from Frank Herbert's novels, that the fools who produced the Dune miniseries do not further ruin it by loosing a Dune: Messiah miniseries upon the world.
- Lee M. Goswick

i recently saw the original Dune by Lynch, and i thought that the miniseries was far better. the miniseries in my mind, had better casting, and Alec Newman was a better Paul Maud'dib than Kyle McLachlen. the miniseries, followed the book better, but where was CHOAM? In the book Dune, CHOAM played a big role, but i didn't even hear it mentioned in the M.S. the movie also seemed very rushed. but the worms did look cool in the movie. when u first see the worms in the m.s., it looks really cool, a lot cooler than in the movie, but then they start to look faker and faker, like when paul is meditating in the 3rd part, and the worms are waving around, some say they looked like giant dildos. i wouldn't go THAT far, but they could've looked a bit more realistic. some people keep on gripin and gripin, but hey! it's a thing that was made for T.V. i don't think anyone is expecting this Miniseries to go up for an oscar. so for anyone who keeps on complaining, get over it, and don't watch the miniseries ever again! stick to the book or movie and don't rip on the miniseries any more.
- Pidge

I'll go through several categories comparing the Lynch, Hartison and comments from the novel.
The Script: By far the most important part of any film. If the script isn't any good, then don't bother. Harrison's script is far superior, the main reason being he had more time on screen to do so. More time to carry out the story and action. The downside is some of the scenes cut, Duncan's death, the ornithopter escape. For the most part I really liked Harrison's script. Lynch's script was some what confusing if you had not read the novel. But it was as good as a two hour Dune could get I suppose.
Casting/Acting: The two really have to go together. The acting in Lynch's is far superior, with an international cast. Both Paul's were good, Kyle MacLachlan looks way more like Paul, and is a better actor too. And as for Gurney as everyone says, no one, absolutely no one could play Gurney the way Patrick Steward can. But Lynch's isn't perfect, I rather liked the Harrison Baron more. He was more intellegent, not a raving mad man. Feyd was more of the way I pictured him in Harrison's too. But for the most part Lynch's casting was near to perfection.
Scenery: Although in my opinion, I though neither versions showed the granduer of Dune in the way I imagined. Lynch's version IS out in the desert and has more an epic feel. The seitch life feeling was better portrayed in Harrison's, but he took a bad blow with the stage like panarama pictures.
Cinematograhy: Both versions have good taste in camera work. I have to lean more on Harrison's though, he had Sitoro. The angualr views for Harrison's, I did like the darkness of Lynch's though.
Costume/Art Direction: Both once again have good elements. Lynch's Atreides uniforms were absolutely perfect, the Harkonnen and Sardukar uniforms were pretty cheesy though. I liked them more in the harrison version. The seitches in Lynch's were more futuristic, the way I pictured it. Arakeen was closer in Harrison's though.
Action: Lynch and Harrison both tried there hands at the action. Harrison came much closer, but not the entire cake. The absence of Duncan's death, fighting off ten Sardukar was a disapointment, as was the worms not crushing anyone with tons and tons of sand like Lynch's. The lasgun/shield tactic is yet to be done. But Harrison's hand to hand fighting was for the most part, almost right on the money.
Overall: I lean towards Harrison's version, more time to tell gives me more feeling of Dune. More is covered, more is shown. Lynch's casting and costumes were far better though. I belive with the Lynch cast, Harrison's story and axtion we would nearly have the perfect Dune. Being around about 3-4 hours long. So it could be theater worthy...
- Knightsun

The first time I saw Dune was Lynch's movie version. I thought it was okay at best, with all the overacting (Jessica crying after the worm attack and Gurney saying, "Good Lord, what a monster!"), and the shooting through of key sequences (they went throught the whole "New Reverand Mother" thing in about four minutes and three lines of dialoge). That was bad, the miniseries was worse. This monstrosity does not pay homage to the book I am reading.
The main thing I find is that the characters don't fit the descriptions Frank Herbert wrote. The movie accomplished this to an extent (except for Gurney), but the miniseries did not. They also screwed up the look of the technology (like the rotor-winged ornithopters) that the movie did a decent job of replicating.
But the biggest sin of all was the sets of Arrakis. The whole "running on a painted backround" feel of the desert scenes left me rolling with laughter. Don't forget how the backround remains sunny at night. Another problem is the worms, like how their skin looks like plastic, or that they bear a striking resemblence to a certian male body part. It is just plain wrong.
Despite being cheesy, inaccurate, and a little too long (six hours!!?), the acting was better than some miniseries out there, and the non-worm effects were presentable. Still, once I finish the other half of the book, I know I will have much to gripe about when it comes to this sub-par version of a literary classic.
- John Rose

You know, I wouldn't put too much stock in these supposed "reviews." Hell, 90% of them couldn't spell, and the other 10% have no understanding of grammar! I guess there IS a reason movie critics go to school after all -- you have to learn how to spell and not mangle every other word. Geez, how do you expect someone to take your "reviews" with any grain of salt if you don't even take an effort to write correctly?
Now onto the mini-series. I enjoyed it for what it was. A TV show, a TV version of Lynch's movie. Granted, I've never read the book, and I suppose that's a plus from my point of view. Unlike many of these "reviewers" I didn't go into this movie with a chip on my shoulder. The "It was better as a book" is such a cliche, I'm always dumbstruck when someone uses it in reviewing a movie. It's a MOVIE. It's supposed to STAND ON ITS OWN LEGS or FALL ON ITS OWN LEGS. Comparing it to the original source book is ridiculous. Movie adaptations are interpretations of their source material, not DIRECT TRANSLATIONS. If people (re: the TV and movie viewing public) wanted a direct translation of a book, they would READ THE BOOK.
The Dune mini-series, by itself, was a good movie. I could have taken at least 2 hours, or one whole part, out of the movie, though. A lot of the scenes were unnecessary. AFter all, we KNOW the bad guys are bad, we don't have to keep seeing them hatching plot after plot or acting "bad." The scenes with the Emperor at his palace were useless to the overall story. The first scene, where the first plan was hatched, should have been enough. The rest were all just padding for a 3-day mini-series. We KNOW they're bad.
I did not particularly care for many of the scenes involving the worms. I thought they looked too fake. The scene where Paul is confronted by 3 works reminded me of a 3-headed plastic dildos flailing around. It was kind of disturbing, to say the least.
But overall, the movie was mildly entertaining. Three days worth of material? Probably not. Two days, at the most. Or, better yet, a 3-hour mini-series might have been better. Lynch managed to condense the story under 3 hours, I don't see why the creators of the mini-series needed 3 days to tell their story, for a total of 4 to 5 hours, minus commercials.
Perhaps just a little point of irritation: I don't know if the creators of the mini-series intended it to be so (I think they did myself), but the pronunciation of the major characters' names, the planet, and the bad guys were very DIFFERENT from the pronunciation in the movie. I believe Lynch's use of the pronunciation was better. They gave it more resonance and emphasis. The pronunciation in the mini-series just came out flat and without any real impact. This was a bad choice by the makers of the mini-series. A very, very bad choice.
Grade: Mildly entertaining.
- Sam

Ok, so the miniseries had a few flaws. The backgrounds were often poor, and the deserts weren't that great. HOWEVER: The acting was relatively good. Saskia Reeves' (Jessica)performance was great, and the "early" Paul was good. The special effects were not that bad. One thing to remember is that the entire budget was 20 million dollars, a paltry sum compared to those spent on horrible summer "blockbusters", ie "The Phantom Menace." Also, those who complain about the performance of William Hurst (Duke Leto) must remember that he was only in the first 120 (give or take a few) pages of the book. He is killed 3/4 of the way through the first episode. His performance was good. Speaking as an actor myself, it is hard to portray a part where you die in 1 hour 30 mins. Next, the Baron Harkonnen was incredibly repulsive, and his nephew Feyd was not to bad himself. 100x better than the movie. The Emperor and his daughter, Irulan, were also well portrayed in the series, with Irulan slowly evolving into a major character. My only regret is that Count Fenring was not developed enough. Finally, the Costumes were not that bad. I think that with the exceptions of the Emperor's metallic body suit, the Baron's constantlack of clothing and the Bene Gesserit robes, the costumes looked very good. Much better than those P.O.C. "Phantom Menace" costumes.
The only major thing I hold against the Dune miniseries is the use of guns and explosives by the Sardaukar, Atreides, and Harkonnen, but unless you are a Dune zealot you will not care.
Overall, I'd give Dune ****, so you should definetly see it too.
- Lincoln Foran

I've been hearing a lot of people talking about how much better the miniseries is than the movie, but then turn aorund and criticize the miniseries for not being true enough to the book. I fundamentally disagree with that position.
David Lynch directed a FILM. John Harrison directed a MINISERIES. There is a very big difference.
I just can't understand how anyone could possibly think that the miniseries is better than the film. The miniseries SUCKED! The acting in the miniseries was weak(with the exception of Chani) all around- especially in comparison with the film. I mean, come ON! William Hurt as duke Leto?! Gimme a break! And that guy with the accent playing Stilgar, Puh-Leeez!
And what about the effects and the sets? That shit was ridiculous! Think of the cheezy spandex stilsuits, the horrendous blue-screeing (e.g. Paula and Jessica running form the ornithopter- it was like somehting out of a low-budget local TV commercial). And the worms? That whole ridiculous scene where Paul is meditating/having visions and the three slinkys with penis heads on them are wobbling around, come on, I've seen high-school projects with better effects than that. But the real capper was all the scenes where you could see the backgrounds painted on to the walls and ceiling with high-gloss paint. That was just over the line, straight out of some casino on the outskirts of Reno, NV. Just pathetic.
Now lets look at Lynch's film. It has its bad storytelling moments, and some of them are quite egregious (e.g. the weirding modules and the whole rain thing). It, too, suffered from some poor acting and scripts (e.g. the emperor in his dialogue with the guild navigator- he is TERRIBLE! and the part where Paul and Jessia escape the worm early on Jessica is little over the top with the whole crying thing.)
But, Lynch has something very important that Harrison doesn't- he was first! I don't konw if it occurred to anyone, but much of what was in the miniseries WOULDN'T EVEN BE THERE without the movie having come first. Lynch's film was HUGE in defining what a Dune movie should look and feel like. I mean, the Baron Harkonnen was almost a direct copy of lynchs version- outfit and all. Lynch created a much deeper work and left an indellible impression on moviemaking as a whole with his version of Dune. John Harrison merely presented a bad reader's digest version of the plot of the novel, without concern for tone, feel, or depth. It looked like an episode of Start Trek The Next Generation For crying out loud! I don't think Harrison should be taken out and shot or anything for what he did with his 6 hours, but I don't much think he deserves to get paid for it either.
- Jo Mama

Okay I am pretty new to Dune. I've never read the book(s) or saw the original movie but I have to say I really loved the miniseries. Seeing it as any other movie with no other reference about is probably the reason why I don't sound as pissed as some of you are about the miniseries. I recorded all three parts and watched it a couple of times and I love it. Someone had wrote in that they didn't like the staging of it, that it looked too much like a play - I loved it! I especially loved the transitions of the miniseries and that goes with why I liked that play set-up staging of it because first of all, you don't see too much of that kind of direction in much of anything these days and second this kind of staging had a very eerie feel to it that I felt set the mood. I liked the costumes, they weren't too lavish, considering what they were working with but I felt they worked nicely. The thing that really just swept me away into the film was the cimetography (spelling?). The way Aarkis was shot and how the desert was shot was stunning. I think the only part they really fumbled at was when Paul and Jessica were running from the guild ship and we saw a front view of them, that very shot cracked me up because it looked so fake and it just turned me off. I'm not sure of his name, Alec Newman? The guy who protrayed Paul Atredies, I thought he was amazing as the character and an actor, he had great intensity and he was hot! I also liked how Leto and Jessica were protrayed and yeah, okay, they may not have outshined the original actors or lived up to any expectations but if you'd just forget about the orginal film and the books for just one minute and just take a look at them without a judgenmental mind wouldn't you have just given them a thumbs up for their acting? They were amazing, all of them. I liked Chani too. Overall they told the story fairly well but I had to watch it a second time to catch the things that I have missed, like before I did not know that fayde and the red-head bald guy were brothers. I think definately they should have elaborated some parts to show who exactly the characters were, because there were a lot of them! Servants, Chani, the revern mother, Dr. Liett and etc. After watching the miniseries I think I'm going to go and rent the original movie, and if I get a chance I'm going to try and pick up the book and if it's like ten times better than the miniseries, I would then understand what you people were raging about. But having not read the book or saw the original, I thought the miniseries was just epic and gorgeous, smart and just visually arresting. If anything I hope the next miniseries they're planning on shooting is just as good. Thank you for listening to a new-comer like me and happy new year to everyone!
- Yim

Truthfully, this thing was bound to fail. SCI-FI could never muster up the talent resources as well as cash to front a miniseries that could emulate Frank Herbert's vision. Even with the extra hours than the David Lynch version, there's no possible way you could fully explore the vast universe that encumbers Dune. The best a director could do is skim aling the surface. I don't mean to sound perssimistic, but I've been a film student for 2 years so I can assure you, Lynch couldn't do it, SCI-FI couldn't do it, neither could Fellini, Cameron, Burton, Spielberg, or even Fritz Lang pull it off. The fact is, it doesn't translate to screen unless you do it word for word. The art of adaptation for movie makers can't justify the complex weavings of Herbert's masterful little yarn about Arrakis. The idea of film makers to transfer to screen in to give the audience the GENERAL feel of the novel and only the most crucial parts. Dune simply has too many. All you can hope to do is cover the general story that Paul avenges his father's death and brings a golden age to Arrakis. The only possible way to show the immense story to an audience is if it lasted around 20-30 hours.
As for the characters, William Hurt's a good actor, but not fit for Duke Leto at all, he best plays someone who's either vulnerable or troubled, not a leader of an empire. His best movie was "Kiss of the Spider woman" if you'd like his best portrayal of what he's more akin to depicting. (Dark City too, but it was just a supporting role.) Don't get me started on Paul. Kyle MacLauglin was far superior to the whiny regent in Dune. The only noble I can see reflected from his tone of Paul would be Prince Charles.
But I digress, for the stringent budget they did what they could. The subltle ambiance wafting throughout the mini-series was "We're mocking art, but we've got a deadline, so lets make the best mediocre melodrama we can that're make David Lynch look good." Long winded atmosphere emitted, yet all to true.
- Generic idiot

First of all, I would just like to state that I am a 16 female who has always like the first Dune movie and have just recently started reading the book so if sounds a little juvenil or confusing, you'll know why.
The thing that I liked the most about the mini-series was seeing all of the parts oe the book that were left out in the first movie come to life. But I felt that most scens were cut short so tat if you didn't know anything about Dune, you wouldn't know what the hell was going on. And the one thing in the origional I most injoyed, was the fact that they always said what characters were thinking. But by not doing this in the miniseries some parts were chaged which I didn't like. Let me just give an example, the scene with the hunter seeker: Why was there an extra maid present? My opinon is that there would be know way to know what is was unless you saw the old movie or read the book, therefor there solution was to add some in there so Paul could explain what the hunter seeker was, and what was happening.
WORMS- The first worm that was shown was great. I loved the way it looked, but after they just sucked!
SETS- I would have to agree with what most of the people have said so far, that the sets were good with what they had to work with. But the Harkonnen set just didn't give off that evil vibe. They also did a good job portraying Arrakken(spelling?)as a city or village not just the castle or srong holdor whatever it is.
The little garden set that Jessica finds in the castle, not what I pictured it to be at all when I read the book, but at least they showed there verson of it.
SPECIAL EFFECTS- For the most part, I thought that they were very good. I would have to say that the Guild ships were my favorite. And the veiws of cities and planets were pretty good also.
CHARACTERS:
Duke Leto- He was ok, but he didn't have that pasion and intensity that the Duke should have. You can tell that he has been acting for so lond, that now he is only in it for the paycheck.
Lady Jessica- She good, but I thought that the origional was so pretty, that this one didn't quite live up to my standards. Also she seemed to talk exactly like Deana Troy from Star Trek.
Paul- He seemed evil and/or arrogent at times and I don't think he played the role quite right.
Chani- perfect, I loved her. I think she did a great job and i evn liked her better than the origional, she has that exotic quality that says Fremen.
Baron Harkonnen- he was exactly how i pictured him, but he just wasn't evil enough. And what was up with making him rime all the time? that was just stupid.
Princess Irulan- Can we say slut? But my older brothers seemed to like this change that they made in her. i think they should have dyed her hair blonde though, i mean come on.
Feyd- Although Sting was great in his role this guy Matt Keeslar that played the new Feyd is so fine!!! They should have givin him a bigger role because they made seem like a nobody!
Stilgar- didn't like him at all, he was short and fat and lookes like a drinker and a smoker. This can't be Stilgar! Thats just not how he should look!
Emperor Shaddam IV- I don't know what to say about him so i'll just go on.
Gurney Halleck- I actually liked him, I thought that he did well portraying Gurney, but for some reason I couldn't stand his accent!
Rabban- i thought he was great, but his death scene sucked balls, and why did that little kid take his head? that was just a waste of time could have been used somewhere else.
Guild Agent(s)- Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!
Dr. Yueh- Did I miss something? Wasn't he supposed to have a tatoo on his forhead, or did i just make that up? And why did they wait untill he betrayed the Atreides to put him in the movie?
Duncan Idaho- I thought that he was ugly but he did a good job. and his death scene was much closer to the one i read in the book, but wasn't he stabbed by Saddukar? not blown up?
Dr. "Liet" Kynes- he looked evil but in a good way. I really liked him, a lot!
Alia- she was good, but she looked to old for the part in my mind. I don't think anyone could be better than that little girl, what was hr name? Alicia Roanne Witt, that girl was good!!
Reverend Mother Mohiam- I just want to say that they did a shity job portraying the Bene Geserit! And there outfits were horrible! who ever did that should be takin out side and shot!
Thufir Hawat-he was a pussy
Although I have so much more to say about the miniseries i am going to stop, because i am so sick of typing! I don't see how you people do this! Thanks for taking the time to read what I had to say though!
- Laura-Chani~Alia

You are never going to see Dune on film as it was in the novel, becuase Dune is a subjective thing. Everyone see's it differently. The only way to enjoy this miniseries for us who love Dune is to go into it not thinking about Dune. Look at it as if it was an original production, and not based on Dune. Do that and you will be pleasently surprised. I enjoyed the miniseries, although it wasn't exactly as I had expected. The costumes were bad, and the directing not on the level I had expected (I thought this would be shown more like a movie, instead it came across like a play) and the acting in some parts was lacking. For there extremly limited budget, the sets were supurb as were the graphics. What really annoyed me about the miniseries was the pause between lines, once again it gave me the impression I was watching a play and not a miniseries. Alec Newman did an all right job portraying Paul, except in the scene when he puts on the ducal ring and when he creates the fedakyn. He didn't seem like a strong messiah figure at all, he seemed weak, like he was begging the fremen to do what he asked. As for his whinyness, I didn't really see it but if you re-read the first part of the novel you can understand why Harrison thought he was whiny. In my mind Paul of the book was arrogant, but he oculd be seen as whiny. I didn't like them not showing Yeuh until when he attacks Leto, in my opinion that was a big mistake, and I didn't like the way they jumped from scene to seen without going into any detail. They tried to hard to get every scene in the series and didn't explain or show enough of any of them. If I hadn't known already what the voice, spice, mentats were, I would have been lost. Some of my friends who know nothing about Dune had to ask me each day what was happening. The weirding way, while closer to the novels than Lynch's was still screwed up. Why can no one get it in there heads that the weirding way is not some super weapon or power but a simple method of combat used by the bene gesserit! Now that we have the Bene Gesserit moving faster than light, how the hell is Harrison going to make Miles Teg seem so powerfull? Another major problem was the death of the characters. Duncan gets blown up. How are they going to make a ghola out of him? Thufir gets blown up. He should have lived to the end. Rabbans death was ok, and so was Feyd's and Jamais's. The worst part, however, was the use of projectile weapons. No one had shields, I felt like I was watching the Dune prequels on tape, not FH's original novels.
The best part had to be Alia. That little girl played the part perfectly. Can you say Children of the Damned?
Paul talking to Jessica in the vision was also a great part, in that scene Alec actually seemed powerfull. I missed the "My mother is my enemy" scenes though. They didn't really explain Paul's or reverend mothers powers too well, and I didn't think the water of life serminony was adequetly represented by the descriptions given in the book.
If you read all my problems with the miniseries, virtually everyone circles around the difference's between it and the novels. I throughly enjoyed it, so did my friends who knew nothing about it, and a couple are going to read the books now. So if you look at it on its own, it will be good, as a representation of the novel, its better but becuase of what Dune is it will never be perfect. Oh well, maybe in 15 years we will have an even better veresion. For now I'm pleased with this one.
- mahdidla

Well like I said in my last e-mail I was sat in front of the t.v. with vcr remote in hand waiting for the epic Dune mini-series to begin, hoping for the book to be finally be done justice. Just the thought of the book going from a condensed movie that was not the easiest to follow to a full 6 hour indepth story telling extravaganza that I did'nt have to wait up to 2 years for each installment filled me with so much excitement that I was nervous about being disappointed, From now on I'm not going to expect anything from any movie or mini-series.
Don't get me wrong I did like the first installment but there were just too many mistakes and bad judgements made by the makers.
Hear are my personal thoughts about what was wrong in Dune:

Who had the bright idea of making the Harkonnen so camp?
Was the costume designer also used for the Flash Gordon movie?
The costume Dept. has also destroyed the image of the bene geserit, thanks alot!!
I was hoping that the ornithopters would look like they have always been described, again no joy.
Who forgot the first thing you would notice about a mentat??? (red lip stains)
Does an invasion of an entire city really take only 45 seconds??
Who ever did the casting should have a word with Westwood Studios because at least Westwood found actors who looked the part and acted the part as they should have.
Another thing, if the makers of this mini-series decide to do any of the sequel books ( which they should, but listen to web sites like this!!), then they should hire the same people who did the cutscenes for dune 2000 as they worked and gave they right atmosphere which is something the series lacks so far.
Back to the casting here is a quick list of characters and what I thought:-

Duke Leto--- Looked the part but did'nt have the same passion as in the origional movie, in the books he was fiercley loyal to all of his men. In this it was more like he was thinking I can't be arsed.
Baron Harkonnen--- Nice dress, I know he likes young men but this is taking the piss. Where is the dark evil, plotting, diseased lump of fat that we love to despise? No offence Ian but it looks more like a camp play than an Evil house intent on trying to control the empire.
Paul Atreides--- Looked the part, young, unsure about the move to Dune or his dreams/visions and generally aware that it's all a trap. But the way this all is potrayed is all a little plastic and unsure which kind of undermines the character a little.
Thufir Hawat--- If the origional actor watched this then he has just seen the image of the mentat being an efficient, fast, tactical human computer destroyed. This guy was basically left in the back ground looking like he was way out of his depth. Sad really.
Pieter de Vries--- See Thufir Hawat.
Doctor Yueh--- This guys expression did'nt change throughout the whole programme, or did I miss something? Once again the origional actor (Dean Stockwell) has got to be very unimpressed. No passion, nothing to make you feel for the character and not much interaction with other cast members.
Lady Jessica--- I don't think she was in a scene long enough for me to say too much about her. I will save comment untill the rest of the series has been aired.
Shaddam IV--- I have to say the same as for the lady Jessica, although it did take a second or two to find him on the screen thanks to the costume and back ground blending together well.
Reverend mother Mohaim--- What the hell were the casting dept thinking? Bad acting, bad acent, bad outfit, Just plain bad.
Again they have managed to destroy the image of how she was supposed to look (black abba robe anyone?)

Just a quick note about part two. Fantastic, they actually managed to pull the whole Fremen thing off very well, with the slight exeption of the fremen in a village! My girlfriend was able to understand what was happening and she has never read any Dune book. The pauses in the lines are still their but we can't win them all. Hope part three is even better.
- Ben Furness

My own thoughts on the new series:
It's hard not to compare this new series w/ the Lynch fiasco. Can, or should someone look at Harrison's version w/o referring or thinking of the former?
No.
Sci-fi films really just aren't remade these days. Usually the budget could never justify it. Sure they can remake Psycho and other Hitchcock movies (or other classic movies), but they normally wouldn't do the honor in this genre, unless the first time around they screwed up. And Dune happens to be the greatest book written in the genre, or even any genre. So yes, the comparison must be made and the second one damn well be better than the first.

Having seen only part I, it's almost unfair to Harrison without an assessment of the work as a whole.But I think we can get a pretty good idea.

A few points...

Setting
I do like the colors used on the sets to depict the moods and to separate the different houses. Brown, earth colors for the Atreides, red for the Harkonnens, and blue for the emperor. However, the sets seem kind of made in a vacuum. Even w/ the color changes the mood seems dark and well... drab. Sets seem fake, and rather cheesy in places; at least Lynch used real sand so you at least felt that you were on a desert planet instead of a stage. The cgi shot of Arrakeen from the air was impressive.

Acting/Characters
The acting seemed good enough to me. Alec Newman so far seems apt to handle the role, and he does look young enough to play a teenage Paul. Kyle Mcwhat's his name seemed to be somewhat of a dork.
The Baron was much more enjoyable to watch this time around. Lynch's version was just plain sick. I liked the Lynch Helen Mohiam much better. She seemed more powerful and mystic to me, and the fact that she was older than Harrison's version seemed more appropriate.
The test w/ the box seemed to be a direct rehash from the Lynch movie. The Gurney character was acceptable (as good as or better than Captain Picard), as was Duncan, who here doesn't have much of a role anyway - Dune Messiah is the book for Duncan. The Jessica character is acceptable and Saskia Reeves is a talented actor.(The first one looked a bit better though.) Bill Hurt's Leto is fine; he doesn't have much of a role before he kicks the bucket, so he doesn't get to shine.
The Worm, although CGI, was pretty kick ass. I wish they had more of it in this first part.
Guild Navigator- hands down the award goes to Harrison; much more impressive than that fat turd in a fish bowl in Lynch's version.

Orinthopters
I wasn't impressed too much w/ the new Harrison version. It was kind of neat, though, as they did show some detail of it's workings in this part. I think the Dune 2000 cut-scene version seemed to be the most like the book. Bastards...

Overall, the mini series is worth watching. I'm not sure until time can evaluate more closely if it actually cuts the muster and was worth $20 million. Harrison did some editing that may be looked upon as artistic to some and to others as ignorant. But a lot of that might of had to do w/ time constraints. Some of the dialog was noticably changed from the book and the scene of Paul and his mother in the 'thopter w/ the Hark. guards was completely omitted, but that may appear in the second part.

That's my preliminary view. No matter the bad parts, a work of this caliber deserves a look no matter what you think of the final overall work. Lynch at least gave us something to look at, whereas before 1984 we had nothing but our imaginations, which in the long run is the ultimate movie version. I'm pretty sure each of us has a take on how the cinematic version should appear, but since most of us don't have the cash for such a project, we leave it to the boys who do. And we get to sit back and criticize.

Having now committed myself to this series for better or worse, I have continuing thoughts on this new series.

I set out with high expectations of this new series since hearing about it last year. That's a long time to get worked up about a subject you hold in high regard. What I don't want to be is negative on this Dune version because no matter what my expectations were/are, there is no way that it could possibly live up to my standards, or anybody's for that matter.

And now for some rambling thoughts:

As I mentioned in my review of the first part, it's the cheesy sets that are really a standout. If this one thing were changed and they went cgi, I think it would have been a much better product.

Part II includes nothing less than an orgy scene, a mickey mouse rat, a puppet show, and more flesh shown in the love scenes than shown in the Lynch film. Now this being the American version and because of our Puritan bullshit heritage, we were shown the G rated version of the series, w/ the chaps in Europe getting to see Chani in all her glory (or more of her glory, anyway.) Let me say this: The new Chani is well endowed, so to speak, although the Lynch Chani was much prettier.

I believe the actors were better cast in the Lynch film (w/ the exception of the Baron H.) Now this new Stilgar seems wrong to me. The actor is short and plump. This is not Stilgar.

The mouse that Paul comes across in the desert was well placed and served its purpose later when the Fremen asked what he wants to be named, he chooses the rat which happens to be...Maud'Dib. The problem was the damn rat had big ears and looked like a stupid stuffed animal. A little more respect in the design would have been appreciated.

Exactly what was the point of the puppet scene? It serves no plot point and seemed to be thrown in for artistic background purposes only. (Granted, it only lasted a few seconds, but when you're pressed for time on this film, this could have been omitted in favor of more accurate dialogue).

The scene were Paul fights Jamis to the death was well done as well as the ritual of Jamis' water removal. Liet Kynes trek in the desert w/o stillsuit was done well,too, ending with his death on a spice blow, as in the book. The only thing they left out was Kynes' conversation w/ his father in these last delusional moments.

And a couple of part I leftover views:
The Sardaukar were not as menacing as they should have been. They entered the series in these Shakespeare tights and goofy hats. I don't think that we were supposed to laugh in this instance. The Harkonnens, however were acceptable - they looked adequately evil in those costumes and Harrison does a good job portraying them as sadistic.

The gom jabbar in this series was more acurately depicted. It is very small and the Dune book says it was no more than 5cm long. Lynch had the flying dildo with a needle in his version. A+ for Harrison here.

I read the Secrets of Frank Herbert's Dune before this series began and they were gushing all over this guy's sets and lighting, and I think that those are the weakest parts of this production.

Again, I am overall pleased w/ the production - I'm just glad there is something at all. The question you have to ask yourself is this: Who would you get to bring Dune to the screen? Remember, Frank Herbert himself thought the Lynch film was good. Most of us thought it was bad. Who then? I doubt even Spielberg or Lucas could do better. We know that Lucas would have some stupid pitiful creature in his version to appeal to kids, and Spielberg would have his own agendas, too.

Well that's my opinion of Part II. When this thing wraps up tonight, I'll be back w/ my final opinion. Thanks for listening.

Well, part three wrapped up Tuesday night, and now we have the complete Harrison vision.

Overall I believe this series can stand on its own and may in time be appreciated for what it is. Harrison had a lot to live up to and I believe deep down we all knew no matter what was put up on the screen we would find a flaw, somewhere, within it. I'm a little appalled at what $20 million bought. I figured that we should have gotten more for our buck. I think if we didn't have the Lynch version to compare to, we would appreciate this version more.

Harrison had an unbelievable task before him. This body of work is very revered by a great many people, it equates itself as adopting the Bible to the screen. Harrison should be applauded for the attempt and whoever else was responsible for bringing Dune to the screen again. And now we will be able to see the rest of the trilogy brought to the screen, and that's a first. I'm sad to hear that they are combining Messiah and Children into one 6 hr series, but again, it's better than nothing.

The biggest problem w/ this production was the sets. Bottom line was that they just looked cheap and it felt fake. As hard as it was for Lynch to film in an actual desert, it came off w/ more of a Dune feel.

As I've said before, the Harrison version has some good points in the translation. The gom jabbar was true to the book. The weirding way was more realistic than was previously brought to the screen. The worm was graphically better, and the guild navigator is more realistic, actually looking more like the creature was human at one time and had gradually changed into the spice created creature that it had become. I liked the Baron Hark. much better in this version. It didn't make me sick like Lynch's version did. The caliber of acting was better in Lynch's version, but some of the characters in Harrison's were more fleshed out, the princess Irulan and Stilgar come to mind (even though the stature of this new actor was miscast). The top billed William Hurt as Leto, was a bit of a disappointment. Hurt is an excellent actor - catch him in Gorky Park for instance and you know that this guy can act. He played a part that exited too early to really get to know the character. And what he did play came off as wooden. Oh, well.

Some of the costuming was suspect in this production. The sardaukar looked like they just came off a production of As You Like It and then showed up in Dune w/o costume change - "Here we are, the universe's badasses!" Yeah, right. The witches costuming was kinda silly here, too, with these hats that had those wings coming out the back of them. What were they thinking?

The series can be compared to a BBC production. In fact, years ago I had hope the Brits would come up w/ something like a masterpiece theater version of Dune, where the focus would be more on the story than worrying about special effects.

I don't care what else is said about this new production, I'm happy to have been able to see it. I look forward to the next installments, even though I know not to expect too much with the sets.

Hope you canucks can see the series soon. I don't think you should be too disappointed. Now that you've had several people's views of the production, you get to decide and critique it for yourselves.
- James Gunter

The mini series followed the book much more closely and I was much enjoyable after reading the book first. I say that because I watched the first Dune movie (old one) before reading the book. I watched it again after reading the book and it seemed that they skipped or changed most of the details. This miniseries was very very close to the book, many scenes I played out exactly how I would have expected them, and I could expect to see what seen would follow the next from reading the book. Parot Kynes, the planetologist, character was very good. The Baron's character was also well done. I also think that when Jessica took the water of life that the portayal of the time space thing was pretty good. The orgy scene after was pretty stupid, they probably could have cut that part out, because it didn't add anything to the story.
- Reggie Ray

Well, I thought it was much better than the Lynch film. Some of the effects were a bit tinny - but they didn't have the case and in any case they were acceptable. I have a couple of questions for some of those who wrote negative reviews. (1) How on earth were the producers expected to make money if they made a film which contained every little thing in the novel. Answer: of course they couldn't - the miniseries had to compromise between being faithful to the novel and being accessible enough so that ordinary non-Duneaholic folks could watch it. We must accept that the avid reading of Dune novels is, and will probably always be, a minority pursuit. If the miniseries had explained absolutely everything it would have been a crashing bore for ordinary folks. In any case those of us who have read the Dune books already know the background - so why do we care? Those who haven't read the Dune books won't know, but they might enjoy it and, as someone else said, they may read the books and have subsequent viewings of the miniseries enriched. (2) Many people here and on other forums are complaining that the characters were wooden. Hey, check out the chess pieces in Herbert's novel. I can't think of a science fiction writer whose characters approach 3 dimensionality - go and read War and Peace or Ulysses if that's your thing. But this doesn't matter so much anyway - like most SF novels Dune is a novel of ideas and these are what is important. So I think it's fair to say that some people were overcome by unrealistic expectations.
- Agathon

i think that they did a great job with the budget that they had to work with. i hope that people that got to see the world of "DUNE" for the first time, got hooked on it and will read the books that frank herbert left for all to enjoy. the books would be a challenge for any director to bring justice to on the screen on tv, but i think that the series did get some of my friends thinking about the books and a couple are waiting for more of the series, when i told them that there are more books.
- riker

It is very good for TV. Given the SciFi Channels usual budget this was a good mini series. Alec Newman wasn't as arrogant as Paul as Kyle "Whatever His Last Name Is from the horrible David Lynch adaptation. I am glad that John Harrison didn't spit in the face of Dune fans by creating something as silly as "wierding modules". Granted Mr Harrison did take liscense with Princess Irulan's character but he didn't ad that much, he merely moved dialogue from one character to another. I did not appreciate Thufir being made into a "throw away" character, or even the complete silence when discussing Mentats. Mr Harrison gave you NO IDEA what a Suk Doctor was. No IDEA what a Mentat was. NO IDEA who (Count) Fenrig actually was. (Count and Lady Fenrig have gotten shafted by both adaptations), but this is all academic. I enjoyed it no matter how many faults I find. I discovered it more plus's that cannot be ignored. Plus # 1 is that it is NOT David Lynchs adaptation.
- Max

Pitiful lack of emotion in any of the characters. Paul is quite arrogant throughtout the miniseries. You have perceptions about the characters you come across in the book, only to have them entirely dismissed in the miniseries. The Fremen come off as a side show of poorly motivated desert rats and not the hardened warrior population of what was supposed to be a harsh desert environment. You often have scenes where the Fremen and Paul are "camping out" in the desert only in their pajamas. I thought Frank Herbert made it very apparent anyone in the open desert without a stilsuit was very dead. Its something you would not catch the Fremen doing. The mysticism of the Dune universe lacks any meaning in the miniseries and the whole things hurries to the next scene. The first 5 minutes left no doubt that the miniseries was only going to be a visual feast for the eyes--an obvious attempt to make up for the lack of depth to anyone one facet of the Dune universe. The original movie does a better attempt at capturing the plot-line and tone in a couple hours than the miniseries. I understand its difficult to script a book of such massive complexity as Dune into film or TV, but the miniseries was not even an inkling of what the Dune universe imprints on the reader. It seems the forces behind the creation of this miniseries had no or little insight into what Dune really was, or they simply sold out to a commercial version of the book. The whole thing was shallow ... very shallow.
- William

I LIKED IT!!! What did everyone expect? It was made for cable TV for gods sake!! They didn't have Lucas or Spielberg type mega-bucks to work with. Given a tremendous literary work of intricate detail; I think Harrison did a fabulous job.
I was most impressed with Chani, Barbora Kodetova, she was just as I pictured Chani and I felt she had a raw, earthy sexuality. I would be interested in starting a Barbora Kodetova Fan Club.
The hats were hilarious.

- Barbarossa

Overall I think the mini-series was acceptable. I was hoping, really truly hoping, they would actually follow the dialog in the book. But I was disappointed. The show did however capture the flavor of the characters, and the flavor of the Dune universe.

The one issue that I was very surprised about was the initial training of young Paul. The book is about (at least on one level) the growth and maturation of the young heir-designate, to the full-throated ruler of the universe. The way Herbert led the reader through this development was via a series of lessons Paul had to learn, or unlearn to reach maturity. Gurney forcing Paul to fight even while not in the "mood", Jessica's harsh criticism after Paul's first kill to avoid him reveling in the rush of taking a life, the ever growing uncertainty about exactly what his new found power could do, and how to best use it. All of these were missing from the film, and I think the growth and development of the character suffered accordingly.

I would recommend this film, but not without reservations.
- thorsonal

I have read the first five books and I am trying to read the last, but it does get difficult since the later books are so far removed from the first and second books. I have to admit, that there was a lack of emotion in several of the characters, especially the one who played the Emporer's truthsayer. There was one scene where the acting was so poor it was laughable. I saw the original 4 hour version of Dune and I was so facinated by the story, then that was when I started reading the books. This movie did vary a great deal from the original movie and I am sure which movie realisticly portayed the book, but I think the first one did a better job. This movie was OK but it was not as memorable as the first.
- Alan J. Rubin

After reading the reviews which were posted about this miniseries, I must say I was quite shocked. I am a long-time reader of fantasy novels, but never really got into the sci-fi stuff, so this was my first glimpse at the Dune world. While I understand that many of you who have a deep knowledge of the novel hate to see this great creation "destroyed" as you put it (as I would be with many of the books which I have read), for a first-timer, this was an excellent experience. One review claimed that there was no emotion displayed by the characters, but I thought that the lack of excessive emotion fit the story perfectly. Maybe this feeling of mine will be reversed once I read the book (which I definitely intend to do). I just hope that all of you realize that, even if this miniseries poorly depicts the story of Dune, the story is still great enough to fascinate people and draw them in.
- Jordan

How can ANY media capture the essence and scope of Dune in just a few hours? The original movie was flamed by its detractors and so will this one be. Frank Herbert left any hopeful screenwriter too big a job to attempt. This series had its pros & cons. Some cons: wooden acting - it seemed as if their Haldol level was too high at times. The final scenes showing the city "burning" were pathetic - looked like they came from a cable access wannabe. The scenes supposed to show the transformation of the Water-of-Life deleted tons of perspective on the legacy Jessica and Paul were inheriting. Some pros: details like when Jessica and Paul were escaping the attack of the Harkonnens and were walking through the desert. The necessary uneven pace to avoid attracting worms was done perfectly. The additional focus on Jessica's ploy to have Paul fit the Fremen legend so they could survive was well-woven into the scenes. Personally, I liked the additional attention given Princess Irulan; it added depth to the plot against the Atreides. There will always be grinches about video versions of Dune, but I say to them, "If you're so good, YOU make a better film!" That includes you too, Granny.
- Ron Bikacsan

This miniseries was just about as poor as the dreadful Dune prequels to DUNE written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson...maybe even worse.
The acting, script, costumes, scenery, and special effects were pitiable. No amount of editing would have been able to make a worthwhile movie from John Harrison's abomination. You can't polish a turd.
Granny Elizabeth (age 63)
- Grandma Elizabeth

Overall I thought that the miniseries was fairly good. One problem of concern is that the actors did'nt display any emotion at all. Which gave the characters no depth, and I think one of the most important parts of Frank Herbert's books are the characters. Another problem is making the princess Irulan, pretty much a main character when she is not. I was quite dissaponited with the miniseries not following the book as well as I thought it would, but they did a fine job with the budget they had.
- Dune Fan