A film version of God Emporor of Dune? Basically a big worm guy talking for ten hours about how evil homosexuals are and abusing his underlings? I’ll pass, thank you.
Wish I could have the time I spent on the book back, actually. 
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“The Sleeper has awakened!!”
Noooooooo. Not at all. I really enjoyed…really.
By the way, nice sig, pal. Just stop knowing yourself biblically in common areas while coated in butter. M’kay?
Damn, I missed the first installment. I hope it’s shown again soon.
I was fortunate to have read the book before I saw the first movie version, in a downtown theater in San Diego.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who was irritated by Paul’s whininess. Yes, maybe he was reserved. But not whiny.
Also, my mom said when she saw the movie lo these many years ago, they actually handed out vocabulary sheets. She had originally read the book under the influence of a really nasty flu bug too – must have made it interesting…
I think the whineyness was to contrast how much he has to “grow up” later on. I think that is why he looked like such a young, clean cut goober at the very beginning.
Personally, I like the costumes a lot better in this one than the Lynch one. I also like the Harkonnens better… in Lynch’s film I thought too much of it was gratuitous ickyness.
Men in diapers fight to the death!
Hot sex almost showing boobies!
Drinking worm barf!
Woohoo!!!
Two words:
Drugged Orgy
Right on, sister!
For those who have missed parts of the showing, It’ll run again on Sunday, from 1 to 7. I’d recommend setting your VCR and watching it in two-hour chunks later.
LL
Further additions to Opal’s recent synopsis…
Men in diapers fight to the death!
Explanation: “It is our way.”
Hot sex almost showing boobies! and Drugged Orgy
Explanation: There is none…I hope you read the book. (In all fairness to the ladies out there you also get a distant shot of Feyd Rautha’s ass in the bathtub so it wasn’t all boobies.)
Drinking worm barf!
Explanation: None at first…just another one of those things Fremen do. Later you find out it’s poison that Lady Jessica must convert to water and not poison her unborn child in the process which she probably should have told somebody about and then puke up the converted poison herself even though its now ok water which leads to drugged orgy because…well…why not?
In the book the above worked out MUCH better than in the show.
Did anyone else notice the absolute worst painted backdrops in the last 20 years of television? I could easily distiguish where the set ended and the backdrop began. This can be seen in a lot of films with a hard look but this one smacked you in the face. I kept waiting for the actors to run into it or a ripple from a breeze to waft across it!
At least the Weirding Way that Jessica teaches in this version is better than David Lynch’s voice activated guns (WTF was Lynch thinking?)! Question is why Paul never uses this ability when fighting for his life in a diaper?
I’ve read the entire Dune series (minus the prequels) twice.
I’m about halfway through the second installment as I type this. I’m slowly turning from a wild anticipation to a looming dread that this movie is going to be LAME. It’s not hitting me at all.
One of the things that me and the people I’m watching it with have noted is that if we hadn’t read the book, not only would we not have a clue as to what was going on, but we’d probably be wondering what all the hype was about. Seriously, having watched 3 of the total 6 hours of this movie, I’m left with the feeling that I’ve just watched an extrememly long episode of Outer Limits, complete w/bad acting, bad costumes, and bad acting. Oh yeah, and bad costumes. (Dune cosplay, anyone?)
Has anyone caught themselves wondering, “What the hell is with Stilgar?” The actor they got to play Stil is almost the exact opposite of how I pictured the character. I say almost cause in my mind he also happened to be a white guy. The Mentats are just… wrong. 'Nuff said. Same goes for the Sardukar. These guys are supposed to strike fear into the hearts of the Great Houses? And why does everyone and their mother seem to have a gun?
I’m going to go nuts over-analyzing this thing. Good thing I’m taping it.
Oh well, it could be worse. There could be “heart-plugs.”
The only costume I haven’t liked so far is the Sardukar. They look like cheesy plastic halloween costumes. Other than that I think the costuming is great, and the acting is fine, too.
Well, it’s over. I liked it! I don’t know what that kung-foo hand crap the Guild guy was doing when he told Paul he didn’t have authority over him, but other than that, it was good!
Haven’t seen it yet, but how sweet is this? I realized I was going to be in California and not around to watch it when it was on, and mentioned this in passing… my dad has been taping the entire thing for me! My dad rocks.
Apart from assorted other annoyances, the Fremen eye treatment really bugs me! Herbert refers simply to “blue-in-blue” eyes resulting from spice consumption. Why is it required to make them eerie radiantly blue Jawa peepers?!? They rank right up there with the adorable little desert mouse.
I of course meant the Harkonnen costumes. The red and black ones.
I agree. THe Lynch movie was just as bad for that, too.
Well, I just finished watching the last part, and feel it was a worthy expenditure of a precious 6 hours of my time. This is a difficult book to translate to the screen, as much of the dialogue takes place in the various character’s mind. But this rendition did an adequate job without all the annoying voiceovers of the Lynch movie. However, I did feel like the middle episode (Monday night) was a little slow.
I read somewhere that approximately 20 minutes of the show was cut due to nudity and time constraints. Supposedly, European TV will see the uncensored version.
I’m all for it.
Overall this version was better. The first night was slow and confusing, the pace of the movie was much better for the first segment till they move to Dune. IMO, the movie version was a lot better for the Caladan stuff (except the weirding modules and shields).
Ankh_Too said:
Curiously, in the book there was a female at the dinner party, so they coopted that role and made her the Princess. Why? Save a superfluous character, and flush out Irulan’s role?
CalMeacham said:
Amen. Though actually it was the Emperor who was supposed to be the redhead.
Exactly. I hadn’t read the book when I watched the movie, and was completely lost, while someone with me kept throwing out explanations and things. Recently I reread the book, then watched Lynch’s version, and everything (except the Caladan part) felt incredibly glossed over, whizzed through. Thus the movie versions complete inability to satisfy.
One other comment: this version the old reverend mother of the fremen is an undercover Bene Gesserit. In the book, the fremen had taken on the religion that the Bene Gesserit had seeded. The RM was just a fremen lady, but she had the BG powers because the conversion was real, just she wasn’t really part of the real sisterhood. Thus Jessica didn’t understand that the ritual she was taking on was a real conversion ritual, so she didn’t anticipate the danger to her daughter. She just assumed it was a cooked up ceremony to mirror the real thing, and was only ceremonial, no real accumulation of powers.
Jeff_42 said:
Well, I thought Lynch’s version were pretty bad. Especially the whole navigation thing in the movie. A big light show with the slug guy sliding around through the planets, spewing out dust? Not at all a rendition of the description that they used the spice to enhance their minds to read probabilities and find the safe path. I thought this version of how they translated was better, though the appearance as a big bat was odd, too, and I agree looked a bit cheesy up close.
Good question. He barely uses it fighting Feyd. And I didn’t like his baggy white pants.
OpalCat said:
Don’t make me laugh! I wondered at that too.