Sci fi channel's Dune mini series rant

[ampgalore]

Now that I remember the Dune mini series, I just get over how awful that mini series is. Sean Young was lovely as Chani in the 1984 Dune. That Chani in the mini series is awful, just plain awful. Granted she is Czech, and can't speak proper English. But give me a break. For such an important character such as Chani, couldn't the director find an English speaking actress? After sitting through those 4 hours, my image of the lovely Chani was totally decimated.

And Alec Newman as Paul Atreides. Did he sleep walk through the whole thing? He's got to be the wimpiest messiah ever to have graced the universe. No wonder the House Atreides fell.

Both Leto Atreides in the 1984 and the mini series were wimps, so can't fault the mini series director for that.

And what's up with all those ridiculous hats in the mini series? The feared Sadurka are wearing ludicrously bloated fashion hats. What possible combat function would those bloated hats serve? The battle field is not a catwalk for crying out loud.

And all the freman just kept on saying "water, you give me your water, I will take your water, water, water..." and for crying out loud at least learn how to properly pronounce "water." The fremens are supposed to be more fearsome than the dreaded Sadukar, yet they all looked like wimps in a refugee camp. How those wimps ever managed to conquer the entire universe is beyond me.

And the desert. Use some REAL SAND.

 

[pedxing]

Anything the SciFi channel touches crumbles into dust.

 

[jpelg]

Quote:

Anything the SciFi channel touches crumbles into dust.

So true.

Have you seen any of those awful, made-for-TV movies they put together (and I use that term loosely)? Just horrible. Can't bear to watch even a few minutes of them. What are they thinking?

Unless you happen to really like Stargate (of which I am not a real fan), then Sci-Fi Network is a waste. They can't even show Farscape reruns on a proper schedule.

 

[Leto Atreides II]

They do show a lot of X-Files.

 

[rickcr42]

all versions of dune suck and while the sci fi channel did a poor job in the production at least they stayed more true to the book but the original theatrical version was not even close and was a waste of my life to watch.

 

[kevin gilmore]

They have not ruined stargate yet. The new series also looks good
will wait till friday to find out. However the production team started
at showtime, so scifi could not ruin it.

Remember startrek the origional series. scifi added back all the
origional footage, then had to bump the thing to 90 minutes to make
sure they got their commercial quota crammed in there.
So 53 minutes of program turned into 90. That was worse than
the 43 minutes of program turned into 60.

 

[KYTGuy]

Kevin: You seem to have all the toys - do you have a TiVo unit? It is the ANSWER to all that padding. It has literally changed the way my family watches TV....Now that we have a HDTV, I am desperate for a Wide-Screen HD version...The Daughter inherited the 600GB TiVo.

 

[rickcr42]

Quote:

They have not ruined stargate yet. The new series also looks good

i watched last friday,both the preview and Stargate and i got the impression the two series are merging to become one show .
Stargate/Stargate Atlantis in the friday 9:00 slot

could be wrong but that was the impression

 

[Oddball]

I agree totally about them needing a better actress for Chani. And that goes for most of the other Fremen...too water-fat.

The obvious backgrounds were painful.

Hmm...I thought they did a better job with Children of Dune though, but that's just me.

 

[mulveling]

I also thought the sci-fi Dune sucked. Now call me crazy, but I really love the 1984 Dune - its dark atmosphere and Toto's soundtrack really do it for me. Perhaps I like it so much because I first saw it when I was about 5 or 6, and it was the first thing ever to make my mind go

Also, it helps that I never read the books, so I don't get pissed about the liberties David Lynch took with the story.

 

[ampgalore]

I liked the 1984 version as well. Dark, brooding, totally mind boggling. David Lynch is a master filmaker.

 

[HiWire]

I love the Lynch Dune as well. Though it's terribly flawed, it's somehow powerful and re-watchable. I can't wait for Lost Highway to come to DVD, I've got the rest so far:

Blue Velvet
Twin Peaks Season 1 & Fire Walk with Me
Mulholland Drive

not in a hurry to get the Straight Story or Wild at Heart yet.

 

[Kikkoman]

::SPOILERS::





I'm going to list my least favorite part about each of the miniserieses.

Dune: The actress who plays Gaius Helen Mohiam is just horrible, and I hate every scene she is in.

Children of Dune: For some reason Leto II and Ghanima are twice as old as they should be. They're 9 years old in the book, and I feel one of the biggest part of the book is that the the two children are that young but with there other memories they are able to begin the golden path. In the minseries they are like 16 or 17 which make their adventure seem like something a normal human could acheive without the help of their other memories.

 

[ampgalore]

Maybe it's because of the twins' age. While watching the mini series, I seriously thought they gave Alia all the burdens of governing the empire, while they were just goofing off. And Alia's mother Jessica, why couldn't she share the burden of governing the known universe with her daughter.

And at the end everyone so triumphantly proclaiming Alia has strayed from the righteous path, it's so hypocritical. If each one of them had lifted a finger to help Alia to govern the empire, Alia would not have ended up where she was.

And that biggest wimp of all, Alec Newman, give me a break. Wondering off into the desert, not to be seen for years and years, leaving the governance of his empire in the hands of his teenage sister. This is inexecusable.

The golden path his [insert your usual curse word here].

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ampgalore I liked the 1984 version as well. Dark, brooding, totally mind boggling. David Lynch is a master filmaker.

i understand the version lynch filmed clocked in at around 5 hours, with the rough cut at 8 hours. the studios freaked, choped it to death and added the cheesy voice-over to try to make sense. i would like to see that lost 5 hour print come to light some day...