New Dune miniseries
 

I'm surprised no-one's mentioned the new miniseries on Sci-Fi channel this week; they're doing "Dune Messiah" and "Children of Dune" in a single 6-hour miniseries (hmmmm.... "Dune" took up an entire 6-hour miniseries on its own...).

Anyway, I taped the first 2 hours Last night, and am set up to tape the next 4 hours today & tomorrow; anyone care to post their opinions? (I'm sure SOMEONE here has an opinion on the series...).

Oh, I also saw a commercial on Sci-Fi showing clips from a number of miniseries/series they're planning for this year - looks like they're doing Phillip Jose Farmer's "Riverworld" series. That should be fun; I loved that series (well, the original set of books - the sequel he wrote wasn't quite as good, IMHO).

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

I don't think Dune (and the complete sage) is a good book to be done as film...
I saw the David Lynch's Dune, and the miniserie. Although I liked them, think is only the skin of the book.
IMHO the complexity of the original "Dune" can't be represented with succesi in a picture. Damn, really love this book!

By the way, after read the original "Dune" I became adict (and I have not blue eyes!). I was unable to control myself and do not purchase and read the others books of the serie... But to be honest, think only the first book is a true SF classic of all the times.

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

I'm looking forward to seeing it (the new dune miniseries) but I don't get Sci-Fi channel. I have to wait till April 14 to see it on 'Space'

I'm sure it will be worth the wait. I have the first 'Dune miniseries' on DVD

nuf said! Cheers!

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drat and double drat! i forgot about it. time to get the vcr over to friends house to get it recorded. either that or wait for dvd. maybe we should see if sci-fi channel would be willing to make a series out of this.

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

Heck, I didn't even know about it, and I have the Sci-Fi channel. Of course, I don't get to watch it all that much, what with the missus and the kid wanting to watch their own things. But I will defintely make an effort to watch the Battlestar Galactica mini-series.

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

Yesterday, the Sci-fi Channel played the entire Dune mini-series and then the Children of Dune episode one. I thought the Children of Dune episode was well done and will definitely watch part 2 tonite. Based on what I've seen so far, I'll look forward to the complete Children of Dune mini-series coming out on DVD down the road. I hated the Dune mini-series that came before it. If you are someone who hated the Dune mini-series, I think you will like the Children of Dune. The production quality seems significantly different. (I may just be biased against the original Dune mini-series because I'm more familiar with that book and compare the mini-series to the Lynch big-screen film.)

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

"Dune" was definitely a great SciFi novel. Of course, one had to read the rest of the trilogy after book one.

I'm afraid, for me, the trilogy went downhill a bit when it spent increasingly more time "discussing" religion. And, I would tend to make the same remark about "Stranger in a Strangeland". Perhaps it was because I was in my late teens and early twenties.

I'd say it would be hard for anyone to turn "Dune" into a movie as great as the book but that's usually a problem with any good book. Having said that, I would trust Peter (of LOTR fame) with it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ March 17, 2003, 22:31: Message edited by: Slynky ]

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

If you missed part one of Children of Dune, they are replaying it tonight at 7:00 before part two comes on.

It was good. So who's making the Dune MOD? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">There was talk of making one a while back, but I don't think anything ever came of it.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yes, agree 100% with you.
But think specially with "Dune" is not possible "to turn it into a movie" witouth hurt the original.
Most (all?) the time in the book, the characters say one thing and think other thing... How to do it in a movie, without a constant "voice in off" ???

I know I know, we live in times when the people read less and less.... But if someone liked the movie but still doesn't read the book, send NOW a purchase order to Amazon!!!!

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I agree. Dune is my favorite science fiction book of all time. I don't really care for the rest of the series, though.

I thought the mini-series wasn't too bad, but David Lynch's Version was the worst movie I have ever seen. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif To really do Dune correctly in movie form, I think it would have to be a trilogy (like the Lord of the Rings (which should have been a septology - a movie for each "book"). But I doubt this would be attractive to any of the major studios, so we'll probably never see it. We do have the book, though, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't yet read it.

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Ok, what is that spice thing and what it does and why is so important?
I didn't like Children of Dune cause I can't understand a thing that its going on!
Besides, sci-fi channel have commercials breaking in every 5 minutes. I don't have the patience for commercials.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Spice is "melange"; it's only found on Dune/Arrakis, and is used by Guild Navigators to move ships from one system to another by warping space/time. There's no other way to do faster-than-light travel in the Dune universe, so without spice there'd be no more (or at least a LOT less) interstellar travel. That's also why the Navigator Guild is so powerful - they have virtually complete control over interstellar travel.

Spice also extends lives - IIRC, the Emperor was 150-200 years old or something.

As for commercials, there's a reason I'm taping the miniseries to watch later - the fast-forward button is the best way to deal with commercials! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[ March 18, 2003, 16:23: Message edited by: DirectorTsaarx ]

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

So spice can be eaten and is a fuel at the same time? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Isn't that kind of wierd?
I guess I know now why I didn't like it in the first place.

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

Spice isn't fuel, but IIRC, it is necessary for the Spacing Guild navigators to eat it (in large quantities) in order for them to navigate hyperspace. Eating so much spice has also mutated the navigators as time has passed. They begin apprenticeship the guild as normal humans and undergo transformation as they continue to eat the spice as related in Brian Herbert's House of ... series.

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

Yeah... spice is not a fuel. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">By no means Melange is a fuel ! A ship with Holtzinger (sp.?, sorry) field can warp ro anywhere but it will be lost without a navigator breathing Melange.

I do no think "eating" is a right term. It's more like breathing in Navigator' case. "Normal" people drink melange, not eat it !

Off topic (sort of) When russians speak about consumming vodka, - sometimes we do not use the word "drink" but "eat" instead. Trust me http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[ March 18, 2003, 19:23: Message edited by: oleg ]

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Is not a fuel.
It's a drug that use the Navigator Guild's pilots to control the space ships in the transtellar travels.
This drug give them a "prescience" that they need to control the ships.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">hehehehehe, really you're confused.
Of course many things in the book are "weird", unique, think should say. But IMHO this is one of the reasons because "Dune" is a great book.

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i thought the spice gave/mutated the guild navigators the ability to fold space, i didnt realize there was an actual drive and the guild just acted as navigators.

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Oh well, if there is spice in only one planet that makes the "Dune Universe" way to easy from an strategy point of view.
Even a 3rd grader would realize that controlling the spice will be controlling the galaxy.

I'll take StarWars and StarTrek any day.
L. Ron Hubbard's "BattleField Earth" is not that good because of the 7 universes in diferent dimensions.
Anything that goes beyond one galaxy is way too much for my peasant taste.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Umm... that is the entire point. Maybe you should actually read Dune before you bash it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[ March 18, 2003, 21:49: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

[quote]Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:

Quote:

OMaybe you should actually read Dune before you bash it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Agree! Specially with the word "READ".
Was the first book to get the HUGO and NEBULA at the same time. And really I don't know a SF fan, that after read the book disliked it... but of course, that our universe is so big that I'm sure that should exist somebody that disliked the book.

[ March 18, 2003, 22:17: Message edited by: Master Belisarius ]

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I can't believe you liked the mini-series better than Lynch's movie? At least the movie tried to stay true to the source material. The writes for the mini-series seemed to look at the book and say, "This is way too complicated for folks to understand." So, they tried to water it down. For example, they decided it would be too confusing for Paul to be known publicly as Paul Maudib and privately as Usul. So, he just because Muadib, period. They took out the sonic weapons because that would be too expensive for a cheap SciFi channel movie. They decided upon a very weird pronunciation of Harkonnen. The acting throughout was pretty horrible. There were just so many odd deviations from the book that really didn't make sense. All in all, I thought it was pretty horrible.

I had to go back and re-read your post to see if you had read the book. I'm really surprised you liked the mini-series better than the Lynch film.

Oh well... different strokes for different folks. Definitely, no offense intended. As you can see, I really, really didn't like the mini-series. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Edit->I remember that most folks didn't like the Lynch film because it tried to cram so much stuff into one film. I thought, given the time constraint, that they did a pretty good job. But I definitely wouldn't have minded if they'd made three feature length films of that original caliber.

[ March 19, 2003, 01:19: Message edited by: raynor ]

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

I dont mind Dune (having not read any of the books yet or anything), but my roomie has had me watch this marathon for too long (Ive seen ever part at LEAST 5 times! GET A LIFE!) Sheesh

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I too prefered the original Dune movie to the mini-series one. I just couldn't suspend my disbelief with the excessive use of poorly-painted backdrops in place of footage of sand. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">OT: ROTF LMAO !!!! Hehehehe....

Thanks Instar!

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I happened to enjoy the mini-series more than the movie. Sure, having 6 hours to tell a story over 2 makes a HUGE difference. What I really liked in both Scifi miniseries was the focus on intrigue and the machinations of the major players, and how these either came to fruition or failed. On a production level, I enjoyed the many accents of the characters, that little detail caught my ear and was enjoyable. I liked the Baron Harkonnen character and how well the actor played that role. The Baron seemed more believable and less a caricature. His reappearance in Children of Dune and excellent presence was a welcome surprise. I rather liked all the players in both miniseries and how the characters were presented. The actress who played Alia/Aliyah(spelling?) is a real cutie!!

Sting was a far better Feyd, no doubt about that! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Is not a fuel.
It's a drug that use the Navigator Guild's pilots to control the space ships in the transtellar travels.
This drug give them a "prescience" that they need to control the ships.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah, sorry for confusing the issue - I was trying to keep the explanation short and left out too much. The basic point is that the Guild has an effective monopoly on space travel, because of the Navigators; the House that controls spice production on Dune/Arrakis has a huge amount of power because the spice is essential for the Navigators to do their job; and as for the strategy of ruling the universe by controlling the spice, any House that attempted to do so would find itself at the receiving end of a large Imperial warforce, transported by some angry Guild Navigators. Of course, that's assuming that the House got farther than the planning stages before the Guild figured it out and started denying travel services to the plotting House. Kinda hard to take control of a planet when the only reliable transportation is based on a Guild that has a vested interest in protecting free access to the planet...

And, as others have mentioned, the strategic importance of Dune/Arrakis is the central point of the book and one of the major drivers for the postulated sociopolitical structure. (The other major driver is the ban on "thinking machines", a ban dating back to the "Butlerian Jihad", a war between "thinking machines" and humans).

BTW - no-one's mentioned the fact that the Dune series doesn't use sentient alien races: the Guild Navigators are mutated humans, the Bene Gesserit and Mentats are highly trained humans with drug-enhanced abilites, and the Tleilaxu are a weird sect of human society that's learned how to manipulate genetic codes.

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

I liked both mini-series, "Dune" and "Children of Dune". Of course, I come from the perspective of only hearing that the Frank Herbert novels are excellent, and not experiencing that excellence for myself (yet). Since I don't really have an original to compare them to, I thought they were good.

Someone made a comment about the bad acting in the first original... sure, it wasn't the greatest acting, but it wasn't the worst. I was able to suspend disbelief, and that is enough for me. Perhaps I have been desensitized because of all of the bad acting (and writing, and directing, and ... etc.) I've seen in student films here... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Anyway, I'll probably go to a bookstore and grab the books sometime, and read them over the summer.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That is a most excellent idea. If only others would follow suit. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I thought the books were great and the story had incredible depth. This series was one of the best I have ever read. I did find the story moved a little slow, though. I wouldn't change anything, but know that the "action per page" is kinda low.

I still remember while reading the first book "Dune" how guilty I felt taking a shower and seeing all that water just go down the drain. I also would have to periodically stop reading to get a drink because I would get incredibly thirsty - theory of suggestion, I guess. The only series to affect me that way. Wierd.

Even till today, when I start to feel stressed, that phrase goes through my head: "Fear is the mind-killer..."

Slick.

[ March 20, 2003, 07:18: Message edited by: Slick ]

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

I haven't read the entire series, (I am WAY behind on my planned reading -- SE4 seems to take up a lot of my spare time again lately!) but I enjoyed the miniseries quite a bit. As far as the Dune films go, I think the biggest problem people had w/ the Lynch Version when it was released is that so much was edited out to make it feature length that the film wound up having no continuity. Director's cut is much better IMO, I went from hating the movie to actually liking it (somewhat). I have to agree with whomever made the point about not including the sonic weapons in the Sci-Fi Version, they are emphasized as being really revolutionary tech in the book.

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

Anybody want my roommate? Hes annoying and a slob, any takers? ;P

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

Instar:
Nah, I think I'll keep my room all to myself. No roommate is nice. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Are you talking about the weirding modules from the movie? The 'With a word I can shatter bones, burst organs, set fires' weapon? That was never in the book. It was an invention of Lynch. The actual 'weirding way' was the bene gesserit prana-bindu method of muscle and nerve training. Essentially it was hyper-advanced martial-arts/yoga. This is what is in the book and this is what is in the miniseries.

Granted, I didn't know this until I read the book many years after I saw the movie as a child. At first I was disappointed, since the weirding modules were a central aspect of the Dune mythos that I had built out of one of my favorite movies. Once I got into the books I changed my mind.

Raynor:
The Usul thing pissed me off too (and the mouse-shadow of the moon etc.). It was done quickly and well in the Lynch film so I don't understand why they didn't include it. The rest of the series was so well done, though, that I can't stay angry. The mini-sreies is faithful to the book in so many ways that it makes me wince when I watch the old movie (though I still love it).

Also, about the spice, its prime use (and therefore value) was as a tool for prescience. It allowed the trained user to see possible futures. Even the space-folding of the navigator guild was just a beneficial side effect of that. The problem was that the prescience was not perfect. There were areas that they could not see. To overcome this limitation the Bene Gesserit set out to breed one who would have perfect prescience. Enter Paul Muad'dib.

Melange in its raw form was a lot like cinnamon and could be consumed in much the same way. The processed life extension treatment was usually administered in beverage form.

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

It's been quite a while since I read the book, but didn't it state that computers were outlawed technology?
If so, then what controlled the assassination weapon in Dune and what controlled the whirling blades in Children of Dune? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Re: New Dune miniseries
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, sort of. The prohibition was something along the lines of "Thou shalt not make a machine that mimics the human mind".

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The assassination weapon was either controlled by a simple motion-sensor or a human. The whirling blade thing was a standard combat training drone; again, IIRC, it used a variety of physical mechanisms to generate attack patterns. Since it didn't create it's own patterns, it wasn't considered a "thinking machine".

BTW, (and, yet again, IIRC http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif ), supposedly House Vernius (the House in control of the planet Ix, where things like Spacing Guild vessels and the combat mechs were built) was constantly treading the fine line between "allowed" and "not allowed" technology. In fact, the prequels written by Frank Herbert's son discuss that idea... although they make it clear that the alleged violations of the prohibition were really just an excuse to oust House Vernius from Ix, and never completely proven.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That sounds like the House Hussein..... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That sounds like the House Hussein..... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hehehe, the name of the Emperor in the first book was Shaddam... but think this time, the Sardaukars forces belong to the House Bush.