Children of Dune

[Bad-example]

The Sci Fi channel is premiering the new three part miniseries Children of Dune this weekend.

Apparently it will include both the second and third books of Frank Herbert's epic series. A smart move IMO, as Dune Messiah was clearly the weakest book of the six.

Also, they will be repeating the miniseries of Dune earlier sunday.

This is one of my favorite fiction series of all time. Anyone else gonna be checking this out?

[cthomer5000]

I think these children of dune should be abandoned or given up for adoption.

[Eilim]

I'll be checking it out, the previews they were showing actually got me to dig out my old books and start reading the series again.


-Eilim

[Leonidas]

Absolutely. Great that we now have a network willing to do this and the technology to make a decent showing of it. I just hope doing two complex stories like that in one series won't force too many changes to the storyline.

Geeze, 10-15 years ago I never would have imagined all my fav books (Lord of the Rings, Dune beyond that crappy David Lynch effort, and the upcoming Far Side of the World) would ever make it to a movie. I wonder what might be next.

I know there has been much talk of doing Ender's Game in a movie too, but haven't heard anything on that in over a year. I'd really love to see Iain Banks' The Player of Games made into a movie. I know movie rights were sold for it, but I think it was just to keep the option open, no real serious intent.

[Abe Sargent]

Already own the Dune miniseries on DVD. Never read the books though. Yeah, I'll be watching.

-Anxiety

[GrantDawg]

Never read the books and only seen the crappy movie. The only impression it left on me was.....


{Pained Face, thinking aloud} very quiet whisper "the spice....the spice....why the heck do I whisper in my mind....am I afraid that my other personalities might hear....the spice....the spice... does my butt look big in this black outfit....the spice....the spice makes everything taste like curry..."

[Leonidas]

Originally posted by GrantDawg
Never read the books and only seen the crappy movie. The only impression it left on me was.....


{Pained Face, thinking aloud} very quiet whisper "the spice....the spice....why the heck do I whisper in my mind....am I afraid that my other personalities might hear....the spice....the spice... does my butt look big in this black outfit....the spice....the spice makes everything taste like curry..."

Grant, read the books before you trash the concept. The Dune series is unquestionably one of the best sci-fi series, if not the best, ever written. The books are so complex that making a movie is difficult at best. The movies cannot be made for people who have not read the books, but only to enhance the experience for those who have read.

The books are written on a psychological plane, which to my knowledge has never been well captured in a movie. Please read the books before you criticize.

[GrantDawg]

Originally posted by Leonidas
Grant, read the books before you trash the concept. The Dune series is unquestionably one of the best sci-fi series, if not the best, ever written. The books are so complex that making a movie is difficult at best. The movies cannot be made for people who have not read the books, but only to enhance the experience for those who have read.

The books are written on a psychological plane, which to my knowledge has never been well captured in a movie. Please read the books before you criticize.

I didn't trash the books or the concept. Just the really bad movie.

[Blackadar]

It was unspeakably bad...

[HornedFrog Purple]

I watched part 1, and I thought it was pretty good.

The scary thing is they are going to remake Battlestar Galactica. How dare they!

[Bad-example]

The original Dune movie was pretty bad, but did have its redeeming points. The cast was mostly excellent and SOME of the art direction was truly inspired; it was the poor special effects and quirky direction that dragged it down.

It was a huge disappointment but I would watch that over truly horrible movies like The Rock, Last Boyscout or Independence Day.

Children of Dune has been ok so far. I wonder if they plan to try bringing us the rest of the series.

[Coffee Warlord]

Alright, whaddid ya'all think of Part 2.

They did the same thing with the first Dune. Part 1 ends in satisfying fashion, Part 2 ends with me saying...DAMMIT, THIS PART CANNOT BE OVER YET.

[BishopMVP]

Originally posted by Bad-example
It was a huge disappointment but I would watch that over truly horrible movies like The Rock

That's one of my favorite movies. Come on man, Sean Connery and Ed Harris are both great actors.

[Arbitrary Aardvark]

Originally posted by HornedFrog Purple
I watched part 1, and I thought it was pretty good.

The scary thing is they are going to remake Battlestar Galactica. How dare they!

And for that they canceled Farscape...
Idiots.

[HornedFrog Purple]

Well after watching part 3, I thought it was very well done. I thought Susan Sarandon was miscast, but the kid playing Leto is great. It was funny seeing the Borg Queen as a Bene-Jessurit (however you spell it).

This mini-series seemed to have more money put into it than Dune and it showed as I thought it was a much better production.

[Chief Rum]

I agree, HFP. I thought it was very well done.

***SPOILERS*** (just in case SciFi is showing it again this weekend and you want to catch it...)

I was bummed when Paul finally bought it, although as the character I thought was cool, he had stopped being in that role since Monday (becoming "The Preacher"). I knida knew he was going to die, but it still sucked anyway.

It was also sad to see both Alya and Paul die in the same day like that. And Duncan Idaho, too. Damn, lotsa people died.

This miniseries is good eniugh for me to actually finally go and start up the series. I saw Lynch's Dune years ago, of course, but it didn't inspire me to read them like this one has.

***END SPOILERS***

Chief Rum

[Bad-example]

I am glad you guys enjoyed it. I was especially curious how it would go over with those that had not read the books.

I was a bit disappointed with some of the decisions they made, and I didn't like some of the casting. But overall a very satisfying presentation. Some of the costumes and special effects were amazing, especially for a made-for-cable production.

Boy, women in the distant future sure wear some funky hats, eh?

CR, I will be interested to hear how you like the books. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

[Abe Sargent]

Originally posted by Chief Rum
I agree, HFP. I thought it was very well done.

***SPOILERS*** (just in case SciFi is showing it again this weekend and you want to catch it...)

I was bummed when Paul finally bought it, although as the character I thought was cool, he had stopped being in that role since Monday (becoming "The Preacher"). I knida knew he was going to die, but it still sucked anyway.

It was also sad to see both Alya and Paul die in the same day like that. And Duncan Idaho, too. Damn, lotsa people died.

This miniseries is good eniugh for me to actually finally go and start up the series. I saw Lynch's Dune years ago, of course, but it didn't inspire me to read them like this one has.

***END SPOILERS***

Chief Rum

CR,

If you begin to read the series, beware. Dune is an excellent book - it is to SciFi what LoTR was to fantasy. However, the following books get continually more f'ed up and are bizarre.

For example, here are some things about the last three books. Don't read if you really want tto read those books...

***Spoiler Alert***

For example, you know that Leto II turned into a sandworm by using the Golden Path in book three, Children of Dune. In God Emperor of Dune, he is a huge sandworm 1,000 years into the future and is the God Emperor of, well, Dune. Then Rakis, the comtemporay name for Dune, is completely changed into a fertile landscpae until book five when it is desert again until book six when it's been destroyed. Duncan Idaho is being cloned again and again and keeps occuring as a character in the series, serving the God Emperor for centuries. Then Rakis is destroyed and Duncan before transforming into a super-human...well. Let's just say that the books you've not seen on screen yet are so bizarre as to be unbelievable.

***End Spolier Alert***

Ergo, I'd steer clear of the books. Read Dune and revel in it. Then move on to other stuff. Dune Messiah, the third tome, is even weak compared to Childrens of Dune, the third book. So you have to slave through a whole novel before you get to read the only other halfway decent text. So, stay away, that's my recommendation.

-Anxiety