I recently read DUNE, DUNE MESSIAH and CHILDREN OF DUNE. Has anyone read past the initial trilogy? If so, what are your thoughts? Should I keep going? I know the sequels/prequels by Herbert's kids are probably a waste of time, but I'm curious to give volumes 4-6 a whirl.
I always liked David Lynch's version, even though I considered it a bit of a mess. I never understood why it was so reviled. It's an interesting failure, which is better than a boring failure. Now, having read the books and rewatched the movie, I get the hate to some extent. The movie sacrifices a good deal of story, and makes a few unnecessary changes to important plot points. However, they did get a lot right, and aside from a few shoddy effects, the production design was spot on. Lynch has disowned the movie, and it's basically on record that he gave up on it in post (the running time was the exact cut-off for theatrical releases at that time to maximize screenings in a day, which points to some arbitrary decision-making in the editing room).
I also watched the SyFy miniseries, which keeps most of the book's story intact, but has the production values that are on par with XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS. I found the filmmaking so terrible that I'm reluctant to try the adaptation of CHILDREN OF DUNE by the same folks.
Of course there was also the aborted Jodorowsky version, which is one of the great "What If?" stories of cinema. The team that Jodorowsky assembled (including H.R. Giger, Jean "Moebius" Giraud, and Dan O'Bannon among others) were eventually co-opted by Ridley Scott for ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER, which gives you an idea of what could have been. Ultimately I'm not sure Jodorowsky was the right guy for the job... while I like his films I'm not sure if he had the sensibilities to make a faithful adaptation. We probably would have gotten a more expensive version of EL TOPO. There's a documentary coming out soon called JODOROWSKY'S DUNE that deals with this production, I'm looking forward to it.
There have been attempts to revive the "franchise" in recent years, but the rights have lapsed and the project looks dead for the moment. For a while they had Peter Berg tapped to direct, who is apparently a huge fan of the novel. Pierre Morel also worked on the current script. I don't think either of these guys have shown the facility for this type of thing in their careers thus far, but who knows. Ultimately I think what's required is the Peter Jackson approach: the director needs to be both a huge fan of the books, and a visionary in his/her own right. (Hmmm.. maybe Peter Jackson would be a good choice for this, now that I think about it...)
There is huge potential for a new set of DUNE movies, in my opinion. Even though dozens of movies have stolen DUNE's thunder since its original publication (STAR WARS and AVATAR most notably), I still think that the right creative team could do something fresh and original with it. The definitive version of DUNE has yet to be made, and with the right team it could be a LOTR-sized success. I mean, I could do it, but I gotta get the whole A-list career thing going first.
I feel like talking about DUNE so please do chime in with your DUNE-related thoughts.
I always liked David Lynch's version, even though I considered it a bit of a mess. I never understood why it was so reviled. It's an interesting failure, which is better than a boring failure. Now, having read the books and rewatched the movie, I get the hate to some extent. The movie sacrifices a good deal of story, and makes a few unnecessary changes to important plot points. However, they did get a lot right, and aside from a few shoddy effects, the production design was spot on. Lynch has disowned the movie, and it's basically on record that he gave up on it in post (the running time was the exact cut-off for theatrical releases at that time to maximize screenings in a day, which points to some arbitrary decision-making in the editing room).
I also watched the SyFy miniseries, which keeps most of the book's story intact, but has the production values that are on par with XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS. I found the filmmaking so terrible that I'm reluctant to try the adaptation of CHILDREN OF DUNE by the same folks.
Of course there was also the aborted Jodorowsky version, which is one of the great "What If?" stories of cinema. The team that Jodorowsky assembled (including H.R. Giger, Jean "Moebius" Giraud, and Dan O'Bannon among others) were eventually co-opted by Ridley Scott for ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER, which gives you an idea of what could have been. Ultimately I'm not sure Jodorowsky was the right guy for the job... while I like his films I'm not sure if he had the sensibilities to make a faithful adaptation. We probably would have gotten a more expensive version of EL TOPO. There's a documentary coming out soon called JODOROWSKY'S DUNE that deals with this production, I'm looking forward to it.
There have been attempts to revive the "franchise" in recent years, but the rights have lapsed and the project looks dead for the moment. For a while they had Peter Berg tapped to direct, who is apparently a huge fan of the novel. Pierre Morel also worked on the current script. I don't think either of these guys have shown the facility for this type of thing in their careers thus far, but who knows. Ultimately I think what's required is the Peter Jackson approach: the director needs to be both a huge fan of the books, and a visionary in his/her own right. (Hmmm.. maybe Peter Jackson would be a good choice for this, now that I think about it...)
There is huge potential for a new set of DUNE movies, in my opinion. Even though dozens of movies have stolen DUNE's thunder since its original publication (STAR WARS and AVATAR most notably), I still think that the right creative team could do something fresh and original with it. The definitive version of DUNE has yet to be made, and with the right team it could be a LOTR-sized success. I mean, I could do it, but I gotta get the whole A-list career thing going first.
I feel like talking about DUNE so please do chime in with your DUNE-related thoughts.
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