Dune

SF elements

TV version of Frank Herbert 's Dune sage

1. Dune (2000)
2. Children of Dune (200?)

2000

Dune

3 90 minute episodes

Review

It's many years since I read Dune , so I don't remember all the details. However, this SciFi TV Channel version seems to keep reasonably close to the plot -- it's certainly much less messy than the David Lynch film version.

It's the tale of the desert planet Arrakis, source of the essential Spice that keeps the Empire running. A subtle power play by the Emperor to balance the power of the feuding Houses of Atreides and Harkonnen leads to all out battle, during which Paul Atreides and his mother Jessica escape to the desert Fremen. There, hailed as the long-prophesied messiah, Maud'dib, Paul plans his revenge, haunted by visions of the future.

Dune is a richly detailed book, and this TV adaptation manages to pull off the complexity. The acting seems rather wooden to start with, but over the course of the episodes, it is clear that the mythic elements of the story are being emphasised, and the acting is all staged set pieces, with people standing around declaiming rather than speaking "naturally" -- very Shakespearean in some regards -- Baron Harkonnen's scenes even ending with (subtly) rhyming couplets! The special effects work well for the most part, particularly the sand worms, but occasionally the backgrounds look rather too painted (maybe that's part of the same "stagey" attempt?).

Worth watching as a genuine attempt to get over a complex and mythic plot, even if the sight of the good guys being a bunch of religious fanatics waging holy war doesn't go down quite as well as it once might.

Rating: 3

[ unmissable | great stuff | worth watching | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]

2002

Children of Dune

3 90 minute episodes

Review

Despite the title, this covers the events of both Dune Messiah (episode 1) and Children of Dune (episodes 2 and 3). It covers well the events in the years after Maud'dib's jihad -- which has turned into a disastrous, out-of-control, fanatical rampage across the galaxy. Paul knows events are out of control, and that he can't stop them -- but that his son might. In the end, no-one lives happily ever after.

So we get a lot of politicing and conspiracies, and "plans within plans", as numerous factions vie for power and control. And lots of sand.

There's a bit of staginess in this production, but not as much as with the earlier Dune -- just the odd posing and declaiming and rhyming couplet. It's more an impressionistic take on the books (I imagine, since I've read only Dune itself, I must confess), and that works well.

Rating: 3

[ unmissable | great stuff | worth watching | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]