everything DUNE (books, games, movies, etc.)

[NuclearNed]

Hi, guys

Recently I got "Emperor: Battle for Dune" for my birthday. I think the game rocks, and it got me interested in the Dune universe.

I saw David Lynch's movie last Sunday and thought it sucked beyond all hope. Is the Sci-Fi mini-series any better (and are they going to show it again any time soon)? How about the books? Here at work people have given them mixed reviews. Are any of them worth reading? Or should I just be happy with my new game and leave all the rest alone?

 

[JaiKnight]

The series of books that followed after Dune, that were written by Frank Herbert, were quite a bit more in-depth than the original. They were enjoyable to me, even though they seemed to go at a slower pace. They're all relatively large, so unless you're a speed reader, be prepared to spend a good weekend or two on them.
The two more recent books (House Atreides, House Harkonnen) were more action oriented and lead fairly well into the story of Dune. The style is different from the originals since they're written by Kevin J. Anderson and Frank Herbert's son (his name has slipped from my head at the moment), but you can see how they tried to emulate the originals.
I personally think they're good reads if you don't mind spending the time.

 

[Pyxis]

Hmm, I liked David Lynch's Dune. I thought it was a good movie

The books though are very good reads IMO.

 

[LordJezo]

<< Hi, guys

Recently I got &quot;Emperor: Battle for Dune&quot; for my birthday. I think the game rocks, and it got me interested in the Dune universe.

I saw David Lynch's movie last Sunday and thought it sucked beyond all hope. Is the Sci-Fi mini-series any better (and are they going to show it again any time soon)? How about the books? Here at work people have given them mixed reviews. Are any of them worth reading? Or should I just be happy with my new game and leave all the rest alone? >>



LOL! You sound just like I did about oh... 8 or 9 years ago when I first got to play Dune II for the PC. Awesome game from Westwood.. first RTS game out there as far as I am concerned. Started the whole genre that we have today. Game made me fall in love with the Dune universe and also hooked me on RTS games.

At least read the first 3 books.. the later 3 were kind of out there (based on ancient sex craft and such.. I think he went a bit nuts..)

I am currently on the 8th book.. Dune: House Harkonnen. After reading all 6 of the first set by Frank, these new ones by his son are very interesting as it explains much of the past of the Dune universe and you end up learning quite a few things.

Dune has to be one of my all time favorite Sci-fi series and I recommend it to anyone who likes serious science fiction.

As for the movies.. the Lynch one was a bit out there.. you really needed to read the book to understand it.

As for the sci fi channel version.. well.. it's the sci fi channel.. they play everything 4 dozen times a year. I am sure it will be on again soon. But.. they are making a movie out of the second and third books as well.

 

[PrinceofWands]

I love the Lynch movie, liked it far more than the Sci-Fi version...but that's only because:

a) I've read all the books
b) I know that the only reason Lynchs' movie seems to suck is because the producers and editor killed it.
c) I like Lynch

The original full uncut Lynch version of dune ran slightly over 5 hours. People keep saying, &quot;the sci-fi version had so much more to it&quot;...well of course it did, idiot, it was almost 5 hours long. If they'd have let Lynch create his complete vision I'm sure the movie would be regarded as an all time masterpiece.

 

[Pyxis]

<< The original full uncut Lynch version of dune ran slightly over 5 hours. People keep saying, &quot;the sci-fi version had so much more to it&quot;...well of course it did, idiot, it was almost 5 hours long. If they'd have let Lynch create his complete vision I'm sure the movie would be regarded as an all time masterpiece. >>



I have question. When they show the David Lynch version on SciFi is it different than the DVD. I bought the Dune DVD and I think the one they run on SciFi is alot longer. I tried looking places to buy the longer version but I couldn't find it.

 

[PrinceofWands]

There are officially 4 Lynch Dune versions that I know of...

Theatrical release
Extended
Extended directors cut (which in fact has nothing to do with Lynch's input at all)
Full totally uncut version (which is so increadibly rare I've seen copies sell for $500-$1000 us)

Sci-Fi most often plays the extended version, and twice I've seen them play the extended directors cut.

 

[Viper22]

Ok being that the Dune universe is one of my favorite sets of books etc ever here is what you need to do. Read all of the books and in this order:

Dune
Dune Messiah
Children of Dune
God Emperor of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Chapterhouse: Dune

Dune: House Atredies
Dune: House Harkonnen
Dune: House Corrino (Coming out in Oct.)

Ive read the entire series twice so far, and have the original and extended cuts of the movie on DVD. Needless to say i like it a lot

Viper22

 

[LordJezo]

<< Dune: House Corrino (Coming out in Oct.) >>



Oooo... new Dune.. now I really need to finish Harkonnen.

 

[Pyxis]

<<Ive read the entire series twice so far, and have the original and extended cuts of the movie on DVD. Needless to say i like it a lot >>

Where can you get these extended versions. I've looked around and all I see are the theatrical releases.

Sorry NuclearNed, don't mean to take over your thread.

 

[NuclearNed]

Here's what I really hated about the Lynch movie:

I hated the &quot;thought narrations&quot; - i.e. every time a character had a thought, it was narrated to the audience in the character's voice. I thought this was incredibly cheesy. I won't blame this on Lynch because it sounds like something the producer or the editor would do (kind of like the narration in Blade Runner). I hated it because just from the acting you could generally tell what was going on in a character's mind without having to be told. Also (keep in mind that I haven't read the book) Max Von Sydow's character seemed to have been nearly cropped out of the movie. He seemed to have a major role, and then two minutes later he's dead!!! The ending battle sequence seems kind of hashed together and doesn't seem real coherent - something that again could be blamed on the producer and/or editor.

I think I would like to see the 5 hour version. The version I saw seemed to be a good movie chopped to death and dumbed down.

 

[tallest1]

Dune II (the PC game) is a classic

 

[JaiKnight]

Yup, Dune II got me hooked on everything. I didn't realise the Ordos were made up till I read the books!

Cool, House Corrino? Gonna have to get somebody to pick that up for me... Anybody know how many more there are going to be? or is that the last of the new pre-series?

 

[LordJezo]

<< Dune II (the PC game) is a classic >>



I think I played the Harkonnen's all the time because the voice of the person who told you what was going on sounded like one bad mother. The other ones did not make me feel as cool.
(Hey.. when you were in 5th grade, a cool announcer would have made you feel cool too)

 

[michaelh20]

Now that you mention it, the thought narrations are kind of annoying.

I personally think that the &quot;cut&quot; version of the movie is artfully edited, and the 5 hour version,
while it has more depth (obviously), it has a bunch of scenes all kind of mish-mashed together,
some of which are not of the highest quality I think.

Plus they didn't &quot;blue-eye&quot; all the people in all the scenes either, so people's eyes went clear then blue,etc...