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Dune - Special Edition

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Author	Topic: Dune - Special Edition

Steve Christou Non-Standard Userer	The 1984 movie Dune is a guilty pleasure of mine, people either love it or hate it. I thought it had superb music,a perfect cast and the art direction was incredible. It had a genuinely Epic feel to it. David Lynch did his best compressing Frank Herbert's novel into a 135min film. I have a 175min copy with Japanese subtitles which is fascinating, it includes a lot of interesting scenes that would have made the movie even better. I hope they will release a Special Edition of Dune on DVD one day. I'd like to hear what other members think of this classic SF movie.
posted 05-08-2000 05:32 PM PT (US)

Chris Kinsinger Standard Userer	Dune is a mixed bag, in my opinion. It reminds me of the film critic who, reviewing The Ten Commandments said, "This film contains the best and the worst of Cecil B. DeMille." In my (never-to-be-humble) opinion, David Lynch's Dune represents some of his finest, as well as his worst work, all wrapped up in one movie. Isn't that why you referred to it as a "guilty pleasure", Steve? It's a guilty pleasure of mine, too, and probably for the very same reasons. You are correct about its "Epic" quality. It's one of the finest examples of production design ever committed to film. The sets and costumes are breathtaking to behold. If there were any real justice in the film industry, Dune would have won multiple awards in at least those two categories. I believe Lynch made the most severe miscalculation in his depiction of the Harkonnens. Baron Harkonnen is gut-wrenchingly disgusting, which repulsed audiences and critics alike, and was nowhere near Frank Herbert's concept. If only he had remained true to the source, I believe Dune would've won a far larger audience than it did. I still enjoy watching it, though.
posted 05-08-2000 08:17 PM PT (US)

Boris Standard Userer	I really like "Dune", especially the longer version that the Sci-Fi Channel shows.
posted 05-16-2000 08:52 PM PT (US)

Swashbuckler Standard Userer	In order to clear a bit up about the different versions of "Dune:" The theatrical release, which is available on VHS and DVD is closer in style to David Lynch's concept of the film, but it is severely abbreviated. In preparing the film for syndication package, MCA-Universal created a longer version of the film, but did so without taking into account the style the film was shot and edited in. As a result, the TV version is choppier, and some of the restored scenes appear with significant editing (thus, to an extent, negating any advantage that putting them back in the film may have given it). Worse, because Virginia Madsen only recorded her voice-over for the theatrical release, the Princess' narration was replaced by an unknown male voice who, in a way, goes into a little too much detail, which does not jibe with Lynch's more intellectual style of storytelling. Lastly, the television version, because of the fact the restored scenes were edited before post-production had concluded, is wildly inconsistent in picture, sound, and optical effects. The restored scenes have a pared-down soundtrack (often with Toto's music oddly edited in, or the same cues retracked endlessly) with much less foley than the finished film, and special effects, which were not completed, come and go. This has a particularly detrimental effect on "Dune," not only because of how polished the finished film is supposed to look and sound, but also because the blue-within-blue eyes of the Fremen characters are inconsistant not only from scene-to-scene, but from shot-to-shot. Apparently, Lynch was preparing special edition laserdiscs of both "Dune" and "Wild At Heart," but got tied up in post-production of "Lost Highway." For more information, see Video Watchdog's excellent two-part article "Building the Perfect 'Dune'." [This message has been edited by Swashbuckler (edited 21 May 2000).]
posted 05-21-2000 04:26 PM PT (US)

Steve Christou Non-Standard Userer	As a huge fan of Dune I frequently watch both the theatrical version and the three hour 'rough' version. The point is to see whole sequences from Dune that were not in the theatrical version, doesnt really matter if they are not perfectly finished, it's still fascinating to see the film as it could have been. Like watching a hard to find special edition of your favorite film. I don't really care if David Lynch doesn't approve of this version. I love the Frank Herbert novel and like seeing some of those chapters actually on film. I like the characters in the film and they get more to do in the long version. I hope the upcoming mini-series does justice to the novel. But this movie remains one of my very favorite films whichever version I watch.
posted 05-21-2000 05:51 PM PT (US)

Chris Kinsinger Standard Userer	Upcoming mini-series? TV? Uh-oh. This could go either way. This story costs a lot of money to put on the screen...I was noting the cheeziness of CBS's Jesus mini-series last week. They hired some excellent actors, but the sets and costumes were embarrassingly cheap-looking.
posted 05-21-2000 07:41 PM PT (US)

Swashbuckler Standard Userer	I, too, am worried about a mini-series version of this book. It's so expansive that I believe it will be difficult for a television budget and, no offense to the few exceptions to the rule, television talent pool to realize. Nevertheless, the original film deserves better treatment than MCA Universal or Dino De Laurentis gave it. On the other hand, in return for directing this film for Dino, Lynch was allowed to write and direct his own feature...
posted 05-27-2000 10:20 AM PT (US)

DjC Standard Userer	When is the mini-series gonna be?/
posted 05-27-2000 10:45 AM PT (US)

starblade Standard Userer	It was originally gonna air this summer on the Sci-Fi channel, but it's now been pushed back to Nov. sweeps time.
posted 05-27-2000 08:11 PM PT (US)

H Rocco Standard Userer	Wasn't there a thread about the DUNE miniseries a while ago? I believe someone asserted that Graeme Revell would be doing the score. If so, he must really want that particular assignment, since he hasn't been wanting for big-screen jobs. And I wonder if he understands how hard scoring a miniseries can be ... I don't think a composer has gotten a decent schedule for one since the days of JESUS OF NAZARETH, SHOGUN, MASADA and MARCO POLO. Actually, all of those use so many repeated cues throughout each, perhaps those composers didn't have a lot of time either. Revell's principal arranger Tim Simonec will have his work cut out for him ...
posted 05-27-2000 10:16 PM PT (US)

Swashbuckler Standard Userer	Roc, don't forget that all of those mini-series were made in the days when you could have a library of music for a television show. Current union rules prohibit that, for the most part (there are exceptions, I understand that Joe LoDuca's music for "Hercules" and "Xena" is done this way). Hey, anyone hear of a release (other than the suite on some of Maurice Jarre's live albums) of the music from "Shogun?"
posted 05-28-2000 11:18 AM PT (US)

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