Dune 1984

Dune toys?! And nobody wanted to make John Carter toys!

 

I saw this when it came out. I liked it then, and I like it now. Perfect for a late night, can't sleep situation - a cult classic.

 

Apparently now they've become quite valuable.

 

Oooo due tell why was heart plug scene cut out of extended cut? I remembering
seeing on tv .

 

I read various stories you can't even mention Dune to him.
Maybe he had a nervous breakdown.
The movie itself was quite the undertaking after watching
the special features You can say there probably won't be another movie
with so much production involved costumes, special effects.

And by the way the toys & models weren't approved by Lynch.:
This movie is not kid friendly

 

It is not kid friendly at all! My cousin says he saw it in theaters when he was 12, and he said it was visually interesting, but didn't know what the hell was going on overall.

 

That heart plug scene was BRUTAL!

 

And how can we forget Sting with his never-ending "I will kill him" tirade...

 

I saw it when I was 10, and didn't have any problem following it.

 

Someone made a fanedit of the movie combining the theatrical version with the extended version (removing the worst parts, etc) and added some of the deleted scenes from both versions (such as Thufir pulling his heart plug out at the end). This was by far the best version I've seen.

 

great movie. definitely agree....cult classic! the whole "folding space" time travel concept was and still is interesting. its a druggie movie in a way, with the spice "trips"....lol

 

At the time of release, my Sci-fi friends HATED IT !, & told me not to bother to see it, so I never did.

At the local movie house where it played, after opening night,
someone changed the marque to read "Dune of S_ _ _!".

Its true.

 

God I wish they hadn't invented the wierding modules. And if they'd kept the Baron Harkonnen an evil, intelligent foe instead of a crazed buffoon, it would have worked much better. But we'll never get a version that looks that close to Herbert's vision as he was a technical consultant. It looks fabulous and some of the scenes are perfect, like when Kynes goes out on the inspection of the spice mining operations with Paul, Gurney and Leto. I much prefer the extended version. The Sci-Fi channel's version was an outright abomination.

 

I disagree. While the Sci-fi Channelmcersion had it's flaws it was a more coherent narrative and had its moments. I really don't see it as an abomination at all.

 

Have to admit I have always had a liking for the film as I have never read the books. OK the plot and the acting is a bit dodgy sometimes but overall it certainly isn't the worst movie ever made. I can think of a lot of others that are worse.

 

Frank Herbert's book, Dune, was my absolute favorite book as a young teen. Read the whole series until his son took over (although I have read several of his as well). I was so excited when I heard that this was going to be made into a film, yet extremely concerned because I felt it was far too complex to survive the transfer to film, even with Herbert working as a consultant. I still went to see it within a few days of the initial release.
Boy, was I disappointed....
Where to begin?
1)The weirding modules. I understand why they did it, but they went against the whole concept of the book.
2)Kyle McLachlan - totally wrong for the role.
3)Baron Harkonnen - completely overdone.
4)Inane script in spots. Sting's rampage being the most (least?) memorable. Not sure if it was completely the script, the directing, or Sting's abilities as an actor, but :thumbsdn:
5)Poor models/special effects - wish they had spent less money on costumes and more on FX.

I actually enjoyed the SciFi (SyFy?) production more in spite of it's many flaws - maybe just because it wasn't Kyle as Paul.

....... but hardly the biggest flop/worst movie ever, even within the Sci/Fi genre.

 

I also liked the Sci/Fi version better. In fact I have a DVD copy in my very small collection of movies.

 

When you guys say "the SciFi version", I assume you're referring to the 2000 mini-series with William Hurt? I really disliked that version... it just dragged on and on..... 5 hours of nothing happening! Ugghhh.

Lynch's 1984 version was by no means a perfect film, but compared to the SciFi version it was Citizen Kane.

 

"The Weirding Module is a sonic beam weapon that translates certain specific sounds into attacks of varying potency. The sounds that the device translates into attacks are presented as being somewhat rare.
For that reason, everyone is startled when, during the training of the Fremen in the use of the Weirding Module,[1] a devastating beam shoots from the weapon when the warrior wearing the device speaks Paul's Fremen name, "Muad'Dib," while wearing it.

This prompts Paul to think "My own name is a killing word. Will it be a healing word as well?"[1]

Originally in the novel, this line referenced the holy war beginning in Paul's name, however, in the context of the name being a trigger for the modules, it became somewhat more literal.

Behind the scenesEdit
The Weirding Module is introduced into the Dune movie to replace the Bene Gesserit martial art referred to by the Fremen as the Weirding Way.
Director David Lynch's decision to use modules was taken because he found the idea of the Weirding Way unworkable on film, stating he did not want to see "Kung-fu on sand dunes".The Weirding Module was later seen in the computer games Dune and Emperor: Battle for Dune as powerful hand-held weapons used by the Fremen Fedaykin special unit.

In the games Dune II and Dune 2000 the Weirding Modules are the inspiration of 'sonic tanks' deployed by House Atreides"

 

I agree with this statement.

I've read Dune a lot of times, and what makes the SciFi Channel version an abomination is the liberties they took with the story. One of the best relationships in Dune was the one between Gurney Halleck and Paul and they threw that away as soon as they could to create "drama." The screenwriters did the same thing with LOTR when they created "drama" by pitting Frodo against Sam. I understand it's a different medium, but come on. Admit that the person who wrote the beloved story is a better writer than you and adhere as closely as you can within reason.

I've read the Lynch quote elsewhere about the weirding modules, and I can understand that he didn't want to turn it into Kung Fu in the dunes, but the literalization didn't work for me. I'd rather have seen that the Fremen were the superior fighters against the elite Sadukkar, and I think with the right choreography it could have been done. But that was way before The Matrix, which made it okay to have that in a film.

 

What works on the printed page often doesn't work in a drama or film. Likewise, youmhavema director their interpretation of the book vs. yours. The best way to enjoy ANY adaption is to let go of expectations and see it as a different way to tell the same story.

I think it was. Warner Herzog who said the best film adaptions take the essence of the book and then be unfaithful to the literary source to find a way dramatically to tell the basic story idea and let it develop into its own entity. In other words don't be literal in adapting the source but use it as inspiration to find cinematic equivalents.

The straying from the source didn't bother me with me with either version. I think abomination is way too strong to descrbie the Sci-Fi version and it managed to Take a complex story and do a reasonable job of telling it.

 

+1

 

For me the best part about the movie Dune is the soundtrack by Toto.

Pat

 

I understand and agree that you have to have a different set of expectations about a film versus a book, but when you're dealing with huge pieces of work like Dune and LOTR, you've got a certain amount of responsibility to deliver on the potential that such masterpieces demand. You can't just put DUNE across the top of the screen and let the legend and aura of the piece do all the work for you. If you're going to interpret it into another medium, you need to do it well. I don't think that either of the versions fully delivered the depth of the piece into the video format, but the Lynch version came across with the look and feel of the piece just as the LOTR delivered in that area. Other book to film attempts like Omega Man, Logan's Run, They Live and V for Vendetta actually ended up BETTER than the original print versions. Which makes them worth enjoying.