Dune(1984)...which editions have you seen and like?

[RAMA]

In honor of the Dune Bluray release....OK this is a very tricky subject, there are 3 main versions: 1. The 137 min 1984 Lynch Cut. 2. 1989 189 min Extended Cut 3. 177 Min cut for DVD and VHS

I think a lot of people will stick with the 137 min version, though I saw the 189 min version when it aired and thought it would make more sense to a wider audience. The 189 min version included a lot of DUPLICATE material, credits, opening narration, etc. It also did not color correct the scenes that were restored, and the music editing was changed. Although I prob shouldn't make mention of it, there is also a 188 min version that is apparently a fan edit that gets wide acclaim. Its a color-corrected, duplicate-eliminating version that supposedly makes more sense out of the 2 basic versions and restores the 2.35:1 format originally filmed. Has anyone seen it?

RAMA

 

[Mysterion]

Seen all three and prefer the mini-series that aired a couple years back to all of them.

 

[Bishop76]

Yeah, the mini-series, for all it's faults, was a much better version.

 

[Starbreaker]

I've only seen the original theatrical version. I'm probably going to get the Blu-ray now that it's dipped to $9.99. I do prefer the miniseries, but I've grown to love the movie as well.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Seen all three and prefer the mini-series that aired a couple years back to all of them.

Ditto.

For me to like Lynch's Dune, I'd have to take an ax to it, and pare it down to no more than 45 minutes, and probably less. That's about the length of all that's in it that I find worth rewatching.

I've read Dune 5 times, the trilogy 3 times, God Emperor twice, and the other two Herbert books once each, so I'd say I know Dune well enough.

 

[RAMA]

Yeah, the mini-series, for all it's faults, was a much better version.

Yeah but it wasn't just released on bluray!! lol

I feel I SHOULD like the mini-series better but I actually don't. The critical reception for the movie has turned upwards some over the years. In the early days only Harlan Ellison was big proponent of the movie. I believe Frank Herbert himself had some quibbles but liked the cut he saw (may have been a work print cut).

RAMA

 

[RAMA]

Seen all three and prefer the mini-series that aired a couple years back to all of them.

Ditto.

For me to like Lynch's Dune, I'd have to take an ax to it, and pare it down to no more than 45 minutes, and probably less. That's about the length of all that's in it that I find worth rewatching.

I've read Dune 5 times, the trilogy 3 times, God Emperor twice, and the other two Herbert books once each, so I'd say I know Dune well enough.

I have purposefully stayed away from any novel sequels. I have a hardback copy of Dune and its the only one I've read.

RAMA

 

[milo bloom]

Currently reading Sandworms of Dune (I'm only buying stuff from the dynamic duo from half.com, so it's not like I'm really encouraging them...). They don't hold a candle to the original 6, but it's good enough that I'm interested in where they're going with it all.


Anyways, I've long preferred the longer cut of Dune (1984). Whenever it would play on TV, it was one of those things that made me stop and ride it out to the end. And when they released a version of the longer cut on DVD a few years back, I bought it on release day. I really have no interest in watching the shorter theatrical cut again. If there was ever another release of the 1984 version on Bluray, that had every bit of deleted footage available, and had all the color timing issues and such fixed, I would gladly buy that disc.


As for the Scifi mini-series, I've seen parts of it, and liked what I saw. I also have the Children of Dune set and need to hunker down and watch the whole thing sometime.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Seen all three and prefer the mini-series that aired a couple years back to all of them.

This.

I recently caught on TV one of the version's of the Lynch movie... I'm thinking the short one, not sure, whichever starts off with Irulan speaking into camera.

Most of it isn't bad. But the last 40 minutes are AWFUL. The dialgoue is just... bad. It's great set up, great design, but man, those last 40 minutes... oy.

 

[Kirkman1987]

Dune is a decent movie,but I agree the miniseries was better. Truthfully though, A great version hasn't been made yet.

I enjoy the movie as a huge Lynch fan, but as an adaptation it's not that great. The last half is awful. Once Paul and Jessica find the Fremen, everything is so rushed. I only watch the theatrical cut.

 

[RoJoHen]

I have only seen the SciFi Channel miniseries and thought it was one of the most boring pieces of film I've ever seen. I'm not even sure I finished it. I kept falling asleep.

 

[Holdfast]

I've seen Lynch's Dune several times on TV, but not closely enough to know which version(s) I've seen. Anyway, I quite like it for the freaky atmosphere it generates.

 

[OsmiumJohnnycake]

I assume I'd prefer an edition which included more scenes than the theatrical, but with Lynch edited himself and which included final effects. There are some scenes dropped from the theatrical that need to be in there. Why they cut Thufir Hawat's final scene is beyond my comprehension, since it was a plot thread throughout the film and they even show him in the crowd at the end.

The miniseries, which wasn't really part of the original question but has been discussed now, is very good and a more faithful adaptation of the book. The Children of Dune mini I actually prefer to the books (I loathed Messiah). But Lynch is such a powerful director, there's emotions in the 1984 version that the mini cannot beat. Plus the cast is great.

So to the original question, I don't really have a favorite version of the 1984 film. The theatrical is inadequate, the other versions aren't edited by Lynch and have incomplete effects but they were filmed by Lynch and give a hint at what a longer Lynch cut might be like. I sort of rotate through them whenever I watch the film.

 

[Snatcher42]

Personally, I like the Third Stage Edition fanedit, which integrates most of the deleted scenes while still staying true to the style of the theatrical cut (Irulan's narration, etc.).

 

[Set Harth]

I believe Frank Herbert himself had some quibbles but liked the cut he saw (may have been a work print cut).

Yes, he came out in support of the Lynch film.

I wasn't aware that there were two versions of the extended edition, but the one I'm familiar with is the DVD version finally released for Region 1 a number of years back. The one that's credited to "Alan Smithee" ( with good reason ).

What a mess. As a devotee of the books, I really only like it because it's a way to see filmed versions of some of the material from the text that the theatrical cut left out. The most significant of these deletions may be the scene where a young worm is drowned to produce the Water of Life. We do get to see Gurney, a supposed troubador, actually playing the baliset for once. And in another scene Stewart utters the line "As a wild ass in the desert go I to my work", which immediately results in MacLachlan and Prochnow cracking up on screen. However, there are a lot of problems. The Fremen eyes aren't colored blue in the "new" footage, while all the footage carried over from the theatrical cut has some kind of warped color patina to it. Scenes are used out of their correct place, featuring incorrect ships and locations, under the apparent assumption that no one would pay any attention to the spaceship scenes. We even witness a scene lifted from when the Harkonnens were taking Paul and Jessica to the desert and used in the earlier part of the film to represent a completely different event, but you can still see Jessica. The Baron's killing of a Harkonnen is unnecessarily deleted, possibly for television broadcast reasons. The Virginia Madsen intro is scrapped in favor of a male narrator giving the history of the Butlerian Jihad over artwork, complete with pronunciation inconsistent with the rest of the film. Dialogue is sometimes mangled by editing for no good reason, such as when Jose Ferrer's references to "the Atreides" and "the Harkonnen" are changed to "House Atreides" and "House Harkonnen".

 

[RAMA]

I believe Frank Herbert himself had some quibbles but liked the cut he saw (may have been a work print cut).

Yes, he came out in support of the Lynch film.

I wasn't aware that there were two versions of the extended edition, but the one I'm familiar with is the DVD version finally released for Region 1 a number of years back. The one that's credited to "Alan Smithee" ( with good reason ).

What a mess. As a devotee of the books, I really only like it because it's a way to see filmed versions of some of the material from the text that the theatrical cut left out. The most significant of these deletions may be the scene where a young worm is drowned to produce the Water of Life. We do get to see Gurney, a supposed troubador, actually playing the baliset for once. And in another scene Stewart utters the line "As a wild ass in the desert go I to my work", which immediately results in MacLachlan and Prochnow cracking up on screen. However, there are a lot of problems. The Fremen eyes aren't colored blue in the "new" footage, while all the footage carried over from the theatrical cut has some kind of warped color patina to it. Scenes are used out of their correct place, featuring incorrect ships and locations, under the apparent assumption that no one would pay any attention to the spaceship scenes. We even witness a scene lifted from when the Harkonnens were taking Paul and Jessica to the desert and used in the earlier part of the film to represent a completely different event, but you can still see Jessica. The Baron's killing of a Harkonnen is unnecessarily deleted, possibly for television broadcast reasons. The Virginia Madsen intro is scrapped in favor of a male narrator giving the history of the Butlerian Jihad over artwork, complete with pronunciation inconsistent with the rest of the film. Dialogue is sometimes mangled by editing for no good reason, such as when Jose Ferrer's references to "the Atreides" and "the Harkonnen" are changed to "House Atreides" and "House Harkonnen".

OK I broke down...I HAD to see the fan edit....wow, a lot of the criticisms you mention of the extended edition have been fixed. This may very well be the most impressive fan film editing I have EVER seen. There is new footage from a 2005 DVD edition, not cleaned up for dirt, but color corrected...as are ALL the extended edition's scenes. This includes a scene with Thufir Hawat telling Duke Leto about the Fremen legend of a young man who is their savior. The Reverend Mother of the Fremen is shown telling a longer version of the legend...almost a narration. The Brian Eno music is re-included at the beginning. The male narration I prefer is at the beginning, but toned down to avoid repetition. I always found the lovely Virginia Madsen's narration to be ineffective and badly edited. Paul's film book scenes are all intact. The worm scene is included, so is the scene with the young boy Harkonnen. The padded footage, and mistaken footage of all the erroneous ships is excised. The repeated credits and theme are removed. The final sequence adds a very long cut scene where Feyd hands Thufir a knife and Paul turns his back to him and offers him his life...Thufir instead drops the knife and pulls out his new heart plug.

 

[RAMA]

I just noticed the "current" movie development of Dune has been cancelled. So no ultimate version of it is likely to be seen in the near future.

RAMA

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I just noticed the "current" movie development of Dune has been cancelled.

Really? I'm cool with this.

 

[Harvey]

I've only seen the theatrical version, which is a complete disaster of a movie. I don't see any reason to see the longer versions. Lynch is on record as preferring the shorter cut and the movie's problems only begin with parring down the story. Visually it's just a plain ugly movie.

 

[lurok]

Order viewed: miniseries, CoD, Lynch film. I was surprised at how much Lynch film omitted. But while it's a mess, personally I find it the most stylish of the three (though I think CoD is the most successful overall). Recently saw the Third Era (?) fanedit, and it goes some small way to improving on original film, but ultimately it's still a bit of a stylish mess Though my favorite of all of them...