Dune - To Be Directed by Pierre Morel (Taken)

[Kegg]

The problem is that it's politics and power that's at the core of the story - the fear of losing his power that saw Shadam IV determined to take down House Atriedes, the old feud that made the Harkonnens his willing pawns, the policital power the Baron thought he'd gain, the political manipluations of the Bene Gesserit as part of their goal of the Kwisatz Hederach,

And this isn't a miniseries. That's got to go or at least not be spelled out. All we need to know is the Harkonnens hated Atriedes, the Emperor considered them a threat, so they got killed. Paul escapes, gets chummy with Fremen, makes Fremen army, he wins big time.

Also Paul is the Chosen One, Jedi, Spider-Man, Kwisatz Haderach, you know the drill. Next reel.

 

[Broccoli]

The problem is that it's politics and power that's at the core of the story - the fear of losing his power that saw Shadam IV determined to take down House Atriedes, the old feud that made the Harkonnens his willing pawns, the policital power the Baron thought he'd gain, the political manipluations of the Bene Gesserit as part of their goal of the Kwisatz Hederach,

And this isn't a miniseries. That's got to go or at least not be spelled out. All we need to know is the Harkonnens hated Atriedes, the Emperor considered them a threat, so they got killed. Paul escapes, gets chummy with Fremen, makes Fremen army, he wins big time.

Eh...the characters are rich and interesting in the books and the politics help make them like that. Cutting that completely out and turning the villains into one-dimensional characters would do a great disservice to the story.

 

[Kegg]

Eh...the characters are rich and interesting in the books and the politics help make them like that. Cutting that completely out and turning the villains into one-dimensional characters would do a great disservice to the story.

I didn't say cutting it out. I said don't overexplain it, focus on your principals and their story. It's the exposition you want to keep to a minimum here unless we want Princess Irulan infodumps a la the Lynch film. What else honestly should a two-hour film do, eh?

 

[Reverend]

I actually rather liked the Irulan framing device in Lynch's film and as I recall it's something both of the SciFi minis actually retained. It's faithful to the spirit of the book as there were a buch of "quotes" from Irulan's histories, that she wrote after the fact.

I've often wondered if the Galadriel prologue from LoTR was somewhat influenced by that.

 

[Kegg]

Oh, I like it too. The scoring by Brian Eno really sells it and it has about half of the film's most quotable dialogue. But it's also symptomatic of the film's problems with exposition, there's a lot of people just talking at the screen or voiceovering data and so on.

Though, honestly, I do like Lynch's film quite a bit overall, which I'm sure loses me brownie points somewhere.

 

[Harvey]

Oh, you're on notice, Kegg.

Eh, I like the miniseries version. And the movie Event Horizon. And I don't mind most of Star Trek: Insurrection. So I'm probably on notice somewhere, too.

 

[Marc]

Oh, I like it too. The scoring by Brian Eno really sells it and it has about half of the film's most quotable dialogue. But it's also symptomatic of the film's problems with exposition, there's a lot of people just talking at the screen or voiceovering data and so on.

Though, honestly, I do like Lynch's film quite a bit overall, which I'm sure loses me brownie points somewhere.

Thought the only part of the soundtrack that Eno wrote was the Prophecy Film used when Paul takes the Water of Life?

 

[Kegg]

I thought the Prophecy theme was used far more often, including at Irulan, but I'm not sure. Anyway, for a rock band composition it's really a very nice orchestral soundtrack.

 

[Reverend]

As I recall Eno wrote a whole soundtrack that was all but entierly replaced with Toto, the water of life theme being the only (as far as I can remember) remnant.

Also for the record, for all it's myriad flaws, I like the Lynch film too. It took me about 5 attempts to get all the way through it after recording it off of the Sci-Fi channel about 13 years ago, but it ultimately prompted me to read the first book (which only took 3 attempts.)
To me, any film adaption that makes you want to seek out the original source material is by definition, a success.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

The problem is that it's politics and power that's at the core of the story - the fear of losing his power that saw Shadam IV determined to take down House Atriedes, the old feud that made the Harkonnens his willing pawns, the policital power the Baron thought he'd gain, the political manipluations of the Bene Gesserit as part of their goal of the Kwisatz Hederach,

And this isn't a miniseries. That's got to go or at least not be spelled out. All we need to know is the Harkonnens hated Atriedes, the Emperor considered them a threat, so they got killed. Paul escapes, gets chummy with Fremen, makes Fremen army, he wins big time.

Also Paul is the Chosen One, Jedi, Spider-Man, Kwisatz Haderach, you know the drill. Next reel.

The problem with it is that a lot of the compicated political elements that make the book so popular are exactly the kinds of things that movies don't do well. Changes will need to be made in order to acommodate the advantages & disadvantages of the new medium. If you won't accept some changes, why bother converting it into a new medium at all. Just read the books again.

 

[Kegg]

The problem with it is that a lot of the compicated political elements that make the book so popular are exactly the kinds of things that movies don't do well.

I wouldn't go that far. It's more an issue of timing - there's a lot of details in the Dune books, and it's best to keep to what's front and center and easy to relate to, which is chiefly Paul's story. Dune is not about Shaddam and CHOAM and the Bene Tleilax, they're part of the tapestry of that universe and the setup to Paul's seizing of the hydraulic power, as it were.

Just read the books again.

Or read them a first time.

 

[Nardpuncher]

The problem with it is that a lot of the compicated political elements that make the book so popular are exactly the kinds of things that movies don't do well.

I wouldn't go that far. It's more an issue of timing - there's a lot of details in the Dune books, and it's best to keep to what's front and center and easy to relate to, which is chiefly Paul's story. Dune is not about Shaddam and CHOAM and the Bene Tleilax, they're part of the tapestry of that universe and the setup to Paul's seizing of the hydraulic power, as it were.

Just read the books again.

Or read them a first time.

I think Kegg's got it right. You can tell the story in about 2 and a 1/2 hours and make people satisfied.
I think the only the only movies that need to be 3 hours are incredibly character driven, not plot driven...as people can engulf a story quite quickly, but a tale of a single person can take longer.
My theory is also that animation, which touches us quickly at the child inside, can be even shorter. That may be why the movie Up and its first 10 minutes can rend your heart so. Or that episode of Futurama where Fry remembers his dog.
Anyhow..Dune need to be only 2 hours and a bit.

 

[Lindley]

Except that both of the two versions so far have taken almost 2 hours just to get to the Harkonnen attack. If they're going to leave enough time to do the Fremen portion of the story any kind of justice, that initial chapter will have to be compressed down to 45 minutes or less.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

A 2.5-hour theatrical cut and a 3-hour director's cut on Blu-ray for Dune aficionados sounds right to me.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ For the miniseries, maybe. But regarding the Lynch film, I could do without the extended cut (and I usually love such things).

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

^^^
I meant for the new film.

 

[Starbreaker]

We're talking about the new film, which I think does need to be close to three hours, otherwise nobody is going to know what is going on and they're going to have to pass out pamphlets like they did for the Lynch film.

 

[Marc]

Except that both of the two versions so far have taken almost 2 hours just to get to the Harkonnen attack. If they're going to leave enough time to do the Fremen portion of the story any kind of justice, that initial chapter will have to be compressed down to 45 minutes or less.

Which actually makes them consistent with the book - by the time Pau; & Jessica make contact with the Freemen you're 1/3 the way through.

 

[Shogun37]

Just for myself, there's no possible way to do Dune as one movie, or even a miniseries. The first book alone should be done in two movies, or else you have no idea who these people are, or why things are the way they are. There's just too much information.

 

[Starbreaker]

The miniseries was very effective. There's very little that it left out while still finding time to have an inflated Irulan subplot.