h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I cannot agree that Dune is a 'must see' film. I saw Dune when it was first released. I'd read the book and found the film awful. Too much was missed out and a lot of things were changed for no apparent reason. For example, the Mentats became a race rather than a group of people who had undergone very disciplined training. I know people who saw the film without reading the book who found the film totally confusing. Any film where you have to read the book to understand what's going on is, IMHO, a failure.

I agree with you completely CD. I read and enjoyed the novels, and I am fan of David Lynch's films, but I found Dune disappointing in both respects.

I would love to see David Lynch's intended version, but as it is the plot is far too complex for the film. I found myself bewildered even though I was familiar with the novels as I tried to remember who characters were and what their relation to the rest of the story was. It would have been a better film if had been simplified even more, focusing on just one or two aspects of the plot and forgetting about the rest entirely.

On the other hand, and this is contradictory, as a dramatization of Dune it fails because it simplifies too much. I found it terribly disappointing when elements of the story that I thought were important were skimmed over or completely eliminated in the film.

I think it is a film only die-hard fans of either Frank Herbert or David Lynch will want to see, and only as a curiosity. It is true that is a beautifully-shot film with excellent special effects, but all of the talent that went into making the film is wasted by the butchering in the editing room.

Hmmm, I'd read two of the books... the fourth and the sixth... before I saw the film, and I thought it was great... I knew enough about the Dune world to be able to work out what was going on, but not having read the first book I didn't detect any important missing details.

So... hmmm... I'd recommend it, actually, but it might be a good idea to read the fourth and sixth books before watching

26199

I, too, read the books....many years before there was any talk of a film being made....and curiously enough discovered that none of the characters had any character: they were all there to service the huge panorama of the intrigue....which is really all that's going on in the whole story.

I was at a Con when Frank Herbert was flogging the film and he said it would come in at 2 hrs. He also saw my look of 'come off it' and swore it was true; he also approved Lynch's screenplay, which makes me wonder what he was thinking about at the time.

I saw the film when it opened and was instantly disappointed, not least because I couldn't make any sense of the 2: 17 minute version (having recently re-read the book just for the occasion). An amazing amount of time, energy and skill from Mexican labourers and American filmmakers went into making the mess that resulted. The Mexicans made the incredible tiling on the Emperor's Throne room which is largely missed because of the drama...
I also kept aching for the 'Director's Cut', hoping that it would take away some of the pain of seeing so complex a novel (despite the cardboard characters) reduced to little more than television writing....but it was not to be. Even the TV version was a dead loss because the restored material was put in in the wrong places and, between commercials, obfuscating further the already-confusing.

I'm kinda hoping that the new 'mini-series' that's being done by Sci-Fi will attempt something of a redemption of the complexity, but I'm not holding my breath: too many television viewers have trouble holding more than one thought in their heads at once and the money-people aim their material accordingly.

At least the three novels that are worth reading still stand, so those that are keen on finding out what all the fuss is about can still read the words....

BTW: Dune was originally published in serial form 1964 in Analog magazine as 'Dune World'. Only when its popularity went through the ceiling did it appear the next year as a published book. Frank Herbert is often credited with semi-single-handedly starting the 'ecology movement' as a result of this work as nobody'd ever seen a planetary ecology presented in this scope or complexity before.

Fruitbat

You're right. I was terribly disappointed when I saw the movie. It was a long time ago. I just remember that Paul's hair cut was too nice for a fugitive and possible messiah. The Sardaukars looked rather like iron workers than elite soldiers and the fremen rather like divers or surfers than wild sand men.
The bad guys only were good, as usual.

I enjoyed the first Dune books (let's say the four or five first ones)but Herbert's death had at least one good thing (always look on the bright side of life!): it stopped the flow of more and more boring sequels.

I guess we'll agree to disagree then.
But it is one of my favourite films, and I've never found the film to be confusing in any way, nor have many other people I know who have watched it. I guess that if you have the right mind you can really understand and appreciate it, yet if you don't, you sadly can't.

<BB<

The film is also one of my favorites. I just watched it again last week after not seeing it for about five years. After watching it I re-read the book.

I also have never found the film to be confusing. Maybe that's because I read the "terms of the imperium" pamphlet that came with my copy of the film.

Aside from the weirding modules, I love the movie...as do most of my friends.

I suppose it's one of those love it or hate it things.

Kuma

....and I enjoyed the last two books more than the first.