#DUNE SERIES SERIES#

The first film - Dune: Part One - will adapt roughly those first two вЂњpartsвЂќ of Dune. Villeneuve seems to be attempting something similar with the new Dune. Each night would reflect one of the three вЂbooksвЂ™ that comprise his novel: вЂњDune,вЂќ вЂњMauadвЂ™bib,вЂќ and вЂњThe Prophet.вЂќ Writing in the introduction to the 2000 book The Secrets of Frank HerbertвЂ™s Dune, director John Harrison said: вЂњI decided that HerbertвЂ™s own structure could serve quite well as the basis for the mini-series. The format of Frank HerbertвЂ™s Dune also gestured at its faithfulness to the book. But then again, Kyle MacLachlan didnвЂ™t seem like a teenager either. NewmanвЂ™s casting as Paul is a little tricky, simply because he seems so grown-up (Paul is supposed to be a teenager). If you are pressed for time and canвЂ™t read the entire book before the new Dune film hits theaters, watching this miniseries is the next best thing. With production values on par with the original Babylon 5, this miniseries tries to bring an epic story to the small screen. True to its name, Frank HerbertвЂ™s Dune changed almost nothing from HerbertвЂ™s book. (Would the Sci-Fi Channel have charged ahead with Battlestar without Dune working out first? It seems unlikely.) This miniseries preceded the 2003 Battlestar Galactica miniseries and, in terms of viewership, was one of the most popular programs the Sci-Fi Channel ever launched. It also landed smack-dab in the middle of HurtвЂ™s вЂњsci-fi dadвЂќ phase, after his turn in 1998вЂ™s Lost in Space but before Steven SpielbergвЂ™s 2001 film A.I.: Artificial Intelligence.

#DUNE SERIES SERIES#

He is a grotesque vision of rampant, unbridled capitalism.Frank HerbertвЂ™s Dune is a 2000 miniseries starring William Hurt as Duke Leto and Alec Newman as Paul Atreides.ДЄ wildly faithful adaptation of Frank HerbertвЂ™s first Dune novel, this series was one of the most ambitious (and expensive) projects launched by the Sci-Fi Channel. Their cruelest enemy, the consummately evil Baron Harkonnen, symbolically dwells in darkness, surrounding himself with swirling smoke and completely hairless attendants. Instead, characters nobly pontificate or murmur gnomically about whether the young hero, Paul Atreides, is or isnвЂ™t the Kwisatz Haderach, the promised warrior prophet who will lead the tough and fiercely independent Fremen to victory over their brutal oppressors. Life is real, life is earnest and nobody has much fun.

Like HerbertвЂ™s book, the film is also deliberately majestic in its pacing and virtually without humor. It is, however, packed with eye-popping visual spectacle, notably speedy little aircraft that resemble mechanical dragonflies and enormous space cruisers as sleek as any on the cover of an old issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. ItвЂ™s more like a Wagnerian music-drama, a somber story built around intimations of doom and orchestrated with a soundtrack of pounding drums and high-pitched wailings and ululations. Unlike вЂњStar Wars,вЂќ though, VilleneuveвЂ™s вЂњDuneвЂќ isnвЂ™t a sparky, upbeat space opera. Overall, the вЂњgoodвЂќ characters are preternaturally gifted, some with witchy mental powers, others with samurai-like fighting skills, while the вЂњbadвЂќ are obscene monsters of sadism, greed and ambition.

The bookвЂ™s plot - to which the new film sticks closely - features a galactic empire riven by intrigue, a shadowy sisterhood called the Bene Gesserit, gigantic sandworms that surface from underground like Moby-Dick rising from the deep, subtle political maneuverings and shocking betrayals, a native population called the Fremen who await a promised messiah, and, not least, the young Paul Atreides, who is troubled by strange dreams and, perhaps, an even stranger destiny. For those who donвЂ™t know anything about вЂњDune,вЂќ whether the new film by Denis Villeneuve or the classic novel first published in 1965, let me just say that the title refers to the desert world Arrakis, which produces вЂњspice,вЂќ a psychotropic drug essential to space travel and a source of almost unimaginable wealth for its supplier.

Dune series