Sci Fi Gives Green Light To "Children of Dune"

fooguy writes "Our friends at the Sci Fi Channel have given the Green Light to begin production of Children of Dune. According to the release, 'The miniseries begins production in Prague in April 2002 and is slated to air in 2003. Dune adapter John Harrison wrote the script, based on "Dune Messiah" and "Children of Dune," the second and third novels in Frank Herbert's six-volume Dune Chronicles series. Richard P. Rubinstein comes back on board as executive producer. The sequel will continue the story of the Atreides family and recount the fall of Paul's empire, with the future resting in the hands of Paul's heirs, his twin children."

Re:No movie to compare to

[Pope]

As long as they don't get all ambitious and do "God Emperor of Dune" I'll be happy! Oh, lord, that was a torturous read. "Chapterhouse" made up for it IMO. I know that's an unpopular opinion, but I really enjoyed that final book, especially when it was the final book! :)

I know a lot of people who start reading the Dune series and get lost after Children of Dune. I tell them to keep going, but always warn them of that darn 4th one.

As for the new series, I think it's cool, but I just couldn't get into the 6 hour "Dune" mini-series. I kept thinking after watching the first part "Hey, if I had just watched Lynch's version, it'd be over and I could go to bed." I also was very put off by the fairly obvious compositing when Paul was in the desert with his mom. It just screamed "We're in a movie studio!"

Re:Weirding Modules

[corinath]

The weirding modules were never in the books as I recall. The miniseries was more accurate concerning the weirding way as compared to the original movie. I think that it is a concept that is very hard to get accrossed in a movie, where the audience will often lack the background information that can be given in a book.

In the book, the weirding way is mroe focused on the nerves and muscles of the body to allow a person much more precise control of their body. It always seems to me that the weirding way is simply an extension on Bene Gesserit Prana Bindu training that focuses on combat.

While the miniseries di have its faults, this is one part that they got much more correct than did the original movie.

Mangling The Story

[ixo111]

Hopefully they won't mangle the story as badly
as they did the first time. Am I the only one
that would like to see producers / screenwriters /
directors *stop* inserting their creative fancies
in to classic works such as Dune or LOTR? ..

And, if anyone out there for the SciFi channel
is reading - please - don't dress the mentats
up as a bishop from a five and dime chess set ..
they really deserve a little more than that,
I think. Tho both attempts at making a movie
from the book (the DeLaurentis and the recent
SciFi) took quite a few liberties with the story,
I think the DeLaurentis productions costume work
was excellent. The SciFi production looked like
nothing so much as a third grader's costume
party.

Blah .. and now they're going to mangle LOTR.

Blah

Blah

Blah

Re:messiah probably cut to 10 minutes

[garyrich]

I seem to recall that the mini-series people set themselves a "no voiceovers" rule for the 1st mini-series. That went too far.

A lot of the voiceovers in the Lynch/Smithee movie were the meta-text that started most chapters. I don't mind those, they fill in lots of misc info and set the tone that you are reading an account of ancient history (from the narration perspective) and seem to imply that some of the book text itself may be seen through the cracked glass of history.

I remember when the mini-series came out at least one reviewer said that Dune was going to be like Macbeth or Hamlet in that it would be redone every generation with a different perspective.

garyr

How to make this a hit

[Weaselmancer]

It's a formula for success that hasn't (to my knowledge) really been tried yet, so here goes:

Change Nothing.

It's really just that simple. Who is the target audience? People who watch the Sci-Fi channel...or to put it more simply, Us Geeks. And we're sticklers for detail. Don't believe me? Go to a sci-fi con sometime and ask anyone there who Nomad is. You will have your ears talked straight off.

I really wanted the miniseries to make up for the movie. I really did. But as I sat there watching it I couldn't help but say over and over, "Well that's wrong. So's that. She shouldn't be there. Those aren't supposed to look like that. He shouldn't be here yet." And so on.

Other bits were pleasing, and an improvement over the movie. Hearing the water sellers cry in the city was a nice touch. Cloaks over the stillsuits. Fremen popping up from the sand to fight. Details like that are exactly what we're looking for.

So my advice is this...if you're short on time, omit something if you must. That's entirely understandable. But don't change anything! Omissions are far easier to ignore. Having Irulan seduce Feyd was inexcusable.

If I were to take a picture of the Mona Lisa and crop it a bit to fit on my web page, everyone would still be able to tell it was the Mona Lisa. If I put her in a bikini top, give her a moustache and make the background Coney Island....well, it's no longer the Mona Lisa, right?

Please, if anyone at Sci-Fi is reading this...show this series the same respect you'd show any other work of art. Mr. Herbert wrote everything in a particular way to express a story he had in mind - you cannot improve upon it. All you can do is change it, and it's his story that we are fans of. So read the books carefully, and please don't paint another moustache on Dune.

support sci fi

[Anonymous Coward]

as slashdot readers, we need to support sci-fi, because they essentially cater to US. Of course, who knows who they're owned by. Sure would be tite if they were some crazy spinoff group that, because of their stronghold on sci-fi programming, don't have to listen to the likes of AOL Time-Warner and whomever else. Of course, it's just specualtions. But to the sci-fi techies and crew; We at Slashdot salute you!

I watched the David Lynch version last night

[ColGraff]

And I finally noticed - really noticed - the line "He who can destroy a thing controls is." With that, and the references to the Empire crumbling without spice, it finally penetrated my thick skull that maybe there was a symbolic level of the Dune novels. Hmm...desert...strange substance on which universe depends...religious fanatacism...holy wars...might the novels have been metaphors for the middle east?

I freely admit it, I'm an idiot.

One more note: I gotta say, it was creepy as hell watching the Fremen chant "Jihad!" and "Muad'dib". I think a previous poster was right - Dune will mean different things to different generations. I certainly look at it in a different way after 9/11.

It's still the Best SF Universe Ever, of course.