Children of Dune

Personally I really enjoyed *Children of Dune*. First the major issue about the faithfulness to the books. To quote director Greg Yaitanes; "Try not to get hung up on such details as whether the twins are too old or too young, the eyes are too blue or not blue enough, or that the book says this and we did that. You'll end up robbing yourself of a great experience. The Dune universe is so wonderful because of how human and real its characters are. To not respect that would be the worst offense any of us could make." He's got that straight. This is an adaptation not a re-creation. The screenplay by John Harrison managed to fit in enough of Frank Herbert's vision to remain true to the spirit of the epic Dune saga.

The entire cast, Alec Newman [Paul Muad'Dib], Daniela Amavia [Alia Atreides], Julie Cox [Princess Irulan], Barbaroa Kodetova [Chani], James McAvoy [Leto II], Jessica Brooks [Ghanima], Susan Sarandon [Wensicia Corrino], Alice Krige [Reverend Mother Jessica Atreides], Edward Atterton [Duncan Idaho], Ian McNeice [Baron Harkonnen], Steven Berkoff [Stilgar], P.H. Moriarty [Gurney] and Johathan Bruun [Farad'n Corrino] gave me characters I could relate to as well as care about over the course of the miniseries. I especially enjoyed watching Alice Krige because her ability to convey depth of emotion with facial expressions is a well developed art.

The CGI effects were fantastic. Sharp & crisp. The best I've seen done on television and the use of computer generated 3-D backgrounds added so much stature to the sets. CoD was far superior to *Dune* which used mat backgrounds in terms of it's visuals. The movement of CGI objects like Thopters around CG backgrounds and the use of shadow rendering to add realism were absolutely first rate. As an example the shots of the Thopter landing at the Royal Palace in Arrakeem where the ships shadow moves across buildings then follows it down to the landing pad brought a big smile and a sigh...wow! CoD won an Emmy Award in 2003 (Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or Special).

The costumes by Academy Award winner Theodor Pistek and his son Jan were outstanding. A visual feast for the eyes & the heart. The wedding scene at the Royal Palace was as worthy as any major motion picture costume drama and should have earned another Emmy in the costuming category.

The cinematography by Arthur Reinhart was stunning. The use of High Definition digital cameras instead of standard 35mm film and being shot in 16:9 true LBX format also made it look like a feature film rather that a TV miniseries (the DVD looks great as well). The use of lighting during camera pans over actors faces or on shots as characters moved across sets was again vary well used.

The music score by Brian Tyler was at times dark and moody, then majestic, adding to the grandeur of many of the key scenes where the score helped lift one's feelings to the level of emotion being presented by the actors as the story unfolded on the screen. The background soundtrack as the camera followed characters though the zocalo's of Arrakeem or the desert sietche's added a mystical quality where one could almost smell the food cooking or the incense like fragrance of the Spice Melange.

Overall *Children of Dune* has to rate with the best mini-series' that have ever been produced over the years and may even set a new standard for work being done for television with it's quality production. A 9 out of 10.

A blizzard and 32 inches of snow is the perfect setting to watch a mini-series that has been taped for later viewing. As a long-time Dune book series fan and an owner of the DVD of the Lynch movie and the first Sc-Fi miniseries, I eagerly awaited Children of Dune.

The good: Excellent musical score (hopefully available on amazon.com); better acting in general, especially Alice Krige as Lady Jessica and the young actor who played Leto, son of Paul; better special effects (incredible sandworms!); and just the fact that Sci-Fi took time and money to prodice this miniseries (though I will never forgive the cancellation of Farscape).

The bad: Susan Sarandon, for an alleged fan of the Dune series, was just terrible, all hammy and goofy like some character out of a 60s sitcom; the actress who played Alia, Paul Atreides sister, was OK but seemed to lack the fire that I always envisioned as Paul's sister went mad; and the story, which was a mixture of the second and third books in the series, was so incredibly dense -- even for a Dune veteran like me -- that I wondered if anyone else could watch the mini-series and even figure out what was going on.

Generally speaking, this was a better production than the first miniseries, but the story was harder to tell. I hope that Sci-Fi carries on and does a third mini-series. I rated Children of Dune an 8.

After reading the first two of Frank Herbert's Dune books I had to wonder whether the story of the water forsaken planet still had some potential. Consequently, although I bought Children of Dune, I didn't get to read it to the end. And all the time I was thinking: why didn't anyone do a really cool movie about Dune, as it deserves? Obviously, the moment I laid eyes on "Children of Dune" (the mini-series this time) I felt a terrible urge to acquire it, despite being tempted by more reputed films. In the end, I didn't have any regrets.

That is because the film is not only easy to follow, as long as you've either read the first book (and a bit of the second) or seen the first part of the mini-series (which I haven't), but it's also visually delightful, doing some justice to Frank Herbert's saga. It does not bore but it does not truly have a mesmerizing effect either. Nevertheless it does keep you pretty glued to the chair/sofa for as long as it takes to see the outcome. Unfortunately "Children of Dune" goes along the path I assumed the books would: it simply loses its charm as it becomes a bit too foreseeable. This doesn't necessarily mean it's not worth its hours, but it means it's definitely not as enchanting as the first part of the Dune saga - where everything was still fresh and authentic, original and innovative.

All in all, as a fan, I can't say I've been displeased by the series. It's fun to watch as it delivers certain chills and thrills along the way - just that it's not really the uniqueness of Dune that conquers you, but the fine work behind and in front of the camera.

The production value on this installment of the Dune series is more than I could have hoped for. Thank you for getting rid of those awful painted backgrounds. I had been contemplating how a real movie version of the Dune books would look for years. I liked the sets on the DL version but the lack of story was just too confusing for anyone that hadn't read the books and disappointing for those that did. When I heard about the SciFi channel doing the movie 3 years ago I was all jazzed up and ready to be dazzled. And while the story was more consistent with the book and the acting was good, I was rather disappointed with the sets. Now with Children of Dune I think we've seen what should have been done from the get go. The special effects are right on target as are the performances in this one. In the first installment it seemed more like a filmed stage play. This one is more like the full-on, glossy, Hollywood production these stories deserve. That said, I (and some of my friends) still feel that these movies are not going to be very comprehensible to anyone that hasn't read the books but I don't mind that much as I am a selfish and self-serving person at heart. I also have lost faith that anyone will do the Lady Jessica character justice. DL's Jessica was horrible.. beautiful, yes, but what a simpering little weakling she was. Not so in the book… Jessica was more solid, calculating and strong. The miniseries did a little better but she still seemed weak in comparison to the novel. Hopefully Alice Krige will prove to be better. Since she was barely in last night's part, we'll have to wait and see. All in all I am very pleased with what the makers have done with this part of the series. I can't wait until tonight and the next night and especially (hopefully) for ‘God Emperor of Dune' and ‘Chapterhouse'. If they don't do the whole series, I will be sorely disappointed. Bottom line: Keep up the great work!

Now this is more like it! While the Sci-Fi version of 'Dune' was much better than the pathetic 1984 David Lynch version, I felt it still suffered from the 'gotta be way out there' syndrome. It was decent, but badly directed and overacted (witness the Guild Reps doing Tai Chi when they talk). Overall it was fair but not really notable.

This version is fantastic however. For me, this is what Sci-Fi should be all about. They took two of Herbert's books (Dune Messiah, Children of Dune) and combined them into a mini-series that actually takes the material seriously and doesn't try to hard to be different. I thought Leto was excellently done, Alia even better, Ghanima a little less than I expected. The effects were good, but I thought the story was actually the driving force for a change.

All in all a great effort. Now let's see if they do 'God-Emporer of Dune'