"Dune"
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
I appreciate the effort that went into producing this epic series. As a general statement, I support making science fiction epics.
You can see where this is going, right?
The "Dune" miniseries was absolutely, irredeemably horrible. I'm actually proud of myself that I made it through all the way to the end - in the same way that I'm proud of myself whenever I clean the bathroom, or take a particularly lengthy poop. Frankly, I think I deserve a medal.
Just by way of contrast, the David Lynch film was interesting, unusual and daring. I'm not sure it was actually any good, but it was a appreciably strong attempt. It had a few issues - an incomprehensible plot, a painful performance for Paul Atreides and sweet God - Sting?! - but it was a gutsy try at doing credit to the book.
This series managed not only to avoid to keep these same flaws, but also find a few dozen new ones to throw into the mix.
The leads were all just... not very good. In some cases, the casting ranged all the way to the outright terrible. If "Dune" was supposed to be a credible attempt at the book, there were a couple things that slipped by entirely. Paul, for example, is young. And Bene Gesserit just don't cry. Ever. Jessica should not be portrayed by a sniveling, doe-eyed woman, who alternate bawls with tears and loses her temper. Even more shockingly, she's clearly afraid most of the time - which is, for fans of the book, a serious breach of the ethos.
The special effects were terrible - a flying leap backwards from the Lynch film. Most shots looked like they were taken in front of oversized stills from the original movie, and the desert scenes were straight out of 'King Solomon's Mines'.
The plot, as I mentioned, was still incomprehensible. In a bid for legitimacy, lots of minor-but-authentic (Fenring) characters were added in an attempt to counterbalance the butchery of the major ones. But if you're going to introduce the many thousands of factions of Herbert's universe, you've actually got to provide a little more background - and that's not just one badly animated Man-bat scene for the Guild. The Bene Gesserit were equally ridiculous, looking like Cirque du Soleil rejects, as they wandered around aimlessly.(Crying and being afraid... did anyone read the book?!).
Oh, and Sting was better. Sad, but true.