back to article Paramount prepares to scale Dune

Paramount Pictures has appointed Taken helmsman Pierre Morel to tackle a new cinematic adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 sci-fi novel Dune, Variety reports. The movie will be based on a draft put together by producer Peter Berg - who quit the project to work on Universal's forthcoming Hasbro board game interpretation …

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  1. Ray0x6
    FAIL

    Not Your Mother's Tibetan Method

    Personnel: Bourne backup writer, director of The Transporter, uncredited actor from a Will Smith movie.

    Content: too much action, too much unwarranted cgi, too little story (and what remains will not be anything like the book), no magic.

    Oh, yes. I can really see this seeing off Lynch with ease.

  2. Sir Runcible Spoon
    FAIL

    Lynch film Financial success or not

    It is still a film which I have difficulty believing they could even approach the quality of, let alone surpass. It's a classic for dog's sake.

    Why don't they do Dune Messiah, or even better, God Emperor - I'd love to see that one on the big Screen.

    1. Troy Peterson
      Paris Hilton

      Heretics

      Actually, I'd much rather see an adaptation of "Heretics of Dune"... I've always wanted to see the Honored Matres in action... hmmm.... Might have to give that one an X rating....

      (Icon: Paris Hilton... Or Murbella?)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      WTF?

      Although I guess they could just remove it

      A God Emperor movie? Nice idea but I think you're forgetting the "rope scene". You know the one I mean. It would be sort of awkward to see it on screen.

      Herbert must have been off his tits when he wrote that book.

  3. Matt 116
    Stop

    Not a financial success? Really?

    The 1984 version remains one of my favourite movies of all time. It was just simply a classic. Please Please Please don't try and do a remake. It will just be another fluffy piece of cr@p like all remakes nowadays...

    1. Mike Bird 1
      Go

      Weird Abberation

      The 1984 movie was an abberation full of non-canon junk like the "wierding modules".

      The TV Mini-Series was a darn sight more effective at bringing the books to screen.

      1. Dapprman
        Thumb Up

        Phew

        Thought I was the only one who remembered the criticisms the Lynch movie received from Dune fans.

        I also agree about the mini-series (note it was multiple, though I never got to see Messiah).

      2. Frank Bough

        The Wierding Way

        Movies are not about 'bringing the books to the screen'. The wierding modules were, in fact, a pretty clever plot device. The TV series, on the other hand, was quite incredibly dull and cheap looking - there's nothing worse than cheap CGI.

      3. sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD
        Stop

        Maybe

        The lynch movie was not at all accurate to the book, but I probably have watched it more times than I have Star Wars IV.

        It made me read the book, certainly, I would say Dune the book (well the first 3 books anyways), would be amongst the top space operas ever.

        That miniseries was perhaps more accurate but I found it shockingly bad, I hated the actors.

    2. TimBiller

      Please please please

      Don't have it rain at the end.

      Tim

  4. peertwo

    More Dune

    Lets not forget the SciFi channels 5 hour (directors cut) version (no, not the unauthorized David Lynch / Alan Smithee version), or their rather good sequel - a combination of the next two books - clocking in at a mere 4 1/2 hours

    1. Graham 25
      Go

      They won't improve on this one

      I agree - the mini-series version is excellent and a true telling of the first two books.

      Series 1

      http://www.amazon.co.uk/Frank-Herberts-Dune-TV-William-Hurt/dp/B00005QG3Z/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1262696466&sr=1-1

      Series 2

      http://www.amazon.co.uk/Children-Dune-DVD-Ian-McNeice/dp/B001ATWK08/ref=pd_cp_d_h__1

      1. rciafardone
        WTF?

        I have 1 word for that comment...

        Navigators... as weird as the D.Lynch ones were, they were closer to teh book that the swamp mosters from the miniseries.... that totaly put me off...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      The Mini-Series Wasn't Bad

      The books are very cerebral. It gets more and more convoluted as the series progresses. I stopped reading them after I attempted God Emperor, and fell asleep.

      I suspect that a lot of narration would be necessary.

      Amazing story, though. The first three books would be worth a decent adaptation.

      1. Graham Marsden

        It's a shame you gave up...

        ... because after the turgid tedium of God-Awful of Dune, the series actually picked up nicely.

  5. Number6

    Must Do Better

    I thought the previous film was very poor. As a standalone story it was OK, but in terms of being faithful to the books it was dire. Weirding modules and rain at the end of the film were bad. Using condoms as worms was amusing though.

    For a better interpretation, the Dune miniseries that covered the first three books was pretty good and did at least follow the story line.

    Of course, now that his son has picked up the baton, there's a good storyline from the Butlerian Jihad all the way through to Kralizec at the end, so there's an incentive to stay close to what Herbert wrote.

    1. Maverick
      Thumb Up

      also enjoying the prequels

      think he is doing a good job with them

      not sure about the film though, I fear cgi hell and god forbid more bloody unnecessary 3D

    2. David Hicks
      Unhappy

      EWWWWW!

      Not Brian and Kevin's sequels, prequels and the rest, please, Nooooo!

      I'm an easy reader to keep happy, I'll willingly suspend my disbelief as much as you like. I won't analyse too much (unless asked to), I'll just enjoy the journey and the fantasy world. The Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson books are some of the very few that have ever broken me out of the reading trance with thoughts about how cheap that particular plot device was, or how shabby the writing.

      Hunters and Sandworms were basically an excuse to have their cliche'd two dimensional add-on characters interact with FH's and try to gain some legitimacy by proximity. They end in a huge series of Deus-ex-Machina events that are a poor excuse for not being able to write a real plot.

      I know, I know, I still read them all. I'm my own worst enemy and I shouldn't be encouraging them to write more.

    3. sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD

      sorry

      HIs son writes shite. Shockingly bad.

  6. mwk

    Hmm,

    suspiciously middle-eastern men fighting a guerrilla holy war against the people who have come to their desert in order to seize a valuable resource.

    I'm sure that'll go down well in some quarters.

    1. John G Imrie
      Pirate

      Gloryfying terroism

      Hum, Isn't that illegal in the UK now?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Pint

      Prescient, eh?

      Herbert was rather ahead of the curve, wasn't he now?

      1. Frank Bough
        WTF?

        I suppose he would have been if...

        ...no one had ever made a film called LAWRENCE OF ARABIA

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @mwk

      "suspiciously middle-eastern men fighting a guerrilla holy war against the people who have come to their desert in order to seize a valuable resource.

      "I'm sure that'll go down well in some quarters".

      Yes, that was what Herbert intended. He always had an understanding of, and empathy for, the underdog and suspicion of the establishment view. In "The White Plague" he wrote a few things that British people might find uncomfortable, too. While the Jorj X Mckie stories (The Dosadi Experiment, Whipping Star) are fundamentally about the necessity of subversion and the disastrous harm caused by monolithic governments. BuSab is one of the great creations of the human mind, IMHO. (As well as being riotously funny). See, e.g.

      http://infohost.nmt.edu/~shipman/reading/mckie.html

  7. Gulfie
    Thumb Up

    I for one welcome...

    ... a new interpretation of a fantastic novel.

    The '84 film was good in some ways (Sting) but a complete dog in so many others. Weak dialogue, crappy special effects, and so much storyline was skipped. Wonder if they're going to have a go at the whole 11-book series? If they can script it as well as the guys that scripted Lord of the Rings, it could be fantastic.

    Oh, and I'm pretty sure "witer Josh Zetumer" is actually a writer - unless he's taken up where Michael Jackson left off...

    1. David Hicks

      11?

      There are 15 at the time or writing, with more on the way I'm sure....

    2. JeffShortland
      WTF?

      Really?

      That movie was scripted well?

      watch them all together, and then try to remain with that stand point.

      the story was like a midgets version of brokeback mountain, in new zealand. oh yes, and walking.

      12 solid hours of bloody walking.

  8. Will Shaw
    FAIL

    Casting suggestions....

    If the studio gets their claws into it, expect:

    Lady Jessica - Sandra Bullock

    Leto Atreides I - Vince Vaughn

    Chani - Kristina Kreuk

    Paul Atreides - Zac Efron

    Duncan Idaho - Will Ferrell

    Also expect reimagining as "sci-fi action comedy" - except all the interviews will have the cast banging on about how "it's about the people so it's not really sci-fi".

    Woot! Anyone got worse suggestions than that?

    1. Matt W 1
      FAIL

      @Will Shaw

      Now I'm even more depressed...Becuase you're right.

    2. The Original Ash
      Jobs Horns

      I accept that challenge!

      Jessica: Susan Boyle

      Duke Leto: Louis Walsh

      Chani: Cheryl Cole

      Paul: Simon Cowell

      Duncan: Dermot O'Leary

      Dune - To The X-Factor!

    3. MyHeadIsSpinning
      Thumb Up

      @ Casting suggestions

      Worse suggestions;

      Lady Jessica - Jennifer Anniston

      Leto Atreides - Kevin Costner

      Chani - Megan Fox

      Paul Atreides - Hayden Christensen

      Duncan Idaho - John Cusak

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Battleship

    Not only is Hollywood remaking Dune, but they are also making a film based on the board game Battleship?

    Talk about running out of ideas.

    Coming to theatres 2014: He played X, she played O, then it was a tie...TIC TAC TOE

    1. John G Imrie

      TIC TAC TOE

      I thought they had already done that with War Games.

      Shall we play a game, anyone?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Not onle Battleship...

      The Hasbrough licensing team must have been busy because a movie version of Monopoly is also in the making =O/

    3. Hollerith 1

      Horror meets the spelling bee

      HANGMAN - no child is safe!

    4. jai

      i do not beleive this

      how can you have a movie based on battleships? it's the stupidiest idea ever

      perhaps it will have an M. Night Shyamalan twist at the end where, you think he'd finally found the 5 squares of the last enemy battleship, but it turns out to just be a submarine and a cruiser together in a line

    5. Misoriented
      WTF?

      But wait, there's more!

      The worst part isn't that they're making a movie out of Battleship, but that Peter Berg (whoever that is) apparently quit the Dune project to work on it. Huh? Say what you want about remakes, at least Dune is a story. I can't even imagine how you fill two hours with little plastic pieces on a grid.

      Here's a little career cheat sheet. If you currently do any of the following jobs, trade it up to work on Battleship: The Movie:

      1. Suicide bomber

      2. Crash test dummy

      3. Human resources

      4. Fluffer

      Anything else, be happy where you are.

  10. Frank Bough
    Thumb Down

    Wouldn't it make more sense...

    ...to properly restore / re-edit / FINISH the brilliant David Lynch version? This film could be a bona-fide classic if someone bothered to finish it.

    Because, let's face it, any remake now is bound to be another Donny Jepp / Willy Wonka style atrocity.

    (yeah yeah, I know it's all about money and doing it all in "3D" (more accurately called 'dodgy stereo').)

  11. Chika
    FAIL

    I've said it before...

    wHollyWeird is creatively bankrupt. That's why it has increasingly turned to doing sequels and remakes because it can trade on the original title's success rather than risk anything on an unknown.

    It could be construed as their latest anti-piracy measure. "If we turn enough crap out, nobody will want to fileshare our titles!" Can you spot the flaw?

  12. ScottK
    Megaphone

    Can't be worse than Lynch's effort

    The Lynch movie was a mess. The SciFi channel TV adaptation was much closer to the novel, although it was let down slightly by the fact that the guy playing Gurney Halleck is one of the worse actorsever to be committed to celuloid/digital image. Guess he was always onto a loser though as his performance would get compared to Patrick Stewarts. Even so, he was dreadful.

    @Runcible Spoon

    SciFi also did a creditable adaptation of Dune Messiah/Children of Dune (unfortunately still with the same bloke cast as Halleck). No sign of God Emperor yet though!

    Icon for the "weirding module" sonic weapon Lynch invented for his movie, along with the Sardaukar troops who coultn't breath normal air. Hopefully these will not be in the new version.

    1. John Lacey
      FAIL

      Indeed!

      Oh God!!! I'd almost forgotten about the travesty that played Gurney Halleck, and his constant refarins of "Young Pup" (which was only said on one occasion in the book and about 500 in the mini-series)...

  13. Mike Cunliffe

    Pants

    Surely it's not possible to top Sting in a pair of rubber underpants

    1. Maverick
      Happy

      yes it is

      if he wore them over his head

  14. Si 1

    I always liked the Lynch version

    The Lynch film is what got me into the books in the first place, although personally I didn't like the rest of the series that much.

    I saw Taken last year and I thought it was really good, so I'm optimistic they will be able to make something cool.

    Personally I'd chop the story into three and make a trilogy so that there's no need to cut any of the material out. I'd finish the first film with the Harkonnen invading and taking over Arrakis again, the second around the time the Fremen take back Arrakis and then make the third follow the last portion of the book and then add a new bit covering the Fremen's Jihad across the galaxy. I know that's not in the book, but it should keep the Michael Bay audience happy with plenty of action!

  15. John Lacey
    WTF?

    Lynch Doesn't Deserve The Mocking

    OK, OK, he left out a huge amount of story and plot, and then re-interpreted and added to the story to get away with it.

    But for picking the right people to play the characters....1st Class.

    From the over-the-top excesses of all the Harkonnen characters (The Baron was spot-on) down to the seriousness and Discipline of the young Paul Atredies (one reason I Never got in to the mini-series - A PETULANT Paul Atredies!!) excellently played by Kyle MacClachan. As for Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck and Everett MacGill as Stilgar... Who could have asked ask for more?

    Unfortunately, I reckon this will be TOO much like the mini-series and not concentrate on the characters enough (Anyone who has read a lot of Frank Herbert, not just Dune, will know that his books are all about the Characters to bring out the story) - It might make a passing semblance at staying true to the original story.... right up until there is the prospect for excessive but non-essential CGI or just to focus on Eye Candy - and you guys who keep saying that the mini-series remained faithful to the books should remember that the Irulan character (amongst many others) is virtually NOT IN the 1st Book at all, and yet there she is constantly appearing in the mini-series, with a whole new role added to the story just to keep the gratuitous glamour shots rolling in.

    Get the right people, understanding and playing the right characters and the film will be a winner.

    Oh Yeah - And No Condoms over Bent Wire Coat hangers for Sand Worms would be a bonus

    1. Chris Leeson

      The Baron was spot-on? Really?

      The other characters were pretty good, but the Baron? He was portrayed as almost completely insane!

      The Baron in the book is calm, collected and one hell of a plotter. A very dangerous adversary!

      1. rciafardone
        Boffin

        Is a 50750 thing

        As i read the books i imagined someone with the look, voice and demeanor of the D.Lynch movie but with the public persona and machinations shwon in the series. but given a choice i would get the lynch version, we know the plotting and scheaming was there, it was just an over the top performance, but in my opinion perfect.

  16. Fenton

    Love the Lynch film

    Yes it was nothing like the book. But the imagary was great (Toto even did a good job of the sound track), it's a difficult book to put to film and appeal to the normal punters as it deals with with many social/political aspects, other than the main book, there is not much action in the others.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Dune - Unfilmable

    I read the books and have watched both the 1984 version and the miniseries and remain firmly of the opinion that Dune is simply unfilmable, there is simply *too* much happening to translate it from paper to the big screen and make it less than 8 hours long.

    Lynch's 84 version received a lot of poor reviews and he removed his name from the credits using the Smithee alias. The film was bandied about between various people beforehand (pre-production started around 72) including I believe the likes of Ridley Scott before Lynch got a hold of it, having turned down Return Of The Jedi (*sob*). 84 version of Dune was going to be split into two films but it never happened and we ended up with a pretty poor version that only vaguely resembles anything in the books, weirding modules etc. Please don't film this, it simply cant be done proper justice.

  18. Tom 38

    Hmm

    As long as at the end of the film someone kills Sting, I suppose it would be ok.

  19. Martin Gregorie

    Lynch was crap

    The Lynch film was crap - all the way from the terrible effects (worms obviously made from sections of radiator hose, ridiculous ornithopters) and bad casting (why did Baron Harkkonen look like everybody's favourite roly-poly uncle?) and a travesty of a plot with little more than the title in common with the book. I can't ever remember being more disappointed by a film.

    The only good thing about it was Sting, who had the right air of menace to play Feyd Rautha.

    Unfortunately Herbert is a very patchy author, averaging about one good book for every three or four pieces of dross. Dune was great, but the rest of the series weren't. The disconnects between books didn't help one bit: the Face-Dancers, who first appeared in book 2, were far too influential to have not appeared in the first.

    The one Herbert book I want to see on film is "Dragon In The Sea", which could make a wonderful suspense film given a good cast and director and a script that sticks to the book. Due to the limited sets needed for any submarine film it should be cheap to make too.

    1. John Lacey
      Pint

      Can't agree

      With your Lynch Comments (or the Baron Comments) but couldn't Agree more about Dragon in the Sea... would make an excellent film.

      I'd add the Dosadi Experiment (although it would be difficult to do but the lead character was just too damn good), White Plague and definitely Hellstrom's Hive

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Too complex for the big screen

    Making a movie of Dune is just as hard as (for example) War and Peace - because both books contain far more important information than can possibly be crammed into a 2-hour movie. There are individual episodes that would fit the movie format quite neatly. If anything, Dune is more challenging because there is so much to be told simply establishing the alien future universe. It's one thing to be told that the Russians fought Napoleon in a big battle, and describe what an onlooker witnessed; it's quite another to explain who the Bene Gesserit or the Fremen or the Mentats are - especially as Herbert had a way of bringing in ideas indirectly, with passing comments.

    Although the subject begs for a big screen treatment - especially scenes like the sandworms and especially the final battle when the Shield Wall is breached - I think the only way to dramatize Dune would be as a TV series. Given, say, 20 one-hour episodes, you could do a fairly thorough job.

  21. markfiend
    FAIL

    Lynch is the Emperor...

    ...wearing his new clothes.

    I've not seen the miniseries but it's difficult to see how anyone can get a film more wrong than David Lynch can.

  22. Len Goddard
    Alert

    Please, no God-Emperor

    I thought the Lynch film was a mess, but I was not unimpressed by the two miniseries. It is possible but unlikely that a new film will be worthwhile.

    But why do so many people here want a movie of God-Emperor? It was by far the worst book in the entire Dune canon - it was probably the worst book Herbert wrote. The only use I ever found for it was as a cure for insomnia.

  23. Neur0mancer
    Heart

    As a Dune aficionado...

    There are good points and bad points of both adaptations. The casting for the film was almost there, and there was a certain majesty about it being filmed on an actual desert. But the effects were terrible and worse, distracting, and the interpretation of the various clothing/building styles wasnt great either. Also, it was probably 'inspired' by Dune the novel, as opposed to being a filmisation of due to the swathes of material either not filmed or cut or new material added. The eyes of the 'Ibad' were well dodgy too.

    The mini series won points by being more faithful to the book and also having more Duncan Idaho, as the film sadly lacked more than a tiny bit of that character. But it looked cheap, the desert was filmed on a set, and the majority of the characters portrayals were rubbish with the exception of James McAvoy who did a decent job of Leto II in messiah.

    The best adaptation? In my head every time I read the books although I would like to be surprised by a new adaptation. I also thought that LOTR couldn't be filmed and I was wrong and pleasantly surprised there too.

  24. Graham Bartlett

    Please, please, not another franchise!

    For the simple reason that too many of the Dune books suck.

    The original "Dune" story worked. "Dune Messiah" worked too. But "Children of Dune" was a mess, in particular because there was no attempt to preserve continuity with the characters or culture established in the first two (the preserved Muad-Dib being the biggest balls-up in that book). And "God-Emperor" - please no. Just no.

  25. thejynxed
    Stop

    Yet another rehash

    I'd rather they did adaptations of some of the later novels in the series. I'd much rather prefer to see the stories involving Miles Teg, the Idaho Ghola, and the war against the Honored Matres to yet another rehash of the first two or three novels.

    Better still, would be if they got the same treatment as the tv miniseries from a few years back - CGI has obviously improved since then, so the effects could be even better.

  26. Dave 129

    It could turn out alright.... maybe, perhaps...

    So long as they don't try to cram Dune into 2 hours. It really does need to be a 4 hour movie. I think with careful editing and selection of the main plot elements from the book, you could do it but it would take a lot of dedication and refusing to toe the industry line to do it. You would also have to make that difficult choice of whether you assume the audience is already familiar with the Dune universe or not.

    1. Harvey Trowell
      Paris Hilton

      Dune universe?

      Or Duniverse?

      Paris, because she likes a well crafted portmanteau.

      1. CD001

        Duniverse...

        That sounds like a pretty good idea for an MMOG if you ask me :)

    2. rciafardone
      Megaphone

      There is where I disagree…

      Script writers should forget about “familiarizing” the audience with the Dune universe, just write the story as it is in the book but cleanup up for the big screen. Do as Star Wars did on the original trilogy, give no background on chars or tech or situation just to give a frame of reference, is a waste of time an always does more damage than help. Let people intrigued (at least those who haven’t read the whole book series) about what the bene gesserit, the bene tleilax, or the landsraad really are or how they work, just move the story ahead. Is the script is good, the movie goers will care not aout these things… until they leave the theater and then Google it :p.

  27. TeeCee Gold badge

    That Lynch film.

    Good things: The cast. The direction. The visualisation and especially the House "styles", very good.

    Bad things: The needless attempt to "modernise" it for a rayguns and spaceships audience. Er, that's it. All the other faults stem from this. I found this far more annoying than watching some SciFi "B" movie that's supposed to be modern but where any "science" content is woeful bollocks.

    I want pointy nosed rocket ships*, swords, howitzers, the family atomics and personal shields that actually fucking mean something rather than being relegated to being an irrelevant plot device in one scene. "The slow knife penetrates". A key background setting point in the book, reduced to meaningless cobblers in the film.

    Ok, it'd be a prize turkey at the box office, but at least it'd be a classic prize turkey. For me, Lynch's version is a travesty that promises so much in its presentation but ultimately fails, falling between the two stools of the material it's based on and some studio exec's idea of what the market wants.

    *Ideally with visible rivets on the outside.

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    <untitled>

    I quite liked the previous Dune film; well apart from the wet stormy ending where it turned out all was ok because Muad'Dib was some kind of superman Kwisatz Haderach, which apparently explained it all. Ye Gods, what an embarrassment. But it did suffer throughout because no one is going to sit through a film that is as long as the book takes to read. Major scene setting and development was often rushed by. Particularly disappointing was the growing romance between Paul Atreides and Chani which seemed to be introduced and established in the blink of an eye.

    Personally I think it will always prove difficult to distill that masterpiece into a few hours viewing.

  29. Michael Miller

    It will be crap

    Now if they made a movie based on National Lampoon's Doon, that'd be worth watching.

  30. charles paul
    FAIL

    1974 Dune

    """The first attempt to translate Dune to the big screen was in 1974, when a French consortium bought the rights. It planned a "10-hour feature adaptation", with the remarkable list of David Carradine, Geraldine Chaplin, Salvador Dali, Alain Delon, Mick Jagger, Gloria Swanson and Orson Welles linked to the project."""

    How could you forget to mention HR Giger, Jean Giraud, Pink Floyd and Alejandro Jodorowsky? :)

    http://www.duneinfo.com/unseen/

  31. MnM

    @Casting suggestions

    ditch this Pierre Morel and wheel out the Lucas?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Pint

      NOOOOO

      No Lucas! do you want disneyfied pap?

      It needs some Peter Jackson + Budget

  32. AlistairJ

    You what?

    Since when has David Lynch ever been interested in commercial success? Only as far as being able to make his films. Stoopid studio! Wonderful casting and some great production design on that film though. In fact it was a great, but flawed film. If only it could have been about 2 hours longer than it was.

    As long as the new film doesn't have a colon in the title, it'll be better than 98% of Hollywood output.

  33. Michael 82
    FAIL

    Dune again

    No, just no.. Come on Hollywood your running out of ideas now arent you. like you havent made enough s**t horror flicks over the last 10 years... Whens Saw 20 planned?

  34. JWS
    Stop

    Dubious

    I'll not pass judgement just yet but I'm not holding my breath.

  35. Dave The Cardboard Box
    Flame

    Oh grow up!

    Yet another manifestation of the western male's complete inability to progress beyond the age of 14. And the books were crap.

    Stick on a Hawkwind album and have a wank about your friend's Mum while you're there.

  36. E Haines

    Miniseries = not good

    I'm quite baffled by the folks who like the miniseries...I found it irredeemably dull and soulless, to the point where I didn't bother with the sequel. Being "more faithful" to the book doesn't help when it's done without any apparent interest, passion, or skill on the part of the producers. The 1984 version was indeed flawed, but at least it was interesting.

    I did like God Emperor and thought it was rather fascinating, but I was maybe 12 when I read it, so I think it's best to leave it at that and not ever re-read it....

  37. Eric Hood

    Hmmm

    This time sting can play the Baron Harkonnen.

  38. Head
    Thumb Up

    Ha

    I am waiting for someone to adapt Peter F Hamilton's Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained books into movies...

    1. c0rruptd
      Heart

      Seconded!

      I second this about a thousand times!

  39. jon 72
    Happy

    Never Mind That

    Whilst I would like to see somebody give 'Dune' the same care and attention that LOTR achieved, as a life long Sci-Fi fan I cannot help but wonder when will we ever see the 'The Stainless Steel Rat ' grace the big screen.

    PS: Looking forarwd the relesae of 'Enders Game'

    1. Long John Brass
      Alien

      Stainless Steel Rat for the WIN!

      Having just re-read the series, I can only hope this dream comes true.

      It would be better than 90% of the crud that is coming out of Hollywood

  40. Sam Therapy
    Alert

    @ Head

    Provided they edit out the endless references to "enzyme bonded concrete" and put in a chase sequence at the end that's worth the time and trouble.

    Hamilton's books have some great ideas but suffer because he doesn't know when to stop writing.

    As for Dune, I'll reserve judgement. I don't blame Lynch for what happened to his version. I gather there was a lot of studio interference.

    And yes, the best version ever is in my head.

  41. tony trolle
    Paris Hilton

    dune second worst adaption

    from a book; the worst one was "The Keep" 1983 who the writer of the book F Wilson said "Visually intriguing but otherwise utterly incomprehensible."

    Funny thing is Herbert liked the film of his book.

    BTW the remake has a budget of $175 million the 1984 version was about $42 million which is close to $90 million in today's money mmmmm

    1. the Jim bloke

      Roger Zelaznys "Damnation Alley" for worst movie adaption

      the movie kept the book title, and maybe were within spitting distance of one or two of the books ideas, but was total crap.

      Loved Franks books growing up, but a bit more critical now. Certainly I see nothing worthwhile at all in Brian Herberts milking of the franchise.

      The Dune story was too big to be made into a movie even back in the eighties, now with reduced attention spans and instant gratification, there is no chance at all.

      "Express the plot and culture of the dune universe, in 120 characters or less....."

  42. Paul Jacques
    Alien

    Surely...

    ... it will stay true to the book, just like the Bourne films stayed true to the Robert Ludlum books. Oh! maybe not then.

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