Jodorowsky's Dune

[area23]

"So... I wrote Alien".
Thinking of it, it's completely amazing that Jodorowsksy got this crew together for a film that never happened but nevertheless redefined Science Fiction.

[Doomsdave]

Am I a horrible person for quite liking all of Frank Herbert's Dune books? I thought he was one of the very few sci-fi writers to ever really manage to come something close to successfully conveying the passage of thousands of years or distances of trillions of miles in a story and to my mind the later books are very much a part of that experience.

The later books don't compare to the first one of course, but when I read them, they still feel like decent sequels, rather than some George Lucas prequel level of fiasco.

Don't talk to me about the offal created by his son, Brian Herbert, though. The "Dune prequel" stuff is tolerable and maybe no worse than the worst of Dune's sequels, but the Butlerian Jihad books were simply horrible.

I agree with you.  The panoramic sweep of history, linguistic evolution, religious, social and economic pressures and their transformation over 10,000 years coupled with the way Herbert presented those ideas is amazing,  Even if the narrative is despised, the comprehensiveness and audacity of the project should be acknowledged. 

And...I'm worse than you, I even enjoyed his son's books, though they pale in comparison to Dad's.

[Donpimpom]

Am I a horrible person for quite liking all of Frank Herbert's Dune books?

I don't know. After reading the first book a friend, regarding the other books, told me "now, after the first book, you are a happy man, ignorant but happy. If you decide to go ahead with the next books you will be wiser, but will turn into a grumpy man"
I have choose to stay ignorant, but happy.

[FramFramson]

It's just funny to me. I mean we have revered sci-fi authors who find it really hard to lose the milieu they live in. Like how in Asimov's foundation series the characters all smoke cigarettes and the social structures and relationships and the way everyone talks all have a hilariously 1950's reek.

The man who's able to forget who and what he is and give us a tiny window on a whole new way of thinking, on another universe that doesn't need us, but still functions on it's own rules, of ways men might act in times and places so far removed from today, those are really cool to me. I mean it's hard enough for a person to think in the view point of a different but contemporary culture (say, a modern American trying to understand the modern Chinese cultural milieu, or vice versa), harder still to do this with historical cultures from a different tradition (an American trying to understand what life and social relations might've been like in Mansa Musa's Malian empire or Ancient Sumeria), hardest to imagine one for a society that has never even existed (science fiction). I think Frank Herbert was among the best at that.

If you do it with aliens, that's almost cheating because you can just make up nonsense without anchors. But with humans, you still have to keep an element of familiarity.

[former user]

I am not a big fan of Frank Herbert, but I don't see how a literary piece where the main plot point is enlightenment and transcendence through drug consumption should not be best transferred to the big screen by people who know and experienced a lot about it....

I am a big fan of SF, but I don't see how Dune can receive a "serious", hard SF treatment

[Doomsdave]

Fram & Scurv; both excellent points.  It's also hard to ignore the parallels between CHOAM and OPEC considering the 70's energy crises which surely colored his writing.  Without oil and Spice respectively neither "universe" could support travel.

[Captain Blood]

In any event, it's high time I reread the original. It's been over 30 years since I did 

[Blackwolf]

In any event, it's high time I reread the original. It's been over 30 years since I did 

I first read it when I was,I think about 14; I though the novel very profound...Almost literature. I re-read the book in my early 30s; I couldn't believe how trite it was,sometimes it's better not go back

[Captain Blood]

I think I was more like 17 or 18 when I read it. It made a big impact on me at the time. Don't think I've re-read it properly since though.

I know I hated the look of the Lynch/DiLaurentis movie when it came out, which was much too regular sci-fi for my imagining of the world of the novel - particularly the portrayal of the Fremen and Sardaukar. I always saw something much more exotic and middle eastern looking, than skintight leather onsies...

[Michka]

I've just read three pages of talk of Dune adaptations, and no one has mentioned the two Sci-Fi channel mini-series, Dune and Children of Dune. I loved both of them, but I also loved the David Lynch movie, and some of the Brian Herbert novels. I even liked the Butlerian Jihad. On the other hand, I hated God Emperor of Dune with a white hot passion. 

What I'd really like to see is an animated version of Dune. Remember when an adult animated movie didn't automatically mean anime? 

[Dr Mathias]

I mentioned the mini series. I didn't think the acting was up to par, too 'soap opera' for me. I thought the extra time helped flesh out the setting to some extent, but it was just 'okay' in my opinion.

An animated series, like 12 episodes or something, would be pretty cool.

And remember folks, without Dune, 40k Rogue Trader would be nothing like it was

[NurgleHH]

I think I have to read it again after nearly 30 years (had it several times in hands, but choose an other book). The 80'-Movie is a good SciFi-Movie, but not the adaption of the book. Maybe based on the book. I think you need a real good Movie-Guy like Jackson to make it a good film. Di Laurenties was so hyped after Conan, that no one gave him a control. But Jackson is free at the end of the year when the hobbit is over...

[matakishi]

I have read Dune many times.
Just recently I listened to the audible talking book version and it was fantastic.
I've completed up to God Emperor so far and listening (as I paint) made even that one worthwhile.
http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Dune-Audiobook/B002V1OF70

[Doomsdave]

What I'd really like to see is an animated version of Dune. Remember when an adult animated movie didn't automatically mean anime? 

I hadn't thought of that but a full-on old school roto-scoped Dune would be wonderful.

[Connectamabob]

It's hard for me to take pining for the Jordonowski project seriously. Everything I've ever read/seen about it makes it look like fans of the book who hate the David Lynch version would hate the Jordanowski film twice as much for basically the same reasons. And to anyone who hadn't read the book, the Jodonowski film would pretty much be "Zardoz, Part Deux".

I'm half-and-half on both the Lynch film and the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries. Both of them have a handful of things they do really really well, and everything else is crap. There's very little middle ground. I love them both for the things they do well, but they both make me cringe to my core constantly at the same time.

Ill add my hat to the "would like to see an animated version" sentiment. There are a number of things about the book that IMO just make it too impractical to do right in live action (Paul's age, for one). Although I'm a fan of the books, I do think the first book could be easily distilled into a 2-hour film. I'd like to say a modern CG animated film aimed at a YA audience could be the best way to do it... but it'd have to be YA in the smarter old-school sense, not the modern helicopter parent sanitized/lobotomized sense.