Dune (Box Set) > Reviews > 'The Spice Must Flow'

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	Interesting interpretation in places
Disadvantages:	Looks cheap in places; Those damn - silly hats !  !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

When Frank Herbert first wrote 'Dune' back in 1965, he couldn't have predicted the cult success it would achieve over the following decades. The book has seen many adaptations, from David Lynch's movie version, to numerous games for the PC and consoles. It also spawned several other novels.
Set ten thousand years into humanity's future, in a universe of plots, intrigue, betrayals and destiny. Crucial to the running, ruling and survival of 'The Known Universe' is the spice known as 'Melange', found only on the inhospitable planet known as Arrakis. It is here that our hero, Paul Atreides and his family are betrayed by their archenemy, The Harkonnen. Left to die in the desert, Paul goes on to discover his destiny among the native's of Arakkis, who call the planet 'Dune'.

This interpretation of 'Dune' is the TV mini-series staring Alec Newman as the young Paul Atreides, with William Hurt as Duke Leto Atreides and Ian McNeice as Baron Harkonnen.
This adaptation does remain fairly true to Herbert's book, although some things have been 'adapted' here and there. I personally never have a problem with adaptations as I think it's good for fresh perspectives to be applied to familiar subjects. There were a couple of things that did bother me though. Lady Jessica's character appeared much weaker that Frank's in terms of her confidence and inner-strength and didn't really display the power and strength Bene Gesserit's are supposed to have.
That said, I did like some of the adaptations made, such as the reworking of Princess Irulan's role within the story and the scenes with Duncan Idaho and the Fremen. Reader's of the book shouldn't be too disappointed with any changes they've made as the series does stay as true to Herbert's version as I think they possible could.

I think David Lynch's movie version of 'Dune' is a definite inspiration as some of the scenes look like replications of the movie, in terms of their camera angle and composition. I wouldn't say that the mini-series is a blatant rip-off of Lynch's, but more of a "tip-of-the-hat" in recognition.

I felt the acting was a little hit and miss - William Hurt and Alan Newman are convincing as Duke Leto and Paul Atreides, as was Saskia Reeves as Lady Jessica and the young Laura Burton as Alia was very impressive given her age; however, I thought P.H. Moriarty as Gurney Halleck was quite terrible. Sounding like the love child of Tommy Cooper and Russ Abbott, he just sounded like he was reading his lines the whole way through.
A few dodgy moments in the acting does mean you find yourself not entirely engaged in the show because you can't believe wholly in the characters, but I wouldn't say it spoils the show completely.

I think where the mini-series suffers the most is the fact that it was made on a TV budget. This I feel affected the special affects, costume design and set-layout.
The CGI is reasonable, but a little unimpressive in places. Certain scenes are obviously CGI and it looks like it was done on a cheap budget. The main exception to this is the CGI for the Guild-Navigator's, which I thought the design for was interesting and a good interpretation of Herbert's description.
Also, the Sandworm's are well designed and look quite impressive for most of the scenes they feature in, though there are one or two dodgy moments here and there.

The costume designer's seem to have gotten a little carried away with the importance of titles such as 'Duke' and 'Baron' and, as such, have dressed the actors in medeiveal-esque attire. For me, this moved the overall style of the show from science-fiction into fantasy. I felt this detracted a little from the 'reality' of the world presented. Also, for me personally, I thought they went a little over the top with those damn silly hats.
I did however grow to quite like the Harkonnen uniforms as they reminded me of Samurai's.

Some of the sets remind me a little bit of the original Star Trek in places - scenes outside do look as if the rocks are made of polystyrene. That said, some of the indoor sets are quite impressive and seem much more realistic. Quite why they couldn't expand these into other areas I don't know, but I can only assume they were running low on money.

In a bid to show how humanity comes together in the future, accents are used to represent some of the different characters. I thought this was a little distracting in places and, whilst it doesn't so much distract from the overall plot of the movie, it doesn't really add anything to it either.

The DVD itself comes on three discs, each featuring an episode per disc. Each disc also features one of the special features, which I'll go into in a moment.
The box for the DVD is well designed, with impressive artwork. The discs are held in a fold out 'container', which has become a regular means of presenting series' such as this. I like the fact that on the back of the box there is a brief description of each episode and a list of which special features are on each disc. This makes it easy to find the features and is useful if you want to watch one episode in particular.
The menus are simple to navigate around, with all the options clear to read and get to. I personally would have liked a more interactive menu, but personally preference aside, I can't grumble about the design and quality of the menus.

The special features are:

- Trailer (Disc One)
- Making Of - Part One "The Filmmaker's Vision' (Disc Two)
- Making Of - Part Two "The Production Story' (Disc Two)
- Stills Galleries (Disc Three)

The trailer and stills galleries are a standard affair. Not particularly the sort of thing I tend to go for, but I think there will be some appeal for those people who are interested in them.

I thought the 'Making Of' documentaries were interesting as they reveal some of the processes and ideas behind making this adaptation. There are some interesting insights into the decisions behind certain changes from Herbert's original work.

Overall the bonus features are acceptable, though I thought there could have been a little more content. The 'Making Of' documentaries are a little short for my liking, but they are still an interesting watch and you can learn a couple of things about how they did certain things in the show.

'Dune' the mini-series is a flawed effort and you might be wondering why I'm recommending it. The story of 'Dune' is what carries the show and despite the low-budget, silly costumes and daft accents, the story remains engaging and as captivating as the original. I think, assuming you can look past the silly hats and daft accents and focus on the story, it's a good introduction to the Dune-Universe that may help people who haven't read the books or seen Lynch's movie get into the characters and world overall.

I personally quite enjoyed this interpretation and I think it does have some amount of appeal. I'd recommend this, but with reservations as I don't think it entertain everyone in quite the same way as myself - I think perhaps fans of the Lynch's movie might appreciate this more than most die-hard fans of the books; equally, I think anyone unfamiliar with either the books or the movie might be able to enjoy this to some extent. My advice if you're not sure would be to either borrow this off a friend, or see if you could rent it prior to parting with your hard earned cash.