Dune (2000)

Now with 30% more shai-hulud!

Directed by: John Harrison
Starring: William Hurt, Ian McNeice


Let's not beat around the bush here: the Sci-Fi Channel Dune miniseries is better than the 1984 David Lynch film. Is it much better? [makes high-pitched "eeeeh" noise]

The obvious advantage of converting a book such as Frank Herbert's Dune into a miniseries rather than a movie is that it gives you more time to cram more stuff from the book into it. The writers have, to what I am sure is your great relief, managed to accomplish this. Events unfold at a much more methodical and easy-to-follow pace over the course of the four-hour epic, and we are treated to many scenarios that were either clipped or omitted entirely in a more unabridged format. One major ommission, however, is the knowledge of the traitor Dr. Yueh. While in the book the reader knew from the outset who Yueh was and that he was the betrayer of House Atreides, the miniseries only gives a few chances to ascertain even who Dr. Yueh is. This makes the actual moment of betrayal much less impacting, as you might imagine.

Further removing the impact of the movie are the sets. While I realize that on a television miniseries one only has so much to work with, I feel like something more could have been done to make Arrakis look more open and like a living planet. There are scenes that are so blatantly done against a green screen as to be cringeworthy. It doesn't help that many of the costumes are almost insultingly stupid-looking. I almost prefer the gigantic eyebrows of the Mentats in the 1984 version to the Barney-the-Dinosaur-schemed getup Thufir Hawat dons in the miniseries. Emperor Corrino looks like he's wearing coffee filters on his shoulders in the final scene, and in general the costumes are too gaudy to be taken seriously. A refreshing exception are the stillsuits of the Fremen, which make sense in their design, so much so that one might even be able to guess at their function having not even read the book. Another element of the novels that is gratefully done well is the sandworms, who look completely badass, if a little out of place.

William Hurt is a great actor, and he brings his talents to the character of Duke Leto Atreides, portraying a compassionate, wise and emotional man in great form. The supporting characters are less apt at making their intent and emotions known through their performance, and the movie suffers from it. Ian McNeice plays a far more competent Baron Vladimir Harkonnen than his predecessor, practically disappearing into the role of a scheming, cunning adversary that can actually be quite frightening in his shrewd knowledge of how the game of power is played.

An unusual change from the novel is the addition of an entire subplot starring Princess Irulan, in this rendition played by English actress Julie Cox. Her prominence in the series is meant to set up for her growing role in the coming sequels, but her stiff acting doesn't carry the weight of her character's importance. She seems more like Jasmine from Aladdin, the pampered girl who wants to see outside the walls of the palace garden for once, and that's just not who she is; not in Dune, at least.

It's a fantastic attempt, and it is of course a better adaptation than the Lynch iteration, but it struggles under its budget and its supporting actors. Dune fanatics looking for the Holy Grail might be better off sticking with the books, waiting for a competent director to pick it up and turn it into the desert epic it was meant to be. Worth watching for McNeice's performance as the Baron to scrub McMillan's adaptation from your mind, some truly neat CGI sequences, and Paul Atreides actually owning the fuck out of the powers that be like he was supposed to.