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| Lynch vs. excrable miniseries by up with pod people 01/06/2003, 4:52pm PST | ||||
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TAFKAM wrote: Damn straight. Though I can't necessarily get behind the Harkonnens being merely hideous instead of brilliant and corrupt, the Lynch version captures the grandeur, mystique, and massive scale of the books. I once saw an extended version (with Japanese subtitles and a terrible, heavy metal soundtrack -- I still don't know where my buddy got it) that had some extra footage, like the duel with Jamis and the process of reclaming his water. I am really hoping they get off their asses and put out an extended, super-featured DVD soon. Because the miniseries is a violation: 1. The acting. Pretty-boy Paul was a whiny, low-rent Casper Van Dien. Kyle McLachlan has more dynamism and believablity as a leader of men, and doesn't whine nearly so much. And compare two The Reverend Mothers: in the miniseries the actress was clearly used to playing mysteeerious old geeepsy laaaydies, mooning and hamming. In the movie, Sian Phillips is utterly awe-inspiring. Also, the Atreides are a Mediterranean race. In the movie, this is represented well through good casting. In miniseries, of course, they throw all that out the window and both Leto and Paul are quite Aryan. 2. The miniseries chose to fight comparisons with the movie in the strangest of ways: for instance, name pronunciation. So now it's "Chain-ee" is it? And "Hark-enenn?" Oh, well now, I can obviously see you've made a completely different film here. And let's not forget the golden, evocative catch-lines in the movie -- such as "The first step in avoiding a trap is knowing of its existence" -- they were changed just so, almost all of them, destroying their poetry. I can't even remember quite how that phrase was raped -- "To avoid a trap, you must first know that it's there" or something equally heinous. I think there was even "They have tried to kill my son" instead of "They have tried to take the life of my son." The movie took its linguistic cues from the book; the miniseries is a cheap second-generation reproduction of both. 3. Did anyone else get the strange feeling that the movie was a documentary with real footage, and the miniseries was a re-enactment from pieced-together source material? Such as the way that Gurney and Paul constantly referred to one another as "Young Pup" and "Gurney Man." It's like the makers of the miniseries were only allowed to see bits of the movie, caught the desert reunification of Gurney and Paul, and thought, "oh, well, that must be their nicknames for one another." Also, it is very telling that in the movie, the focus was much more heavily upon "the sleeper has awakened" -- personal discovery and revelation; and in the movie it's all about blowin' thangs up, and being a leader of men. Despite the fact that the book is full of references to Paul dreading being a leader -- he is terrified he will bring jihad, and he is trying to find a way off the path he sees before him. 5. Poor, too-smooth CG and sub-standard sets. Yeah, in some scenes (especially in space), the effects were "better" than in the movie. But like the costumes, what was 'real' is what suffered. The sets were miserably fake. Incredibly so. Not a single real outdoor shot. The mat backgrounds were absolutely laughable -- notably when Paul and Jessica are in the open desert for the first time, and in the Fremen city. It's a movie about DUNE. The desert planet. Invest in some on-location filming, at one of the deserts conveniently near you. And as for the movie's feel -- the movie had some cheesy effects but they were utterly cohesive. You are never shaken out of the experience because something looked different. The miniseries, however, had many instances of poorly blended graphics... case in point, the kawaiiii Maud'dib mouse hopping on the rock. Terrible! The Worms in the miniseries were impressive, but wormsign and distant desert scenes really, really fell down compared to the original effects (which were actually 4-5 foot models in sandboxes, and look immense and powerful). 6. The miniseries had a cast of dozens. This relates to the the costuming, the complete lack of budget in that area, and the weakness in the 'real' world. In the movie, the Atreides army is shipped to Arrakis. This movement requires hundreds of huge cargo frigates. It's the garrison force for a planet. In the miniseries, the Atreides army looked as well-staffed as a high school football team (and as threatening). Even the household staff at Arakeen was cut from 40 to about 10. Talk about reducing the sense of grandeur, scale, and power. There are scenes in the movie where the Atreides army spills out of the castle gates by the hundreds, rushing to meet a black boiling army of Sardaukar... and when Idaho says that the Fremen exist in vast numbers ("vast," he whispers), there is real payoff when you finally see them all. 7. The movie: House Atreides has just occupied Arrakis, and the Harkonnen prescence is not yet thoroughly eradicated. Gurney's getting an ulcer from the stress. No one touches his Duke: not even the Imperial Planetologist, Kynes, trying to adjust the Duke's stillsuit. Leto must give his leave. Gurney doesn't let the ornithopter operator indicate who's on the flight -- who knows where the Harkonnens may be hiding, listening to the transmissions and awaiting their chance to strike? And he's terrified for Paul: Paul is a little bit arrogant. Had to teach him a lesson before coming here, and there are threats all around. All of those details, all of that tension, all of that palpable danger. These details were apparent every second of the movie, but the miniseries had none of that beautifully unexplained security-consciousness. 8. The miniseries costuming, was like a Star Trek convention -- giddy fans in shiny lycra bargain bin fabric scraps. Some costume parts (Rev. Mother's wimple, and Feyd's cowl) were obviously wired to stand up, and quite poorly -- the actors moved, found their marks, and eventually their clothing stopped too. And -- Sardaukar chef hats? And not just fucking chef hats. Purple chef hats. Hello? Lived on a poisonous prison moon? Dangerous and threatening? Bueller? Anyways. We're re-reading Dune ourselves in the pod person household, and the more we read the more wrong the miniseries feels. Who knows, maybe plot points in the sequels will illuminate the motivations behind some of the choices more clearly. |
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