From: John Grigg (starman2100@lycos.com)
Date: Fri Mar 28 2003 - 23:47:59 MST
On Sat, 29 Mar 2003 15:14:30
Damien Broderick wrote:
>Apparently this Frank Herbert miniseries was shown last week in the US.
>There's a certain irony, I suppose (desert warfare, the frailty of
>forecasting the future, `the [x] must flow', etc). Leaving that aside,
>what's the reaction of those extropes who've been viewing it?
>
>Damien Broderick
>
I watched the entire Children of Dune mini-series and really enjoyed it. This actually surprised me because the first Dune mini-series made me cringe as I would mentally compare it to the (I personally think great) David Lynch Dune motion picture. I thought the first series in some ways showed much more detail than the Lynch film (they had so much more time to show things), but it lacked the gorgeous victorian set design, the great costumes, and the charismatic cast.
I definitely thought the timing of the series was quite interesting to say the least. Besides the very obvious "the spice must flow" analogy, I felt the program hit home when it showed a power-hungry ruler who caused great pain and sacrifice on the part of others before being brought down. Saddam, though, is certainly not a (at least somewhat) sympathetic character like the very beautiful and twisted Alia! lol
Another comparison between the Dune novels and current events is from the first novel where the emperor comes to Arrakis with his massive military force, convinced he can easily beat the "local barbarians." He later learns an extremely painful lesson in defeat. While I am convinced the U.S. and British forces will in the end gain an overwhelming victory, I can see how we also very much underestimated the enemy.
Being free of the need to compare, I think people could enjoy this one much more, and quite frankly it was far better than the first series. The actors who played Leto, Ghanima, Irulan, Stilgar, Lady Jessica and others were very good. To my shock the one truly bad performance was from Susan Saradon, who normally is one of my favorite actresses! She played Princess Corrino as a sadly one-dimensional villain.
The special effects CGI was fairly good, but the worms in the Lynch film looked much more real to me. Still, it was good enough to not really detract from the series. The sets were quite opulant and the costumes sometimes badly over the top (in some cases) as in the first series.
I cared about the characters I was seeing on the screen due to the good script and solid acting. I suppose my feelings for them when they hurt was a sign my sense of disbelief had been suspended for a time and I had seen a worthwhile mini-series.
best wishes,
John
P.S. I have a fantasy about turning on the news to see President Bush clad in a stillsuit while before the troops in Iraq. "Dubya'Dib! Dubya'Dib!" they all chant as he raises his arms to them. The Republican party messiah thunders out the words "The spice must flow!" and then hops on the back of a genetically engineered giant Texas steer (like Paul Bunyan's "Babe") and charges toward Baghdad with several U.S. armored divisions following his inspired lead.
It could happen...
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