Dune versus Dune

Starting Points (Edge: 2000 miniseries)

"The beginning is a difficult time," Princess Irulan tells us at the start of the 1984 film. We jump over to Kaitan (the Imperial Capitol) and see the dazzling throne room with pug dogs and Guild representatives decked out in black slickers standing next to a Navigator's enclosure. Is this how the book started? It looks nice, but it kinda threw me off my worm. In the miniseries, we jump straight to Caladan and the encounter with Paul and Reverend Mother Mohiam. So John Harrison gets accolades for sticking more closely to the novel. Way to go, John!

Costumes (Edge: 1984 film)

Bob Ringwood did a stellar job on the '84 production. His elegantly designed costumes enhanced the beauty of the entire film. We begin to see this when Mohiam (Sian Phillips) is asked to leave the throne room once the Guild representatives arrive, and she flows off the screen in her black aba robe. Throughout the 2000 miniseries, however, I had problems with the costumes. I think Theodor Pistek tried too hard to come up with "something different". The repulsive headdresses nearly made me vomit. When I saw Reverend Mother Mohiam (Zuzana Geislerova) in the miniseries, I laughed out loud at the white mutant butterfly poised on her head.
Acting (Edge: 1984 Film)

For the most part, the acting in the 1984 film shone far and above the miniseries. For the most part. If I could single out one character I hated in the Lynch film, it would have to be the Beast Rabban (Paul Smith). Yeah, let's push an oompa loompa out of the way and rip out some cow tongue to chew on so I can show everyone how tough I am! And did he have any lines in the movie? Maybe four. So perhaps placing this idiot savant in charge of Arrakis after the fall of House Atreides wasn't such a good choice, Uncle Vladimir.

No commentary on the Dune films would be complete without mentioning the main character, Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan in the movie, Alec Newman in the miniseries). After watching both films, I began to realize something: I had trouble believing Kyle in the '84 version. This is a 15-year-old kid? He seemed like an adult from the get-go, which made his transformation into adulthood (and godhood) less satisfying. Alec did a fine job. I know some of you will pitch a coriolis fit about this, but Paul acting snotty and throwing tantrums at the beginning of the story sat well with me. He's 15 for crying out loud! Do you have teenagers in your home? Do they act like Kyle or Alec?

Undoubtedly, Lady Jessica is my favorite character (Francesca Annis in the film, Saskia Reeves in the miniseries). But thank s to the depth of character that can be developed in a longer movie, Saskia Reeves played very close to Miss Annis' level. Other notables in both versions were Duncan Idaho (Richard Jordan in the movie, James Watson in the miniseries), Emperor Shaddam IV (Jose Ferrer in the movie, Giancarlo Giannini in the miniseries), Shadout Mapes (Linda Hunt in the movie, Jaroslava Siktancova in the miniseries), and Stilgar (Everett McGill in the movie, Uwe Ochsenknecht in the miniseries). But when placing relative unknowns in the miniseries against the likes of Jurgen Prochnow, Freddie Jones, Patrick Stewart, Dean Stockwell, and Max Von Sydow, one can see why I gave the higher mark to the '84 film.

The Sets: Internal and External (It's a tie)

The '84 film had some impressive sets, no doubt about it. But were they really that much better than those in the miniseries? I didn't think so - for a couple of reasons: Kaitan is clean and beautiful in the miniseries, while all we get to see in the '84 film is an interior shot of the throne room. It was a damn fine throne room, but so was the office of the Emperor in the miniseries. Castle Caladan was definitely better in the '84 version, mainly because it looked like a castle and not the latticework of metal tubes we saw in the miniseries. Giedi Prime flopped in the '84 film because it looked filthy with sickly green interiors and felt very un-Landsraad-like. Giedi Prime in the miniseries seemed evil but tidy. Dune itself is tough to judge. The '84 film was shot in an actual desert (big plus!), while the miniseries' desert scenes were filmed on a sound-stage - an obvious sound-stage with horribly fake backdrops. I had to force myself to continue watching whenever this atrocious set came onscreen, and whimpered at the money-saving goals it represented for such a good TV production. However, we see much more of the city Arrakeen, added sietch scenes, and the lush palace garden.