Children of Dune Blu-ray Review & Comments

Casimir Harlow

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Thanks as always for the Review, Cas. Hopefully this comes to my rental sevice at some time as it sounds worth a view. When younger I read the Dune Books countless times.
 
I've only watched my R1 two-disc DVD set once, in July 2009, but I remember enjoying it! I've added the Blu-ray to my price watch list. Thanks for the review, Casimir.
 
Thanks Cas.
Still have the DVD box set from years ago. Really enjoyed this on many viewings over the years. Time for a Blu-ray update me thinks.
And bring on the New film 🍿
The previews on YouTube look astonishing !!! :love:
 
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This is streamable on Amazon Prime atm, will give it a watch :thumbsup:
 
I still live in the hope that someday a 6hr version of David Lynch's movie is discovered and released (I know, I know, it won't happen!). Yes Lynch's version of Dune was flawed, but I still love it - and its what got me into reading the entire Dune books series - with Dune itself being the greatest sci-fi novel of all time.
 
I still live in the hope that someday a 6hr version of David Lynch's movie is discovered and released (I know, I know, it won't happen!). Yes Lynch's version of Dune was flawed, but I still love it - and its what got me into reading the entire Dune books series - with Dune itself being the greatest sci-fi novel of all time.
We can but dream...

Lynch just doesnt want to know unfortunately. And now would be very good timing of course! Im sure Arrow will do the best they can with it next year though and that will be a boxset I will preorder on sight!
 
I still live in the hope that someday a 6hr version of David Lynch's movie is discovered and released (I know, I know, it won't happen!). Yes Lynch's version of Dune was flawed, but I still love it - and its what got me into reading the entire Dune books series - with Dune itself being the greatest sci-fi novel of all time.
Have you read the Foundation trilogy? a close second.
 
Have you read the Foundation trilogy? a close second.
I re-read these recently and they didn't live up to my nostalgia. Amazing for the time they were written but I prefer Iain M. Banks...read Excession or The Algebraist, his characters and imagination are incredible! )
 
Have you read the Foundation trilogy? a close second.
Agreed - read them many times & always enjoy the journey
Very interested in how the Apple series turns out; Jared Harris is I feel a great choice to play Seldon
 
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I re-read these recently and they didn't live up to my nostalgia. Amazing for the time they were written but I prefer Iain M. Banks...read Excession or The Algebraist, his characters and imagination are incredible! )
I'm on "Player of Games" right now, & enjoying it tremendously. Banks is really good, but I still feel the breadth of vision in Foundation is greater. Yes, there are bits that feel very "Ray Gun" nowadays, but to me the core story is still incredible
 
This is streamable on Amazon Prime atm, will give it a watch :thumbsup:

I just checked & I can only see the trailer, but that's a decent indication.
Amazon & Google found out I'm a Dune fanatic & keep recommending this:

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They're still putting all that on only two discs, so I worry about the quality.
I have CoD on a DVD & all three 90-minute segments are on one disc.
 
This was shown only last week on the Horror Channel.
 
I'm digging around for a good price on it, $24 USD+ $2 shipping is the best I've found thus far, but it's an Ozzie import.
If it's not region-free I'd be unable to watch it.

I've also looked around on the streaming services to purchase, but it's not there, only the trailer on some services.
 
The hype around Villeneuve's Dune Part Two prompted me to look up this interesting curiosity on Roku. I wondered what Avforums would have to say about it!

For my part it's a weird viewing experience. The extensive CGI looks straight out of a late 90s video game, but of course we have to understand the limited budget and technological constraints of the time. Some of the Arrakeen Palace shots look pretty good, but the sandworms, flying craft and explosions let the FX down.

There's a decent cast but their acting leaves a lot to be desired. Leto's desert meeting with his father, the latter masquerading as "The Preacher", is a rare scene where James McAvoy and Alec Newman manage some emotion and impact amidst generally wooden or hammy delivery by most of the rest of the cast, including some big or big-ish names telephoning in their performances. The model playing Alia can perhaps be excused as English clearly isn't her first language, but strange casting choices like hers underscore the oddness of it all.

At root though the source material here isn't as strong as the original book. Children of Dune lacks a clear antagonist and the midpoint switch of focus from Paul Atreides to his twin children is sudden and jarring. Paul and Leto are apparently worried about the ultimate fate of humanity, but we get too little sense of that and rather a lot of humdrum local plotting. This is a parochial palace intrigue story with too many obscure supporting characters, unclear connections and motivations.
 

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