Frank Herbert's Children of Dune: Sci-Fi TV Miniseries (Two-Disc DVD Set)

I did not like the TV adaptation of Frank Herbert's first Dune novel very much perhaps because the said TV adaptation fares badly when compared with the larger-than-life mystical vision of the 1984 movie adaptation. However, "Frank Herbert's Children of Dune", the TV adaptation of the second and third books of the Dune saga, suffers no such weakness. It is a major triumph - spectacular, moving, mystical, well-paced, and coherent despite being faithful to the complex source materials (Dune Messiah and Children of Dune). I was especially amazed that its first half, based on Dune Messiah, is so well put together. Susan Sarandon and Alice Krige (the Borg Queen!) both shine as the scheming Princess Wensicia and the exiled Lady Jessica respectively, while Alec Newman grows into the role of the reluctant Messiah - he makes a better Paul here than he did in the first mini-series. At the end of the first series, Muad'Dib of the Fremen, Paul Atreides (Alec Newman), has defeated the armies of the Harkonens and the Padishah Emperor on the planet Arrakis. He is enthroned as the new Emperor even as his ferocious Fremen army sweeps across the known universe in a jihad to destroy all resistance to his rule. He marries Princess Irulan to cement his power but does not consumate the marriage - Chani remains his one true love. As "Children of Dune" starts, billions have died as a result of the ongoing jihad, which has taken a life of its own well beyond the control of Paul. Paul has become a Messiah of sorts for a new religion that has arisen in his name and propagated by Alia, Paul's unstable sister, and by the powerful Fremen priesthood. Paul is haunted by the death toll of the wars waged in his name, but does not know how to stop the jihad - or rather, he knows that the price of stopping it may well be beyond his endurance. In the meantime, enemies of the new order, within and without, weave plots within plots to dethrone the new Emperor. Fremen malcontents plot to return Arrakis to the old ways while Fremen priests plan to wrest power from the Emperor. Bene Gesserit witches plot with Princess Irulan to prevent Chani from conceiving any heirs while Princess Wensicia (Susan Sarandon) of the dethroned House Corrino, the Tleilaxu and the Spacing Guild plot to present the new Emperor with a deadly gift - a Trojan Horse that he could not refuse. Meanwhile, Alia is slowly losing her grip on her sanity as voices from the past take over her mind. Paul must use all of his visionary powers and be prepared to sacrifice everything to ensure that his heirs, Leto II (James McAvoy) and Ghanima (Jessica Brooks), survive to put an end to the deadly legacy that he started. This is epic sci-fi done right, and is well worth watching. Five stars and two thumbs up. Will they ever make an adaptation of God Emperor of Dune? I sure hope so!

Put simply, this is an brillian mini-series. It is clearly superior to the Dune mini-series, which was decent, but suffered from a comparatively low budget and very questionable costume decisions. But beyond that, it shows what can happen when great acting and production follows great writing. When the writing is bad, everything is bad and you can see examples of this in about 90% of all movies out at a given time. Children of Dune has shockingly good writing and acting and it makes you wonder if this is the same Sci-Fi channel behind such epic "Sci-Fi Channel Originals" as Mutant Mosquito Genocide and its three sequels. With productions like this and Battlestar Galactica, Sci-Fi shows that it can get it really right. I'm stunned at how consistently well written, acted and shot this series is. Children of Dune's excellence also shows that there are some things you can do on television that you simply can't do in movies. You can take your time, develop character and plot, and have many moving and engaging interpersonal scenes that feature films rarely make time for, and unfortunately sometimes cannot make time for due to budget, meddling studio execs and other barriers. I really don't buy DVDs anymore unless it is for something I'm certain I will watch again. With all of the new media competing for my attention, I rarely have time to go back and revisit things I've already seen. It takes something exceptional. Children of Dune is exceptional and despite it's 4.5 hour running time I will be watching it again. If you are a fan of sci-fi, you truly owe it to yourself to watch this. It is sci-fi done right, but more importantly, it is Dune done right.

This long awaited sequel does not disappoint, but adds wonderful dimension to the two books that followed Frank Herbert's original Dune. Watching Dune first is mandatory. WARNING: This movie (together with Dune) is EXTREMELY LONG AND COMPLEX. There are dozens of role playing characters, each intrinsic to the story, so unless you've read the books, it may be challenging to differentiate who is who, and what role they have. The books themselves are well adopted. Much of the story calls for striking special effects, and this movie makes them seamlessly. The music is gentle and unobtrusive setting an appropriate tone for the various events. Some of the scenes here, I believe to be of the best ever filmed by anyone. The title character, Paul from the first movie now finds himself in the irrevocable destiny of his own vision, becoming Emperor of the Universe. His prescience becomes so complete that his own blindness does not stop him from seeing as though he had eyes. Yet his inner conflict finds himself imprisoned in a future of death and destruction that he cannot escape. His sister Alia, in twisted conflict herself takes control of the universe until Paul's children are old enough to ascend to the throne (ah...but that is the next book not in the movie). This story carries on the twisting of plots and themes developed in the first movie. The story turns itself inside out often. The astounding concepts get deeper and the radical ending will shock anyone who doesn't know it. I strongly recommend this movie and its must-see prequel "Dune" as two of the best movies ever filmed. Please refer to my review of Dune for more detailed information.

And here it is! "Children of Dune", a merging of both the title novel and the immediately preceding "Dune Messiah" by Frank Herbert, is LIGHT YEARS better than John Harrison's original "Dune" miniseries, and about on a par with Lynch's original for soulfulness and viewer hooks. This continuation of the original story is VERY faithful to the two books, with Muau'dib/Paul becoming blinded, turning into "The Preacher" and cursing the very "miracle" he engendered: The falls of Houses Harkonnen and Corrino, the "fremenization" and fecundization of Arrakis and the "cleansing" of the known universe. However, the cosmos-wide jihad that went along with it all has made him a pariah within his own empire. Even to himself! Through all this, you are no longer bothered by the fact that Alex Newman isn't Kyle MacLachlan, as he takes to "owning" the role at this point. Here, Paul is clearly disenchanted by the monster he's created, but, in his heart of hearts, he doesn't want it to all crumble, despite his ranting against it after he leaves the throne to his sister Alia, cursing his own mother when she arrives to see to the upbringing of her grandchildren, not recognizing him, or perhaps refusing to believe it IS him, when, in the guise of "The Preacher", he curses her and the cult of Muau'Dib. The future of the empire is eventually to be left in the hands of Paul and Chani's children, Leto III and Ghanima, who survive much intrigue and House Atreides in-fighting in this follow-up. Alice Krige's take on Jessica also makes you forget that she isn't the same actress that portrayed the character in the first one. Princess Irulan is still here, portrayed by Julie Cox, who bears a striking resemblance to Joanne Whiley-Kilmer...one of the remnants of House Corrino, house of Shaddam IV, the deposed Emperor of the Universe, but the old emperor's house is not dead, not by any means. While Irulan sees to Paul's children when they're young, as his legal wife, another Corrino relative, Princess Wensicia, played by Susan Sarandon, schemes to bring down the already shattering House Atreides to reinstate her own family to the throne of Khaitain. Alia, as portrayed by Daniela Amavia, is done beautifully, being parlayed as a haunted, just-this-side-of-insane interim ruler tenuously holding onto her wits as the "ghosts" of the decadent Vladimir Harkonnen, (her grandfather), and other Atreides and Harkonnen ancestors, fight over control of her mind until she ultimately LOSES control of her "gift", the inherited consciousnesses of her forebears, considered an abomination by the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, and succumbs. The set design is exemplary...in fact looking an AWFUL lot like I expected it to look as described in the "Messiah" and "Children" novels. Arrakeen Palace, the new cities springing up post-Corrino/Harkonnen, the costuming, etc., are all done well. As I've noted before, some franchises, when they have the budget behind them, might disappoint on the first installment, re: "Batman", "Star Trek:TMP", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", but the sequels to these limp monsters that somehow managed to catch on are often major improvements on the originals, and that's what happened here. The "Children" experience is much richer than Harrison's original miniseries, and it ought to be a major feather in the cap of the young director, (just 31 years old!) that took the reins from him. You may be disturbed by the fact that a VERY different actor plays Stilgar this time out. The sad fact is, the ORIGINAL Sci-Fi Channel Stilgar wasn't all that great a choice either, (I'm still a big fan of Everett McGill's Stilgar from the Lynch version,) along with the fact that Jessica is being portrayed by another actress. This actress, Alice Krige, however, as good as the previous actress was as Jessica, (I think they were going for her resemblance to Francesca Annis from the Lynch version,) DEFINITELY makes the role her own, exuding a quietude and wise serenity both Annis AND Harrison's Jessica lacked! Ms. Krige, who admittedly has been around for a while already, has all the makings of a future legend, if she plays her cards right. A different actor is also portraying the golem, (clone,) of Duncan Idaho, though the face and body type matching is uncanny. It takes you a while to realize it IS another actor! However, everybody else is back: Ian McNiece as Vladimir Harkonnen, perhaps the best casting holdover from the first movie; Newman as Muau'Dib/Paul; Julie Cox as Irulan. The same woman from the first film also plays Gaius Helen Mohaim and some of the late recruits to the cause from the first miniseries are back as well, so the shock of some of the new faces is softened somewhat. You MUST read the books to know exactly what happens to Leto III at the end and in the subsequent books, (which will probably also be made into mini-series.) I think it might be best if they skip or truncate the ponderous and pretentious "God Emperor of Dune", as it is repetitive and full of filler. All in all, a VAST improvement over the first! And yes, that elusive quality of "soul" is definitely here!

I have no complaints about CHILDREN OF DUNE (2003), as it's by far the best adaptation of Frank Herbert's novels to date. CHILDREN OF DUNE is filled with breathtaking scenes, pretty ladies, good acting throughout, and a certain intellectual mystique about it. It's relatively light on action, but makes up for it with relevant, tangible, easily-grapsed scenes that slowly unravel a deep and rich storyline. Alec Newman gives a great performance, as his character (Paul) has more depth, and more attitude. The environments and lighting of most of the scenes is spectacular, and really adds to the film. I thought that the Dune 2000 environments were crude and clearly lower budget caliber. Dune gets a facelift in this one, almost to the point to where the viewer is spoiled. Oh, and the music.....it's fantastic, and once again, they got it right. Overall, CHILDREN OF DUNE is a pleasure to watch. If you like intellectual sci-fi with all its politics and conflict, then this film is for you. One more thing.....it was almost refreshing to see very modern-looking wardrobes of the actors. It was shocking at times, because it looked like 2003 fashion. I believe that they overdressed their characters in Dune 2000, so this was a welcome (and somewhat surprising) change. 9.5/10

In my opinion, this movie is one of a kind.

I loved DUNE. It's a masterpiece. I read it and immediately read it again, slowly. Having loved Dune I proceeded to read books two and three and found myself wishing somewhere in the middle of book 3 I could watch a movie so I could figure out what the heck was going on (which was true of book 4 as well, after which I stopped). I was delighted to find YES, there's a movie, and it's EXCELLENT! My non-novel reading husband who has never read book one enjoyed it too. I like the philosophical musings in the books but if you want to know the STORY, here you go. It stays fairly true to the books, it's abbreviated but done well. I love James McAvoy. He was perfect as Leto. I also liked the actress who played Jessica much better in this movie than in the first miniseries, she really nailed it. After watching this I watched the first miniseries and did not like it as well--the actors seem to have grown into their roles in this second miniseries, or maybe the writing and directing is better, or both.

Received my DVD the other day and it looks great. Even some years before I was coming to realize this may be the best SF film ever made. I have seen every important and not so important SF film made and have read the best in SF literature from E.E. Doc Smith's Lensman and Jack Williamson's Legion of Space to Jack McDevitt's wonderful Infinity Beach and Peter Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy. Children of Dune is a perfect child of the promise of combining the best of SF literature and film that we have waited so long for but rarely had. The promise of SF literature like A.E. Van Vogt's The Weapons Shop from 1942 was a modern SF work far ahead of any genre of film at the time but it seems we are finally starting to catch up. Children of Dune is arguably the finest film adaptation of a work of SF literature ever done, Blade Runner notwithstanding. Certainly the original Dune Trilogy is the most nuanced literature that film has ever attempted to adapt. Children of Dune scores at the top in all areas: screenplay, script, cast, acting, art direction, set design, special effects, editing, the works. Now who has the courage to do Hamilton's, Night's Dawn Trilogy? Ah, now that would be something to see done with the panache and capability of the team that made Children of Dune.