| Subject: Re: I am very much interested in see Mr. Atterton act in this mini-series. He is very talented and |
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Date Posted: 15:56:45 03/18/03 Tue
In reply to:
's message, "Re: I am very much interested in see Mr. Atterton act in this mini-series. He is very talented and" on 15:07:07 02/17/03 Mon
from http://www.cfq.com/pages/april_articles/dune.html
by Sheldon Teitelbaum
Back to Arrakis
The Dunish hordes still argue the
relative merits of the five sequels
Frank Herbert appended to his
“Dune” saga after the publication of
the first volume in 1965. For two
decades, Herbert himself remained
laudably true to his dictum that “the
books must flow,” eventually
conveying this imperative, with
hugely unfortunate results, to his
son.
Readers traversing this literary
“golden path” through two decades of the elder Herbert’s intellectual obsessions and his
son Brian’s puerile prequels have preserved the franchise with the channeled efficacy of a
Bene Gesserit chapterhouse. In so doing, however, most have chafed painfully against the
brambles of diminishing returns.
Curiously, this is not to be the fate of those who turned the Sci-Fi Channel’s December
2000 premiere of Frank Herbert’s Dune into the most-watched program in the cabler’s
history. While there may still be those who debate the attributes of David Lynch’s 1984
fever-dream and John Harrison’s more languid, if literal, presentation, few, however, will
contend that Children of Dune is less than a “kwisatz haderach,” or quantum leap, beyond
the earlier productions.
However improved from the Lynch version — at the least, it presented a coherent
narrative — Harrison adaptation was no “tour de force.” The writing was preachy, the
desert scenes cheesy, the casting generally inept, the costumes way, way, way
over-the-top, the Fremen too mono-racial (thanks to Czech Central Casting) and there
was no end of neat little cultural and intellectual riffs dropped by the wayside.
Greg Yaitanes, who took on the direction of Children of Dune, faced other pitfalls. Not
least was the unenviable task of ferreting out a sufficiently dramatic narrative from a pair
of sequels — “Dune Messiah” (1969) and “Children of Dune” (1976) — generally deemed
lacking in comparison with their progenitor.
Herbert ran into opposition from his fans when he decided to demolish the superhero
mystique that rendered Paul Atreides such an attractive and enduring character. Yet for
Yaitanes, the anti-heroic subtext of the “Dune” sequels provides opportunity. Rather than
harp on Paul’s downer transformation, Yaitanes opens the Dune universe several notches
wider, recognizing that Arrakis, the desert planet, remains Herbert’s most enduring
character. That he could do this while anchoring the narrative in the familial dissolution at
the core of the dramatically more diffuse literary sequels speaks favorably of the USC
Film School education he completed in 1992.
Children of Dune begins a dozen years after the first series. The Fremen have launched a
world-spanning jihad designed to shake humanity to its foundations, hopefully propelling it
toward new evolutionary vistas. But they quickly succumb to the religious stratification and
political oppression Herbert believed endemic of all systems that derive their power from
an ostensibly omniscient and infallible leader.
Under Paul’s sister Alia’s oppressive rule as regent to his preternaturally aware twins, Leto
II and Ghanima, the empire Paul wrested from his family’s ancient enemies comes to
curse the Atreides name as it once did the loathed Harkonnen. Trapped by his own
knowledge of the future, Paul must find a way to undermine his own bloated mystique. If
his children can only avoid becoming possessed by the clamoring personae contained in
their pre-born memories — the fate clearly suffered by their aunt Alia — they will
shepherd humanity onto the “golden path” Paul hopes can ensure the survival of the
species.
Heady stuff. Yet Yaitanes avoids the missteps that kept the earlier production from
attaining greatness. Immediately apparent are improvements in casting, as some of the
earlier performers disappeared through attrition and others were replaced because of the
added demands of expanded roles. The only miss in this department is Susan Sarandon,
who makes a dog’s breakfast of her role as Princess Wensicia.
Yaitanes brings added verisimilitude to the Dune universe and there is plenty of eye candy
to go round — no mean feat in a production as unavoidably talky as this. The Guild
Navigator in the opening episode is a hoot, the worm-capture sequence in the desert
spectacular, and the “closing of accounts” at the end of the “Dune Messiah” segment not
unfittingly reminiscent of The Godfather.
This is not, alas, a production lacking in bombast. You couldn’t do “Dune” without Herbert’s
grand pontificating and pronuncimentos. As a result, there’s still something more than a
little silly in a production that would have a Steven Berkhoff bellow, “Then I say on to you
... send men to summon worms ...” But better a line like that in Children of Dune — a
miniseries that rumor has it may spawn a weekly dramatic series featuring the adventures
of a revived Duncan Idaho — than, say, Six Feet Under.
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