After seeing the original Dune Mini-series and hating it (preferring, unlike most, the David Lynch movie instead) I really wasn't expecting a lot from this. I never could get on with the books giving up about half way through the first one although I loved the idea and story from what I'd seen in the Lynch movie.
Children of Dune was showing one night in it's entirety and I was at a loose end so figured I'd record it and see what it was like since I was keen to find out what happened after the events portrayed in Dune. Well I can only say I'm glad I did since Children of Dune is much better than it's predecessor. It still isn't perfect but it's infinitely more watchable . Here we still have some crappy acting but there's also some pretty good acting. There's some crappy FX but there's also some really good FX as well.
What I really found compelling though was the political intricacies of the plot and characters and this is what makes the show win out over it's flaws. I never did like Ian McNeice as Baron Harkonen but thankfully he's not in this much. The guy who plays Paul Artreides though was good, better than he was in the original series. Gurney was still crap and can't act although Alice Krige was as good as ever and I even got used to James McAvoy as young Leto, Pauls son, after a while.
Aliyah was more human here than the scary-assed kid she was in Lynches movie (although I liked that portrayal of her too). I felt that casting beautiful young stereotypical actors/actressess from the BH 90210 brigade didn't do the show any favours though, although they were probably cheap. This is one reason why I prefer David Lynches version of events, that and probably the stark contrast between his more whacked out version and the more down to earth presentation of the original show which is probably what put me off it in the first place. Maybe I'll check it out again someday.
But for now I'm really keen to see what comes next (is it God Emperor of Dune?) if indeed there are any plans to continue the series...
Children of Dune was showing one night in it's entirety and I was at a loose end so figured I'd record it and see what it was like since I was keen to find out what happened after the events portrayed in Dune. Well I can only say I'm glad I did since Children of Dune is much better than it's predecessor. It still isn't perfect but it's infinitely more watchable . Here we still have some crappy acting but there's also some pretty good acting. There's some crappy FX but there's also some really good FX as well.
What I really found compelling though was the political intricacies of the plot and characters and this is what makes the show win out over it's flaws. I never did like Ian McNeice as Baron Harkonen but thankfully he's not in this much. The guy who plays Paul Artreides though was good, better than he was in the original series. Gurney was still crap and can't act although Alice Krige was as good as ever and I even got used to James McAvoy as young Leto, Pauls son, after a while.
Aliyah was more human here than the scary-assed kid she was in Lynches movie (although I liked that portrayal of her too). I felt that casting beautiful young stereotypical actors/actressess from the BH 90210 brigade didn't do the show any favours though, although they were probably cheap. This is one reason why I prefer David Lynches version of events, that and probably the stark contrast between his more whacked out version and the more down to earth presentation of the original show which is probably what put me off it in the first place. Maybe I'll check it out again someday.
But for now I'm really keen to see what comes next (is it God Emperor of Dune?) if indeed there are any plans to continue the series...