HUMANS

[HONDO74]

Now What

10 Mysterious Extinct Human Species
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwQWNpgdP6U

I am not convinced some of them are extinct. Pretty sure I've seen some of these "Species" walking around in Wal-Mart.

[chuck]

David Lynch directed the movie Dune. The book is almost impossible to translate to a motion picture. There were other directors, including Ridley Scott that were involved in pre-production attempts.

This was also a Dino DeLaurentes production and came with all of the distractions that entails. He chose Lynch and then interfered in almost every aspect of production.

There is yet another version of Dune in the works. I'm not expecting much. I've found that the better the book, the poorer the film. The main exception may have been The Shining. Kubrick's film is very different from the book but was far superior to the Stephen King TV version that was faithful to the book but still a very poor effort.

To be fair, even the Dune books "went south" with each succeeding book getting weirder and weirder.

[Roy]

I saw the original Dune movie, and was bored to stupefaction. I almost never read fiction, although I started to read James Joyce's Ulysses online, since I'd heard good things about it. Am looking forward, to finishing it. Joseph Campbell used to like to discuss James Joyce's work. On the other hand, I like good movie and TV fiction.

[rogruth]

It was reported that Frank Herbert was on the set of Dune and approved the movie. ????

[chuck]

Herbert was deeply involved with the preproduction work before Lynch was hired. He even wrote a script. The really big problems were that DeLaurentis wanted a "Star Wars for adults" and Universal wanted a two hour movie. That wasn't going to happen. The book was to dense/complex that an accurate transfer would have required something like twelve hours of film.

Herbert did see the movie and wasn't that upset with the changes Lynch had to make to get the film made. There is a lot of background information in the book which made it so great. All of the political intrigue and the reasons why the world of Dune was the way it was. That had to be condensed to oversimplified voice overs with or without pre-production sketches. The weirding module was a plot device to give credence to the emperors involvement where the book just laid this out over layers of plots within plots.

Lynch movie is seriously flawed but not as "bad" as most people make it out to be.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

... I almost never read fiction, although I started to read James Joyce's Ulysses online, since I'd heard good things about it. Am looking forward, to finishing it. Joseph Campbell used to like to discuss James Joyce's work. On the other hand, I like good movie and TV fiction.

I much enjoyed his "The Power of Myth," the book, which I have, as well as watching those filmed conversation w/ Moyers.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Herbert was deeply involved with the preproduction work before Lynch was hired. He even wrote a script. The really big problems were that DeLaurentis wanted a "Star Wars for adults" and Universal wanted a two hour movie. That wasn't going to happen. The book was to dense/complex that an accurate transfer would have required something like twelve hours of film.…

Lynch movie is seriously flawed but not as "bad" as most people make it out to be.

The various unique characters were what interested and entertained me. I wasn't looking for profound film magnificence, just some lite intellectual-romping around and some sci-fi fun. Characters that interested me every time they were on-screen were:
+the Reverend Mother, of the Benegesserit (sp?);
+the fat piglet guy who had a "doctor" disfigure him with injections, and who had such odd relationships with his brood of young men that I couldn't quite figure out what was being involved, and implied, entirely (wasn't one of them portrayed by Sting?);
+the little girl who wore black and said, at the Climax, "And how can this beeee? Because he is the..." then she blew the fat piglet out of the throne-room thru the floor and into the worm's mouth;
+ the father and the mother of the main character.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Herbert was deeply involved with the preproduction work before Lynch was hired. He even wrote a script. The really big problems were that DeLaurentis wanted a "Star Wars for adults" and Universal wanted a two hour movie. That wasn't going to happen. The book was to dense/complex that an accurate transfer would have required something like twelve hours of film.

Seem to recall that one of the early cuts was something close to 6 hours

Herbert did see the movie and wasn't that upset with the changes Lynch had to make to get the film made. There is a lot of background information in the book which made it so great. All of the political intrigue and the reasons why the world of Dune was the way it was. That had to be condensed to oversimplified voice overs with or without pre-production sketches. The weirding module was a plot device to give credence to the emperors involvement where the book just laid this out over layers of plots within plots.

True.....

Lynch movie is seriously flawed but not as "bad" as most people make it out to be.

Also true.

[chuck]

Brad Dourf was great as Piter. Freddie Jones did an admirable job as Thuffir. Yes, Sting was in a few key scenes. Sir Patrick Stewart was Gurney. Paul's dad was the commander in Das Boot. Alicia Witt was Alia, Paul's sister. This was probably her first movie role.

A lot of the subtleties of the book were lost in translation by poor choice of visual elements or poorly executed visuals. Mainly by a lack of time (back to the 12 hour epic). If you had read the book you could fill in the blanks, if you hadn't you were usually lost. Kubrick was much better at these types of translation where a picture could capture a thousand (or more) words.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Brad Dourf was great as Piter. Freddie Jones did an admirable job as Thuffir. Yes, Sting was in a few key scenes. Sir Patrick Stewart was Gurney. Paul's dad was the commander in Das Boot. Alicia Witt was Alia, Paul's sister. This was probably her first movie role.

A lot of the subtleties of the book were lost in translation by poor choice of visual elements or poorly executed visuals. Mainly by a lack of time (back to the 12 hour epic). If you had read the book you could fill in the blanks, if you hadn't you were usually lost. Kubrick was much better at these types of translation where a picture could capture a thousand (or more) words.

Of course, this movie was made in 1984 well before a lot of the technology that we take for granted in today's movies. Lessons were almost learned in filming Tolkein's trilogy. Some were lost in filming The Hobbit......... Then again, other books have followed books quite tightly in recent years, Martin's Game of Thrones for ~5 books, Altered Carbon, and the Expanse (close on the 1st two books). Sandman Slim is supposed to be on the way although I have a hard time wrapping my head around those books making onto any screen,

However, a new version of Dune is scheduled for release in Nov. of 2020.

[Roy]

...a new version of Dune is scheduled for release in Nov. of 2020.

I can't wait, to miss that.

[chuck]

Roger Zelazny's Amber series have been optioned for development into a multipart TV series. First five books should be easy, main elements are fairly linear. The effects technology we have today would not be taxed by the story lines.

Second series is much more interesting but probably won't sit well with the average audience. Sentient power beings, an AI that can use "magic", multiple levels of not so bright humanoid forms that are trying to manipulate those extremely powerful sentient beings. The manipulators aren't even aware of the sentience of the powers they conspire to control or that those powers can control them.

Different types of media lend themselves to different types of stories. Taking a great book and making it into a good graphic novel only works if the artist "gets" the material and selects images that play off the written word. Turning a graphic novel into a motion picture should be a piece of cake. You have the story boards. But you don't. Pacing, point of view, other elements of making a movie have to be added to the mix to succeed. A good director will try to seize on the key elements and enhance them. If the money people let him do that you might wind up with a great movie.

One caveat to that last sentence. There are a number of films that I consider great and was in some way touched by having experienced them, Paths of Glory, Schindlers List. I also never want to see them again. They were too effective. I don't even have them in my library. From the studio's stand point, Jurassic Park is a much "greater" film. As it usually happensa in most things, "Follow the money".

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Roger Zelazny's Amber series have been optioned for development into a multipart TV series. First five books should be easy, main elements are fairly linear. The effects technology we have today would not be taxed by the story lines.

1st five are as you state but sort of leave one hanging.

Second series is much more interesting but probably won't sit well with the average audience. Sentient power beings, an AI that can use "magic", multiple levels of not so bright humanoid forms that are trying to manipulate those extremely powerful sentient beings. The manipulators aren't even aware of the sentience of the powers they conspire to control or that those powers can control them.

Sounds like lobbyists and politicians.

Doubt that they will get beyond the 1st five - seems that these things run out of funding or interest and then they have to put together a wrap up episode or at least a convenient stopping point. The Expanse series did that and not terribly badly either - it could be picked up and continued from where it was halted.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

...a new version of Dune is scheduled for release in Nov. of 2020.

I can't wait, to miss that.

I'll be there, with popcorn in-hand, along with my reasonable expectations and eagerness to play.

[chuck]

Rufus wrote:

Sounds like lobbyists and politicians

I was thinking about that while typing it.

I don't think he tied up the end of the first series until the last book of the second? Aka what happened to the protagonist from series one?