Sunday Double Feature part two – “Children of Dune”

The second part of our first double feature lies
below.

Cast and Crew

Alec Newman as Paul Atreides / Muad’Dib

Julie Cox as Irulan

Edward Atterton as Duncan

Ian McNeice as Baron Harkonnen

Barbora Kodetova as Chani

Steven Berkoff as Stilgar

Daniela Amavia as Alia

P.H. Moriarty as Gurney Halleck

James McAvoy as Leto Atreides II

Jessica Brooks as Ghanima Atreides

Alice Krige as Jessica Atreides

Susan Sarandon as Wenisicia Corrino

Written for the screen by John Harrison, based on
Frank Herbert’s
novel.

Directed by Greg Yaitanes

Complete information is
available from this
IMDB
page
.


Buy from: Amazon.com
or Amazon.ca

Past TV reviews can be found here.

Original Airdate


This miniseries originally ran in 2003.

Synopsis

Combining adaptations of Dune Messiah and
Children of
Dune
, this miniseries depicts the passing of the
torch from
father to son, and the temptation of the Golden Path.

High Point

Leto takes Irulan for a ride.

Low Point

Replacing Saskia Reeves with Alice Krige. I’ve read
that this was
motivated by pregnancy, and that Krige was actually
the first choice
for Jessica in the previous miniseries, but think
Reeves did a
significantly better job.

The Review

The originality again suffers from doing a
very accurate
adaptation. This was the first filmed adaptation,
though. I give it
3 out of 6.

The effects were mostly well done. Some of
the CGI shots
looked too much like CGI shots, and the scenes with
the CGI generated
rooms have the “slipping feet” problems that happen
when the blue
screen room isn’t moving at the same speed as the
original room. I
give it 4 out of 6.

The story was well written, and nicely
streamlined from the
source material. This set would be hard to adapt, but
it was done
well. I give it 5 out of 6.

The acting was generally good. Most cast
replacements
worked, though I wasn’t pleased with the cast change
for Lady
Jessica. I give it 4 out of 6.

The emotional response was good, as it was a
little more
involving than the first miniseries, possibly due to
less exposure to
the source material. I give it 5 out of 6.

The production was nicely done. This one
felt less stylistic
and more like a studio film, though. I give it 4 out
of 6.

Overall, it’s a good adaptation of good
books, and well worth
your time and money. I’d be looking forward to
adaptations of the
rest of the series, as well. I give it 5 out of 6.

In total, Children of Dune receives 30 out of
42.

15 replies on “Sunday Double Feature part two – “Children of Dune””

  1. Production
    This is just me being picky but my sense of time was messed up by the make-up or lack thereof.

    If memory serves me correctly Alia became Regent when she was between 12 and 17. I don’t think they did enough in terms of wardobe and make-up to create a “young” Alia, and an “old” Alia.

    I know this could be said of anyone but the difference very noticable in Alia. The difference between a 15 year old and 30 year old is more noticable than the difference between 45 year old and a 60 year old.

    Okay, I’ll stop talking… for now.

    • Re: Production

      This is just me being picky but my sense of time was messed up by the make-up or lack thereof.

      If memory serves me correctly Alia became Regent when she was between 12 and 17. I don’t think they did enough in terms of wardobe and make-up to create a “young” Alia, and an “old” Alia.

      I know this could be said of anyone but the difference very noticable in Alia. The difference between a 15 year old and 30 year old is more noticable than the difference between 45 year old and a 60 year old.

      Okay, I’ll stop talking… for now.

      Spice has geratric properties – meaning it either slows aging or grants you longer life in general – I don’t recall if they ever touched that point in the two series. But being Regent of all humanity might also get you better beuticians, and you can’t describe Alia as a person who doesn’t care about her looks.

      • Re: Production
        To take it even further into geektastic territory, Alia isn’t supposed to look more than 17-20 ever. In the book (I definitely don’t remember if they mentioned anything in the miniseries since I really thought it was lousy and only watched it the one time), one of Alia’s crimes which Jessica was sent to investigate was that of using Bene Gesserit metabolism control to slow her physical aging to a virtual standstill. This practice was forbidden by the BG because they felt it dangerous to demonstrate such a potent ability.

        On the topic of the miniseries, I thought that the Dune Messiah portion was handled adequately, but the Children of Dune section just had too much that was glossed over. Again, I don’t remember details but I remember (and posted about it here at the time) being very disappointed after the skill with which I thought they handled the first book.

        • Re: Production
          I thought it was overall excellent, except for the ending. They really didn’t do a good job of telling everyone that Leto had decided to become emperor for life and that he was taking over and was able to do so by becoming the Worm.

          • Re: Production

            I thought it was overall excellent, except for the ending. They really didn’t do a good job of telling everyone that Leto had decided to become emperor for life and that he was taking over and was able to do so by becoming the Worm.

            They’re just saving that for the miniseries of God Emperor! I really hope they do that one. But they will have to really increase their effects budget with a main character that will be all CGI all of the time.

            • Re: Production

              I thought it was overall excellent, except for the ending. They really didn’t do a good job of telling everyone that Leto had decided to become emperor for life and that he was taking over and was able to do so by becoming the Worm.

              They’re just saving that for the miniseries of God Emperor! I really hope they do that one. But they will have to really increase their effects budget with a main character that will be all CGI all of the time.

              dammit dammit dammit…
              now I have to go back and read all the books over again! do you know how long that’s going to take me?

              and for the record, duncan idaho is the greatest character *ever* (or so I thought in high school after reading all of them consecutively…)

              • Re: Production

                and for the record, duncan idaho is the greatest character *ever* (or so I thought in high school after reading all of them consecutively…)

                I’ve always wanted a Gurney Halleck to cover my back

              • Re: Production

                I thought it was overall excellent, except for the ending. They really didn’t do a good job of telling everyone that Leto had decided to become emperor for life and that he was taking over and was able to do so by becoming the Worm.

                They’re just saving that for the miniseries of God Emperor! I really hope they do that one. But they will have to really increase their effects budget with a main character that will be all CGI all of the time.

                dammit dammit dammit…
                now I have to go back and read all the books over again! do you know how long that’s going to take me?

                and for the record, duncan idaho is the greatest character *ever* (or so I thought in high school after reading all of them consecutively…)

                You’re right. The Duncan in Chapterhouse is especially cool.

                • Re: Production

                  I thought it was overall excellent, except for the ending. They really didn’t do a good job of telling everyone that Leto had decided to become emperor for life and that he was taking over and was able to do so by becoming the Worm.

                  They’re just saving that for the miniseries of God Emperor! I really hope they do that one. But they will have to really increase their effects budget with a main character that will be all CGI all of the time.

                  dammit dammit dammit…
                  now I have to go back and read all the books over again! do you know how long that’s going to take me?

                  and for the record, duncan idaho is the greatest character *ever* (or so I thought in high school after reading all of them consecutively…)

                  You’re right. The Duncan in Chapterhouse is especially cool.

                  Didn’t somebody just say that Chapterhouse happens several thousand years after Children? Did they clone him again?

          • Re: Production

            They really didn’t do a good job of telling everyone that Leto had decided to become emperor for life and that he was taking over and was able to do so by becoming the Worm.

            Darn it, now I have to go read the books. What do you mean he becomes emperor by becoming the worm? ;-)

            Damien

            • Re: Production

              They really didn’t do a good job of telling everyone that Leto had decided to become emperor for life and that he was taking over and was able to do so by becoming the Worm.

              Darn it, now I have to go read the books. What do you mean he becomes emperor by becoming the worm? ;-)

              Damien

              Yeah, that was rather unclear. I was under the impession that Leto ran off to do the sand worm thing, leaving Ghanima in charge.

              • Re: Production

                They really didn’t do a good job of telling everyone that Leto had decided to become emperor for life and that he was taking over and was able to do so by becoming the Worm.

                Darn it, now I have to go read the books. What do you mean he becomes emperor by becoming the worm? ;-)

                Damien

                Yeah, that was rather unclear. I was under the impession that Leto ran off to do the sand worm thing, leaving Ghanima in charge.

                yeah, you really might want to read the books.

                after the ones covered in “Children of”, it skips a generation (or two) (or more, in the case of god-emperor) between each book.
                it gets *weird* at points…but in my opinion, they tend to be the most interesting of the series.

                • Re: Production

                  They really didn’t do a good job of telling everyone that Leto had decided to become emperor for life and that he was taking over and was able to do so by becoming the Worm.

                  Darn it, now I have to go read the books. What do you mean he becomes emperor by becoming the worm? ;-)

                  Damien

                  Yeah, that was rather unclear. I was under the impession that Leto ran off to do the sand worm thing, leaving Ghanima in charge.

                  yeah, you really might want to read the books.

                  after the ones covered in “Children of”, it skips a generation (or two) (or more, in the case of god-emperor) between each book.
                  it gets *weird* at points…but in my opinion, they tend to be the most interesting of the series.

                  If I remember correctly, isn’t God Emperor 4,000 years later, with Heritics thousands of years after that, and then isn’t Chapterhouse told from something like 30,000 years in the future but reviewing events that happend like 10,000 years in the future from Heritics. I may be a bit off, I read these a long long time ago.

                  • Re: Production

                    They really didn’t do a good job of telling everyone that Leto had decided to become emperor for life and that he was taking over and was able to do so by becoming the Worm.

                    Darn it, now I have to go read the books. What do you mean he becomes emperor by becoming the worm? ;-)

                    Damien

                    Yeah, that was rather unclear. I was under the impession that Leto ran off to do the sand worm thing, leaving Ghanima in charge.

                    yeah, you really might want to read the books.

                    after the ones covered in “Children of”, it skips a generation (or two) (or more, in the case of god-emperor) between each book.
                    it gets *weird* at points…but in my opinion, they tend to be the most interesting of the series.

                    If I remember correctly, isn’t God Emperor 4,000 years later, with Heritics thousands of years after that, and then isn’t Chapterhouse told from something like 30,000 years in the future but reviewing events that happend like 10,000 years in the future from Heritics. I may be a bit off, I read these a long long time ago.

                    er…something like that.
                    I (rather understandably, I think) lost track

                    • Re: Production

                      They really didn’t do a good job of telling everyone that Leto had decided to become emperor for life and that he was taking over and was able to do so by becoming the Worm.

                      Darn it, now I have to go read the books. What do you mean he becomes emperor by becoming the worm? ;-)

                      Damien

                      Yeah, that was rather unclear. I was under the impession that Leto ran off to do the sand worm thing, leaving Ghanima in charge.

                      yeah, you really might want to read the books.

                      after the ones covered in “Children of”, it skips a generation (or two) (or more, in the case of god-emperor) between each book.
                      it gets *weird* at points…but in my opinion, they tend to be the most interesting of the series.

                      If I remember correctly, isn’t God Emperor 4,000 years later, with Heritics thousands of years after that, and then isn’t Chapterhouse told from something like 30,000 years in the future but reviewing events that happend like 10,000 years in the future from Heritics. I may be a bit off, I read these a long long time ago.

                      er…something like that.
                      I (rather understandably, I think) lost track

                      Just to throw a spanner in the works, I’ve heard rumors of a seven novel before Hebert died, and which his son and Anderson are working on.

                      God Emperor takes place roughly 3500 years after the events in Children. Heretics 5000 years after Children, and Chapterhouse about 10-20 years after Heretics.

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