After all, if what you want is *real* misogyny, read science fiction.

If you think the society in Dune reflects the author’s own outlook on what society should be, I’m skeptical, but maybe you’re right. But there are a lot of good talented people writing and publishing science/speculative fiction, including a growing list of feminist SF writers. When you dismiss the whole genre with, Them, they hate women and their work is shit, that I take exception to.

Even so, I’m sorry I resorted to name calling. I still think you were being supercilious, but that’s no excuse for bad manners on my part.

It is unfortunate, IMHO, that you’ll miss out on all of the good, progressive and increasingly literary SF, fantasy and cross-genre fiction being published.

But what we REALLY need is a version of John Williams’ six-opera cycle “Star Wars” with the dialogue removed.

Not that it’s that much different, but Kyle Mclachlan was 23 when cast and just turned 24 when filming began, not 27.

Facial expressions? In Dune? No, the atonal conversations are perfect for the required setting.

This is still one of my favorite books of all time, but it has always been clear that the book is unfilmable. Instead what Lynch gave us was a sort of visual and artistic experiment. Does it work as a movie? Barely. Is it a movie translation of the book? I’m not sure such a thing is possible.

One of the things I always loved about this book is how most of the characters are supposed to be absurdly more intelligent than I am, and I think that as such it works. To translate that to a movie means making a movie most people won’t understand, or even less appreciate, so it is doomed to commercial failure.

I happen to like the movie despite its flaws. It brings up some emotions and thoughts few movies elicit in me.

The movie was flawed, but not unwatchable, as many have said (most of them professional film critics), the problem is more that we are dropped into the entire Dune universe with no warning; if you haven’t read the book it will seem completely confusing.

I thought this reviewer was on point:

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F06E2D71238F937A25751C1A962948260

Particularly the first sentence:

SEVERAL of the characters in ”Dune” are psychic, which puts them in the unique position of being able to understand what goes on in the movie.

I quite liked the idea of Dune shot as a realistic action-thriller in the style of “The Kingdom”, presumably with lots of focus on the political dimensions — the director of that was on board for doing so a few years ago, but left the project.

A better miniseries than Sci-Fi’s OK one of about 10 years ago — think a 12 show season just to cover the first novel — would be pretty good, too. Ronald Moore might be too obvious, but I think he’d do a very good job.

http://boiteaoutils.blogspot.com/2008/01/exposition-hans-poelzig.html

I do like this version. In the same way black and white comics can sometimes outshine colored ones, more is certainly not always better. It’d be good as a companion piece to the book, moving illustrations for it instead of a separate work.

Also, does everyone else assume that Spice tastes and smells like cinnamon? I got that association a couple decades ago and can’t shake it.

Great edit, BTW. I can’t recall the scene in the book, but it seems like it would have been all telepathy anyway!

I would readily contribute to a kick-starter for Michael Moore’s Dune

I’ll do the rest of the movie if it NBC Universal is amenable to it. I know that’s not very fightin’ wordsy but it’d be lots of work and I’d rather not turn a cool experiment into a fight over fair use.

I think you’re getting into Matthew Barney territory with this concept and imho that’s a good thing.

1) John Hodgman’s TED talk. He briefly discusses his (character’s?) take on the film. Funny, as usual!

http://www.ted.com/talks/john_hodgman_s_brief_digression.html

2) Nicholas Rombes’ book Cinema in the Digital Age.

http://www.amazon.com/Cinema-Digital-Age-Nicholas-Rombes/dp/1905674856

A great read, for a number of reasons. One one particular thing Rombes discusses that seems relevant at the moment is the way digital video technologies (such as YouTube) allow the average person to interact with and dissect movies in ways that were far more difficult with film. The ease of pausing, re-editing, etc. allows us to unearth all kinds of cool things that were lurking in films all along. For example, “loads of robed witches, psychedelic space travel, freaky monsters, and the Toto and Brian Eno soundtrack.”

A somewhat similar exercise he describes trying out: going to a hollywood blockbuster CGI-fest (Superman, for example) in the theater, but wearing an mp3 player instead of listening to the soundtrack. The result: spontaneous, serendipitous, surrealist music video mix!

P.S. Sorry this post got so long!

Sorry, “Dune without Dialog” was deleted at 11:37:45 Mon Jul 18, 2011. We have no more information about it on our mainframe or elsewhere.

When I read the book for the first time I imagined the Baron Harkonnen and his nephew as unspeakably evil, not some goofy parody.