Frank Herbert's Children Of Dune

In “Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune,” writer John Harrison and director Greg Yaitanes adapt Herbert’s 1969 novel “Dune Messiah” and 1976 novel “Children of Dune” into a three-part miniseries starring Alec Newman as Paul Muad’Dib Atreides, Julie Cox as Princess Irulan, Edward Atterton as Duncan Idaho, Ian McNeie as the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Daniela Amavia as Alia Atreides, Alice Krige as Lady Jessica, Susan Sarandon as Princess Wensicia, James McAvoy as Leto II Atreides, and Jessica Brooks as Ghanima Atreides.The first episode adapts “Dune Messiah,” with deposed Emperor Shaddam IV and his daughter planning a coup d’état to restore House Corrino to power. The Bene Tleilaxu gift Paul a ghola of his deceased friend Duncan Idaho, but they conditioned the clone to assassinate Paul. Paul loses his sight after an attack with a nuclear weapon and his sister, Alia, begins purging enemies. When a Face Dancer attempts to activate the ghola’s conditioning, Duncan resists and aids Paul. The Face Dancer next attacks Paul and Chani’s children, but they use their power to help the blind Paul rescue them. Paul walks into the desert, leaving his children in Alia’s care.The second and third episodes adapt “Children of Dune,” with Princess Irulan working to protect the children, Leto II and Ghanima, while Alia serves as regent and leads her own religion. Alia grows to fear Jessica’s connection to the Bene Gesserit, especially as Alia’s pre-born abilities lead people to suspect her of being an abomination. Meanwhile, a preacher appears in the capital and speaks out against the blind rituals surrounding Muad’Dib. Alia uses her genetic memories to consult her ancestors and her grandfather, the Baron Harkonnen, begins to seize control of her mind. Wensicia continues her plotting, attempting to assassinate the twins Leto and Ghanima. Leto fakes his death in order to develop his powers to counter Alia’s growing madness. The Preacher’s identity is revealed and Leto realizes he must lead humanity along the Golden Path in order to ensure its survival. In the end, the Preacher, Paul, denounces Alia’s religion before a rebel Fremen kills him. Leto defeats Alia while Ghanima marries Wensicia’s son Farad’n, thereby consolidating power between Houses Atreides and Corrino. Leto begins the transformation that will turn him into the God Emperor.Naturally, this adaptation of Herbert’s second and third “Dune” novels changes some elements. For one, Irulan no longer plays a role in the conspiracy against Paul. “Dune Messiah” is a relatively slow novel, focusing more on themes than the larger plot, and adapting it in a single episode makes sense as the themes carry over from “Dune Messiah” into “Children of Dune.” The two read very much like two parts of a single story, so this adaptation works well. Of the leads, Susan Sarandon has the most fun in her role with Daniela Amavia also playing her character for all she can. If the first miniseries were highly stylized, this sequel takes things a step further. Alia’s practice session with spinning blades resembles scenes occurring throughout science-fiction films and television in this time. With a stellar cast and, as the only adaptation of Herbert’s second and third “Dune” novels, this remains a work that will interest fans of the franchise. That said, this Blu-ray has very few special features.

I'm not reviewing the miniseries itself, just the technical merits of this disc. Take it for granted that the show is worth your while. TLDR: this Blu-ray release is the one to get:  Children of Dune [Blu-ray ]The SciFi miniseries never got a US Blu-ray release so I was tempted to get one of several foreign language imports, but I hesitated due to some compromises with them. Specifically, the burned in subtitles weren't in English and I was uncertain that the video would be unaffected by PAL speedup issues. This new Australian import addresses those issues. The disc is all region. The three episodes are encoded at their original 24 fps, not PAL, and the burned in subtitles are in English. The original English audio track is encoded in lossless 5.1 DTS-MA. The picture and sound are of high quality. No need to worry about uprezzed effects shots either, since the original shots were rendered in hi def, and are faithfully preserved here. This is probably as good as the program will ever look or sound.There are some downsides, though. This is a bare bones disc. There is only the one audio track and no subtitles at all. The chapter stops are weirdly placed, spaced out at roughly 6 minute intervals in the middle of scenes. The two featurettes from the original Artisan DVD set are present, but are (rather poorly IMO) de-interlaced, scaled to hi def, and encoded as PAL. The storyboard comparison does have a director's commentary that wasn't on the DVD. There's a new short (3 minute) VFX reel in hi def, but it's also in PAL. And that's it. Fortunately, the important feature for me - the actual miniseries - is as good as it's going to get from a technical standpoint, and that more than makes up for the iffy treatment of the already scant extras. Would it have hurt to include a subtitle track though?

I'm a major Dune fanatic. I have the 1984 movie, both miniseries, the newest movie, all the original novels, the new graphic novel, etc. I bought this to complete my collection, though I don't really endorse it. Some people are fine with the lack of quality, noting that it was made for tv. I don't have that same level of forgiveness. Overall, it's not great in just about every way. The casting is off, the acting is not good, the special effects are laughable. If you are down with that kind of low budget nonsense more power to you. This is the only adaptation of Dune Messiah/Children of Dune available, so if that is what you are looking for this is the only option. I can only hope that Denis Villaneuve is able to adapt these in the future.

I upgraded my well-played Children of Dune DVD set to this blu-ray disc. Well worth it. This HD release takes full advantage of the mini-series having been originally filmed in HD to begin with. Picture quality on this disc is much, much better. Sharper, more eye-popping color, warmer tones and a noticeable improvement in the smoothness of the special effects shots and how they look next to live action. The soundtrack also gets a slight upgrade to DTS 5.1 (this is the ONLY soundtrack on the disc). The blu-ray includes the two special features from the DVD, plus adds a third which is basically a visual effects highlight reel showing original shots versus the completed, composited shot, pretty cool. This imported disc is in English, but please note, there are NO SUBTITLES at all on the disc, unfortunate since the DVD set has English and Spanish subtitles. In conclusion, no comparison, this is the much superior version in terms of picture quality. And needless to say, the mini-series itself is excellent (James McAvoy is fantastic.) So, if you don't need subtitles, I highly recommend that fans of this mini-series go ahead and double-dip for this one.

Happy with the disc quality. I had not read the books...I was suprised and felt the storyline was unworthy and a let down from the Dune mini series.

I am just a Dune nut.

I bought this thinking it was another in the Dune series, at same time I bought Children of Dune, which I watched first. The two are the same! And by the same film company too. A clear case of tricking the public into buying multiple copies of the same product. Sadly it was only after opening and playing it's start that I realised this or I would have been sending it back. Really not a happy bunny, hence this review, I don't want you to feel the same disappointment that I'm feeling. I will have to be more observant in future. Hope this saves you wasting your money.

Having watched and enjoyed the Dune mini-series, I naturally wanted to see the sequel. The production's precursor was fairly faithful to the source material, certainly more so than film. It features a strong cast, with some re-casting from 'Frank Herbert's Dune'. The CGI special effects are not the best quality, which gives this something of a low-budget feel, which is a shame. This production features significant compression of the story (which let's face it, 'Children of Dune' can easily handle). Part one is based on 'Dune Messiah' and parts two and three, 'Children of Dune'. I can imagine anyone who watches this who is unfamiliar with the source material would find it quite confusing.

This is so much better, in all aspects, over the production of "Frank Herbert's Dune" DVD - for which I left a mediocre review. I very nearly didn't bother buying Children of Dune, fearing the same lacklustre production. However I'm certainly glad I bought the DVD! Children of Dune is a two disc DVD: the first being a slightly abridged, but well presented, version of Dune Messiah, and the second disc covers the story (again somewhat abridged) of Children of Dune. I wish the original Dune production was to this quality. If like me you keenly remember reading Herbert's books as a child back in the 60's, I suspect you'll not be disappointed by this DVD!

It was an improvement all round on the original series. One gets the feeling that the producers were surprised by the success of the first one and invested a bit more time and money in the sequel. It was well done, well thought out, and near enough to the books (two are covered) to please all but the most fastidious. The acting was good in the greater part, with just one or two little glitches. All in all well worth the money and a pleasant way to spend a couple of evenings.

I have read the books. This TV series is OK. Its pretty good on a visual basis, less so on the drama. It basically follows the books with a few changes here and there. The direction is quite slow and ponderous, all so profound. The pace and solemnity remind me of the last 30 minutes or so of Lord of the Rings part three. They seem to have borrowed some of the sound track also. However, for the curious it makes a reasonably pleasant and not too demanding afternoons viewing.