Children of Dune
Tags: sci-fi

Plot synopsis:
Nine years after Emperor Paul Muad'Dib walked into the desert, blind, the ecological transformation of Dune has reached the point where some Fremen are living without stillsuits in the less arid climate and have started to move out of the sietches and into the villages and cities. As the old ways erode, more and more pilgrims arrive to experience the planet of Muad'Dib. The Imperial high council has lost its political might and is powerless to control the Jihad.
Paul's young twin children, Leto II and Ghanima, have concluded that their guardian Alia has succumbed to abomination — the possession by one of her ancestors — and fear that a similar fate awaits them. They (and Alia) also realize that the terraforming of Dune will kill all the sandworms, thus destroying the source of the spice, but the thing which has possessed Alia desires this outcome. Leto also fears that, like his father, he will be trapped by his prescience.
Possessed by the persona of her grandfather Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Alia fears that her mother Lady Jessica, about to return to Arrakis, will recognize her abomination. Meanwhile, a new religious figure called "The Preacher" has risen in the desert, railing against the religious government's injustices and the changes among the Fremen. Some Fremen believe he is Paul Atreides. Princess Wensicia of the fallen House Corrino on Salusa Secundus plots to assassinate the twins and regain power.
Jessica returns to Arrakis and recognizes that her daughter has been possessed, but finds no signs of abomination in the twins. Leto arranges for Fremen leader Stilgar to protect his sister if there is an attempt on their lives. The Preacher journeys to Salusa Secundus to meet Wensicia's son Farad'n, and in return pledges Duncan Idaho as an agent of House Corrino. Alia attempts to assassinate Jessica, who escapes into the desert with Duncan's help, precipitating a rebellion among the Fremen. The twins anticipate and survive the Corrino assassination plot. Leto leaves to seek out the Preacher while Ghanima, masking her memory with self-hypnosis, reports falsely that her brother had been murdered. Duncan and Jessica flee to Salusa Secundus where Jessica begins to mentor the Corrino heir. He seizes power from his regent mother Wensicia and allies with the Bene Gesserit, who promise to marry him to Ghanima and support his bid for coronation as Emperor.
A band of Fremen outlaws capture Leto and force him to undergo the spice trance at the suggestion of Gurney, who has infiltrated the group on Jessica's orders. His spice-induced visions show him a myriad of possible futures where humanity has become extinct and only one where humanity survives. He names this future "The Golden Path" and resolves to bring it to fruition which his father, who had already glimpsed this future, refused to do. He escapes his captors and sacrifices his humanity in pursuit of the Golden Path by physically fusing with a school of sandtrout, gaining superhuman strength and near-invulnerability. He travels across the desert and confronts the Preacher who does, in fact, prove to be his father Paul.
Duncan returns to Arrakis and provokes Stilgar into killing him. With Stilgar's neutrality now untenable, he seizes Ghanima and flees. Alia recaptures Ghanima and arranges her marriage to Farad'n, planning to exploit the expected chaos when Ghanima kills him to avenge her brother's murder. The Preacher and Leto return to the capital to confront Alia, who has the Preacher murdered, revealing his true identity. Leto reveals himself in a display of superhuman strength and triggers the return of Ghanima's genuine memories. He confronts Alia and offers to help her overcome her possession, but she is overwhelmed by her ancestral personae and elects to commit suicide.
Leto declares himself Emperor and asserts control over the Fremen. Farad'n enlists in his service and delivers control of the Corrino armies. The seemingly immortal and omnipotent Leto is left as Emperor of the Known Universe, with Ghanima at his side. Leto will wed his own sister, but Farad'n, now renamed Harq al Ada (The Breaking of the Way), will become Ghanima's consort and continue the Atreides line.

Review: I think I liked David Lynch's stillsuits better, these ones don't look like they'd do the job very well, but I suppose it was a trade off with seeing some of the wonderfully figured women =)The part that would be the end of <i>Dune Messiah</i> had me nearly in tears.
The screenplay by John Harrison managed to fit in enough of Frank Herbert's vision to remain true to the spirit of the epic Dune saga.The entire cast, Alec Newman [Paul Muad'Dib], Daniela Amavia [Alia Atreides], Julie Cox [Princess Irulan], Barbaroa Kodetova [Chani], James McAvoy [Leto II], Jessica Brooks [Ghanima], Susan Sarandon [Wensicia Corrino], Alice Krige [Reverend Mother Jessica Atreides], Edward Atterton [Duncan Idaho], Ian McNeice [Baron Harkonnen], Steven Berkoff [Stilgar], P.H. Moriarty [Gurney] and Johathan Bruun [Farad'n Corrino] gave me characters I could relate to as well as care about over the course of the miniseries.
The use of lighting during camera pans over actors faces or on shots as characters moved across sets was again vary well used.The music score by Brian Tyler was at times dark and moody, then majestic, adding to the grandeur of many of the key scenes where the score helped lift one's feelings to the level of emotion being presented by the actors as the story unfolded on the screen.
The background soundtrack as the camera followed characters though the zocalo's of Arrakeem or the desert sietche's added a mystical quality where one could almost smell the food cooking or the incense like fragrance of the Spice Melange.Overall *Children of Dune* has to rate with the best mini-series' that have ever been produced over the years and may even set a new standard for work being done for television with it's quality production.
As a long-time Dune book series fan and an owner of the DVD of the Lynch movie and the first Sc-Fi miniseries, I eagerly awaited Children of Dune.The good: Excellent musical score (hopefully available on amazon.com); better acting in general, especially Alice Krige as Lady Jessica and the young actor who played Leto, son of Paul; better special effects (incredible sandworms!); and just the fact that Sci-Fi took time and money to prodice this miniseries (though I will never forgive the cancellation of Farscape).The bad: Susan Sarandon, for an alleged fan of the Dune series, was just terrible, all hammy and goofy like some character out of a 60s sitcom; the actress who played Alia, Paul Atreides sister, was OK but seemed to lack the fire that I always envisioned as Paul's sister went mad; and the story, which was a mixture of the second and third books in the series, was so incredibly dense -- even for a Dune veteran like me -- that I wondered if anyone else could watch the mini-series and even figure out what was going on.Generally speaking, this was a better production than the first miniseries, but the story was harder to tell.
The production design, the special effects, the cinematography are all a distinct improvement over both the original miniseries and the David Lynch disaster.The story picks up twelve years after the conclusion of Dune; war continues to ravage the galaxy, Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides (Alec Newman) is now seen as something of a curse by the people, as his name is now associated with bloodshed and violence.
As a matter of fact, though Dune Messiah's story is naturally a bit weaker than Dune's, the superb execution here makes it superior to any previous adaptations of Dune (it's at least as good as the terrific miniseries, far better than the horrible Lynch film).
After reading the first two of Frank Herbert's Dune books I had to wonder whether the story of the water forsaken planet still had some potential.
Obviously, the moment I laid eyes on "Children of Dune" (the mini-series this time) I felt a terrible urge to acquire it, despite being tempted by more reputed films.
In the end, I didn't have any regrets.That is because the film is not only easy to follow, as long as you've either read the first book (and a bit of the second) or seen the first part of the mini-series (which I haven't), but it's also visually delightful, doing some justice to Frank Herbert's saga.
Satisfying, well-written and superbly acted sequel to the Sci-Fi Channel's DUNE mini-series  - which was itself vastly superior to the rampant-phallic-symbolism-held-together-by-stamp-hinges-and-cobwebs David Lynch film version.
F/X maestro Ernest Farino, who won the Emmy for his sterling work on the first DUNE mini-series, will likely make a repeat stroll to the podium when next year's visual effects award is handed out.
Though not as absorbing as the first books in the series, they do have their moments and with some effort could be made into something at least as good as Children of Dune.
They took two of Herbert's books (Dune Messiah, Children of Dune) and combined them into a mini-series that actually takes the material seriously and doesn't try to hard to be different.
There was a lot of good stuff in Children Of Dune, all the great characters and themes from the book, and a lot of talent went into making it.
Although the series follows closely the storyline of the book, I think sometime one has to deviate from the story in order to make a movie a bit more believable.
I have never read any of Frank Herbert's novels and I didn't really like the 1984 film Dune so I am not sure that I am the most authoritative commentator for this mini-series.
The cinematography, the visual and sound effects are great, but there are too many characters without previous development, information and betrayals, plots and subplots for a 93 minutes running time, and in the end I was completely lost of who is who in the story.
So maybe just replacing the director wasn't enough.To be fair, maybe they didn't have the budget to do more than 1 take for each scene or to buy copies of the book for the cast to read before the shoot.The reason people defend the Lynch film is that no matter what other libeties may have been taken the characters were all recognizable!A bland score, uninspired visual design, eye-shatteringly bad costuming and ham-fisted "directing" fill out this latest "Made for TV" "Epic"..
Because, you see just like Peter Jackson's interpretation of Tolkien's books on the silver screen is not really marred by his versions of them, David Lynch has done just the same with his version of the Dune story.
there's a sense in which this and the other Dune movies since 1984 just don't work for me.But, in spite of that, this one was pretty good.Alice Krige (one of my favorite actresses along with Helen Mirren and Naomi Watts) is absolutely perfect as Lady Jessica.
Watching that last scene of her, I found myself thinking of some of the things that the Atreides of Classical Mythology did, because of Ambition, to their children.And, yea, I found myself thinking, too, of Helen Mirren's Morganna from the movie "Excalibur"; and of Krieg's Alma Mobley from "Ghost Story".One of the things that the people who made "Children of Dune" did best was set up in it echoes between father-son, brother-sister, mother-daughter relationships.
Saying that any movie would ever be able to cover Frank Herbert's genius is hard.But this one comes with an amazing cast, epic soundtrack, good adaptation and nice special effects.In an unique in all ever movies made after a book, the "Inama Nushif" montage truly conveys the emotions that deserve the book for the moment when Paul is paying the price for his chosen path - you can truly feel his pain for the sacrifice.
Sarah Sarandon's Wensicia, on the other hand, looks and sounds a bit dry but it's the raspy quality that makes her the Wicked Witch of COD.Lavish production values add some touches to the already acclaimed miniseries: digital backgrounds are now used to convey realism and to blend the surroundings well with the indoor structures (although I personally think the world of COD looks a bit narrower, Storaro's Trans-light concept really makes the first Dune world a larger fantasy scape despite its fakeness), the special effects are exhilarating (e.g. the Guild ship's attempt to capture a sand worm to break monopoly on Spice) and most importantly, the wonderfully composed soundtrack by Brian Tyler which, unlike the first miniseries and the David Lynch version, ables to capture the inner soul of Herbert's works accurately.Overall, Children of Dune is a major improvement over the original and is so far the best miniseries ever adapted from a Herbert novel.
Dune was a great DVD movie, I liked it better in many ways then the first attempt that made it to the film screen.This is a great movie too, but is limited by the story of the rather complicated second novel.
I never read the books, but I saw the videos and played the games of Dune and I must said that this mini-series est outstanding!It's one of few movies where I felt so much emotion!
2. Sometime there are long scene for nothing.Overall, it's a "you must see" mini-series if you like the universe of Dune or Sci-Fi politic movie..
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.
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).
The movie does a great job adapting Herbert's novels (Messiah and Children of Dune) which have a rather complex, but very intelligent and superbly developed plot to film.
Children of Dune misses the latter because while the adaptation is very good, the plot is still too difficult to follow despite the relatively long playing time.
This miniseries successfully gives us "Dune Messiah" and "Children of Dune" in one fell swoop, leaving out the plot elements that would be included in what would become "God Emperor of Dune".A new planet and a new people are introduced:Face Dancers from the planet Bene Teilax, their special talents revealed.We also meet the Duncan Idaho Ghoula that is a major continuing character all the way to "Chapterhouse: Dune".Not only are these things introduced, but depicted perfectly as written in the books.As is the developing madness of the Abomination "Saint Alia of the Knife", the ecology of Dune and the life cycles of the "Makers", from Sandtrout to Sandworms, and of course the Children of Muad'dib, Leto II and Ghanima.This is the first time I have ever seen James McAvoy, who would later become Tumnus in Narnia, professor X in X-Men, and later would have a "Split" that would bring us back to "Unbreakable".Unfortunately, many of the fine actors used in Dune (2000) could not reprise, including Saska Reeves, but Alice Krige can play Lady Jessica as well as play The Borg Queen.Ian McNeice once again is the "Poetic" Baron Harkonnen, and Guerney Halleck is the same.
A good mini-series, the best of the Frank Herbert Dune adaptations.
Children of Dune did have a couple of areas where things could have been improved, Susan Sarandon overacts with an accent that was at home in Thelma and Louise but out of place here, the mini-series does get to a slow start and can drag a little at times and there are occasional moments of cartoonish effects, stilted dialogue and incompleteness.
That of the way, Children of Dune is good, of the three Frank Herbert Dune adaptations- the others being the David Lynch film and the 2000 adaptation- as an adaptation and on its own it's the best one, and that's saying a lot as the other two adaptations had moments but were lacking in too many areas.
Adaptation-wise, Children of Dune does a good job with a complicated book though towards the end at times feeling incomplete.
Long live the Golden Age -- we need more movies based upon the classics.COD is good, better than Soderberg's Solaris (I know, I've got a chip on my shoulder).I did not enjoy the sequel novels as much as the original Dune novel, and so I had no real hopes for this SciFi Channel Production.It was head and shoulders better than the original mini-series for the following reasons:1) Better casting -- in particular James McAvoy, who brought power, emotion, and sensitivity to his role.
2) Stunningly beautiful score -- thanks to Brian Tyler.I'm not going to beat up on the story, original or screenplay, I have no real complaints, it was well paced and well told.The film seemed very sumptuous, although I agree that, at times, COD had a very 'filmed on the set' feel to it, particularly the deep desert scenes, the true character of Arrakis still has yet to be realized on screen, and computer effects still have a long way to go (on any film) to lose the sterile feel.Because of the better casting and score, I found it very easy to suspend disbelief, allow myself to be drawn in, and become emotionally interested, something which science fiction films seem to have trouble doing (Gattaca is an exception).On that note alone I would give COD a very high rating and call it the best science fiction film I have seen in a couple of years..
Where do I start - the acting was great on all fronts (especially Susan Sarandon in a juicy role, as well as James McAvoy and Jessica Brooks who play the children), excellent special and visual effects (considering this was a TV miniseries), a wonderful adaptation of the story and dialogue, and superb music by Brian Tyler (an up-and-coming composer who is destined for great things).
This is a masterpiece and an epic saga, the books by Frank Herbert has for the first time come true in Children Of Dune rivaling even the likes of lotr and gladiator.
Actors like Alec Newman and Barbora Kodetová, who are totally unknown by me does a splendid work of making us readers feel their losses, feeling the weight of their burdens, enjoying their triumph and loving this massive and breathtaking miniseries.If you've read the books, have an opened mind, some things really ARE unfilmable, like the whole Dune political system.
"The Children of Dune" story is somewhere at the middle of Dune series, and without reading the books or at least watching the movie "Dune", which is the first part of series, it may be hard for you to understand all the intrigues.
The actors seem to have finally gotten comfortable with their roles and the story (based on the second and third "Dune" books of Frank Herbert were more on the mark.
Unlike the mini-series prequel, Children of Dune kept much closer to Frank Herbert's stories, with no noticeable plot inventions by the writers.
The commercials for it really intreaged me, and I had seen a little bit of the 1984 movie and the 2000 miniseries, so my mom told me that maybe I should read the first book, Dune.
Hi,Let me start to say that i never read any Frank Herbert book but i love Dune's version of Lynch (i know many people dislike it but i just adore it!), the games based on the saga, and so on...in other words: i love everything based in the Dune universe!
I hope that Sci-fi Channel makes more mini-series based on the Frank Herbert's books...and the new episodes of Star Wars saga should learn from the Dune saga.
Alia's psychosis was particularly well-presented.Unfortunately, Frank Herbert kept going back to the well too many times, and wrote the awful God Emperor book (and another in the series that I never bothered to read).
I went and bought every book in the Dune series, after only reading the first, and after I bought the Special Edition DVD, I probably watched it at least 20 times.
if you haven't read the book there is no possible way you could understand Alia's possession, Duncan's estrangement from Alia, why Duncan and Jessica were on Selusa Secondus, the significance of Seitch Jacurutu, the nature of Leto II's transformation, and the list goes on.Children of Dune is perhaps the second most complex book of the entire series (after the original) and to chop it right in half like that not only shortchanges the plot, but severely diminishes the emotional impact of those events that are portrayed.So I guess what I am saying is, my biggest problem with this second miniseries is that i just wanted more..
David didn't exactly deliver us "Dune", but he sure delivered us "something", and it was great.Sci-Fi deviated from the original stories too, and, worse, the miniseries are tedious and rather boring most of the time.
While I may not have liked Dune all that much when I compared it to David Lynch's masterpiece, this sequel steps out beyond the original movie into unknown territory (particularly for me since I have not read any of the other books beyond Dune) so I was actually very keen in knowing how Frank Herbert extended his original masterpiece, and I must say that he did a very good job in doing so.
I personally would never see to remake the first one (since I am such a fan of Lynch's version, even though the sci-fi series Dune was different enough that I like that one, too), but this thing, being a new tale, a new incarnation, and with 4 hours to work in.