I was reading one of the recent Geeks of Dune, er Geeks of Doom newsletters when I hit a quote from the new director of the upcoming new Dune movie translation.
From the article, quoting Pierre Morel:
Like many people, I was not fully satisfied with David Lynch’s movie in 1984. I do respect David, and I think his interpretation and vision was interesting, but not what we [fans] expected. And I thought I’d give it a chance, try to do this, make it faster and more modern. I think that now, in 2010, we have the technology to achieve much more than David could do twenty-five years ago. I think it will be cool to try something different.
Say what?
Who are these “many people” who were “not fully satisfied”? What’s WRONG with them? Did they not see the same movie I did at 14 years old?
I MEAN COME ON! LOOK AT THIS!
And that’s just how the movie started. It proceeded to include awesome alien beings, huge-scale artwork, sound effects that blew my mind, spaceships, fighting (both technological and hand-to-hand), killer beasts in the desert, Ming the Merciless, flying fat bastards, STING!!!!, blue-within-blue eyes and was interwoven delicately with complex overarching concepts I wouldn’t come to understand for many years later.
To say Dune transformed my love of sci-fi cinema is an understatement of pre-folded-space proportions. I didn’t read the books until after the movie, and I especially enjoyed the books that came later by Herbert’s son (some of them were enjoyed as audio books).
Now I feel like reading the whole thing again.