Children of Dune [2 Discs]

Children of Dune also has a wonderful cast of actors -- Alec Newman certainly seems to have matured as an actor since the first time he played Paul Muad'Dib Atreides, and Daniela Amavia made Paul's pre-born sister, Alia, a complex and fascinating character. I loved seeing James McAvoy as Leto II and Jessica Brooks as Leto's twin sister Ghanima, and it was also good to see Julie Cox return in the role of Irulan.

The biggest surprises in the cast by far were Susan Sarandon as Princess Wencisia and Alice Krige as Lady Jessica. A project like Children of Dune seems to be so far outside of Sarandon's normal milieu, yet she played the role of the treacherous Corrino princess very well. Alice Krige was an awesome replacement for Saskia Reeves in the role of Jessica (Ms. Reeves had to bow out of Children of Dune because she was pregnant when they began filming), and she is no stranger to science fiction, having previously played the Borg Queen in Star Trek: First Contact.

Although the Children of Dune DVD is noticeably lacking when it comes to special features (save for a featurette about the visual effects), it is one that I would definitely recommend to anyone who has a special affection for the world that Frank Herbert created.

I was pleasantly surprised after I watched and very much enjoyed the Sci Fi channel's 2000 miniseries, "Frank Herbert's Dune." At the time, I reconciled myself with the idea that this was the closest that Hollywood would come to portraying Herbert's epic. Thus, I looked forward to the airing "Children of Dune" with some enthusiasm but with low expectations.

I must admit that when I read details about the upcoming TV event, I had many misgivings: the changes in casting from the first miniseries, the fact that the script was a synthesis of the "Dune Messiah" and "Children of Dune" books, that the Atreides twins were to be teenagers instead of 9-year-olds, etc. Imagine my surprise when I found that the Sci Fi channel had done it again, and that I liked "Children of Dune" even better than their "Dune" miniseries.

If you are a die-hard Frank Herbert fan, I am not going to try to convince you that this is a worthy interpretation of "Dune." I will ask that you watch it with an open mind. However, if you are familiar with the stories and are a fan of science fiction, here are a few reasons why you should be a little forgiving and let yourself enjoy "Children of Dune":

- an excellent soundtrack, superior to that of both the Lynch movie and the original Sci Fi channel miniseries

- a bigger budget and improvements in special effects and in sets

- Alec Newman's reprised role as Muad'Dib (and as The Preacher) was powerful, both at Chani's death and at the climactic ending of the miniseries

- an improvement in the casting of Duncan Idaho, Stilgar, and to an extent the Lady Jessica (though unfortunately the new actress has been typecast in my head as the Borg Queen)

- a continued and interesting expansion of the Atreides adversaries' characters (House Corrino) in particular of Princesses Wensicia and Irulan (who in the books I never even cared about) though I wasn't too taken by Farad'n

- a brilliant teenage Leto Atreides II, who borrows bits of dialogue from "God Emperor of Dune" and makes me hope they make the next Herbert novel into a miniseries as well

- a script and a director who does not try to emulate Frank Herbert yet presents an interpretation of the saga which is respectful of it and which tries to stay true to the spirit of the novels

To conclude, it is well to note that the Dune storyline is in its purest form a Greek tragedy (according to Herbert, the Atreides ancestors are Agamemnon and the House of Atreus.) Both images and music carry the feel of great and noble deeds accomplished at the price of great pain and sorrow. This for me is the final reason that "Children of Dune" is worth watching: that you come to have a better understanding and to care deeply about both the characters and the Desert Planet. The miniseries was hardly over when I had to go looking for the DVD release date. I can only look forward to any special features that come with the DVD.