1984 Dune extended edition

[anrchy]

I'm about to throw this on!

Seen it a gazillion times since I was a kid. Even played the video game which i have to say in its time was really good and felt like playing the movie.

First time watching the movie after learning about DMT though. i love how they share such similarities.

Good thread for talk about the movie and the other off shoots, Children of Dune, Dune 2000 ect.

Hope there isnt already a thread on this.

 

[Mister_Niles]

I couldn't get your link to work, but I'm assuming they still haven't released the long version.

I wish.

It's locked up in the vaults of the American Film Institute. My friend and I fantasized about breaking in to watch it, but I'm sure it would take less than 4hrs. for the cops to show up. I read that only Herbert and Lynch have seen that cut. I also read somewhere else that the unreleased version was originally over 6hrs. long. That could be b.s. That's getting into Warhol territory.

 

[Vodsel]

I also read somewhere else that the unreleased version was originally over 6hrs. long. That could be b.s. That's getting into Warhol territory.

So it seems.

Contrary to popular rumors, no 6-hours long director's cut, ever existed. The only "director's cut" of the film was the one shown theatrically; Lynch never had a hand in any other version of Dune. Lynch's original intention was for Dune to have been about 3+ hours long. To that end, about 5 hours was shot. This is also confirmed by author 'Frank Herbert' wrote in the introduction to the book "Eye". It would be impossible for a 6-hour version to exist and even a 5-hour Dune would mean the inclusion of many scenes never intended for the final version (for reasons of redundancy, etc.). It is only necessary to read any of the final scripts for the film to realize that there was never any intention of making Dune more than 4 hours in length at the very most: the script for anything more just was never there.

The long, near three hours TV release of the movie was disowned by Lynch, and his name is not featured in the credits. And considering his regrets about the movie, is unlikely that a long "director's cut" is ever released.

But hey, who's complaining... Dune fans have the motherload of books, videogames and spinoffs

And I agree with anrchy that the first two computer games were excellent.

 

[Burnttoast22]

If you want the best possible version (IMHO) of Lynch's Dune try and track down 'The Third Stage' Edit.

This follows the TV cut but all the awful stuff has been removed (terrible CGI, reversed shots etc. etc.) and all the deleted scenes from the special edition ahsve been reincorporated back into the movie in the right places and all the CGI work has been redone so the Freman all have blue eyes etc.

This the closest thing Ive found to the fabled cut that never existed.

If you're having trouble finding it drop me a PM.

 

[Pandora]

Just one old woman's opinion who has read every single original Dune books multiple times and seen every single version of the movies multiple times.

The David Lynch version was terrible compared to the book. But long ago the Sci Fi (now known as Syfy) channel published Dune and then combined Messiah and Children of Dune together and it was amazing.

Although they didn't have a lot of money for anything other than nice clothes it was still clear that they had read way more than the cliff notes of the books and understood that what needed to happen at the end was not rain on the planet of Dune which would have collapsed the entire political economy of the Galaxy. David Lynch and his screenwriters went for flashy visuals and a quick buck rather than paying attention to what Frank Herbert was trying to tell us.

 

[Burnttoast22]

I can only encourage you to seek out the cut I mentioned above I think you may be pleasently surprised. Its so much better than the theatrical cut and the extra scenes really help with the narative. For example you see the ceremony where they drown a worm.

Interestingly I had the exact opposite experience with the Sci-fi channel movies, I absolutely hated them. IMO Half the actors were wrong, it seemed the director purposely refused to have any poinant scene from the Lynch version included in his version which really hurt the story and while they did include more lore it was still a very poor reflection of the source material.

The only version of the movie I can watch now is the Third Stage Edit.

I quite enjoy the new movie but its still lacking; again I find the choices for certain characters to be completely baffling and a lot of the 'feel' of the universe feels off which for me at least I think Lynch nailed.

 

[Mitakuye Oyasin]

I added the links below to an old Movies worth watching thread recently, but I'll add them here as well.

Apparently some Dune fans found a bunch of footage that had been edited out of the movie and put it back in, adding another 45 minutes from the 'director's cut'. Since Frank Herbert seemed to have a fascination with psychoactive compounds, I figured there would be some here that would appreciate this fan extended version. Looking forward to watching this soon.

Dune 1984 Alternative Edition Redux

4K version