Even more than most of David Lynch's deliberately bizarre and idiosyncratic movies, Dune is a "love-it-or-hate-it" affair. An ambitious, epic, utterly mind-boggling--and, let's admit it, all-out weird--adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic science fiction novel, Dune remains one of the most controversial films in the director's exceedingly provocative career. The story (if Dune can be said to have just one story) is complex and convoluted in the epic tradition; it has

Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Usul Muad'Dib Atreides

something to do with political intrigue and a planet that is home to a precious spice and gigantic sand worms. Think Shakespeare's Henry IV with a dash of Tremors, and set in another galaxy. But despite plenty of strangely whispered voice-overs that explain the characters' thoughts (and endlessly detailed exposition), storytelling is not really among the film's strong points. There are, however, a lot of memorably fantastic/grotesque images, an extraordinary cast, and a soundtrack featuring Toto. I told you it was weird. Among the stars are Kyle MacLachlan, José Ferrer, Dean Stockwell, Brad Dourif, Sting, Kenneth McMillan, Patrick

Sting as Feyd-Rautha

Stewart, Sean Young, and Linda Hunt. --Jim Emerson

DVD features
Melange fans have a lot to be excited about with this impressive edition of Dune, though the "Extended Edition" label is a bit misleading. If you are expecting the mythic 4 hour "David Lynch preferred" version that is rumored to be sitting in a vault, don’t get your hopes up. This isn't it. In an attempt to quickly sober spice-fueled giddy fans, producer Raffaella De Laurentiis (daughter of Dino De Laurentiis) immediately reveals in the 'Deleted Scenes' introduction that the rumored 4 hour version is just that; a rumor. What this DVD set does contain is the 2 Hour 17 Minute original theatrical release digitally remastered, available for the first time in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and 5.1 surround sound. The presentation on this edition is a drastic improvement from the original letterboxed release. On the flipside of the DVD

Knife fight!

is the alternate 2 hour 57 minute version cut for television. As many fans know, this 'extended' version was disowned by Lynch, who insisted his name be replaced by that famous Hollywood pseudonym "Alan Smithee;" the name used by directors whose film was taken away and recut against their wishes. There is some new material in the 14 minutes of deleted scenes offering a bit more background into the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, the Kwisatz Haderach prophecy and the Fremen culture and their struggle. All other extras focus on the international production crew of Dune including the design team, special effects, and short documentaries on the miniature models and wardrobe designs. Disappointingly, there are no appearances in the bonus features by any of the original cast or Lynch himself. However, many of the production crew members talk openly about working with David Lynch and his artistic involvement in the visual process. To cap it off, this edition comes in a very stylish and sturdy DVD tin that opens like a keep case. --Rob Bracco

Further Explore the World Of Dune

Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 1)	Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles, Book 2)	Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)
Sci-Fi Action Films on DVD	The Dune TV Series	David Lynch Essentials

Extended doesn't mean better!

My negative comments are on THIS version of the movie, not the story itself or the origional 2hr release of the movie. As with all negative comments left, I'm sure I'll get some negative feedback on this review. . .but here goes nothin:

So. . .as a BIG fan of of the original trilogy and Lynch's version of the movie I had to watch the recent release of the Extended version of Dune.

I heard the original movie had six hours that was cut down to the original release of just over two hours. So when the three hour version came out I anticipated great things. . . but was let down.

For someone who has never read the book the first thirty minutes adds additional narriation and character introduction to get one understanding who the players of the story are. Fine. But, for those of us familiar with the story, the extra drawings and narrations aren't of any additional benefit and thus most of the extra 40 minutes of footage is wasted on this portion of the movie.

Some scenes the narriation broke the pace of the scene letting the scene seem dull and flat. For example, when we are first introduced to Paul while his three mentors walk into the room the narriation breaks the scene to introduce each of the three mentors. A great ploy to get any newbie acquaintd to the story of Dune but the pace of the scene was dramatically interrupted to do so. Just didn't work for me.

Other scenes that were included in the original release are changed. Dialogue either cut or edited differently, thus if the viewer if familiar with the orginal release the scene leaves the viewer with a sense of wrongness.

For example, the Baron never spits in Lady Jessica's face, the scene is highly altered in this version leaving it seemingly dull and sensless for what little there was of it.

Another example, we aren't prepared for Chani's introduction via Paul's visions as in the previous release. So when he meets her in real life and says "Oh, the woman of my dreams," we don't get the connection because one hasn't been strongly established, thus their growing love is not believable in this version.

So down with the complaining, what did I like about this version?

There were some fun extra scenes though. For example Gurney as a troubador quotes some poetry as he is assigned a task by the Duke. When he leaves everyone is laughing at Gurney's dramatics. This was a nice touch into the character of Gurney. Also we get to see them milking the young worm for the Water of Life. Another cool scene.

OVERALL:
Even with the few apprecaited extra scenes overall I think this version is far inferior to the 2+ hour version. Read the book, watch the original release and enjoy, but only die hard fans need even bother with a rental if they must see something different.

THIS IS NOT THE LONGEST VERSION OF DUNE

THIS VERSION IS OKAY IF YOU WANT TO SEE DELETED SCENES AND SOME
PRODUCTION STUFF, WHICH ISN'T A LOT. IF YOU WANT THE LONG LASER DISC VERSION FEATURING THE INFAMOUS HEART PLUG SCENE, RABBAN EATING THE COWS EAR ETC, THEN YOU NEED THE BOOTLEG VERSION, WHICH REALLY IS THE BEST, COMBINING THE THEATRICAL RELEASE AND
THE TELEVISION VERSION.

Loved the book, loved Lynch's interpretation, but this release stinks.

This release was a disappointment. Were it not for the existence of the original release on the flipside, this travesty wouldn't merit a space in the bargain bin, much less a spot on my shelf.

I realize this has always been a "love it or hate it" flick. I happen to be one of those who loved the Lynch screen interpretation of Herbert's work on its own merits, my opinion of it unclouded by my love of the book. Now, having just watched the "extended" release, I am left wondering how it is possible that such hamfisted and amatuerish post-production work even makes it out the door. I can only assume that nobody involved with this junk even watched their end product. Specifically:
- They pulled the plug on the heartplug scene. Possibly because this was too graphic for television. Possibly there were objectionable overtones.
- Say wha? In the beginning of the film, they dubbed over some of Emperor Shaddam's dialogue with the Navigator so poorly that I thought something was wrong with the DVD player.
- Deja vu all over again. They used the same film footage in multiple scenes on multiple occasions. (Anyone can build an extra forty minutes into any film if they re-use the same scenes). On at least one occasion these scenes included dialogue. Which is great if you happened to not catch what the actor said the first time you heard it.
- Don't it make my brown eyes...? Dr. Kyne's eyes are Fremen blue in one scene, and brown in another added scene. His are not the only Fremen brown eyes to be found. C'mon, If Ted Turner can figure it out, why can't you guys?

This re-edit was so poorly done, it's almost a parody of the original film.I cannot believe that Lynch would have agreed to have anything to do with this "extended" release either. Unless, perhaps, he desired to further discredit a film he himself was not particularly proud of to begin with.

My advice, if you buy this release, is to watch the extended version once to see how bad "bad" could be, then take a big black magic marker and cross out that side of the DVD so you won't make that mistake again.