7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The twins of Paul "Muad'dib" Atreides become embroiled in the political landscape of Arrakis and the rest of the universe.
Starring: Alec Newman, Julie Cox, Ian McNeice, Steven Berkoff, James McAvoyAdventure | 100% |
Fantasy | 75% |
Foreign | 14% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
None
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Maybe it was Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune’s opening shot of a heraldic banner unfurling in a violent snowstorm with an unfortunate horde of dead fighters scattered on the frosty ground which finally made evident to me what has probably long been obvious to many viewers: Frank Herbert’s Dune franchise bears certain unmistakable similarities to George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones. In running to the Google machine after this sudden revelation, I of course discovered that these similarities have long been the stuff of internet chatter, which wasn't all that surprising since I'm often on the tail end of such phenomena. That said, a cursory sampling of sites that came up in my initial search suggests that there doesn’t seem to be any firm evidence that Martin ever overtly mentioned Herbert or the Dune books as providing any inspiration for his own tomes. That said, it’s at least marginally feasible to simply replace a few family names, the general setting, and exchange dragons for sandworms, with the basic underpinnings of rivalries and the quest for power shared between the two tales remaining largely interchangeable. Children of Dune was highly regarded in its day for continuing with the miniseries adaptation of Herbert’s gargantuan saga that was begun a couple of years earlier with Dune. Fans of Herbert’s work had long clamored for a more fully realized adaptation of the source novel(s) after David Lynch’s Dune appeared in 1984 to some pretty widely variant reactions. The show may not have aged perfectly well, though, with some of its overheated soap operatic elements coming off as hokey, a descriptor some may feel is also relevant with regard to what were in their day highly praised special effects, but which to modern day eyes more used to better CGI, can come off as positively quaint at times.
Frank Herbert's Children of Dune is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Umbrella Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is often a tale of two presentations, with practical elements like sets and costumes offering rather good overall levels of detail and fine detail. Fine stitchery and at times very small woven patterns can be easily discerned in a lot of the costumes, and props often offer similar texturing. The palette is very nicely suffused throughout the presentation, with oranges and yellows especially vivid. The CGI on the other hand can look incredibly soft at times, a tendency which, when coupled with some of the more "sepia" toned moments, started to remind of me early greenscreen "epics" like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow at times. The special effects won an Emmy (as mentioned below in the Supplements section), but they probably simply won't completely pass muster for modern eyes. This is perhaps most noticeable in some of the digital compositing which places characters in barren desert environments, where things can look patently fake a lot of the time. CGI with regard to characters is a good deal more convincing, and some of the scenes with sandworms are very well done.
Frank Herbert's Children of Dune features a nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Huge washes of sound courtesy of effects like flying craft or even elements of Brian Tyler's score can pan through the side and rear channels quite invitingly, and the glut of (supposedly) outdoor material does offer regular assortments of ambient environmental sounds. Indoor "palace intrigue" scenes can also have a fair amount of surround activity, though this tends to be established with lone effects being placed discretely in individual channels. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this presentation.
In the first such instance of this happening that I can recall in my personal reviewing experience, while this disc is officially labeled region free (with "A, B, C" logos on the back), and the main miniseries played fine for me in both my Region A and Region B players, the supplements are Region B locked, so you will need to have either a Region Free or Region B player to access them. While ostensibly in HD, these all look upscaled:
Frank Herbert's Children of Dune manages to digest a frankly ungainly amount of material into a relatively straightforward and understandable miniseries. There's a lot of relationship dysfunction running rampant in this piece which makes it play kind of like a science fiction cousin of an old Douglas Sirk film, but anyone who enjoyed the miniseries version of Dune will most likely enjoy this one, too. Technical merits are generally solid, and for Herbert completists if for no one else, Frank Herbert's Children of Dune comes Recommended.
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