Dune at 50: Movies, Miniseries, and Missed Opportunities

The earliest, grandest attempt to bring Herbert’s opus to theaters was undoubtedly Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Dune. In 1975, the Chilean-French director had the film rights, a script, and a massive storyboard ready to roll. He assembled a team of artists and designers whose collective genius could power a decade of science fiction films (and, arguably, did): H.R. Giger and Jean Giraud for set and character design, Dan O’Bannon for special effects, and Pink Floyd for music. Stars like Orson Welles, David Carradine, Gloria Swanson, and Mick Jagger were recruited to play on-screen roles, with Salvador Dali poised to lend his own brand of crazy to the role of Emperor Corrino, at a reported salary of $100K per hour.
It looked like Jodorowsky’s Dune was going to be enormous. Unfortunately, money problems cropped up early on, with the production losing a huge chunk of the budget before pre-production was complete. Convincing studios to back the venture proved difficult, as Jodorowsky’s treatment didn’t exactly stick to the source material—nor, with a planned running time of 14 hours, could it hope to resemble a traditional film. Better spring for the extra large tub of popcorn.
Even though this version was never made, it deeply influenced the future of cinematic science fiction. Some have suggested films like Alien would never have existed if Jodorowsky didn’t first take a stab at Dune. The documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune is filled with all the heartbreaking details, including tons of artwork and stories to help soothe the pain of an epic movie that was never meant to be.
Dune tries to move on

The Dune movie everybody knows about was finally released in 1984, with avant garde director David Lynch at the helm. The film bore the Dune name and featured familiar characters and plot points, but most of the philosophy and detail hit the cutting room floor. It received mixed reviews from critics, and underperformed at the box office despite a lavish production and a star-studded cast. Yet, perhaps, studio meddling was partially to blame: In the introduction to his short story collection Eye, Frank Herbert expressed his appreciation for the full, unedited version of the David Lynch film, and lamented that so much had to be removed for public consumption.
More recently, Paramount Pictures announced a fresh adaptation was in development in 2008. Details remained scarce for almost a year, and then the director suddenly dropped out of the project. Another director was brought in and a new script created, but again, nothing happened. In March 2011, Paramount officially backed out. The rights holder is still pursuing the project, but no news has leaked in nearly five years.
Dune gets a little screen time
The mid-2000s were great years for Dune fans. The Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy) went to great lengths to produce an accurate, entertaining, and faithful miniseries adaptation of the first chunk of Herbert’s saga. The result was a three part, six hour miniseries covering the events of Dune, Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune, appropriately titled Frank Herbert’s Dune. It debuted to general critical acclaim, and was the network’s highest rated program for several years.
Apart from altering a few plot points and showing the limitations of a made-for-TV budget, Frank Herbert’s Dune was a marvelous piece of work. Most of the books’ intrigue and suspense was preserved in smart detail, allowing both fans and franchise newbies to sit and stare in amazement at the world Herbert had created. Plus, William Hurt as Duke Leto!
Everywhere else, there’s Dune
Dune has made several small appearances outside of the TV and film worlds. A board game materialized in the early 80s, gaining enough popularity to warrant a few expansions. A collectible card game worked its way to a limited release in 1997, though licensing issues and parent company buyouts meant only a few thousand sets were printed. There were even a few Dune video games released between 1992 and 2001, one of which is still talked about today as a foundational title in the strategy genre.
All that remains
Off the page, the future of Dune remains uncertain, but there’s cause for hope. The rapturous what-might-have-been reception to Jodorowsky’s Dune has reinvigorated the fan base and put the franchise back into the public eye in a big way. It’s only so long before our remake-obsessed culture gets to witness another stab at adapting one of the greatest sci-fi stories of them all.
We’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of Dune throughout 2015. View the complete article series here.