How is the quality on those Discs? I would love to have them! Also are those Anamorphic at all?

You know, I've had a similar POV for a while now, and with the news that Fincher had washed his hands of the studio recut of Alien3 (how do you make the little 3?) I think Universal should really get cracking on something. Depending on how well the Alien3 recut turns out, maybe Universal could get the same guy to take stab at Dune.

A remaster of the theatrical cut, and a second disc full of the deleted scenes would be a good start to helping us Dune fans, which from the looks of this thread, are quite a few.

The Japanese laserdisc contains the original theatrical cut and the MCA TV cut discussed above.

I like your father's taste. He is welcome to come watch movies at my home anytime.

A perfectly acceptable alternative, not requiring any Lynch input, at all.

I just have to see Stewart playing the baliset.

(I'm still semi-convinced that he just hates the whole idea of home video, deluxe Eraserhead notwithstanding.)

DUNE (1984) (TV EXTENDED Version) Airs Thursday, July 17, at 7PM ET/PT SciFi Channel

Filmmaker David Lynch's singular vision encompasses this adaptation of Frank Herbert's popular novel. The desert planet of Arrakis has been taken over by the Harkonnens, oppressive conquerors who desire the precious spice that lies beneath the sands. A young warrior-messiah attempts to lead the people in an uprising against the empire and its gigantic, flesh-eating worms. The cast includes Kyle MacLachlan (Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks), Brad Dourif (the Child's Play films, Wormtongue in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers) and Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Professor Xavier in the X-Men films), along with Linda Hunt, Virginia Madsen and Sting. This special four-hour TV version includes material not seen in the original theatrical release. The Dune novels were later adapted as the SCI FI Pictures miniseries events Frank Herbert's Dune and Frank Herbert's Children of Dune.

Airs Thursday, July 17, at 7PM ET/PT

thanks for the post on the extended version playing on TV!!!!! hello Mr. All-in-Wonder Radeon.

j

Sorry for the earlier misinformation. That's what I get for believing SciFi's TV commercials

Just because something is longer, doesn’t necessarily make it better. If Lynch chooses not to revisit the movie, that’s his right as an artist. I’m actually a little shocked by the number of people suggesting the studio bring in someone else for yet another re-cut.

I don't think Lynch can have it both ways, essentially washing his hands of the project, claiming studio interference but also demanding they leave his original cut alone. Fight for it or walk away, one or the other.

The more I think about it, the better milo's idea is: remaster the theatrical cut one one disc and save the pertinent scenes from the miniseries cut on a second disc. Just excise the lame effects sequences, the voiceover and Mrs. Phillip's 3rd grade class painting of the House Corrino. Simple. Of course, it's too simple and logical to ever get done.

Many of you guys are just a little too in awe of the auteur theory, IMHO.

Well, while the prologue was bad (drawings and all), the extended scenes DID add some sense into the movie - especially concerning the Fremen, Bene Gesserit and the Harkonnens. It's much easier to understand like this....

Lynch has never "demanded" or fought anything. He walked away, plain and simple. He told them that they can do whatever they want to the movie, but if they recut it they should take his name off of it. And that is exactly what happened with the "Alan Smithee" version.

I don't think Lynch would give a crap if Universal hired someone else to come in and recut the movie. It's Universal at this point who doesn't want to do that, because it looks bad from a public relations standpoint to go behind a director's back and alter his movie, even if the director doesn't care and wants nothing to do with it. The Alan Smithee credit is a black mark that negatively affects sales.

In the late 90's Universal tried to make peace with Lynch and offered him the chance to come back and rework the material for a proposed Signature Collection laserdisc. Lynch refused, told them to do whatever they wanted but without his participation, and they backed off and scrapped the project.

Josh, I'm not doubting your facts, only your conclusion. The very fact that people constantly ask about this cut, that there are numerous DVD versions in other regions, that SciFi channel plays it all the time, and most of all, that there was enough demand for a Laserdisc set with it, tells me that the Alan Smithee credit don't amount to a hill of beans to most people. Poorly constructed or not, fans want that extra footage, and I think Universal is sadly mistaken if they don't think there's some kind of market for a special edition of this. Even without Lynch, it would still be a far sight better than the barebones non-16x9 disc we have now.
If he's washed his hands, then fine: remaster his cut, then have somebody recut a longer version. I bet you could do a bang up job of it

"This special four-hour TV version"

You mean 3 hours of movie and 1 hour of commercials.

I would love to get my hands dirty in that, but sadly it will never be.

I used the term "demanding" more in reference to the view voiced by a few that Lynch's compromsed-from-the-start theatrical version is somehow sacrosanct. According to your thorough account of the events, he wasn't happy with it from the beginning.

His walking away and tossing it all in the ditch just seems churlish and irresponsible, to me. To wit...

That's just plain lame, on his part.


Agreed, completely. The title card reading "Directed by Alan Smithee" is dreaded by connoisseurs, but so are "Directed by Michael Bay", and "Directed by Joel Schumacher" but that doesn't stop them.

The theatrical cut was the best compromise that he could deliver under the circumstances, but this was a For-Hire project for him and he had a miserable time on the production. By the end, he was ready to be done with it and move on.

Lynch is not a For-Hire kind of director. He is an artist who prefers to work on his own personal projects. This was a life-changing event for him. He decided from that point that he would never work under those circumstances again.

Lynch does not consider Dune to be one of "his" movies in the same way the Stanley Kubrick never felt that Spartacus was his. If this had been a personal project that he had been screwed over on, that would be different. But this was just a job. He has tried to put that part of his life behind him.

What do you do for a living? If your boss started doing something that made your job hell for 4 long years of your life, until you finally decided to finish up on whatever project you were working on and find employment elsewhere, would you want to go back to that old job 20 years later to clean up a couple of mistakes that may have happened due to someone else's interference at the time? Would you be "irresponsible" for telling them that you've moved on to other things and it is their problem to deal with now?

Josh, none of this is worth getting angry over.

I'm endorsing milo's excellent suggestion: remastered and improved theatrical cut in a 2 discer w/ the deleted scenes.

Who's angry? I didn't mean to give that impression. I apologize if I did.

There is a thread in the International forum right now about the newest German 4-disc set that you might be interested in.

This part seemed a bit angry.

I understand where you're coming from. You obviously like Lynch and his work, and I definitely don't (at least post-Blue Velvet.)

I do, however, love Kubrick and almost every charge that's been leveled at Lynch has been used on Stanley, as well. So I empathize.

In the end, it's no big deal.