That other epic.....Dune
 

With the success of the movies based on the LOTR books, I began thinking about the other epic series of books, Dune. I read the LOTR books when I was in junior high school, and enjoyed them tremendously. LOTR is still a favorite. In high school, I read the Dune series of books, from Dune to God Emperor Dune. I always thought the Dune books were more adult in nature and they have always been my all time favorite series of fiction books.Though, I do think the series trailed off in quality after God Emperor and should have been stopped after Frank Herbert's death. I watched the Scifi Channel miniseries Dune and Children of Dune on DVD over ther Christmas Holiday. I thought the Scifi series was a pretty good effort, considering it's TV budget. I watch the LOTR films and I think, just think of what could be done with the Dune books given the same team of filmmakers that made LOTR. Dune is one epic that is still in search of a proper screen treatment.

Even with the recent successes of genre material I doubt this will see a big budget making of any time soon. The tv series was recent, and I don't anyone in the industry is about to forget the commercial mess that was David Lynch's Dune. Who knows, I'd watch it...but I don't know if anyone will take the risk.

I think Dune fans will have to be happy with the Sci-Fi versions for quite a while. I don't see anybody taking on a big-screen version again.

I just wish someone would give Alejandro Jordorowsky the money to make something close to the version of Dune that he wanted to make in the 70's. But I agree that even with the success of The Lord of the Rings, Dune won't get funding from anyone. As complex as The Lord of the Rings is, most of the problem is in deciding how much backstory to include. Dune, as a novel, I think, is harder to turn into a movie than Lord of the Rings. Besides, I think we'll end up seeing more fantasy movies, even if they're from lesser-known books, than more sci-fi.