/me finally finishes watching the Dune mini-series. Not everybody liked it and there were problems with it, but overall I was very impressed! They stayed more true to the book than I expected and even showed more than the book about the fates of Duncan, Beast Rabban, & the 1st Leto baby. The mini-series took itself a lot more seriously than the Lynch movie so that eliminates the camp value. I liked the sets & costumes even though they gave Dune a more Phantom Menace-like feel than the brassy film noir of Lynch's vision. The CG sandworms were pretty well done, but they botched the scene where they first appear; it was much more dramatic to see the sandcrawler get eaten in the movie. Surprisingly they gave Princess Irulan a much bigger role than in the book; there were too many characters so she filled in for the redundant Countess Fenring & part of Thufir's exposition. I hear Sci-Fi is planning to continue doing Dune books. I'm in. ;-) A lot of people I talked to said it was too long, dragged out, too political, too much talk not enough action, story gets darker later, etc. but then most anime fans said the same thing about LoGH, y'know. ^_^ In both cases I've been witness to a lot of history & drama and seen some things I'd rather not have scene (not a spoiler to say that) and now I have too much invested in the stories -- quitting is no longer an option. Kind of like Star Wars, there is something so *compelling* in shows about a galactic empire in upheaval. ;-) Theo