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Dune -Extended Edition -Universal (1984)
Summary For those who couldn’t get enough gigantic worms (and really who can?) here’s about three hours worth. My Thoughts Digital Monkey Box historians will note that news of a better Dune edition was one of the first things to appear on this site. Several dozen delays and a couple of years later, it’s finally here. Since I've already reviewed the plot in all the detail I’m going get into, I’ll stick more to what I thought about this edition for this review. The real reason why fans will want to buy this edition is the much longer cut of the film. Unfortunately, this isn’t a new cut by any means and David Lynch had nothing to do with this release. Dune fans might have already seen this extended version on Laserdisc, television, or much worse (the way I saw it) on a bootlegged VHS tape. At the time I saw it a few years ago I wasn’t able to judge it very well since I was so excited to just see all the extra footage. Now, I’m at a point in my life when I realize that that a bunch of added footage doesn’t necessarily equal a better film. This extended version of Dune begins with a narrator who gives us both the history and the politics of the galaxy with some paintings serving for the visuals. The extra history is interesting enough, but the pictures accompanying the narration are a little less than spectacular. They also give away surprises which are better off not being revealed until later in the film, like what the Guild Navigator looks like. It’s also a bad sign of things to come, since there is a lot more narration than in the theatrical cut of Dune. This is quite a feat considering that the theatrical cut has enough narration to fill ten lesser messiah tales. I also noticed that in the extended version that some of the exposition and narration is completely pointless because there are many things that are repeated. At times it feels like this extended version is a primer for someone who’s never seen a science fiction film before. The rest of this cut of Dune is a great watch simply for the expansion of scenes that will already be intimately familiar to fans. Once you’ve seen it you might not watch it again. My preference still lies with the theatrical cut since many of the additions are clumsy and awkward in the extended edition. This might be a product of seeing the theatrical version so many times, but I can see why director David Lynch would want to separate himself from this project. The scene where Baron Harkonnen gloats over Jessica and Paul serves as a great example, because it’s so jarring. The transition between the Baron saying that Paul’s mother and son are dangerous to him leaving the room is strange, especially considering they cut out the moment when he spits on her. The best additions to the film are the scenes that expand on the Fremen, especially where they drain the water out of the man Paul murders in this version and when they acquire the water of life from a baby worm. The best of all the scenes has Patrick Stuart playing a space guitar. Now that’s fucking sweet. Still, I wish a little after effects work had gone into the extended edition. It really comes through that this cut is an incomplete sort of side project because the Fremen don’t have blue within blue eyes in the added scenes. I also wonder why certain scenes were cut out like the Baron’s more disgusting moments. There are also scenes that are found in the deleted scenes section that should have been in this cut, like the death of Thufir Hawat at the end. The surround mix is adequate for the job of handling the epic space story. Still, I feel like it could have used a little more pizzazz. At times it seems almost like your run of the mill sound mix. Most troubling are the few moments when dialogue sounded like it came from another film. The picture is like the sound, adequate but disappointing in some areas. As for the theatrical cut included on side A of this edition of Dune, it’s about as good as its going to get. Hell, I’d say that it’s better than the previous edition by default. What’s really important for fans of Dune to know is that this edition is the one to get if you don’t already have the previous one. If you already own the first edition then you’ll want to get this version if you’re a hardcore fan, otherwise you might want to consider renting this puppy. Extras If you’ve waited a few years for this edition to come out like I have, you’d expect that this would be a stellar release. Well, you’d certainly be wrong then wouldn’t you? The case starts you out on a good foot, because it’s pretty damn sweet. If you’re familiar with the special edition Xbox games then you’ve seen this sweet half metal/half plastic design. You’ll notice that this might not be the chosen one of DVDs when you put the disc in. It has some okay motion menus, but there’s nothing to get your nerd panties in a bundle over. The real treat on this edition are the deleted scenes that have a little introduction by Raphelia DeLorentis. I never knew that most of this stuff existed. The first of the deleted scenes is some more exposition by the Emperor’s daughter, followed by some Bene Gesserit stuff, then much much more. There’s a few featurettes in the extras round up beginning with “Designing Dune”, a nifty look at the pre-production art design. “Special Effects” was nice, but it’s also a lot shorter than it could have been. “Models and Miniatures” is totally worth watching for the section where they talk about how big of a pain the worms were. If you sense a pattern here, “Wardrobe Design” is all about the design of the costuming. You’ve got to watch this one to learn where the costumes for the Guild Navigators came from. For fans of looking at still photographs on their television there’s a fairly extensive collection of photographs for you to peruse. Finally, the “Production Notes” look familiar for good reason. They are on the previous release of Dune. While there’s a decent amount of stuff here, in the end I don’t think there’s enough to justify the wait for this edition. I really felt cheated that there isn’t a filmography. Just kidding about that one folks, I really haven’t lost my mind yet. Score Extended Cut: 7.0 Theatrical Cut: 9.0 Extras: 7.0 Edition: 7.0 -Paul
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