Stars: William Hurt, Julie Cox, Alec Newman, Ian McNeice, Matt Keeslar, Saskia Reeves, Giancarlo Giannini, Robert Russell

Director: John Harrison

Summary: A box set featuring all three episodes of the sci-fi trilogy where the universe is ruled by an empire of noble groups who compete for control of the planets.

A more thorough and straightforward adaptation of Frank Herbert's beloved sci-fi novel than the 1984 David Lynch version, this six-hour Sci Fi Channel miniseries, written and directed by John Harrison, follows the Atreides family's adventures on the desert planet Arrakis. Far into the future, various factions fight for the valuable melange spice that exists exclusively on Arrakis and is protected by fierce, gigantic sandworms. While the indigenous, blue-eyed Arrakisians wait for their Messiah to free them from the corrupt Harkonnens, the family Atreides endures infighting and political intrigue. This sprawling and reverent production features a cast that includes William Hurt, Giancarlo Giannini, Alec Newman, Julie Cox, and Matt Keeslar.

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Children of Duneis the sequel to the Sci-Fi Channel's Frank Herbert's Dune(2000), and surpasses that earlier mini-series in every way. The screenplay is again by John Harrison, who has combined Herbert's novels Dune Messiahand Children of Duneinto three 84-minute TV movies, and continues the labyrinthine space opera with little concession to the uninitiated. Indeed, this a very rare attempt to put the complexity of printed SF on screen, and if the result is sometimes rather hermetic it is perhaps inevitable when realising Herbert's Byzantine, pseudo-Shakespearean tragedy. The same tableaux-like qualities infuse the new Star Warsfilms and the similarities between Herbert's and Lucas' worlds have never been more obvious than here.

Performances range from excellent--Julie Cox, Alice Krige, Alex Newman (much better here than in the first series) and James McAvoy--to a surprisingly wooden Susan Sarandon. The set-pieces are exceptional, with many individual images sufficiently memorable to stand comparison with the work of Ridley Scott. Production-wise this is surely the most beautiful mini-series ever made, with gorgeous lighting by cinematographer Arthur Reinhart, breathtaking set design from Ondrej Nekvasil and a ravishing score from Brian Tyler. By TV standards the CGI is first-rate and, though rarely looking real, establishes a credible science fictional universe. Even when rather baffling, the production achieves moments of dramatic grandeur and a sense of wonder not experienced in TV SF since Babylon 5.

On the DVD:Children of Duneon DVD has one feature-length episode on each disc. The picture is presented at 1.77:1 anamorphically enhanced for widescreen TVs. Shot in high definition, its clarity and detail is superb with virtually no blemishes to the image at all. Colour has a painterly beauty that is remarkable. However, some shots look inaccurately framed, with what was presumably a 4:3 image being a little too closely cropped for widescreen presentation. It's a minor flaw and really only noticeable in some close-ups. Sound is a richly luxuriant Dolby Digital 5.1, which gives no ground to any modern blockbuster movie. Perfunctory extras are confined to the first disc and consist of an interesting but short look at the special effects (13 minutes), a storyboard comparison for one key scene and a photo gallery. --Gary S Dalkin

Aspect Ratio:	1.77 Wide Screen, 16:9 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Scene Access, Interactive Menus, Trailer, Making Of Part 1 The Filmmakers Vision, Making Of Part 2 The Production Story, Stills Gallery
Year:	2000
Release Date:	November 26, 2001
Runtime:	288 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	22180 D V D
Keywords:	Frank, Box, General, Three, Dune, Fiction, Set, Science, Horror, Discs, Sci, Fi, Herbert's
Genre:	Science Fiction