David Lynch was the first to take a stab at bringing Dune to celluloid, and he did a very... eccentric job. In a way, I really enjoy it. It shows how two people can read the same book, with the same words, and the same dialog, but see it so differently. Lynch's twisted imagination really shows itself in his Dune. I think Lynch saw the word "feud" in the novel and used it as the primary motif that ruled all the film's artistic decisions. However, the movie uses voice-overs in almost every scene, so I must admit that it sucks. When a director needs to use voice-overs to tell a story, you know he's desperate. Narration is for books, not movies. There are two things that I hate in films and TV: 1. narrators and voice-overs, 2. actors who whisper. Speak up! You're in a frikkin' movie! Anyway, Lynch did a crappy job on Dune version 1.

Next, the Sci-Fi channel gave it a try with a mini-series. I liked it because it took its time to tell the story more coherently without voice-overs whispering in the audience's ears. However, production quality was undeniably TV-quality, not big budget. You could easily tell that the desert was just a small sound stage. In a movie called "Dune", you really should have a good budget on the desert scenes! "Arrakis! Dune! Desert planet!" Idiots.

Also, the script was unpolished and often failed to make clear the plotting, scheming, and double-crossing, despite the long scenes of wooden dialog. I don't understand why they felt the need to add more characters to the story, like Irulan. The story had plenty of strong women. There was no need to add more. Dune is a hard enough story to portray on screen (apparently...), so don't shoot yourself in the foot by adding more complexity to it. Irulan appears at the end of the story in Herbert's original, and I think it is an interesting reveal in the end-game. What kind of person is Irulan, who promises to be the only one in the feud who can keep the human universe together? By keeping her invisible for most of the story, I think the impact of her arrival is increased a great deal. Good writing and direction would be able to pull this off.

Ok, I've given myself away. I'm a Dune fan. It's the kind of story that gets better with age. Frank Herbert clearly saw oil for what it is: a finite resource that will soon run out and has the potential to destroy human civilization as we know it today. In the end-game, whoever controls the last reserves of oil stands to win it all. How might that play out? How is it playing out today? Who are the big players? It's science fiction at its best, I say!

Good luck to Peter Berg on his attempt at Dune. Third time's a charm? I would like to see the rest of the series brought to life, so I'm hoping that Berg's Dune will be the start of a great new sci-fi franchise.

In other news, Berg is also set to do a Bran Mak Morn film. Could this be paving the way for a big-budget The Call of Cthulhu film? Geeks will dream.

The acting overall was good, with some great laugh out loud moments. Cowboy gave me some good laughs, especially when he tried to deny frequenting a website about hugging. Alan Thicke is a bit awkward as the father. I hope he can ease up on the fromage in future episodes. David W. Kopp was great as Ethan, suitably average but with geek flair orbiting him at all times. He plays the straight man in contrast to the abundance of comic relief, being the island of sanity in an otherwise absurd show.

The pop art interludes are a nice touch, being visual (and in my opinion better) versions of the ones in the book. After Kaitlin reveals that she’s from Florida, an interlude appears showing a Florida orange with snow falling on it, alluding to how frosty Kaitlin is to the other reluctant members of JPod. Cute.

The episode flew by at a fast pace, like most of Coupland’s books, and the closing scene left me wanting more. Finally, I’ve got something to watch on Tuesday nights! I recommend JPod to all geeks and programmers, and their family and friends who want a glimpse of what we do. It’s good enough to pull me away from my laptop for an hour, and that’s saying a lot!

(Confession: I had my laptop on my lap throughout the entire episode. I have no editor, so I'm not changing that last line.)

Now, time to play some Bonobo records.

Geeks Can Write Screenplays Too

Back a few decades ago, there was this independent film maker named George Lucas who wrote a fresh new script for a movie called Star Wars. Audiences went into this movie and were amazed and thrilled by what they saw. As a group, they shared in that experience as only movie audiences can. Is Lucas the only filmmaker with fresh fantasy/sci-fi ideas?

There are some great writers working in TV and film today. J. J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are three writers that I have become a fan of through Lost. Clearly they have both fresh ideas and the skill to write good dialog (a weakness of Star Wars). Currently they are working on Star Trek XI, sure to be next year’s Christmas blockbuster.

It’s nice that they will cash in on the Star Trek franchise, but given the chance to create their own franchise from the ground up, would they take it? What writer would turn down such an offer? Create your own mythology, characters, plot, worlds, everything! I’ve never heard an aspiring writer say he was in it to adapt existing stories. Sounds tedious to me.

So Lucasfilm, how about you hire some new geek writers and help them start some new franchises? Please?

Adapt THIS!

Here are some adaptations worth looking at:

Watchmen: Based on the 12-issue comic series written by Alan Moore.

A Song of Ice and Fire: An HBO series based on the amazing fantasy series by George R. R. Martin. This project sounds too ambitious to be true, but I hope it will be half as good as the books.

World of Warcraft: I have no idea how this MMO will be adapted into a movie. I expect it will be awful. Sadly, I also expect that I will see it opening week.

Michael Moorcock’s Elric Saga: This is a fantasy writer that I want to get into. There are so many books in his “multiverse” that I don’t know where to start... Anyone have suggestions? It was announced in 2003 that an Elric movie was in the works, but nothing has materialized yet.

Coraline: Adaptation of Neil Gaiman's award-winning novella for children. Surely Gaiman can write some great new screenplays?