Re Lynch's Dune, it is a bit underwhelming that the emperor with (at least nominal) control of "the known universe" can only bring so few troops with him and they are defeated by a desert people of one planet.
Even worse was the battle between the Atreides and the Harkonnen armies. Pretty small scale for sides that controlled one planet each
You have to realize that the Emperor and the Harkonnens vastly underestimated the number of Fremen and the territory they controlled. They had no idea that the worms could be ridden. And there are many instances in our own history where a war is won or lost, based on one small battle involving relatively small numbers of soldiers.
Also, there was the necessity for secrecy so the Landsraad wouldn't get wind of what was going on. Some of the Imperial fighters were wearing Harkonnen uniforms.
It was actually pretty hilarious, how the Imperial Sardaukar were supposedly such ferocious soldiers... they didn't stand a chance against Atreides-trained Fremen.
I don't care how faithful it would be to the book. I just want to see the closest approximation to LSD a visual medium can provide.
Then I suggest googling. The photos are out there. Just please don't post any of them here. They're revolting.
IMDB says miniseries Feyd hasn't really done anything apart from some bit parts and voice work. Same with the guy who played Paul. He was passable in Dune but excellent in Children of Dune. At least James McAvoy's career didn't die in that movie.
Gah. I never liked Leto II in the books, and I didn't like him in the miniseries, either. I get why they had to use older actors to play Leto and Ghanima; there's no way they could have found child actors skilled enough to pull off the subtleties and nuances necessary for the roles, and today's audiences would have been upset at the thought of a 9-year-old Ghanima marrying an adult Farad'n. But as it is, casting adult actors means the Dune fanfic pages contain some pretty awful Leto/Ghanima incest stories...
I dunno. I liked William Hurt as Leto. It added some much needed gravitas to the cast and I can't say Das Boot Man left me with any impression besides the fact his beard was the exact same color as the walls on Caladan. I thought Hurt did a good job at bringing a sense of world weariness to the part.
Jurgen Prochnow knocked it out of the ballpark, as far as I'm concerned. I thought he was very believable as the regal, honorable Duke who knew he was being set up somehow, but was determined to win. Unfortunately, it never occurred to any of the Atreides that a Suk Doctor could be broken and turned against them. And it was extremely obvious that Prochnow's version of Leto loved his family.
William Hurt? His Leto had the personality of a piece of cardboard.
That doesn't bother me at all. Susan Sarandon was so delightfully evil and left her teeth on every bit of scenery. Often, the best characters in B Movies are those who completely ham it up.
The thing is, Wensicia is supposed to be an evil villain. Not a campy villain.
When a character inspires me to create this lolpic, I know she's failed as a villain:
And she's too old to be Irulan's
younger sister. That's the whole point of Irulan marrying Paul, thereby enabling him to assume the Imperial throne with some semblance of legality. She's the eldest daughter, and Shaddam IV had no sons. It was made very clear in the novel that Irulan's husband would be the next Emperor.
hahahahaha they're just holding kids' jumpropes in that scene
F for production value
You take props where you can get them. I know from my RL experience in musical theatre that function and ease of use is more important than how something looks. Get something that works, and then alter how it looks, if it's important enough to bother with. We once made a caveman's club out of a toy plastic baseball bat, covered in papier-mache, and spray-painted brown. I still have that prop; it was a souvenir I was allowed to keep, from a show we did over 30 years ago.
Rope is rope, and the only difference is what it's made of. There's an in-book explanation, but the real-world situation was that the movie was shot in Mexico, and the production company had a hell of a time getting props, costumes, and equipment into the country and finished film out of the country. Part of the reason the production costs escalated was because they had to pay bribes to get stuff in and out. Actors and crew were smuggling stuff in their personal luggage - bits of costumes, props, etc.
I really do recommend reading
The Making of Dune, by Ed Naha. It's got lots of interviews with cast and crew, and tells how the movie was made and why some of what was filmed ended up not being used. They filmed almost every major part of the story except the banquet scene. It's too bad Jamis' funeral wasn't included.
Whoever cast her clearly didn't read the novels. Irulan was the eldest of the five Corrino princesses, and there is no way in hell that Susan Sarandon is younger than Julie Cox.
Dali? 
