Are we being too Literal

@Rickk...so true...lol...soooo true....they also braught in some really messed up guy I forget his name...obscure director.,..and he messed the whole thing up with his outlandish ideas!!! think he was an "indie" type director but his name escapes me, it was biblical sounding though.

Lynch is really capable of making good movies though, at least I though The Elephant Man was outstanding.

@Rickk... Oh YES! You jogged my memory now. I forgot they did release a newer 2 disc DVD version a few years ago! I should make a note to pick that up one day! I do own Dune on DVD & HD DVD but its only the 137 minute version. Even when it came out on Bluray, I think they only did it as the 137 minute version? I really do think the long TV version is a GOOD flim. Has that 2 disc version been brought to Bluray now as well? I dont think it has been?

@Wirrn I see your point. I'm not trying to change anyone's opinion. And I do like ALIEN over any of the movies you mentioned. But I attribute my like of ALIEN to Ridley first, Giger/Moebius second, and Dan third. I was trying to make the point that Stan has worked and created many more franchises than Dan. In no way does that mean that anyone should automatically "like" Stan's body of work more than Dan's. I just feel the two cannot be compared in their impact on pop-culture or in the amount of people they've inspired. Again, that doesn't mean anyone should like Stan's work more than Dan's.

I really liked the original Dune...sure it's "Lynch-weird", but I kinda liked that about it. Now if they had used Giger's visuals that would have been even better.

I understand what you are saying because that film was in fact morbidly fascinating to watch...if only for the special effects and to see what was going to happen next...in the end though there were like 3 scenes to it...3 long...un-ending...whacked out to oblivion...funny ass scenes.

Wierd, it is out on blu ray, same cover art and all but they don't include the tv cut, theatrical version only. All this talk of Dune piqued my interest & I went to see if I could put a name to the person Spartacus mentioned who might have had an influence - I cound't find a name but I'll bet his initials his were "L", "S" and "D".... LOL - anyway I found out that Dan O'Bannon was attached to be the vixual fx guy on an earlier version of the film to be directed by Alexandro Jadorowsky and when that fell thru he was supposedly checked into a psychiatric hospital. Also David Lynch was offered to direct Return of the Jedi!!

I believe if getting movies made was as cost effective as getting a comic book made, Dan O'Bannon would have had many more of his ideas see light. He may very well been a Stan Lee in the film industry. From what I've read, though, seems like he got a few raw deals, a lot of cock-blocking.

@Wirrn Good point. Now, perhaps the facehugger seeks out an orifice ... any orifice. Maybe they are also butthuggers.

THE VIDEOS OF THE ENTIRE INTERVIEWS ARE HERE [url=http://www.slashfilm.com/david-lynch-and-frank-herbert-discuss-dune/]DiscussingDune[/url] Back in1983, the Waldenbooks chain recorded a long conversation between David Lynch and Frank Herbert. The occasion was the impending release of Lynch’s version of Dune. The final film, as most well know, was often derided as an artistic failure, and it was undoubtedly a commercial disaster. In the years since the film’s release, Lynch rarely speaks of it. Herbert died in early 1986, so he didn’t have time to see the film attain a certain level of respect in the sci-fi community. But the movie has earned a large number of fans over the years, and rightly so. Though quite flawed, the film features incredible production design and film craft, elements which are often cited as the reasons for fan appreciation. But it is also interesting as an adaptation that isn’t afraid to muck around with the source a little bit. I think a lot more adaptations should indulge in changes. Listening to this interview, which appeared on YouTube this week, it seems evident that Frank Herbert might agree. The interview is posted on YouTube in six segments; I’ve embedded them in series below, or you can check them all out here. David Lynch rarely gives long recorded interviews and never does DVD commentaries, so this is a rare example of him talking about one project in depth. He and Herbert eventually talk through the ideas that are at the base of Dune, with Herbert taking over for the second half for long discourse on the subject of messiahs, politics and moew. The interview is also sadly optimistic, as Lynch briefly mentions working on the script for a sequel. With respect to the value of Lynch’s film, one of Herbert’s opening comments is a great way to start discussion about the contents of the conversation. I’d be curious to know how the various cuts Herbert liked differed from the final theatrical version, because at the time this was recorded he seemed quite happy with the film. I get asked a specific question a lot of times, if the settings, the scenes that I saw in David’s film match my original imagination, the things I projected in my imagination. I must tell you that some of them do, precisely. Some of them don’t, and some of them are better. Which is what you would expect of artists such as David and Tony Masters. I’m delighted with that! Why not take it and improve on it visually? As far as I’m concerned the film is a visual feast. Later, Herbert describes seeing The Elephant Man for the first time, and realizing they’d found the right guy because Lynch had such a grasp of visual language. When you’re doing a film from the written word, you’re translating into a different language. It’s as though you’re translating from English into Swahili. The visual language is a different language. I’m hoping the comments don’t turn into the old “Lynch’s Dune sucks!” vs “No it doesn’t!” pissing match. If nothing else, I’m hoping to see a conversation about the problems with Dune as a film, rather than a litany about how it is a bad film because it isn’t like the book. Spend some of your Friday listening to almost an hour of conversation featuring Lynch and Herbert, and argue the merits of various adaptation techniques in the comments below. (Two notes: One, dig that crazy opening music in part one. I really miss intros like that. Two, how have some of Herbert’s messiah comments, as in part 4, not been endlessly sampled?)

I love Lynch's Dune, but have noticed something: it may be that you need to read the book in order to enjoy the movie. I watched it as a kid before reading the Herbert novel, and hated it. Then I read the novels and loved them all. Then I watched the movie again, and all of a sudden it felt not good, but great. Since then, it seems that most people who hate the movie have not read the book, and most of those who like it have. (of course there are probably exceptions). It's a bit like Blade Runner - the director's cut is better and closer to Dick's fiction, and there is no distracting and sometimes irritating voiceover. Yet if I had never watched the first version with the voiceover, I doubt if I would have ever figured out what was going on at all, and especially with the legendary Rutger Hauer speech scene - without having heard the voiceover once, it would be merely puzzling; this way, it never fails to draw a tear or two.

I also liked Dune. It's flawed but I like it. I think it's epic in the same way Prometheus looks to be. It is what it is. It's gnarly. By the way, the version by "director" Alan Smithee is really just the inclusion of all the material that was shot. Alan Smithee is just a pseudonym used by directors who want to distance themselves from a film they made.

My reference was not to compare Dan to Stan, it was this... Dan O'Bannon was the creator/writer, H R Giger was the artist. same goes with Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, and James Cameron & Stan Winston.

ahh I see. My mistake. oh well, all great teams!

Anyway.. to sort of take this back to the original topic... I wanted to post this idea earlier, but got sidetracked. Whatever the real reason behind the origin of this or that turns out to be in the end, there is still going to a fundamental mystery and that is WHY HAS NO ONE RETURNED here in the next 4 decades as far as we know?? The corporation surely would have returned to the "Jockey" world much sooner, with other major resources to follow up on what happened here?? Afterall, this is a planet that they not only initially suspected of first being able to support some form of life, given the proximately to the binary stars, but that they later became obsessed with that SAME planet because an ancient pictograph was found on Earth showing that EXACT star cluster!!... Surely NOT a coincidence. So... how would they have never followed up on what happened here??. My thoughts are this..... - During the course of this expedition the Prometheus sends out some initial transmissions of what they have uncovered and some initial findings. This would simply be standard operating procedure. However, these will NOT be received on Earth for many years... first off, the Prometheus was several years in JUST TRAVELLING here. - So, when the first initial reports start getting back, they receive information on their DEFINATELY BEING A HIGHER CIVILIZATION THERE. - Not only that, there are also initial reports on an extremely virulent lifeform with some bad unexplained things happening. Then.... nothing... because this film will end with the LOSS of everyone. - Also, for some unclear reason right now, this world is going to be devastated in some Apocalyptic manner which will wipe out ALL life.. including all the organic material of the URNS, etc. - Years later, when the corp. sends out a vessel to find out why contact has been lost, they find nothing... NO LIFE.. no trace of Prometheus... no logs... no crew. There may possibly be ruins left on Planet, but the world itself is virtually LIFELESS.. not even any Holo-Star Charts.. No still functioning alien technology... NOTHING! - BUT, the corporation knows that although they find nothing able to answer why there is NO life left on the world, they have their initial reporsts and its these reports that they are very intrigued with... because they now know that we are not alone and that there is...WAS? a much more powerful & older civilzation that ours here. - So then what do they do?? Well, all they can do... continue colonizing all the places we can go using the knowledge we have... and bury all public information on this expedition in a shroud of mystery to keep the secret of a powerful alien species from getting out. - However, from that point on, ALL Weyland interplanetary operations have a secret directive buried in their computer systems which instruct that if there is ever ANY report of some form of lifeform or evidence of something even REMOTELY similar to what the partial reports of the ill fated Prometheus expedition made light of, that any and all means necessary must be used to seek it out and acquire it!! Well then how do they miss the "Derelict" and eggs on LV426 you ask? Simple... Its NOT the same place, and they missed it!!

Teams are what it's all about. When one member of the team (even if he is the most important one) gets all the credit, he then surrounds himself with yes-men and it goes to his head and he hires all new people because of course he can do it by himself and then we get the lame-a-thon Star Wars prequel trilogy. As for Giger vs. Lynch's Dune, you can find it in Giger's bio that he stated he considers Lynch's movie Eraserhead as an even better artistic depiction of what he (Giger) is trying to show with his art than his own (Giger's) art does. So even Giger is a fan of Lynch's, and not just any fan.

That's interesting. I didn't know Giger was a Lynch fan. Speaking of which, i haven't seen Eraserhead. I have to check that out.

I bought the new issue of EMPIRE magazine; awesome holographic cover and great coverage of Prometheus. The cast give their perspective on the movie and Sir Ridley Scott answers all the questions you could ever ask! Definitely worth the cash: http://www.empireonline.com/magazine/