@Red Anon  
That, and The Incal series too. Really says something about how many ideas Jodorowsky had fir that one movie when he’s able to make more than a couple original properties with material from it.

@IHateThatHedgehog  
@gorkspewdium  
I would like to say the Jodorowsky did end up making his own version of Dune with the Metabarons.  

@IHateThatHedgehog  
True, it was late and I was reaching with that half-baked parallel. And talk about sown seeds from the fertile loam of prior collaboration, even when/if the original project founders.
 
I suppose my main issues with the latest Tolkien trilogy (besides said trilogy being stretched outta one short novel) involved (a) heinous overuse of Legolas-hell, he even snarfs away the Named Orc Fight(C) which capped off that tragic Dwarf/Elf drama; and (b) CumberSmaug coming off as a blundering blowhard, c/o Team Dwarf sneaking & trapping circles around him…and all that prior to the bit where he sits there chuckling whilst Bard lines up the killshot. Plus, Bilbo’s deeds & development seem so underplayed in the second & third installments that you almost wonder why they bothered with the book’s title.
 
Astoundingly, we do have three degrees of wormsign as of Part 3…thanks to Azog & co. apparently renting some Sandtrout for all of forty seconds.

@gorkspewdium  
I think comparing its ingenious madness to The Hobbit trilogy isn’t giving it enough credit. To give you an idea of the level of creative talent Jodorowsky gathered up, his “spiritual warriors” (read: creative team)–Dan O’Bannon, Chris Foss and H.R. Giger–went on to collaborate shortly after Dune fell apart to make a haunted house film–set in space. You might remember this film as Alien. SOOO yeah, one of the biggest science-fiction franchises ever would flat-out not exist without Dune–and all the countless franchises influenced by Alien in turn.
 
The Hobbit, on the other hand, was a tired series, made by a tired director who made it clear he wanted no part of it, because it was Guillermo del Toro’s job until he quit. Granted, I hardly think those films are the worst thing ever, like some do. They’re all fairly decent–but that’s it. Decent. Whereas Jodo’s Dune, while it might not have made a very good Dune film, per se, it would’ve been a phenomenal movie.

@IHateThatHedgehog  
Possible solution(s): stage this kanly affair either (a) in some AU where the ground rules can be set with more room for corruption; (b) back in the Three Tribes days, which were rife with squabbling nobility even adjusting for filly-targeted reenactments; or (c) in some far-flung corner of the current world that’s slipped the preoccupied princesses’ attention for a time. Faust knows administration & local crises seem to occupy a fair chunk of their energy.
 
…and words completely fail me on the Jodorowsky project. I will indeed be hunting that down once properly braced for its Jackson-on-Hobbit-rivaling madness.

@gorkspewdium  
There’s a documentary about the unmade version, called Jodorowsky’s Dune. Very good documentary, I recommend seeing it. Based on what little they show of storyboards of the film, about that particular take on the Harkonnen–think Lynch!Dune, but 10x more monstrous and insane. I mean, they kill Duke Leto by ||cutting his limbs off piece by piece as they interrogate him on the location of Paul and Jessica, until the Baron personally hacks off Leto’s head and throws it into a pile with his other severed body parts. || In a movie that began production nearly ten years before Star Wars. A fourteen-hour movie, reportedly, with Salvador Dali (yes, the artist) as the “mad emperor of the galaxy”, Mick Jagger as Feyd-Rautha, and a soundtrack by Pink Floyd and Magma. Yeah, it would’ve been one acid-trip of a movie. :)
 
I could see that working actually. I could see Harkonnen believing mithridatism would help save his skin from another of Feyd’s attempts to seize power for himself. Poisoning an assassin would work to show how evil he is without it getting as…in-your-face about it as Lynch!Harkonnen killing the servant boy after literally bathing himself in blood. Question is, with that in mind, how would a whole clan of blatant tyrants like the Harkonnen survive in a world like Equestria?
 
I dunno, the costumes in Sci-Fi Channel!Dune are very hit and miss. It’s reputation as the “silly hats version” is not exactly unwarranted–though, to be fair, they’re not ALL terrible. Just some are notably more off-putting than others.
 
It’s no trouble! I love talking movies; they are among my greatest passions; any chance I can get to talk about them (somewhat) seriously, I’ll take. :)

@IHateThatHedgehog  
Since this is the first I’ve heard of the Jodorowsky/Welles version, I’d have to go with a mix of Lynchian suit-accessories (including poison-joke/cockatrice IV tubes) and McNiece’s sardonic smarm. And now I’m visualizing him giving some would-be-assassin a terminal sip of his accustomed poison(s).
 
Point in full on the miniseries’ iffy court costumes; for that matter, I’m still more partial to Lynch’s stillsuits-nice blend of function & aesthetics, lack of head coverage aside. Anyhow, way to sum up the general dynamic ‘tween both spins on Herbert. Hope it didn’t suck up too much of your week.

@gorkspewdium  
I like him being an Earth pony noble with an anti-gravity belt, myself. Question is, do you base him on Kenneth McMillan’s portrayal, Ian McNeice’s, or heck, even Orson Welles’ from Alejandro Jodorowsky’s unfinished attempt? McMillan’s is more visually interesting than just the “ordinary floating fat man in a kimono” look (duh, coming from a David Lynch film,) so that’s what I’d probably choose. Then again, McNeice’s is far and away the best portrayal of the actual character from the books (don’t get me wrong, I love the no-holds-barred puppy-kicking blood-bathing lunacy of McMillan’s, but Baron Harkonnen, he is not) so, depends on the artist, I guess.
 
The sense I got from what I’ve caught of the mini-series is, while it’s pretty good looking visually, especially for a TV production, the visuals just didn’t feel as memorable as the Lynch!Dune, especially the costume design (what was WITH that triangle on Feyd’s back?) Plus, the music came nowhere close to Toto’s symphonic rock awesomeness. Overall, it seems to me Lynch!Dune does right what Sci-Fi Channel!Dune does wrong, and Sci-Fi Channel!Dune does right what Lynch!Dune does wrong.
 
…Good Gravy, this essay comment went on WAY longer than I thought it would.

@IHateThatHedgehog  
Oh yeah, hit that one up for a couple weeks back.  
Pluses:  
-Lot more of the book’s intrigue & culture clash retained  
-Chani & Stilgar get much more fleshing-out  
-Ditto for Lady Jessica, Leto & Irulan (see intrigue)  
-Harkonnens seem confidently understated (well, compared to Sting & Co.) & less plot-lobotomized  
-Slick fist/knife-fight choreography  
-Sardaukar seem a bit less suicidal-and do some telling personal damage before the rout  
-Ornithopter dogfights
 
Drawbacks:  
-Less sandworm action come Siege Time (as per the novel, granted)  
-Can’t say I was feeling 2000!Emperor Shaddam’s giftwrap-glitter duds  
-Navigator design was a bit more…well, mundane.  
-2000’s Reverend Mother had a bit less panache than the Lynch version’s actress
 
Ah, and yea on Equestricizing the Baron, though not sure whether he should be a hyper-debauched repulsorlift-rigged noblepone or an equally chunked-up Tirek-style centaur.

@gorkspewdium  
Just one more for good measure, then, from the underrated 2000 mini-series this time.
 
“Alone and vulnerable at the edge of civilization, valiant Princess Celestia will finally come face-to-face with fear. When I’m through, she won’t know who to trust–not even that sheltered unicorn apprentice she’s so fond of. They’ll all be turning on one another, like parasprites in a flood. By the time the traitor is fully revealed…the fate of Celestia will already be sealed.”
 
Side note: am I the only one who’d like to see Baron Harkonnen ponified? Yeah? No? Maybe?

@IHateThatHedgehog  
OK, +3 for the floating fatquote.  
“Look into that love-nexus you dare not tap, Ravening Broodmother. You’ll find us there, shining back at you.”

He who controls the Friendship controls the universe! And what Sunset did not tell you is that we have someone who is close–VERY close!–to the two Princesses. This person, this traitor, will be worth more to us than the SIX bearers of the Rainbow Power!

“CAN YOU FLY, YOU SUCKER?! CAN YOU…well, your JUMP ain’t half bad.”  
…not thinking of the right worms, am I?

Swampweed: Not even once.

If you hurry, you could still get in as Duncan Idaho!

in the thumbnail it looked like “the sleepover was awkward!”

Her name is a shipping word.