Frank Herbert's Children of Dune

Frank Herbert's Children of Dune is a three-part miniseries written by John Harrison and directed by Greg Yaitanes, based on Frank Herbert's novels Dune Messiah (1969) and Children of Dune (1976).

A sequel to the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune (based on Herbert's 1969 novel Dune) and produced by the United States Sci Fi channel, Children of Dune was first broadcast in the United States on March 16, 2003. As of 2004, this miniseries and its predecessor were two of the three highest-rated programs ever to be broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel. ^[1]

Adaptation

After production completed on the first miniseries (and before its broadcast), the Sci Fi Channel contracted writer/director Harrison to write a sequel. Harrison's idea for the next installment was to combine Frank Herbert's subsequent novels, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. He has said in interviews that he believed both novels to be two parts of the same story, which essentially concludes the story of House Atreides. ^[2] The Dune Messiah novel itself is roughly a third the length of either Dune or Children of Dune.

Just as the first chapter in this miniseries was generally considered more faithful to the novels than the 1984 David Lynch film that preceded it, Children of Dune worked to correct the mistakes of its own predecessor. Some fans had complaints about the color of the eyes of the Fremen, as they appeared to be almost fluorescent in the first Sci Fi miniseries, not the "blue within blue" described by Herbert; the eye color was toned down in the sequel to a more accurately representative deep but vibrant blue. This miniseries is also noted for its highly successful soundtrack, composed by Brian Tyler. The lyrics of the track "Inama Nushif," sung by Azam Ali,^[3] are entirely in the fictional Fremen language, which Tyler pieced together from Fremen words and phrases appearing throughout Herbert's series of Dune novels.^[4]

Main cast

Plot

Part One

This three part miniseries picks up where the previous one left off. Twelve years have passed since Paul Atreides, also known as Muad'Dib became emperor at the end of Dune, during which time his Fremen armies have launched several bloody jihads on a galactic scale to solidify his position as new emperor. The overthrown Emperor Shaddam IV's family, the House Corrino, has been exiled on Salusa Secundus, where their leader Princess Wensicia continues to plot during her exile.

The Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild, the Tleilaxu and House Corrino plot to overthrow Paul's reign. The Tleilaxu present Paul with a ghola in the likeness of his friend Duncan Idaho, who was killed during the events of Dune. However, they secretly conditioned the ghola to assassinate Paul when triggered by certain words.

Rebel fremen attack Paul with a stone burner, which causes him to go blind. Due to his extraordinary prescient abilities, however, he is still able to see by following the path his visions describe. Paul's concubine Chani gives birth to his twin children, but is severely weakened by the childbirth and dies soon afterwards. Upon her death, Paul loses his ability to see despite his blindness, rendering him at a disadvantage when the Tleilaxu Face Dancer Scytale triggers off Duncan Idaho's conditioning. However, when confronted with his original memories Duncan ultimately remains loyal to Paul, thereby thwarting Scytale's plans, who now threatens Paul's children.

It is at this point that Paul discovers his children are pre-born, and prescient as well. Paul's son Leto II, who has been appearing to him as a young adult in prescient visions, allows his father to "use his eyes" in order to react quickly enough to kill Scytale before the face dancer can kill the children.

At the conclusion of the first part, Paul walks off into the desert, a "single, blind Fremen," in reference to the ancient Fremen custom of abandoning blind members of the tribe to the great worms of Arrakis. His children, now heirs to his empire, are left in the care of Paul's sister Alia, who is herself pre-born and tortured by her own prescience. She turns to Duncan for emotional support and comfort.

Part Two

In the second part, Paul's children, Ghanima and Leto II, are now in young adulthood. Alia, now married to Duncan Idaho, is regent of Paul's empire and official guardian of the children, while Princess Irulan effectively takes care of their upbringing and has formed a close bond to them.

Lady Jessica, mother to Paul and Alia, arrives on Arrakis, ostensibly to visit her grandchildren. Alia fears that her mother has resumed her allegiance to the Bene Gesserit and may be plotting against her. A character known only as the 'Preacher' has surfaced in the capital, who speaks out against the decline of Muad'Dib's religion into ritualism. However, Alia refuses to have him killed as she shared the popular rumor is that he is in fact her brother Paul Muad'Dib.

As the story progresses, Alia's control over her own mind weakens. All Bene Gesserit Reverend Mothers obtain the memories of their female ancestors after being exposed to the Spice agony. Alia is pre-born and thus regarded as an Abomination: in the past, such pre-born children were killed quickly — being awakened to consciousness before forming their own selves made them especially susceptible to the subconscious voices of their inherited memories. Among these, Alia's maternal grandfather, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, who was killed by Alia's own hand, gradually gains more and more control over Alia. His power over her is soon demonstrated in a heated, public argument with Irulan over the children's safety.

Immediately after the meeting, Lady Jessica approaches Irulan, and with Bene Gesserit sign language devises a plan to sneak the twins out of the palace. Alia knows nothing of her mother's involvement, but when a public hearing is held, Lady Jessica defies Alia's authority by speaking out on behalf of the Fremen. Lady Jessica flees with the Fedaykin and Duncan, seeing Alia is gone to madness, secretly takes Lady Jessica to safety; as he says, to "a place even Alia won't think to look for us": House Corrino.

Meanwhile, House Corrino try to kill the Atreides heirs via the help of Laza tigers. Leto uses this opportunity to fake his own death in order to sojourn into the desert. Like his father, his prescience is forcing him to seek answers to certain questions.

Part Three

The conclusion to the miniseries begins as Alia's madness reaches its peak. Stuck in the middle of a brewing civil war, Alia has to deal not only with the external pressure of rebel Fremen, but the internal pressures of the ever-strengthening consciousness of Baron Harkonnen. Alia had recently taken the priest Javid as a lover, and grown ever-distant from Idaho; formerly loyal Naib Stilgar becomes the leader of the rebels after Duncan forces his hand by murdering Javid in Stilgar's sietch. Stilgar is forced to kill Idaho (as Idaho had planned). His final words: "Two deaths for the Atreides, the second for no better reason than the first."

Prior to his death on Arrakis, Duncan and Lady Jessica had succeeded in opening marriage negotiations with Princess Wensicia for a match between Ghanima (who survived the attacks and is believed to be the sole heir to the empire) and Prince Farad'n, heir to House Corrino. Farad'n betrays his bitter mother, however, by revealing that she was in fact the instigator behind Leto's apparent death. In a rage, Alia orders Wensicia imprisoned, but Ghanima appreciates Farad'n's honesty and spares him the same fate, with marriage ceremonies imminent.

While rebel Fremen summon worms to ride toward the capital city Arrakeen, Leto returns from the deep desert. He has absorbed several sandtrout (young sandworms) as part of a destined transformation into something that could lead humanity along the Golden Path and prevent humanity's destruction. The sandtrout slowly transform his skin, causing his metamorphosis into something that transcends humanity. In addition to his already-superhuman prescience and Bene Gesserit-like abilities, Leto survives a Coriolis sandstorm, emerging like a worm from beneath the sand and racing at a worm-like pace across the desert.

Leto arrives in Arrakeen shortly before the wedding of Ghanima and Farad'n; Ghanima had confessed to Irulan her plans to murder Farad'n herself on their wedding night, but Leto's arrival means she is no longer in danger, and will not need to go through with the wedding. Ghanima, with Leto, arrives in a whirlwind to announce this to the court. After giving the roar of the worm Leto confronts Alia, and Alia very nearly loses herself to the Baron Harkonnen within. In the end, however, she chooses to commit suicide rather than surrender herself unto "Abomination," and dies in her mother's arms.

Lady Jessica returns to Caladan, and invites Irulan to accompany her, but Irulan declines; she intends to stay on Arrakis, saying, "I have no home but here. Besides, there will be children again and they will need me." This is in reference to the private moment in which Ghanima had informed Farad'n that "As my mother was not wife, so will you never be husband. But in time there may be love..."

Departures from the novel

Several things in the miniseries differ from Herbert's novels:

• It was clearly established by Herbert and later in the Prelude to Dune prequels, as well as the preceding miniseries, that Irulan is the eldest of the Corrino sisters. The casting of Susan Sarandon as Wensicia has been interpreted by some to suggest that her character is older than Irulan, whose portrayer Julie Cox is a generation younger than Sarandon. However, the novel suggests that Irulan, while older than Wensicia, appears younger due to her Bene Gesserit training. In any case, the age difference does not have any impact on the plot.
• The miniseries involves Wensicia in Scytale's plot with the Duncan Idaho ghola; she did not appear in the novel Dune Messiah in which that story unfolded - in fact it was Irulan who was a part of the early conspiracy in the book.
• In the novel Dune Messiah, the Duncan ghola (therein named Hayt) is shown to be aware of his own purpose from the beginning - one of the first things he tells Paul is that he has been created and trained to destroy him, and he suggests that Paul should send him away. He also later tells Paul of the compulsion that he suspects Bijaz has awakened in him, and that he believes it will lead to violence. In the miniseries however, Duncan (without any other name) shows no knowledge of why he was created, and after the compulsion is awakened through a hypnotic and paralytic trance, he remains unaware until it is triggered during the episode's climax. Additionally, the novel has Duncan trained as a Zensunni philosopher as well a mentat, which gives his character a unique perspective. In the series, he is simply a mentat.
• Duncan also has normal, human eyes, whereas in the novel, as a ghola, he has metallic, artificial eyes.
• Paul is with Chani when she dies, whereas in the novel he only comes to the birthing room afterwards and "sees" her body before they take her away to reclaim her water. Paul also loses his vision as Chani dies, whereas in the book he loses it afterwards, as he is walking to the birthing room, and regains it only briefly to view her body. Chani's death scene is thus able to be the major dramatic moment in the first part of the miniseries, and some dialogue between Paul and Chani comes from words Paul says to Duncan at the end of the novel.
• The miniseries ages Leto II and Ghanima to young adults, whereas in the book they were only nine years old when they become actively involved in the intrigues on Arrakis. John Harrison defended this by explaining that there would have been a small child actor pool to choose from if they kept them the same age as in the books, but if they were young adults they could cast more talented actors.
• In the novel, Gurney Halleck supervises Leto's super-saturation with spice, on Alia's orders (although he believed the orders came from Jessica), whereas in the miniseries, it is just rebel Fremen from the Jacurutu Sietch that force the spice on Leto.
• In the novel, the transformation of Leto II begins when a large number of sandtrout detect him as a mass of water and fuse together to form a seal around his body. Leto finds that by moving his body within this new skin, the sandtrout augment his actions, giving him enormous strength. In the series, this happens in somewhat the opposite way - a small amount of sandtrout appear to be absorbed into his body, and the changes manifest themselves almost like an infection, with altered skin slowly spreading across much of his upper body, and his physical abilities magnified from within rather than externally.
• In the novel, a large part of Leto II's contribution to the Golden Path is the destruction of sietches' water supplies, forcing the Fremen to return to their old ways. He also installs himself as Emperor, giving him further control over this (his long reign is chronicled in the subsequent novel, God Emperor of Dune). In the series, it is not made clear how the Fremen will be encouraged to change their way of life, and Leto makes no mention of becoming any kind of authority figure. The practical details of the Golden Path are in fact left rather vague.
• Other minor changes include Alia's suicide by stabbing herself; in the novel, she jumps to her death from a high window. Paul is killed by a rebel Fremen, rather than by Alia's priests, as in the novel, but it still happens in the streets of Arakeen after Paul incites the mob against Alia's rule. Various other characters' deaths are similarly altered as well, though only aesthetically.

References

External links

• Official Children of Dune miniseries site @ SciFi.com
• Children of Dune at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Dune novels website