Ath'kethin
Elder Thing
Don't forget the heart plugs!I felt that Lynch missed the basic gut feel of the book horribly. The shortcut of making Baron Harkonnen physically objectionable to make the audience immediately dislike him was crass. "Weirding modules"? Seriously? The mini series hit the mark far better but this is still a property that's begging for a remake, and that's something I almost never say.
The Lynch film is a total mess, no doubt about it. The Ultimate Superbo Amazeballs No Really We Mean It This Time (Whatever) cut is a bit better, but it's still near incomprehensible, especially if you don't have the book near memorized.
But I think Lynch did the worms better, the ornithopters better, and the general air of antiquated nobility vs. noble savagery better. I also like the overall visual style better (especially the various guild navigators and the personal shields).
The miniseries (both of them of which I am aware) felt way too sterile and distant to me. And as I mentioned upstream, the guy playing Paul just totally didn't work for me at all.
I'd love to see a well-done remake we sell. But I don't think it can happen. Modern CGI will just make it look like a dated cartoon before it finishes it's theatrical run, and that's assuming anybody could get a big enough budget to even make a good try at it (after 3 failed attempts to make the move in the last 30 or so years).