A true screen adaptation of the Dune epic

Other reviewers have concentrated on criticising below par acting and special effects however I think they have missed the point. The story is the star in this and it is wonderful to have a screen adaptation that truly brings the epic of Dune to life, unlike David Lynch's movie which instead of trying to tell the story produced a disjointed freak of a movie that only Lynch himself could understand or explain. Limited by budget constraints the effects are not great but they're not terrible either and with some exceptions the performances were creditable. Despite the fact that this is a made-for-TV mini-series the amount of production talent on this is tremendous proving the pull that Dune has. Split into three episodes each reflecting a section of the book it tells the story exactly how I imagine Herbert would have wanted. John Harrison's script actually does what people previously thought impossible; deal with the sheer scale and complexity of the plot in a way that is understandable and even manages to relationalise some aspects of the novel that were convoluted. In the novel the Adreides Mentat, Thufir Hawat, is captured by the Harkonnen and plays no real further part in the story other than drop dead at the end. Harrison sees this superfluous thread of the story and erases it; something with Lynch spent precious minutes on in his version with no payback whilst missing out on many other important aspects. I have nothing but admiration for what has been achieved in this adaptation and any Dune fan will love this. If you're not into the Dune novels and thought it too cultish then watching this will change your mind.