Sci-fi pronunciation geek
David Lynch’s “Dune” was on the Sci-Fi Channel the other night, and I sat and watched the whole thing. This was the extra-long director’s cut, so it probably had a lot more stuff in it than I remembered. I mostly was interested to watch it because I got the DVD of the Sci-Fi Channel’s “Dune” miniseries as an early birthday present, and had watched that one just before Lynch’s was on.
Lynch’s version is more of a comic book telling of the Dune story – lots of amazing images with very little dialogue, and the plot advanced mostly through exposition. The miniseries is sort of like a junior high production version – it tells the story more completely, but in a flat, affectless way. So neither is a quite satisfying telling of the book, if that’s even possible.
But what annoyed me most about the miniseries was the way they pronounced names. Probably Frank Herbert didn’t publish a pronunciation guide with the book, and the names are unusual enough to leave some interpretation open. But to pronounce Chani “Chaney”? It made me laugh every time they said it, thinking about the vice president. And they pronounced Leto “Lay-toe” (as if casting the nearly comatose William Hurt as the dynamic duke wasn’t bad enough).
And to answer your inevitable question, yes, I will be seeking treatment.
Like you, I like and dislike both of the versions (I also own them both and the vast majority of the Dune series in book form, of course). I think I prefer the Sci-Fi version, though, because it gives the characters more complexity, which they deserve, including Irulan, who is in fact somewhat more important than you’d think after reading the first book. Lynch ignores the past and the future, I think. As an explanation for the (mis)pronunciations of the names, apparently Herbert did in fact have a pronunciation guide. He produced some recordings of him reading the books and his pronunciation was closer to the miniseries’. I still think it’s wrong.
I have mixed feelings about both of them. Some aspects of the Lynch version were just so great, including many of the actors, but his departures from the book are annoying and contradict the spirit of the story. The Sci Fi channel’s version was sort of flat for me, and a little soap opera-ish. I do appreciate that they were more true to the story. They’re making a new miniseries of Dune Messiah & Children of Dune for the Sci Fi channel right now. The coolest part is Susan Sarandon is playing a large role in it.
Ariann: That’s funny. I should have known that Herbert of all people, meticulous imaginer of worlds, would have figured out what all his wacky names sounded like. (Even if he was wrong.)
At least they didn’t have to try pronouncing Bene Tleilax or axlotl tank.