Dune TV version

[andy b]

Thought I would ask here, as many have seen these extended US broadcast versions & they never made it to the UK, I do find them fascinating.

I have the Arrow release Dune, but the Australians, Imprint, are putting out a version which has the TV cut.

Now I did quite a bit of work on this back in its release heyday, but honestly watching the Arrow edition was like watching a new film, forgotten an awful lot of it.

So for those who know, is the TV version worth a re-purchase? Have to be honest, so far, Earthquake, Midway & King Kong were really quite disappointing, so asking before buying this time.

Thanks for your help folks

Andy b

[AndyDursin]

Andy, the DUNE TV cut is very interesting. The KING KONG TV version I agree was really just a curio, the padded material in the final hour ruins it as a standalone viewing option. MIDWAY I like better but it doesn't supplant the theatrical version if I'm just sitting down to watch the picture.

But DUNE is worthwhile, if you like the film. It's weirdly edited and a bit of a mess but some of the deleted footage is good...it also has an unintentional laugh when the pilot of the Arakis ship (I think it's the one Paul and his mother end up being thrown into) goes from a dubbed-over Anglo accent to his unadulterated, actual Mexican speaking voice because it's an added line that wasn't used in the actual movie.

I don't know if the Aussies are releasing the original 4:3 TV cut as is (since it was packaged for US syndicated TV airings) or the "Remastered" one the Germans edited together that was in widescreen with upscaled material from the TV version (it actually looks really good).

That latter version is in the 6-disc Koch Media 4K UHD/Blu-Ray box-set which is getting reissued next month (along with the "Spicediver edit" which is a fan edit that combines the TV scenes with the theatrical version to better approximate Lynch's intentions):
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Kyle-MacLac ... 156&sr=8-2

[andy b]

Thank you for your insight.

The German sets looks astounding.

regards
Andy b

[John Johnson]

The Australian release doesn't seem to tell you too much about the ratio.

https://viavision.com.au/shop/dune-1984 ... art-cards/

[AndyDursin]

No, unless they licensed it from the Germans, it's likely to be 4:3 only because that's how it was produced back in 1987-88. The Germans put together the widescreen TV version out of the theatrical cut and upscaling the TV version scenes -- there was a lot of editorial work involved and they did a good job. That's only on an out of print German Blu-Ray and the German Plaion 6-disc UHD/BD set.

To be honest, there's no need to buy the Australian release unless you're down there. The German set has a lot more content, the movie in 4K (this Via disc is only Blu-Ray), plus the TV cut in scope, the Spicediver cut, and loads of other goodies, etc.

Aussies give you a new commentary but nothing else exclusive save the "long version" of the disappointing "Sleepers Must Awaken" documentary which was entirely shot over Zoom during COVID. Arrow decided to leave it off their release and I can't say I blame them.

[AndyDursin]

I finally received the big Koch set -- and I'm enjoying it much more than I thought I was going to. Much better set than Arrow's in numerous ways, from the audio on the movie itself (superior encoded 2.0 track) to the TV and Spicediver cuts. Arrow's release is one of the few times I'd argue they kind of half-assed it, produced during the pandemic and didn't do very much in terms of supplements.