Customer Reviews
Much better than the first mini series - By: Blackmixen, 12 May 2008 
I liked this second mini series so much more than the first. I found it quite faithful to the books & enjoyable to watch. It was still marred by PH Moriarty as Gurney Halleck. Nothing against the bloke he was much betterin Lock Stock, but I don't think his cockney version of Halleck was suited to the role & found myself cringing every time he opened his mouth.
A worthy follow on - By: Matthew Barrow, 08 Oct 2007 
Taking the second & third books of the Dune Trilogy & condensing them into a mini series was great. I still prefer the first mini series that does admirable justice to the epic dune. Some of the characters have new actors, which spoils a bit, but watching all six episodes gives a real feel to this amazing series.
N/A - By: Voortrekker, 08 Oct 2007 
Made by the same team behind the woeful "Frank Herbert's Dune" TV series three years previous, Children Of Dune (an amalgam of two books: Dune Messiah & Children Of Dune) is massively better. Improvements have been made on all fronts: casting, acting & special effects - not to mention someone finally managed to design a Guild Navigator correctly with Edric (no small feat). My only complaint with this adaptation is that Leto II's transformation does not occur as writtenin the book, but we can't have everything I guess. Special mention also needs to go to Brian Tyler for his stirring soundtrack.
An excellent TV adaptation. - By: Eddie Beeblebrox, 22 Feb 2007 Dune was a book that I could not put down. Having failed miserably at reading Herbert's Dune Messiah; I was delighted to discover that the Sci-Fi channel had followed their original TV adaptation with Children of Dune.
Again a 3-disc 4.5 Hour epic, but surprisingly fast paced. The mini-series follows the rise of House Attreides during their reign on Arrakis, immediately following the marriage of Paul Attreides with Princess Irulan at the end of Dune.
The Spiritual ascent of Muad'Dib continues, balancing well with the political intrigues of the great houses against the story of the Fremen & the desert.
The female cast make a big difference to the story, with excellent performances from Julie Cox as Irulan, & Daniela Amavia as Paul's sister Alia ("you have taken too much spice again my dear"). Sadly, Saskia Reeves does not reappear as the Reverend Mother. James McAvoy however, putsin a very creditable performance as Leto Attreides. P.H. Moriarty returns again as Gurney Halleck.
If you like either the Film or TV adaptations of Dune, then you are going to be rewarded by Children of Dune, more so if you haven't read the books.
Better than first TV episode (Dune), not totally brilliant - By: J. W. Bottomley, 27 Sep 2005 In a way it's all quite sad. You get a massive budget & some brilliant actors (Berkoff, McAvoy, etc). A free hand to write & produce. And guaranteed audiences who love the book. It should be brilliant - but it isn't quite. For one thing, there are lots & lots of small changes to the plot, & whilst these jar lessin C-of-D thanin the earlier Dune TV miniseries, they still rankle. Herbert was simply a brilliant plotter, &in every case I saw of changed plot or words, the TV plotline or script was worse than Herbert. The sets were however breathtaking & James McAvoy was just brilliant, I can see himin big movies & I hope he gets there. We already knew he was a talented British actor from the marvellous part he didin "State of Play" alongside fellow Scots Kelly Macdonald & Bill Nighy. Berkoff was typically blustering & over-the-top but watchable. The rest of the cast are mostly backdrop. The worms are less good thanin the original movie & thanks to those terrible plot changes, we lose some of the fascination of Leto's Change Into Something Strange & Terrible. His desert running is something else, but why oh why didn't they show him tipping over Heighliners & demolishing buildings?! That was the whole point! Perhaps the best part was the actor whose name escapes me playing the mature Paul, but they didn't do what could have been the best scenein the whole thing, the interpretation of Prince Fard'n's dreams. Presumably the directors thought it too literary. Sadly this TV series shows the classic inability of US TV directors to get to grips with serious intellectual material, even when it's created by one of their own great US authors. If only the studios would think, think, think before making a programme!
