From the mid-’80s Dune was David Lynch screen adaptation of Frank Herbert's highly respected Sci-fi tome. It’s weird, wacky effects and bizarre character lined big-budget epic. It’s at times a flabby and confusing film- though equally has its own distinctive rewards too. Be-it- the oddly stilted soapiness, impressive giant worm effects, and wonderful costumes/set design that blend grand sci-fi, futuristic medieval and military regalia, with elements of the Middle Eastern culture, and the heady turn-your-eyes blue of all-mighty spice which is at the centre of the film. Here from Arrow Video(in both the UK & US) is an epic double Blu Ray release of the film- bringing together two new commentary tracks, new featurettes, and a good selection of archive extras.

Dune was released in the year 1984- appearing between The Elephant Man (1980) Lynch’s distinctive re-telling of Victorian human oddity turned carnival freak true story, and Blue Velvet (1986) his look into the dark ‘n’ twisted heart of the American dream. Dune was unlike any big-budget sci-fi epic before or since- it’s a film that switches between deadpan soapiness filled with complex ideas and detailed plotting, often darkly and surreal hued effects that largely look surprisingly undated, and some grand larger than life creature feature concepts/ effects. 

The film is set in the distant future and chronicles the conflict between rival noble families as they battle for control of the extremely harsh desert planet Arrakis, aka Dune. The planet is the only source of the drug melange—also known as" spice"— the drug allows prescience and is vital to space travel, making it the most essential and valuable commodity in the universe. Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan) is the heir of a powerful noble family, whose inheritance of control over Arrakis brings them into conflict with its former overlords, House Harkonnen. Besides MacLachlan, the picture takes in a large ensemble cast of supporting actors, including the likes Dean Stockwell, Patrick Stewart, Brad Dourif, Virginia Madsen, José Ferrer,Linda Hunt, and Max von Sydow. The film starts in floating space palaces, moves around a few other worlds and their grandly yet darkly edged palaces, we get some spaceship battles, before MacLachlan crash land on Dune itself to tame the worlds giant worms, rise up the worlds people, and get control over the spice once and for all. We have floating in the air fat guy with red hair and welt inflamed face as the lead villain, who has Sting as one of his henchmen. There are lots of lengthy internal dialogue moments and a general feeling of slightly campy/ slightly sinister disquiet purveying though-out the films runtime
 
I’d say it’s difficult, if at points rewarding and odd film- which tries to cram a lot of Herbert’s 400 plus page book into just over the two hours and fifteen-minute mark. It’s far from a perfect creation, but it’s most definitely one of the most distinctively Sci-Fi fantasy films ever made. I first saw the film around about when it first came out, at that point, I was in my early teens- finding it confusing- if-intriguing film, now seeing it again all these years later it still has it strange allusive pull, though I’m still unsure if I fully understand everything that’s going on here.
 
 
Moving onto this new two-disc set- and I'll go through each disc one at a time. So as expected on the first disc we get the film itself, which gets a 4k restoration of the original negative with 5. Surround sound- and the film certainly looks and sounds great now. Moving onto the extras and get two commentary tracks- the first of these is with Paul M. Sammon who is a film historian, but also worked on the film in several press/ PR roles- so we get a great blend of on the ground insight and film analysis/ discussion. He kicks off by introducing the novel the film is based on, and how he first became aware of it when it was published in part form in the 1960s. He moves on giving context on David Lynch's career at the time, and others who were involved in attempted film adaptions from the likes of Alejandro Jodorowsky and Ridley Scott. He then moves onto discuss how he got involved with working on the film, and the various issues that the production had. As he moves on he blends this with rewarding scene observations, key scenes that were left out of the book, and much more- it’s a darting if rewarding track- that’s both insightful and generally interesting. The second commentary track is from Mike White of The Projection Booth podcast- and he openly admits from the off he is somewhat of a Dune geek, having seen the film 50 plus times, as well as the numerous fan cuts. So this track is full to the brim with observations, explanations, and clarification of various facts, figures, and stories relating to the film. He really does go into impressive depth discussing things such as the meaning behind characters names, talking about scenes that should have been in, the many different versions of Lynch's script( at least seven) and much, much more. The track really is the hardcore Dunes fanboy track, as it really is astonishing how many facts, figures, and points he discusses here- as with the film it’s self some of these did really go over my head, but I was impressed never the less by the track, and I’d say if you think you know everything there is to know about the film this is the one for you. The rest of the disc is taking up by archive extras- and we get a bumper crop. We have Impressions Of Dune- this is from the early 2000s running thirty-nine minutes, and finds interviews with the cast and crew. There’s Designing Dune- this runs nine minutes. We have Dune Fx- this runs for six minutes. We have a seven-minute featurette about the models and miniatures for the film, a five-minute featurette about the costumes for Dune, and apparently, there are over 700 made. We have two minutes of deleted scenes, Destination Dune- a 1983 featurette originally produced to promote the film at conventions and publicity events, this runs six minutes. Lastly, we have Theatrical trailers and TV spots, and extensive image galleries, including hundreds of still photos
 

Moving onto the second disc in the set, and we get a good selection of new/ exclusive extras. We get Beyond Imagination: Merchandising Dune- this runs twenty-two minutes, and it finds toy collector/producer Brian Sillman exploring the merchandise and toys created to promote the film. This is most, most fascinating- as we get some great footage of the various toys and merch created for Dune, as well as Silman talking about some of his favourite items, and the whole bizarre idea of making kids toys for a film like Dune. Next, we have Prophecy Fulfilled: Scoring Dune- this runs twenty-four minutes, and as it title suggests is regarding the film's score. It features audio interviews with members of Toto, and film music historian Tim Greiving. And once again this was most interesting, as we get a good in-depth look at how/ why the soundtrack came about, how the band worked on its composition, and how it plays in the film, we also get discussion about Brian Eno track he created for the score. Next, we get a selection of on-screen interviews with members of the crew- these run between three and twenty-six minutes apiece. So, all in all, a great bonus disc.

The finished set comes with a 60-page perfect-bound book- this takes in new writing on the film by Andrew Nette, Christian McCrea and Charlie Brigden, an American Cinematographer interview with sound designer Alan Splet from 1984, excerpts from an interview with the director from Chris Rodley’s book Lynch on Lynch and a Dune Terminology glossary from the original release. Also, a large fold-out poster with original art on one side, and on its reverse newly created art. There’s Six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproduction, with the whole thing been Limited edition packaging with a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Dániel Taylor.

It’s great to see Arrow Video giving their usual classy/ definitive release of Dune- and there really are a host of new and old extras on offer here. Dune is certainly not a film for everyone, and you have to go into it expecting something very much apart from the other big-budget sci-fi films of the ’70s/ 80’s- but it’s certainly a very distinctive, if not wholly successful film.