If David Lynch’s 1984 summer blockbuster had worked, there wouldn’t be a need to do it "again," right? Certainly no one’s remaking 2001 as a TV miniseries.

So with 16 years of hindsight, it’s time to take a look back at the epic that started it all.

Future shock

The year was 1984. Rubik's Cube and parachute pants. Michael Jackson and George Orwell. Tron.

The Source Material Endures

The cast and creators of the SCI FI Channel's television version of Dune maintain that their adaptation does it right.

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	Dune

When the long-awaited adaptation of Frank Herbert’s legendary book finally made it to the screen in December of that year (on the same day as Starman), things looked promising. After all, the movie featured talented thespians like Max Von Sydow and Jorgen Prochnow. Young wunderkind David Lynch was at the helm, hot off Best Picture and Best Director nominations for 1981’s The Elephant Man. There was even the lead singer of the hottest rock group in the world -- Sting.

What could go wrong?

And then the warning signs went off. Theaters decided to pass out pamphlets before each screening, explaining the characters and the story -- making Dune one of the few movies where the audience needed Cliff’s Notes.

Critics were harsh, panning the film as too long and too moody. Dune had the worst of both worlds, offending moviegoers by being too faithful to the book and offending fans of the book by not being faithful enough.

It was a tough middle ground to find, but unfortunately it didn’t look like Lynch and Co. were able to find it. Meanwhile, the movie wasn’t a bomb, but its high costs ensured that it never made money.

David Lynch goes Hollywood

It had been clear since the mid-1970s when the first attempt to make a Dune film collapsed under the weight of "artistic differences," that this wasn't going to be a walk in the desert. For one thing, Frank Herbert’s world required an intensely grandiose creative vision, one not easily captured on film.

However, Lynch was a huge Dune fan, even turning down George Lucas’ offer to direct Return Of the Jedi to take on the Herbert project when Dino de Laurentiis decided to revive it. (Of course, that could have been on account of the Ewoks.)

The money was there. The talent was there. Things looked promising.

Lynch and de Laurentiis spent close to three years in Mexico bringing Dune to the screen, launching one of the most lavish productions Hollywood had seen since Liz Taylor’s Cleopatra.

Under Lynch's regime, Dune’s elaborate sets and costumes took months to make and hundreds of workers to build, eventually filling numerous soundstages in Mexico City

Casting first-timer Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides, a role sought after by every young male star in Hollywood, Lynch made it clear he wanted to make a movie, not a star vehicle -- good news for the fans.

Even though filming was rushed to complete a required release date, Dune lagged for months as Lynch struggled with the final edit. However, contrary to popular opinion, the released version is in fact the "official" David Lynch cut. The director has repeatedly denied persistent rumors of a longer cut and the version released is apparently actually the movie he set out to make.

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Dune buggy

So where’s the beef?

Well when it comes down to it, Dune has a fundamental problem. It just shouldn’t be a movie.

The enduring qualities of the Herbert novel are the way it expresses the internalized thought processes of its characters. This just doesn’t lend itself to the emphasis on setting, technology and other external realities a good science fiction flick needs.

Lynch made a noble attempt, layering regular dialogue with a bizarre style of thought-process voiceover. A good idea, but ultimately more confusing than illuminating.

In addition, needing to make the movie "accessible" to large audiences, much of the novel’s exploration of the Fremen, especially how they metaphorically come to represent Arabs (and their spice, oil), is lost. Lynch also largely ignored the drug addiction subtext of the spice trade, perhaps viewing it as too dark for big budget sci-fi -- or for his own vision.

But the fundamental problem is simple. Herbert’s novel was about political and governmental conflict, about the epic movement of history, and David Lynch ultimately had to make an action film.

That's enough of a contradiction to kill a dozen movie projects. Known more for small character pieces and style rather than substance, Lynch seemed lost with the epic scale he faced with Dune. That, combined with the complex task of adapting the moodiness of the Herbert novel, spelled disaster.

Added gadgets

When the film came out, fans of the novel were not happy.

"Weirding Modules," essentially sonic laser guns, were added to increase the "gee-whiz" special effects quotient. Comic book store owners around the world are still recovering from this insult.

The early '80s Tron-like effects of the "Weirding Shield" looked dated then and absolutely awful today. They’re hardly used except as a prop to impress the audience, and just seem silly.

The Stillsuits, used for survival on the harsh landscape of Arrakis and a great idea in a novel, come off looking like a more primitive version of the rubber Batman suit. They make the acting look even more stilted, and don’t impress as a particularly creative design.

This was a movie and so it needed the "bang" for the buck, but considering the cult-like zeal of fans of the novel, these additions were bound to bring a backlash. And they did.

Dune: the cast

Kyle MacLachlan and Sean Young are no Luke and Leia, but the rest of the performers do their best.

Patrick Stewart (pre-Star Trek) and Dean Stockwell (pre-Quantum Leap) lend some subtlety in small roles, while Max Von Sydow, Jose Ferrer and the pumped up, greasy Sting round out a generally solid supporting cast.

Seven-year-old Alicia Witt, playing Paul's creepy younger sister, makes her film debut.

Unfortunately, MacLachlan's stilted delivery, a hammy performance by Kenneth McMillan as the Baron and a dated soundtrack by '80s "Supergroup" Toto raise the "ouch" factor exponentially.

Generally, characters never seem fully fleshed out, and no good acting can cover up some truly awful lapses in dialogue.

Dated Dune

Sixteen years have not been kind to this film.

Many of the sets have an uninteresting if elaborate Victorian look, making this a sort of Great Expectations with giant worms. Big budget, certainly, but given the novel's universal scope, ultimately disappointing.

The desert scenes fare better. They have a grandiose beauty that still holds up, as do the sandworms, designed by Carlo Rambaldi (who also worked on Alien).

But after a five-minute lecture from Princess Irulan (Virginia Madsen, who is barely seen again as the film progresses) on the names and chief exports of several planets, the movie starts off confusingly and never fully recovers.

Epic failure

Ultimately the deck was stacked too greatly against Dune. Facing his first giant production, Lynch was unable to adapt the complexities of the novel without offending the easily confused moviegoer. He was not only playing against his strengths, he was between a rock and a hard place. And there was no getting out.

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Dune was an epic that tried. It has its heart in the right place. It has grand scale sci-fi aspirations. Heck, it even has giant sand worms. But ultimately the muddled story and schizophrenic need to live up to both the novel and the mass audience prevented Dune from being all that it could have.

Although Frank Herbert was officially pleased with the film -- he referred to his relationship with Lynch as "synergy" -- rumors persist that the author was still disappointed in the project. Perhaps he came to realize that sometimes even the best sci-fi novels should remain in that form.