For a movie infamous as a box office disaster, one still widely disparaged by both general viewers and fans of the book it was based on, David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of Dune has had a remarkable shelf life on home video. Over the past four decades, numerous distributors around the world have licensed the film for deluxe collectible editions on DVD, Blu-ray, and (most recently) 4K Ultra HD. Clearly, although never much appreciated by mass audiences, Lynch’s take on the material has struck a chord with enough people to merit not only being kept in active circulation, but to be issued and reissued in new versions many times over.
For my own part, I acknowledge having an unhealthy obsession with the film that has driven me to collect an absurdly unnecessary number of copies of it on home video formats both common and obscure. With the release of several very nice and quite comprehensive Special-, Limited-, and Ultimate Edition packages on 4K Ultra HD since 2021, I may have started to feel that my Dune collection was just about complete. Yet new copies of interest continue to find release, breaking my resistance.
My latest acquisition, released in May of this year, is a Limited Edition Blu-ray box set from Australian label ViaVision. The lack of the 4K Ultra HD format is of course an immediate disappointment that may limit the desirability of this package in the eyes of many collectors. Since I already have a few different editions offering that, notable points of interest with this particular set include the packaging itself and a few new (currently) exclusive bonus features.
| Title: | Dune |
| Year of Release: | 1984 |
| Director: | David Lynch |
| Watched On: | ViaVision Limited Edition Blu-ray (Australia) |
| Also Available On: | 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray DVD Netflix Starz Various VOD rental and purchase platforms |
I’ve reviewed Lynch’s Dune as a movie previously, and won’t repeat that work here. This article will focus on the specifics of the ViaVision Limited Edition Blu-ray. (My copy is #76 of 2,000.) The 3-disc set comes in a hard slipcover box with a lenticular 3D cover rendering of the original 1984 poster art. Inside is a standard keepcase holding the discs, as well as a sleeve with a half-dozen photo art cards.
Disc 1 contains the 1984 theatrical cut, the only version of the movie David Lynch was involved with the completion of, however unhappy with it he may have been. Disc 2 offers the notorious 1988 “Allan Smithee” extended version prepared without Lynch’s participation by Universal’s MCA TV division. The majority of the supplemental features are found on Disc 3.
All three Blu-ray discs are region-free and should function in an American Blu-ray player.
ViaVision does not have legal rights to distribute the so-called Spicediver fan edit that can currently only be found on physical media releases from Koch Films in Germany (or on the internet, of course).
Video and Audio
Aside from the lack of 4K and HDR, the ViaVision Blu-ray for the 1984 theatrical cut of Dune is based on the same video master created by Koch Films in Germany for use on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD video editions in 2021. Koch’s work was also previously licensed to Arrow Films for release on those formats in the United States and the UK.
I’ve used the Arrow Blu-ray for the below comparison with ViaVision’s disc, but I also checked the Koch Films Blu-ray and all three appear close to identical as far as I can tell. (Click on the links in the captions below the comparisons to expand the images to full size.) Viewed on a computer monitor, the Arrow screenshots appear to have a very slight red shift, but it’s not noticeable during playback on a regular home theater screen.
Ironically, the older Universal Home Video Blu-ray from 2010 appears both sharper and more richly colored than the remaster from a decade later. Some of that may be a small touch of electronic sharpening, but it still tends to look more vibrant. However, it also has a lot more dirt and specks on the film elements, and the film source exhibits some noticeable gate weave. The Koch Films remaster is cleaner and more stable.
I don’t have the ability to take 4K screenshots, but the 4K Ultra HD editions from Koch Films and Arrow are more comparable in sharpness and color to the older Universal Blu-ray, with the benefit of the cleaner and more stable source. Those remain my current preference when it comes time to sit and watch the movie. That said, this Blu-ray downsample is quite watchable on its own merits.
The movie’s soundtrack is provided in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or 2.0 formats. Many foreign Blu-ray releases of the film were mastered from a source with an audio glitch that caused the phrase “A secret report within the Guild” to come out as “A siscrit report…” but this one has that line correct on both tracks. The 5.1 mix is a little thin in bass compared to the older Universal Blu-ray, especially noticeable during the opening theme music, but is generally clear and satisfying.
Extended Version
The “Allan Smithee” TV cut of Dune is found on Disc 2. This version of the movie was cobbled together in 1988 from a mixture of David Lynch’s production footage (originally photographed in 2.35:1 widescreen) and new footage shot by Universal’s MCA TV division in 4:3 – namely, all the painted stills that make up the new Prologue and are randomly inserted into various scenes to substitute for special effects.
The Smithee cut was originally created in 4:3, with all of Lynch’s footage panned & scanned. For the 2006 Extended Edition DVD, Universal reconstructed this version of the movie in 2.35:1 widescreen with Lynch’s footage restored to its original ratio. However, shots of the paintings were heavily cropped on top and bottom to conform to the new ratio, leaving some of them almost incomprehensible.
The Smithee Cut has appeared on various DVD and Blu-ray releases of Dune over the years, sometimes in 4:3, sometimes in 2.35:1, most of them in standard-definition. To my knowledge, the massive Koch Films Ultimate Edition box set in 2022 was the first to provide a copy (of the 2.35:1 version) in 1080p HD. This ViaVision box from Australia does the same. The majority of footage appears to be recycled from the same source as Universal’s 2006 Blu-ray master, with some sections visibly upconverted from standard-definition.
Audio options on this version are once again DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or 2.0, though there isn’t much audible difference between the two this time. Both are noticeably weaker than the theatrical cut.
New Bonus Features
The majority of extra features on all three discs were recycled from prior home video releases. Four items stand out as notable to this edition.
The Allan Smithee TV cut of Dune on Disc 2 features a new audio commentary by A Masterpiece in Disarray author Max Evry, who has quite a lot to say about Lynch’s Dune in general and especially about what he fully acknowledges is the worst version of it. This is a very informative, engaging commentary by one of the foremost experts on the film.
Previous Blu-ray editions of Dune already offered a small handful of deleted scenes, but an additional deleted scene featuring actress Molly Wryn (who was cast as Paul’s Fremen wife, Harah, only to be entirely excised from the theatrical cut) came to light recently and was posted to YouTube. ViaVision includes that scene with the other supplements on Disc 3.
If the interview with make-up effects artist Christopher Tucker (who passed away in late 2022 at age 81) appeared on any previous video edition, I don’t recall seeing it. Tucker had done the critical make-up effects for Lynch’s The Elephant Man, and was brought in to create some concept designs for the Guild Navigators in Dune that were ultimately not used. (Carlo Rambaldi replaced him.) Unfortunately, in this brief three-minute interview, Tucker has a very poor memory of the specifics of his involvement with Dune.
Also found on Disc 3 is a new extended version of the Ballyhoo Entertainment documentary The Sleeper Must Awaken: Making Dune. This documentary was originally meant to appear on the Arrow Films Blu-ray and 4K releases in 2021, but didn’t make the deadline and had to be dropped at the last minute. (It later ran on Arrow’s streaming service.) Koch Films in Germany pushed back its own disc releases by a few months in order to include it. The documentary ran 82 minutes at the time, and has here been expanded even further to 93 minutes. I’ll be honest, although I did watch the piece in 2021, I don’t remember the specifics of it well enough to identify exactly what’s been added. Regardless, it’s a quite thorough account of the film’s history, production, and troubled reception.
Legacy Bonus Features
The remaining supplements have all appeared on prior home video releases of Dune.
Disc 1
- Theatrical trailer
- Teaser trailer – cropped to 16:9 and faded
Disc 3
- Beyond Imagination: Merchandising Dune (2021)
- Prophecy Fulfilled: Scoring Dune (2021)
- Destination Dune (1983)
- Impressions of Dune (2003)
- Interview with Production Coordinator Golda Offenheim (2003)
- Deleted Scenes with Intro. by Raffaella de Laurentiis (2005)
- Designing Dune (2005)
- Dune FX
- Dune Models & Miniatures (2005)
- Dune Costumes (2005)
- Interview with Actor Paul Smith (2007)
Related
- Dune (1984) Koch Films 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Ultimate Edition
- A Visual History of Dune (1984) on Home Video
- A Masterpiece in Disarray: David Lynch’s Dune (2023) book review
- The Spice Must Flow: The Story of Dune, From Cult Novels to Visionary Sci-Fi Movies (2023) book review
- David Lynch Obituary
- The Remake
The Video File Blog 
Hey Josh,
I didn’t know where to send this, but Impront is bringing out a new version of Dune.
I’m not a fan of the movie, but even I thought this looked pretty cool.
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Great article!
The only version of Dune that I currently own is the ‘Special TV Edition’ DVD released in the UK by Castle Home Video in 2000. This version doesn’t appear in your list, but you’re not missing much – it’s the ‘Alan Smithee’ cut only (no theatrical cut), has no real bonus features to speak of (the rather tacky menu screen offers: Play movie / Scene selection / Slide show / Theatrical trailer / DVD credits), and was apparently sourced from VHS (it’s certainly very rough-looking). It’s presented full-screen as per the original 1988 TV broadcast, which (apart from purist considerations) has the minor benefit of displaying the added paintings in uncropped form.
This brings me to my questions.
Firstly, does this ViaVision 3-disc set show the TV version in widescreen throughout? In other words, are the paintings cropped at the top and bottom (like other versions you covered in your chart of releases that you own)?
Ideally, I’d like a presentation of the TV cut that preserves the widescreen footage shot by David Lynch, but that reverts to full-screen for the paintings (and possibly other added shots). I appreciate that this might make for a somewhat jarring viewing experience for some (most?) viewers. In any event, it looks like this release also crops the paintings, but I’d be grateful if you could clarify this.
If this is the case, can you recommend a release that has the TV cut in full-screen but with decent picture quality (and preferably subtitles)?
Secondly, how good are the subtitles on the ViaVision release (if you’ve watched it with them on)? I find some of the dialogue impossible to make out, especially whispered lines and dialogue expressing a character’s inner thoughts (I imagine that the latter is a TV cut addition, and one of the reasons why Lynch disowned this version, but without the theatrical cut to compare with, I cannot say for certain).
Sorry for such a long message, but you are clearly something of an expert on various releases of the film, so I hope you can help.
Many tthanks!
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