On the latest Geeks Guide to the Galaxy, I join Andrea Kail, Rajan Khanna, and host David Barr Kirtley to discuss the 2000 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries Frank Herbert’s Dune, directed by John Harrison. We talk about the (sometimes atrocious) acting, the (laughably bad) sets, the (absurdly odd) costumes, as well as the strength of Herbert’s narrative.

Here’s me on the special effects and sets:

There were some places where they didn’t even do a matte painting, they just had a backdrop that they unrolled behind the actors. That’s an odd choice, because maybe they didn’t have the money for a matte painting, but they certainly had green screens by this point. So I was very curious about that … We’re spoiled by the special effects today. They’re so good, everything looks real. It’s flawless. But we kind of forget that that was really, really hard to achieve. Even Star Wars, which had this huge budget, you watch the original one—not the remaster—and it’s like, “Yeah, the Death Star is a model.” You can just tell on the close-up shots.

You can listen to the podcast here.