YMMV / Frank Herbert's Children of Dune

• Awesome Music: The entire soundtrack by Brian Tyler is considered to be one of the best scores composed for a TV production. Special mention has to go to "Inama Nushif", a heartbreakingly beautiful song with lyrics written entirely in the fictional Fremen language; it has to be heard to be believed.
• Incest Yay Shipping: There are a lot of fanfics dedicated to pairing Leto and Ghanima, a lot of them including (and most likely based on) the Adaptational Attractiveness given to Leto and Ghanima.
• Moment of Awesome: Stilgar's orders.
  Freman: They say the price on your head keeps going up.
  Stilgar: Then I say unto you, send men to summon wooooooooooorms! Then let us go to Arakeen...and collect it.
  • Followed by a shot of an army of Fremen on dozens of sandworms closing on the city as the "Summon The Worms" theme plays.
• Complete Monster: Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is the disgustingly vile ruler of House Harkonnen. Seeking to acquire access to the Spice to further his rule across the universe, Harkonnen sets up shop on the Spice planet Arrakis, using his dimwitted nephew Rabban to submit the planet's inhabitants, the Fremen, to his whim through murder and fear, even having the Fremen hunted for sport. Hoping to have Rabban murdered by his "handsome" nephew Feyd-Rautha in order to gain the Fremens' trust, Harkonnen has many young slaves forced to fight Feyd in an arena for his viewing pleasure, with over a hundred dying by Feyd's hands, with Harkonnen even forcing some to sleep with him. Helping the Emperor orchestrate the destruction of House Atreides out of spite, even giving orders to Take No Prisoners, Harkonnen forces Dr. Yeuh to help him in return for his wife's freedom, only to reveal he murdered her beforehand and killing Yeuh afterward. Taking part in the Fremen genocide to crush their rebellion, despite perishing at the hands of his granddaughter Alia, Harkonnen returns many years later to possess Alia as an act of revenge, turning her into a paranoid dictator who attempts to have her mother and nephews assassinated.
• Retroactive Recognition: James McAvoy later went on to have a big film career which includes Atonement, Wanted and playing a younger Charles Xavier in the X-Men Film Series.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: The series improved upon the original mini-series in every conceivable way, from the acting, tone, music, and flow of the plot, and especially the costuming and visual effects. The success of the first miniseries encouraged the network to go all-in on the sequel. It also helps that it was the only attempt at adapting the later books by that point, so it didn't suffer from constant comparisons to Dune (1984).
• Tear Jerker:
  • Chani's death.
    Paul: There are problems in this universe for which there are no answers. Nothing. Nothing can be done.
  • Just a few minutes later when Scytale is tempting Paul with resurrecting Chani, Paul completely breaks down and falls to the floor, sobbing and trembling.
  • Alia's final possession and death, particularly when she looks at her mother in tears.
    Alia: Mommy...help me!
• WTH, Costuming Department?
  • The "funny hats" and other unusual outfits from the original series return, although mostly for established organizations like the Bene Gesserit and somewhat downplayed. The large neckscarves of the priests like Javid are a pretty noticeable new addition though.
  • Alia and Ghanima wear strapless tube tops. As royalty. On a desert planet.

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