History YMMV / Dune1984

** "Decaf is the mind killer. Decaf is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will caffeinate my blood. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the caffeine has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." -- The Programmer's Mantra II

** The Emperor also gets this. Even on [[Website/TVTropes This Very Wiki]], people claim he didn't do anything in the movie. However, an early scene has the Emperor explain to a Guild Navigator that he masterminded the Harkonnen's attack on the Atreides. When the Navigator says he wants Paul dead, the Emperor is more confused that the Navigator sees Paul as threat than actually upset at the prospect of murdering Paul (which seemingly wasn't originally part of his plan).

** Furthermore, the Baron's diseased appearance in the movie has been [[https://www.thecompanion.app/dune-baron-harkonnen-queer-menace-and-frank-herberts-homophobia/ seen as a metaphorical reference to the then-ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis]], with the Baron's portrayal as a [[DepravedHomosexual sexually sadistic pederast]]. It's worse with how Bruce Herbert, one of the sons of Creator/FrankHerbert was gay and closeted when the movie came out, was disowned by his virulently homophobic father upon coming out, and would later die of AIDS.

** The film making the story more [[BlackAndWhiteMorality black and white]] compared to the original book has led to the assumption that the series in general is much the same, which has carried over to the above video games (where the Atreides are plainly described and depicted as noble without any shades of grey) and the TV adaptation, and one really has to delve into the books to learn otherwise.

** For some viewers, the scene where the Baron molests one of his servants and tears out his heart plug, leaving behind a bloody corpse, can bring to mind the infamous "goosh goosh" scene from ''Manga/TokyoTribe''.
** Furthermore, the Baron's diseased appearance in the movie has been [[https://www.thecompanion.app/dune-baron-harkonnen-queer-menace-and-frank-herberts-homophobia/ seen as a metaphorical reference to the then-ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis]], with the Baron's portrayal as a DepravedBisexual. It's worse with how Bruce Herbert, one of the sons of Creator/FrankHerbert was gay and closeted when the movie came out, and would later die of AIDS.

** Rabban likewise has some fans who consider him to be an entertainingly buffoonish comic relief character, while others feel that he's characterized as such a completely ineffectual idiot that it hurts the Baron's credibility as a villain for thinking putting him in charge of Arrakis was a good idea.

*** The Baron explains why he put Rabban in charge of Arrakis - he knows he will fail and turn the people even more against him with his brutality, so when the Baron puts Feyd in charge, the people will see him as a savior.

** [[BigBad Baron Vladimir Harkonnen]] is a [[{{Gonk}} grotesque]], cackling beast of a man who masterminds the slaughter of House Atreides by holding the wife of Dr. Yueh hostage with no intent to ever let Yueh live. Having forced his nephew Feyd-Rautha to become his perfect heir via abuse, Harkonnen dispatches the brutal Rabban to slaughter the Fremen of Dune so he might take control of the planet before personally attempting to oversee the remaining slaughter.

** The film has ''a lot'' of strange costume ideas. Bald Bene Gesserit who wear fishnets? Mentats with EinsteinHair and giant eyebrows? And while, at first glance, the stillsuits might not seem so bad, compare them to [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/eb/DuneTV-Paul%2BHooks.jpg the stillsuits from the 2000 miniseries]], which nearly cover the entire face. This makes sense, because the whole point of the stillsuits is to collect water that is evaporating from the skin or otherwise exhaled, so it's ideal to cover as much skin as possible and to cover the nose and mouth. Do you really think [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cjREZnqOLhg/TVCGAOigN2I/AAAAAAAAA9A/47JowhsJPa8/s1600/Dune+3.jpg a mere tiny tube stuck up your nostrils]] is a better alternative? (The books had both the nose tube and the hoods/masks.)

** The same happened with the TropeCodifier of RealTimeStrategy video games, ''VideoGame/DuneII'', which was inspired by this film's visuals and some plot elements. The remake ''Dune 2000'' went further and had [[LiveActionCutscenes Full Motion Video]] cutscenes with [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of the Emperor, Thufir Hawat and Piter de Vries with different names but the same costumes and appearances as in the film (the actor playing De Vries channels Creator/BradDourif as hard as he can, and he also recites the Mentat Mantra and refers to Harkonnen heart plugs, both of which are film-original), and even a bit of film footage. The cutscenes even have original Fremen and Bene Gesserit characters whose costumes are based on the film. ''Dune 2000'' itself got a quasi-sequel/reboot ''VideoGame/EmperorBattleForDune'' which continued the trend, with renamed heads of Houses showing up in person and dressed like their film counterparts.

** The same happened with the TropeCodifier of RealTimeStrategy video games, ''VideoGame/DuneII'', which was inspired by this film's visuals and some plot elements. The remake ''Dune 2000'' went further and had FullMotionVideo cutscenes with [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of the Emperor, Thufir Hawat and Piter de Vries with different names but the same costumes and appearances as in the film (the actor playing De Vries channels Creator/BradDourif as hard as he can, and he also recites the Mentat Mantra and refers to Harkonnen heart plugs, both of which are film-original), and even a bit of film footage. The cutscenes even have original Fremen and Bene Gesserit characters whose costumes are based on the film. ''Dune 2000'' itself got a quasi-sequel/reboot ''VideoGame/EmperorBattleForDune'' which continued the trend, with renamed heads of Houses showing up in person and dressed like their film counterparts.

* HarsherInHindsight: For some viewers, the scene where the Baron molests one of his servants and tears out his heart plug, leaving behind a bloody corpse, can bring to mind the infamous "goosh goosh" scene from ''Manga/TokyoTribe''.

** The Emperor himself [[spoiler: being so tired of the Beast that he himself orders his execution]] is also a crowd-pleasing moment as well.

** The extended cut is made of footage that was cut before the final effects work was done so the Fremens' eyes will go from glowing blue to normal between scenes, and sometimes during the same scene.
** The VideoCredits at the end are made up from footage of costume and make-up tests. This results in noticeable rotoscoping artifacts through the sequence, as well as Baron Harkonnen seemingly having lost a bunch of weight (presumably his final costume was padded out a bit more) and Reverend Mother Mohiam's bald cap being much less convincing than the one she wears in the rest of the film.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: The film's interpretation of Baron Harkonnen is pretty divisive, with some loving him because of how hilariously [[EvilIsHammy over-the-top]] evil and disgusting he is, and others finding him too cartoonish to take seriously as a primary antagonist.

* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: The film features convincing performances from Creator/KyleMacLachlan, Creator/PatrickStewart, Creator/MaxVonSydow, Creator/DeanStockwell, Creator/SianPhillips and others, even despite the general wackiness and questionable elements. It's rather telling that in spite of the film's failure, Stockwell's career was revitalized by it, while [=McLachlan=], who had never appeared in a movie before, was ''not'' instantly banished from Hollywood forever, making enough of an impression that he would star in several later projects for the director. This is a big part of why the movie's cult fandom enjoy the film for the things it gets right, and not for the things it gets wrong.

* AwardSnub: Regardless of what most people think of the movie's overall quality, it is generally agreed that it only being nominated for a single Academy Award for its sound design and not for its superb costume and production designs, impressive special effects and ''especially'' its amazing score was utter nonesense.