While Dune: Prophecy is a (very loose) literary adaptation, the HBO series ultimately defines itself by its ties to Denis Villeneuves Dune movies. In and of itself, thats no big deal. 2024 has seen a now-standard flurry of shows released under the Star Wars, DC, and Marvel labels (to name just a few) all of them spinoffs, prequels, sequels, or reboots of franchises that originated on film. Hell, DC Studios relaunched its cinematic universe with a streaming joint!Yet Dune: Prophecy is innately different to these other small-screen offshoots of big-screen blockbusters, because, unlike them, its cinema roots are baked into its very DNA. And now that the dust (or should that be spice?) has settled on Dune: Prophecy season 1, its painfully clear that trying to shrink Dunes inherently filmic nature its sheer bigness is a task not even the Lisan al Gaib himself could accomplish.[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for Dune: Prophecy season 1.]At this point, longtime Dune devotees are probably crying foul. What about the two miniseries, Frank Herberts Dune and Frank Herberts Children of Dune, that aired on Syfy in the 2000s? these fans ask. Werent those successful? And indeed they were, both critically and commercially; these Dune adaptations rank among Syfys most-watched original productions to this day. But heres the thing: Those productions were built from the ground up for the small screen. Sure, they aspired to cinematic sensibilities, but theres no mistaking their made-for-TV origins. The acting is uneven, the scripts are deliberately paced and exposition-heavy, and most of all, the spectacle is hemmed in by a basic cable budget.In that sense, Dune: Prophecy is arguably much closer to cinema than these earlier efforts. Certainly, the HBO series visual effects, costumes, and sets are light-years ahead of anything Syfy mustered. The performances are more consistent, too; the divide between Hollywood veterans and TV regulars is less pronounced. And showrunner Alison Schapker and her team follow the Great Schools of Dune trilogys storyline far less slavishly than the Syfy adaptations blow-by-blow approach to their source text, Frank Herberts first three novels. Even so, Dune: Prophecy season 1 is a claustrophobic, small-scale affair. Valya Harkonnen and her allies and enemies wheel and deal primarily in the backrooms and corridors of the universe. The only major action set-piece we get, a flashback to the Butlerian Jihad, is a handful of shots during the prologue. Even the thematic meat of the piece supposedly a deep dive into power, truth, and systems of control is handled perfunctorily, as if only there to jazz up a relatively inconsequential narrative. It all feels so contained; it feels like TV.Contrast this with Villeneuves Dune: Part One and Part Two. Here we have two of the biggest movies to ever movie. The cast is uniformly excellent. The storytelling (particularly in Part Two) moves at a brisk clip and keeps the expository dialogue to a minimum. The production values are exactly what youd expect from a combined price tag north of $350 million. The scope is mythic. The themes, covering everything from the perils of superhero-type leaders to free will versus determinism, are painted in vivid, operatic strokes. Watching these films especially in oversized IMAX format goes beyond mere immersion and verges on a religious experience. Its a vision of Frank Herberts sci-fi universe thats defiantly geared toward the theatrical experience in an age of smartphones and streaming platforms. Frankly, to watch Dune on a television, the best way I can compare it is to drive a speedboat in your bathtub, Villeneuve told Total Film in 2021. For me, its ridiculous. Its a movie thats made as a tribute for the big screen experience.In short? The Dune franchise under Villeneuve is incompatible with TV which might explain why the Canadian filmmaker bailed on Dune: Prophecy before cameras rolled. (For what its worth, the official reason is that Villeneuve bowed out to focus on Dune: Part Twos sequel, Dune Messiah). The gulf between film and television even prestige television is simply too great. Not that Dune: Prophecy season 1 does itself many favors. To Schapkers credit, Prophecy leans into the strengths of TV as a medium, rightly recognizing that directly mapping a cinematic blueprint onto six hour-long installments is impossible. But the way this is rolled out is so low-stakes (and at times, cheap-feeling) that it diminishes Dunes world, rather than expanding it.Take the Desmond Hart plot thread. This mystery box finally gets (partly) opened in episode 6, but whats inside ocular nerve implants and shadowy Bene Gesserit haters is oddly pedestrian. Theres none of the intellectual and emotional oomph of Dune: Part One and Part Two protagonist Paul Atreides giving the green light to galactic genocide for the greater good. Its more akin to a plot-centric season finale reveal youd expect from, say, Agents of SHIELD or Fringe. No shade on either show; its just that no one would mistake either for a cinema-grade epic. Similarly, episode 5s procedural elements involving Tula Harkonnen, Raquella/Lila, and a generic science lab set are the kinds of scenes that would happen off screen in Villeneuves films, and with good reason; CSI: Wallach IX is decidedly less compelling than the soaring grandeur of Pauls subversive heros journey. And lets not forget season 1s wider, dual-timeline narrative, which makes an already busy story even busier (and slower) all while filling in gaps in the Dune mythos that arguably functioned better left unexplained.These shortcomings would be enough to curdle most shows. But foist them onto the Dune universe and they become twice as glaring. Because they dont merely tarnish the franchises brand they reduce its outsized ambitions. Where Dune: Part One and Part Two paid off a cosmos-wide, multi-millennia master plan, Prophecys first season gave us sub-Game of Thrones intrigue and a vaguely defined threat to the Sisterhoods future (effectively a moot point, thanks to the movies), most of it playing out in the same confined locales. Schapker and co. fuss over the how and the why of it all, failing to grasp that the more granular Dune: Prophecy becomes, the further away from Villeneuves (and Herberts) big ideas so fundamental to this brainy sci-fi saga it gets. For all its spaceships, Shai-Hulud cameos, and funky footwear, Dune: Prophecy just doesnt feel like Dune.Again, the odds of that happening of any TV show sitting comfortably alongside Dune: Part One and Part Two were always stacked against HBO. Even if Dune: Prophecy season 1 had nailed every aspect of its execution, even if it had been one of the best shows of the year, it still wouldnt have been a movie. As a result, the folks behind Prophecy were always going to have to scale back its big-screen counterparts cinematic essence to produce something more TV-friendly. But thats the problem: Shrinking Denis Villeneuves Dune is like trying to preserve a snowflake on the desert world that lends the franchise its name doomed from the start.