There’s so much internal monologue in Dune, how else are you going to represent it? The Scifi Channel and Villeneuve both seem to just kind of like, leave it out.
The miniseries doesn’t leave it out so much as work it into conversations that sound like they could have been part of the book, or have the characters wear their hearts on their sleeves more, which is why miniseries Paul seems like he’s always on the verge of a meltdown.
The film cost them $72 million to make, so this is a $42 million loss. If they actually released the movie they probably would have at least broke even. I have a hard time seeing it not making more than they just wrote off.
As an adendum to that guy’s post, season 5 is weaker due to production issues, but really picks up in the back half and resolves the G’Kar-Londo plot. That last bit makes it worth watching all on its own, for me.
Michael O’Hare was pretty healthy when they filmed the pilot, but got worse after, which is part of why season 1 was delayed; he took some time for treatment and JMS held off on filming until he was ready to come back. He took a turn while they were filming the season and it affected his acting. He came back for a guest appearance later on when he was feeling better and put in his best performance as the character. He retired shortly after, though.