I too really liked the David Lynch Dune. (I've never seen the Sci-Fi Channel version, so I have no basis for comparison.) What I remember more than anything else about the David Lynch Dune was the anticipation before it came out, with all the magazines scrambling to try to get pictures of the sandworms before the film's release. This was one of the first movies where I was sufficiently in touch with the SF world to get excited about it before it came out, following the rumors, reading each new article about it, etc. (Which reminds me: WTF with Starlog going up to $8 dollars an issue? What, I go away for a few years and they get delusions of grandeur? Does this really work for them?)