I'd like to express appreciation to Phineasbg for the incredible amount of work he put in. I also wanted to ask him a couple of questions, and this seemed like the most active thread I found.
As far as finding the film online is concerned, I downloaded the .rar parts from Rapidshare. Uncompressing part one into its own folder then automatically uncompresses all of them. After burning to DVD, I could not get to Special Features and the film began to skip towards the end, but neither my DVD player nor my burner is 100% reliable, so I don't think my results are indicative of any problem. You can always just watch it on your PC.
This version really is as close as we'll get to the version we'd all like to see but probably never will: a true Director's Cut. The amount of work Phineasbg put in to correct the horrid editing decisions of the Extended Cut and to add the deleted scenes is phenomenal. I would especially like to praise his attention to sound and music. Sound design is one of David Lynch's most often overlooked strengths, and of course the Extended Cut ran roughshod over Lynch's work as well as Brian Eno's. Third Stage has that quiet dignity that saves the Toto power chords for the correct occasions. Dune has a classic, timeless feel to it, and now it plays almost like a Gone with the Wind of science fiction.
These are my questions and comments. They are submitted in the spirit of utmost respect for Phineasbg's long work and in no way constitute outright criticism of the overall effort. After all, 99% of it is amazing -- these are only observations about the other 1%:
- When Mohaim is speaking to Jessica about the gom jabbar test, but before they enter Paul's room, at the very end of the scene, she says, "He is here." Referring, I assume, to Paul. I didn't rewatch the Theatrical Cut to prepare to make this post, but I don't remember this line from it. Why keep this? The line seems to have no purpose; it's obvious Paul is nearby.
- The scene, also in the Theatrical Cut, in which the Atreides soldiers intercept Harkonnen communications ("Battle language!") seems misplaced in your cut. It comes before the spice mining inspection and does not add, as it does in the TC, to the tension about the impending Harkonnen sneak attack.
- Another small scene that's in the TC, but is in a different spot here, is that of Yueh kneeling and crying. Here it comes after Yueh has sprung the trap, and has already been captured by the Harkonnens, but I don't think his hands are bound. In the TC it seems to be that he's crying about what he's going to do, but in Third Stage, it's because he's already done it. It doesn't seem to make sense, however, that he could get away from the Harkonnens long enough to have this moment alone.
A general comment: I couldn't help but think that Lynch -- or someone who might inherit the task of assembling a studio-led effort at a new, better, and longer cut of this film -- would benefit a lot from watching Third Stage. However, I doubt they would end up with 177 minutes. Your attempts to include as much new material as possible are quite laudable from the fan's perspective, and of course it's easy to overlook the poor quality of some of the footage. It's possible that a professional effort could not overcome this quality issue, but even assuming they could have all the footage in perfect quality, I think they would still leave some of it out.
The scene between Jessica and the Shadout Mapes about the crysknife, for example, just doesn't play that well. From a fan's perspective, I'm glad to see it, but it would be a little difficult for someone who hadn't read the book several times to understand what's going on with the need for the crysknife to draw blood. Linda Hunt just doesn't make her lines completely clear.
In general, I think that most of the film can tolerate being drawn out more; it benefits from the more detailed and epic scope. The Harkonnen sneak attack sequence is an exception. I feel like this is supposed to be shocking and filled with action, and the extra running time (more Yueah, more of Feyd gloating) created a pacing problem for it. It also doesn't help that this is probably the weakest part of the movie anyway (better hand-to-hand fighting would have helped a lot here, instead of Sardukar tossing Atreides troops around).
Those are my thoughts. If you have the time and inclination to respond to the points I raised, that would be really nice. In any case, I'm very grateful to have this cut. I enjoyed the hell out of watching it.