Amph "The Sleeper Has Awakened" - DUNE DISCUSSION-

I think Dune is one of those movies that history is somewhat kind to: we have a storyboard based cut that provides some insight into the original plan, we're more used to David Lynch being weird, we've become accustomed to homogenized pragmatic adaptations and thus deviations for the sake of idiosyncratic indulgence are refreshingly palatable, we all slowly realize that actually Toto was always great (okay, maybe not that last one). Mind you I don't think it's ever going to undergo a full-scale reevaluation or anything like that, but I think it's definitely going to outlive the Sci Fi version.

 

we all say so

Jodorowsky's Dune is the best movie about not making a movie since Lost in La Mancha.

 

I think Lynch has already outlived the Sci-Fi versions so far. The mini and Children of Dune were the highest rated SyFy shows with BSG, and we hardly hear of the those two anymore. Too bad the God Emperor mini was canceled because after watching Split I fully believed McAvoy could have pulled off the Jabba cosplay.

 

I think that's a pretty worthless metric. A made-for-TV movie on niche/specialty channel that was years before its prime doesn't have as much prominence as a major motion picture release? What is that even saying, really?

 

I attempted, just could never get through the first chapter. And I'm not talking about only reading a few paragraphs. I've read multiple resources, guides, research papers, etc. on it just so I could be familiar with it since I couldn't get through the books.

Though to be fair, I always had trouble actually reading Lord of the Rings too, but loved the Silmarillion and the Hobbit, and just their world and the intuitive sense it makes in its verisimilitude.

Dune just seems rather dry, not sure if its complications actually enrich it. And the basic premise of everything depending on spice and all spice only coming from Arrakis is a little farfetched for such a futuristic society, as do their social institutions like the Bene Gesserit, and the ban on advanced machines actually holding. The most interesting part to me is of Leto II sacrificing himself, in several ways, to become the God-Emperor and lead to the Great Scattering, though the execution itself seems off.

 

Yes, Dune, also known as Arrakis, is a desert planet. No precipitation.

 

Did you know? Gilliam is actually making that movie after all.

 

Been going through Dune, I think I'm 2/3 of the way through. Been taking a break though, dunno when I'll get back to it.

By the way the 1984 movie only covers the plot of the first book right? Like, I can finish reading this, watch the film, and not have stuff from the next two books spoiled for me?

 

Yes that is correct.

 

No! Exciting news though

 

A fellow Messiah supporter . I still think the original is the superior novel (and my favorite novel of all-time), but Messiah is exactly what a sequel should be. Different. Unexpected. Not a rehash. I think after the triumphant ending of Dune people weren't expecting the tragic brevity of Messiah. The Elder Herbert's four sequels have a varying level of diminishing returns IMO, but are worth a read. I've tried and failed to read half a dozen or so of the younger Hebert/Anderson books. The elder Herbert got bogged down by his big ideas in the sequels, and storytelling suffered. With the younger Herbert I'd say the opposite is true.

Despite the fundamental changes it makes to the source material, I'm still an unabashed David Lynch Dune apologizer. If you can separate it from the novel and judge it on its own merits, I think it's a weirdly beautiful tour de force. And yeah, that Toto score (along w/Brian Eno's "Prophecy" theme) is epic.

Re: this new attempt, I'm cautiously optimistic. I've come to believe the material needs a Game of Thrones approach (8-10 episodes adapting each novel. High production values, etc.), but I like the choice of Denis Villeneuve and I'm excited to see it get another big budget try.

 

So let's see... I like all of the six Herbert books, love the first one. The Lynch movie was a lovely mess, but the production design was on point. And KJA should be hanged, drawn and quartered for his Dune EU.

 

Dune is epic and I enjoyed it, but it's totally humourless. National Lampoon's Doon sent up its po-faced style something rotten.

 

I dunno. This makes me laugh out loud every time:

"Yueh! Yueh! Yueh!" goes the refrain. "A million deaths were not enough for Yueh!"
--from "A Child's History of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan.

Children's book. It reminds me of the time my mother gave this book to my 7 year old son:



It's too expensive to feed the zoo elephants in war-torn Tokyo, so the zookeepers stop feeding them. The elephants starve to death. The end.

 

Well, I got "The Great Dune trilogy" all in one handy paperback. See, I'm already committed to read the lesser volumes.

Coincidentally, Huey Lewis' show opener

 

God Emperor is no lesser work, if I say so myself.

 

The classic B-side to the hit single "I Want a New Spice."

 

Pfft. It's got nothing on "Hip to be Harkonnen"

 

I've got God Emperor Of Dune to read yet. I have been warned to stop there.

 

VadersLaMent, I'd finish the Herbert saga up. Then you can stop.

 

But it's not THE TRILOGY.

 

I watched the Dune movie recently, and decided to watch the miniseries Sci-fi made and while they're painfully inadequate, I enjoyed a decent bit of them, enough to really make me interested in reading the books. Between watching those and listening to podcasts about it, I feel like I know enough about the universe to jump into the story properly and not be constantly saying "What the **** does that mean" under my breath every other page. I'm 10% into the book and enjoying it well enough.

 

I think Children of Dune is the logical break point, but then I didn't care much for God Emperor and from there they got worse (and yet I still ended up reading two whole KJA entries just to "get to the end." Then again I was kind of self-loathing in undergrad.). I've seen a suggestion bandied about in some book discussions to "stop after the first entry in the series you don't enjoy," and that seems reasonable if kind of prone to potentially leaving you hanging, I guess.

 

But it was never A TRILOGY!