Dune References in EU

Shatterpoint has Mace Windu's extraction ship called the Halleck, like Gurney Halleck?

And of course, the most obvious one in Cestus Deception:

"And if it bit the general, what then? Was Kit Fisto supposed to magically transform the poison within his body?" (126)

 

Tatooine itself is a Dune reference.

 

yeah, but you get enough threads about Dune in the movies, and I think Lucas could care less about Herbert. I'm talking about the EU, cuz it's written by other science fiction writers who might be giving a nod off the Frank Herbert.

 

That sandy place in Jedi Academy (Blenjeel or something) had a big sand worm that pops up out of the ground and tries to eat you. Many times.

 

Actually LandoSystem, Lucas was greatly influenced by Herbert. His original concept for Star Wars was somethng that captured the funness of Flash Gordon crossed with the sci-fi/fantasy mix acheived in Dune.

 

Obviously the spice production process on Kessel, where it's produced my giant spice spiders (as opposed to Worms on Arrakis). Coincidentally, KJA wrote some horrible Dune prequel novels.

 

Hey, why does everyone rag on KJA? Okay, not everyone, but alot of people are of the opinion that he sucks hardcore. Don't forget that he forged alot Star Wars history with his books. Whatever.

Interestingly enough, I met KJA at a book signing when Butlerian Jihad had just come out. It was closing time at this book store and I just happened to be there for a copy of Romeo and Juliet for my English class and there''s him and Brian Herbert (and for some reason Rebbecca Moesta) so I bought a couple extra copies of Star Wars books (I didn't know they were going to be there so all my books were at home) and got them, and Butlerian Jihad signed. SCORE!!!!

Sorry for the Tnagent, had to get that out of my system.

ANyways, continue ragging on KJA.

 

then's the whole energy shields being useless against melee blades in KOTOR.......

 

Lucas was also heavily influenced by mid-70s Doctor Who. Having just seen those episodes, the evidence is indisputable where Vader came from (and Cereans).

 

"That sandy place in Jedi Academy (Blenjeel or something) had a big sand worm that pops up out of the ground and tries to eat you. Many times."


Yeah that mission was hard as anything.

 

This is all mostly contigent upon several points:

1. Dune was published in 1965, long before the first draft of any "Star Wars" film was on paper. The 1984 film version of Dune draws on the novel and is hardly influenced at all by Star Wars (although some, like me, wish that it had been influenced a bit MORE by the novel).


2. But then, speaking of Star Wars -- as Frank Herbert wrote in Eye in 1985: "David [Lynch] had trouble with the fact that Star Wars used up so much of Dune. We found sixteen points of identity between my novel and Star Wars. That is not to say this was other than coincidence, even though we figured the odds against coincidence and produced a number larger than the number of stars in the universe." (So, who's blatantly ripping off whom?)


3. But then, both Dune and Star Wars are, for all practical purposes, "hero of tradition" stories. Dune is a reasonably effective pastiching-together of concepts going back several decades in speculative literature; Lucas pretty much followed the standard template. It's not surprising that there are plot similarities, as this is one of the oldest (and most successful) plotlines in the history of literature.

Think of Luke Skywalker and his Fertilization Run on the Death Star, and reflect on the fact that it was inspired by The Dam Busters. Some motifs are a major part of the human species' hard-wiring...since all living humans are descended from folks who were more interested/fascinated/obsessed with Doing It than their competitors, you should simply regard this as a pro-survival trait bred in by evolutionary selection.

Obviously, any music, graphic art, narrative flow, or dramatic portrayal which hews to the timing and structure of The Act is going to be interesting and acceptable to the vast majority of the folks it's aimed at.

 

Hey, why does everyone rag on KJA? Okay, not everyone, but alot of people are of the opinion that he sucks hardcore. Don't forget that he forged alot Star Wars history with his books. Whatever.

My main beef is that IG-88 story in Tales of the Bounty Hunters. Lord what a stupid mindscrape.

 

I rag on Kevin J. Anderson because he's a terrible writer and he just won't stop. I've said this before I think: the only good thing KJA ever did for the EU was the character of Kyp Durron. The presentation of the Jedi Academy Trilogy sucked. Oh and then he goes and screws with DUNE, which I love more than SW. Unforgivable.

 

Shatterpoint has Mace Windu's extraction ship called the Halleck, like Gurney Halleck?

And what happens if it turns out the extraction ship was named after Henery Halleck, ACW Union General?

 

Then what's to say the out of universe, that general was named after Gurney Halleck?

*insert facetious and ungrounded combat on the supposed pseudo similarities of Sardaukar and Stormtrooper fighting prowness here*

 

If one wanted to make another comparison between Dune and Star Wars, you could consider the fact that both feature a Galactic Empire with a leader of poor morals. However, the corrupt empire appears to be a cliche sci-fi convention, anyways.

Off-topic, but if you want to see one of the closest comparisons in sci-fi to Coruscant, I suggest you read Asimov's Foundation series. I forget the name of the city-covered planet, but Coruscant is more or less a dead-ringer for it...

 

Trantor.

 

I disagree, Leto. The concept of a cityworld is not unique, any more than a forest world or snow world. That someone was the first to put it in print doesn't make it the progenitor of all to come.

Who was the first to use blasters, I wonder?

 

Think you meant, "LastOneStanding," there, Exc.

 

Then what's to say the out of universe, that general was named after Gurney Halleck?

ACW is American Civil War and Union General means that Henry Halleck was a General fighting for the Union in that war. I'm pretty sure Dune's author was born well after General Halleck was buried. Especially since Frank Herbert was born in 1920 and General Halleck died early in 1872.

 

A few weeks ago a friend and I were discussing the Dune/SW similarities subject and Tatooine came up. I started going all fanboy over it, and then he made a very logical point:
It was the 1970s, the FIRST SW movie...they had no budget. So what do you do? You film in a desert area (CHEAP) and you call it a "Desert Planet". lol

 

You said Trantor, Leto . . . as in Issac's cityworld?

 

Yes, but I was the one who originally said that Coruscant was virtually a dead-ringer for Trantor. That's what Leto means.

 

Point is , george copied arrakis . Thats all .
His writers did the rest . He only got the writers after he copied arrakis . No arrakis , no star wars . Star wars would have failed and there wouldnt be writers to create the illusion of a totally new world when they are probably copying stuff from dune , reinventing it only doing it better than george .

No arrakis , no budget , no artists , no writers , no labour , no star wars .

No need to troll with some of the comments...

 

Trantor even gets mentioned in the SW universe... in DM:Shadow Hunter, Lorn Pavan is a member of a gym on Coruscant... the Trantor Gym.

tatooine is not a copy of arrakis. there are similarities in that they both are desert worlds with native and non-native populations.

arrakis is the bright center of the "Dune" universe - the economic focal point, to be fought over.. for the spice.

but tatooine is not the economic center of the universe for having no spice. no one is fighting for control of tatooine... it's backwater.

really, once a particular scenery type (planet covered by earth-like desert, planet covered by city) has been written, is it always considered a ripoff if someone else uses a similar locale.

that makes the only single-environment planet left that's original: a planet entirely covered in suburbs. and now i thought of it. so if anyone uses it, they're just copying my idea.