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Dune: Your Views

Dune : work of genius or waste of ink?

  • Fantastic futuristic epic which has a lot to say about today's politics

    Votes: 8 53.3%
  • Confused interminable twaddle with no sense of humanity

    Votes: 1 6.7%
  • An OK read, not a five-star classic but pretty good

    Votes: 6 40.0%

  • Total voters
    15
Anome_ said:
ghostdog19 said:
Peripart said:
Crap Dune joke alert!

It just occurred to me to wonder: were the Bene Gesserit the original Spice Girls?

I'll get my coat.
Gerri Haliwell and Victoria Beckham are both Frank Herbert fans. They've read all the books.

I'm not lying, honest. ;)
I don't believe you.

Victoria can read? Sorry just not credible.
She sits in the bath, while david sits on the toilet and reads it to her. of course, naturally, by the time david reads one paragraph, the bath water's cold, but they're working their way through all the books.

Allegedly.
 
I don't find that any more credible, to be honest.
 
My final word

Oh dear. I finally stayed awake long enough to finish "Chapter House - Dune" at the weekend. I don't suppose I really held out much hope that the series would be resolved in any amazing way, and in that sense, I wasn't disappointed.

What a waste of time. Just when you get a bit of action in this series (and I guess the beginning of the very first book raised my expectations in that regard), characters resort to talking to themselves for about 10 pages in pseudo-philosophical gibberish. Ideas and people get introduced but never explained (did we ever learn what a chairdog actually is? What happened to the Futars? CHOAM? The guild navigators? No idea mate, sorry!) and to cap it all, adding insult to injury, the final two pages of the final book introduce two characters who may be gods, or farmers, or someone's dream.

I won't say I feel cheated, but I have been very disappointed by these books. Suffice it to say, if I hadn't bought them as a set from a book club, I wouldn't have got beyond book 2. That said, if anyone thinks that the would enjoy them, PM me and I will post you all 6 books FREE OF CHARGE! Yes, just to get this "epic" out of my house, I will let the first person who asks nicely have a full set of 6 paperbacks for nothing (UK only, as I'll even be paying for the postage. I'll post this offer in Fortean Exchange, too.

Right, I'm voting again on my poll. No prizes for guessing which way!

The offer above is genuine, though.

EDIT: Bugger! It seems the system won't let me vote twice in my own poll. Serves me right!
 
Giant sand worms lived in Torbay, scientists claim
Scientists have found evidence of a giant prehistoric sand worm in an English seaside resort.

Last Updated: 1:46PM GMT 15 Mar 2009

Proof of the creatures' existence, which lived 260million years ago, has been found in Torbay, Devon.

The worms, which grew up to 3ft long and 6in wide, are thought to have lived underground before dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Experts at the English Riviera Geopark organisation have found large burrow holes that are said to have been made by the creatures as they travelled beneath the surface.

Geologist Dr Kevin Page said the discovery of the underground holes is an unprecedented find in science and represents "life - but not as we know it".

He said: "It really is quite extraordinary. Nothing like this has ever been found before. The underground area is peppered with these burrows.

"There is no supporting evidence to suggest they were made by creatures we know about, so what were are looking at is an entirely new life form.

"It is very, very strange. They were made at the end of the Paleozoic period before dinosaurs came along when the earth teemed with creatures which are now extinct.

"We have found the holes but as yet we haven't found the animals which made them.

"They would have looked like the worms from the film Dune. It is science fiction meeting science fact.

"We know about giant millipedes at the time but this is something quite different. They are unknown to science and a completely new species. It is life, but not as we know it."

The large holes were found across an area of sediment at the bottom of what was a desert wadis (corr) - a valley or dry river bed that only contains water during times of heavy rain.

Dr Page, a lecturer at Plymouth University, said the worms lived underground and only come to the surface to drink and feed.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandte ... claim.html
 
Well, you know when you're bored, and even Youtube seems a more productive use of your time than job-hunting? Bear with me...

I watched Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice video just know - you know, the one with Christopher Walken. Anyway, for the first time ever, I listened a bit to the words, and the line "Walk without rhythm and you won't attract the worm" jumped out at me.

It's been 4 years since I consigned Dune and its sequels to the dustbin of my memory, but I was still struck by those words, an obvious reference to Frank Herbert's most famous work. A quick Google determined a) that I hadn't imagined it, b) that I was far from being the first to notice, and that c) some people think that the whole song is one big Dune reference. Well, I never!

That's all - sorry to have taken your valuable time. As you were!
 
Ronson8 said:
I thought it was about smoking weed.
What - Dune or the song? Either seems possible, although Walken's character in the video looks more like someone who's taken cocaine that weed...
 
I read Brian Herberts Hunters of Dune with a great deal of trepidation.

Its actualy quite good.

Poor Futars...
 
Peripart said:
It's been 4 years since I consigned Dune and its sequels to the dustbin of my memory,


Just out of curiousity, did anyone take you up on your offer of a free (p+p inc.) set of Dune novels?
 
Peripart said:
It's been 4 years since I consigned Dune and its sequels to the dustbin of my memory,


Just out of curiousity, did anyone take you up on your offer of a free (p+p inc.) set of Dune novels?
 
Oh yeah, some idiot snapped them right up. Fool! I never heard whether he enjoyed them more than I did, though...
 
I think Dune may be the greatest SF book I've ever read (and I've read a lot of SF over a period of 35 years).
I haven't read any of the other Dune books, so I can't really comment about those.
Some of the follow-up books weren't even written by Frank Herbert himself.
As for the film - it wasn't a complete disaster, but I do think it would have been better if it had been longer.
The TV series was pretty good for a TV adaptation.
 
I had to bump this old thread when I saw this pic today. I should also add that Dune is my favourite sci-fi film and my favourite sci-fi novel, and also one of my favourite novels of any genre. The best version is a fan-edit called the Third Stage Edition, which is fantastic, it has lots of added cut scenes and remastered scenes with the best of the Extended TV version added in. Unfortunately it's no longer available for download, here's the link for more info about the edit, https://ifdb.fanedit.org/david-lynch-s-dune-the-third-stage-edition/

I was fortunate enough to get the 9GB file for dual layer disc when it was released originally a few years ago via the site https://www.fanedit.org/

14732402_10153936847911994_7784557253124304536_n.jpg
 
Looks like Dune might be coming back
Dune: Legendary acquires the movie and TV rights
Frank Herbert's Dune may be coming back to our screens, as the film and television rights have been picked up by Legendary...
dune-sting-kyle-movie-lynch.jpg

NEWSMike Cecchini
Nov 22, 2016
After far too long, someone is taking another crack at Dune, Frank Herbert's classic series of science fiction novels. In this case, that someone is Legendary Entertainment, who are no stranger to genre franchises. There are no real details to report at the moment other than the fact that Legendary has "the film and television motion picture rights" to the Dune saga, but that's big enough news in itself. Paramount previously had the rights and had been attempting to make a new Dune movie since 2008, at one point announcing Deepwater Horizon's Peter Berg as director.

I'd like to focus on one word from the press release that's been sent out: television.

While David Lynch's ambitious and troubled 1984 big screen adaptation has achieved cult status over the years, the series is perhaps too sprawling and high concept to be contained by movies. A Dune TV series, on the other hand, could be the science fiction equivalent of Game of Thrones. The first book in the saga alone contains enough material for three seasons of TV.

And that's only the first book.

Frank Herbert wrote six Dune novels, each more off-the-wall than the last. The saga has since been continued by Herbert's son, Brian Herbert, along with sci-fi author Kevin J Anderson. But again, even just keeping the focus on Frank Herbert's first six, or even first three books, Dune simply can't be contained by a single film. Perhaps the biggest failing of the David Lynch version was its attempt to give closure to what was really only the beginning of the story.

There have been attempts to bring Dune to the screen since then, notably the Sci-Fi Channel's 2000 mini-series, which was perhaps more faithful to the source material, but lacked the resources of Lynch's big screen attempt. That was followed by the Children Of Dune mini-series, which combined elements of the second and third books from the series, Dune Messiah and Children Of Dune. Each of those could take up a season or two of TV themselves.

But Dune, with its sprawling, psychedelic, intergalactic story of royalty, prophesy, and fiefdoms has proven notoriously difficult to do justice on screen. The most notable failure remains Alejandro Jodorowsky's years-long quest to bring the movie to life using everyone from legendary comic book artist Moebius to Mick Jagger to Salvador Dali. This was chronicled in the stunning Jodorowsky's Dune documentary, which is arguably the best Dune-related thing to ever actually make it to the screen.

All of this is, I admit, a rather long-winded way of pointing out that Legendary now has the Dune rights, but they haven't announced their exact intentions just yet. But Legendary, if you're listening, when folks are looking to fill that Game Of Thrones shaped hole in their lives in a few years, Dune should be what they turn to.

Thomas Tull, Mary Parent and Cale Boyter, will produce for Legendary. Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt and Kim Herbert will serve as executive producers...for whatever shape this project takes.



Read more: http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/...cquires-the-movie-and-tv-rights#ixzz4QiuqHVQk

http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/...cquires-the-movie-and-tv-rights#ixzz4QiuqHVQk
 
Denis Villeneuve Confirmed to Direct ‘Dune’ Adaptation For Legendary Pictures

The rumors are true: “Arrival” and “Sicario” director Denis Villeneuve will direct Legendary Pictures’ adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, “Dune,” often touted as the best-selling science fiction novel in history. The news was confirmed in the wee hours of Wednesday morning in a tweet by Brian Herbert, son of Frank. The Oscar-nominated director’s name had been floating around the project since last December.
http://www.indiewire.com/2017/02/denis-villeneuve-dune-legendary-confirmed-1201776681/

He also has the new Blade Runner coming up this year.
 
The real challenge is how they do the wyrding way... didn't understand for years why the lynch version turned it into something totally different, until I saw the made for TV adaptation, and realised it's near impossible to do 'preternatural speed' without it looking like the end of Benny Hill.
 
An interesting article about Frank Herbert and Dune.

SOME HISTORICAL PERIODS fade, others end abruptly. For the United States, the Technicolor-tinted era that began when the troops returned from World War II terminated in an instant: 12:30 pm on November 22, 1963.

The gunshot that took John F. Kennedy’s life ended a seemingly innocent age, one that had restrained social and psychological conflicts. What the future would bring, once those repressed elements surged forth, was an open question.

An answer arrived in the next month’s issue of the science fiction magazine Analog. The issue featured “Dune World,” the start of a serialization of a long novel by the obscure author Frank Herbert. As the story tumbled out in Analog’s pages, it forecast many trends that would define the next decade: environmentalism, psychedelic drugs, mysticism, orgies, back-to-the-land survivalism, Indigenous ways, anticolonial rebellions, Arab nationalism, and political assassinations. The story started with a Kennedy-esque hero, Paul Atreides, a charismatic young leader from a venerable political family destined for a high position within the galactic Imperium. And it ended with him leading a jihad, backed by guerrillas and guided by drug-induced visions, against that empire.

One can only imagine publishers’ enthusiasm. After 23 editors rejected the ungainly manuscript, Chilton Books, best known for its auto-repair manuals, gave it a small print run. Reviewers were indifferent, but the book won sci-fi prizes — the Hugo and Nebula awards — and gradually secured an underground reputation. “Word is spreading on the West Coast grapevine about an epic science fiction novel titled Dune,” the Boston Globe’s youth column reported in 1969. Herbert, who’d been supporting himself as a journalist, started earning money as a campus speaker. “After his performances, students mobbed around him,” his biographer has written. ...

https://www.lareviewofbooks.org/article/heresies-of-dune/?mc_cid=5170e23d8f&mc_eid=7e0601ae6b
 
They're not science fiction, since there's far more about various mystical sisterhoods than there is about science.
There's tonnes of science in there though - huge amounts about eco systems and bio engineering. Plus all the space ship stuff, folding space, bits about genetics, AI and weaponry, etc. Haven't read it in years, but i consider it firmly science fiction.
 
I like Dune, although it has many flaws. The parallels with the current world are not insignificant.

But for goodness sake don't read any of the sequels. They may not be as pornographic as the Gor sequels but they are just as ridiculous.
 
Liked the first, wasn't impressed with the second, uninspired to read the third, got bored of hearing once the "4th in the Trilogy" came about.
I enjoyed the Lynch film, on it's own merits rather than on how faithful to the book it was.
The merits and problems with the TV miniseries balanced each other out but still didn't inspire me to dedicated interest. Further TV outings, including spin-offs seems to be blatant cash-grabs on fandom loyalty.
The trailer to the 2021 film looks promising but ...
Aren't there some sci-fi classic sagas that aren't possible to make? Even with the overuse of CGI? Most media appeals now to audiences of a generation that hasn't (and don't) read the books. GoT was a new series and appealed to it's modern readership so the series was possible. But a 'classic'?
 
Liked the first, wasn't impressed with the second, uninspired to read the third, got bored of hearing once the "4th in the Trilogy" came about.
I enjoyed the Lynch film, on it's own merits rather than on how faithful to the book it was.
The merits and problems with the TV miniseries balanced each other out but still didn't inspire me to dedicated interest. Further TV outings, including spin-offs seems to be blatant cash-grabs on fandom loyalty.
The trailer to the 2021 film looks promising but ...
Aren't there some sci-fi classic sagas that aren't possible to make? Even with the overuse of CGI? Most media appeals now to audiences of a generation that hasn't (and don't) read the books. GoT was a new series and appealed to it's modern readership so the series was possible. But a 'classic'?

I was a big fan of Patrick Tilley’s Amtrak Wars. A story of post-apocalyptic tech vs native magic and prophecy. It was an intriguing set up but after a few books it became a bit convoluted and dull. Apparently a series was in the works but I haven’t seen anything so I assume no pictures, so it never happened. It would make a good sprawling sci-fi series if handled properly though.

For me, Dune just started dull and got duller.
 
I enjoyed the first book and then very rapidly there was a fall off in terms of readability. I rememebr Frank Herbert was doing a signing at Forbidden Planet many moons ago. Thought I'd pop in on my lunch break and see what it was like. Erm, it was empty, so I just wandered up and got him to sign a book to me with no waiting. Same happened for Harry Harrison.
 
I read the Trilogy, really liked the first, liked the second, sort of liked the third but had no inclination to read any further Dune books. Looking forward to seeing the Villeneuve film. I'd really like to see the 4 hour version of Lynch's Dune.
 
The first book bored me to tears and I read most of the big door-stoppers of the 70's and '80s.

World-building needs to sod off unless you can make it beautiful like The Culture, (Banks - god we miss you), or based on characters which is what Joe Ambercrombie does in his bloody nine books.

Steven Erikson - who wrote the two best fantasy novels in Gardens of the Moon and Dead House gates soon disappeared up his own arse and he even admitted that he lost track of the world-building.
 
Perhaps the difference is in the original aim of the author.
Some just write stories which end up developing into a series and the world is an organic construction added to by each novel.
Some build the world then set the characters going, trying to show off their massive vision to their readership by shoving their characters around in their beautifully detailed world.
Some do, actually, have a set aim in mind and can plan how the characters develop and move the story through that world in order for the plan to pan out.
A few put out a couple of novels and see how popular it is before investing time and effort in writing more.*
And a very few complete and publish 'episodes' in their world's story arc.
Thing is, it depends on the publishing deal the author gets. Obvious, I know. But surely others have seen many a series start out great and have potential 'legs', only for the nth in the series being a rehash of a previous plot or known to be written as 'fan service'.

* Not common, nowadays, with publishers demanding proven market value before printing out a contract.
 
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