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Am I missing something? What is it about this piece of art that's infatuated so many? Three movies. Five video games...

Why?

Am I missing something? What is it about this piece of art that's infatuated so many? Three movies. Five video games... Why?

(post is archived)

[–] • 13 pts

Dune is traditional science fiction, but it transcends the SF genre. It's quality is more that of a serious piece of writing. It's not that the ideas in Dune are particularly new or revolutionary, it's that the universe of Dune is so clearly and fully presented.

That being said, the novel does have mythic elements that raise it above a mere adventure story. Good against evil, the savior who must pass through ordeals in order to find his power, the myth of the super-man. Particularly interesting, from today's perspective, is the theme of awakening. Paul Atreides repeatedly says "The sleeper must awaken," or at the end, "Father, the sleeper has awakened."

The author, Frank Herbert, just happened to hit every note correctly in this novel. His other books are not particularly noteworthy. They are standard science fiction. But Dune is something more. It is of epic stature. It is timeless. It really is a great work of literature.

[–] • 12 pts

Read it.

It is the culmination of a lot of art into a single piece in a way that hasn't really happened since.

Star Wars is a cheap imitation.

It kind of calls out the Jews/Jesuits with the Bene Gesserit.

Either way, it illustrates societal power dynamics in a way more honest than nearly any other work.

"The spice must flow" is still a relevant and important metaphor.

[–] [deleted] • 3 pts

I read it when I was around 10 years old but haven't revisited it since then. Never sat down and watched any of the movies from start to finish either.

[–] • 2 pts

The recent Dune film is better, but still somewhat "comic book" in depth compared to the book itself. Don't think it's worth it to watch any of the older films, I'm told they're pretty trash.

[–] • 2 pts

The spice must flow

Yes. Yes it must... Was going to comment that, but I see you beat me to it. Excellent book.

[–] • 8 pts (edited )

It's really good, it builds a universe where a lot has already happened. It's set in the year 10,000 and something, which is a lot further in the future than just about every sci-fi story dares go. To me it's the best sci-fi book ever written, but I'm no librarian.

The movies really don't do it justice because they aren't long enough to describe the details of every character and society -- there's a 4 hour version of the 1984 movie that was really good though. There was also a TV series, and also one for Children of Dune.

The desperation for water is never really gone into in the movies either. They talk about it, but the book conveys it much better.

[–] • 1 pt

My old youth pastor told me back in the day there was a theater version with encyclopedia subtitles

[–] • 7 pts

It's dry and involved, highly detailed and sometimes hard to follow (and that goes double for the later books) but it has great depth, the world makes sense, the motivations and the characters make sense. The world is enthralling, it's technology, economy, and most importantly politics all feel real. It's got tons of intrigue and scheming and death like GoT (except it nails the ending). The whole Bran prescience thing in GoT is basically lifted out of Dune. It covers all the bases robot civil war and prohibition, environmentalism, islam, gay pedophiles, eugenics, terrorism, betrayal, power politics, duals to the death, orgies, terraforming, nukes, giant fucking worms that shit gold, drinking your own piss... It's got everything and not in the way modern movies hamfistedly stuff CG shit into their worlds, it all belongs.

It's to Sci-Fi what LOTR is to fantasy.

Unlike Peter Jacksons LOTR which does the books justice for the most part (cuts Bombadil, cuts the rape of the shire, arwen doesn't belong..) Dune is a real bitch bitch to translate to screen. The latter half of the book has a lot of inner monologue, the beginning needs a ton of setup/political info dumps. In Frenchy's movie part I all the major points are there but they are not explained near as deeply as in the book and key points are easy to overlook. He also made everyone swarthy as shit, race/gender swapped Kyens, dialed back the Baron Harkonnen's degeneracy, spoiled plot twists to have a fight scene with wrestle wrestle man (who can't fucking act) and dumbed down the Fremen and their rituals already. Also all the sets are really big/empty/oversized/Egyptian tomb-like CGI. The ships look fucking cool though. The 80's movie is cheesy and the beginning is pretty faithful but it goes off the rails in the middle (I still like it though, it and the 2 minute intro to the DuneII RTS hooked me as a kid). The Sci-Fi mini series was pretty book accurate but was very slowly paced.

... It's not a work for the screen, just read it.

[–] • 7 pts

It predates star wars and paved a lot of roads for science fiction. The movies are kind of letdowns.

[–] • 6 pts

It would be incredibly difficult to capture the scale and detail of Dune in a couple of hours on almost any budget.

I read it, but refuse to see any movies because it would take trillions of dollars to produce what's in my imagination from those words.

[–] • 3 pts

but refuse to see any movies because it would take trillions of dollars to produce what's in my imagination from those words.

I am the same. I have no faith or belief any movie could ever capture that book. I believed the producer of Blade Runner 2049, the guy who produced the latest movie, if there was anyone who could capture Dune it would be him. But then I heard the trailer as ads and heard the woke and my face disgusts with distortion just thinking about it. Will never watch the movie.

[–] • 2 pts

Yeah I was naive and thought the new ones might be I was wrong lol.

[–] • 2 pts

Without Dune Star Wars would have not existed, as with many others.

[–] • 0 pt

Maybe that would be a good thing.

[–] • 0 pt

Just rewatched the original trilogy. Absolute masterpiece. Ascended piece of work beyond possibly any description for any other movie.

[–] • 5 pts

I liked the RTS video game, I think it was on Sega. Trying to remember if it inspired warcraft or vice versa.

Also from what I've heard, the book is very good but written in a way to make it very hard to adapt to the screen. Tons of internal monologue and abstract concepts. Makes me want to read it.

I think the recent movie did extremely well. Straight scifi, no woke garbage I could see.

[–] • 4 pts

It inspired the whole rts genre really. It predates C&C and was made by the same studio, r.i.p Westwood studios.

[–] • 3 pts

It inspired the whole rts genre really.

What was 1989's POPULOUS inspiration if predates these title's

[–] [deleted] • 5 pts (edited )

Populous was its own beast, a god sim separate from the traditional RTS, city-building, and 4x games. It pretty much died with its third installment, Populous: The Beginning. That one was more of a traditional RTS with revolutionary polygynal models and play area, albeit with stripped down unit variety. Underrated, really.

While it didn't really have inspiration, it did have spiritual successors with the Black and White games after EA bought its publisher: Bullfrog.

Fucking EA. Ruining studios left and right.

[–] • 2 pts

Yeah but not as many people played that. Hell I've never played the dune rts but I loved command & conquer. I'm pretty sure rts's are from the late 70s, maybe populous is the 1st.

[–] • 2 pts

Whoever wrote Dune must have been a part of the upper eschalons of existence because the political metaphors are like nothing you'll ever see.

Never in my life while reading a fight scene did I ever get up and make fist movements and yell FUCK YA! Or been so infuriated I was fuming for days.

I forget my impressive while reading it but by the end it was 'This is the greatest story ever told'. The political implications, everything else pales in comparison.

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

I'm going to have to go back and reread it then. I read it as a kid so I'm sure there will be a different takeaway from it after all these years.

[–] • 2 pts

And the books that are in the beginning are just the warm up. Once you get into the higher numbers the concepts get pretty interesting. I read somewhere that they're doing a Bene Gesserit series.

[–] • 1 pt (edited )

Don't be fooled... Dune is only a blip in time in comparison to the entire story of Serena Butler and Norma Cenva which spans thousands of years... I heartily recommend reading ALL of the books, the twists and turns of the story are absolutely incredible and a true delight to read. Herbert was an amazing mind; his son Brian and co-writer Kevin J. Anderson do an excellent job of continuing his legacy by bringing body and closure to the greatest sci-fi concept ever created.

The Butlerian Jihad The Machine Crusade The Battle of Corrin

Sisterhood of Dune Mentats of Dune Navigators of Dune

House Atreides House Harkonnen House Corrino

Frank Herbert's Dune Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah Frank Herbert's Children of Dune

Frank Herbert's God-Emperor of Dune Frank Herbert's Heretics of Dune Frank Herbert's Chapterhouse; Dune

The Winds of Dune Hunters of Dune Tales of Dune Sandworms of Dune

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

I knew there were a few books about the universe but had no clue that there were that many.

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