The first book was great, the second was frustrating, the third had its moments, the fourth was wacky, weird, and interesting, and everything written after that I totally regret reading.

While the casting for the first movie was well done, I can’t go along with how the book was changed from the movie. It might be an unfilmable movie, because of how many important moments are occurring in various character’s thoughts. Also, Hebert left a lot of details to the imagination in his book that must be reduced to actual practice and scenes in a movie, and I think that tends to pull people out of the movies- “not how I imagined it” syndrome.

I enjoyed the syfy miniseries, but I don’t think I would have enjoyed it without having read the book first.

I am a prolific Science Fiction reader.  However, for some reason I was never able to make it through a third of Dune.  I tried several times but could never finish it.  To me it was always boring.  I never understood why other people liked the book so much.

Or a cool looking black knight on a warhorse, overlooking something while on a cliff.

All I remember is a disturbing scene with some fat slob and a young boy. It gave me nightmares.

One of my favorite movies. I have the DVD and watch it every once in a while ,it's a sci fi classic.

Oh hi guys

Book lovers aside,  it is an excellent sci fi movie

WHY?

That had to be the worst scifi movie of that decade.

The first book was great because it was a traditional hero revenge plot with some Nietzschean and religious themes thrown in for color.  The rest of the books pretty much went full bore into Nietzsche's "Ubermensch" theme.  To briefly summarize, the Ubermensch was Nietzsche's solution to the stagnancy of society.  Nietzsche believed that humanity was stagnating with the death of religion (i.e. God is Dead), and was becoming a complacent herd animal (the Last Man), who didn't have any deep thoughts about the nature of the universe anymore, but only wanted to be comfortable.  To combat this, Nietzsche envisioned a supreme being (Ubermensch) who would be beyond traditional notions of good and evil and would lead humanity towards its next stage of evolution.

The Kwisatz Haderach the Bene Gesseritt are trying to create is Nietzsche's Ubermensch.  In Dune, this doesn't really go any further than Paul having basically super powers, so it fits well with the traditional hero's revenge story.  In the sequels, the whole theme is about Paul's son Leto becoming the true Kwisatz Haderach and evolving humanity to explore the galaxy beyond the Padishah Empire.  It's a really just Herbert's philosophy at that point, and it doesn't make for good literature.

From my recollection, there is a lot of Islamic influence on the culture of those in the book. I even seem to recall that some of their language is very similar to Arabic.

Not to mention that the book has a lot of the "Small Wars Manual" built right into it.

The Fremen, in the lore, are the descendants of Zensunni wanderers, i.e. a combination of Zen Buddhism and Sunni Islam.  That was one of the really interesting things about Herbert's universe.  Most sci-fi authors have religion die or diminish in the future.  For Herbert, it continued to evolve.

Stripes

Alicia Witt is hot as hell.

The director put that into the movie because he didn't want to end up with "Kung Fu on the dunes".

I thought Dune the movie was boring as hell. I wouldn't even attempt to read the book.

Even more so in the books...it's not really even veiled (no pun intendid).

He lacked vision.

The Princess is Virginia Madison........Micheal's sister. I've always thought she was beautiful. Not a very good actress in my opinion but very very lovely.

I've read all the books, including most of Herbert's son's books.
I have enjoyed most of them and like that even the less enjoyable ones filled in details about the Dune universe.

It might help that I read all of the original books over one summer while living abroad without TV.

Loved the movie before I read the books. Still love both.

Well it's David Lynch so it was so much as homo undertones as it was chic pedo art.

I eventually made it through all the books that Frank wrote at the time. Tried get into Brain's books but they just were flat to me. After Children of Dune it came off the rails for me.

I watch it every time it's on.

I read the first 6 books (Frank Herbert).  One, two, three and six were good books.  Four and five dragged along, but I managed to finish them.

I'm also reading through the prequels and sequels written by his son and another guy.  Some of those are excellent books, some not so much.  Just started Winds of Dune the other day.

It was the mixing of Old fashion ass kicking, Forbidden training and new bleeding edge tech.  It's like giving Marine's laser rifles in the current world.

Hell, You know Dave?  Small world

This was once case when, IMHO, the movie was better than the book.

The 1984 version of Dune is one of my all time favorites.

It was a plot device because 1984 movie technology did not allow for Matrix-style moves.  In the book, the Fremen are basically taught to have super-human reflexes by Paul and Jessica (Bene Gesseritt training).  The director didn't think he could pull it off and it would have looked horrible on screen.

To elaborate, there are two basic sources of "super powers" in the books.

1. Harsh Environments.  Imperial Sardaukar are trained on Salusa Secondus.  Fremen were obviously trained on Dune.  Survival of the fittest.
2. Spice evolution.  One of the main themes is that the spice allows super-human control of certain things.  The Guild navigators can fold space.  The Bene Gesserritt have super human control over their bodies, including the ability to turn poison into an inert substance (such as the Water of Life).  This allows them to unlock the hidden potential of the body, kind of like how in certain high-stress situations mothers will lift cars off of their children.  Another ability is to unlock the genetic memories of your ancestors (what Reverend Mothers and Paul/Alia can do).

So the Fremen under Paul combine both.  Harsh environment and Bene Gesseritt control.

Gurney halleck dont take no shit.....

I talked about this back in the GD day, but I was at a film festival party (I was an actor for about 15 years) and Sean Young was there.

In my youth, Sean young, Erin Gray and other actors made an impression.

Well, my youthful fantasies intercected with my professional life.  Sean Young was at the same party as myself.

Our eyes caught one another from across the room.  She was talking to her handler, and I was talking with Burt Young (yes, that Burt Young, aka Paulie from Rocky).  Next thing I know, Sean Young is walking in our direction. She comes up to Burt and I and introduces herself.  She and Burt had never met one another so we had a laugh about them sharing the same last name.

That conversation, and her reaponses, confirmed that the crazy rumors were true without a reasonable doubt.

Then the conversation turned to me.  She chatted me up in front of Burt.  I was conflicted.  She was hot, back in the day.  Could I satisfy a childhood fantasy?  She was really cooky though and Burt was giving me the look that said:  "you're not seriously going to bang this broad, are you?"

Honestly, I didn't think anything would come out of it, so we parted ways.  Burt and I had a great time hanging out.  That guy is awesome--exactly what you think he would be based on his film/TV work.  One cool dude.

Later that night, Sean Young comes up and gives me a good night peck on the cheek and stares me down as she walked out of the gala.  Burt and I shared glances and laughed as we had another drink.

Then, Sean's handler came by and asked me to join her.  Sean was waiting for me at her place and wanted to "entertain" my company.  Burt was listening to all of this and had the look of "are you fucking kidding me?"  After a moment of reflection, and my childhood self begging to say yes, I gracefully declined.

As she left, I thought "well, there goes that opportunity..."

Then, Burt pulled aside a girl that was near us and we introduced ourselves. She was a former model from Slovakia.  Gorgeous.  We ended up dating for a couple of years.  Almost married her, but that's another story...