Okay, I'm climbing on my soapbox here (full disclosure: I used to run a Dune forum that included among its membership Byron Merritt, Frank Herbert's grandson, plus I have emailed with Kevin J. Anderson and find him an unpleasant individual who denigrates anyone who criticizes his nuDune books as a "Talifan.").
The Original Six Dune novels that were written by Frank Herbert are the
only novels that I consider to be real Dune. The nuDune crap written by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert is nothing more than glorified fan fiction that got professionally published. I am suspicious of their claim that Hunters/Sandworms of Dune (aka "Dune 7") were based on notes left by Frank Herbert (he was working on the final novel - a sequel to
Chapterhouse: Dune - at the time of his death). The story has changed a lot, depending on who they talk to, plus now that those novels have been out for so many years, they still refuse to publish the notes. There's not a serious Frank Herbert/Dune scholar out there who wouldn't snap up a copy of those notes if they were offered for sale, so why they haven't been published is beyond me. KJA and BH enjoy the money they get from royalties from their inferior novels, so why shouldn't BH benefit from royalties from his father's notes?
My suspicion is because the notes, if they ever existed, bear little to no resemblance whatsoever to the crap that was churned out.
That said, there are other associated books I will recommend. The first is
The Dune Encyclopedia, by Dr. Willis E. McNelly. This is a fictionalized encyclopedia of the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert, and includes material up to and including
God Emperor of Dune. It doesn't include anything from
Heretics of Dune or
Chapterhouse: Dune. This book was approved by Frank Herbert, although he reserved the right to have his subsequent novels contradict any material in the Encyclopedia.
I also recommend
National Lampoon's Doon. This is a parody of
Dune, even to including the epigrams at the beginning of the chapters. The adventures of Pall-Mauve'Bib and his mother, the Lady Jazzica, as they brave the sugars of the planet Arrukis, are a hoot.
The anthology
Eye (by Frank Herbert) includes a section called "The Road to Dune" and has some spectacular artwork.
Wikipedia said:
"The Road to Dune"
Set in Herbert's Dune universe, this short work takes the form of a guidebook for pilgrims to the planet Arrakis, illustrated by Welsh artist Jim Burns. The work takes place after the fall of Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV and the ascension of Paul Atreides to the throne in the 1965 novel Dune. "The Road to Dune" discusses the major sights in the capital city, Arrakeen, including the Grand Palace and Temple of Alia. It also features images (with descriptions) of some of the devices and characters presented in the novels, including Paul's personal ornithopter, an Ixian glowglobe, Princess Irulan, Duncan Idaho, and Reverend Mother Mohiam.
Source.
Lastly,
Dreamer of Dune is the biography of Frank Herbert that was written by his son, Brian. It's an interesting book.
I was thinking about some of the best scenes from Star Wars, and how they so closely mirror different parts of Dune. It made me wonder if there could be a good Dune movie if people didn't think it was ripping off Star Wars.
For the record, I like them both. I think the obvious difference is that Dune is unquestionably Science Fiction and not some sort of fantasy, and that both are better when they stay in their respective worlds...it's why the Bene Gesserit, prophecy, hyper-speed navigation, and foresight have an explanation while The Force, Hyperspace, and everything else do not need one.
The question is, can all of that actually make for a good movie? I personally don't care about its standing as a Franchise. The only Dune books I've read are the originals and I've heard that the rest are terrible. As books, they work perfectly, telling a complete story with lots of interesting characters and concepts. How can that be told in a movie? I think it would be kind of boring, but definitely hard to do.
There's been a lot of discussion of
Star Wars ripping off
Dune, as in copying themes and motifs from the original Dune novel. It's debatable as to how much George Lucas was directly influenced by Dune, because some mythological themes really are widely pervasive (ie. the young child/teen who is forced to grow up quickly after experiencing a sudden family tragedy and undertakes a quest to defeat the person/organization responsible for causing the family tragedy).
One thing I will mention is that none of the Dune books use hyper-speed ships. The Guild Navigators fold space. They don't go faster; they go through the folds in space to cut down on travel time.
Dune is more systematic and worked-out as a worldbuilding exercise than Star Wars but its basic premises (eugenics, psychedelic prophecy, far-future neo-feudalism, knife- and sword-fighting and "weirding" a.k.a. The Ultimate Kung Fu) are rather more in the fantasy than science realm.
Can you make a good movie out of it? Even just the first book is a sprawling story by movie standards and incredibly difficult to render at feature film length -- I watched Lynch's attempt this weekend and it's actually quite painful, much worse than I remember it. To do it justice and have it make any sense to the audience I think it's more realistic as a mini-series or a television show.
The "Weirding Way" is only in the Lynch movie. It's not in the books.
I agree that Dune really deserves a decent version. The mini-series from a few years back did a lot right, but still did not nail it. I would love for HBO to take on the series at about a book a season.
That's an interesting idea. They'd run into a problem with
Heretics of Dune, though, since there's a rather graphic sex scene with a teenage character.
I guess I'm lucky enough to have never seen the movie. The guy who played Paul at least looked the part, if maybe he was too old.
Some of the actors
were too old. I don't have a problem with Kyle MacLachlan since as you say, he did look the part, but since Paul Atreides is such a complex character, it's hard to find an age-appropriate actor who could pull that off convincingly. My complaint was with the casting of Richard Jordan as Duncan Idaho. Richard Jordan was too old. If he'd been the same age as he was when he played Francis in
Logan's Run, he'd have been okay. But his Duncan was at least 10 years too old, didn't remotely look the part, and that was a 'wtf' moment for the people who are Duncan Idaho fans.
There was a recent attempt to get a Dune movie going again, and as far as I recall, the plan was to make the first book into a trilogy of movies. The general consensus of the Orthodox Herbertarians (a group of fans who consider FH's books the only true Dune and the rest to be bad fanfic) was "thank goodness this didn't go anywhere" because of the very real possibility of Kevin J. Anderson being involved and inserting his own nonsense into it (among other things, he wrote into
Paul of Dune that the entirety of the original Frank Herbert novel was nothing more than a propaganda tract written by Princess Irulan and that none of it was accurate; this was to counter the criticisms of fans who pointed out the numerous contradictions of the "Houses" trilogy).
I like the David Lynch movie. "Long live the fighters!"
For real? What did it say?
