Podcast with Quinn's Ideas: ua-cam.com/video/zG8e-WDw3a4/v-deo.html Alt Schwift X Dune rap: ua-cam.com/video/bNaWeH9ehns/v-deo.html Dune Q&A livestream: ua-cam.com/video/_-v_kubD5Xc/v-deo.html
What do you rate this iteration of Dune? As much as I love this movie I can’t bring myself to give it an A with sections like the dinner scene, and a proper Jessica/yueh conversation where they talk about wanna and yueh tries to trick Jessica, also the limited exposure to the residents of giedi prime. I think I would have to give it an 87.5! P.s. Also they needed a little more of a history lesson in the beginning we learned a fair bit about the landsraad and the bene gesserit, but little to nothing about the mentats, the butlarian jihad, house corrin, and not enough explanation on the correlation between melange the spacing guild and their reliance on it!
Hey ASX! The black goo is actually a reference to petroleum. You can see in the way it bubbles up as the baron sleeps that it looks very much like oil.
As always wonderful video, but I have to ask - what's up with those names? Piter == Pyter Chani == Chayni / Chaini But the same logic is not used for other names like : Jamis =/= Jaimys Duncan =/= Duncain So what's the deal with Peter and Chani is there a hidden meaning?
As someone who finally is deciding to get into Dune, it’s really weird realizing that “oh… everybody in all of fiction stole from this” even more than LOTR it feels like
@@andrew3606 i mean ya? Do you not know whay 40k was in its early incarnations? It was literally a blatant satire of these stories specifically callingnitself out for that at every turn, the new lore hasnt forgotten that at all. Depsite being "grim dark" 40k is super self aware and has never pretended to be anything its not. Like its not a copy its a homage, 40k is cool because it is all of sci fi in one gigantic pulsating bundle. Whatever you like of sci fo exists in 40k and thats on purpose. Its not stealing its just reframing in an open context with infinite excuses for creatviity to allow for an extremely open ended wargame to be formed and enjoyed.
@@adrianalbertomadonnarondon1471 The imperium, which went through an AI/robot extinction level event and has since banned all computers, guided by the Emperor of Mankind, who has an army of super soldiers that everyone is afraid of, some of which worship him as a god (HE DOESN'T WANT THAT) and whos footsoldiers use lasguns, who use navigators to safely travel through space. I'm describing the 40k-verse, sound familiar? Dune came first btw.
"Game of thrones, in space, on drugs" is such a formidable pitch: it sounds so 60s yet Dune talks about such fundamentally human topics it manages to be timeless
When can we expect a video on Dune part 2? This video was so great. It provided so much insight to the movie without having to read the book! Thank you!!!
I feel like Leto and Jessica are one the deepest, most tragic love stories you could ever read. It's not about two people who sacrificed everything for their love, but rather of two people who sacrificed their love for the greater good, because they knew that in the grand scheme of things, their relationship was not important to anyone but them. They would never give up their duties just to be together, because they know that that is not what the other one would have wanted. I think this is a much deeper and much more selfless form of love, one that makes me shed a tear every time I read this book.
A great story with so much passion that u just follow the flow and for get some minor details .I loved the details of each person and their personalities all so real..Thank you for this book..
And don't forget how they had to scheme against each other from time to time, but still loved each other despite this. They knew it would never be out of spite, just out of political necessity
@@brwahussen Duke Leto literally told Paul to tell Jessica that he loved her in case he didn't survive the political trap set for them by the Emperor and the Harkonnens
First of all, cheers to you for citing evidence via quotes for almost every claim you make. That must have been time consuming and annoying but *boy* does it add a lot to the video. Also, the visual aids were so incredibly helpful for a person who hasn’t read the books (like me). Without them, I would have gotten confused with all the names, plot lines, and locations. Amazing video, keep up the stellar work!!
You are missing out, if you've never read the original Dune. It is one of the best science fiction books ever released, and it is, for all intents and purposes, beautiful in its imagery, and its ability to explain complexities of the characters, and their interactions. It's definitely one of the best books ever written. It's one that more teachers should be teaching in their creative writing courses.
You just have to read the book. I read Dune when I was in seventh grade. It had been out for a couple years. My brothers were also reading it, and we sat in the living room together reading for hours. It was a thrilling experience because it's a thrilling story. Dune was published in 1965. Frank Herbert spent six years writing it. It's one of the best science fiction novels of all time.
ugh the second movie trampled all over Frank Herbert's plot line and characters. It's going to be a hard video to make because they are almost opposite stories
@@davidshane2733tbf i think they did what they had to to make the book translate over to film, e.g. having Alia not appear as a very young girl was probably done because getting a child of that age be able to act like they have 1000s of lives worth of knowledge well is near impossible
The film really needed a scene where they explained the importance of Mentats in a society where thinking machines are illegal, and reveal to Paul that he has what it takes to become a Mentant himself.
They did my boy Thufir dirty in the movie. Dude's probably the top mentat and most dangerous person in the galaxy. He deduced how the Emperor was creating the Sardaukar, then created the plan to use the Fremen to defeat them. They made him seem like some over-the-hill lackey.
It’s incredible to me that you all have decided that every detail and every concept needed to be explained in the FIRST PART of a MULTIPLE PART SERIES. Like calm down and wait. It was a fantastic adaptation, and was mostly true to the source material.
It’s amazing how the book tells you in all the plans within plans, no attack is unexpected, but it’s still such a page turner. Frank herbert had some true writing talent.
@nicholascage3400 Even Muad'ib is a mysterious character : Irulan writes about him at the introduction of every chapter, but it is only in the middle of the book that you learn that Paul and Muad'ib are the same person.
@@lightlyfriedfishfillets8117 You mean like relative to the other books, right? And you made sure to read it to the end? I could see someone being more excited by the other books, or feeling like the first 100 pages was slow. You could even say that its not the kind of book you like or something. But there is no way this is a boring book lmao
Its surreal that I've been subbed to you since 2015 from watching the Game of Thrones lore videos. Now in 2022, still following you for more lore videos on different media that I love. Thank you and keep up the amazing work as always!
Just goes to the show how people such as ourselves came to his content. He was smart to expand to other material especially after Game of Thrones crashed and burned in Season 7 and 8. Thankfully, there's an ample amount of great fantasy/sci-fi content to breakdown
Same thing here, and now his video of dune popped up in my feed and I thought "Thank god he's doing new videos on this other thing I love". Quinns ideas channel has good videos, but I really enjoy alt shift x`s style.
Seconded. The moment he popped up in my feed again was even similar in terms of "fandom acquantance": I got into the movie(s) for a good year before finding his reviews, and in turn rethinking the lore I was familiar with so far.
It's just been 20 mins of watching and I am so moved by the beautiful way in which you have discussed the entire learning that comes from this piece of art.... hats off to your work
This video is unfathomably well produced. I can't even begin to imagine how much work was required to pull everything together into this cohesive masterpiece
@@TOMAS-lh4er no, it just shows a heighliner above caladan where you can see a planet on the other end of the wormhole. It’s when Helena mohiam is flying down to caladan.
Absolutely but he couldn’t write at all. Have you ever tried to read it? It’s so bad lol. If he had someone who could write well do it for him, I bet anything it would have been one of the most compelling books ever written. The plots are so so SO good.
@@saysHotdogs that is subjective, i enjoy Frank Herbert's writing style more than Tolkiens, he's as descriptive with thought as tolkien was with surroundings. Plus his world building is just fantastic, left a plethora of material for his son to butcher.
Want to know why this book was long thought unfilmable? Because it takes an hour and a half of explaining things to barely even scratch the surface of what's really going on in the first HALF of the first book lmao.
@@damiantirado9616it doesn’t suck, it’s probably the best we’re going to get, as a good and faithful cinematic dune adaptation is IMO literally impossible.
I absolutely adore Dune's take on scifi, its so much more mature than most others. The idea of a religious crusade that bans computers and artificial intelligance resulting in a future based on the direct expansion of the human mind is fascinating and alluring, it really adds another level to the film when you know many of these characters are vastly more intelligent and calculated than any human thats ever lived today.
And the fact that the eventual outcome of such a society I.e. Lord Leto the Man-Worm God was secretly using computers etc to further his agenda. One rule for some another for all
Well, I hate Dune for many things, but I also love it for exactly that, what you already pointed. After all Dune is one of a very few books/games/movies which expand humans mind and its natural biological possibilities and its not over glorifying technology like Star Trek or space wizardry like Star Wars. Just pure human mind, how awesome that is?
I read Dune in high school after hearing another student's book report on it. I ended up reading all of the series including Chapter House. zzzzz I had only read one other small book before this. It changed my life. I ended up reading hundreds of sci-fi and fantasy novels and almost all of Stephen Kings novels. I learned so much from reading I ended up being the first in my family to go to college and I believe it was all because of reading.
I had an similar story, but it was The Witcher books that did it for me, after them i read almost all of Stephen King's, Abercrombie, and others, including Dune itself. It creates a love for the material that you can't even explain, so i feel you
Reading is such an experience, literally a movie in your head . I believe the comprehension skills you acquire help with studying and overall understanding
Being the first one in family to go to college isn't a high bar to reach. You set it up as though you were gonna say you became the first place winner of your country's trivia olympics from all your knowledge.
I can confidently say this is the first UA-cam video over an hour that I’ve not only watched the entire way through but went back when I wasn’t confident in my understanding of this story and your explanation of it, truly a masterpiece of the internet
I've got to say this was probably the best synopsis of the Dune universe ever. Accessible, not an overload of information, enjoyable to watch as a beginner or as a veteran reader of the Dune series, but also comprehensive. Loved it!
I also enjoyed it, but I found the cynicism at every turn a bit much (possibly I'm too forgiving or naive?). I don't recall the other recaps being so cynical.
I read the books over 50 times for decades. This is so well done and explained. I love it. Perfect for people who love the movie, and havent read the books.
Without having read the books, I like that the movies just tosses you into Dune's world. It feels authentic, like a world with a long history and its cultures have their own customs, traditions and ways of speaking. You just KNOW that there's some proper world building behind all of it and don't need boring exposition to explain every detail. Similar to how Mad Max Fury road forces the audience to accept the new world without explanation. To me that's strong and immersive world building.
While I do like the movie as a standalone, the visuals and audio are pretty sweet, as well as the choreography of the fights. It sadly is but a puddle that a child would play in compared to the world building that the Dune novel does. This movie sadly vastly oversimplifies major world building points with short uninformative scenes or just entirely ignores them in favor of long silent shots. The older movies do a far better job of world building than this movie does, even with all their faults. I would not be so critical if this movie was not heralded as a 'faithful adaption' of the books.
@@knight_lautrec_of_carim I do hope at some point you can manage to scrounge the time to read the first 3 books at least, they are a great series. If I was to make an analogy of comparison, the movie is like having a nice bowl of ice-cream, missing the chocolate syrup topping that makes it even better.
@@knight_lautrec_of_carim I had the pleasure of watching the movie before reading the book. I liked the movie and so I then read the book. After reading the book, I was disappointed by the movie.
Me a few years later. I actually found the book when 14 years old, thrown away by someone. Picked it up, had no idea what it was about, but desided to read it. :)
@@andrewgoudy676, Dune is the 12th Imam or Mahdi emerging as the leader of Islam in the desert. Told you in ten seconds. That saves time. "DUNE," to quote the author "I am showing you the superhero syndrome and your own participation in it." - Frank Herbert, speaking about "DUNE."
@@andrewgoudy676, Dune is the 12th Imam or Mahdi emerging as the leader of Islam in the desert. Told you in ten seconds. That saves time. "DUNE," to quote the author "I am showing you the superhero syndrome and your own participation in it." - Frank Herbert, speaking about "DUNE."
38:30 small correction: Leto spots the worm first, there is a bounty on spotting worms that Leto therefore deserves. He gives that bouty to the workers.
I really don't like how the video creator sounds skeptical about Leto's motivations. To paint all people's motivations that might be self-interested as possibly evil is too cynical. If you cannot recognize a good act you may not be able to act good yourself. Leto acts to protect himself, his family, and those he is responsible for. He acts to bring more under his guidance by creating an alliance with the Fremen, creating a larger stronger group against a common enemy. He does not break loyalties but is careful of other's loyalties toward him and his family. I do not see the bad in this character even if a simple word as propaganda is used to smear him. Would he who uttered this word accept that he also uses propaganda, or is ok as long as you use his words against him. Ponder the morality of moral relativism. Discuss the duties of a moral actor and what a moral actor ought to do. And If you make assumptions like no good act is not self serving, ask what then is immoral about a self serving act. If you believe that there are no moral acts, maybe it's just you.
@TN-gr1xh the book literally states that the Atreides have a propaganda corps to manipulate spice miners who were leaving into wanting to stay and work for them. They're noble in comparison to House Harkonnen or House Corrino but still not averse to realpolitik in order to achieve their aims. Remember when Leto instructs his inner circle to employ men who don't mind "a little knifework" when rooting out Harkonnens and their sympathisers?
@@TN-gr1xh You left out a key part from this list: "Leto acts to protect himself, his family, and those he is responsible for."; His status and the system that enforces it. Are you truly a good person if the framework within which you do that good requires and perpetuates the extreme inequality, dehumanization, manipulation, and exploitation we see in the Duneiverse?
One small detail. Spice does not smell like cinnamon. Due to its psychological effects it smells different to every single person, but specifically of cinnamon to Dune's main character, Paul
Facts. Another detail is that Emperor Shaddam wasn’t just worried about Leto’s popularity with the other houses, but also because the Atreides military is considered just as dangerous as the Emperor’s…. Which, coupled with Leto’s rising popularity, would make House Atreides way too dangerous.
@@optimisticnihilist3417 True. But that is after the Emperors plot already put him onto Arrakis. The Atreides military, trained by two of the best fighters and military tacticians in the universe, is one of the most powerful before this plot and could rival any other House (or the Emperor himself). Only with the combined power of the Emperor and the Harkonnen could break them. Which leaves them both weakend and vulnurable to (avoiding spoilers) the second halve of the book. So, as with many things in the book, things are much more layered and the actions of each characters are, from their perspective, very reasonable and logical. The Baron Harkonnen didn't put decades worth of income and a significant portion of his resources (not to mention the damage on the planet and the Spice production) just for vengeance. The book makes it very clear that he aims for the throne, if not for himself then for his nephew Feyd-Rautha, which doesn't exists (so far) in the movie. Just as the Emperor wanted to use the plot to put the Baron into his place, shown by the subplot where Count Hasimir Fenring visits the Baron on Giedi Prime. Which incluedes another character I highly doubt we will see in the movie. The Subplot alone could make a movie..
@@YggdrasilAudio This is true, I’d almost forgotten that fact. I’m wondering how Christopher Walken’s portrayal of Shaddam will be. He’s definitely a charismatic actor. Personally, I’d pictured Mads Mikkelsen in that role. I think Walken might play him slightly unhinged..? Idk..
When you said "Leto is understanding, and says he loves Paul no matter what. It's a touching moment of unconditional love between father and son. But in the book, we don't see this kind of softness". One of my favorite chapters in the book is where Duke Leto is going about his official duties, with a constant refrain in his thoughts of "They have tried to take the life of my son!" That chapter very much told me that Duke Leto loved Paul immensely, but that's one of things that makes Dune so hard to convey in a movie - trying to convey what the characters are thinking, which happens a lot in the book. So my guess is that the 2021 movie added action scenes that conveyed those sentiments in a way that they can be seen, of which I heartily approve. I've seen all the previous Dune attempts, which failed miserably because it's so hard to convey what the characters are thinking. I suppose it's a way to convey "literary license" into "dramatic license" or something.
I liked that scene in the movie too. It does however undermine the spartan-stoic character of the atredies somewhat. That kind of militant self control is unpopular now days, so the choice for Leto to show his love in a very non-toxic-masciuline way is i think on some level a marketing choice for western audiences also.
@@thomasrowe3179 Of course. Normally though it is not a problem for the quality except that in the LotR spinoff : Rings of power series, it was a disaster to see the obvious wokeology implemented, with a black dwarf-wife and a masculine Galadriel.
If they plan on being faithful to Paul's evolution over the course of the movies, it's probably a good move on their part to humanize him to the audience while they still can. 😅
The exact moment I fell in love with the film was at the spice harvester scene, where Paul kneels in the sand and whispers, "I recognize your footsteps, old man", and immediately gets snatched up by Gurney Halleck. So this is both a direct callback to the scene where Gurney berates Paul for standing with his back to the door and Paul says, "I could tell it was you by your footsteps", AND it directly refers to the sandworm that he feels coming through the vibrations in the sand (the "Old Man of the Desert"). That level of subtlety is present throughout the film, and even if a viewer doesn't know exactly what it means, it sets the tone so beautifully. But I did miss the dinner scene and the full depth of Yueh's character. Those were two of the five very minor gripes I had with the entire film.
It’s also a nod to Paul’s prescience, that despite never having seen a worm before he greets it like he’s known it all his life. “He will know your ways as one born among you” and all that.
@@AzaleaJane and it's NOT from the book! I don't know which of the screenwriters came up with it, but it shows a level of understanding of the book's themes that just stuns me.
this is what i love so dearly about the content you create. I had no interest, no knowledge, no exposure to dune at all. But after watching this video i feel so deeply interested in knowing more and i will genuinely look into reading the book myself. I always feel so much more informed whenever i watch these videos and they always help me paint a clearer picture in my mind about what i'm watching or reading. Thank you so much for putting the incredible time and effort into making this content!
Welcome to the dune world, I too was unaware of the book until I saw the David Lynch move which I thought was great, and surprised by all of the complaints from the book readers. So I then read the book and realised how much of an amazing piece of work it is and then understood why the the movie was so disliked. I now have the unabridged version in audio book and it is a regular revisit for me several times a year. … Watching the new movie was quite an experience because I was pre-armed with the knowledge from the book, and this video is one of the few reviews I’ve seen that actually does both the book and the movie justice.
i do not appreciate or respect how you had “ no interest, no exposure no knowledge “ of dune. this is an act of profound ignorance and should be treated with contempt. i am extremely disappointed, you once held so much promise but you chose to just throw it all away. I’m marking you down to an F-
Most amazing series. Read them as a youth and liked them. Reread them about ten years ago as an adult and was amazed how deep they were and how much I loved them.
After seeing this video, I realize how bad the last movie is. They just dumped all the the interesting parts, clearly they should have made a high quality tv serial (like GOT) instead of movies. In that sense, "Foundation" format is a better choice to tell the story as it was meant to be in the books.
A good description of Paul's power is how he sees Island or hill tops of possible futures but the valleys or the water is unknown details on the path to get to those futures. Thank you for your work.
The constant quotes from the book could not have been easy to procure. I've done this work. I have the utmost respect for this video. Truly a masterpiece of analysis. You have earned a sub today.
7:40 The spice doesn't just taste like cinnamon. Yueh responds to Jessica saying it does by saying it's "never twice the same." He then explains that some believe that the spice "produces a learned-flavor reaction. The body, learning a thing is good for it, interprets the flavor as pleasurable--slightly euphoric." Jessica just tasted cinnamon. (This happens at the end of chapter 8 of the first book.)
I think the movie simplifies the story in a pretty fair way, which is necessary to translate the book the a new medium, however I do wish they had kept the dinner party scene. The Dune movie makes it feel like there's just a tiny colony on the planet, as opposed to different fractions and settlements.
The main problem with the dinner scene is that in the book the vast majority of the action is literally just the thoughts of Paul and Jessica, more so than almost any other scene. But I do wish the movie found a way to make Arrakis feel more populated.
@@onua2012sga Disagree. There's a lot of interaction with characters in the dinner party which really helps to flesh out the depth of the intrigue within the plot. That is, there are major players, minor players, wanna-be players, and has-beens, all jockeying for influence, sort of like real life (the Game of Thrones comparison was brilliantly funny). It's really fascinating how Frank Herbert dresses this critical scene with words and exposition. What a master of the craft.
@@spudeleven5124 the problem is, how do bring the book format and monolog thoughts to the movie format . Its had to present the intrigue in a conversation when its represented as a bunch of thoughts in the book
@@johnsamuel1999 That's where creative writing comes in. The thought monologues can be brought into conversations with other characters, but subtly, or just use voice-overs, but VERY sparingly. Narration would also help fill in the gaps (but DON'T overdo it as in the revised 1984 edition). Right now if you weren't familiar with the source material, the 2021 version of Dune would just appear be a lot of disconnected and oversimplified razzle-dazzle on a par with those dipstick superhero movies. This is why I keep arguing that Dune, being so complex and layered, can only be done well if it is presented in a long form with the story arcs taking months if not years to go through. "Game of Thrones in Space" is what the narrator of this outstanding critique called the book, and it's my fervent belief that it's a gross disservice to pack such a huge and sophisticated story into such an oversimplified move and in a two or three hour runtime. This is why I think the 2000 version came closest. They (SciFi) did a lot of work in Eastern Europe to save money, but it was still pretty obvious with the Translights, etc. that it was on a sound stage. THAT was compensated for by making it more like Shakespeare, including camera angles, use of colors, and of course Ian McNeice's couplets at the end of his scenes. All of these touches gave it a more theatrical presentation which in my opinion compensated mightily for the lack of locations. They told the story well and got a lot more of it on the screen than has been seen before or since.
Absolutely one of the best parts of the book. "...a man who'd climb on the shoulders of a drowning man is understandable, except when it happens in the drawing room -- or at the dinner table."
My absolute favorite change in the film is Jamis. Really caught me by surprise in the best way. Jamis was always just a random Fremen guy that he kills when I first read the books, and in the other adaptations. Felt like Paul was just by humoring the fremen's culture when he repeated 'Jamis was my friend'. Villanueve's version is brilliant, Paul probably had an entire lifetime of visions/alternate future where Jamis was his actual friend. Great addition, and heartbreaking when you think about it.
It's an interesting twist, but I feel it takes away from Herbert's original vision of Lady Jessica's education of Paul. She is very careful to keep him in balance and not have him turn into a bloodthirsty despot, and what she does after he wins the duel against Jamis most obviously shows that, while also highlighting how calculated she was. I think Villeneuve's depiction of her doesn't do her justice, especially what she does while Paul takes the Gom Jabbar test, breaking down into tears, which didn't seem to me to be very Bene Gesserit.
@@crusader8102 true, but one can depict the suffering of a mom without her breaking down into tears, especially when that conflicts with the character. She was pretty much shown as a crap BG IMO.
@@mihaitha i'm reading the first book, and she's literally constantly on the edge of breaking down. I think 5 times so far there's been a description of her emotions overwhelming her bene gesserit training, only for her to refocus with a mantra. I feel like the movie was pretty spot on.
While it does lack some important moments (this is a rare case where i would be happy if they release an extended edition) i truly believe that the movie did an amazing job adapting this book. The material is extremely complex and history has shown how hard it is to make a good adaptation.
I think the most important aspects is that the movie really understands the source material, there are so many adaptations out there that are effectively just the barest surface level version of what they're adapting but Dune despite what it cuts out *does* get to the heart of why the book is so effective
True but unless they address this material in the next movie then the completed project will lack much of the critical information needed to make full sense of the story. It like when Lucas said that he deliberately cut a lot of galactic context from the OT because he was able to say that set-up was in the prequels (even of he never made them). Then when he did make the prequels he finally had to address things. Dune was good but even as a relative novice to the story I know a lot was cut out or pared down to a surface level. If they didn't address it in the first movie are they really going to in the second?
I think it did the adaptation extremely well. There are adaptations that are 100% accurate, there are adaptations that are barely accurate, and there adaptations that are faithful yet leave you wanting more inspiring you to read the source material. I feel this film falls into the later category and if this movie gets more people to read these wonderful books I will be beyond happy. I love this movie.
I don't think it's that hard to make a good adaptation when the source material is good. It's just that many writers and directors don't want to stay faithful to the books because for some stupid reason they seem to think that means all of the success of the movie/show goes to the book writer instead of them. So they change the story thinking if people like it, they like _their_ story, even though their story is just a poor revision of the original.
1:07:30 "‘A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it.’" this is First Law of Mentat in the book
Most of the time, this law would work well, but in some cases it might be deadly and if your dead what's the use of "understanding the process" of your demise? That was Thufir's mistake. He got House Atreides destroyed by him obeying this law.
@@Inquisitor6321I think this law it's just Frank Herbert inserting his ecological ideas. Also it's a critique of modern age science - that try to "stop" processes, divide them into atomic parts to study them.
57:12 calling a person who lives in the desert a "clod" is pretty amazing writing. a dirt clod is simply dust held together by a bit of moisture. he sees the slaves as just dust held together by the moisture in their bodies
I was hoping the movie would have mentioned that nobody not a Fremen had seen a crysknife before and lived, and Mapes only showed one to Jessica when they were alone. The Fremen were religious fanatics; fanaticism is a key component of many groups in Dune.
I've always loved how the Atraides represented how a generally honorable and good group of people are forced by necessity to adapt to a morally corrupt and broken society, slowly compromising their values in the hopes of just surviving another day.
This is what I call today… the criminalization of America. Where the globalist have so invaded every part of society, that everything is gamed to the point where the only way to really win, is to lie, cheat, steal. The veneer is we are the good guys…but that in fact is the biggest lie. The real good guys don’t want to cheat, so they are always at a distinct disadvantage. The ones that won’t lie…they can never really win. That is where we are now really at. This war is actually being played out right now in real life. Dune…for REAL.
The "honour" and "good" of the Atrides was always for show. It was always a strong theme in the books the dangers of deities and political leader, and specially the combination of the two.
@@JVCA44 I saw a take on the written power dynamic of conquerors (power from power's perspective) will always be ironic and disrespectfully half baked by consequence of the conqueror's heirs and kingdom. C'mon Leto II where are ya
This is not the correct take. House Atreides uses empathy and understanding as a way to control people. House Harkonnen uses brutality and fear to control people.
@@1SSJA They are merely different forms of cruelty. There is no moral value to it. One is simply more honest and direct than the other. Tricking someone into being a slave is more cunning, more dishonest, than simply taking them captive. True empathy is when you release them. Atreides never does this, for anything other than their own gain, and preservation. They make concessions, not reforms, not contributions, concessions. They release power, to keep some. They do not release power because they feel that it belongs to others, that it is unfair, that it is cruel to keep it. The Harkonnens are debatably more moral. At least they do not lie. Is the dictator with an iron fist, who controls through open brutality, or the parliament of shills, cronyists, who campaign for votes, more sinister? It is not true that liberal democracies always turn into aristocracies. We simply have not had one. Addendum: It can be empathetic if you have no hypocrisy. The man who believes he should be a slave in the same situation as the man that is a slave, is empathetic. Empathy is very related to hypocrisy.
One bit of irony I’ve picked up through multiple readings of Dune is that Paul’s fight with Jamis really was the tipping point. In a way, the “human” act would have been for Paul to sacrifice himself to keep the jihad from happening, but it was the instinctive animalistic drive to survive that pushed him and ultimately the rest of the universe past the point of no return.
I feel like it shows that Paul makes a very human decision, to fight for himself and his mother. His attachment is what drives him to fight for survival, and vengeance, even if it leads to mistakes down the road. That’s what makes him human.
@@SplockyyI was more talking about the Bene-Gesserit definition of human, where to be human is to ignore ones primal urges and act logically without emotional interference. In a sense, the way the Bene-Gesserit define what it is to be human is in itself very un-human. They would have labeled Paul's actions as "animalistic," when in reality, it's a very human thing that he did.
I thought the jihad was necessary in the end because mankind was vulnerable to stagnation and extinction otherwise. Paul fears unleashing the jihad but does so because it's part of the golden path?
@@horns___cvge___3644That was his justification in the end, yes. Ultimately it led to his survival, but damned 61 billion to die. Whether or not it was beneficial to all of humanity is still yet to be seen. I think Paul could see what good it would do, but as for me, I still can't see it.
I read Dune when I was 15, because my Klingon-speaking genius friend said it was awesome. 25 years later I read it again and I was still in awe of the depth and detail of this world.
I read it at 14-15 because my big brother (over 4 years older) had bought and read it and said it was great He had already got me addicted to SF a a few years before. I really MUST make the time to read it again
Thanks for pointing out that Duke Atreides was not so morally pure in the book. The movie weakens the story a lot by expurgating this unseemly side of House Atreides which so accentuated Paul's accomplishments in the book.
personally i think it strengthens the turn Paul goes through from Dune to Messiah. The once honorable and righteous Atreides banner now being a symbol for untold destruction and death around the galaxy
Atreides was pretty spotless in the first half of the book. The only thing that is morally gray is Hawat's espionage and assassinations, but even then, the Atreides are continually described as having honor and genuineness. Paul, Jessica and Hawat are the only Atreides that seem overly manipulative and calculating, to the point of taking advantage of people and using their lives for their own purpose.
@@commanderkei9537 Leto frames a group of families on Arrakis, takes their property, and turns them out of their homes because they did not immediately bend to Atreides rule. Those people were not actually involved with the ones plotting against the Atreides. And Thufir laughs it off and praises it as something in line with what the Old Duke would have done. He later tells Paul to "exploit" (his words) the Fremen religion for the sake of their house. For all of Leto's problems with the demands of governance and his good personal qualities, it is the part of him loyal to House Atreides and his father that are presented negatively. It's not that the Atreides are good in the first half. It's just that compared to the other houses and Paul's jihad, they weren't the worst.
@@commanderkei9537 I agree. While he recognizes the usefulness of loyal people and actively creates propaganda (as per the Duke, to communicate what his government is doing), he is still depicted as a generally good person. Towards his death, he wishes he didn't have all of this responsibility and he wish he could live a simple life with Jessica. He doesn't chase power, but does what he can to weild it efficiently. In the book , he says he wish he wasn't part of the "Faufreluches" - the class system of dune which upholds the feudal system And yes, Paul, Jessica and Hawat are far more gray than good characters when compared to the Duke
I think you missed two significant differences. 1. The bonus leto doesn't give a random bonus to the people, but there is already a system in place where the person who spots the worm gets a bonus, since Leto spots it, he decides to distribute this bonus to the crew, making it very simbolic, and not just a monetary gift. 2. In the fight with Jamis, since Paul is used to fighting with a shield, the fremen see it as if Paul is playing with Jamis, making the fight more a show of force than it is shown in the movie.
@@Facetiously.Esoteric Not entirely true. That's how Jessica tries to spin in to the fremen but in the portions in Paul's head we see that, while that's part of it, he's mostly focusing on trying to override the bad habits from shield training.
Easily the best review available of one of those 'can't-ever-be-filmed' epics. It not only looks at the differences between the film and the book but also analyses most aspects very credibly. I've been rereading this book for decades but this review brought out some aspects that I hadn't ever realised. What more can one ask for in a review? Well done!
I've lost track of the number of times I've read Dune since I first bought a copy at the Yongsan PX in Seoul in 1978. I still have that old copy. Battered, worn and yellowed, I'll never part with it. My only regret is not getting Frank Herbert to sign it. IIRC I couldn't find it so instead I had him autograph another novel, "The White Plague".
@@spudeleven5124 My first reading was when I was hitch-hiking up to Thurso in the far north of Scotland with an Irish girlfriend from college. There I was, in the front of various lorries... I couldn't put it down! The girlfriend didn't last but the book did!
I really liked that this review didn't overlook crucial small details, such as Lady Fenring's warning for Jessica in the arboretum. He also spent a lot more time on Yueh's motivations, which have always gotten short shrift in the adaptations (the closest was the 2000 Sci-Fi miniseries), whereas the feature films have totally ignored it as unimportant to the storyline but it was central to the plot.
one missed detail: in the book Paul and Jamis fight in the sietch, not in the desert the Fremen wouldn't risk damaging a stillsuit and Jamis' water was immediately retrieved; plus Paul gets to decide whether he keeps Jamis' wife and is obliged to take care of his children
I figured he kept that part of the analysis out because the second movie will likely start with them arriving at the sietch and Villanueve could still choose to adapt that part of the story. Although with the amount of shit that happens at the sietch I wouldn't be surprised if it gets cut entirely.
They missed tons of points. One point I liked was where the conveyed the need to ''stutter-step'' through the desert , but at the end where we see them carrying Jamis' body back home they were all just walking like it's a trip to the craft truck.
Honestly, I thought the whole confrontation with Jamis was the most under-done part of the entire movie. It just kind of happens immediately after they are discovered, without any of the buildup/explanation, or any of the weight (rightfully so) it is given in the book.
I do truly love Kynes’s soliloquy in his death chapter. He does realize he is not going to survive, but makes his piece and stakes his claim as a “desert creature” and it makes his giving into his death a truly powerful moment to me.
Let me get this straight. You think that Dr. Kynes "makes his PIECE"? Do you not think it would have been better if he had made HIS PEACE?? Your post would make a lot more sense if that is what you meant. A powerful moment for you, but more powerful if you could spell properly.
OK. You made this a long time ago and this video is freaking great. I love how you are serious for a good bit and then have AWESOME snarky takes on things going just the right way, or better, more along the line of this person had this intricate plan created and as you can see here... that result was unwanted and terribly fucked up". As to the oil bath of the Baron, there is a description of Giedi Prime somewhere that states that one of the qualities of the planet as it has been utterly industrialized and a it has a black oily look to it. Villeneuve fixed hard on that aspect of the Harkonens, what they wear, what their world looks like shows up in who they are. So his "healing" bath may very well be some oil based healing tank.
Not only was Leto getting more and more popular, his armies were getting better and better under Guerney Halleck and Duncan Idaho - while the Sardaukar were getting softer
The way you structure this video might be the most coherent and effective method of education and explanation i have ever had the good fortune of watching. You sir are a king among men. Keep kicking ass! cant wait to see the video about the second movie!
i think what i learned early on in this video is that the newest dune adaptation does not seek to inform its audiences on the lore. it does not aim to give the backstory to every plot device and world fact there is in the series to its audience, but instead simply depict this world in the most beautiful and true way possible. in doing this, in rejecting the burden of expelling so much information, the film is able to create something truly beautiful and meditative. i fell in love with dune without knowing any of its backstory. it (the film) made me read its novel. that in itself is an accomplishment and the inquiry i have made on its philosophical, political and spiritual critiques have been ever rewarding. great film, great novel but insanely transcendent writing. gg
I think this where a lot of people get caught up in deciding whether or not this is a good movie, though i will say others are like my dad and are too caught up in the nostalga of the 1984 movie with Sir Partick Stewart, and I think this is where a lot of movie/series depictions fail sometimes. They either take too much time to create boring disposition to explain the afterthought of lore that ruins the cadence, or try to dumb it down and explain it quickly. Dune 2021 feels much more like a movie for the fans to capture the essence rather than to draw more people in.
I love the book. I loved the 1984 one. I loved the first one in this series. Then I *liked* the latest part. I agree with what you're saying but there are some massively glaring errors like totally skipping the guild. Without the guild it's unclear what the spice is even really for. There were also bits of really lazy story telling in the second part which annoyed me. But yeah I don't think they needed to go into every single detail to make a decent movie. It would be absolutely impossible in fact.
I love both movies. I think it gets to the heart of the themes that Frank Herbert was getting at. Themes of religious fanaticism, exploitation, how we interact with our planet and environment. I love the books and I love the lore but those things aren’t strictly necessary to express the themes the books are trying to explore
I HATE that they left out the phrase about giving water to the dead. I feel like that was such an important impact on the Fremen. A favorite book, thank you so much for the many historical sources for Herbert's epic works.
I think this might still happen at the beginning of part 2, unless they're cutting the mourning scene entirely, since it hadn't happened yet by the end of the first movie I agree though, if it doesn't make an appearance I'd be surprised and more than a bit disappointed
This happens during the "funeral" scene, not right after the combat. And yeah, it would be a mistake to remove it from the movie as it's one of the most important chapter in the book : Paul is accepted among the fremen because he gives his water and calls jamis a friend.
I've always found the Yueh betrayal too "easy" whether it's in the book or the movie. So this guy is supposed to have endured a mental training like no other in order to prevent him from betraying his "master". Yet the first time in the book we meet a guy like that, it's him, and he betrays his master immediately... The reason ? His wife. If it's vital that these guys don't betray anyone, why are they allowed to have a family ?
She wasn't just kidnapped. You forget how horrible the Harkonnen are. In the book he's happy to learn his wife is dead. Because that is a fate better than being held by the Harks. Basically Only the Harkonnen would ever be able to break that conditioning, no one else is brutal enough. As in no one else can even stomach the idea of what the Harkonnen do. They're also paedophiles, and raping young boys is considered a lesser crime compared to the other things they do.
@ShoeUnited The book states that any who have passed the conditioning are fit to care to the Emperor himself. That's very much implying that they cannot be corrupted or swayed. It's an extension of the Hippocratic Oath. They must care for their patient to the best of their abilities. Betrayal is clearly not caring for the patient.
36:36 Upon second reading you realize that the reason why Paul was able to properly wear a stilsuit without any help was that, Paul observed Stilgar's suit when they first meet him. It blew my mind when I read that part.
Sadly there are a healthy amount of little details like this that just don't get conveyed properly in the movie, even the older ones. One of my biggest gripes was how lightly they touched on the water scarcity and it's almost holy care for it on the planet, especially by the Fremen. They do make little attempts here and there, but they are shallow and I really didn't feel it carried the immense weight it should of.
@@lordlurk7968 "Even the older ones"? Why would we expect the movie that used sound weapons to be more accurate? And since Paul isn't with the Fremen yet in the first film, there has been very little room to show how important water is up to this point. Living in the palace, water is not an issue.
@@lordlurk7968 Hopefully Part Two will go much deeper into the ecology stuff and water scarcity, as Paul and Jessica learn from the Fremen. I agree with you that there was a disappointing lack of such emphasis in the first film.
Can we please get more Dune content? Love your videos man. Your voice, editing and explanation of lore, its all great. Always binged your vids during the GoT days lol
Every time I'm re-exposed to the details of the first Dune book, I'm stunned by just how deep the rabbit hills go. It's like Frank Herbert's mind was practically spilling over with some of the craziest ideas and concepts so far ahead of his time. He understood reality to such beautiful extent. The story is like poison to the narratives of all creators who read it
I think Yueh's motivation go much deeper, yes it did it for his wife, but not to "save her life" but to end her suffering and to kill the Baron. I believe it's also important to note how sure EVERYONE is that the duke is dead already, just doesn't know it. Yueh "defeated" some of the greatest minds in the galaxy. He hid the truth from Jessica, Thufir Hawat, and almost killed the Baron. Of all the legendary characters that the attradies gathered, I think its underplayed that amoug those legends was Yueh, as great if not greater then the likes of Thurfir, Halleck, Idaho and even the Duke himself.
Yuen is able to fool the Atreides because of his supposed Suk conditioning. Not through Brilliance. He fooled the Baron through the Barons’s and Piter’s arrogance. With the Baron there was cunning. But with the Atreides it was being in concert with the Emperor, the Baron, and the Bene Gesserit. He wasn’t that Brilliant .
@@briangallagher787 I can totaly see that. Although, if all it took to break Suk conditioning was kidnapping someones wife...the conditioning is useless. I think Yueh's desire to kill the baron shouldn't be underplayed :D
Yueh's conditioning was subverted, thats the vehicle, imperial conditioning was supposed to be unbreakable so that they could be trusted to work on the Emperor and his family
@@goodlight4113 That just goes to show the ingenuity, tenacity, and vileness of the Baron.. To find a way to break such an "unbreakable" conditioning.. The Baron is rather underappreciated..
At 1:05:40 - I always appreciated the way the book handled the Kynes death scene. It was a way of feeding the reader an explanation of the worm/spice life-creation cycle, through the hallucinations of his father's speeches. This all becomes very relevant later on when explaining the water of life and also the ultimate threat Paul makes to destroy the cycle that produces the spice. Plus the irony of the planet's ecology killing the ecologist is fitting.
58:00 I think the poison gas scene in the movie is in some ways better than in the book. Compared to simply a failed attempt at the Barons life that just scared him a bit, the movie makes it clear how incredible close this one went to success and how fucked up the Baron was afterwards. That bittersweet frustration of 'If only a little bit' is good I think.
@@Piensamalyacertaras Depends. Gasses don't need to be lighter than air. And gasses used in warfare were mostly heavier (so it would hit the enemy hiding in trenches) . And considering your potential enemy (the baron) is (mostly) on the ground, it would make sense in this situation also. Especially in high chambers like they seem to be common in the Dune universe - the gas would simply accumulate on the ceiling without much damage. That - and the Baron *barely* got away, which seems the gas had already filled most of the chamber.
27:50 One of my favourite, tiny, details in the movie is that listening to Jessica's cadence and watching her mouth carefully (as a bene gesserit would), she clearly was going to continue speaking, intending to say maker of death. Even though the movie doesn't include any internal monologue, it's clear that it absolutely is still happening,.
I deeply love what you've done here mate ♥ The movie was fantastic, but I was saddened that running time couldn't allow a more complex exploration of ideas and politics. The dinner scene was specifically one that I was hoping to see. It's fun to read, but I suppose characters like Buet and Tuek would only confuse audiences when they can't be payed off in a tight feature length format. I hope you've encouraged some people to pick up the books! Well... Maybe just the first two.
Also the depth of Jessica’s powers is a bit underwhelming in the movie. In the book I was constantly in awe of her perception, so when Paul first starts to surpass his mothers intelligence he was surprised and so was the reader, I loved that moment, because his abilities are measured in comparison to hers, so you get a better understanding of how powerful he has become. In the movie she was not nearly as impressive.
An very important aspect about Kynes is that he actually drowned. His death is at the same time a revelation. For the spice blow actually let him fall into the pre spice mass that contains the water that the worms gather in their nymph phase. This explains where all the water went.
@@eftheusempire there might be a translation error here on my site. How is the initial phase of a 3 stage live cycle of an insect defined (not accounting for egg phase)? I mean the stage where ticks have their first meal.
I know! This part in the movie surprised me so much. Kynes was one of my favorites. I was waiting for how they would recreate this gnarly death. I was a bit disappointed.
Yueh implies that he is not doing it to protect his wife as he knows that she wont be saved but to kill the baron. He says to himself that who would imagine that wanting to kill the baron can actually bypass the conditioning. The baron incorrectly thinks that the conditioning is bypassed by Yueh's desire to save his wife and that is why he doesnt suspect the murder attempt. That is another topic that the book touches and is the misunderstood deepness of hatred. In the book Leito is accused of not understanding hatred, but the Baron didnt understand either.
@user-nz6dx2fj6h because the video says he does it to protect Wanna. As the previous poster says the Harkonnens are convinced Yueh is acting to protect a hostage, when in reality Yueh has already written the hostage off and is bent only on vengeance.
@@cazzah49But the video actually said that he didn’t do it to protect his wife, he was trying to find out if his wife was already dead as opposed to a slave, he did it for revenge. Essentially you guys are repeating what the video already said for some reason
@@nothingsacred8684yes but the way he explained it seemed like he was still doing it for his wife. So I think they’re very much in the right. The video may have been misinformed or (left it out on purpose/unintentionally idk) so this cleared up a LOT.
SO glad to see you covering Dune! After GoT it's shaping up to be the next big cultural phenomenon, and unlike asoiaf this series feels more finished, even if it technically isn't
Don’t think it will reach GOT levels. Unless they throw in a whole load of gratuitous nudity, speed up & dumb down the plot. It’s too mature, complex and paced for that. Instead I think Villeneuve is going to give us a gorgeous piece of art that will stand the test of time amongst a more discerning audience. The first one was stunning, looking forward to seeing more.
Dune the books are VERY finished, and that's why it stands a chance. Frank Herbert's novels are what matters, the ones written by others(I think his kids?) arent as well-connected.
This movie was one of my favorite book adaptations, and while it takes some liberties with the story to adapt to the movie format, I was impressed by how closely it resembles the book. Perhaps my favorite thing about the movie is that they don't feel the need to explain things, they show instead of telling. The only thing I really wish they would have changed is showing Jessica as a schemer, and much more manipulative - its weird having her be such a flat mother template character and she lacks a lot of depth as a result of being reduced to basic motherly tropes.
Yeah sanitizing the lore of any Islamic and Arab presence was so awesome. A story that is literally the Middle East of Frank Herbert's era but in space, being scrubbed clean of any traces of the cultures that informed the creation of the entire work. Factions that are coded as ancient Middle Eastern civilizations being molded into anachronistic forms to fit a space age fiction getting magically re-imagined as "western" with no problems, such as Atreides as a stand in for Iranian. Dune is literally the Middle East and all of its ancient and modern cultures, Islam and in the case of Fremen, the Bedouin Arabs. They throw all that out and you people swear up and down that it's now the best adaptation ever.
@@manawa3832 I feel like they barely touched on that, because we'll be seeing it more in part 2. The first half of the Book barely covers that aspect of it anyway. Also most of those more intricate details are in the other books aside from Dune.
@@futuza The screenwriters were confronted about the sanitization already. Their response was "all that arab and islamic stuff is just window dressing". Look it up. No they are not going to bring it back in pt 2. They deliberately did this because no one had any issues with it except a minority of Middle Eastern fans. They just cast black, white and Asian characters in an American race awareness trifecta and clapped their hands well done. Total erasure with a layer of wokeness for protection. I miss when Hollywood used to vilify us as dumb, ugly terrorists. Now we are too controversial for even caricature.
Absolutely love the justification for getting rid of AI / Thinking Machines in this Universe, and how this in of itself is an entire story you could write another 5 books about. I think I've just fallen in love with Dune
They already have written books about it. The prelude series deals with the Machine War and the origin of the Butlerian Jihad. It was more about the fact that the humans were at war with machines, the Jihad begins when the robot Erasmus throws Serena Butler's child, Manion, off a balcony killing him. This act starts the rebellion on the slave worlds against the machines. Serena Butler was a captive of Erasmus after capturing her ship, she was the fiancee of Xavier Harkonnen, ancestor of the Baron in the Dune series.
There is a story within this story, about the "Butlerian Jihad," which was the war to defeat the A.I.s who had become a terrible danger to humans. Herbert was very thorough - it's the deepest future history ever created.
Dude has it wrong in this video. Thinking machines themselves enslaved humanity under a hive mind called Omnius. If you read all the way to the end of the narrative - the final books that the son wrote with Kevin Anderson based on Frank Herbert’s notes, Omnius comes back. It’s amazing and well worth the comparatively crappy writing style
Also the books by Isaac Asimov (yeah that guy) who is where the 3 laws of AI come from. There's like twenty books in the... 3 combined series I believe something like that. All great space-themed scifi that follows Dune like worlds but has a heavy thing with the advancement of AI and how it was also banned. Has other scifi things like clones as well.
Well done! I was so bummed that they completely skipped the dinner party as it sets the tone for pretty much everything. I thought the movie was done reasonably well, it captured all the "feels" that the book carried. I think you're right that this book is not filmable in a way us book nerds would like.
I'm a new dune reader. a few weeks ago I finished the first book. I think the scenes I needed to see in the movie and didn't see, as well as the dinner scene was Paul's way of dealing with everything that was happening from his father's death to the moment they left the tent.
In the first Dune novels, mélange was always described with reference to cinnamon, which is why it's always been depicted as having that colour in the movies, games, etc, including the 2022 film. In God Emperor of Dune, Herbert then describes the spice as a 'radiant blue'. My guess is that he added that colour later to match the colour of the Eyes of Ibad, since then if the spice had a blue melanin, it might then match the eys. I've always preferred it being brown-orange to add to Dune's mystery rather than an odd bright blue.
Yeah, and the melange gas that the guild navigators float in is orange. I'll have to re-read that bit about blue, but that must be the only deviation as spice patch was also described as a dark patch of sand...sand being more yellow, I'd imagine orange/brown for the spice.
@@JustusScottJr The spice is blue - the "pre-spice mass" patches in the desert are described as looking like purplish-blue "bruises". (Bonus weird Dune colour fact: the sky on Arrakis is grey, and the sunsets are lime green!)
The meteor over Calladan is likely a reference to Caesar, following his assassination there was said to be a comet over Rome for seven days (a number which is significant to Rome because of the seven hills/tribes/kings). Caesar used religious power quite a bit as Pontifex Maximus, which Octavian/Augustus similarly used which is no doubt part of the reason he pushed for the deification of Caesar using the comet as a sign of his ascension into Godhood. The name Augustus also connected to the Augery and the Aeneid was used to directly trace divine lineage through Aeneas from Venus in the Julii gens, as well as introduce religious prophecy of Augustus' rise to power.
Dune is a masterpiece. The reason people thought it was an impossible movie to make is because the book is just so... all-encompassing. Herbert is almost Tolkien-esque in his worldbuilding, and the way he writes makes such complicated concepts accessible to dummies like me... it's a masterpiece. Denis's approach to that impossible task was to give the impression that there is so much more to this world without necessarily explaining it all or changing the story... and honestly I don't think anyone could've done better. I mean I left the theatre wanting way more Mentat too haha, but I also left very satisfied.
Tbh a true movie on Dune couldn't be made they just dumbed down the Atreides into space House Stark and removed so much of the moral conflict which makes the exploration of these charectars so fascinating. So people were kinda right this needed a series
Given the tools available in the 21st century Villeneuve's effort is a failure. The 1980s opus is structurally, visually and dramatically vastly superior.
@crinolynneendymion8755 Certainly, our opinions will probably differ given the fact that I'm a 90s baby and only watched the 1984 movie well after it released. I really enjoyed that version for the time it released, however, I could not disagree with you more about the new movie. 2021 Dune was so much better in my opinion. I was enraptured from start to finish. The focus on audio and atmosphere was done in a way that I've never experienced in any other film to date. Absolutely can't wait for the next installment.
While I like the book and have always been a fan, my biggest criticisms of the book are: 1) there's not a single spot or moment of humor in the entire series, and 2) there's next to no memorable dialgue ("Fear is the mind killer" is really the only quote the book boasts). I mean all of this as constructive criticism.
@@crinolynneendymion8755you’ve definitely oversimplified how hard it is to make a movie like dune even nowadays. Technology doesn’t just override every difficulty and I think Denis did a great job with the first movie
The only book I've read over fifteen times since I was a teenager, there is so much to unpack in the six Frank Herbert Dune books. I thought the recent movie did a pretty great job on many aspects of the first half of the book and was pretty faithful to a lot of details in the story
Is it a hard read? Will someone who doesn't read much be able to get into it? I wanna try Dune because I want to read the books first before I watch the movies so I can get my own interpretation on the story. If that makes sense.
The sad thing is most people stop after children of dune which hurts my heart. I've reread this series more times than I can count. After reading Dune I purchased everything Frank had ever written. What an adventure every story is.
@@z.a.y.n-5053 Herbert's writing is simple and very effective. He doesn't use a lot of flowery language or spend dozens of pages describing something he gets to the point and dresses things as they are. It's well written and worth your time
@@visionsinister Sorry for your heartache, but I loved Dune so much I've read it at least a dozen times, appreciated Messiah without deep affection, and loathed Children for having so few points of continuity from the original that I felt surrounded by annoying boring strangers and bailed 1/5 of the way in rather than slog through the thousands of pages remaining in the "saga." Dune is a spectacular novel, kids, one every human should read at least once -- and if you read only that book and skip its oppressive stack of sequels, you can all still grow up to be strong, smart, well-balanced individuals.
As some one who has read ALL of the books, including the continuation via prequels by Herbert's son, This is the best explanation of dune and it's intricacies that I have ever seen or heard. Bravo good sir. I am very impressed and grateful.
@@RafaelCabreraAzrael Book sucks, books suck. Your obvious lack of literary skill puts your comment into the "I have no clue what Im talking about" category. Brian Herbert grew up with his father writing dune, his father left him the entire outline of the universe and the manuscript for the conclusion. And while Brian and Kevin Anderson did write the stories with their individual takes on the outline, it was Frank's design. The entire story will be told and stand in the same light as Asimov's foundation, amongst many other great scifi works, in spite of your attempt at being a critic. And for complete clarity, a critic is one who cannot write with such genius so he feels the need to tear it down when he sees it.
“To yield and give way to our passions is the lowest slavery, even as to rule over them is the only liberty.” - St. Justin Martyr This quote is so pertinent to what humanity is in Dune. Despite his power, Harkonnen is a slave to all his urges.
Vulgarity, etc, etc, etc is always to illustrate the soullessness of low art versus the high ideals of high art, which is to guide humanity to it’s greatest virtue. It fits the baron is base because it illustrates this difference since he is a living example of the base, the low. It is also his undoing because he cannot imagine beyond his low self.
Calling it. After 15 years as a fan of Dune, this is the greatest summary I've ever seen about a story that I've long felt is unsummarizeable without doing the story violence. Bravo
I think the movie and the book complement each other very well. The book expands upon everything that is introduced in the movie, like the characters, factions, politics etc. And the movie spends more time letting things play out. Like in the book you turn the page and they've already travelled to Arrakis from Caladan, but in the movie they add a scene where they leave for Arrakis and it is one of the best scenes in the whole movie. It takes it's time letting you just exist in the world and feel what the characters are feeling, where the book is more interested in the strictly factual elements of the story and world. It would've been absolutely impossible to literally adapt the book word for word into a visual form of storytelling, unless they tried to do it in the form of a longer show rather than movies. But even then it would've been next to impossible. I also actually like that they are slightly different, it makes it actually fun to read the book. I remember when I tried to read the asoiaf books and got bored very early on as the scenes were pretty much identical to the show, which I had already seen. And lastly while there are differences and stuff left out, it never feels like the movie is a betrayal of the source material. Denise Villeneuve is a lifelong fan of Dune and it definitely shows. Nothing happens in the movie that feels like a misrepresentation of Frank Herberts story. More than anything the movie just feels as epic as Dune deserves. Dune is to scifi what lotr is to fantasy and the movie adaptation of Dune is fittingly epic.
This is such a weird view point to me. The movie is great on its own as a separate entity from the book. And it does an amazing job of visualizing aspects of the book that seemed hard to capture. But its thematically completely different from the book. The book is about Jessica's drive for power via genetics. The movie makes Paul the main character instead and presents Jessica as a primarily a supporting mother. Which is still a good story. But its night and day from the book.
Idk if you ever revisited asoiaf... But the books and show diverge significantly pretty quickly. By the end of book 3 they're pretty much completely different stories, save for a handful of scenes that the show superficially lifts from the books without borrowing much of the context or intent. The books are really a fantastic read (but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who can't stand an unfinished series, as it's been over a decade since the last book and there's still no sign of the next book being finished any time soon, with supposedly one more still needed to conclude the series.)
Definitely recommend you revisit ASOIAF if you haven't already, the first season is very accurate to the book but it diverges radically, and even in book 1 there are whole extra battles. The Battle of the Whispering Wood is one of the coolest parts of the novel and totally absent from the show.
@@peterisawesomeplease Interesting, I had not considered that Jessica could be the main character instead of Paul. I read the book long before I watched the film and to me; Paul was always the main character, in both book and film: I cared more about his thoughts and feelings and reactions to things than I did his mother's story, tho I also enjoyed hers. F. H.'s writing is complex and covers so many different view points and plot lines, so perhaps a reader's bias effects how the story is received and characterized. My bias is to take Paul as the main character, you see Jessica as the main character. Maybe Frank intended it that way. I love the complexity of his writing at any rate! Cheers.
@@Rachel_Owens Yea they are clearly both important. And when I read the book as a teenager I thought Paul was the main character. But going back a year ago it was very different. Jessica has way more speaking and thinking lines in the book than Paul. She also is also constantly making choices that effect the plot. While Paul just kinda goes with the flow till the very end. Paul is more involved in the action scenes but thats about all that he has over Jessica. Obviously this changes in later books were Paul becomes a more central character and Jessica has a reduced role.
This is the definitive video if you need the world of Dune explained. Alt X has done an amazing job with this explanation video. One of my UA-cam favorites
I do appreciate the obvious love and effort this movie shows Dune. However, I think the Syfi mini-series was closer to the source despite its many flaws.
Knowing that there were scenes shot for important book events like in the conservatory and the banquet, I hope it's not too much to hope for an eventual extended version release. Each time I watched the 2021 film the cut to Jessica walking down the hall shaken and crying after talking with Paul is just so out of place to me. There's literally nothing that happens prior to connect her to such a dramatic reaction. So I'm hoping it's just an unfortunate edit that will make more sense once the deleted scenes are restored. Great job on the video and in helping inspire others to read the series. I wish Dune could become part of the curriculum as Bradbury and Asimov were when I was a kid. But given the politicization of so much here in the US who knows if his themes could pass increasing parental scrutiny, regardless of their timeliness and relevance. Keep on doing what you're doing and we look forward to a part two in the near future!
I agree! I don't understand why they decided to make this book series a movie series when it would work so much better as a TV series. They wouldnt have to cut out nearly as much and can take the time to focus on each character and each sub plot so the themes come across. It's like turning A Song of Ice and Fire into a movie series instead! It just can't work! Theres far to much going on and every character matters and their decisions impact the plot. It's irritating they tried to make this a movie to begin with. Like why??
Yeah, that's a great example of quite a few things in the movie that I REEEALLY did not like compared to the book. Honestly, I still think the 80's version did a better job of FEELING like the book. Especially with David Lynch utilizing the inner monologue of the characters. This new version looks incredible, but really just seems a little OVER hyped up, and really still just feels like a Hollywood rendition of something. I dunno, didn't do it for me. Probably not going watch the second part. I just re-read the book instead.
@clueless4085 Denis has said he has no plans to make an extended cut. He said the theatrical version IS the director's cut. It'd have to be done by WB/Legendary without Denis' blessing. When Universal made the extended TV edit of the 1984 film without Lynch's approval he was so pissed he refused to be listed with the project and they had to use 'Alan Smithee' instead, which is a placeholder name used in Hollywood for crew or cast who don't want to be listed. Production companies don't like to burn bridges with directors who make award winning films that make money in the box office, so it'd be extremely unlikely they'd go against Denis' wishes.. Also, fun fact: Rebecca Ferguson said that her favorite scene she did was when Jessica finds the hidden message in the garden - a scene which was cut from the film. End of the day, the actors don't get to decide, it's the director's choice since it's essentially their project.
Podcast with Quinn's Ideas: ua-cam.com/video/zG8e-WDw3a4/v-deo.html
Alt Schwift X Dune rap: ua-cam.com/video/bNaWeH9ehns/v-deo.html
Dune Q&A livestream: ua-cam.com/video/_-v_kubD5Xc/v-deo.html
Brilliant as always!
What do you rate this iteration of Dune? As much as I love this movie I can’t bring myself to give it an A with sections like the dinner scene, and a proper Jessica/yueh conversation where they talk about wanna and yueh tries to trick Jessica, also the limited exposure to the residents of giedi prime. I think I would have to give it an 87.5!
P.s.
Also they needed a little more of a history lesson in the beginning we learned a fair bit about the landsraad and the bene gesserit, but little to nothing about the mentats, the butlarian jihad, house corrin, and not enough explanation on the correlation between melange the spacing guild and their reliance on it!
Hey ASX! The black goo is actually a reference to petroleum. You can see in the way it bubbles up as the baron sleeps that it looks very much like oil.
As always wonderful video, but I have to ask - what's up with those names?
Piter == Pyter
Chani == Chayni / Chaini
But the same logic is not used for other names like :
Jamis =/= Jaimys
Duncan =/= Duncain
So what's the deal with Peter and Chani is there a hidden meaning?
GREAT VIDEO THANK YOU
As someone who finally is deciding to get into Dune, it’s really weird realizing that “oh… everybody in all of fiction stole from this” even more than LOTR it feels like
My enjoyment for Warhammer 40k plummeted when I crossed that line
@@andrew3606Could you elaborate? I don't get what you are implying (Does everything steal from Warhammer 40k?)
@@adrianalbertomadonnarondon1471 Warhammer itself copied a lot from other sources namely starship trooper, terminator, and pretty much dune
@@andrew3606 i mean ya? Do you not know whay 40k was in its early incarnations? It was literally a blatant satire of these stories specifically callingnitself out for that at every turn, the new lore hasnt forgotten that at all. Depsite being "grim dark" 40k is super self aware and has never pretended to be anything its not. Like its not a copy its a homage, 40k is cool because it is all of sci fi in one gigantic pulsating bundle. Whatever you like of sci fo exists in 40k and thats on purpose. Its not stealing its just reframing in an open context with infinite excuses for creatviity to allow for an extremely open ended wargame to be formed and enjoyed.
@@adrianalbertomadonnarondon1471 The imperium, which went through an AI/robot extinction level event and has since banned all computers, guided by the Emperor of Mankind, who has an army of super soldiers that everyone is afraid of, some of which worship him as a god (HE DOESN'T WANT THAT) and whos footsoldiers use lasguns, who use navigators to safely travel through space. I'm describing the 40k-verse, sound familiar? Dune came first btw.
Alt Shift X releasing 86 minutes of analysis on Dune. Bless the Maker and His water.
Ayo I watch your videos. You're awesome!
Water is toxic for sand worms.
Bless the coming and going of Him!
shai hulud bless us
THE SLEEPER HAS AWAKENED!!
"Game of thrones, in space, on drugs" is such a formidable pitch: it sounds so 60s yet Dune talks about such fundamentally human topics it manages to be timeless
Dune is what Game Of Thrones wishes it could be.
@@michaelsasylum Season eight was released 3 years ago
Dune is leagues above what game of thrones wishes it could be
@@Kertierain we don't talk about that season here ... the north remember ...
@@ilikeknives1000 But now it is best to forget
When can we expect a video on Dune part 2? This video was so great. It provided so much insight to the movie without having to read the book! Thank you!!!
It’s gonna take a while
Shame you think not having to read the book is a 'good' thing.
No wonder the generational dumbing down continues ...
Part 2 is out for a while now, we wait for part 3 now
@@lizsteeds6697don’t even
@@lizsteeds6697I read the book because of this movie and video. And it was soooo amazing I definitely recommend everyone to read it
I feel like Leto and Jessica are one the deepest, most tragic love stories you could ever read. It's not about two people who sacrificed everything for their love, but rather of two people who sacrificed their love for the greater good, because they knew that in the grand scheme of things, their relationship was not important to anyone but them. They would never give up their duties just to be together, because they know that that is not what the other one would have wanted.
I think this is a much deeper and much more selfless form of love, one that makes me shed a tear every time I read this book.
A great story with so much passion that u just follow the flow and for get some minor details .I loved the details of each person and their personalities all so real..Thank you for this book..
And don't forget how they had to scheme against each other from time to time, but still loved each other despite this. They knew it would never be out of spite, just out of political necessity
lmao, this is not true at all
@@brwahussen what’s your opinion of them ? I’m curious to hear now
@@brwahussen Duke Leto literally told Paul to tell Jessica that he loved her in case he didn't survive the political trap set for them by the Emperor and the Harkonnens
First of all, cheers to you for citing evidence via quotes for almost every claim you make. That must have been time consuming and annoying but *boy* does it add a lot to the video. Also, the visual aids were so incredibly helpful for a person who hasn’t read the books (like me). Without them, I would have gotten confused with all the names, plot lines, and locations. Amazing video, keep up the stellar work!!
That's the Alt Shift Standard for you.
Wait til you discover Alt Shift X Game of Thrones….
You are missing out, if you've never read the original Dune. It is one of the best science fiction books ever released, and it is, for all intents and purposes, beautiful in its imagery, and its ability to explain complexities of the characters, and their interactions. It's definitely one of the best books ever written. It's one that more teachers should be teaching in their creative writing courses.
100% agree. Good job, good job, good job.
You just have to read the book. I read Dune when I was in seventh grade. It had been out for a couple years. My brothers were also reading it, and we sat in the living room together reading for hours. It was a thrilling experience because it's a thrilling story. Dune was published in 1965. Frank Herbert spent six years writing it. It's one of the best science fiction novels of all time.
The name Harkonnen comes from a Finnish surname Härkönen which comes from the word härkä meaning bull. So in a way Paul is also fighting a bull
Its an ox not a bull, good point tho
Neat detail!
@ O G
What do you call a male ox?
@@eddiepolo6047 An ox
@@siamzero9480 nope, its bull
Is there a second one like this explaining the second movie yet? This was really well done.
Might take a while to make since it just came out
"well dune"
ugh the second movie trampled all over Frank Herbert's plot line and characters. It's going to be a hard video to make because they are almost opposite stories
@@davidshane2733how so
@@davidshane2733tbf i think they did what they had to to make the book translate over to film, e.g. having Alia not appear as a very young girl was probably done because getting a child of that age be able to act like they have 1000s of lives worth of knowledge well is near impossible
The film really needed a scene where they explained the importance of Mentats in a society where thinking machines are illegal, and reveal to Paul that he has what it takes to become a Mentant himself.
I thought you were talking about Fallout
no it didn't
They did my boy Thufir dirty in the movie. Dude's probably the top mentat and most dangerous person in the galaxy. He deduced how the Emperor was creating the Sardaukar, then created the plan to use the Fremen to defeat them. They made him seem like some over-the-hill lackey.
It's coming later
It’s incredible to me that you all have decided that every detail and every concept needed to be explained in the FIRST PART of a MULTIPLE PART SERIES. Like calm down and wait. It was a fantastic adaptation, and was mostly true to the source material.
It’s amazing how the book tells you in all the plans within plans, no attack is unexpected, but it’s still such a page turner. Frank herbert had some true writing talent.
@nicholascage3400
Even Muad'ib is a mysterious character : Irulan writes about him at the introduction of every chapter, but it is only in the middle of the book that you learn that Paul and Muad'ib are the same person.
it was the most boring book
@@lightlyfriedfishfillets8117 You mean like relative to the other books, right? And you made sure to read it to the end?
I could see someone being more excited by the other books, or feeling like the first 100 pages was slow. You could even say that its not the kind of book you like or something. But there is no way this is a boring book lmao
And yet, the film didn't reveal anything and was boring as hell
Read about Frank Herbert’s life. He was quite an amazing guy with an amazing mind.
I never tire of this story or its large screen iterations!
Its surreal that I've been subbed to you since 2015 from watching the Game of Thrones lore videos. Now in 2022, still following you for more lore videos on different media that I love. Thank you and keep up the amazing work as always!
Just goes to the show how people such as ourselves came to his content. He was smart to expand to other material especially after Game of Thrones crashed and burned in Season 7 and 8. Thankfully, there's an ample amount of great fantasy/sci-fi content to breakdown
Same! And he exploded my understanding of the lore in Raised by Wolves. Absolutely uplevels my enjoyment of every book, movie or show he covers.
Same thing here, and now his video of dune popped up in my feed and I thought "Thank god he's doing new videos on this other thing I love". Quinns ideas channel has good videos, but I really enjoy alt shift x`s style.
So how much of the lore do you know for yourself, and how much of it is stuff you've already been force-fed?
Seconded.
The moment he popped up in my feed again was even similar in terms of "fandom acquantance": I got into the movie(s) for a good year before finding his reviews, and in turn rethinking the lore I was familiar with so far.
It's just been 20 mins of watching and I am so moved by the beautiful way in which you have discussed the entire learning that comes from this piece of art.... hats off to your work
This video is unfathomably well produced. I can't even begin to imagine how much work was required to pull everything together into this cohesive masterpiece
Is there a place in the movie that shows when they were "Folding Space " to travel ?
Alt Shift X is the son of a god of lore with a god of history
@@TOMAS-lh4er no, it just shows a heighliner above caladan where you can see a planet on the other end of the wormhole. It’s when Helena mohiam is flying down to caladan.
this.
It was nice to talk to you.😀
Didn't realize how much deeper the Dune universe is than how the movie portrays. Incredible.
And it's much, much, much, much deeper than what this video can portray also. It's mind-blowingly deep, and broad.
Yeah thats why I want to read it, it is not possible to portray the book in a movie, the changes in the movies were necessary
@@quantillaprudentia1345it is absolutely worth to read.
I'm currently reading it for the third time (and listening to the audio book). I truly believe this is one of the most amazing books ever written.
*Dune-iverse
Summarizing Dune in this format really reveals how insanely creative Frank Hebert was.
Fubibum Rabam
More like a mad genius RIP Frank Herbert
His genius is showing you the real world in which you live in, as though it were a world of fiction.
Absolutely but he couldn’t write at all. Have you ever tried to read it? It’s so bad lol. If he had someone who could write well do it for him, I bet anything it would have been one of the most compelling books ever written. The plots are so so SO good.
@@saysHotdogs that is subjective, i enjoy Frank Herbert's writing style more than Tolkiens, he's as descriptive with thought as tolkien was with surroundings.
Plus his world building is just fantastic, left a plethora of material for his son to butcher.
Want to know why this book was long thought unfilmable? Because it takes an hour and a half of explaining things to barely even scratch the surface of what's really going on in the first HALF of the first book lmao.
Dune 2021 still sucks and why it is unfilmable
@@damiantirado9616it doesn’t suck, it’s probably the best we’re going to get, as a good and faithful cinematic dune adaptation is IMO literally impossible.
I absolutely adore Dune's take on scifi, its so much more mature than most others. The idea of a religious crusade that bans computers and artificial intelligance resulting in a future based on the direct expansion of the human mind is fascinating and alluring, it really adds another level to the film when you know many of these characters are vastly more intelligent and calculated than any human thats ever lived today.
And the fact that the eventual outcome of such a society I.e. Lord Leto the Man-Worm God was secretly using computers etc to further his agenda. One rule for some another for all
Well, I hate Dune for many things, but I also love it for exactly that, what you already pointed. After all Dune is one of a very few books/games/movies which expand humans mind and its natural biological possibilities and its not over glorifying technology like Star Trek or space wizardry like Star Wars. Just pure human mind, how awesome that is?
@@rohenthar8449 why do you hate it...without any spoilers I'm reading the first book right now
@@sparklesparklesparkle6318 I know
I really love the worldbuilding revolving on the religions/fusions of religions it has.
The amount of delete scene in this movie is insane! 6 hour directors cut would definitely be something I watch!
Same, hard
You mean 60 hours? For the first half? :D
The worst thing about Denis is his dislike of extended cuts. There is not 6 hours of usable footage, but there is a good 30 minutes minimum.
Yeah and it would probably be more accurate than the TRASH we got
@@shanecurtis7797 Trash is RIDICULOUSLY over the top 😭
I read Dune in high school after hearing another student's book report on it. I ended up reading all of the series including Chapter House. zzzzz I had only read one other small book before this. It changed my life. I ended up reading hundreds of sci-fi and fantasy novels and almost all of Stephen Kings novels. I learned so much from reading I ended up being the first in my family to go to college and I believe it was all because of reading.
I had an similar story, but it was The Witcher books that did it for me, after them i read almost all of Stephen King's, Abercrombie, and others, including Dune itself. It creates a love for the material that you can't even explain, so i feel you
wow seeing my whole story right here. Abercrombie, dune, the expanse, Scotcard. @@wasterman
That's so awesome!!
Reading is such an experience, literally a movie in your head . I believe the comprehension skills you acquire help with studying and overall understanding
Being the first one in family to go to college isn't a high bar to reach. You set it up as though you were gonna say you became the first place winner of your country's trivia olympics from all your knowledge.
I can confidently say this is the first UA-cam video over an hour that I’ve not only watched the entire way through but went back when I wasn’t confident in my understanding of this story and your explanation of it, truly a masterpiece of the internet
I've got to say this was probably the best synopsis of the Dune universe ever. Accessible, not an overload of information, enjoyable to watch as a beginner or as a veteran reader of the Dune series, but also comprehensive. Loved it!
bro its an hour long lmao
I absolutely agree
I also enjoyed it, but I found the cynicism at every turn a bit much (possibly I'm too forgiving or naive?). I don't recall the other recaps being so cynical.
I read the books over 50 times for decades. This is so well done and explained. I love it. Perfect for people who love the movie, and havent read the books.
makes me wanna read the books
Without having read the books, I like that the movies just tosses you into Dune's world. It feels authentic, like a world with a long history and its cultures have their own customs, traditions and ways of speaking. You just KNOW that there's some proper world building behind all of it and don't need boring exposition to explain every detail.
Similar to how Mad Max Fury road forces the audience to accept the new world without explanation. To me that's strong and immersive world building.
While I do like the movie as a standalone, the visuals and audio are pretty sweet, as well as the choreography of the fights. It sadly is but a puddle that a child would play in compared to the world building that the Dune novel does. This movie sadly vastly oversimplifies major world building points with short uninformative scenes or just entirely ignores them in favor of long silent shots. The older movies do a far better job of world building than this movie does, even with all their faults. I would not be so critical if this movie was not heralded as a 'faithful adaption' of the books.
@@lordlurk7968 Yeah ignorance is bliss. Had I read the books/seen the other movies I probably would think the same
@@knight_lautrec_of_carim I do hope at some point you can manage to scrounge the time to read the first 3 books at least, they are a great series. If I was to make an analogy of comparison, the movie is like having a nice bowl of ice-cream, missing the chocolate syrup topping that makes it even better.
You've put into words what I felt watching the movie but couldn't explain what it was. This is exactly it! And I loved it!
@@knight_lautrec_of_carim I had the pleasure of watching the movie before reading the book. I liked the movie and so I then read the book. After reading the book, I was disappointed by the movie.
I have been a fan of Dune since the 1980s, and have never heard it explained as succinctly and as well as it is explained here. Well done.
Me a few years later. I actually found the book when 14 years old, thrown away by someone. Picked it up, had no idea what it was about, but desided to read it. :)
If you are really into Dune universe, Quinn’s Ideas channel is unsurpassed in his insight.
@@Wally-jo8mf his youtube channel is really good, nice to see him getting the recognition he deserves.
@@andrewgoudy676, Dune is the 12th Imam or Mahdi emerging as the leader of Islam in the desert. Told you in ten seconds. That saves time.
"DUNE," to quote the author "I am showing you the superhero syndrome and your own participation in it." - Frank Herbert, speaking about "DUNE."
@@andrewgoudy676, Dune is the 12th Imam or Mahdi emerging as the leader of Islam in the desert. Told you in ten seconds. That saves time.
"DUNE," to quote the author "I am showing you the superhero syndrome and your own participation in it." - Frank Herbert, speaking about "DUNE."
I'm praying Alt Shift X will make the companion video of Dune part 2 soon!
38:30 small correction:
Leto spots the worm first, there is a bounty on spotting worms that Leto therefore deserves. He gives that bouty to the workers.
Good PR
I really don't like how the video creator sounds skeptical about Leto's motivations. To paint all people's motivations that might be self-interested as possibly evil is too cynical. If you cannot recognize a good act you may not be able to act good yourself.
Leto acts to protect himself, his family, and those he is responsible for. He acts to bring more under his guidance by creating an alliance with the Fremen, creating a larger stronger group against a common enemy. He does not break loyalties but is careful of other's loyalties toward him and his family. I do not see the bad in this character even if a simple word as propaganda is used to smear him. Would he who uttered this word accept that he also uses propaganda, or is ok as long as you use his words against him.
Ponder the morality of moral relativism. Discuss the duties of a moral actor and what a moral actor ought to do. And If you make assumptions like no good act is not self serving, ask what then is immoral about a self serving act. If you believe that there are no moral acts, maybe it's just you.
@TN-gr1xh the book literally states that the Atreides have a propaganda corps to manipulate spice miners who were leaving into wanting to stay and work for them. They're noble in comparison to House Harkonnen or House Corrino but still not averse to realpolitik in order to achieve their aims. Remember when Leto instructs his inner circle to employ men who don't mind "a little knifework" when rooting out Harkonnens and their sympathisers?
@@TN-gr1xh Thank you for this. Somebody needed to say it and you put it beautifully.
@@TN-gr1xh You left out a key part from this list: "Leto acts to protect himself, his family, and those he is responsible for."; His status and the system that enforces it.
Are you truly a good person if the framework within which you do that good requires and perpetuates the extreme inequality, dehumanization, manipulation, and exploitation we see in the Duneiverse?
One small detail. Spice does not smell like cinnamon. Due to its psychological effects it smells different to every single person, but specifically of cinnamon to Dune's main character, Paul
Facts. Another detail is that Emperor Shaddam wasn’t just worried about Leto’s popularity with the other houses, but also because the Atreides military is considered just as dangerous as the Emperor’s…. Which, coupled with Leto’s rising popularity, would make House Atreides way too dangerous.
@@blaxpoitation8528 I thought Leto's interest in the fremen was that they were as dangerous or more so than the sardukar?
@@optimisticnihilist3417 True. But that is after the Emperors plot already put him onto Arrakis. The Atreides military, trained by two of the best fighters and military tacticians in the universe, is one of the most powerful before this plot and could rival any other House (or the Emperor himself). Only with the combined power of the Emperor and the Harkonnen could break them. Which leaves them both weakend and vulnurable to (avoiding spoilers) the second halve of the book.
So, as with many things in the book, things are much more layered and the actions of each characters are, from their perspective, very reasonable and logical. The Baron Harkonnen didn't put decades worth of income and a significant portion of his resources (not to mention the damage on the planet and the Spice production) just for vengeance. The book makes it very clear that he aims for the throne, if not for himself then for his nephew Feyd-Rautha, which doesn't exists (so far) in the movie. Just as the Emperor wanted to use the plot to put the Baron into his place, shown by the subplot where Count Hasimir Fenring visits the Baron on Giedi Prime. Which incluedes another character I highly doubt we will see in the movie. The Subplot alone could make a movie..
@@blaxpoitation8528 Also, Leto is related to the emperor which couod give him a claim to the throne.
@@YggdrasilAudio This is true, I’d almost forgotten that fact. I’m wondering how Christopher Walken’s portrayal of Shaddam will be. He’s definitely a charismatic actor. Personally, I’d pictured Mads Mikkelsen in that role. I think Walken might play him slightly unhinged..? Idk..
When you said "Leto is understanding, and says he loves Paul no matter what. It's a touching moment of unconditional love between father and son. But in the book, we don't see this kind of softness".
One of my favorite chapters in the book is where Duke Leto is going about his official duties, with a constant refrain in his thoughts of "They have tried to take the life of my son!"
That chapter very much told me that Duke Leto loved Paul immensely, but that's one of things that makes Dune so hard to convey in a movie - trying to convey what the characters are thinking, which happens a lot in the book.
So my guess is that the 2021 movie added action scenes that conveyed those sentiments in a way that they can be seen, of which I heartily approve. I've seen all the previous Dune attempts, which failed miserably because it's so hard to convey what the characters are thinking. I suppose it's a way to convey "literary license" into "dramatic license" or something.
The Dune novel isn't special in that it conveys the thoughts of it's characters though. Writing, in that regard, is far more immersive than film.
I liked that scene in the movie too. It does however undermine the spartan-stoic character of the atredies somewhat. That kind of militant self control is unpopular now days, so the choice for Leto to show his love in a very non-toxic-masciuline way is i think on some level a marketing choice for western audiences also.
@@thomasrowe3179 Of course. Normally though it is not a problem for the quality except that in the LotR spinoff : Rings of power series, it was a disaster to see the obvious wokeology implemented, with a black dwarf-wife and a masculine Galadriel.
@@KibyNykraft Oh shut it
@@edwinbrown7179 An expected grunt from your team
This was exactly the type of content I needed after watch Dune Part 1 and 2! Please please make another one for Part 2!
If they plan on being faithful to Paul's evolution over the course of the movies, it's probably a good move on their part to humanize him to the audience while they still can. 😅
😬
That is ominous af 😭
@@theextreem Well, he will undergo quite the reverse metamorphosis. If you want to know more, have a look at the plot of book two or three.
I wonder if, for political reasons, they will renamed "crusades" what Paul will do ?
@@shamon351 this sounds more like conservative angst than relevant to Dune in any way tbh.
The exact moment I fell in love with the film was at the spice harvester scene, where Paul kneels in the sand and whispers, "I recognize your footsteps, old man", and immediately gets snatched up by Gurney Halleck. So this is both a direct callback to the scene where Gurney berates Paul for standing with his back to the door and Paul says, "I could tell it was you by your footsteps", AND it directly refers to the sandworm that he feels coming through the vibrations in the sand (the "Old Man of the Desert"). That level of subtlety is present throughout the film, and even if a viewer doesn't know exactly what it means, it sets the tone so beautifully.
But I did miss the dinner scene and the full depth of Yueh's character. Those were two of the five very minor gripes I had with the entire film.
It’s also a nod to Paul’s prescience, that despite never having seen a worm before he greets it like he’s known it all his life. “He will know your ways as one born among you” and all that.
@@stoutyyyy Exactly! I just love that the point isn't belaboured at all, it's just a throwaway line, but it carries so much meaning.
The dual reference to the sandworm went past me, I was too busy thinking it was a setup for the next movie when Paul reunites with Gurney.
Yesss. That is such a good line!
@@AzaleaJane and it's NOT from the book! I don't know which of the screenwriters came up with it, but it shows a level of understanding of the book's themes that just stuns me.
this is what i love so dearly about the content you create. I had no interest, no knowledge, no exposure to dune at all. But after watching this video i feel so deeply interested in knowing more and i will genuinely look into reading the book myself. I always feel so much more informed whenever i watch these videos and they always help me paint a clearer picture in my mind about what i'm watching or reading. Thank you so much for putting the incredible time and effort into making this content!
Welcome to the dune world,
I too was unaware of the book until I saw the David Lynch move which I thought was great, and surprised by all of the complaints from the book readers.
So I then read the book and realised how much of an amazing piece of work it is and then understood why the the movie was so disliked.
I now have the unabridged version in audio book and it is a regular revisit for me several times a year.
…
Watching the new movie was quite an experience because I was pre-armed with the knowledge from the book, and this video is one of the few reviews I’ve seen that actually does both the book and the movie justice.
the entire series is awesome
i do not appreciate or respect how you had “ no interest, no exposure no knowledge “ of dune. this is an act of profound ignorance and should be treated with contempt. i am extremely disappointed, you once held so much promise but you chose to just throw it all away. I’m marking you down to an F-
Most amazing series. Read them as a youth and liked them. Reread them about ten years ago as an adult and was amazed how deep they were and how much I loved them.
After seeing this video, I realize how bad the last movie is. They just dumped all the the interesting parts, clearly they should have made a high quality tv serial (like GOT) instead of movies. In that sense, "Foundation" format is a better choice to tell the story as it was meant to be in the books.
Something i think is awesome is that the reverend mother actually admits in the book that she kept Paul in the box longer than she normally/ever does
A good description of Paul's power is how he sees Island or hill tops of possible futures but the valleys or the water is unknown details on the path to get to those futures. Thank you for your work.
doesnt that come from the book
@@PatricioGonzalezCabrerayeah lol, literally like straight from Paul’s description
Seems like he's seeing probability curves.
The constant quotes from the book could not have been easy to procure.
I've done this work. I have the utmost respect for this video. Truly a masterpiece of analysis.
You have earned a sub today.
Agreed
Also he adds quotes from interviews and comparisons from other movies and other versions of the same movie 🫡
Agreed. This criticism is a university-level treatise. I'm awestruck.
Try reading the books dead simple. They are on Kindle and pdfs etc. Not hard really.
Its really bad though half of what he is sayig wrong here
7:40 The spice doesn't just taste like cinnamon. Yueh responds to Jessica saying it does by saying it's "never twice the same." He then explains that some believe that the spice "produces a learned-flavor reaction. The body, learning a thing is good for it, interprets the flavor as pleasurable--slightly euphoric." Jessica just tasted cinnamon. (This happens at the end of chapter 8 of the first book.)
so fucking cool
he does point out the cinnamon smell of spice a couple times, tho
Yeah that's maybe the detail that pushes me over the edge to read the books. That's awesome.
Yeah, it's generally made quite clear in the books that spice is almost mystical, and isn't just some garden variety flavouring or drug.
@@equidistanthoneyjoy7600 It think LSD is described to have that quality.
20 mins in and realized the explanation video is almost as long as the movie lol. Great breakdown! Needed all of this.
I think the movie simplifies the story in a pretty fair way, which is necessary to translate the book the a new medium, however I do wish they had kept the dinner party scene. The Dune movie makes it feel like there's just a tiny colony on the planet, as opposed to different fractions and settlements.
The main problem with the dinner scene is that in the book the vast majority of the action is literally just the thoughts of Paul and Jessica, more so than almost any other scene. But I do wish the movie found a way to make Arrakis feel more populated.
@@onua2012sga Disagree. There's a lot of interaction with characters in the dinner party which really helps to flesh out the depth of the intrigue within the plot. That is, there are major players, minor players, wanna-be players, and has-beens, all jockeying for influence, sort of like real life (the Game of Thrones comparison was brilliantly funny). It's really fascinating how Frank Herbert dresses this critical scene with words and exposition. What a master of the craft.
@@spudeleven5124 the problem is, how do bring the book format and monolog thoughts to the movie format . Its had to present the intrigue in a conversation when its represented as a bunch of thoughts in the book
@@johnsamuel1999 That's where creative writing comes in. The thought monologues can be brought into conversations with other characters, but subtly, or just use voice-overs, but VERY sparingly. Narration would also help fill in the gaps (but DON'T overdo it as in the revised 1984 edition). Right now if you weren't familiar with the source material, the 2021 version of Dune would just appear be a lot of disconnected and oversimplified razzle-dazzle on a par with those dipstick superhero movies. This is why I keep arguing that Dune, being so complex and layered, can only be done well if it is presented in a long form with the story arcs taking months if not years to go through. "Game of Thrones in Space" is what the narrator of this outstanding critique called the book, and it's my fervent belief that it's a gross disservice to pack such a huge and sophisticated story into such an oversimplified move and in a two or three hour runtime. This is why I think the 2000 version came closest. They (SciFi) did a lot of work in Eastern Europe to save money, but it was still pretty obvious with the Translights, etc. that it was on a sound stage. THAT was compensated for by making it more like Shakespeare, including camera angles, use of colors, and of course Ian McNeice's couplets at the end of his scenes. All of these touches gave it a more theatrical presentation which in my opinion compensated mightily for the lack of locations. They told the story well and got a lot more of it on the screen than has been seen before or since.
Absolutely one of the best parts of the book. "...a man who'd climb on the shoulders of a drowning man is understandable, except when it happens in the drawing room -- or at the dinner table."
My absolute favorite change in the film is Jamis. Really caught me by surprise in the best way. Jamis was always just a random Fremen guy that he kills when I first read the books, and in the other adaptations. Felt like Paul was just by humoring the fremen's culture when he repeated 'Jamis was my friend'. Villanueve's version is brilliant, Paul probably had an entire lifetime of visions/alternate future where Jamis was his actual friend. Great addition, and heartbreaking when you think about it.
It's an interesting twist, but I feel it takes away from Herbert's original vision of Lady Jessica's education of Paul. She is very careful to keep him in balance and not have him turn into a bloodthirsty despot, and what she does after he wins the duel against Jamis most obviously shows that, while also highlighting how calculated she was. I think Villeneuve's depiction of her doesn't do her justice, especially what she does while Paul takes the Gom Jabbar test, breaking down into tears, which didn't seem to me to be very Bene Gesserit.
@@mihaitha Well she did defy the order by even having him, so if he failed that and was killed, her whole life was for nothing.
@@mihaitha while her crying wasn't really lore accurate it was necessary to show us that she does care about paul
@@crusader8102 true, but one can depict the suffering of a mom without her breaking down into tears, especially when that conflicts with the character. She was pretty much shown as a crap BG IMO.
@@mihaitha i'm reading the first book, and she's literally constantly on the edge of breaking down. I think 5 times so far there's been a description of her emotions overwhelming her bene gesserit training, only for her to refocus with a mantra. I feel like the movie was pretty spot on.
While it does lack some important moments (this is a rare case where i would be happy if they release an extended edition) i truly believe that the movie did an amazing job adapting this book.
The material is extremely complex and history has shown how hard it is to make a good adaptation.
I think the most important aspects is that the movie really understands the source material, there are so many adaptations out there that are effectively just the barest surface level version of what they're adapting but Dune despite what it cuts out *does* get to the heart of why the book is so effective
It's like lotr. The movie can't compete with the book, but it doesn't even have to. It's outstanding anyway.
True but unless they address this material in the next movie then the completed project will lack much of the critical information needed to make full sense of the story. It like when Lucas said that he deliberately cut a lot of galactic context from the OT because he was able to say that set-up was in the prequels (even of he never made them). Then when he did make the prequels he finally had to address things. Dune was good but even as a relative novice to the story I know a lot was cut out or pared down to a surface level. If they didn't address it in the first movie are they really going to in the second?
I think it did the adaptation extremely well. There are adaptations that are 100% accurate, there are adaptations that are barely accurate, and there adaptations that are faithful yet leave you wanting more inspiring you to read the source material. I feel this film falls into the later category and if this movie gets more people to read these wonderful books I will be beyond happy. I love this movie.
I don't think it's that hard to make a good adaptation when the source material is good. It's just that many writers and directors don't want to stay faithful to the books because for some stupid reason they seem to think that means all of the success of the movie/show goes to the book writer instead of them. So they change the story thinking if people like it, they like _their_ story, even though their story is just a poor revision of the original.
Just watched a bunch of dune videos in a row and this one easily stands out as the best. Great content man
1:07:30
"‘A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it.’" this is First Law of Mentat in the book
Most of the time, this law would work well, but in some cases it might be deadly and if your dead what's the use of "understanding the process" of your demise? That was Thufir's mistake. He got House Atreides destroyed by him obeying this law.
Kinda reminds me of : "He that breaks a thing
to find out what it is
has left the path of wisdom"
It's from Tolkien
@@Inquisitor6321I think this law it's just Frank Herbert inserting his ecological ideas. Also it's a critique of modern age science - that try to "stop" processes, divide them into atomic parts to study them.
@@tomaszklawy5514 OK. So it's just for ecological study and not a general philosophy.
57:12 calling a person who lives in the desert a "clod" is pretty amazing writing. a dirt clod is simply dust held together by a bit of moisture. he sees the slaves as just dust held together by the moisture in their bodies
I was hoping the movie would have mentioned that nobody not a Fremen had seen a crysknife before and lived, and Mapes only showed one to Jessica when they were alone. The Fremen were religious fanatics; fanaticism is a key component of many groups in Dune.
Yeah the part where a crysknife cannot be sheathed back without it drawing blood first is missing from the movie
Really appreciate the accreditation of the artwork in this video to the artists responsible for them. That's all too rare on the internet. Thank you.
I've always loved how the Atraides represented how a generally honorable and good group of people are forced by necessity to adapt to a morally corrupt and broken society, slowly compromising their values in the hopes of just surviving another day.
This is what I call today… the criminalization of America. Where the globalist have so invaded every part of society, that everything is gamed to the point where the only way to really win, is to lie, cheat, steal. The veneer is we are the good guys…but that in fact is the biggest lie. The real good guys don’t want to cheat, so they are always at a distinct disadvantage. The ones that won’t lie…they can never really win. That is where we are now really at. This war is actually being played out right now in real life. Dune…for REAL.
The "honour" and "good" of the Atrides was always for show. It was always a strong theme in the books the dangers of deities and political leader, and specially the combination of the two.
@@JVCA44 I saw a take on the written power dynamic of conquerors
(power from power's perspective) will always be ironic and disrespectfully half baked by consequence of the conqueror's heirs and kingdom.
C'mon Leto II where are ya
This is not the correct take. House Atreides uses empathy and understanding as a way to control people. House Harkonnen uses brutality and fear to control people.
@@1SSJA They are merely different forms of cruelty. There is no moral value to it. One is simply more honest and direct than the other. Tricking someone into being a slave is more cunning, more dishonest, than simply taking them captive. True empathy is when you release them. Atreides never does this, for anything other than their own gain, and preservation. They make concessions, not reforms, not contributions, concessions. They release power, to keep some. They do not release power because they feel that it belongs to others, that it is unfair, that it is cruel to keep it. The Harkonnens are debatably more moral. At least they do not lie. Is the dictator with an iron fist, who controls through open brutality, or the parliament of shills, cronyists, who campaign for votes, more sinister? It is not true that liberal democracies always turn into aristocracies. We simply have not had one.
Addendum: It can be empathetic if you have no hypocrisy. The man who believes he should be a slave in the same situation as the man that is a slave, is empathetic. Empathy is very related to hypocrisy.
Very, Very short Summary; Dune is a giant galactic war between several different drug dealers who all want control of the source.
This is the moment Paul Atreides became Paul Muad’dib Usul.
The Space Cartels
Don’t forget the part of the emperors son getting so blazed in planet Saudi Arabia that he turns into a immortal supersized worm
You forgot to add that it sucks and people walk around with snorkels up their noses but they don't care for their eyes.
@@jessesmans9791yeah yeah we get it you dont like the popular things
One bit of irony I’ve picked up through multiple readings of Dune is that Paul’s fight with Jamis really was the tipping point. In a way, the “human” act would have been for Paul to sacrifice himself to keep the jihad from happening, but it was the instinctive animalistic drive to survive that pushed him and ultimately the rest of the universe past the point of no return.
I feel like it shows that Paul makes a very human decision, to fight for himself and his mother. His attachment is what drives him to fight for survival, and vengeance, even if it leads to mistakes down the road. That’s what makes him human.
@@SplockyyI was more talking about the Bene-Gesserit definition of human, where to be human is to ignore ones primal urges and act logically without emotional interference. In a sense, the way the Bene-Gesserit define what it is to be human is in itself very un-human. They would have labeled Paul's actions as "animalistic," when in reality, it's a very human thing that he did.
Ah I see, that makes a lot more sense in that context.@@Ravelord_N_I_T_O
I thought the jihad was necessary in the end because mankind was vulnerable to stagnation and extinction otherwise. Paul fears unleashing the jihad but does so because it's part of the golden path?
@@horns___cvge___3644That was his justification in the end, yes. Ultimately it led to his survival, but damned 61 billion to die. Whether or not it was beneficial to all of humanity is still yet to be seen. I think Paul could see what good it would do, but as for me, I still can't see it.
0:01 “Deeuæûûne is a book…”
😂 I love the way he pronounces shit, I got into game of thrones bc of this goober
I read Dune when I was 15, because my Klingon-speaking genius friend said it was awesome. 25 years later I read it again and I was still in awe of the depth and detail of this world.
Really?
Klingon speaking friends, oh yes I remember
Ka'plah 🤷♂️
You mean your cha'DIch?
I read it at 14-15 because my big brother (over 4 years older) had bought and read it and said it was great
He had already got me addicted to SF a a few years before.
I really MUST make the time to read it again
Thanks for pointing out that Duke Atreides was not so morally pure in the book. The movie weakens the story a lot by expurgating this unseemly side of House Atreides which so accentuated Paul's accomplishments in the book.
I feel like they're going to include more of that in the second movie because they wanted to make it into a twist
personally i think it strengthens the turn Paul goes through from Dune to Messiah. The once honorable and righteous Atreides banner now being a symbol for untold destruction and death around the galaxy
Atreides was pretty spotless in the first half of the book. The only thing that is morally gray is Hawat's espionage and assassinations, but even then, the Atreides are continually described as having honor and genuineness. Paul, Jessica and Hawat are the only Atreides that seem overly manipulative and calculating, to the point of taking advantage of people and using their lives for their own purpose.
@@commanderkei9537 Leto frames a group of families on Arrakis, takes their property, and turns them out of their homes because they did not immediately bend to Atreides rule. Those people were not actually involved with the ones plotting against the Atreides. And Thufir laughs it off and praises it as something in line with what the Old Duke would have done. He later tells Paul to "exploit" (his words) the Fremen religion for the sake of their house. For all of Leto's problems with the demands of governance and his good personal qualities, it is the part of him loyal to House Atreides and his father that are presented negatively.
It's not that the Atreides are good in the first half. It's just that compared to the other houses and Paul's jihad, they weren't the worst.
@@commanderkei9537 I agree. While he recognizes the usefulness of loyal people and actively creates propaganda (as per the Duke, to communicate what his government is doing), he is still depicted as a generally good person. Towards his death, he wishes he didn't have all of this responsibility and he wish he could live a simple life with Jessica. He doesn't chase power, but does what he can to weild it efficiently. In the book , he says he wish he wasn't part of the "Faufreluches" - the class system of dune which upholds the feudal system
And yes, Paul, Jessica and Hawat are far more gray than good characters when compared to the Duke
I think you missed two significant differences.
1. The bonus leto doesn't give a random bonus to the people, but there is already a system in place where the person who spots the worm gets a bonus, since Leto spots it, he decides to distribute this bonus to the crew, making it very simbolic, and not just a monetary gift.
2. In the fight with Jamis, since Paul is used to fighting with a shield, the fremen see it as if Paul is playing with Jamis, making the fight more a show of force than it is shown in the movie.
Bonus McBonus
The fight with Jamis was more about Paul not having killed before than the shield style. Read it again.
@@Facetiously.Esoteric Not entirely true. That's how Jessica tries to spin in to the fremen but in the portions in Paul's head we see that, while that's part of it, he's mostly focusing on trying to override the bad habits from shield training.
Cmooooooon. Part 2. Part 2. Part 2
Easily the best review available of one of those 'can't-ever-be-filmed' epics. It not only looks at the differences between the film and the book but also analyses most aspects very credibly. I've been rereading this book for decades but this review brought out some aspects that I hadn't ever realised. What more can one ask for in a review? Well done!
I've lost track of the number of times I've read Dune since I first bought a copy at the Yongsan PX in Seoul in 1978. I still have that old copy. Battered, worn and yellowed, I'll never part with it. My only regret is not getting Frank Herbert to sign it. IIRC I couldn't find it so instead I had him autograph another novel, "The White Plague".
@@spudeleven5124 My first reading was when I was hitch-hiking up to Thurso in the far north of Scotland with an Irish girlfriend from college. There I was, in the front of various lorries... I couldn't put it down! The girlfriend didn't last but the book did!
I really liked that this review didn't overlook crucial small details, such as Lady Fenring's warning for Jessica in the arboretum. He also spent a lot more time on Yueh's motivations, which have always gotten short shrift in the adaptations (the closest was the 2000 Sci-Fi miniseries), whereas the feature films have totally ignored it as unimportant to the storyline but it was central to the plot.
@@spudeleven5124 Yes. Agreed.
@@spudeleven5124
This review mentioned Lady Fenring's warning, but it wasn't included in the movie, unfortunately.
one missed detail: in the book Paul and Jamis fight in the sietch, not in the desert
the Fremen wouldn't risk damaging a stillsuit and Jamis' water was immediately retrieved; plus Paul gets to decide whether he keeps Jamis' wife and is obliged to take care of his children
I figured he kept that part of the analysis out because the second movie will likely start with them arriving at the sietch and Villanueve could still choose to adapt that part of the story. Although with the amount of shit that happens at the sietch I wouldn't be surprised if it gets cut entirely.
They missed tons of points. One point I liked was where the conveyed the need to ''stutter-step'' through the desert , but at the end where we see them carrying Jamis' body back home they were all just walking like it's a trip to the craft truck.
Yes, my first thought was "No way the fremen would waste two stillsuits like that" then I saw that scene.
Honestly, I thought the whole confrontation with Jamis was the most under-done part of the entire movie. It just kind of happens immediately after they are discovered, without any of the buildup/explanation, or any of the weight (rightfully so) it is given in the book.
I didn't know that about Jamis wife and kids.
What happens to the kids later on in the story ? Having muadhib as ur step dad sounds big
I do truly love Kynes’s soliloquy in his death chapter. He does realize he is not going to survive, but makes his piece and stakes his claim as a “desert creature” and it makes his giving into his death a truly powerful moment to me.
Let me get this straight. You think that Dr. Kynes "makes his PIECE"? Do you not think it would have been better if he had made HIS PEACE?? Your post would make a lot more sense if that is what you meant. A powerful moment for you, but more powerful if you could spell properly.
OK. You made this a long time ago and this video is freaking great. I love how you are serious for a good bit and then have AWESOME snarky takes on things going just the right way, or better, more along the line of this person had this intricate plan created and as you can see here... that result was unwanted and terribly fucked up".
As to the oil bath of the Baron, there is a description of Giedi Prime somewhere that states that one of the qualities of the planet as it has been utterly industrialized and a it has a black oily look to it. Villeneuve fixed hard on that aspect of the Harkonens, what they wear, what their world looks like shows up in who they are. So his "healing" bath may very well be some oil based healing tank.
Love this, read Dune a lot as a kid and it’s awesome to see you cover it so coherently ❤️
Yoooo
You're possibly the last person I had expected to have read Dune, but perhaps I shouldn't be surprised as you followed his Game of Thrones vids too.
i love youre content man
aw hell nahhh! LIMC in the flesh?
Did you read all 6 novels by Frank Herbert? I've been told the last 3 by him are hard to follow and they aren't that important
Not only was Leto getting more and more popular, his armies were getting better and better under Guerney Halleck and Duncan Idaho - while the Sardaukar were getting softer
Kinda like Jared Leto nowadays.
Having both read the book and watched the movie, I can now say that this video finally made me understand what is actually happening
Lol
Have you played the video games?
@@yakoschelium5337 there are also video games?! Dude there is just too many Dune content 😅 so great but not enough time
@@fallendown8828 Highly recommend playing Dune 2000 and Emperor: Battle for Dune.
The Dune games are actually some of the first RTS games in the genre
there is just sooooooo muuuch Dune lore
We need a sequel to this video now that the next movie is out
The way you structure this video might be the most coherent and effective method of education and explanation i have ever had the good fortune of watching. You sir are a king among men. Keep kicking ass! cant wait to see the video about the second movie!
His Game of Thrones videos guided many of us thru that show for years. Brilliant explanation style!
I believe it’s a team, but yeah totally
right?? gonna watch alt shift x's video before seeing the movie 😝
i think what i learned early on in this video is that the newest dune adaptation does not seek to inform its audiences on the lore. it does not aim to give the backstory to every plot device and world fact there is in the series to its audience, but instead simply depict this world in the most beautiful and true way possible. in doing this, in rejecting the burden of expelling so much information, the film is able to create something truly beautiful and meditative. i fell in love with dune without knowing any of its backstory. it (the film) made me read its novel. that in itself is an accomplishment and the inquiry i have made on its philosophical, political and spiritual critiques have been ever rewarding. great film, great novel but insanely transcendent writing. gg
I think this where a lot of people get caught up in deciding whether or not this is a good movie, though i will say others are like my dad and are too caught up in the nostalga of the 1984 movie with Sir Partick Stewart, and I think this is where a lot of movie/series depictions fail sometimes. They either take too much time to create boring disposition to explain the afterthought of lore that ruins the cadence, or try to dumb it down and explain it quickly. Dune 2021 feels much more like a movie for the fans to capture the essence rather than to draw more people in.
@@vinnietorres1145That's exactly it! Dune fans will love it, but it probably won't make too many more fans..
I love the book. I loved the 1984 one. I loved the first one in this series. Then I *liked* the latest part. I agree with what you're saying but there are some massively glaring errors like totally skipping the guild. Without the guild it's unclear what the spice is even really for. There were also bits of really lazy story telling in the second part which annoyed me. But yeah I don't think they needed to go into every single detail to make a decent movie. It would be absolutely impossible in fact.
I love both movies. I think it gets to the heart of the themes that Frank Herbert was getting at. Themes of religious fanaticism, exploitation, how we interact with our planet and environment. I love the books and I love the lore but those things aren’t strictly necessary to express the themes the books are trying to explore
I HATE that they left out the phrase about giving water to the dead. I feel like that was such an important impact on the Fremen. A favorite book, thank you so much for the many historical sources for Herbert's epic works.
I think this might still happen at the beginning of part 2, unless they're cutting the mourning scene entirely, since it hadn't happened yet by the end of the first movie
I agree though, if it doesn't make an appearance I'd be surprised and more than a bit disappointed
If I would have to guess, I would say that the second movie will start with Jamis’ funeral
Thank you for your response.
i felt the same way!!!! one of my absolute favorite scenes was jamis' funeral in the book, but i'm hoping they do it in part 2
This happens during the "funeral" scene, not right after the combat. And yeah, it would be a mistake to remove it from the movie as it's one of the most important chapter in the book : Paul is accepted among the fremen because he gives his water and calls jamis a friend.
Man, this story is so well told, vizualized and structured. Thank you so much for making it easier to get into the series :)
I've always found the Yueh betrayal too "easy" whether it's in the book or the movie. So this guy is supposed to have endured a mental training like no other in order to prevent him from betraying his "master". Yet the first time in the book we meet a guy like that, it's him, and he betrays his master immediately... The reason ? His wife. If it's vital that these guys don't betray anyone, why are they allowed to have a family ?
maybe the reason he cannot straight up tell the Duke "yo they have my wife" is because hes not actually allowed to have a wife
She wasn't just kidnapped. You forget how horrible the Harkonnen are. In the book he's happy to learn his wife is dead. Because that is a fate better than being held by the Harks.
Basically Only the Harkonnen would ever be able to break that conditioning, no one else is brutal enough. As in no one else can even stomach the idea of what the Harkonnen do. They're also paedophiles, and raping young boys is considered a lesser crime compared to the other things they do.
I do agree! I thought in a similar way when I read it, twenty years ago.
@ShoeUnited The book states that any who have passed the conditioning are fit to care to the Emperor himself. That's very much implying that they cannot be corrupted or swayed.
It's an extension of the Hippocratic Oath. They must care for their patient to the best of their abilities. Betrayal is clearly not caring for the patient.
@ShoeUnited You wanna read what I said again. You think the emperor would allow people to care for him who would betray him?
36:36 Upon second reading you realize that the reason why Paul was able to properly wear a stilsuit without any help was that, Paul observed Stilgar's suit when they first meet him. It blew my mind when I read that part.
Sadly there are a healthy amount of little details like this that just don't get conveyed properly in the movie, even the older ones. One of my biggest gripes was how lightly they touched on the water scarcity and it's almost holy care for it on the planet, especially by the Fremen. They do make little attempts here and there, but they are shallow and I really didn't feel it carried the immense weight it should of.
Max Von Sydow was a much better Liet Kynes
@@lordlurk7968 "Even the older ones"? Why would we expect the movie that used sound weapons to be more accurate? And since Paul isn't with the Fremen yet in the first film, there has been very little room to show how important water is up to this point. Living in the palace, water is not an issue.
@@lordlurk7968 Hopefully Part Two will go much deeper into the ecology stuff and water scarcity, as Paul and Jessica learn from the Fremen. I agree with you that there was a disappointing lack of such emphasis in the first film.
Can we please get more Dune content? Love your videos man. Your voice, editing and explanation of lore, its all great. Always binged your vids during the GoT days lol
This
Nerd Cookies seems to be the Dune channel for regular lore content
Whoo
@@Snagprophet yeah I just discovered their channel recently! Good stuff.
Every time I'm re-exposed to the details of the first Dune book, I'm stunned by just how deep the rabbit hills go. It's like Frank Herbert's mind was practically spilling over with some of the craziest ideas and concepts so far ahead of his time. He understood reality to such beautiful extent. The story is like poison to the narratives of all creators who read it
I think Yueh's motivation go much deeper, yes it did it for his wife, but not to "save her life" but to end her suffering and to kill the Baron. I believe it's also important to note how sure EVERYONE is that the duke is dead already, just doesn't know it. Yueh "defeated" some of the greatest minds in the galaxy. He hid the truth from Jessica, Thufir Hawat, and almost killed the Baron. Of all the legendary characters that the attradies gathered, I think its underplayed that amoug those legends was Yueh, as great if not greater then the likes of Thurfir, Halleck, Idaho and even the Duke himself.
Yuen is able to fool the Atreides because of his supposed Suk conditioning. Not through Brilliance. He fooled the Baron through the Barons’s and Piter’s arrogance. With the Baron there was cunning. But with the Atreides it was being in concert with the Emperor, the Baron, and the Bene Gesserit. He wasn’t that Brilliant .
Agree. Yueh is underplayed but his character was a vehicle to advance an important part of the plot.
@@briangallagher787 I can totaly see that. Although, if all it took to break Suk conditioning was kidnapping someones wife...the conditioning is useless. I think Yueh's desire to kill the baron shouldn't be underplayed :D
Yueh's conditioning was subverted, thats the vehicle, imperial conditioning was supposed to be unbreakable so that they could be trusted to work on the Emperor and his family
@@goodlight4113 That just goes to show the ingenuity, tenacity, and vileness of the Baron.. To find a way to break such an "unbreakable" conditioning.. The Baron is rather underappreciated..
At 1:05:40 - I always appreciated the way the book handled the Kynes death scene. It was a way of feeding the reader an explanation of the worm/spice life-creation cycle, through the hallucinations of his father's speeches. This all becomes very relevant later on when explaining the water of life and also the ultimate threat Paul makes to destroy the cycle that produces the spice. Plus the irony of the planet's ecology killing the ecologist is fitting.
Every video you put out is so well made and you are so good at explaining these super complex stories. Thank you for your work, we all appreciate it!
That we do. Mans is a lore beast.
The quality and perfection level of this video is unheard of. I applaud you and thank you. This video alone is on the same level as the movie
58:00 I think the poison gas scene in the movie is in some ways better than in the book. Compared to simply a failed attempt at the Barons life that just scared him a bit, the movie makes it clear how incredible close this one went to success and how fucked up the Baron was afterwards. That bittersweet frustration of 'If only a little bit' is good I think.
It also makes sense that, in a world where assassination is so prevalent, weapons for such a task are extremely effective.
Good points well made👍
Wouldn’t the poison gas reach him on the ceiling?
@@Piensamalyacertaras Depends. Gasses don't need to be lighter than air. And gasses used in warfare were mostly heavier (so it would hit the enemy hiding in trenches) . And considering your potential enemy (the baron) is (mostly) on the ground, it would make sense in this situation also. Especially in high chambers like they seem to be common in the Dune universe - the gas would simply accumulate on the ceiling without much damage.
That - and the Baron *barely* got away, which seems the gas had already filled most of the chamber.
@@Piensamalyacertaras most poison gasses are heavier than air, so that they can sink into enemy trenches
27:50 One of my favourite, tiny, details in the movie is that listening to Jessica's cadence and watching her mouth carefully (as a bene gesserit would), she clearly was going to continue speaking, intending to say maker of death. Even though the movie doesn't include any internal monologue, it's clear that it absolutely is still happening,.
Nice catch.
I deeply love what you've done here mate ♥
The movie was fantastic, but I was saddened that running time couldn't allow a more complex exploration of ideas and politics.
The dinner scene was specifically one that I was hoping to see. It's fun to read, but I suppose characters like Buet and Tuek would only confuse audiences when they can't be payed off in a tight feature length format.
I hope you've encouraged some people to pick up the books! Well... Maybe just the first two.
Also the depth of Jessica’s powers is a bit underwhelming in the movie. In the book I was constantly in awe of her perception, so when Paul first starts to surpass his mothers intelligence he was surprised and so was the reader, I loved that moment, because his abilities are measured in comparison to hers, so you get a better understanding of how powerful he has become. In the movie she was not nearly as impressive.
@@carlaweitzel4442 Yup. Everything just felt a bit subdued in the film.
Maybe with the exception of the physical scale of the ships and buildings lol
People wanna see big worms. They don't care about character development.
- every producer
Wowee, it's the Kwisatz Haderach guys!
Dinner scene reminds me of the Bar in Star Wars. It shows characters in that greater world.
All the graphic novels are out. I’m hoping that means the next videos are on the way.
An very important aspect about Kynes is that he actually drowned.
His death is at the same time a revelation. For the spice blow actually let him fall into the pre spice mass that contains the water that the worms gather in their nymph phase. This explains where all the water went.
Think you're looking for the word, "revelation"
@@YaBoiYoda Yes, thank you. Fixed it.
The worms have a nymph phase? Care to go into more detail? Is it only the female worms that are nymphs or can the males be nymphs too?
@@eftheusempire there might be a translation error here on my site. How is the initial phase of a 3 stage live cycle of an insect defined (not accounting for egg phase)?
I mean the stage where ticks have their first meal.
I know! This part in the movie surprised me so much. Kynes was one of my favorites. I was waiting for how they would recreate this gnarly death. I was a bit disappointed.
Yueh implies that he is not doing it to protect his wife as he knows that she wont be saved but to kill the baron. He says to himself that who would imagine that wanting to kill the baron can actually bypass the conditioning. The baron incorrectly thinks that the conditioning is bypassed by Yueh's desire to save his wife and that is why he doesnt suspect the murder attempt. That is another topic that the book touches and is the misunderstood deepness of hatred. In the book Leito is accused of not understanding hatred, but the Baron didnt understand either.
Why is that relevant to this video?
@user-nz6dx2fj6h because the video says he does it to protect Wanna. As the previous poster says the Harkonnens are convinced Yueh is acting to protect a hostage, when in reality Yueh has already written the hostage off and is bent only on vengeance.
@@cazzah49But the video actually said that he didn’t do it to protect his wife, he was trying to find out if his wife was already dead as opposed to a slave, he did it for revenge. Essentially you guys are repeating what the video already said for some reason
@@nothingsacred8684 lmao I know right 😂 I hate how some viewers don't properly listen or watch video it's annoying
@@nothingsacred8684yes but the way he explained it seemed like he was still doing it for his wife. So I think they’re very much in the right. The video may have been misinformed or (left it out on purpose/unintentionally idk) so this cleared up a LOT.
SO glad to see you covering Dune! After GoT it's shaping up to be the next big cultural phenomenon, and unlike asoiaf this series feels more finished, even if it technically isn't
Don’t think it will reach GOT levels. Unless they throw in a whole load of gratuitous nudity, speed up & dumb down the plot. It’s too mature, complex and paced for that. Instead I think Villeneuve is going to give us a gorgeous piece of art that will stand the test of time amongst a more discerning audience. The first one was stunning, looking forward to seeing more.
i believe he covered it b4 but he appeared to have deleted it.
I don't think it will be like GOT because its a movie series. It it was a show, that would be different
No it really isn't shaping up to be the next big cultural phenomenon. I would say it's still very niche, even the movie didn't make that much money...
Dune the books are VERY finished, and that's why it stands a chance. Frank Herbert's novels are what matters, the ones written by others(I think his kids?) arent as well-connected.
This movie was one of my favorite book adaptations, and while it takes some liberties with the story to adapt to the movie format, I was impressed by how closely it resembles the book. Perhaps my favorite thing about the movie is that they don't feel the need to explain things, they show instead of telling. The only thing I really wish they would have changed is showing Jessica as a schemer, and much more manipulative - its weird having her be such a flat mother template character and she lacks a lot of depth as a result of being reduced to basic motherly tropes.
Yes, she was my only real hang-up with the movie as I saw her weak, wishy-washy, and not a good representative of a bene gesserit.
Yeah sanitizing the lore of any Islamic and Arab presence was so awesome. A story that is literally the Middle East of Frank Herbert's era but in space, being scrubbed clean of any traces of the cultures that informed the creation of the entire work. Factions that are coded as ancient Middle Eastern civilizations being molded into anachronistic forms to fit a space age fiction getting magically re-imagined as "western" with no problems, such as Atreides as a stand in for Iranian. Dune is literally the Middle East and all of its ancient and modern cultures, Islam and in the case of Fremen, the Bedouin Arabs. They throw all that out and you people swear up and down that it's now the best adaptation ever.
@@manawa3832 I feel like they barely touched on that, because we'll be seeing it more in part 2. The first half of the Book barely covers that aspect of it anyway. Also most of those more intricate details are in the other books aside from Dune.
@@manawa3832 I bet you'll really love the spice orgies later on.
@@futuza The screenwriters were confronted about the sanitization already. Their response was "all that arab and islamic stuff is just window dressing". Look it up. No they are not going to bring it back in pt 2. They deliberately did this because no one had any issues with it except a minority of Middle Eastern fans. They just cast black, white and Asian characters in an American race awareness trifecta and clapped their hands well done. Total erasure with a layer of wokeness for protection. I miss when Hollywood used to vilify us as dumb, ugly terrorists. Now we are too controversial for even caricature.
Absolutely love the justification for getting rid of AI / Thinking Machines in this Universe, and how this in of itself is an entire story you could write another 5 books about. I think I've just fallen in love with Dune
They already have written books about it. The prelude series deals with the Machine War and the origin of the Butlerian Jihad. It was more about the fact that the humans were at war with machines, the Jihad begins when the robot Erasmus throws Serena Butler's child, Manion, off a balcony killing him. This act starts the rebellion on the slave worlds against the machines. Serena Butler was a captive of Erasmus after capturing her ship, she was the fiancee of Xavier Harkonnen, ancestor of the Baron in the Dune series.
@@deathlytales5919 I really enjoyed those books.
There is a story within this story, about the "Butlerian Jihad," which was the war to defeat the A.I.s who had become a terrible danger to humans. Herbert was very thorough - it's the deepest future history ever created.
Dude has it wrong in this video. Thinking machines themselves enslaved humanity under a hive mind called Omnius. If you read all the way to the end of the narrative - the final books that the son wrote with Kevin Anderson based on Frank Herbert’s notes, Omnius comes back. It’s amazing and well worth the comparatively crappy writing style
Also the books by Isaac Asimov (yeah that guy) who is where the 3 laws of AI come from. There's like twenty books in the... 3 combined series I believe something like that. All great space-themed scifi that follows Dune like worlds but has a heavy thing with the advancement of AI and how it was also banned. Has other scifi things like clones as well.
Well done! I was so bummed that they completely skipped the dinner party as it sets the tone for pretty much everything.
I thought the movie was done reasonably well, it captured all the "feels" that the book carried.
I think you're right that this book is not filmable in a way us book nerds would like.
Agreed, it’s unfortunate but that’s what makes books so irreplaceable as media
Why do you look so old
I'm a new dune reader. a few weeks ago I finished the first book. I think the scenes I needed to see in the movie and didn't see, as well as the dinner scene was Paul's way of dealing with everything that was happening from his father's death to the moment they left the tent.
Yes - this was my favorite scene/chapter in the book. It also was very dialogue/look heavy, so it seemed like it could work in a movie.
I still wonder why they didnt film it as a deleted scene then put it into an extended edition? 🤔
I dont think i've ever got past 10 mins of this video, sleep every time, its my go to for bedtime, its great stuff
Ok lebronzo sooo were addicted to short form content
Let me jingle some keys for you, that should be more your type of content.
Yah he should of put a video of subway surfers in for you
I am super impressed with how you've condensed such dense lore into this video. Love it.
In the first Dune novels, mélange was always described with reference to cinnamon, which is why it's always been depicted as having that colour in the movies, games, etc, including the 2022 film. In God Emperor of Dune, Herbert then describes the spice as a 'radiant blue'. My guess is that he added that colour later to match the colour of the Eyes of Ibad, since then if the spice had a blue melanin, it might then match the eys. I've always preferred it being brown-orange to add to Dune's mystery rather than an odd bright blue.
Spice is brown. Water of life obtained by drowning small warm in water is blue.
Yeah, and the melange gas that the guild navigators float in is orange. I'll have to re-read that bit about blue, but that must be the only deviation as spice patch was also described as a dark patch of sand...sand being more yellow, I'd imagine orange/brown for the spice.
@@JustusScottJr The spice is blue - the "pre-spice mass" patches in the desert are described as looking like purplish-blue "bruises". (Bonus weird Dune colour fact: the sky on Arrakis is grey, and the sunsets are lime green!)
@@geraldvanlaar Not to Denis 😎
Blue eyes are caused by a lack of melanin. Not blue melanin.
The meteor over Calladan is likely a reference to Caesar, following his assassination there was said to be a comet over Rome for seven days (a number which is significant to Rome because of the seven hills/tribes/kings). Caesar used religious power quite a bit as Pontifex Maximus, which Octavian/Augustus similarly used which is no doubt part of the reason he pushed for the deification of Caesar using the comet as a sign of his ascension into Godhood. The name Augustus also connected to the Augery and the Aeneid was used to directly trace divine lineage through Aeneas from Venus in the Julii gens, as well as introduce religious prophecy of Augustus' rise to power.
Nice detail i didn't knew of. Thanks!
rome didn't have seven tribes though... it originally had three then it increased to 21 and finally it got up to 35
Please make one of the second movie !!!!
Dune is a masterpiece. The reason people thought it was an impossible movie to make is because the book is just so... all-encompassing. Herbert is almost Tolkien-esque in his worldbuilding, and the way he writes makes such complicated concepts accessible to dummies like me... it's a masterpiece.
Denis's approach to that impossible task was to give the impression that there is so much more to this world without necessarily explaining it all or changing the story... and honestly I don't think anyone could've done better.
I mean I left the theatre wanting way more Mentat too haha, but I also left very satisfied.
Tbh a true movie on Dune couldn't be made they just dumbed down the Atreides into space House Stark and removed so much of the moral conflict which makes the exploration of these charectars so fascinating. So people were kinda right this needed a series
Given the tools available in the 21st century Villeneuve's effort is a failure. The 1980s opus is structurally, visually and dramatically vastly superior.
@crinolynneendymion8755 Certainly, our opinions will probably differ given the fact that I'm a 90s baby and only watched the 1984 movie well after it released. I really enjoyed that version for the time it released, however, I could not disagree with you more about the new movie. 2021 Dune was so much better in my opinion. I was enraptured from start to finish. The focus on audio and atmosphere was done in a way that I've never experienced in any other film to date. Absolutely can't wait for the next installment.
While I like the book and have always been a fan, my biggest criticisms of the book are: 1) there's not a single spot or moment of humor in the entire series, and 2) there's next to no memorable dialgue ("Fear is the mind killer" is really the only quote the book boasts). I mean all of this as constructive criticism.
@@crinolynneendymion8755you’ve definitely oversimplified how hard it is to make a movie like dune even nowadays. Technology doesn’t just override every difficulty and I think Denis did a great job with the first movie
The only book I've read over fifteen times since I was a teenager, there is so much to unpack in the six Frank Herbert Dune books. I thought the recent movie did a pretty great job on many aspects of the first half of the book and was pretty faithful to a lot of details in the story
Is it a hard read? Will someone who doesn't read much be able to get into it? I wanna try Dune because I want to read the books first before I watch the movies so I can get my own interpretation on the story. If that makes sense.
The sad thing is most people stop after children of dune which hurts my heart. I've reread this series more times than I can count. After reading Dune I purchased everything Frank had ever written. What an adventure every story is.
@@visionsinister couldn't agree more, God emperor is tied with the first book as my favorite. Absolutely blew my mind
@@z.a.y.n-5053 Herbert's writing is simple and very effective. He doesn't use a lot of flowery language or spend dozens of pages describing something he gets to the point and dresses things as they are. It's well written and worth your time
@@visionsinister Sorry for your heartache, but I loved Dune so much I've read it at least a dozen times, appreciated Messiah without deep affection, and loathed Children for having so few points of continuity from the original that I felt surrounded by annoying boring strangers and bailed 1/5 of the way in rather than slog through the thousands of pages remaining in the "saga."
Dune is a spectacular novel, kids, one every human should read at least once -- and if you read only that book and skip its oppressive stack of sequels, you can all still grow up to be strong, smart, well-balanced individuals.
As some one who has read ALL of the books, including the continuation via prequels by Herbert's son, This is the best explanation of dune and it's intricacies that I have ever seen or heard. Bravo good sir. I am very impressed and grateful.
the continuation books sucks
@@RafaelCabreraAzrael Book sucks, books suck. Your obvious lack of literary skill puts your comment into the "I have no clue what Im talking about" category. Brian Herbert grew up with his father writing dune, his father left him the entire outline of the universe and the manuscript for the conclusion. And while Brian and Kevin Anderson did write the stories with their individual takes on the outline, it was Frank's design. The entire story will be told and stand in the same light as Asimov's foundation, amongst many other great scifi works, in spite of your attempt at being a critic. And for complete clarity, a critic is one who cannot write with such genius so he feels the need to tear it down when he sees it.
@@dood7203 I was aiming for schooling you. And I'll take the win - thanks
@@dood7203 Im 60 and been reading and rereading the books since I was a teenager. I have a better grasp on it than most people.
I decided to tough it out and for 3 days straight listened to all 21 hours of the dune audiobook… thank god videos like this exist. Great work!
“To yield and give way to our passions is the lowest slavery, even as to rule over them is the only liberty.”
- St. Justin Martyr
This quote is so pertinent to what humanity is in Dune. Despite his power, Harkonnen is a slave to all his urges.
@JeThoreau It's from the book The Ante-Nicene Fathers, a collection of book about the early christians.
That is also a definition of sin
Vulgarity, etc, etc, etc is always to illustrate the soullessness of low art versus the high ideals of high art, which is to guide humanity to it’s greatest virtue. It fits the baron is base because it illustrates this difference since he is a living example of the base, the low. It is also his undoing because he cannot imagine beyond his low self.
Calling it. After 15 years as a fan of Dune, this is the greatest summary I've ever seen about a story that I've long felt is unsummarizeable without doing the story violence. Bravo
I think the movie and the book complement each other very well. The book expands upon everything that is introduced in the movie, like the characters, factions, politics etc. And the movie spends more time letting things play out. Like in the book you turn the page and they've already travelled to Arrakis from Caladan, but in the movie they add a scene where they leave for Arrakis and it is one of the best scenes in the whole movie. It takes it's time letting you just exist in the world and feel what the characters are feeling, where the book is more interested in the strictly factual elements of the story and world.
It would've been absolutely impossible to literally adapt the book word for word into a visual form of storytelling, unless they tried to do it in the form of a longer show rather than movies. But even then it would've been next to impossible.
I also actually like that they are slightly different, it makes it actually fun to read the book. I remember when I tried to read the asoiaf books and got bored very early on as the scenes were pretty much identical to the show, which I had already seen.
And lastly while there are differences and stuff left out, it never feels like the movie is a betrayal of the source material. Denise Villeneuve is a lifelong fan of Dune and it definitely shows. Nothing happens in the movie that feels like a misrepresentation of Frank Herberts story. More than anything the movie just feels as epic as Dune deserves. Dune is to scifi what lotr is to fantasy and the movie adaptation of Dune is fittingly epic.
This is such a weird view point to me. The movie is great on its own as a separate entity from the book. And it does an amazing job of visualizing aspects of the book that seemed hard to capture. But its thematically completely different from the book. The book is about Jessica's drive for power via genetics. The movie makes Paul the main character instead and presents Jessica as a primarily a supporting mother. Which is still a good story. But its night and day from the book.
Idk if you ever revisited asoiaf... But the books and show diverge significantly pretty quickly. By the end of book 3 they're pretty much completely different stories, save for a handful of scenes that the show superficially lifts from the books without borrowing much of the context or intent. The books are really a fantastic read (but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who can't stand an unfinished series, as it's been over a decade since the last book and there's still no sign of the next book being finished any time soon, with supposedly one more still needed to conclude the series.)
Definitely recommend you revisit ASOIAF if you haven't already, the first season is very accurate to the book but it diverges radically, and even in book 1 there are whole extra battles. The Battle of the Whispering Wood is one of the coolest parts of the novel and totally absent from the show.
@@peterisawesomeplease Interesting, I had not considered that Jessica could be the main character instead of Paul. I read the book long before I watched the film and to me; Paul was always the main character, in both book and film: I cared more about his thoughts and feelings and reactions to things than I did his mother's story, tho I also enjoyed hers.
F. H.'s writing is complex and covers so many different view points and plot lines, so perhaps a reader's bias effects how the story is received and characterized. My bias is to take Paul as the main character, you see Jessica as the main character. Maybe Frank intended it that way. I love the complexity of his writing at any rate!
Cheers.
@@Rachel_Owens Yea they are clearly both important. And when I read the book as a teenager I thought Paul was the main character. But going back a year ago it was very different. Jessica has way more speaking and thinking lines in the book than Paul. She also is also constantly making choices that effect the plot. While Paul just kinda goes with the flow till the very end. Paul is more involved in the action scenes but thats about all that he has over Jessica. Obviously this changes in later books were Paul becomes a more central character and Jessica has a reduced role.
Will you explain Dune part 2? I liked this video a lot 👍🏾
This is the definitive video if you need the world of Dune explained. Alt X has done an amazing job with this explanation video. One of my UA-cam favorites
I do appreciate the obvious love and effort this movie shows Dune. However, I think the Syfi mini-series was closer to the source despite its many flaws.
Knowing that there were scenes shot for important book events like in the conservatory and the banquet, I hope it's not too much to hope for an eventual extended version release. Each time I watched the 2021 film the cut to Jessica walking down the hall shaken and crying after talking with Paul is just so out of place to me. There's literally nothing that happens prior to connect her to such a dramatic reaction. So I'm hoping it's just an unfortunate edit that will make more sense once the deleted scenes are restored. Great job on the video and in helping inspire others to read the series. I wish Dune could become part of the curriculum as Bradbury and Asimov were when I was a kid. But given the politicization of so much here in the US who knows if his themes could pass increasing parental scrutiny, regardless of their timeliness and relevance. Keep on doing what you're doing and we look forward to a part two in the near future!
I agree! I don't understand why they decided to make this book series a movie series when it would work so much better as a TV series. They wouldnt have to cut out nearly as much and can take the time to focus on each character and each sub plot so the themes come across. It's like turning A Song of Ice and Fire into a movie series instead! It just can't work! Theres far to much going on and every character matters and their decisions impact the plot. It's irritating they tried to make this a movie to begin with. Like why??
Yeah, that's a great example of quite a few things in the movie that I REEEALLY did not like compared to the book. Honestly, I still think the 80's version did a better job of FEELING like the book. Especially with David Lynch utilizing the inner monologue of the characters. This new version looks incredible, but really just seems a little OVER hyped up, and really still just feels like a Hollywood rendition of something. I dunno, didn't do it for me. Probably not going watch the second part. I just re-read the book instead.
@@WhitneyDahlinsyfy did make like a miniseries or attempted to anyway. The problem is television doesn't have the budget to make ir
Fwiw Mamoa has said he has seen a 4ish hour cut of the movie. So, fingers crossed.
@clueless4085 Denis has said he has no plans to make an extended cut. He said the theatrical version IS the director's cut. It'd have to be done by WB/Legendary without Denis' blessing. When Universal made the extended TV edit of the 1984 film without Lynch's approval he was so pissed he refused to be listed with the project and they had to use 'Alan Smithee' instead, which is a placeholder name used in Hollywood for crew or cast who don't want to be listed.
Production companies don't like to burn bridges with directors who make award winning films that make money in the box office, so it'd be extremely unlikely they'd go against Denis' wishes.. Also, fun fact: Rebecca Ferguson said that her favorite scene she did was when Jessica finds the hidden message in the garden - a scene which was cut from the film. End of the day, the actors don't get to decide, it's the director's choice since it's essentially their project.
So good to have you back. Your breakdowns are genius. The studios should pay you. 🙏
Need this for dune 2. When's it gonna happen?