2/11/2024 0 Comments Star wars scenery timelessGiger with his art and ideas for the vehicles and architecture of Dune. Left: Character sketches and designs by the French artist Jean Giraud aka Moebius for Jodorowsky’s Dune. They’ve turned instead to spirituality and religion which ultimately come together to create a stage and situation ready for Paul Atreides to prove his worth, and claim his rightful place. Years before the novel begins, people have overthrown and destroyed the ‘god of machine-logic’ in an event known as the Butlerian Jihad. There are no robots or computers, even though it is considered a space opera, which puts the focus squarely on people. Dune is a classic of what is known as ‘soft’ science fiction, and for a sci-fi epic technology is hardly present. It could just as well have been a fantasy epic, if you trade the sandworms and spice, for gold and dragons. Art by John Schoenherr for the illustrated edition of Dune, of which Frank Herbert said, “I can envision no more perfect visual representation of my Dune world than John Schoenherr’s careful and accurate illustrations.” And at the heart of them, all is the journey of a hero, Paul Atreides as he hurtles towards the fulfilment of more than one prophecy.Ĭome to think of it, Dune has all the necessary ingredients (including punch dialogues) for an epic intrigue-filled, action-packed Bollywood masala movie (pun intended) – but with depth and intelligence – sans item numbers, though there is love, temptation and seduction. Thus begins a multi-layered tale of adventure, politics, business, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, as factions of the Empire confront each other, including a secretive sisterhood, an organisation that controls all mercantile affairs of the empire and of course the feuding feudal Great Houses. But at its heart, Dune is the coming-of-age tale of a young boy Paul of House Atreides, whose father takes over the stewardship of Arrakis from Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, of House Harkonnen, in a devious ploy played out by Shaddam IV of House Corrino, and Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe. But Dune is key to the galaxy, perhaps the most important planet, because it is the sole source of ‘spice’, the mysterious melange created by Dune’s sandworms that bestows upon its user a longer lifespan and the ability to fold time and space, thus being a key to the navigators of the empire. A place where water is so precious that to shed a tear is a sacrifice and taboo. The titular Dune is Arrakis, a desert planet home to the Fremen, a fierce nomadic tribe, and more importantly, to mammoth sandworms the size of starships. Right: Frank Herbert, creator of the Dune universe. Left & Centre: Issues of the science fiction magazine Analog, in which Dune was first serialised. Dune meanwhile, can stand alone on its own merit, without being a snowclone (‘the Lord of the Rings of sci-fi’) or needing Star Wars to be a comparative yardstick. Star Wars was influenced by more than just Dune, from Flash Gordon, Akira Kurosawa and Star Trek, to Celtic folklore, Valerian comics, Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will and lots more. While it’s true that Dune did influence George Lucas – and thus Star Wars – with its tale of a desert planet, mystical powers, a quasi-religion, an evil intergalactic emperor and other elements, it would be unfair to both these classics to be compared thus. The ambition is to do the Star Wars movie I never saw. “Most of the main ideas of Star Wars are coming from Dune so it’s going to be a challenge to this. And a few weeks ago, he set the cat among the porgs when he remarked that his Dune movie will be ‘Star Wars for adults’. In a news that heartened many a Dune fan, Denis Villeneuve, the director of Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, was announced as having been signed on to direct a movie based on the book. Yet, it remains an ignored classic as far as seeping into the mainstream goes not having permeated into pop culture or geek parlance with catchphrases and references. Amongst the few books that have won both – the Hugo and the Nebula Awards – there is nary an SF fan who has not heard about it, if not read it. Considered one of the most influential science fiction stories of all time, Dune is widely regarded and often cited as the most sold SF book.
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