Dune, Again
Last night, we got off on the subject of Dune. How we got there is a long story that isn't that interesting, so I'll just start with we were talking about Dune, and it turned out that, besides me, Jared was the only one who had seen the miniseries and read the books. Jared and I have a lot of common interests; he's the only other person at work that's an RPGer--although everyone games. So here's Jared "Dude, Dune,” which he thought was a great catchphrase. I corner Sam by calling her a heathen, and we decide the only solution is to go back to my apartment and watch the Children of Dune miniseries, which bizarrely Sam agrees to.
On first thought, Dune boiled down to its elements seems simple enough. It's like Shakespeare; it's about power and love, death and revenge, but when you try to fill in the details, it quickly becomes very deep and complex. Since we we're watching Children, instead of the original Dune miniseries, I had to do a quick recap. It went something like this:
Families rule the universe (no, I didn't mention CHOAM, which in one way simply is the families). There is one ruling family, then several major and minor houses. Paul, also known as Maud'dib, comes from a major house called Atreides. They are sent to the desert planet Arrakis, Dune, to rule, but then are pushed out of power and forced to flee into the desert, where they meet the planet’s wild natives, the Fremen, who have a culture based around spice...er...spice, it's a drug that can allow prescience and extends life, but in their desert, it’s everywhere, in the air they breathe, the food they eat, etc. Sam: Why not take a bunch, if it’s everywhere. (The first thing she liked was the spice-addicted eyes). And this spice combines with genetic elements within Paul, and his training to turn him into a messiah. Jared: Hmm, sacrilegious. Then he leads the Fremen against the emperor from the House Corrino, the other house featured in the miniseries heavily, and defeats him, then marries the emperor’s daughter, Irulan, to consolidate his claim to the throne, even though he still keeps the Fremen girl he loves, Chani, around, to the exclusion of Irulan--that’s important.
Great explanation, except that it left out a few major characters:
Alia-who we explained first because she opens the series, including all the weird stuff about being pre-born
Stilgar-who appears almost right after Alia.
The Quizarate and Korba-who appear with Stil
Duncan Idaho-who we explained when they move the scene to Salusa Secundus
Lady Jessica and Gurney Halleck-explained when they show them on Caladan
House Harkonnen-which had be explained when the Baron surfaced
Liet-Kynes-who had to be mentioned when they began discussing the ecological changes.
It also ignores a few major players:
The Spacing Guild
The Bene Gesserit
The Bene Tleilex
(Nevermind Ix)
And it only begins to touch on the vocabulary: Sardaukar, melange, sietch, naib, ghola, mentat, prana bindu, stillsuit, adab, Fedaykin, semuta, etc
And that doesn’t even touch upon the trap of prescience that Dune Messiah is about.
And best of all? We forgot to mention the worms!
We constantly had to explain little details through out the miniseries, until Sam declared it was like a soap opera. By which she meant, if someone watches a soap for the first time, untangling the families histories, in an understandable way, is quite a pain. Or, for the X-men fans, trying to tell an uninitiated person about the Summers Family, which I believe is impossible without a chart.
Ah well, I think she liked it, or at least thought the guy playing Leto was hot. We only watched the first four hours, so I guess it depends on whether or not she’ll watch the last two. I, on the other hand, have watched the series at least fifteen times, because it’s what I run as background when I’m gaming. Heh.
So here’s to Dune.
On first thought, Dune boiled down to its elements seems simple enough. It's like Shakespeare; it's about power and love, death and revenge, but when you try to fill in the details, it quickly becomes very deep and complex. Since we we're watching Children, instead of the original Dune miniseries, I had to do a quick recap. It went something like this:
Families rule the universe (no, I didn't mention CHOAM, which in one way simply is the families). There is one ruling family, then several major and minor houses. Paul, also known as Maud'dib, comes from a major house called Atreides. They are sent to the desert planet Arrakis, Dune, to rule, but then are pushed out of power and forced to flee into the desert, where they meet the planet’s wild natives, the Fremen, who have a culture based around spice...er...spice, it's a drug that can allow prescience and extends life, but in their desert, it’s everywhere, in the air they breathe, the food they eat, etc. Sam: Why not take a bunch, if it’s everywhere. (The first thing she liked was the spice-addicted eyes). And this spice combines with genetic elements within Paul, and his training to turn him into a messiah. Jared: Hmm, sacrilegious. Then he leads the Fremen against the emperor from the House Corrino, the other house featured in the miniseries heavily, and defeats him, then marries the emperor’s daughter, Irulan, to consolidate his claim to the throne, even though he still keeps the Fremen girl he loves, Chani, around, to the exclusion of Irulan--that’s important.
Great explanation, except that it left out a few major characters:
Alia-who we explained first because she opens the series, including all the weird stuff about being pre-born
Stilgar-who appears almost right after Alia.
The Quizarate and Korba-who appear with Stil
Duncan Idaho-who we explained when they move the scene to Salusa Secundus
Lady Jessica and Gurney Halleck-explained when they show them on Caladan
House Harkonnen-which had be explained when the Baron surfaced
Liet-Kynes-who had to be mentioned when they began discussing the ecological changes.
It also ignores a few major players:
The Spacing Guild
The Bene Gesserit
The Bene Tleilex
(Nevermind Ix)
And it only begins to touch on the vocabulary: Sardaukar, melange, sietch, naib, ghola, mentat, prana bindu, stillsuit, adab, Fedaykin, semuta, etc
And that doesn’t even touch upon the trap of prescience that Dune Messiah is about.
And best of all? We forgot to mention the worms!
We constantly had to explain little details through out the miniseries, until Sam declared it was like a soap opera. By which she meant, if someone watches a soap for the first time, untangling the families histories, in an understandable way, is quite a pain. Or, for the X-men fans, trying to tell an uninitiated person about the Summers Family, which I believe is impossible without a chart.
Ah well, I think she liked it, or at least thought the guy playing Leto was hot. We only watched the first four hours, so I guess it depends on whether or not she’ll watch the last two. I, on the other hand, have watched the series at least fifteen times, because it’s what I run as background when I’m gaming. Heh.
So here’s to Dune.