DarkWalker wrote:

NewbieZilla wrote: Books/movies or both? Movies and games never read any of the books though

I'll start on the games. The RTS games, I gotta say I enjoyed. Great games. Didn't get to play particularly much of them, but I liked what I saw.

The game that came to the Playstation 2, though was abysmal. Man, maybe it was good when it first came out or something, but I tried playing it in the last 5 or 6 months, and it is bad. If you've played it, we can talk about that game later.

The movies? There are the 3 of them. The 1984 movie which was good, but it added things (like rain on Arrakis which didn't happen) and then the miniseries.

I thought the miniseries were great (Dune being based on Dune, obviously, and Children of Dune is based on a culmination of Dune Messiah or Dune II in the saga and Children of Dune, or Dune III of VI.)

The miniseries do a great job. Far closer to the works from the books, though in a lot of things, the miniseries acts on the premise that "you know about this already" and, my having read the books first, leaves me wondering if people will think they understand everything but really are unable to connect a number of key dots, so to speak.

I would suggest reading the Dune Prequels, House Atreides, House Harkonnen and House Corrino first, and then read the first three of the originals.

If you can happen to find them in the library, they are books that are well worth reading.

The final three books, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune are great books also, and veer on a totally different direction.

I'd probably not recommend reading the books based on the Butlerian Jihad nearly as much as any other books in the series.

What exactly is dune?

shadow wrote:

What exactly is dune?

Oh, please............ U cant tell me u have no idea what dune is?

So what is it then?

One of the best sci fi universe's ever.
Dune is the nickname for the desert planet arrakis which is the only planet where something appears which is used for space travel (can't remember what it is though ) There are a couple of houses fighting over dune because the man who controls dune controls the universe (or someting like that) Theres the house Atradis(can't spell it) the house Harkonnen and in the games the house Ordos (dunno if their in the films or books).

"Dune" is the imperial name for the planet Arrakis, you got it pretty much entirely right there, oh and its Atreides.

Ordos are in the Dune Encyclopedia (not written by Frank, and so not to be considered Canon)

The Dune novels are based on Atreides obtaining the fief of Arrakis (a punishment, some might say getting this, or the greatest prize)

Its a desolate wasteland, inhabited by Fremen. It is prophesized that an off worlder would come to save the planet, becoming a leader.

Atreides has been at battle with the Harkonnen ever since their falling out at the time of the Battle against the Machines a long time before the Dune originals, and indeed the prequels atarted.

Atreides win the fief of Arrakis from the Harkonnen, which you find out about in the prequel books of House Atreides, House Harkonnen and House Corrino.

The planet Arrakis is the greatest prize because it is here, and only here that spice melange is found. A wonderdrug that expands life, consciousness, and has great medical properties. Its consumed in large doses by the aristocrats, or basically anyone who can afford it.

The books have a lot of depth to them. Think Lord of the Rings had depth? It doesn't touch off this.

Hey what are those weird weapons paul gives the fremen in the original film.
They make a sound like "char" when they fire in the games and in the film he uses it to make a rock explode when hes showing them what it is

There aren't really weapons like that in the books, the closest would be lasguns, really, but they aren't exactly what the movies would have you believe.

I'd really suggest reading the books, they are the best book series i've read.

aye i'll do that think i'v got at least one of the books knocking about somewhere. Can you tell me roughly how many books there are and what the first one is called

Of the originals, by Frank Herbert its called Dune.

I'd recommend starting there, or with the prequels House Atreides is good.

Any more info, i'll be happy to give you.

NewbieZilla wrote:

The books have a lot of depth to them. Think Lord of the Rings had depth? It doesn't toucb off this.

Seriously?! Lord of the rings has 6 appendixes simply on linguistic and cultural background! Whoa, thats one **** of a lot of depth

Dune has inspired a lot of fiction, most noticably The Matrix and Star Wars
Dune Universe
I'd not read all of that, for it has spoilers, but the time line, i'll post here...

Edit:Oh, I took what could be seen as a spoiler out of the quote, too.

Quote::

The Dune novels use a different calendar from that of present day Earth. Years are not counted before and after the birth of Christ, but before and after the formation of the Spacing Guild, measured as "Before Guild" and "After Guild" (BG and AG, respectively). Using the information given by the Dune books, it is possible to determine how the dating system used in the novels corresponds to our own. 1. Butlerian Jihad Butlerian Jihad lasts "two cruel generations" Dune, Appendix II / V 201 - 108 BG 2. The 200th century "Mankind's movement through deep space placed a unique stamp on religion during the one hundred and ten centuries that preceded the Butlerian Jihad. " Dune, Appendix II ~11,200 years Dune begins in 10,191 AG, so we simply add 10,191 to 11,200+201 together: 10,191 + 11,401 = 21,592 Thus, the year 10,191 AG corresponds to the year 21,391 AD. That is, of course, assuming that the Dune chronology actually uses Earth years. But Dune counts in Standard years: So there could be a maximum error of about 400 years (since we do not know when the Dune Universe started using the "Standard" year). This method also assumes that humankind began exploring "deep" space in the 20th century a decade after World War II.

I have to say on one note, after reading the dune novels as a child I was very excited at the prospect of the movie being made. When I heard one was in development I was expecting a masterpeice that was going to smash the back doors off what was the epic that was "STAR WARS" I went to an early premiere of Dune in the early 80`s.

They fucked it up in my opinion. The book was all but ignored on many aspects in my eyes, and as for the additions.......it just made for a complicated mess. I find this to be a common problem with Books converted to the silver screen.

Look at james patterson.....if anyone has ever read his Alex cross novels they will surely agree with me that Kiss the Girls was an absolute farce on the big screen, and should also have been made AFTER Along came a spider, Not before, as they conflict with each other, thereby taking away the opportunity to make any more films (which I suppose is a godsend in the end, but not the point if u like the story)

Steve Jackson did it with the LOTR trilogy. Admitedly, they in themselves very good films, and he has for the most part stayed close to the truth, but, and please correct me if i am wrong, Isnt Sauruman killed by the hobbits at the end of the Return of the King, and not by an arrow from Legolas?

I didnt watch the mini series of dune with william hurt in because of this, but, newbie if u can tell me, do they mirror the books, and if so do u reccomend them?

Ah, the 1984 movie... I think I can sum things up in that movie by how much of a blunder they made with rain on Arrakis.

As for the miniseries? They are far closer to the books, and i'd say they are a good watch, but i'd say they're good to watch after the movies.

They still have a lot of the problems of book to movie, and there is a lot of subtlety you just wouldn't understand without having read the books.

You say you have read the novels, though so you'd understand the nuances of the relationships between the characters, and what the movie is trying to tell you.

I have a firm thing in my recommendation "Books first, miniseries movies then, and if you really want to, look at the 1984 movie" just for the die hards, as a matter of interest to see how it was done then.

The books, well, I personally like reading them every year, not that i'd say anyone else should, but they definitely merit reading more than once, as the books have so much to them, that you get more out of them on your rereading of them.

The prequel books are great books in the setting (the house ones, and i'd really say they are well worth reading too) the Butlerian Jihad ones, well, worth reading, but not nearly as good as the other books in my opinion.

They have a lot of interesting things in them though, for instance about the Fremen, great insight into that, and thats probably the best factor about them.

The Bene Gesserit and their founding gets great coverage.

The starting of Mentats is ok, but its not as good as i'd have hoped.

I ve only seen the 1984 movie, thought it was ok but haven't watched it since it was the games that go me into dune.