Paid Members Carbomb Posted September 18, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 18, 2020 Was inspired/influenced by, then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gmoney Posted September 18, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 18, 2020 I think that's quite an important distinction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted September 18, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 18, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Danger Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 As regards to him ripping off Dune it was more the desert planet settings, the prodigal space wizard protagonist and flabbery antagonist I was referring to. I suppose it’s just a mish mash of western/sci fi/fantasy tropes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted September 21, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 21, 2020 yeah, the prodigal wizard/chosen one thing is just Joseph Campbell monomyth stuff. More a case of Dune and Star Wars both pulling from the same points of reference than anything else. Flabbery antagonist may have more going for it - though the unused Jabba scene from A New Hope had him as just a big bloke in a fur coat, so it would be harder to draw that connection. Lucas apparently modelled Jabba's eventual design on Sydney Greenstreet, so he maybe owes more to Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon than to Dune. There is the Jodorowsky's Dune angle to consider, that a lot of the visual design of subsequent sci-fi films was influenced by Dune because so many people who went on to work on major sci-fi and fantasy movies were attached to that project, and there's some truth to that, but the more likely explanation is that two Americans writing in the same genre were likely pulling from similar frames of reference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted September 21, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 21, 2020 Something I found interesting when finally reading Dune the book was the lack of certain elements in the film, like (spoiler): The Harkonnen heart-plugs, which I would assume Lynch introduced to make the antagonists seem even more evil and twisted, as well as Baron Harkonnen deliberately cultivating that grotesque facial sore, when he was just a generic fat guy in the book (I don't remember if he had a levitating harness either, but I think he might have). Also the wyrding weapons - in the book, only Paul Atreides gets the power to kill with sound through his voice when he becomes Muad'dib; the guns are actually made part of the Emperor's motivation to move against Duke Atreides at the beginning of the film, and the Fremen use them later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ReturnOfTheMack Posted September 21, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 21, 2020 To reply to Carbomb. Â 1 hour ago, Carbomb said: Â TThe Baron is so fat he needs an anti grav belt just to be able to walk about, he can't fly like in the film. He also allows himself to be as ugly as possible in order to cultivate the appearance of grotesqueness. At first its made out to be just to intimidate, in spin offs/prequels its revealed he has a disease a Bene Gesserit deliberately infects him with while he rapes her, which is his way of getting back at her for demanding his sperm for their breeding program. Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted September 21, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 21, 2020 38 minutes ago, ReturnOfTheMack said: To reply to Carbomb. Â Â Ah, thanks for that! I'd re-read the book, but, truth be told, much as I like the world-building and the premise, I don't find the writing much cop. It became a bit of a slog towards the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ReturnOfTheMack Posted September 21, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 21, 2020 Yeah, his writing does improve in later books. But the prequels (and last 2 sequels) were done by his son and Kevin J Anderson, so are much more traditional action sci fi with hints of the Dune mythos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted September 21, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 21, 2020 2 hours ago, ReturnOfTheMack said: Yeah, his writing does improve in later books. But the prequels (and last 2 sequels) were done by his son and Kevin J Anderson, so are much more traditional action sci fi with hints of the Dune mythos. Ah, yes - I heard Brian Herbert had continued the series, although didn't know about Anderson. I've read his Jedi Academy series, which I rather enjoyed, so think I should put them on the list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted September 21, 2020 Awards Moderator Share Posted September 21, 2020 I tried reading Dune a year or two ago and couldn’t finish it. Got stuck about halfway through and never went back. My latest read was Stuart Turton’s new one, The Devil and the Dark Water. Cracking twisty turny detective mystery with (possibly) demonic elements set on a Dutch East India Company ship in the 1600s. If you enjoyed The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle you’ll like this as well - although I think this new one maybe has a slightly more satisfying ending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted September 22, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 22, 2020 I really struggled with Dune too, never finished it. I have friends who absolutely swear by it, but I couldn't get into it. I know that if I'd read it when I was a kid, I'd have got really into all the world building and lore and so on, but that stuff means less to me now if the writing isn't up to snuff, and there just wasn't enough there to keep me engaged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Some Guy Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 I do favour sci-fi as a genre over any other. I've got into the habit over the last few years of buying the Hugo Award short lists and where they lead me afterwards. I've never read Dune but am slogging through Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, so may carry on with the retro theme and give it a go. Currently reading The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley after enjoying her novel The Light Brigade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members waters44 Posted September 22, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 22, 2020 (edited) Any Audible users here? I’m tempted. I understand you get one book token a month - do you keep that book forever once you’ve used a token or is it only available for that one month? Edited September 22, 2020 by waters44 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted September 22, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 22, 2020 5 hours ago, Just Some Guy said: I do favour sci-fi as a genre over any other. I've got into the habit over the last few years of buying the Hugo Award short lists and where they lead me afterwards. I've never read Dune but am slogging through Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, so may carry on with the retro theme and give it a go. Currently reading The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley after enjoying her novel The Light Brigade. I started that and lost momentum. It's not bad, just dense. A bit of a slog. I'm sure I'll get back to it at some point, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.