I mentioned in #pubski I've been reading Dune for the first time, and it's easily one of my top-favorite books now. I'm inclined to go back and watch the 80's movie, and also the miniseries which I'm not familiar with. Is the miniseries any good? I've also been reading some Harlan Ellison short story collections which I really like. The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World collection is pretty great.
So... I thought Dune was ...okay. Dune Messiah I made it halfway through and went "wait, there's nothing happening here" and decided I was done with Frank Herbert. The original cut David Lynch Sting'n'Stewart soundtrack-by-Toto Dune is kinda cringe-worthy but not ghastly bad. It's kind of what a David Lynch sci fi film about Arabs with a soundrack by Toto would be. The "Director's Cut" is "directed" by Alan Smithee for good reason. It grinds on and on and on and on and on. Vast swaths of the story are provided by janky storyboards and voiceover. The miniseries is worse than the Alan Smithee "Director's Cut."
I would argue that Lynch's Dune was close enough to count. But then, I'm not obsessive about Dune. It's a paint-by-numbers jesus story set on Planet Arabia in which the evil white people steal the oil from the noble Wahabi. All the ornithopters and sandworms in the world don't change that. That there isn't a Dune fan alive who considers the movie good enough is a lot of why I tend to not get along with Dune fans.
Donald Kingsbury, in the fairly-forgettable novel The Moon Goddess And The Son, spent an easy ten pages railing on Dune and what bullshit it was. I'm not that bad, but to me, Dune takes what's interesting about TE Lawrence and wraps it in a ham-fisted sci fi tale. Everyone I've ever met who feels strongly about Lynch's Dune also feels that Herbert's Dune is God's Gift to Sci Fi and the minute you attempt any objective discussion someone's sizing you up for a stake and stacked firewood. And that is why there will never be a "good" adaptation of Dune - those who demand it have long since lost the horizon.
Your point about high expectations is a valid one. I think in objective discussion we can say that no novel is perfect. Dune has its flaws though I think 'ham-fisted' is a point of experience and perspective. Give me your particular set of experiences relating to the creation and production of media and I would probably think similar things about Dune. I'm still on the audience side of the curtain so I'm allowing myself to enjoy the smoke and mirrors and ignore the wire that's really making Peter Pan fly, full admission. And I think that in objective discussion we can say that Dune has had a pretty powerful impact on science fiction writing, writers and culture in general. (Pardon the quality of this link, it was the first I could find that had the full episode.) The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy had an episode that was a shot for shot of God Emperor of Dune, as one example. For that and tons of other influences, I think that Dune deserves better than Sting and fever dreams.
I first saw Lynch's Dune in theaters and I first read the book when I was ten. I'd had no media production experience whatsoever when I experienced it. The movie was cringe-worthy when I saw it; not even being nine was prophylactic against "for he is the quizat haderach!" But the book is no better. The basic bones of Dune are the basic bones of Le Morte d'Arthur; they match Campbellian monomyth as well as anything. I've never heard of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. That's okay. Most people have never heard of Dune. And not to twist the knife or anything, but those who have heard of it know the David Lynch version.
It must be Dune season then. I've been taking my time with it, so I'm about 2/3rds of the way through. The basic plot is known to me, but one of the wonders of this book is how it basically spells-out all the clues you need to know how the story proceeds with the opening epigraphs and such, yet still remains enthralling.
I agree! You're further along than me but I can almost tangibly feel some of the mysterious, foreshadowing going on. Really excited to see what happens. I'm also extremely surprised about how I don't think I know any spoilers for this book. It seems to have gone through generations without being spoiled like other series (like Star Wars and everybody knowing Vader is Luke's father) which I find pretty impressive.
I don't know if you COULD really spoil Dune. Individual plot points maybe but not the whole thing. There are simply too many things to cover. So excited to see the Dune wave sweeping hubski. Dune has been my favorite piece of fiction since high school and it holds up to time and rereads super well. Cheers! Enjoy it!
So. Fanboy in me wants to say 'EVERYTHING SPICE DUNE FLAVORED IS AMAZING!' Realistic fan wants to say 'The Frank Herbert books are good. The stuff written by his son and Kevin J. Anderson are okay. The movie is entertaining but not representative of the depth of the book, also lampoons some stuff that is in my mind philosophically important. (Herbert put a lot of work into the book for a reason. He wanted the whole thing to be able to be taken as a gestalt) I think when we are judging the whole series (Excluding canon debate) the important thing is to unfortunately judge each segment of the sandworm separately. The detailed breakdown is this. Dune as a standalone novel is pretty damn rad. As you already know the characters are unique (Even if their archtypes are not), the setting is rich and vibrant, and Herbert's dedication to evocative description makes the whole thing just a pleasure to read. I give copies of it to friends and family as holiday presents sometimes. The novels Frank Hebert wrote after Dune are not as focused and tend to get sort of lost in the weeds in some ways. They are worth a comprehensive read I think and I really enjoy them even if I tend to skip around bits when I reread. Overall they take a lot of the consequences of Dune through their 'natural' progression and unfortunately Herbert died before finishing it outright. If you enjoyed Dune, there is a high probability you will enjoy the later novels. The novels written by his son and Kevin J. Anderson are... Dune flavored pablum. They scratch the itch when the itch arises but I'd rather get the uncut, pure SPICE writing of FH himself. Some of it does read like fanfiction. If you are used to fanfiction, I think it's half decent. If you're not used to fanfiction, I'd leave it alone. I have watched clips of the movies and read enough about what was cut to have no interest in watching them or the miniseries. In my mind the thing has to to be tackled game of thrones style or pretty much not at all. This next movie attempt is a big gamble with a director who hopefully can translate decades of 'what if' into something both the fandom and mainstream can tolerate if not enjoy. Meant to post this hours ago, oops!