Dune: What could or should come next

If your a Dune fan then I'll assume that you've heard that Legendary Studios has bought the rights to making a television or movie adaptation of Frank Herberts original series. The Dune books started back in 1965 by it's creator Frank Herbert. He was able to complete six novels in the series before his death in 1986. Since then his son Brian Herbert along with Kevin Anderson have written books in the Dune universe. They have written prequels to the series and took a draft to Franks seventh Dune and wrote two books set after Franks last. I was reading on Tor.com a reread of the first Dune book. It got me thinking about a possible new movie.

The Re-read of Frank Herberts Dune

If you don't know there has already been a Dune movie. Back in 1984 David Lynch took on the task of bringing Dune to the silver screen. The result was, decent. It's weird at some points but the basic story was there. Another version was done as a television series for Sci-Fi channel that had the first move redone. The second and third novels were combined into one series. They both sucked. Now another attempt to bring the classic novels to into the visual medium of screen and television will be attempted. Here's my thing I think if they are going to make a new Dune series it should be animated maybe in the style of Aeon Flux. It's sufficiently weird enough.

David Lynchs Dune is what you get when you build a Science Fictional world with no interest in Science Fiction

I mentioned a similar thing back in the old blog about Michael Moorcocks Elric books. The thing about these long series with books numbering in the six to eight hundreds of pages is that a two and a half hour movie doesn't tell the story well. That was why when the Sci-Fi version was done it seemed like the right way to go. But it ended up sucking. If you do this as an animated series the chances of succeeding are higher. The Aeon Flux style is one that I believe would work well with the Dune material. If you've ever seen some of Jodorowsky's Dune you'll understand what I mean. In that movie even he says that someone should make Dune as an animation.

The book to movie thing has been tried many times and failed many, many times. If anyone really thinks that another live action Dune movie will be good I remind you how The Enders Game did. It sucked. It cost a lot of money and barely made any back. The concepts in Dune are not complex but there are so many that leaving out one or two can leave the rest of it as a jumbled mess. The way to sum up Dune on one hand is too say that it's a book about drugs, religion and politics. When it was published was around the time when counter culture and drugs were the things that people saw around them. Dune took the idea of what happens when people deal with the super drug. Imagine what happens a country get addicted to a super drug with the government being the only seller of the product.


If I were to try to explain Dune differently to you I would sum it up like this. It's what happens when superhumans take over the universe with ultra cocaine. That sums up the first three books honestly. The fourth book is about breaking the addiction and withdrawal. The fifth and six books get away from the drug idea but turn to, ultra sex. Yes, what happens when some women use the power of ultra sex to enslave humanity. Not kidding at all. It's weird but it's written so well that you can finish the book without rolling your eyes at what your reading. I'm simplifying them in a funny way but those are the things that happen in the Dune series. The last two Frank Herbert books has Amazonian pornstars destroying everything. At one point one these Amazonian pornstars has sex with a giant, mutant, wolf thing to see if she can enslave it with her ultra pussy powers even though she's a older lady. I'm telling you it's a little weird. If their going to do Dune than just do the first four books only. Dune could do great on Netflix, as an animated series. At least with book four the talking, giant worm, with a human face, who happens to be the ruler of humanity won't seem so weird. Not like the old man who, suddenly gets super speed like The Flash, only after he's been tortured, in the later books. Again, it's weird you see it reflected in the move.

I'm a huge fan of Dune but I know it's not for everyone. For most people reading the first book is more than enough. By the time you get to God Emperor of Dune some people don't want to read anymore. It's not complicated but you do have to trust Frank Herbert with his guiding you through this universe he's created. I enjoyed the original books and read the last two books by Brian and Kevin. Skip those books in my opinion. I'm not saying that Brian Herbert and Anderson are bad but they are very different from what Frank Herbert was doing. Some more traditional story ideas but from what I've heard it doesn't work. The series is still going on but for Hollywood to make this into a bigger franchise I think an animated series that deals with the themes that Dune does will make money. Like the spice, I believe that Dune can make the dollars flow. But when I hear that the screenwriter of Forrest Gump has been asked to write a screenplay for Dune I can't help but do a Picard facepalm. Hopefully he'll will read the original book, unlike everyone else whose tried to make Dune.



If you'd like to read more on Dune I suggest you check out the re-read on Tor.com. I enjoyed the re-read even though I haven't re-read the book myself just yet. There's also another article by Emily Asher-Perrin on Tor.com that's a good follow up about the David Lynch movie. If you've never read Frank Herberts Dune I strongly suggest you do so. It's only those books that transcends genres. It's not just a sci-fi book, it's a classic that fits in along Dracula, Frankenstein or The Three Musketeers. You should read it because its truly a great book. It's on iTunes and Amazon for $10 so consider it money well spent for a great book. I recommend reading just the first four novels. If you like those than going further into the universe will a fine experience. And yes, I will recommend seeing the 1984 movie if you have not seen it. Yes, Patrick Stewart is in it. And so is the singer Sting in all his near naked glory. Yes, it is a cult classic movie. And Yes, it's weird. There's even something called a Weirding module in it that makes you voice real. Not making that up. And there are multiple versions of it. Someone once made a complete version that was three hours long. It's not on YouTube anymore but if can find it you should watch it. But you can find Lynchs Dune  on YouTube.  Enjoy.

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