[Dune Thread] Gundam Idaho

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Skrill.exe: Oct 3, 2007; "Bitcoin is a new financial concept entirely without precedent."

ElGroucho posted:

Goons are obsessed with the gently caress-spider

Buddy, they won't even let the lovely Feyd-Rautha gently caress the gently caress-spider.

# ? Oct 27, 2021 03:49

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# ? May 31, 2024 00:40

priznat: Jul 7, 2009; Let's get drunk and kiss each other all night.

They�re planning on doing 80 (!) episodes of Foundation so they�re just barely warming up! And yeah Lee Pace, phwoar.

I think there is plenty room for adaptations of golden age sci fi books, now do Songs of Distant Earth next dammit!

# ? Oct 27, 2021 03:57

kalel: Jun 19, 2012

William Bear posted:

Speaking of the New York Times, Paul Krugman just used his column to positively review Dune (and contrast it to the lame Foundation TV show):

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/opinion/dune-movie-foundation-series.html

I'm not subscribed to nyt and I'm not planning on it so if you could c/p that entire article that would be great

# ? Oct 27, 2021 04:08

William Bear: Oct 26, 2012; "That's what they all say!"

kalel posted:

I'm not subscribed to nyt and I'm not planning on it so if you could c/p that entire article that would be great

Potential workarounds for the NYTimes paywall include incognito mode, entering a "reading mode" in your browser, or just cancelling the page's loading immediately after the text appears. Here's the article, though.

quote:

The blogger John Rogers once noted that there are two novels that can shape the lives of bookish 14-year-olds: “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Lord of the Rings.” One of these novels, he asserted, is a childish fantasy that can leave you emotionally stunted; the other involves orcs.

Well, I was a bookish 14-year-old, but my touchstones were two different novels: Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” and Frank Herbert’s “Dune.”

Many social scientists, it turns out, are science fiction readers. For example, quite a few experts on international relations who I know are fanatics about the TV version of “The Expanse.” I think it’s because good science fiction involves building imaginary worlds that are different from the world we know, but in interesting ways that relate to the attempt to understand why society is the way it is.

Anyway, that’s my excuse for devoting today’s newsletter not to the latest scary developments in politics and economics but to a much happier event: the U.S. release of a wonderful, satisfying film version of “Dune” — the first movie I’ve seen in a theater since the pandemic began.

Before I get there, however, a word about the new “Foundation” TV series, which is being released one episode a week on Apple TV.

The “Foundation” trilogy had a huge impact on my teenage self. For those who’ve never read it, it’s about social scientists who use their knowledge to save galactic civilization. I wanted to be Hari Seldon, the brilliant mathematician who leads the effort; this economics thing was as close as I could get.

“Foundation” might seem unfilmable. It mostly involves people talking, and its narrative inverts the hero-saves-the-universe theme that burns many acres of CGI every year. The story spans centuries; in each episode everything appears to be on the brink, and it seems as if only desperate efforts by the protagonists can save the day. But after each crisis, Seldon’s prerecorded hologram appears to explain to everyone what just happened and why the successful resolution was inevitable given the laws of history.

So how does the Apple TV series turn this into a visually compelling tale? It doesn’t. What it does instead is remake “Star Wars” under another name. There are indispensable heroes, mystical powers, even a Death Star. These aren’t necessarily bad things to include in a TV series, but they’re completely antithetical to the spirit of Asimov’s writing. Pretending that this series has anything to do with the “Foundation” novels is fraudulent marketing, and I’ve stopped watching.

Now on to “Dune.” The book is everything “Foundation” isn’t: There’s a glittering, hierarchical society wracked by intrigue and warfare, a young hero of noble birth who may be a prophesied Messiah, a sinister but alluring sisterhood of witches, fierce desert warriors and, of course, giant worms.

And yes, it’s fun. When I was a teenager, my friends and I would engage in mock combat in which the killing blow had to be delivered slowly to penetrate your opponent’s shield — which will make sense if you read the book or watch the movie.

What makes “Dune” more than an ordinary space opera are two things: its subtlety and the richness of its world-building.

Thus, the Bene Gesserit derive their power not from magic but from deep self-control, awareness and understanding of human psychology. The journey of Paul Atreides is heroic but morally ambiguous; he knows that if he succeeds, war and vast slaughter will follow.

And the world Herbert created is given depth by layers of cultural references. He borrowed from Islamic and Ayurvedic traditions, from European feudalism and more — “Dune” represents cultural appropriation on a, well, interstellar scale. It’s also deeply steeped in fairly serious ecological thinking.

So why was the 1984 film a disaster? Because the director — yes, David Lynch — either didn’t grasp the subtlety and richness or decided that audiences couldn’t handle it. That is, he did to “Dune” what Apple TV has done to “Foundation.” For example, in the book there’s the “weirding way of battle,” which is about using psychology and deception to overcome foes; in Lynch’s film this was replaced with some kind of gadget.

The great thing about Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part I” is that he respects the audience enough to retain the book’s spirit. He trimmed the narrative to reduce it to filmable size — and even so, his two and a half hours cover only the first half of the book — but he didn’t dumb it down. Instead, he relies on spectacle and spine-tingling action to hold our attention despite the density of the story. In so doing he made a film worthy of the source material.

I wouldn’t say that this “Dune” matches the vision I had when reading the book. It’s better. The visuals surpass my imagination — those ornithopters! The actors give the characters more depth than the book’s author previously had in my mind.

Will this labor of love sell to a mass audience (and allow Villeneuve to finish his story)? The early box office looks good, and this does seem like the kind of film people will see twice — I did — so sales may hold up longer than usual. But I guess we’ll find out.

In any case, all of us former bookish 14-year-olds finally have the “Dune” movie we always wanted to see. Sometimes, things actually do go right.

# ? Oct 27, 2021 04:12

Cosmik Slop: Oct 9, 2007; What's a hole doing in my TARDIS?

quote:

The blogger John Rogers once noted that there are two novels that can shape the lives of bookish 14-year-olds: �Atlas Shrugged� and �The Lord of the Rings.� One of these novels, he asserted, is a childish fantasy that can leave you emotionally stunted; the other involves orcs.

Well, I was a bookish 14-year-old, but my touchstones were two different novels: Isaac Asimov�s �Foundation� and Frank Herbert�s �Dune.�

It is an ironclad rule of NYT op-eds that you have to start with some random factoid that doesn't actually pertain to your topic in any way

# ? Oct 27, 2021 04:36

Jokerpilled Drudge: Jan 27, 2010; by Pragmatica

Jokerpilled Drudge fucked around with this message at 05:18 on Oct 27, 2021

# ? Oct 27, 2021 05:10

SniperWoreConverse: Mar 20, 2010; Gun Saliva

Groovelord Neato posted:

The GOAT worm design

https://twitter.com/SniperRathe/status/1452239162334236677?s=20

# ? Oct 27, 2021 05:18

1st_Panzer_Div.: May 11, 2005; Grimey Drawer

Groovelord Neato posted:

The GOAT worm design

https://twitter.com/SniperRathe/status/1452239162334236677?s=20

# ? Oct 27, 2021 05:21

SniperWoreConverse: Mar 20, 2010; Gun Saliva

Ingmar terdman posted:

I hope we get a little bts on the letterings. I dont know poo poo but they looked cool, sorta armenian or ge'ez

yeah you know it did look like ge'ez too, which would make sense for religious texts like the bible, i didn't think of that.

# ? Oct 27, 2021 05:44

SniperWoreConverse: Mar 20, 2010; Gun Saliva

someone pull some frames from the movie, iirc it's much more like ge'ez, way way more. There's at least 2 open books and the note yueh wrote (which seems much more vertical than horizontal i think). Dunno why I jumped on armenian

Jokerpilled Drudge posted:

how is the balsamic vingarette dressing supposed to help the baron recover from the poison attack

i absolutely maintain they're doing alchemy on him like it's anno 1019 instead of 10191.

SniperWoreConverse fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Oct 27, 2021

# ? Oct 27, 2021 05:51

Phlegmish: Jul 2, 2011

skasion posted:

Kull wahad, my name is Paul Muad’dib.

I’m a 16 year old Caladanan fedaykin (death commando for you offworlders). I speak canto and respondu in my Voice, and spend my days perfecting my water discipline and performing superior Fremen rituals (hajj, istislah, ichwan bedwine)

I train with my crysknife every day, this superior weapon can cut clean through plasteel because it is folded over a thousand worms, and is vastly superior to any other weapon in the imperium. I earned my ghanima two years ago, and I have been getting better every day.

I speak Fremen fluently, both Chakobsa and the Bhotani Jib dialect, and I write fluently as well. I know everything about Fremen planetology and their amtal rule, which I follow 100%

When I get my water of life, I am moving to Sietch Tabr to attend a prestigious spice orgy to learn more about their magnificent tau. I hope I can become a Lisan al-Gaib or a sandrider!

I own several stillsuits, which I wear around the erg. I want to get used to wearing them before I move to the palmaries, so I can fit my suit desert-fashion. I bow to my noble parents and retainers and speak Fremen as often as I can, but rarely does anyone manage to respond.

Lol

# ? Oct 27, 2021 08:56

Phlegmish: Jul 2, 2011

priznat posted:

How dumb or optimistic are hark goons anyway. Surely *I* will not be murdered for carrying out my duties like basically everyone before me!!

Surely something like that could never happen in real life

[reads about Stalin and the NKVD] oh, hrm,

# ? Oct 27, 2021 09:01

kntfkr: Feb 11, 2019; GOOSE FUCKER

ElGroucho posted:

Goons are obsessed with the gently caress-spider

https://www.adultswim.com/videos/your-pretty-face-is-going-to-hell/spider-ejaculate

# ? Oct 27, 2021 09:03

THE BAR: Oct 20, 2011; You know what might look better on your nose?

You'd think the BG would object to have their members turned into goofy spider dogs. Wasn't it walking around just behind GHM during her visit?

# ? Oct 27, 2021 09:27

Jokerpilled Drudge: Jan 27, 2010; by Pragmatica

THE BAR posted:

You'd think the BG would object to have their members turned into goofy spider dogs. Wasn't it walking around just behind GHM during her visit?

object? buddy, we can't fulfill requests to be latex enspidered fast enough. The fad has really caught on!

# ? Oct 27, 2021 09:30

THE BAR: Oct 20, 2011; You know what might look better on your nose?

I guess it's a lot more muscles and joints to practice their prana-bindu on.

# ? Oct 27, 2021 09:32

Phlegmish: Jul 2, 2011

The sole purpose of the Bene Gesserit is to get clowned on, and those are also the best parts of the books

e: the Tleilaxu were invented to make the BG still look competent by comparison

# ? Oct 27, 2021 09:36

MrL_JaKiri: Sep 23, 2003; A bracing glass of carrot juice!

Phlegmish posted:

The sole purpose of the Bene Gesserit is to get clowned on, and those are also the best parts of the books

e: the Tleilaxu were invented to make the BG still look competent by comparison

God created the Tleilaxu to repeatedly dunk on the faithful, I mean really show them up time after time

# ? Oct 27, 2021 11:05

BeanpolePeckerwood: May 4, 2004; I MAY LOOK LIKE SHIT BUT IM ALSO DUMB AS FUCK

sebmojo posted:

No, there's no evidence that's wanna.

Except it obeys the Reverend Mother's 'leave' command just like a little sister BG oughtta :smugbert:

# ? Oct 27, 2021 11:14

BeanpolePeckerwood: May 4, 2004; I MAY LOOK LIKE SHIT BUT IM ALSO DUMB AS FUCK

FBS posted:

https://twitter.com/Legendary/status/1453058884516466691

Bless the maker. Bless the comings and goings.

# ? Oct 27, 2021 11:16

BlankSystemDaemon: Mar 13, 2009

Wingnut Ninja posted:

I would love to have seen the water conservatory in particular. I get why they cut it since it's not critical, especially given the removal of the Fenrings and cutting back a lot of the build-up to the Harkonnen attack. But I'm sure it would have looked loving gorgeous in this movie, it's the perfect subject for some scenery porn. They seemed to give a little hint of it in the scene where Duncan finds the grow room in the ecological station, but that ended up not really being the same.

Yeah, it makes a lot of sense to have an experiment of water conservation in an ecological testing station, so I don't really mind too much.

Tree Bucket posted:

There's that bit with Jessica musing on her goon killers, and the goons sent to kill the goons, and the goons sent to kill the goons sent to kill the goons.

But who goons the goons?

Jokerpilled Drudge posted:

how is the balsamic vingarette dressing supposed to help the baron recover from the poison attack

Very carefully, OP.

# ? Oct 27, 2021 11:58

The Bloop: Jul 5, 2004; by Fluffdaddy

The tribe's water is stored in the balls

# ? Oct 27, 2021 13:03

StashAugustine: Mar 24, 2013; Do not trust in hope- it will betray you! Only faith and hatred sustain.

genuinely considering a Dune costume for a party this weekend but idk if I can diy one fast enough

# ? Oct 27, 2021 13:35

Jesus In A Can: Jul 2, 2007; From Concentrate

The Bloop posted:

The tribe's water is stored in the basins

# ? Oct 27, 2021 13:39

free hubcaps: Oct 12, 2009

priznat posted:

They�re planning on doing 80 (!) episodes of Foundation so they�re just barely warming up! And yeah Lee Pace, phwoar.

I think there is plenty room for adaptations of golden age sci fi books, now do Songs of Distant Earth next dammit!

not golden age, but I did hear just yesterday that Iain M. Banks' estate just signed new management. Consider Phlebas would be a loving amazing movie or miniseries

re: golden age, how about an adaptation of The Stars My Destination

# ? Oct 27, 2021 13:55

ilovebeersooomuch: May 23, 2014

StashAugustine posted:

genuinely considering a Dune costume for a party this weekend but idk if I can diy one fast enough

Baige sheet and a couple tubes - done

# ? Oct 27, 2021 14:26

ElGroucho: Nov 1, 2005; We already - What about sticking our middle fingers up... That was insane; Fun Shoe

Just get rid of the Foundation part, because they aren't good at it

Just film Lee Pace doing whatever, I'd rather watch that. Maybe he can just go in to random worksites and call the bosses names or something

# ? Oct 27, 2021 14:41

Vernii: Dec 7, 2006

priznat posted:

How dumb or optimistic are hark goons anyway. Surely *I* will not be murdered for carrying out my duties like basically everyone before me!!

Two ways to look at it are: 1. previous goon murders are classified or misdirected so future doomed henchmen either don't know about it or think the prior guys were fuckups who deserved it.

2. They know they're probably gonna get killed but disobeying orders or trying to run will make things worse so the only thing to do is shut up, do their job quietly, and hope that they were wrong or their boss is in a good mood / forgets to tie up loose ends

Vernii fucked around with this message at 15:13 on Oct 27, 2021

# ? Oct 27, 2021 15:11

skasion: Feb 13, 2012; Why don't you perform zazen, facing a wall?

Good soldiers follow orders, bad soldiers fed to spiders

# ? Oct 27, 2021 15:21

Cosmik Slop: Oct 9, 2007; What's a hole doing in my TARDIS?

BlankSystemDaemon posted:

But who goons the goons?

I dunno. Coast Guard?

# ? Oct 27, 2021 15:30

Lets Pickle: Jul 9, 2007

StashAugustine posted:

genuinely considering a Dune costume for a party this weekend but idk if I can diy one fast enough

Zip yourself up in a sleeping bag and have someone wheel you around in a wagon. Boom, God emperor.

# ? Oct 27, 2021 15:49

Grei Skuring: Sep 12, 2011

Gregg Turkington as Moneo, Tim Heidecker as Leto II. Make it happen, adultswim. I dare ya.

# ? Oct 27, 2021 15:56

Kaewan: May 29, 2008

I heard that in part 2 Peter Dune will be played by Chris Pratt and Ms Dune will be replaced with Scarlett Johansson in black face.

# ? Oct 27, 2021 16:00

Ingmar terdman: Jul 24, 2006

skasion posted:

Kull wahad, my name is Paul Muad�dib.

I�m a 16 year old Caladanan fedaykin (death commando for you offworlders). I speak canto and respondu in my Voice, and spend my days perfecting my water discipline and performing superior Fremen rituals (hajj, istislah, ichwan bedwine)

I train with my crysknife every day, this superior weapon can cut clean through plasteel because it is folded over a thousand worms, and is vastly superior to any other weapon in the imperium. I earned my ghanima two years ago, and I have been getting better every day.

I speak Fremen fluently, both Chakobsa and the Bhotani Jib dialect, and I write fluently as well. I know everything about Fremen planetology and their amtal rule, which I follow 100%

When I get my water of life, I am moving to Sietch Tabr to attend a prestigious spice orgy to learn more about their magnificent tau. I hope I can become a Lisan al-Gaib or a sandrider!

I own several stillsuits, which I wear around the erg. I want to get used to wearing them before I move to the palmaries, so I can fit my suit desert-fashion. I bow to my noble parents and retainers and speak Fremen as often as I can, but rarely does anyone manage to respond.

hell yeah

# ? Oct 27, 2021 16:40

ilovebeersooomuch: May 23, 2014

Lets Pickle posted:

Zip yourself up in a sleeping bag and have someone wheel you around in a wagon. Boom, God emperor.

lol

# ? Oct 27, 2021 17:46

priznat: Jul 7, 2009; Let's get drunk and kiss each other all night.

Cross postin

Stellan Skarsgard owns

https://www.slashfilm.com/643095/dune-star-stellan-skarsgard-kept-demanding-more-nude-scenes/

quote:

Skarsg�rd � who plays one of the big baddies in �Dune,� the abominable Baron�Vladimir Harkonnen � apparently had a lot to say on set about his terrifying take on the character. According to�makeup artist Donald Mowat, who was interviewed by The Wrap,�Skarsg�rd was practically begging for more nude scenes, which is only surprising because he was nude in most of the scenes that made it into the final cut of the film anyway.�Skarsg�rd is nude (although, with some very serious makeup on) all over this movie and I�m thrilled at the idea that he couldn�t get enough.

nuDe

# ? Oct 27, 2021 18:27

Ithle01: May 28, 2013

free hubcaps posted:

not golden age, but I did hear just yesterday that Iain M. Banks' estate just signed new management. Consider Phlebas would be a loving amazing movie or miniseries

re: golden age, how about an adaptation of The Stars My Destination

So... the Count of Monte Cristo? But with home-invasion rape? Okay sure, once we get rid of that then we have a book we might want to make into a movie (it really is a good book and the sci-fi elements are awesome, but holy poo poo talk about being a product of its time).

# ? Oct 27, 2021 18:41

skasion: Feb 13, 2012; Why don't you perform zazen, facing a wall?

Yeah, and next let�s make a movie about how Paul Atreides� fanatic legions conquering the universe was actually cool and good

Fun fact, the actual Count of Monte Cristo�s happy ending is he shacks up with his teenage slave who he owned since she was 11

skasion fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Oct 27, 2021

# ? Oct 27, 2021 18:46

StashAugustine: Mar 24, 2013; Do not trust in hope- it will betray you! Only faith and hatred sustain.

can't wait for the hubris of someone trying to adapt book of the new sun

# ? Oct 27, 2021 18:46

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# ? May 31, 2024 00:40

Ulf: Jul 15, 2001; FOUR COLORS
ONE LOVE; Nap Ghost

free hubcaps posted:

not golden age, but I did hear just yesterday that Iain M. Banks' estate just signed new management. Consider Phlebas would be a loving amazing movie or miniseries

Not looking forward to HBO's adaptation of The Wasp Factory. I guess GoT has lined them up for some of the plot details of Song of Stone tho

Those aren't his SF stories I guess. I don't think my mind can really wrap around the idea of a mass-market adaptation of any of his work, whether SF / Culture or not.

(plus all his stories are wrapped around a core of bleak human torture one way or another, they might have to adapt that out)

# ? Oct 27, 2021 18:55

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