Sci-Fi Dune: Prophecy

[Kaleb]

So much content has dropped over the past 2 weeks that I almost forgot that this is premiering tomorrow night.

 

[blueharvest]

 

[Sithborg]

Hey, James McAvoy cameo in the first minutes....

A quick search, and yeah, this is pulling directly from the Great Schools of Dune trilogy. sigh...

 

[KaijuDude1992]

That was a really solid first episode and I definitely want to see what happens next. Travis Fimmel's character is already super interesting and pretty compelling IMO and I'm enjoying the worldbuilding.

Also, that ending completely caught me off guard.

 

[squeekness]

I'll watch Travis in anything. He's always been great.

 

[Sithborg]

I am torn on this show. There are elements I like. But there are clear elements I recognize from the Nu Dune books. Even though I haven't read the Butlerian Jihad trilogy in over 2 decades, nor even read the Great Schools trilogy. And while so far, I don't think reading the books is necessary, I am disliking that it feels like it is opening a temptation to go to those prequel books. Just to get a better understanding of the state of the universe.

Spoiler

First off, the reference to a prophecy of a holy judgement by a tyrant tickled me. Especially when it is a worm devouring the chapterhouse. Oh sweet girl. You are creating that Tyrant. And if you read Franks books, it ain't Paul.

As much as I wish the timeline was a bit further away from the Jihad, I do think I will enjoy the evolution of the Bene Gesserit goals. From influencing, to control, to eventually, full power with the Kwisatz Haderach. What I hate, is that it is clear that it is going to be a result of a random man that will have them pursue that power. Desmond Hart I think would have been interesting, but giving him weird **** powers is just... frankly something I should have expected from Brian and KJA.

I do enjoy the political maneuvering of the Imperium. I am liking the Corrinos. Baron Harkonnen is killing me trying to sell whale sperm. Of course we had to get an Atriedes, though as a swordmaster keeps them somewhat limited in the story. I hate how they say Richese, though. I always thought it was Ri-Cheese. Guess I could look up my appendix. I kind of want Ix and House Vernius to show up, I do love the tech Houses pushing the limits on machines.

The marriage was hilarous. Better than dwelling too much on the grossness. The kid on a stool. And the veil clearly not designed for such a ceremony. I found it kind of sweet when Ynez was trying to be nice to the kid. But then threatened to kill him after the machine toy.

I am curious about who I assume was a Fremen at the drug house.

I do love the costuming and set design, if they are not quite up to the movie's goalpoasts. And I love how they have visualized the Truthsense.

 

[Weather Witch]

Overall I really enjoyed that.

Spoiler

They set up the world and characters pretty well. Yes, it's obviously Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson's world, but I think that was clear from all previews and interviews. I'm reserving judgment on Desmond Hart's 'powers'. He's a credible threat for now, but we'll see where that ultimately goes. Edit: seen some people speculate he might be using Ixian tech to do this, which I think would be great. It makes sense with his quote about outlawing machines. Plus, I'm seeing people speculate that the original Desmond died because of the sandworm and this is a ghola we're seeing. To prep us for Dune Messiah.

Emily Watson, Mark Strong and Sarah-Sofie Boussnina made the biggest impression here, but performances were good across the board. Visuals are strong too. I do think the four young sisters probably could've been reduced to 2 or 3. Not sure if they'll get a chance to shine individually. Also still don't know how to pronounce Richese. I always thought it was Ri-chess-e, but different characters had different versions it seems.

Giving the Harkonnen a lot of hair was pretty funny.

 

[OrbOfConfusion]

I dug the premiere, but could've done without the card reading "10,148 years before the birth of Paul Atreides."

It wasn't cute when House of the Dragon did it, and it's not cute here.

 

[Weather Witch]

Also realizing there is a canonical reason why it's Machine Wars and not just Butlerian Jihad here.

Spoiler

They refer to Machine Wars plural because the show primarily deals with the Battle of Corrin, which was after the Butlerian Jihad. The end date for the Machine Wars given here is the Battle of Corrin too.

I dug the premiere, but could've done without the card reading "10,148 years before the birth of Paul Atreides."

It wasn't cute when House of the Dragon did it, and it's not cute here.

That was definitely a bit too on the nose, yes. You want to inform casual viewers, but you don't have to hit people over the head with it.

 

[Dr.]

That was definitely a bit too on the nose, yes. You want to inform casual viewers, but you don't have to hit people over the head with it.

Speaking as one of those casual viewers, I appreciated the clarification. I guess I was aware that this was a prequel series — about events that took place before Dune. But I didn’t know it was many centuries before.

 

[Weather Witch]

Speaking as one of those casual viewers, I appreciated the clarification. I guess I was aware that this was a prequel series — about events that took place before Dune. But I didn’t know it was many centuries before.

Fair! I just didn't love that it referenced Paul's birth specifically. Rather than an event from the movies or something.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I really enjoyed the premiere. Having only read the first book, I don’t know how closely this sticks to Frank’s original lore but I’m liking what we got here. Performances are great across the board, with Watson, Fimmel, Strong, Barden and Bossnina being standouts. I agree that we don’t need to focus on so many of the younger sisters; while it’s refreshing to see a mostly female cast in a sci-fi show, it was a little hard to keep them all straight or to care much about them when the other characters seemed much more interesting. But it’s only the first episode and perhaps their individual subplots will get more interesting.

Spoiler

One question I had was about Hart’s ability to psionically burn people alive. Is that something from the books or did they invent that for the show? Either way it was cool. Though I’m not sure he was the one who burned the sister alive. I don’t see how his power could reach that far. So my guess is, he has a mole in the Sisterhood.

 

[Sithborg]

I really enjoyed the premiere. Having only read the first book, I don’t know how closely this sticks to Frank’s original lore but I’m liking what we got here. Performances are great across the board, with Watson, Fimmel, Strong, Barden and Bossnina being standouts. I agree that we don’t need to focus on so many of the younger sisters; while it’s refreshing to see a mostly female cast in a sci-fi show, it was a little hard to keep them all straight or to care much about them when the other characters seemed much more interesting. But it’s only the first episode and perhaps their individual subplots will get more interesting.

Spoiler

One question I had was about Hart’s ability to psionically burn people alive. Is that something from the books or did they invent that for the show? Either way it was cool. Though I’m not sure he was the one who burned the sister alive. I don’t see how his power could reach that far. So my guess is, he has a mole in the Sisterhood.

Spoiler

Near as I can tell, Hart has new abilities. Caveat, I haven't read the Great School trilogy, which this series pulls directly from. Granted, in the great scheme of Dune, it isn't that far fetched. Though I'm not entirely sure that Kasha's death was a result of Hart killing the boy.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Spoiler

Near as I can tell, Hart has new abilities. Caveat, I haven't read the Great School trilogy, which this series pulls directly from. Granted, in the great scheme of Dune, it isn't that far fetched. Though I'm not entirely sure that Kasha's death was a result of Hart killing the boy.

Thanks; yeah I thought it was probably something invented for the show but it seems to fit pretty well in this universe.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Another thing that’s both a compliment and a criticism of this show. Setting it over 10,000 years before the main story of Dune gives them a lot of intriguing mysteries to play with and for those of us who only read the first book and/or saw the movies, it allows for a lot of speculation.

It’s kind of the opposite of how I felt about House of the Dragon (initially at least) because that show was only set a couple hundred years before GoT and all the machinations being put in place were to set up what would eventually happen in the original show, so I found very little intrigue there. I do feel the show got a lot more interesting in season 2 (since it involved more than just a bunch of unlikable people sitting around waiting for someone to die) as characters evolved more and we got some mysteries/prophecies around those characters rather than just “some day Jon and Dany will be born” or whatever. And it’s also true that Dune Prophecy involves the early set up for what we saw in Dune but it’s so far in the past that there is a lot they can play with here. And while the JJ Abrams “mystery box” format gets criticized, I do think it’s a very effective method of storytelling, provided it’s done well. Time will tell if it is here, but I thought this was a strong start.

That said… for a show set 10,000 years before Dune, why does the technology, clothing, architecture all look basically like it could be the same time? I’m sure there are a lot of little changes but if you told me this show was set 50 years before the movies, I would believe it. I know the Emporer’s planet looks wildly different but not because it looks like technology has evolved (or devolved). I understand wanting to keep the same aesthetic but it’s also hard to believe that two time periods set 10,000 years apart would look so similar. That’s probably my biggest criticism of the show.

 

[Weather Witch]

That said… for a show set 10,000 years before Dune, why does the technology, clothing, architecture all look basically like it could be the same time? I’m sure there are a lot of little changes but if you told me this show was set 50 years before the movies, I would believe it. I know the Emporer’s planet looks wildly different but not because it looks like technology has evolved (or devolved). I understand wanting to keep the same aesthetic but it’s also hard to believe that two time periods set 10,000 years apart would look so similar. That’s probably my biggest criticism of the show.

There is canonically an almost complete stagnation after the Butlerian Jihad. They stop using thinking machines, use tech they perfected for like 10,000 years, and then for the next 10,000 things are kinda same-y. Especially if you look outside of the richer circles. It's one of the things Paul really ends up changing, even unwittingly.

That said, do I think they could've shaken it up a bit more for this show? 1000%.

 

[Deck Rickard]

There is canonically an almost complete stagnation after the Butlerian Jihad. They stop using thinking machines, use tech they perfected for like 10,000 years, and then for the next 10,000 things are kinda same-y. Especially if you look outside of the richer circles. It's one of the things Paul really ends up changing, even unwittingly.

That said, do I think they could've shaken it up a bit more for this show? 1000%.

Ah yeah that’s a good point that I didn’t think about. Yeah, I suppose when you outlaw tech like that, it would stagnate things considerably. Though you would think that maybe some other, less important things like fashion for example, would still change dramatically over a long period of time.

 

[Weather Witch]

Ah yeah that’s a good point that I didn’t think about. Yeah, I suppose when you outlaw tech like that, it would stagnate things considerably. Though you would think that maybe some other, less important things like fashion for example, would still change dramatically over a long period of time.

Oh yeah, the Sisterhood definitely doesn't follow any fashion trends. Or maybe this is just a fashionable look for 10,000 years, lol. I do hope some of the culture, fashion etc. goes a bit wilder throughout this show. For episode 1 they probably wanted to keep it a bit more recognizable, but it'd be great to get more experimental stuff.

 

[Sithborg]

I respect that they seem to be pulling directly from the books. But, umm, considering the books that they are adhereing to, still hestitant.

 

[Enriquespy]

1/2 far into the first episode.

so far, I've got an industrial amount of exposition told in a lukewarm manner and still no idea what the show is about. Nor who to follow.

It's me, I'm the problem. I'm not used to the format.

 

[Sithborg]

Nah, I think that is an inherent problem with the set up. There is no real good guy to root for. Its GOT without the Starks. I mean, the Bene Gesserit did not become the "good guys" in the books till book 5 of 6. The one name that audience may be conditioned to recognize as a hero, doesn't get directly named plus, is shown to be the princess's **** boy. We will see how things go from here.

 

[Elayis]

I only made it about 20 minutes in before falling asleep, but what I did see was really bad. Lazy narration, scattershot storytelling, no coherent character dynamics, callbacks from the films but done worse. I'll probably give it another try, but this is exactly what I feared when the current showrunners were hired.

 

[blueharvest]

 

[Enriquespy]

One interesting thing happens (The drama with the dragon toy). And then it was made moot in an awful manner.
The thinking machines maybe coming back seemed like an interesting thing to explore, but it seems that will just be a minor side plot.

I'm not sure I'll see the second episode.

 

[Dr.]

I'm not the biggest Dune fan. But I was intrigued enough by the first episode. And since there are only six episodes, I'll probably stick with it.