Pick your favorite movie

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

Out of curiosity did you read the book first? I can't imagine anyone liking the movie as a standalone.

my point is that i don't think the book can be adapted without changing everything. I used to wish for a successful adaptation but then i realized we already have that in star wars.

[djjeffresh]

game of thrones is a demonstration of how a dune adaptation could work in the medium of tv. there are many similarities in the stories, the complexities and nuances of relationships, the emphasis on "magic," tough groups of people hardened by their geography and/or religious ideology, political maneuverings, fighting/sword fighting training scenes, family legacies/"houses". for some reason when i read the book i imagined it as an R-rated type tv show on HBO that would be animated.

[drizzle]

Out of curiosity did you read the book first? I can't imagine anyone liking the movie as a standalone.

my point is that i don't think the book can be adapted without changing everything. I used to wish for a successful adaptation but then i realized we already have that in star wars.

yes I did. if you can't imagine liking two related things for completely different reasons, that's on you.

as far as star wars, to me the similarities are mostly superficial. the plot elements you keep harping on are a series of tropes that existed long before either dune or star wars. prophesies of young messiahs that will one day conquer whatever are older than dirt. that's probably why the book makes references to characters being descendants of old greek heroes, Herbert was adapting elements form old mythologies into a space age. Star Wars did too, but in a much simpler and sugary 'disneyfied' kind of way.

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

It's the setting and asthetic. Desert planet, space empire, magic force. Although

the "i am your father" reveal kind of mirrors the reveal of paul's harkonnen pedigree, and it's pulled off way better.

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

game of thrones is a demonstration of how a dune adaptation could work in the medium of tv. there are many similarities in the stories, the complexities and nuances of relationships, the emphasis on "magic," tough groups of people hardened by their geography and/or religious ideology, political maneuverings, fighting/sword fighting training scenes, family legacies/"houses". for some reason when i read the book i imagined it as an R-rated type tv show on HBO that would be animated.

V.good point. When i was first getting into game of thrones i thought of dune, especially with the houses etc. Although the BBC miniseries didn't fully come off it had many redeeming qualities. HBO could probably pull it off.

[drizzle]

It's the setting and asthetic. Desert planet, space empire, magic force. Although

the "i am your father" reveal kind of mirrors the reveal of paul's harkonnen pedigree, and it's pulled off way better.

reaccchiinnnngggg ... there are numerous precedents of these elements in scifi/fantasy pulp that was written long before Dune. and again - a powerful warrior destined by prophecy to inherit some magical power and overthrow some evil thing/avenge his family is an ooooooooooooooold trope

As far as aethetic, how exactly is Star Wars' simple streamlined modernism a good adaptation of Dune's gothic/baroque futurism? Half the sets in Star Wars like 70s bachelor pads inspired by Space Odyssey 2001, pretty far cry from what Herbert has in mind.

but guess who's visual aesthetic Herbert did like tho

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5458417/new-evid ... on-of-dune" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

but guess who's visual aesthetic Herbert did like tho

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5458417/new-evid ... on-of-dune" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

-in order to make a good movie, they'd need to change everything.
-they would change it into starwars

(but like jeff says it could work as a tv series)


edt: conclusive proof:
http://www.moongadget.com/origins/dune.html

[drizzle]

edt: conclusive proof:
http://www.moongadget.com/origins/dune.html

The final version of Star Wars is related to Dune mostly in spirit: a science fiction heroic fantasy treated seriously. Of all the ideas George Lucas inherited from Frank Herbert, the subtle lesson was how to use science fiction to create myth. His lesser borrowings might include:

as far as star wars, to me the similarities are mostly superficial. the plot elements you keep harping on are a series of tropes that existed long before either dune or star wars. prophesies of young messiahs that will one day conquer whatever are older than dirt. that's probably why the book makes references to characters being descendants of old greek heroes, Herbert was adapting elements form old mythologies into a space age. Star Wars did too, but in a much simpler and sugary 'disneyfied' kind of way.

proof indeed

look you're clearly right about the two having similarity, and the link shows that Lucas may have lifted certain small details wholesale. But Lucas also lifted wholesale from Akira Kurosawa (among others), which doesn't exactly make SW a remake of Hidden Fortress. 'Loosely inspired by' is more fitting.

None of this makes Star Wars 'a successful adaptation of Dune'. If you remove all the elements that make Dune what it is, keeping only the broadest strokes of the plot and some similar character names or whatever, that's not Dune. Star Wars vastly simpler and more digestible narrative that borrows from a variety of sources, one which happens to be Dune.

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

jabba = baron harkonnen. that visceral disgust you feel with harkonnen's thoughts is better represented in film as a giant worm.

paul's twin kids = luke+leia (they even kiss)

anyway i won't belabour the point cause we've pretty much come to the same place. these are very similar stories, each better suited to its own medium.

[Cash Rulz]

Dune was hard as a movie, but ambitious for back then. Dune done now would be much more enjoyable.

[Hobus Maguire]

look you're clearly right about the two having similarity, and the link shows that Lucas may have lifted certain small details wholesale. But Lucas also lifted wholesale from Akira Kurosawa (among others)

I remember Jack [Kirby] confided in Frank [Zappa] that he felt like the stories he created helped shape the Star Wars saga, that he saw direct parallels between his characters and the movie’s story arcs.”

Of all rock stars in the world, Zappa, famously an outspoken champion of free speech and artist’s rights, was the ultimate sympathetic ear.

“He told my dad stuff like, ‘Darth Vader was Doctor Doom and the Force is the Source’ and that George Lucas ripped him off. Now this you may not know, and I was only a kid, but I remember learning at the dinner table that my dad was asked to write the music for Star Wars; he turned it down, he said he wasn’t interested. That would’ve been really strange, the lives of us Star Wars fans woulda taken a different turn and that whole score woulda sounded like Tatooine Cantina music.”

http://royalflushmagazine.com/news-even ... ets_kirby/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;