Here on Caladan, and we've ruled by air power and sea power.
On Arrakis, we need to cultivate desert power.
The battle over the planet Arrakis is just the beginning
of what makes the story of Dune an all time classic.
There is one thing that's consistent about the many adaptations of the beloved
novel, though some element of the story is always missing.
Which leads to the inevitable question Is Dune truly unadoptable?
He who controls the spice, controls the universe.
Before we dive too deeply into the spice, please be sure to like and subscribe
to Nerdstalgic in order to stay up to date with all we've got going on.
Frank Herbert, a journalist by trade, became obsessed
with the idea of desert ecology while visiting the Oregon Dunes.
He then spent five years researching and developing a story that would
ultimately be picked up by the science fiction magazine Analog in 1963.
He would serialize a three part story titled Dune World.
Herbert would run an additional five part series.
In 1965, These two serials would be collected,
rewritten and contextualized into one novel simply titled Dune.
The novel would be restructured to have three distinct sections.
Book one.
Dune Book two. Muad'dib and Book three.
The Prophet. Despite having a body of work ready to go.
Literally no one wanted to publish the collected Dune.
Herbert's agent received flight declines from over 20 publishers.
And finally, Chilton Books,
a company that published auto repair manuals, agreed to publish Dune.
A great man doesn't seek to lead.
He's called to it
and he answers.
The first attempt at bringing
the novel to life was by Alejandro Jodorowsky in the 1970s.
This version would have had set designs by H.R.
Giger and Visual designs by both Moebius and Chris Voss.
Thankfully, you can't keep a compelling story down for too long.
There have been three separate and distinct adaptations of Dune.
in 1984, David Lynch directed an adaptation of the novel
that was ultimately taken away from him by Mega-producer Dino
De Laurentiis Try looking into that place where you dare not look.
You'll find me there staring. Back at you.
You're my son.
In 2000, the sci fi channel produced
a miniseries titled Frank Herbert's Dune and a Sequel.
Frank Herbert's Children of Dune.
This incarnation attempted to embrace some of the more visually exciting elements
from Jodorowsky's failed incarnation, while still faithfully adapting the book
the budget on this project was not quite enough to enable a fully realized vision.
And finally, in 2021, Denis Villeneuve debuted what many
consider to be the definitive adaptation of Herbert's universe.
But here’s the catch?
Every version of this story has had to be compromised
or altered from the source material in order to make it to the screen.
The underlying thought exercise is Do these adaptations become their own living,
breathing entities, or do they exist as pale facsimiles of arguably
the greatest work the science fiction genre has ever produced?
There is no call.
We do not answer.
There is no faith that we betray.
For those who haven't read the novel,
Herbert's story follows an elite family of royals named
the atrocities who have been assigned
by the Galactic Emperor to take control of a planet named Arrakis,
where a sacred and valuable spice is produced.
The book series follows the waxing
and waning political machinations of the atrocities and their rivals.
The Harkonnen as they vie for control over the planet and its resources.
One of the most compelling elements
of the books is that Herbert's writing style is very interior focused.
You're constantly hearing people's thoughts and seeing how their motivations
and loyalties change and evolve based on the pressures of their situation.
Herbert as a writer, isn't very interested in showing the reader things.
He'll often set up these massive, sprawling battles with huge armies
and then just skip over describing all the fighting.
David Lynch's Dune attempted to reckon with both of these issues straight on.
Lynch definitely captured the scale
and scope of the implied battles and worldbuilding of the novel.
he uses voiceover to show us the inner workings of the various characters minds.
Your mileage may vary on just how successful this very literal approach is
I must not fear.
There is the mind killer On the other hand, the sci fi mini series didn't bother
with attempting to play out the interior lives of the characters at all.
This version strength is the ability to spend time with the characters
and really get to know them onscreen.
The downside is that, everything looks a bit cheap.
And here's where we get to both the biggest risk
and the smartest strategic bet
that Denis Villeneuve did with his version of the story.
He didn't even try to adapt it at all.
The test is simple.
Remove your hand from the box
and you die.
What’s in the box?
Pain.
Villeneuve's Dune is only an adaptation of the first part of the novel.
Book one.
Dune basically following Paul's journey to Arrakis, him learning about the planet,
the Harkonnen betrayal, and then Lady Jessica and Paul's journey
across the desert that eventually ends with them joining the Fremen.
Now, is this a satisfying ending to a movie?
No, not really. The story just stops.
But why is this?
Because the original plan
was going to be to shoot Dune and Dune 2 back to back dune.
One would adapt Book
one and Dune two would be an adaptation of the other two sections of the novel.
Muad'dib and the Prophet.
Then, if these two films were successful, Villeneuve would ever return
for a third film, which would have adapted the entirety of the second novel.
Dune Messiah.
However, despite initially being on board, Warner Brothers got cold feet.
They pulled out of the idea to make both Dunes at the same time
and would only give Villeneuve the budget for the first film.
The plan to move forward with only adapting the first section of Dune
was not only a risky financial decision, but also a risky, creative one.
There's not a lot of action that happens in the first part of Dune.
It's mostly just people marveling at how Paul is fulfilling various prophecies
and how he appears to be the hallowed Lisan al Gaib.
What are they shouting? Lisan al Gaib.
Voice from the outer world, expanding from his higher.
Villeneuve's Dune is a visual masterpiece.
It takes the groundwork in the novel and runs with it.
In some contexts it's an extremely faithful adaptation,
but it also makes some very judicious and diligent cuts.
One of the most important scenes in the book, a prolonged dinner scene
where Paul observes a lengthy party is not in the movie.
However, this is a pivotal sequence
that is a real learning moment for our young protagonist.
In the scene,
Paul realizes just how important it is to play the game of politics correctly.
A major running theme throughout all the novels.
None of that development and growth for Paul is in the finished film.
Additionally, the Villeneuve film chose not to include
two of the most pivotal characters from the novel Princess Irulan and Feyd-Rautha,
both in the novels.
Irulan opens every chapter with a quote.
We learn
that she will eventually marry Paul and she gives us glimpses into his future.
In the Lynch movie, she opens the film and appears at its climax.
A beginning is a very delicate time.
She's also all throughout the sci fi series.
However, she's nowhere to be seen in Villeneuve's Dune.
And honestly, this is probably the wisest choice they made in terms of structure.
The film's marketing and thematic core was heavily centered around
the relationship between Timothée Chalamet's Paul and Zendaya's Chani.
Almost positioning the film as a sweeping romance, despite Zendaya only appearing
in the finished film for 7 minutes,
including Irulan, would have muddied the narrative waters and distracted
from the emotional throughline, Feyd-Rautha, however, is a different story.
In many ways, Rautha is the doppelganger to Paul in the novels.
He's a member of the Harkonnen royal family.
The nephew of the evil Baron Harkonnen, in the Lynch film.
He's played by Sting. Who is the little one?
A pet, perhaps?
Will she deserve my special attention?
In that incarnation, there's a sprawling knife fight that climaxes with his death
In the sci fi channel series.
He's played by Matt Keeslar.
Too much less success.
You see, Atreides?
death for the poison.
It will stop your muscles and my knife will finish. You.
His absence
from Villeneuve's Dune is acutely felt throughout the runtime of the project.
However, because they're getting a sequel, probably the right play.
When is a gift, Not a gift.
Dune, as it is written, just can't be brought to the screen.
regardless of which adaptation of Dune is your favorite.
One thing about all of these adaptations can't be argued.
They're all deeply ambitious,
even to the point of their reach, exceeding their grasp.
Of the three
adaptations, Villeneuve's Dune stands head and shoulders above the others.
However, it also isn't a fair competition.
It had massive ambitions for the story on one hand.
But on the other, it's not even trying to adapt the whole book.
It's taking a massive risk that people would show up
and they'd get more than one bite at the apple.
Adapting Dune is impossible.
And therein lies the reason to attempt to adapt it precisely
because it is so difficult.
Only a true artist even attempts to reckon with Dune.
After all, fear is the mind killer.
And. Well, that's all we have for this episode.
Please don't forget to like, comment and subscribe for more videos just like this.