Dune, 50 years on

#1

Post by Tycho » Fri, Jul 03, 2015, 11:46 PM UTC

Re: Dune, 50 years on

#2

Post by brudgers » Sat, Jul 04, 2015, 4:22 AM UTC

Dune shared the 1965 Hugo for Best Novel with Roger Zelazny's This Immortal...which says something about how good Zelazny's work is despite its relative obscurity (compared with Dune).

Re: Dune, 50 years on

#3

Post by kepano » Sat, Jul 04, 2015, 4:26 AM UTC

Y'all have seen Jodorowsky's Dune, right? This documentary changed my life:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1935156/reference

Re: Dune, 50 years on

#4

Post by 100k » Sat, Jul 04, 2015, 4:40 AM UTC

brudgers wrote: post #2

Dune shared the 1965 Hugo for Best Novel with Roger Zelazny's This Immortal ...which says something about how good Zelazny's work is despite its relative obscurity (compared with Dune).

This Immortal is terrific. And Zelazany in general. Dune and Lord of Light (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_Light) are a few of the only SF books I re-read on a regular basis.

Re: Dune, 50 years on

#5

Post by camperman » Sat, Jul 04, 2015, 5:19 AM UTC

"If The Lord of the Rings is about the rise of fascism and the trauma of the second world war,"

Which it isn't, as Tolkien makes clear in the foreward.

Re: Dune, 50 years on

#6

Post by DyingAdonis » Sat, Jul 04, 2015, 5:35 AM UTC

kepano wrote: post #3

Y'all have seen Jodorowsky's Dune, right? This documentary changed my life: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1935156/reference

Thank the maker that movie never got made.

Re: Dune, 50 years on

#7

Post by revscat » Sat, Jul 04, 2015, 5:36 AM UTC

camperman wrote: post #5

"If The Lord of the Rings is about the rise of fascism and the trauma of the second world war," Which it isn't, as Tolkien makes clear in the foreward.

I'm not sure I agree with Tolkien on this front. Yes, I know: I'm disagreeing with an author's assessment of his own work.

But authors are necessarily a part of their environment. It is -- literally -- inescapable. The good Professor was directly involved in the first World War, and the second was at his doorstep. His aversion to modernity could have led to him simply denying a a conscious connection between those real world epics and those created by his own mind.

But the works themselves put doubt to his claim. If we take him only at his word, and stop there, then that is the end of it. But if we recognize the imperfect ways we self-assess, well...

Re: Dune, 50 years on

#8

Post by dejv » Sat, Jul 04, 2015, 5:37 AM UTC

Dune was first scifi book I read at age of 12 and reread couple of times. Other scifi of the era was all about spaceships, colonies and what so ever. I still love these classics from gold era of sci-fi, but Dune is different, it is still relevant and don't age at all.

It is all about "religion" fundamentalism, movement/revolution creation and philosophy. Really great book, highly recommend.

Re: Dune, 50 years on

#9

Post by rdtsc » Sat, Jul 04, 2015, 5:45 AM UTC

kepano wrote: post #3

Y'all have seen Jodorowsky's Dune, right? This documentary changed my life: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1935156/reference

I saw that movie, I thought it was very good.

Just curious, what did you like about it that it changed your life. Did you mean the how it was shot (i.e. impressed by director's work), Jodorowsky as a person, his story how he worked on Dune with other people (the complexity, dedication, the obsession), or Dune itself?

I found interesting how Dune influenced all these other blockbusters that came after, most importantly Star Wars. It was also fascinating how Jodorowsky never actually read Dune. EDIT: that is not correct as someone pointed out by Nemcue, I (and others apparently) misremembered. It was both the financier, Michel Seydoux and the illustrator Chris Foss who hadn't read it.

Or say, why anyone thought Jodorowsky, based on his previous track record of making surrealist films, would be a good candidate to make Dune. I just don't see the obvious connection from "Holly Mountain" to blockbuster "Sci Fi" for the masses. Now, of course in a funny twist, David Lynch, another surrealist author, actually made the American (Universal Studios) version, and it was terrible I thought.

Re: Dune, 50 years on

#10

Post by Pamar » Sat, Jul 04, 2015, 6:21 AM UTC

100k wrote: post #4

brudgers wrote: post #2

Dune shared the 1965 Hugo for Best Novel with Roger Zelazny's This Immortal ...which says something about how good Zelazny's work is despite its relative obscurity (compared with Dune).

This Immortal is terrific. And Zelazany in general. Dune and Lord of Light ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_Light ) are a few of the only SF books I re-read on a regular basis.

Seconded - Lord of Light is really awesome (and just as politically nuanced as Dune, but with better characters, IMO)