Dune Movie Spoiler: Uncovering the Mystery of Spice

[Jimmy Snyder]

This post is totally spoiler. Don't read it unless you have already seen it or read it or don't intend to do either, or don't care if I spoil it.

I watched the movie (the one with Sting as Feyd) and read the book (the one with Feyd as Feyd). The idea is that there is this planet, covered with deserts (hence the name Dune) which is the universe's only source of spice. Spice is valuable. The Emperor wants to destroy one of the noble families and does so by pretending to give them the spice planet as a fief only to take it back by force. Things go pretty much to plan except that the son of the destroyed noble family turns out to be a real ersatz hatrack (darn, I wasn't the first to think of that), a kind of messiah. He excapes the slaughter and organizes the indiginous population to not only take control of their own planet, but to destroy the spice crop and replace the planetary ecology that produces it with another. Water will flow and the desert will disappear.

There are worms 20 meters in diameter and 400 meters long. I figure the fish on this planet must be something else. I'm not sure how they find nourishment. Packs of them will travel for miles just to eat a single human. I think the expenditure in energy won't be replaced by the meal, not even if they eat me (To give you some idea, I need a running start to get into a compact car). In fact the whole worm, spice thing seems expendible in the story. However, the book is the first in a series of six, so I may find out more as I read on.

 

[mgb_phys]

The spice is a MacGuffin, it's needed to be a reason to fight for (metaphor for oil?).
The rest of the series are a story of the dangers of power, how to control what you created and then sacrificing yourself to make things ok in the end.

They get a bit turgid and I think I ran out about midway through book 3.

 

[BobG]

The spice is a MacGuffin, it's needed to be a reason to fight for (metaphor for oil?).
The rest of the series are a story of the dangers of power, how to control what you created and then sacrificing yourself to make things ok in the end.

They get a bit turgid and I think I ran out about midway through book 3.

Yes, I think each book gets worse and worse, as if the writer is sinking into some kind of serious drug addiction or psychosis. The first was good, the second readable, and I never made it through the third. (I'll probably get flamed for that opinion as this series is somehow considered a classic).

The first seems to be about a Middle East country finally turning the tables on Western imperialism.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

The spice is a MacGuffin.

Nice word. Thanks. I may not make it past book 3 either. I just started book 2. It took me several days of mulling it over whether I would or not.

 

[mgb_phys]

MacGuffin - Nice word.

I think Hitchcock invented the term. It's the arbitrary thing that is needed to move the plot along, like the "letters of transit" in Casablanca or the secret formula in a spy movie.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I actually just finished the first book today. I loved it all except the ending which all felt very rushed and the writer just wanted to tie things up. The whole attack part is built up for so long and it's over in a few pages. And the Baron is made up to be this huge force and he is killed quickly without much reader satisfaction.

 

[mgb_phys]

Wait until all those tough desert and battle hardened Fremen decide to take their revenge on all the softies living on all the other planets !

 

[drankin]

Yes, I think each book gets worse and worse, as if the writer is sinking into some kind of serious drug addiction or psychosis. The first was good, the second readable, and I never made it through the third. (I'll probably get flamed for that opinion as this series is somehow considered a classic).

The first seems to be about a Middle East country finally turning the tables on Western imperialism.

My sentiments exactly. The first book blew my mind, the rest just spiraled to bleh.

 

[Redbelly98]

I read the first 2 or 3 books back in the 80's, then a couple years ago read the entire 6. I enjoyed them. I think after the 3rd book Paul is out of the picture, but oddly Duncan stays around to the end.

The movie with Sting was awful. Much better was the Sci Fi Channel's mini series.