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I read the series when I was like 13. I missed so much subtext.

Missing the subtext is often the best way of enjoying things. Once subtext has been seen, I can't be unseen and you may not be grateful for that.
 
I read Doon and Bored of the Rings, but I'd never heard of Sellamillion I'll have to find that.

It might be hard to find now. My cover looks like this:

1579686758851.png

But this is what you need to make it a collection...

1579687535166.png
 
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I read the series when I was like 13. I missed so much subtext.
It's quite complex, like LOTR or The Book of the New Sun. It can easily stand multiple re-readings and unless you have superhuman reading comprehension it will take multiple re-readings to pick up on the nuances. I first read it when I was maybe 14 or 15 and didn't understand the nuances either.
 
I have faith Herbert was going for something deeper that never got realized. I mean, this is the same guy who did the Juses incident quadrilogy just a few years earlier. The man's writing had depth.

I can't help but wonder if he'd intended one more book. On the other hand it might be like the first half of Fellowship of the Ring. The publisher might have wanted more about the BG.
 
It might be hard to find now. My cover looks like this:

View attachment 15088

But this is what you need to make it a collection...

View attachment 15090

The Sellamillion is written by the sf writer Adam Roberts under a pseudonym. His sf novels tend to be really good (he’s quite prolific): Yellow Blue Tibia is particular is one of the finest modern sf novels I’ve read.

He is also an academic and wrote an really good book on the Hobbit and Tolkien’s use of riddles to structure the novel called, shockingly, The Riddles of the Hobbit.
 
I think the world ia actually better for that film not having been made. There's no way it would have lived up the the legendary status that it's achieved, and it's disseminated influence on late 70s/early 80s sci fi cinema gave us great stuff like Flash Gordon, which probably would not have pilfered from a weird psychedelic italian indy film.
 
I think the world ia actually etter for that film not having been made. There's no way it would have lived up the the legendary status that's achieved, and it's disseminated influence on late 70s/early 80s sci fi cinema gave us great stuff like Flash Gordon, which probably would not have pilfered from a weird psychedelic italian indy film.
I agree. I saw the documentary a while back. It’s had an influence on cinema for sure, but the story itself dodged a bullet.
 
A few years ago I visited the public library in Florence, Oregon. They have a small room dedicated to a portion of Frank Herbert’s personal library gifted to the library by one of his daughters.

Frank Herbert Collection

the delightful old ladies gave me access, unlocked all the cabinets and allowed me to explore for over two hours. Here are a few pictures from that day.



 
I agree. I saw the documentary a while back. It’s had an influence on cinema for sure, but the story itself dodged a bullet.

Jodorwosky's script for Dune was supposedly used for his comic Metabarons, which is a great gonzo space opera but nothing like Dune.
 
I think the world ia actually better for that film not having been made. There's no way it would have lived up the the legendary status that it's achieved, and it's disseminated influence on late 70s/early 80s sci fi cinema gave us great stuff like Flash Gordon, which probably would not have pilfered from a weird psychedelic italian indy film.
You're also probably aware that Jodorowsky and Moebius put all that trippy inspirational sci-fi art from the DUNE project to good use later on, as it ended up being the mojo for their euro-graphic novel series The Incal and Metabarons :thumbsup:

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I've been to Florence twice in the last year or so and I didn't know about this. I love it down that way, so I expect I'll be back!
 
Jodorsky's Dune would have been insane. I'd watch it. The documentary was amazing. Even so, I doubt it would have succeeded in the market place.
 
You're also probably aware that Jodorowsky and Moebius put all that trippy inspirational sci-fi art from the DUNE project to good use later on, as it ended up being the mojo for their euro-graphic novel series The Incal and Metabarons :thumbsup:

Indeed. It's a series I've been meaning to get to for a while.
 
Jodorsky's Dune would have been insane. I'd watch it. The documentary was amazing. Even so, I doubt it would have succeeded in the market place.

Jodorowsky's El Topo and Holy Mountain were actually quite successful in the early 70s, they helped spawn the midnight movie phenomena, so if it had been made in the mid-70s it could have been a hit but it would have been more of a cult film. I doubt though it would have been the kind of film devout Herbert fans would have been happy with.
 
Fuck yeah, Dune. I read the books, of course. Good stuff except Duncan Idaho felt like the author's self-insert and I got pretty sick of his presence. I really liked the David Lynch flick, I must have watched that like 50 times in the 90's with an old gf of mine. Many a night after work/school we would get high and watch Dune. Plus, you know, occasionally dancing to mixes of this song while blasted on ecstasy at a club; it was endlessly remixed and played in the early 90's rave scene. Probably overplayed truth be told.

I'm cautiously optimistic about the film.
 
The issue is that Duncan Idaho is deliberately that great white hero. He's John Wayne and Clint Eastwood and James Bond all rolled into one. He's the square jawed, cleft chinned, guy that the Great Westley parodys in The Amazing Race.

He's a great fighter and a ladies man and largely unconsequential to the plot beyond your expectation of him being there. In the later books, he's a curiousity brought back from a lost age for his genetic potential who is slower and weaker than most in those times. In the ultimate end he's the super weapon against female sexuality.

If I had to cast this role I would pick Jason or Idris Elba... maybe Chris Hemsworth.
 
I think Chalamet, Brolin, Isaac, Bardem, Charlotte Rampling, Chen Chang are all top drawer choices for the cast. Zendaya I don't know that well but she was charming in the last Spiderman movie.
I think it's a lot of uninspired casting, myself. A bunch of safe, bankable hands, but very little in the way of wow factor. Dave Bautista as Beast Rabban? Abra Kadabra from The Flash as Piter DeVries?

Don't get me wrong, I want to be surprised and impressed by the movie. But we're talking about a book that details one planetary ecology in great detail, but paints the picture of the rest of the galaxy in only the broadest strokes. And only for the the political, highest levels of society. A good chunk of the book is internal monologues and events told to characters that never actually took part in them.

In other words, it's a challenge to adapt.

Visual design can help, but if the script isn't there, the rest diesnt matter.
 
Which is why I believe Idaho is being played by Jason Momoa.

My wife is completely non sci-fi and rpg. Doesn't game. Hasn't read Dune. I said to her: "Pretend you are casting a movie and you need a character who is a ladies man and fighter." Jason was on her list. Also Ryan Gosling but she said she doesn't find him attractive personally.
 
Fuck yeah, Dune. I read the books, of course. Good stuff except Duncan Idaho felt like the author's self-insert and I got pretty sick of his presence. I really liked the David Lynch flick, I must have watched that like 50 times in the 90's with an old gf of mine. Many a night after work/school we would get high and watch Dune. Plus, you know, occasionally dancing to mixes of this song while blasted on ecstasy at a club; it was endlessly remixed and played in the early 90's rave scene. Probably overplayed truth be told.

I'm cautiously optimistic about the film.
I'll see your Dune track and raise you a Robocop.
 
The Sellamillion is written by the sf writer Adam Roberts under a pseudonym. His sf novels tend to be really good (he’s quite prolific): Yellow Blue Tibia is particular is one of the finest modern sf novels I’ve read.

He is also an academic and wrote an really good book on the Hobbit and Tolkien’s use of riddles to structure the novel called, shockingly, The Riddles of the Hobbit.
Does he go into how The Hobbit is an inversion of Beowulf?
 
Chalumet - Could they get a wussier looking dude?
Momoa - Why isn't he Stilgar?
Bardem - Oh, that's why.
Bautista - Ok, that's a perfect Beast Rabban
Skarsgard - He can be very dark and menacing.
Oscar Isaac - Doesn't have the gravitas for Duke Leto, he should be Duncan Idaho.
Josh Brolin - Good as Halleck, should be him or Bardem as Leto.

No Feyd Rautha?
 
More like Momoa is the right combination of cheap, easy to work with and recognisable?
No because it pulls in that extra demographic that is not enthralled with the source material. AKA, other people other than nerds are expected to pay money to watch this. My wife is a prime example. While she may be interested in it, as she is a closeted nerd. Her only experience withe the source material is watching the Lynch film. On the other hand their is only one reason why she has watched a Conan, and any DC supers movies.
 
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