This is something of a spoiler, so don't read it if you want to be
surprised by what I'm guessing is coming at the end of DUNE, segment 3.
In DUNE, the book, Princess Irulan is a very minor character, except that a
number of the passages quoted at the beginnings of the chapters are noted
by Herbert as having been written by her; I think she is mostly renowned
for having written the definitive biography of Paul Atreides, and many of
these passages are noted as having come from that. The big spoiler is
this-- at the end of the book, after Paul has pulled the "House Atomics"
out of whatever place fictional characters keep their big climactic
surprises, and destroyed the Harkonnen forces and the emperor's Sardakki
(sp?) troops, peace is achieved by the emperor's betrothing Irulan to Paul,
even though Paul proclaims that it will be a marriage of convenience
only. So, in the book, there's the betrothal, and Irulan exits. However,
the writers of the Sci-Fi Channel version may have decided to make more
drama of Paul + Irulan, and so have decided to write her in as a long-time
Atreides sympathizer, with some kind of a great, romantic ending. Of
course, I have to wonder how her Hat will hold up as buckets of rain begin
to fall.
I don't mean to sound all that sarcastic. I'm enjoying the Sci-Fi Channel
version a lot, even with all the Hats (!) and Shoulder Pads. (And even
though William Hurt sleepwalked through his highly- and
unnecessarily-inflated part.)
I keep wondering, though, what someone who has not read the book is getting
from this version. Herbert's spice is a semi-hallucinogenic drug, which is
necessary for space travel because it "expands the minds" of the Navigators
Guild so they can guide ships from star to star. (Interesting that the
book was written at about the time LSD was getting all the press as a
mind-expander.) But that's badly explained in the Sci-Fi Channel
version. Paul's smelling cinnamon actually points more toward spice's
being a condiment, and I think does the unknowing viewer a
disservice. Herbert early on indicates that spice is also an anti-agathic,
but then drops the idea completely, as I remember. The Harkonnen, of
course, drinks spice in the TV version, with some mention of it's being a
life-extender, but again, that's dropped.
One of the two main premises around which Herbert hung his plot are that
centuries ago humans outlawed mechanical computers because of some war, I
believe, and businesses and wealthy households employ mentats, people who
are specially trained to do complex mathematics. The other premise, based,
of course, on that one, is that, without computers, space travel would be
impossible were members of the Navigators Guild not able to take spice and
expand their minds to be able to handle the complexities of star travel.
Note that Herbert wrote DUNE when slide rules were standard equipment for
any engineer, and the best computer going was a couple of cubic acres of
vacuum tubes and air-conditioners. Interesting to think how his book might
differ if it were being written now when I can hike over to Best Buy and
pick up a laptop with the capacity of probably hundreds of Navigators and
Mentats.
And once again, I'm really enjoying this new TV version, but I keep
thinking that all this angst and war (and Hats !) could be avoided if some
geek in one of the seitches turned out to be Bill Gates.
In my defense, I guess I'd better add that I consider DUNE, the book, a
true masterpiece, but not because of the quasi-religious mysticism. I
think its major impact is its very real-seeming portrayal of survival on a
horribly inhospitable planet. No one, in my opinion, has done that better
than Herbert. My only real gripe with this new version of DUNE is the
emphasis on mysticism and the intrigues of people with Hats, and little
emphasis on the fight for survival. Well, yes, there's lots of emphasis on
the fight for survival vs. the Royals. But not nearly enough about just
existing on Arrakis, which is the major struggle.
Cheers,
Rex Anderson
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