God Emperor of Dune

[diebitter]

I feel it's a flawed masterpiece. It looks great, has great casting, excellent dialogue delivered in a very iconic way (lifted nicely from the book), and it works, apart from being terribly rushed and therefore being quite unsatisfying as a filmic experience.

The bit where he makes it rain at the end is terrible though, and the Baron was a bit too much of a laughing fat clown for my liking. The guy that played Gurney Hallack was awesome, btw.


As to the books, Dune and God Emperor are the best by far. I almost think of the middle 2 as bridges between these two. They are still good reads, but not quite as engaging and immersive as the 1st and 4th.


THE SPICE MUST FLOW!

[Enrique]

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I feel it's a flawed masterpiece. It looks great, has great casting, excellent dialogue delivered in a very iconic way (lifted nicely from the book), and it works, apart from being terribly rushed and therefore being quite unsatisfying as a filmic experience.


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Apparently, Lynch made a movie over three hours that Herbert loved, but the studio didn't like it. Even the extended DVD version is not Lynch's version. Too bad they didn't give him final cut.
The movie was mediocre, I bet it would have been a masterpiece behind Lynch (with the final cut, which was the version Herbert saw).

I also liked the inner dialogues in the movie.

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The bit where he makes it rain at the end is terrible though, and the Baron was a bit too much of a laughing fat clown for my liking. The guy that played Gurney Hallack was awesome, btw.

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Funny how you mention Gurney, or should I say Captain Piccard.

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As to the books, Dune and God Emperor are the best by far. I almost think of the middle 2 as bridges between these two. They are still good reads, but not quite as engaging and immersive as the 1st and 4th.

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I actually loved Children of Dune, I thought it was on the level with Dune. But now that I read God Emperor, I decided I have to reevaluate my rankings.
Dune Messiah, I thought wasn't as good, although it did have many memorable things, specially the appearance of Duncan as ghola. I guess Dune Messiah wasn't as good because it is much shorter. Instead of being three stories like Dune, it is only one, it feels like Dune Messiah is Part 4.

[Paluka]

The uncut enormous 5 hour or whatever David Lynch Dune is fairly easy to find on VHS.I have seen it at sci-fi conventions and such.

[ChipWrecked]

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The guy that played Gurney Hallack was awesome, btw.



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lol.

[Enrique]

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The uncut enormous 5 hour or whatever David Lynch Dune is fairly easy to find on VHS.I have seen it at sci-fi conventions and such.

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Is it good?

[Scotch78]

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The uncut enormous 5 hour or whatever David Lynch Dune is fairly easy to find on VHS.I have seen it at sci-fi conventions and such.

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I did some googling and couldn't find it, but if you could locate me a copy, either a physical tape or just information so I can get one, I would be eternally grateful.

Scott

[Exsubmariner]

This was by far my favorite book in the series. Herbert's efforts at portraying what a living God-Emperor would be like are astounding. I was enthralled. I heard he would lock himself in a room for months on end to imagine the stories that he would put to paper and would do other weird things in the name of his art.

Something that strikes me about Herbert, though, is his premise of who gets to rule the universe. He always has the most able and capable people being in charge. He obviously believed the world was a meritocracy, no matter what. Granted, centuries of a breeding program to produce super humans is central to the storyline....But the world doesn't work in the way he thinks. There is much history pregnant with the follies of irresponsible inheritors of empires. Frank just seems to ignore all that.

Herbert and Heinlien have both shaped my visions of politics. Herbert in particular for his assertion that those who control the language of a civilization control its thoughts and therefore have the ultimate power. You can see that at work today in the politics of the US. Parties try to spin things by using creative language and thus attempt to sway the opinions of the voters.

My understanding of Leto and his supernatural powers to see into the future boil down to the following: He got bored. After some period of time, a couple of thousand years or so, he got tired of predicting every plot and petty power struggle he was involved with because he always won. I thought it was kind of gay how he kept on bringing Idaho back so much, only to have Idaho rebel in the end, betray him, and try to kill him, only to be killed himself. It must have been comic after the first hundred times. So, Leto understood that he had to set in motion events that must end his existence. In effect, suicide. So he breeds his very own line of people whose actions he cannot predict, who are beyond the site of his powers. In the end, he gets what he wants, once again, with the aid of a betrayal by Idaho.

I wonder if I had immortality whether or not I would plot for my own death.....

What else could you do with eternity?

[Scotch78]

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My understanding of Leto and his supernatural powers to see into the future boil down to the following: He got bored. After some period of time, a couple of thousand years or so, he got tired of predicting every plot and petty power struggle he was involved with because he always won. I thought it was kind of gay how he kept on bringing Idaho back so much, only to have Idaho rebel in the end, betray him, and try to kill him, only to be killed himself. It must have been comic after the first hundred times. So, Leto understood that he had to set in motion events that must end his existence. In effect, suicide. So he breeds his very own line of people whose actions he cannot predict, who are beyond the site of his powers.

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It amazes me that someone could misunderstand a book to this great of an extent and still enjoy it. Just wow.

Scott

[Enrique]

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My understanding of Leto and his supernatural powers to see into the future boil down to the following: He got bored. After some period of time, a couple of thousand years or so, he got tired of predicting every plot and petty power struggle he was involved with because he always won. I thought it was kind of gay how he kept on bringing Idaho back so much, only to have Idaho rebel in the end, betray him, and try to kill him, only to be killed himself. It must have been comic after the first hundred times. So, Leto understood that he had to set in motion events that must end his existence. In effect, suicide. So he breeds his very own line of people whose actions he cannot predict, who are beyond the site of his powers.

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It amazes me that someone could misunderstand a book to this great of an extent and still enjoy it. Just wow.

Scott

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I guess there are different interpretations. Although, Leto pretty much states that he is not doing it for boredom or for the fun. Becoming the Worm was a sacrifice to save humankind (aka, pursue the Golden Path). This even has some christian allusions, Leto sacrificing himself for humanity just like christians believe Christ did for humanity.

I like to imagine civilizations in the future(in the Dune universe) arguing in class about Leto's history. Imagine how they could say "Leto living 3000 thousand years is a metaphor." Although, I guess, the stolen journals would survive. But maybe they could give rationalization of how the story was written by someone else imagining 3000 years of life.
I imagine the people in the class doubting Leto's godness, thinking it all just myth.
It is fun. I also like how Herbert kind of made me think this because of his use of people in the future digging out the journals.
I really admire all the effort Herbert did to make this piece of work so complete in many ways.

[Exsubmariner]

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It amazes me that someone could misunderstand a book to this great of an extent and still enjoy it. Just wow.

Scott


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I imagine that this is in reference to the Golden Path? I think I got that, too. Leto's death is necessary because he has supressed five galaxies full of people for four millinea, which gives them motivation to leave once he is dead. In later books, this is known as the great scattering. His death is a necessary part of it. Still, he can't kill himself and neither can any of his rivals. He must be killed by something he can't predict, and he must be betrayed. That way, people will continue to worship him after he is gone and society won't decay into complete chaos.....

So Leto is a Christ figure. OK.