Dune Series Jumps The Worm Circa 2032
Dune movies of the future will need to address the worm-man-Atreides in the room
Let’s be clear, I have seen the latest two Dune movies, and enjoyed them thoroughly. I also saw parts of the 1980s-era Dune movie and was less impressed, though it was fun that Captain Picard made an appearance. Finally, I read the first Dune book years ago, which was enjoyable as a sort of Lord of the Rings in space.
The question then is why would the Dune people, i.e. Fremen, be such good warriors outside of Arakkis; their advantage is obviously desert fighting. Per a conversation with Jackson1 (who has not read any of the books), it was decided that the war is actually headed to Arrakis, because people need Spice.
Feel free to let me know if our expectations require calibration. It seems, however, that things get really weird in book 4.
Dune Book 4 Jumps the Shark Worm?
Books two and three are presumably pretty good… but then we get to Dune 4, God Emperor of Dune. It would appear that a worm with a human face is somehow central to the story… Or maybe it’s metaphorical. Or maybe it’s an off-color joke by the middle school-aged and/or minded illustrator…2
Well, spoiler, it is not metaphorical, and it’s not a joke. I’m told by a reliable source (Carl3) that Paul Atreides’ son literally turns into a worm. That might seem like a big plot twist, but it’s portrayed pretty clearly on this book cover. The twist, apparently, is that what is on the cover… is literally what’s in the book.
As a reader one might think, well I’ve made it this far, I’ll go ahead and see how things unfold. As a movie production, however, someone or someones will have to convince whoever is in charge of the company’s purse strings to dole out millions upon millions of dollars based on a gigantic worm-man-thing-plot device.
I wouldn’t want to be in that meeting. I predict many head-in-hands gestures, eye rolling to the point that you can hear them swirling around like 10-pound balls at a bowling alley, and words that are not fit to print here.
Who knows, maybe the meeting will even feature corporate corporal punishment for this idea/transgression via a Dune themed box-o-pain that they have the prop maker cook up in short order. Actually, maybe I would want to be there…
Dune Prophecy
On the other hand, perhaps that’s the reasoning behind the Dune Prophecy prequel series on HBO. I.e. milk this cash-worm for everything its got before it gets really weird. And perhaps by that time the movie going public will be ready to accept a worm-man-god-monster as the protagonist. Actually, Dune Prophecy looks awesome from the trailer.
Becoming a Worm-Man: A Good Life Choice?4
It’s hard for me to believe Mr. Atreides Jr. gets up one morning and says to his wife/concubine(s) and kids “hey, I’m going to become a gigantic worm.” With no arms (maybe). Like being trapped pretending to be a a worm in a sleeping bag5, except gigantic, which might be fun for 10 minutes or so if Arrakis wasn’t scorching hot and very sandy.
As far as I know, no one that believes in reincarnation hopes to come back as a worm, and certainly not one that has to live in a desert. Or maybe the plot makes total sense if you read and/or see it. I don’t yet actually know.
But Could The Plot Be Turned Into a Country Song?
As a bit of an homage to my previous AI Music post, above is an AI generated sad country long about Paul Atreides’ son–who Suno.com heavily infers is named Leto. Maybe Jerod Leto could play “little wormy”–as Paul no doubt affectionately calls him– in Dune 4.
Give AI some credit, the song actually made me feel a bit sad. Now if this technology could just be programmed to realize that my hands manipulating various projects in videos are literally… my hand, not something inappropriate. Looking at you Twitter.
However things develop, I’m looking forward to the next few movies. I’m sure they will be entertaining… one way or another!
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Addendum/Footnotes:
Jackson: Cousin, collaborator, and someone who has appeared in several of my YouTube videos
I had no idea how… inappropriate, shall we say this book cover looks until my wife walked into my office while writing this piece and had some (admittedly reasonable) questions. As it turns out, there have been many covers over the years, and translations. These covers are rated in this God Emperor of Dune (covers) blog post. Rather entertaining if you want to go down that… worm hole.
Carl: Friend, computer programmer, merch fulfillment aficionado
Anyone notice how this worm-man is reminiscent of Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars? Seems like there were a lot of elements borrowed from Dune for those movie: e.g. The Force ~ The Voice, sandy planet setting, Bene Gesserit ~ Jedi. H/t Jackson for pointing that out, also to author Brian Greiner for explaining to me that everyone steals in Sci-Fi.
Also of note here, Leto looks especially unhappy in the Hebrew version. At least he has legs and arms in that one. Perhaps he is frustrated that he can’t quite reach the football on his right (with any of his legs) to kick the space field goal.
Turning into a worm: like this living room Dune reenactment, except without air conditioning:
