Dune: Prophecy - Max

Agent Coulson

Teaser trailer dropped for the series which starts later this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEoQAoEGLhw&ab_channel=Max

Agent Coulson

Second trailer

Starts in Novemeber

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbWFaJgXe3I&ab_channel=Max

pixelburp

Looks much smaller scale than the movies but am still intrigued

JP Liz V1

Sky has picked up

EoinMcLovin

___

https://youtu.be/CzVHWNosS2o?si=y-SHZQSmvetsxqLO

TheIrishGrover

Think I read somewhere about this being all "Woke" because the (earlier) trailers were all about the women.

lol.

I am REALLY looking forward to this. It's been a looooooooong time since I read the Dune books. Think I only read the first 3 or so. I was quite young when I read them (Late teens) and thought the recent films really did a great job of emphasising the long-term manipulation of the Bene Gesserit. When I read it initially I kind of missed the point. Thought they were using/abusing prophecies. Knew they were manipulating it to their own benefit but kind of missed the fact that they initiated it in the first place so many years before.

Plus, that cast! I'd watch Mark Strong and Emily Watson read a phone book and Jade Anouka from His Dark Materials but I thought she was fantastic in that. Exactly as I read her character

CWMMC

I haven't seen the movies yet, but this show caught my attention one evening and I am looking forward to it. Should I watch the movies first or will I be fine with watching the show? I haven't read the books or anything either.

ShagNastii

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122732389#Comment_122732389

Something like them normally isn't my cup of tea but I thought the movies were phenomenal. Bought into the "you have to see it in the cinema" advice for the first and people couldn't be more right. Not sure whether you'd need it for this show but even if not, the movies are really worth your time.

CWMMC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122732455#Comment_122732455

Okay cool, I'll try and binge the movies over the weekend now depending on if I get time.

Agent Coulson

This starts tomorrow night on Max, The cast is strong so hopefully they have a script to match.

_CreeD_

Got about 20 mins in. 5 minutes of exposition to start (never a good sign) and overly blatant explanation dialogue after whenever possible.. The production quality is really good but the writing so far is just weak.

McDermotX

Hmmm

Tough going that first hour. Looks the part, but weak everywhere else. Disappointment with the last movie continues.

Won't rush to the next episode, but needs an awful lot more meat on its bones. Decent imagery aside, there's little to grab you, especially on the cast front though at least Mark Strong gives us his usual Mark Strong impression. Recent opening eps like the Penguin have shown us there's a level of high quality that can be attained in a formative entry, but this is well below that level.

Agent Coulson

Looks stunning and the cast is strong but the script was very weak and not giving them anything to work with for the opening episode anyway.

AMKC

That was touch to watch. I do not really get all the sisterhood thing and why did the soldier kill the two that were getting married in the end. It made no sense. Looked amazing and lots of Universe building going on anyway.

Brief_Lives

I enjoyed that first episode. To be honest, the episode grew on me after a dicey first half hour.

I was expecting the exposition (see Dune 1984).

Strange to think 10,000 years ago, the same 3 families are bound together, but I suppose stagnation is what the Dune books are about.

Desmond is clearly the most interesting character so far (whether he is the best actor for him, is another question).

Spoiler Warning

He’s come from Arrakis, where he claims his crew was attacked by the emperor’s enemies in an effort to harm his standing. He’s invited to stay, although the emperor’s truthsayer knows he’s lying — she sees him on the spice-filled deserts of Arrakis staring down a giant sandworm, though we don’t know much more about her vision. He saunters around the palace and, ultimately, burns a kid using only his mind. In our world, such pyrokinesis isn’t a known element in Dune’s mythos
Is he proto-kwisatch Haderach, proto Sardaukar, Ixian or Tleilaxu?

Anyway, I hope this series goes well, I'm a big fan of Dune and its complexities.

steve_r

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122855213#Comment_122855213

I thought the Penguin did a really good job at really focusing on the three leads and showing us the world that way.

Whereas we jump between a lot of characters here and it's not clear who the lead is and how the dynamics work.

It's early days but one comment from the comment from the Avclub that the director was someone with a record of more style than substance doesn't inspire hope.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122855436#Comment_122855436

It was pretty obvious. The emperor said he would do anything to get out of the marriage. And the soldier clearly hates the sisters.

It done enough to get me to watch the next episode but some of that is the cast and the fact it's Dune and HBO.

CalamariFritti

As much as I'm a fan of the Dune books who also really enjoyed the Villeneuve movies I'm not sure about this. Just being in the Dune universe will not be enough to woo me, this has to pick up or I cant see myself continuing.

Brief_Lives

Episode 2 Is 90% nonsense this week.

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122864131#Comment_122864131

I've yet to watch it, I'm leaving it build up so I can binge. My issue with it is, since I heard the "Valya Harkonnen" name is that it's clearly based on Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson's awful retconned adaptations. I've read every single one of them, they're awful but my grá for Dune keeps me hoping they'll get it right...

It's yet to happen.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122882888#Comment_122882888

It also has little flashback shots to their stupid Terminator style war against the machines.

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122882926#Comment_122882926

That whole "cymek" bolloxology should be dealt with via flamethrower!

They really went down the path of churning Frank's ideas and the duneiverse for a filmable cash grab.

I know I'm a broken record but the whole lore of the pre 10191ag duneiverse would be far better served by using the Dune Encyclopedia as primers

CalamariFritti

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122882888#Comment_122882888

Never read anything only the 'real' Herbert stuff, but I read all of that. Never touched his son's adaptations. Just talking books now, are they worth it?

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122883164#Comment_122883164

Speaking of thinking machines 🤣

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122883025#Comment_122883025

I've bought and paid for all the Brian & Kevin books. Do not take that as any endorsement of their quality, they are mediocre at best. I buy them out of hope that the next one will somehow find the spark of magic that 4 out of 6 of Frank's had. So far? None do.

They are middle of the road Space Opera that many others have done far better.

The "Road to Dune" is well worth a read as it really does a great job of fleshing out Frank's notes and some short stories. 1 that stands out as probably the only passable effort by Brian & Frank is "A whisper of Caladan Seas". It's included in the copy of Road to Dune I own but if memory serves was released as part of the teaser campaign for the prequels.

It's a decent story but, even then it really flies in the face of much of Frank's world building.

The prequel & sequels are all IMO pretty much 4 & 5 out of 10 efforts with noting that grabs a reader the way even Chapterhouse (which I think is the weakest of the OG 6) does.

I think there is 17 or so now in the expanded universe, and while tastes vary. They are all poor.

o1s1n

I must be the only one who's enjoying it so far 😁. Looks great. Liking most of the actors but the cast is a little bit too English heavy. Could do with some more US and international folks in it.

The script isn't great so far but it's serviceable. I'm not digging all the Game of Thrones style riding scenes mind you, it's cheap and doesn't feel very Dune.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122885897#Comment_122885897

If Dune Messiah can throw in a few Game of Thrones scenes for Rebecca Ferguson or Zendaya I won't be too worried about how not Dune it feels 🤣

I'm also enjoying it so far. It's not mind blowing but it's also not totally wasting a great IP like all that Rings of Power, Discovery/Picard or Obi Wan/Ashoka shte.

Fimmel is terribly one note though.

AMKC

I thought that second episode was much better than the first one. Still a lot of nonsense do. I just watched it for how good it looks.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122885897#Comment_122885897

Theres a few Irish (Faoileann Cunningham), Norn Irish (eg Aoife Hinds), Aussies in the cast but they are largely doing that period / scifi / fairytale imperial royalty thing of coming across as "English". Travis Fimmel as Desmond Hart being the wild card stepping outside of those bounds.

Enjoying it too, lacking something but some interesting scenes and curious to see where its going. Think its only 6 episodes (?) so shouldnt overstay its welcome.

Homelander

Like it so far. Standard enough space politics fare, reminds me of the Empire scenes in Foundation.

A lot more generic looking than the movies but still decent production overall.

So far I'd give it 6.5/10.

And I like Travis Fimmel, genuinely, but the guy seems to have exactly one setting.

steve_r

Thought the third episode was quite a bit stronger. It's a prologue to the main story but I think it might have been a better starting point. The writing was better and I think that cast shines when they are given something proper to work with.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122920258#Comment_122920258

Yes I'm finding the time jumps unfolding out of sequence to be distracting… They could have played out the earlier timeline in order and then moved forward, maybe split seasons or something.

Emma Canning as the young Tula was fantastic in this episode. I think she is from Dublin but trained in London, and was also recently in Masters of the Air.