The shields stop anything fast, so bullets are useless. Slow weapons are effective, hence the swords. They're basically a plot device that allows for sword-fighting to make sense in a high-tech future.

“A soldier or a political leader?” This is feudalism. They are one and the same.

The politics: House Atreides is related to the Imperial House (House Corrino). The Atreides are really well liked among the noble houses and the emperor is jealous/fears usurpation. The emperor plots with House Harkonnen to take Arrakis/Dune from them and give it to the Atreides. It's a poisonous gift. This takes the Atreides out of a position of strength in Caladan and makes them vulnerable in a new world they don't fully control. The Harkonnen and the Atreides are in a feud between the families. If they come into conflict no other noble house can intervene. The Harkonnen use this feud as justification to attack and kill the Atreides and take back Arrakis/Dune. The emperor supports the Harkonnen with his imperial troops, the Sardaukar. This is done in absolute secret. If the other noble houses were to learn about it they would unite together against the Harkonnen and the Imperial House (House Corrino). This way, the Emperor takes out the Atreides without a full-on galactic war, with the purge disguised as a feud between two Houses. Of course, a prophecy is gonna frick everything.

I've been a fan of the original books for almost thirty years. They said this movie couldn't be adapted, David Lynch tried and failed, John Harrison came close, but failed. Denis Villeneuve showed up and said, "Fucking watch me." It's so magical seeing people come into this movie having no idea about anything related to Dune, and coming out just star struck by the universe and story. It's glorious. Thank you for being part of that.

I love that Denis went for the whole "show, not tell" method. For example, the scene where the Atreides soldiers were fighting the Harkonnens: despite being taken by surprise, immediately losing a staggering number of men and the Duke being MIA, the Atreides soldiers were still holding off the Harkonnen soldiers with ease until the Sardukaur show up. Right there, you learn three things: 1) The Harkonnen, despite their fearsome reputation, wouldn't have stood a chance against the Atreides in a straight-up fight. 2) The Atreides soldiers rally quickly and fight back effectively despite being at a significant disadvantage, showing just how skilled they are; the Emperor was right to fear Duke Leto's growing power. 3) The Sardukaur are just on a whole other level; despite the Atreides' soldiers obvious skill they just wipe 'em out like it was nothing.

As a fan of the Dune books, I love people who watch this film going in completely blind. Your reaction was very entertaining, thanks!

Duke Leto is a just man. We are all products of our environments, the results just vary individual to individual. Even in the history of imperialism and colonialism here on earth there are examples of men and women who strived to be good by the standards of their own culture. Leto Atreides is to our 21st century American eyes a figure who is easy to at first glance label "BAD" but in his own environment, in the culture of the Dune universe, he is the epitome of the "Good Aristocrat".

Baron Harkonnen survived because his shield slows down the movement of air, giving him just enough time to get out of the way. He was still badly injured though.

There is an HBO series coming: Dune:The Sisterhood. It was already in development before Dune Part One was released. So Yeah! You got your “Witch spinoff” before you asked for it! Yay!

“What are they training him for?” Yes. All the things. All the training.

I'm sure someone else has explained but I haven't read all the comments. House Atreides are like House Stark in GoT. They are honorable good people who the rest of the Houses look up to, he is not an oppressor but a liberator. The Emperor is petty and feels like all of the other Royal Houses are looking at the Atreides as a new possible leader. The Emperor is threaten by this and decides to setup House Atreides to fall. The beginning Freman narritive makes you think the Atreides are Opperssors because that is all the Freman have know. Duke Leto wanted to unite and lead the Freman not Oppress them.

“do they want him to be a soldier or a political leader? What is he training for?” Love this question because for most of human history (and certainly under the feudalism the movie is based in) those were the same thing. Might made right.

"Do they want him to be a soldier or Political Leader?" Yes, both. As a Duke, Paul will be expected to lead armies and arrange politics. And yes, a trained Sister of the Bene Geseritt can modify her cells to such an extent as to determine which Spermatazoa merges with her Ovum. And to alter the chemical arrangements of poisons to transform them into a euphoric aphrodisiac.

There’s a series in the works called Dune Sisterhood, and this will be about the Bene Gesserit. So you will definitely get that prequel.

If you liked the 'I must not fear' line, look up 'litany against fear'. It's taken from the original book, it's basically a prayer crossed with a reassuring phrase to force yourself to stay calm, written out like a poem. The full thing goes: "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

My new head cannon is that the emperor was jealous of how hot everyone associated with House Atreides is and so had to destroy them.

I think lots of Dune fans feel like I do with this film... finally satisfied with a cinematic version!!! 💚🌠

Hey guys! Thanks for giving this movie a shot!! As for the politics of it all, hopefully I can help, if you haven't already looked this up yourselves. House Atreides, a noble house that every other house looks up to, was basically forced to take over Arrakis by the emperor who also forced the Harkonnens, the rich bald people, to leave in the first place. The whole point of this was that the emperor was jealous of the power of both houses, and wanted them to fight each other so that they both end up weak. Eventually the emperor gave his own troops to the Harkonnens, which were the white suit guys, to speed up the process. Now the Harkonnen's are broke because of how much they spent on the war. You basically understood all the "space witch coven" stuff. Those women have their own plot to basically cultivate this "man made" chosen one, creating a religion on Arrakis to worship him. I haven't read the books, nor have I seen the original movie, but this part of the plot is giving me SERIOUS Hereditary vibes.

Everyone's acting during the box scene is so cool. Also, both of you, your hair looks aMAZing today.

What Zendaya's character was talking about the Harkonnen rule, because they went SUPER hard on the spice collecting and were just constantly ravaging the planet with no respect of the people. There is a lot of complicated politics that went on at the start of the book that was skipped. But basically Atreides were given control of the planet because the Emporer was intimidated by their power so he set them up to be ambushed, which is why Harkonnen had control the Sardaukar, aka the emperial army. But yeah this movie is GORGEOUS!!! 100% worth seeing on IMAX. The second I saw that Denis Villanuve was doing this, I knew it was going to be amazing. He made SAND look incredible.

the orbital bombardment weapons drill through the shield slowly and then blow up. If you look closely the explosions are contained by the shield for a few seconds before the shield generator is destroyed.

All I’m going to point out is that when Zendaya says she wonders who their new oppressor will be it doesn’t cut to Duke Leto, it cuts to Paul. I think a second watch will probably clear up a lot of things (not everything because this is only part 1).

When y'all were like "defs in the fremen's side" I was like HEH. One thing that is tricky in the Dune universe is picking a side.

Some of the lore isn't explained (which helps the pacing of the movie), but having read the first book, I can elaborate a litte about the Bene Gesserit (The nuns with the Voice) and the shields. I love the fact that you went in blind, it really shows where the movie fails and succeeds on its own merits. The Bene Gesserit are like a secret order that manipulates politics all over. It's fair to say that they are the most powerful organisation in the Empire, or quite near it. Their powers are based on eugenics, and through it they have gained great intelligence and limited psychic abilities like mind control and clairvoyance, but also control over their own bodies and even the sex of their babies. Their ultimate goal is to create through eugenics a being that has all of these abilities to the greatest degree possible: a nearly all-knowing and all-powerful being they call the Kwizatz Haderach. They are spreading rumors and conspiracies all over to encourage people to see his coming as a prophecy, to prepare the universe for his rule. In the books, the Kwizatz Haderach is a male, but Paul is considered to be premature: the leaders of the Bene Gesserit intended Jessica's daughters to be part of the eugenics program, so that they could eventually birth the Messiah. Paul conveniently makes use of the work they did, but they feel his mom basically ruined a plan spanning millennia by jumping the gun. The shields stop everything that moves too fast. This is how the shield distinguishes between normal actions and aggressive actions. Without that distinction, it would prevent you from grabbing things and moving normally. Blue means the shield stops a blow because it is too fast, Red means the shield thinks an object moves slow enough to be safe and lets it through. This is why the fights are almost always up close: ranged weapons have to move fast to hit you, but the shields would stop that. With a cutting weapon you can manoever it so you can slice an opponent slowly, but a good opponent would either dodge or move faster to activate the shield. Hope that's helpful!

Due to Leto's code of loyalty, he follows the Emperor's commands, even when they are detrimental to himself. This makes the House Atreides complicit in the oppressive imperial system, and its colonial goals on Arrakis. However, Leto the man is less oppressive than the system he is meant to represent on its planets. With Leto it's a case of the system they are entrapped in limiting their capacity for goodness by necessitating paranoia, militarism, and a dictum to follow the Emperor's commands (or else). Feudal lords are born into a position that is equal parts politician and military commander. This makes even nominally decent actions, such as allying with the Fremen, military aims as well because of the need for allies to protect the house from people like the Emperor and the Harkonnens away from their home. By deviating even socially from the usual norms of their society (By trying to be "good" and therefore trustworthy, which understandably made them popular), they incited correction from the Emperor who also saw an opportunity to rid the Harkonnen's of decades of spice profits.

32:54 Why don't they ride worms? they do. That's what Liet was getting ready to do when she set the thumper and took out the two grappling hook looking things

Also, don't take all my word at face value because I haven't read the books, but what I'm fairly sure about is: The empire is a feudal system with different houses, with the emperor being of House Corinno (we haven't seen him). The monologue Zendaya gives at the beginning is about house Harkonnen (Stellan's people), who are very greedy and want to take as much spice as possible while oppressing the Fremen. House Atreides (Isaac's people), is another house, and the duke is a popular figure who's getting a lot of support in the empire (because he's a cool loyal dude). He also believes that they should cooperate with the Fremen instead of fighting them. The emperor is jealous of him and staged a secret plot with house Harkonnen to get rid of them. The emperor then told the duke that he can be the prime spice harvester now and be rich, while setting them up for failure as we saw later.

As for the politics: the emperor engineered this war because the Atreides were becoming too popular among the other houses and had also trained a fighting force that was almost as good as the emperor's Saurdukar. He took Arrakis from the Harkonnen and gave it to the Atreides to provide an excuse for the Harkonnens to go to war with the Atreides, and he loaned the Harkonnens several battalions of Saurdukar so that the Harkonnens could actually win. He also made the Harkonnens pay for the entire war, to reduce their wealth. It was all about reducing the influence and power of the two biggest threats to his throne. Leto saw this was happening, and decided that he could win if he could recruit the Fremen, since he had determined that they were even better fighters than the Saurdukar. Events moved too fast for that to work. Even though Leto respected the Fremen, his plan was obviously still exploitative. Maybe even worse than what the Harkonnens were doing. The Harkonnens only wanted the spice. Leto wanted people. Who's worse?

This was really helpful to see how folks who had not read the books enjoyed the movie! You got the main points of the movie; some of the relationships and politics were skipped over, it would have needed A LOT of exposition in one form or another. Others have commented on the politics, so I'll leave that alone. Paul's visions aren't always literal, they can be open to interpretation. This is how prescience works in the Dune universe. Hence the vision of Jamis saying "I will show you the ways of the desert".... and he did show him the Fremen ways, just not in the way we thought he would. So this movie is only half of the original Dune book. If you read the book now, I assume you will read how the next movie ends. And YES see it on a big screen! I saw it in the theater and it was AMAZING!

AHHH Jessa, the only reactor I've seen recognize The Flood from Dr Who!!! When I saw the cast list SO long ago, I was SUPER-excited to see what Sharon Duncan-Brewster would bring to this role. I think it's funny that her character in Dr Who was looking to bring water to Earth, and her character in this movie is looking to bring water to Arrakis. ALLLL the water roles! :)

Leto is actually a VERY good person. There's a scene in the book, where he holds a banquet on Arrakis and there is a custom that guests wash their hands in fresh water, then dry their hands and throw away the towels for beggars to squabble over. He's shown being disgusted by this custom and changes it so the basin is put outside and while the banquet is going on every person to ask gets a full cup of water. Then, during the banquet he knowingly spills his glass of water and custom demands that all the guests (who consist mostly of rich people and bankers) do the same (which they are all very reluctant to do.) And he has one of my favourite quotes in the book. “You cannot truthfully hate them for this. We can only despise them.“

So I just finished watching the reaction and I really would recommend going to see it at the cinema. Obviously, the visuals look amazing on the big screen but the most striking thing for me was the soundscape of Dune. Hearing The Voice through cinema sound system is an almost physical experience and the score is fantastic. It's the best cinema experience I've had since probably going to see Return of the King back in 2003!

One thing that wasn’t made quite as clear is that the Duke and Jessica are deeply in love. Since he’s royalty. She can only be his concubine.

Fun reaction video! You mentioned Villaneuve's Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 (which are brilliant films). But he's also made some other very gripping films such as "Sicario" and "Prisoners." I was very impressed with Dune. As an example of Villaneuve's storytelling skill, notice the scene when Paul first gets a hit off of the Spice in the Sandcrawler rescue scene. Paul says "I hear your footsteps Old Man" just before Gurney Hallock (Josh Brolin) grabs him to take him back to the Ornithopter. You might think that he's only referring to Gurney. But that phrase has a double meaning: The Sandworm is known to the Fremen as the "Old Man of the Desert." Villaneuve is giving us a foreshadowing of what's to come.

I'm delighted you've both seen this, best cinematic experience I've ever had! I can't wait to see the sequels, director says he visualised a trilogy, I could have watched part 2 and 3 if it was available to watch right after part 1! Thanks ladies, be safe :)

I highly recommend reading at least the first book. It's considered by a lot of folks to be the best, or at least one of the best, sci-fi books ever written. It sustains a sense of epic drama from the first page to the last and is overflowing with details about history, culture, politics, prophesy, etc. etc. It has the same sense of an elaborately thought out backstory as the Lord of the Rings, but, personally, I feel there's a greater sense of drama and urgency to all that backstory in Dune than LOTR.

The guy playing the Herald of The Change (Mr Perfect Bone Structure), is poet/singer Benjamin Clementine- a really fascinating artist with an incredible voice. I don’t doubt it was his voice that Denis was thinking of when he cast him as a Herald. Check him out on KZfaq, you won’t regret it.

I read the first book a few months ago for the sole reason to complain about what the movie got wrong ..... and they did a pretty solid job

The thing that isn't talked about in the movie is that Dr. Yueh's diamond tattoo on his forehead indicates that he's undergone Imperial conditioning to be a "Suk Doctor", which basically prevents him, literally, from doing harm to anyone which is how the Dukes, Barons, etc. can trust them in their households. The Harkonnens used the torturing of his wife to induce so much stress and heartbreak in Dr. Yueh that it broke the conditioning allowing him to commit treason. Just a little background on why it being him who betrayed them all was such a shock to everyone.

"daddy Isaac" "send help" "True Blood intro" I died 😅🥰🤣

I would HIGHLY recommend Quinn's ideas on KZfaq to understand these novels.

A big part of the world building is that the guild won’t transport armies and even small groups of soldiers are prohibitively expensive. It makes characters like Idaho, Halleck and Hawat kore central since individual fighters and assassins carry far more weight in conflict than the size of your forces. It also explain why Paul is trained as a fighter, it is entirely possible that leadership will have to defend themselves since assassination attempts are the way houses combat each other. The Harkonnen attack comes as a huge shock because the expense is insane (the Baron is almost bankrupted by it and his house is the wealthiest in the universe) and normally the guild would simply refuse to transport an invasion force.

When you realize that pet "spider" had human hands and understood the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam you will really shiver.

Things they don't mention in this movie, spice allows you to see possible futures, and this is how the navigators plot the course. So when he sees visions he sees possible futures, and is choosing one. Many years ago there was a holy war against all machines that had enslaved all mankind. After this they made one rule, "Though shall not make a machine in the mind of a man." So they made people into living computers and that is what The eyes turning white is.

You should read the book. I think Herbert does for his character's inner world what Tolkein does for the outer world. Also it is the inspiration for basically all of star wars.

That is the thing about leaders. Duke Leto "The Just" is a just, fair and honorable man. It makes him a great leader of his people. He is of the school that rank has its privileges, but it also had its responsibilities. Where as the Baron Harkonnon is filled with greed and will do anything to fulfill it. The Emperor is ruthless, jealous and fearful, and you see how the personality of each leader affects how they lead. In a feudal political system what your leader is makes a big difference in how their people end up being treated. This makes Leto a very good man by the standards of his time.

GREAT reaction! It's wonderful to see people going into Dune blind. I'm sure you've gotten a ton of comments talking about the different things that weren't fully explained in the film but were in the book, but in case someone else hasn't said it, and just to go into brief detail while avoiding spoilers for the next film: The shields are useful for blocking things that go very fast like bullets, and fighting in melee with them requires a special technique where you slow your strike before it hits, which causes Paul some issues in the book because shields are unusable in the open desert and he's been training his whole life to fight with one so he's used to it absorbing fast strikes, having to slow himself down to make a kill, etc. Also, there are absolutely no good guys here, everything is shades of grey. The Atreides under Leto are noble but power hungry and paternalistic; the Emperor is reasonable and relatively benign but terrified of the power that House Atreides is accumulating and willing to do horrendous shit to preserve his political position; the Harkonnen are irredeemably, psychotically evil and probably the only true "bad guys" in the entire series; the Bene Gesserit are a manipulative cult that has been quietly trying to control everything and everyone behind the scenes for thousands of years to secure their ultimate, irreversible hold on power; the Spacing Guild (which you don't see much of in the movie) is essentially a corporate super power completely unanswerable to the government whose only motive is profit, sort of like Amazon on steroids; the Fremen are oppressed but also ultra-violent religious extremists, etc. The level of nuance in Dune honestly makes A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones seem as morally simplistic as Lord of the Rings. It starts out morally confusing and ambiguous and only gets more complex from there until you're halfway through the series wondering what the fuck is happening, and it's absolutely brilliant. I can't wait to see how they handle it all in the next movie(s? I understand that Villeneuve wants to do the second book as well)

The original stewards of Arrakis were the Harkonnen until the emperor made them leave. Basically, Letos house was gaining favor among the other houses within the empire. The emperor was threatened by this so he "gave" Letos house stewardship of Arrakis. Then behind the scenes gave the Baron assistance in attacking and defeating Letos house. In his eyes removing a rival and still maintaining ultimate control of his empire and spice production by proxy of the Harkonnen. Leto was a good person but ultimately would still technically be considered an oppressor. In a world where they aren't attacked on Arrakis his goal was to still maintain control of spice production and export, but instead of making an enemy of the Fremen he wanted to ally with them. So, while technically not being a detriment to the livelihood of the Fremen and him valuing lives over materials, his goal was still to acquire and maintain power. He knew the Harkonnen would attack, and knew they likely had the support of the emperor. He just thought he had more time, so that he could make an ally of the Fremen and utilize them in the defense of House Atreides' stake on Arrakis. Also, Gurney is still alive. By the halfway point of the book, you are made aware of it so I don't consider it a spoiler. Someone else is alive still as well but since you didn't ask about them, I won't mention who lol. Though I won't go into context on anything else since you start getting into spoiler territory. Edit: and while I agree the Bene Gesserit are pretty cool, to me they are ultimately the largest villains. Eugenics and steering the direction of politics from the shadows is usually the work of pretty nefarious groups who have drunk too much of their own kool-aid.

I read Frank Herbert’s Dune in my early 20’s and this Dune is the most definitive adaptation. Perfection!

The shields stop fast moving objects like bullets, but slow moving objects go through. I think the in world explanation is that air has to pass through or you suffocate. so they strike fast to defend and slower at the moment of impact to hit.

I agree... Gotta read the series (not just one book!) to grok all the different political dynamics of all the diverse institutions! Loved J&A's reaction vid, especially the (now obvious) centering of indigenous peoples over imperiums. Keep it up!!!

It's 1am here in Scotland, I'm on holiday this week, I've been having a few drinks, love your reactions to this, Scotland has both lots of oil and fresh water and wind energy along with many other things that are exploited by another country!

Wish I could have sat in and answered some of your questions there. Frank Herbert definitely created a complex setting that goes against expectations especially considering when it was written. The Duke Leto would have allied with the Fremen, not conquered them. There are thousands of Noble Houses in the Empire. Some stronger than others. Atreides is one of the stronger ones, but it is also respected not feared in contrast to the Harkonnen. Leto is a just leader. That respect made the Emperor jealous and fearful of his power. So the Emperor pulled the Harkonnen off of Arakkis and gave it to Leto, but as a trap not a reward. Then the Emperor gave aid to the Harkonnen to attack Leto, also hoping to weaken the Harkonnen a bit in the process. Oh and the neck uniform patch is a stylized Hawk, not SS symbol. The Hawk being their house sigil. There is some stuff cut or changed for the film that I wish they hadn't because it would have helped new people to the setting. For example in the books the Spice Harvester scene, it is made clear the Duke is more concerned for his men than the spice. Dr Kines, the Judge of the Change was sent by the Empire, but she's live on the Arakkis enough and been around the Fremen enough to adopt their ways. Also she has lived on Arrakis with the Fremen enough to gain the blue within blue eyes like them from the spice. She was biding her time to see what the Atreides were like and also if they really were part of the prophecy, which is why she played like she was neutral. There is still a secret about her yet to be revealed to come in the next film. If you have anything else you are dying to know, I'll answer what I can without spoilers. Ask away. If you had access to the miniseries version they did on SyFy, I think some of your questions would be answered. The miniseries has a bit more of the politics in it. And it would be pretty easy to stop watching it at the same part as the film if you don't want to be spoiled. I personally enjoyed the miniseries. Their CGI isn't great, and I'm pretty sure ALL of their desert shots are in a studio warehouse with an obviously painted background. It isn't as breathtaking in its cinematography, but the acting is good with William Hurt as Leto. The sets and costumes are beautiful as well. And they add more detail from the book that the film left out.

In Paul’s vision, Jamis didn’t say he would be Paul’s friend, he said he would show him the ways of the desert. And he did. I like your reaction. I think I was at a disadvantage by knowing the story. I am not being facetious, I think this version of Dune really works for people who don’t know the story. When I saw it in theater the first time I was not as impressed as when I watched it later on the small screen. I think that is because I was being too analytical, comparing it to the story as I knew it and the earlier versions which were nowhere near as good as this. I love the film now and it’s good to see that people who don’t know the story are being exposed to a really solid version. The writers managed to put in a whole lot of exposition without any lengthy monologues.I love this version now. Thanks for your reaction

I haven't read the books but what I got from the movie about the politics of this universe is that the emperor was worried that the big houses would rebel against him because they were getting too powerful, and it probably didn't make sense for him to attack them directly because they were strong in their own planets and that could start the rebellion he wants to avoid, so instead he ordered the Harkonnen leave Arrakis and gave it to the Atreides, then he helped the Harkonnen attack the Atreides. This way he achieved several things: - he made the Atreides leave their own planet, so they wouldn't be as protected, and he did it with the pretext of having them take over Arrakis to harvest the spice, that way they wouldn't suspect the emperor himself wanted to attack them, so when it happened they weren't prepared for an attack of the combined forces of the Harkonnen and the emperor - this also weakened the Harkonnen because during that process they weren't harvesting and selling spice, and they also lost money by leaving the planet and then coming back with the equipment and their army So basically with this move the emperor took out one of the big houses (at least that's what he thinks) and he weakened another. He wanted to keep his participation in the attack a secret. But the bene gesserit had their own agenda (they seem to have a lot of influence in the empire), and because of them, Paul and his mother survived. At least that is what I got from the movie, but I could be wrong.

I loved this movie! and thanks for the reaction.

I’ve seen a few of your videos now. You too are so fun to watch and open minded.

8:12, they did a VFX breakdown on this scene, telling us the difference between the 1984 film's Shield Practice and the 2021 version. They used hand animation for the '84 film, taking 9 months of animation to complete one scene. It took them 3 months for the 2021 shield practice.

the dialog at the beginning is not from the book. it's also not meant to suggest that the duke is an oppressor. It's just a statement made from the fremen perspective which is tainted by long years of oppression by the harkonnens. They don't know the duke so they have no reason to believe things will be any different with him in charge. something they did not chose to cover in the movie that is well established in the books is how well loved the duke is by his own people. He had hoped to make allies with the fremen against their common enemy but the attack came too soon.

“I demand a witch prequel” We’ll you’re in luck! Dune: The Sisterhood, HBO series coming out next year.

Paul's visions are a mix of what will happen, what could happen, and metaphorical clues for how to choose what happens. Someone else said he's basically playing a choice-based game with his life, but with some knowledge of where each choice goes.

She demands a witch pre-quel and you shall get said witch pre-quel... HBO is actually producing and shooting a show called the sisterhood about these witches, SO EXCITEDDD

My home town Jordan! Incredible movie, masterwork! Watched it twice in Imax

People have explained the politics pretty well so I’ll give a brief pre-history. Humankind built AI which enslaved them for untold centuries. A revolution was led by a few individuals, among them Atriedes, Harkonians, etc. A long war against the AI finally ended in freedom for humans. Humankind outlawed computers and robots. Talented humans formed guilds. Men with mental spatial abilities eventually became transformed by spice into spacing guild navigators. Women with more empathetic mental powers eventually became the BG. Men with mathematical powers became human computers called Mentats, the guys with white eyes. Other specialties developed. Spice is critical form space travel, life extension, mental powers, etc. Part of Herbert’s world building is a warning against the separation and fracturing of the human race. Of course the Fremen and Dune represent Arabia and the spice is oil. The Fremen religion is a mix of Buddhism and Islam. Read the book. It is really the basis of modern science fiction fantasy. The 1980s film by David Lynch is flawed and rushed, but it manages to tell the abridged story. The SYFI series adapts Dune, Dune Messiah, and God Emperor, not perfectly but entertainingly.

12:50 Bagpipe skeptic and enthusiast. Lol!

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will allow it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain." -Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear

The reason she reacted so strongly to the word "maker" was because the Fremen call the Worms "makers". I won't spoil why. In the novel what Jessica is about to say is "it's a maker of death", just in reference to the killing power of the blade...but the Shadout Mapes takes it a different way, thus opening the way.

When I first saw the trailer I thought it was fake looking when mamoa Is jumping towards the sadakaar, Obviously a wire stunt, but in the movie if you look closely hes wearing a suspensor belt to help him jump higher.

The dart is a clever bit of foresight into military technology. Shields make bullets useless so they switched back to blades. The dark is designed to slowly penetrate the shield. It worked because the Duke couldn’t grasp it in time. Duncan was shot on the chest so was able to deflect it.

i watched Dune last week and absolutely loved it! i wanna go back to the cinema to watch it again

The book is incredible.

In the Dune lore, the Harkonnens are incredibly rich from years of ruling Arrakis and the Atreides are incredibly influential amongst the other houses. Both of these things threaten the Emperor and his interests. So by putting the two houses against each other on the planet of Arrakis, he cripples both houses and strengthens his position in the universe.

Star Wars along with a great deal of other SciFi and other modern fiction are based on Dune. It is easily the most influential SciFi book since HG Wells and is akin to Tolkien's LOTR is to Fantasy

The Dune books were the most influential sci-fi ever written. The makers of Star Wars said they borrowed very heavily from it. There are no aliens. All of the populated planets were colonized centuries ago by humans. Paul is 15. The Duke is training him to eventually take his place. Jessica is training him as a Bene Gesserit. Duncan Idaho and Gerny are training him as a warrior. Dr. Yueh is training him in medicine, and Thufir is training him as a Mentat, sort of a human computer. To take a life is to take your own, killing Jamis ended his life as Paul Atreides, but he must go into the desert to become Muad'Dib, the One.

You're in luck. HBO is set to produce a prequel Bene Gesserit spin-off show called "Dune: The Sisterhood", but no idea when it will be released. Note about the politics: House Atreides is popular among the Landsraad ("noble houses" of the galaxy), House Harkonnen are very wealthy in the galaxy (wealthier than the Emperor). What better way for the Emperor to eliminate both threats than to pit one family against the other (and secretly put his thumb on the scales to assist one side over the other)? The Atreides are wiped out and the Harkonnens are financially hampered with the cost of the invasion. Since both houses have been in a centuries-long feud, the invasion will appear as just a personal vendetta between houses to the rest of the Landsraad and the Emperor's hand will appear clean.

So, clarifications that aren't spoilers: Spice makes you live longer and makes you able to see things, including *possible* futures (Paul befriends Jamis, Chani kills Paul) and the past, particularly the past of your ancestors. There are many specialized groups of people who have trained themselves to do things, sometimes augmented by Spice. The Bene Geserit can see a limited view of the future, control people with the voice, advanced martial arts, and have very advanced propaganda sociology and psychology. The Spacing Guild also have the ability to see the future which they use to navigate their ships. Mentats (the guys with the tattoos on their lips and who do the eyes rolling up thing) are living supercomputers. The Bene Geserit have been trying to create a male version of themselves who can see into a blind spot they have in seeing the future. The Bene Geserit have also been seeding religions with prophecies including a mix of genuine prescience with engineered prophecies they can use to control people. They have tweaked some of those prophecies among the the Fremen to ready them for Paul and Jessica. Leto Aterides is a basically good person who wants to be a good leader for the people under his authority, including the Fremen. In Chani's opening narration, she was assuming the Atredies would be no different from the Harkonnens. You can think of it as a case of unreliable narrator, if a very understandable one given her history, and that he is a hereditary aristocrat and who is showing up to rule her planet without her people having any say in it. She doesn't know he wants to befriend the Fremen or that he had no more say in being sent to rule Arrakis than she did and it's not clear how much of a difference that would make to her if she did know. The most important thing to understand is this story is a criticism of simple "good guys vs bag guys" narratives. You're safe with thinking of anyone using the name "Harkonnen" as just being bad guys but otherwise try not to pigeon hole anyone as simply "good" or "bad". Everyone has their share of blood on their hands by the end, everyone.

Leto is a good guy... by the circunstances of his birth at least. Altought he is the Duke of a Great House, wich is a bad thing in itself, he treats his paople fairly. A lot of his people are actually fugitives and freed slaves from other Great Houses (like Gurney who was a slave to the harkonnens). Leto also loathes the cast system of the empire and turning running away with his family and his people to some remote place outside the imperial rule, but he knows it would only mean death to them all.

HBO has a fair breakdown about the houses and production. Def worth checking out for newbies to the world of Dune. It isnt in-depth, but a helpful introduction.

I haven’t seen anyone else bring it up so I thought I’d add my own two cents regarding Dr Yue’s betrayal. I feel like he’s trying to walk a very fine line here. On one hand; given the nature of the situation, he knows that someone will betray the Duke sooner or later. The Harkonnens have some very unpleasant and/or persuasive means of getting what they want out of those less powerful. Case in point, their… custody of his wife, Wanna. On the other hand; we have his loyalty to House Atreides and Leto in particular. Leto is a man who values those he is close to, his honour and his legacy above all else. Yue knows this about him. I think that he is forced into betraying the duke, then attempting to make the best of a bad situation by trying to save who he can and mitigate the long term damage. If anyone else was betraying the Atreides, they likely wouldn’t care about the other family members, collateral damage, any of that. If it is someone who cares - like Yue - then they can do what they can to follow the letter of their agreement while simultaneously saving who they can and setting the arseholes up to fail in the future. In this case; by arranging to give Paul and Jessica the best possible chance he could; giving the means for remnants of the Atreides to regroup in the desert; and giving Leto the chance to “if I’m going down I’m taking you with me” Baron Harkonnen.

Hi Jessa and Alex. I have a really easy answer for Duke Leto (Oscar Issac's character) and the politics. Duke Leto is a very noble man, (and the emperors distsnt cousin) who is very popular for being just an honorable with the other noble houses. Many would say that Duke Leto is what an Emperor should be. The Emperor didnt like that. So he essentially had House Atreides slaughtered using their feud with the Harkonnens as a cover. And no. Gurney (Josh Brolin) had no on screen death. Last we see him he is charging into the fray

Dune: The Sisterhood... In June 2019, Legendary Television announced it is producing a spin-off series, Dune: The Sisterhood, for WarnerMedia's streaming service, HBO Max. The series serves as a prequel to the film and centers on the Bene Gesserit. Initially, Villeneuve was going to direct the series' pilot, with Spaihts writing the screenplay and Dana Calvo as showrunner for the series. In November 2019, Spaihts left the series as writer to focus on the sequel film. Spaihts and Villeneuve remain as executive producers along with Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, and Kim Herbert. In July 2021, Diane Ademu-John took over as showrunner. Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve confirmed in March 2022 that the show is still in development. In April 2022, it was announced that Johan Renck will direct the first two episodes.

In the fight scene between the Harkonnen and Atreides on the stairs the sheilds were working. Everyone is trained to fight in such a way as they penetrate the shield by slowing down their attacks at the last minute - or something like that. You see that when Gurney is training Paul. As a slight aside, when Paul is fighting Jamis the freman think Paul is toying with Jamis because of this training. He would defend well but use this slow attack because of the shield training. Hopefully I remembered this right. I read the books decades ago.

Hehe. EVERYTHING you say you want from the second movie you are going to get and more. I was sitting there checking off the boxes with you.

FYI: Pre-Covid, HBO was planning a Bene Gesserit TV series.

I loved that you caught the "characterization of the indigenous people as dangerous and unreliable so that we can justify ourselves stealing all of their natural resource for our very crucial space travel"! I haven't seen any other reactors catch that yet and it was super intentional by the author, Frank Herbert. One of the main themes and intents of the novel is a critique of Western imperialism and how it exploits indigenous people, cultures, and natural resources (found both in the text itself as well as in interviews with him). I particularly love the way that the Fremen are presented to us first as "primitive" and "dangerous" only for us to find out later that they're actually very sophisticated (e.g. stillsuits). A couple of other main themes include the corruption of power, as well as religious fundamentalism and the way it's wielded by outsiders for their own personal or political gain. Can't wait to see y'all react to Pt. 2 (as well as watch it myself). Great reaction as always!

Team Fremen! Welcome to the Sietch! 💙

I just clicked on this for the “doin it” pun in the title. *golf clap*

They missed the part where Leto points out that he doesn't want to oppress the Fremen; he wants an alliance. Big redeeming quality imo

They kind of messed up Dr. Yueh’s poison tooth scene in this version. The reason he had to put the tooth in Duke Leto was because, as a traitor, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen would not get anywhere near him for fear of an assassination attempt, especially with what they did to his wife, and told his men “Back! Keep the traitor away from me!” It was the Baron’s twisted Mentat Piter de Vries that killed Yueh with a poison blade to the back. This version has the Baron get right in Yueh’s face, so Yueh could have just put the tooth in himself. The Baron didn’t even activate his shield while he approached Yueh, he only activated it when he approached Leto, as Leto mumbled to draw him in. Wellington Yueh had known for years that his wife was dead, and was shocked and surprised when the Baron teased him with a statement of “You wish to join your wife, traitor? Do you wish to join her?” Yueh asks surprised, “She lives?!” Baron, always a player of words, meant join her in death as Piter sank his blade in Wellington’s descending aorta, through the back. Even in this version, the humanoid spider monster that was supposed to be Wanna was a mindless aberration, and no longer the woman Wellington knew and loved. So, there’s no reason he wouldn’t have had a poison tooth of his own, and have been willing to use it if the opportunity arose, but he knew the Baron would never approach him, but would want to gloat over Leto, his prize, and Baron wanted Leto’s signet ring for himself. That was left out. The scene where the Atreides are inspecting the spice silos, and are talking about bringing Doctor Kynes with them on an inspection of the spice sands, and Thufir clicks his com piece and says “He’s here,” is a little misleading because they were discussing Kynes, Thufir says “He’s here,” and it’s Duncan who’s actually here. Kynes doesn’t show up till a bit later. Timing issue… Also the scene with the harvester and the worm, the Harkonnen’s had sabotaged the Carryall’s, and none were available to lift the harvester. There was still a considerable Harkonnen presence on Arrakis that was in the process of being removed. They were left behind as saboteurs, and assassins, like the hunter-seeker operator cemented into the wall six weeks before the Atreides Royal House arrived. Their job was to disrupt the Atreides spice production operation for as long as possible, help make way for the Baron’s attack, and if they lucked into an assassination, all the better for the Harkonnens. This version with the clamp failure doesn’t quite do it for me for some reason. Just feels forced. Without stated Harkonnen sabotage of the Carryall’s, why not just have another one close by on standby? It just doesn’t work for me for some reason. It’s well shot though. And the music definitely helped, but I don’t know. The Hollywood rewrite gives me headaches sometimes. Writers love to change stuff in remakes and almost ruin the remake. This is good, don’t get me wrong, but some parts of the writing just taste bad going down.😝

Yes, it has a "rhythm" even if it's a "weird rhythm" (very Stravinsky.) Cleary, to be the next "dance sensation," cleverly placed "jazz hands" will be required. LOVED the "mating call" at 4:50.

Enjoyed that Jessakin moment.

4:50 that mating call was fantastic xD

They're training him to be well rounded so if he's ever attacked he can defend himself

Came here accidentally, didn't know you were a Star Wars fan, then you roll up with the Sand quote hahahaha

If you still have a chance to see this in a good movie theater I urge you to take that chance before it's out of the line-up. I know the director got a little bit of heat for his comment: "to watch Dune on a TV is like driving a speedboat in a bathtub." And it's fine watching it on TV to follow the story. But seeing this on a big screen with good quality surround sound is such a different experience. The music and sounds fill the space and feeling the bass with Dune's excellent sound design is really the best way to experience this movie. The big open space shots work better on a big screen too, it makes it feel like a window into this universe. I watched Dune in theater last Friday and was really happy to have not missed the experience.

Oh and the portal thing you were talking about is a Guild highliner. They do appear to just be portals in this but in the books they actually travel from place to place by folding space its self (traveling without moving). The Guild are sooooooooooo important in the books so I was a little surprised that we barely saw anything from them in the movie. So the Guild have the monopoly on space travel because without navigation folding space is really dangerous. But the guild use massive spice overdoses to mutate humans into what they call navigators. They are no longer human but have a small amount of the same prescience that Paul has. Making them another very dangerous and powerful faction in the series.

1. "I demand a witch prequel" - Oh it's better than that, they are getting their own series. 2. "I thought he was supposed to be your friend" - That got me too. It basically reveals that he doesn't see "the" future, since it isn't written. Only possible futures. He can basically use a future that never happens to benefit him in the present. 3. "Did I get that right?" - The shield blocks fast things like bullets, but must allow air so they don't suffocate. That's why they do hand-to-hand combat. Frank Herbert is a genius. 4. Someone correct me on this, but I believe the Fremen arrived after the planet was already being mined for Spice. Like all humans, they aren't 'technically' indigenous. But they are kinda stuck there. Like the Wildlings 5. "I don't understand the " - IMO, not only does the Emperor forbid her to speak, but as Fremen, she's probably been unsure of yet another family ruling the planet. The story itself is riddled with cases of knowing what is going to happen, and being powerless or unwilling to change it. In the Atreides case, they knew about the Harkonnen/Emperor's plan, and wanted to make the best of it rather than stop it outright. 6. "They can choose the gender of the baby, or at least know?" - The Bene Gesserit basically have master of their own bodies to an insane degree. Not sure why she sniffed the guy later, but she could probably tell a LOT about him from that sniff. His age, health, diet, emotional state, and intentions. 7. "She said taking a life takes one's own life. She also said he must die to become the messiah." - It's a bit of a riddle. His old self must die to become the messiah. By killing him, he kills his old self.

Pretty interesting setup. I never read the books. Book 1 is on my shelf. May read it b4 pt2

The "riddle" that the strange voices were talking about was more about Paul's inner turmoil about killing a person. His mother before said "Paul has never killed a person before" meaning that, for the Kwisatz Haderach to rise, Paul AKA "the innocent Paul who has never killed a person before" needed to die by killing his opponent, or else both Paul and the Kwisatz Haderach would die.

14:46 The Bedouin wore black wool forever. It's a common misconception that black attracts sunlight but actually it absorbs light. If you touched the surface of his cloths they would be noticably hotter than if he were wearing white but that doesn't mean that his skin underneath is hotter, especially if he wears a loose outter layer with a more close fitting inner layer.