The Dune Thread
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Re: The Dune Thread
I consider his novel The White Plague
one of the best
Is it science fiction? Not really
Same for the Santaroga barrier
one of the best
Is it science fiction? Not really
Same for the Santaroga barrier
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Re: The Dune Thread
I call him a PsiFi writer. Nearly all his novels require supernatural abilities for the plots to work.
The White Plague is an exception, as is Hellstrom's Hive.
The White Plague is an exception, as is Hellstrom's Hive.
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Re: The Dune Thread
What about the Dragon in the Sea?asthmatic camel wrote: ↑Sun Sep 13, 2020 3:04 pm I call him a PsiFi writer. Nearly all his novels require supernatural abilities for the plots to work.
The White Plague is an exception, as is Hellstrom's Hive.
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Re: The Dune Thread
I forgot that one. To be fair, when Herbert was writing, "psi powers" were a popular theme in SciFi, (think Spock's "mind-meld" and Star Wars' "Force"), and many scientists still took the subject seriously.
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Re: The Dune Thread
Pirated it, thankfully.
Read it ba k in the day. The flick brought the horror back.
What a steaming pile of self referential, self conscious, oh too precious, self consciously arcane and opaque crap.
The plot holes in the movie were legion and fucking stupid.
How this pulsating heap of slime got made is beyond me.
Jesus, I thought major sedatives were controlled.
1 hour in and I was comatose.
Read it ba k in the day. The flick brought the horror back.
What a steaming pile of self referential, self conscious, oh too precious, self consciously arcane and opaque crap.
The plot holes in the movie were legion and fucking stupid.
How this pulsating heap of slime got made is beyond me.
Jesus, I thought major sedatives were controlled.
1 hour in and I was comatose.
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Re: The Dune Thread
The Santaroga Barrierasthmatic camel wrote: ↑Sun Sep 13, 2020 2:56 pm Same here. More of a fantasy writer than the "hard SciFi" writers I really like but he gets a pass because he was so clever. :)
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Re: The Dune Thread
Was that the one with "Jaspers"? A kind of low-budget "Spice"? As I recall, it embued its users with supernatural abilites.robinson wrote: ↑Mon Oct 25, 2021 5:14 amThe Santaroga Barrierasthmatic camel wrote: ↑Sun Sep 13, 2020 2:56 pm Same here. More of a fantasy writer than the "hard SciFi" writers I really like but he gets a pass because he was so clever. :)
Herbert generally used a SciFi background to explore topics of interest to him: ecology, philosophy, theology, politics etc.
Last edited by asthmatic camel on Mon Oct 25, 2021 6:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Dune Thread
Don't mince your words, ed, grow a pair and tell us how you really feel!ed wrote: ↑Mon Oct 25, 2021 12:44 am Pirated it, thankfully.
Read it ba k in the day. The flick brought the horror back.
What a steaming pile of self referential, self conscious, oh too precious, self consciously arcane and opaque crap.
The plot holes in the movie were legion and fucking stupid.
How this pulsating heap of slime got made is beyond me.
Jesus, I thought major sedatives were controlled.
1 hour in and I was comatose.
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Re: The Dune Thread
Super advanced society with magic of all things and they use tractors to "mine" this crap that settles on the surface. A substance that they somehow cannot reverse engineer and create using bot-like beings like Bruce to turn out by the ton.
Got it.
Oh yeah, "helicopters" that cannot autorotate in an emergency. Jesus on a crutch.
Got it.
Oh yeah, "helicopters" that cannot autorotate in an emergency. Jesus on a crutch.
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Re: The Dune Thread
Then what is the response?
"Well, Frank Herbert was in his turgid phase when he wrote that. The tumor was removed shortly afterwards."
Oh oh oh
The "Battle for Arrakis" occurs in the nighttime!!! The warm bosom of comfort for inept filmmakers. Viz Game of Thrones Season 8.
And the "doctor" who has these arcane and mystical approaches to "medicine" that involve laying on of hands is the stereotypical chinese/thai/oriental racist type right out of Sax Rohmer's Fu Man Chu!!!! Amazing and hilarious. And they call him "Doctor" with a straight face. Like calling an idiot that puts heated glass jars on your back to "draw out the poisons" "Doctor".
And the characters have these weird dots on their faces. Sometimes on their lips, sometimes on their foreheads. They may even move around. No rhyme or reason, they are there. It is meant, I am sure, to illustrate in a "subtle" way some sort of future class system thus providing an opaque commentary on our own society.
Well, at least the Duke's thoroughly incompetent, to the point of complicity in his overthrow, head of security is a jovial, fat Chinese looking fucker.
In fact, come to think of it, the Duke's entire staff, down to his duplicitous concubine, are disloyal or incompetent. Duncan "Idaho" my left testicle. Can anyone here spell "contrived"?
It's coming back to me now, why I thought that the original book was a piece of amateurish crap. Whenever there was a plot hole, or something incongruous or simply inexplicable in the storyline, it was explained away by treachery. That was the Deus ex machina of Herbert. Sloppy and simplistic. And he conjured up all these advanced trappings of an advanced civilization to divert attention from his ineptitude as a storyteller.
And the treachery only went one way: to House Atrides.
I am getting worked up now.
ETA I am changing my name to Horace Cincinnati.
"Well, Frank Herbert was in his turgid phase when he wrote that. The tumor was removed shortly afterwards."
Oh oh oh
The "Battle for Arrakis" occurs in the nighttime!!! The warm bosom of comfort for inept filmmakers. Viz Game of Thrones Season 8.
And the "doctor" who has these arcane and mystical approaches to "medicine" that involve laying on of hands is the stereotypical chinese/thai/oriental racist type right out of Sax Rohmer's Fu Man Chu!!!! Amazing and hilarious. And they call him "Doctor" with a straight face. Like calling an idiot that puts heated glass jars on your back to "draw out the poisons" "Doctor".
And the characters have these weird dots on their faces. Sometimes on their lips, sometimes on their foreheads. They may even move around. No rhyme or reason, they are there. It is meant, I am sure, to illustrate in a "subtle" way some sort of future class system thus providing an opaque commentary on our own society.
Well, at least the Duke's thoroughly incompetent, to the point of complicity in his overthrow, head of security is a jovial, fat Chinese looking fucker.
In fact, come to think of it, the Duke's entire staff, down to his duplicitous concubine, are disloyal or incompetent. Duncan "Idaho" my left testicle. Can anyone here spell "contrived"?
It's coming back to me now, why I thought that the original book was a piece of amateurish crap. Whenever there was a plot hole, or something incongruous or simply inexplicable in the storyline, it was explained away by treachery. That was the Deus ex machina of Herbert. Sloppy and simplistic. And he conjured up all these advanced trappings of an advanced civilization to divert attention from his ineptitude as a storyteller.
And the treachery only went one way: to House Atrides.
I am getting worked up now.
ETA I am changing my name to Horace Cincinnati.
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Re: The Dune Thread
That was the crowning insult.
"The worms are up to 400 meters long"
I heard that I almost vomited.
It is like that wonderfully dismissive remark by Edward I (in Braveheart)
"Irish"
"Metric"
https://i.imgur.com/qEzMLin.gif
"The worms are up to 400 meters long"
I heard that I almost vomited.
It is like that wonderfully dismissive remark by Edward I (in Braveheart)
"Irish"
"Metric"
https://i.imgur.com/qEzMLin.gif
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Re: The Dune Thread
Of all the fantasy, the sand worms of Dune are the most unbelievable
Seriously. Not anything about them is physically possible
Seriously. Not anything about them is physically possible
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Re: The Dune Thread
But once you just suspend disbelief about them
It’s all just great fun and adventure
It’s all just great fun and adventure
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Re: The Dune Thread
I note that soon after finishing this series of "books", Nyarl started acting erratically, behavior that culminated in his disappearance which pre-dated the release of the movie by mere weeks.Nyarlathotep wrote: ↑Sat Feb 01, 2020 3:28 am Since summer I have been reading the Dune series. The original six Frank Herbert novels, plus the two sequels written by his son. FINALLY finished the last one today (Sandworms of Dune).
Draw your own conclusions.
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Re: The Dune Thread
Despite all ed's griping, the book clearly made a lasting impression. Isn't that what art's supposed to be all about, to provoke an emotional response?
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Re: The Dune Thread
So did my last colonoscopy.asthmatic camel wrote: ↑Wed Oct 27, 2021 3:25 amDespite all ed's griping, the book clearly made a lasting impression. Isn't that what art's supposed to be all about, to provoke an emotional response?
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Re: The Dune Thread
That was one of the point of the story. Humanity is doomed because it's predictable and will fail due to treachery or AI. Until the Golden Path is ushered.ed wrote: ↑Mon Oct 25, 2021 11:11 am
In fact, come to think of it, the Duke's entire staff, down to his duplicitous concubine, are disloyal or incompetent. Duncan "Idaho" my left testicle. Can anyone here spell "contrived"?
It's coming back to me now, why I thought that the original book was a piece of amateurish crap. Whenever there was a plot hole, or something incongruous or simply inexplicable in the storyline, it was explained away by treachery. That was the Deus ex machina of Herbert. Sloppy and simplistic. And he conjured up all these advanced trappings of an advanced civilization to divert attention from his ineptitude as a storyteller.
And the treachery only went one way: to House Atrides.
I am getting worked up now.
ETA I am changing my name to Horace Cincinnati.
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Re: The Dune Thread
I'm more verbose in speaking than writing. If you want to have a long conversation on this, I'm available. But I am not writing out Dune's worth of words to defend the work I didn't write.
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Re: The Dune Thread
I call bullshit on any list that puts any American river on the same footing as the fucking corpse laden Ganges.asthmatic camel wrote: ↑Fri Oct 29, 2021 5:25 am https://earthandhuman.org/most-polluted ... the-world/
Jesus Christ. The Ganges? With record size turtles that feed on human flesh?
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Re: The Dune Thread
As I said, turtles.
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com ... f=1&nofb=1
Up to 12' long and ravenous.
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com ... f=1&nofb=1
Up to 12' long and ravenous.
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Re: The Dune Thread
I enjoyed Dune in the same way as TLOR: it's pure escapism. Now, if you want real SciFi, I've got a very long list...