Alt Shift X took a break, and now we're back -- working on a big Jon Snow video, and more Dune videos. Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: go.nebula.tv/altshiftx Tale Foundry’s Dune genre video: nebula.tv/videos/talefoundry-dune-scifi-or-fantasy?ref=altshiftx Lindsay Ellis’ Lord of the Rings video: nebula.tv/videos/lindsayellis-how-they-adapted-lord-of-the-rings?ref=altshiftx
To add onto Baron Harkonnen being a luxury and sensation obsessed individual; the fact that he's spending most of his time on dune - a place where water is in absurdly short supply and desperately sought after - bathing and immersed in water only adds to the level of self indulgence, greed and cruelty. It's a display for him, a way of indulging in the ability to have things specifically in a manner that deprives others.
The walls look greyish-black, therefore that particular scene probably does not take place inside the Arrakeen Palace. It's possibly Carthag or Geidi Prime.
That’s a great find. Reminds me of the Niander Wallace character in Blade Runner 2049 (another Villeneuve film coincidentally) who’s entire living space is made of wood in a place/time where the land is ravaged and bare. A group of trees are hard to come by let alone an entire estate crafted out of wood. A really subtle way of displaying extravagance and decadence.
One of my favorite moments was when stilgar spat towards leto atreides as a sign of respect. Because water is so precious. They wear suits that recycle all of the water they lose through sweat and urine, so the thing that would normally be offensive is now a gesture of respect. I thought it was amazing story telling in the shortest amount of time. spice might be the most valuable good in the galaxy, but on arakis water is the most valuable.
On a side note: Baron Harkonnen is actually Jessica's father. Due to the breeding program of the Bene Gesserit to bring forth the Kwisatz Haderach. So he is also Paul's other grandfather. In this of course Jessica disobeyed the Bene Gesserit by getting deliberately pregnant from Leto, which was not according to the plans of the Bene Gesserit.
My favorite little thing about Dune lore is that the Bene Gesserit wanted Paul to be a woman specifically because they wanted to marry them to Feyd Rautha. The union between Feyd and Paul would be the Kwizats haderach. I've always liked the fact that they are antagonists when the course of destiny was for them to be husband and wife; it's a neat twist.
this is one of their plans that seemed silly to me. They wanted to produce the Kwisatz Haderach and unite the Houses Harkonnen and Atreides. I can't imagine any way that Leto would let his daughter marry a Harkonnen beast, not while the Baron was alive at the very least, probably not long after either. Sisters be tripping.
@@Albtraum_TDDC Well their hope was to induct fem!Paul into the Bene Gesserit, like his mother. A powerful one at that. From there, the opportunity to sceme and manipulate is endless; do not forget that Leto and Jessica's relationship being one of genuine love is quite unusual.
Not Paul, but whoever the girl that would've been born instead as Jessica was ordered to kill any boys... it's not the same thing, Jesica's second child would have worked just as well as she has all the abilities that Paul has except the ability to see the future as that belongs only to the men who awaken.
I thought that Bene women could decide what sex they would bear. Jessica loved Leto so she gave him the son he wanted. She didn’t care about preserving any family lines or anything else.
I always liked the parallel between the old duke's fight against a bull and Duke Leto's fight against the Harkonnen, whose name is based on the Finnish surname Härkönen, härkä meaning an ox.
@jg5879 maybe the atreides are the bull as well. The bene gesserit and the imperium tried to control the atreides line only for it to blow up in their face, with Paul and Leto II both eventually having disastrous effects on those two factions and the universe as a whole
I love that you describe Feyd-Rautha as a cross between a rockstar and a serial killer, and he's played by Austin Butler, whose two biggest roles have been playing Elvis and a member of the Manson Family. Just a cool coincidence I'm sure, but can't help but point it out.
I've always thought that Irulan was inspired by the real Byzantine princess Anna Komnene, daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. She's famous for writing the Alexiad, detailing the events of court during her father's reign. Ties into the 'adventurer prince' aspect of Paul too, as he'd be similar to Bohemond in the Alexiad.
Yes, now that you mention it it’s obvious she’s inspired by Anna Komnene. Before reading it I knew of her description of Bohemond, whom she describes as a physically perfect human being, “as if carved by Polycleitos himself” or something like that. But when you read the whole thing that’s just how she describes the main people involved, they are all basically godlike in beauty. It seems just to have been a literary trope, but when you google Bohemond her description of him often gets quoted without that context being mentioned.
@@ScienzaMagia that would be pretty funny, she really did describe basically everybody as godlike, like she describes Sikelgaita (the second wife of Robert Guiscard) as being a second Pallas or Athena when she was in full armor in battle against the armies of the Byzantium Empire
Anna's actual husband, Nicefor Bryennios the Younger was a Byzantine general and the right-hand-man to her father, emperor Alexios. He could've been inspiration here too. His story is particularly interesting because he was captured in young age and by none other than Alexios himself. Nicefor was spared due to his "advantages of body and mind" and gradually climbed the ladder of Byzantine hierarchy, becoming Alexios' second-in-command as "Kaisar" (co-ruler) and "Panhypersevastos" (the Most Venerable One); the second title was supposedly invented exclusively for Nicefor, as was custom at Byzantine court were titles were a currency. Bryennios also took part in the last great battle won by Alexios against Seljuk Turks at Philomelion in 1117 AD and is said to personally participate in combat there, which was considered too risky by most Eastern commanders. Nonetheless, that's totally based. After all of that transpired Nicefor outlived his emperor and betrayed his wife's trust for the greater cause of peace in Byzantium. In 1119 AD Anna wanted to usurp the throne from her brother John II Komnenos; she planned to kill her own sibling and crown herself an empress along with Nicefor. Bryennios passively participated in preparations for a coup only to (in?)famously betray the conspirators and tell the emperor the truth mere days before it came to pass. John was (understandably) furious and sent Anna to a monastery where she spent the rest of her life writing the "Alexiad" we know and love, while Nicefor remained second-in-command to the second emperor he served, until his death of illness and old age in 1137 AD. Read about him and praise this unsung gigachad of a hero. He was a historian as well as his wife (a bit underrated in comparison to her, I would say!) and certain passages from his works suggest his betrayal of Anna's coup was enacted out of loyalty to the Empire itself: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikephoros_Bryennios_the_Younger
Hands down the most excellent commentary channel on RUclips. None of your comparisons feel like a reach, the symbolism you recognize is always insightful, I have never once thought “that’s probably not what the director/writer intended” or, worse, “well, duh, that’s not even subtext” the way I constantly do when watching the bigger commentary or “Easter egg” trailer breakdowns. So excited to watch your video once the movie comes out!
The most amazing part of the film for me, was that there wasn’t ever a point while I was watching where I was taken out of the illusion or story for even a second, it was enthralling, suspenseful, amazingly produced and well acted, I constantly wanted more information but was NEVER confused about the story. I can’t wait to see the second film.
Baron Harkonnen eating when Leto was naked in the chair pulled me right out of it. It made me roll my eyes so hard at the overused cliché. Here was this magnificent film...and that scene took away the magic for me. Really disappointing.
@@weatheranddarkness Unfortunately, I'm not being sarcastic. It's because it's cliché. The villain is ALWAYS eating - usually in a gross way. Harkonnen, Denethor etc etc. I couldn't believe such an overused trope would be put in such an amazing film.
This Dune remake so far is not disappointing at all. Great take on a very difficult and complex book series. Denis Villeneuve interpretation, storytelling, insights on the technology and choice of visual effects, including lenses, lights and shadows is impressive. He has become one of my favorite directors.
@@andreww4751He's making a video on Jon Snow. Is it really inconceivable that someone interested in gritty fantasy would also take interest in gritty sci-fi?
@@starseeingthe craziest thing too is the Jon Snow video is probably gonna be as long (if not, longer) than the Tyrion video so the wait would be well worth it. Don’t get how people can’t be patient
literally dropped down here to give the same sentiments.... but couldn't have said it better.... it would be a strikingly less enjoyable world without these canonical summaries.
Irulan did do extensive investigations in the books, and she was more than a minor character. Irulan didn't completely agree with her father, and had her own spies that she sent to gather information. And Paul meets Irulan on Arrakis, the emporor sends her there to gather inforamtion about the Attredies. Irulan was very fascinated with Paul in the book, and was a major player in palace intrigue.
Your videos are the absolute best man. You have this amazing talent of simplifying complex plots/topics and making them easily understood and very intriguing. Thank you, could not be more excited for Dune Part II
I've been enjoying it so far. I started on the books after seeing Dune Part I and I'm on God Emperor now. Everything Paul is doing in these movies feels so small in comparison.
Man I don’t have the words to describe my elation that you’re making videos again. I’m not joking when I say that I’ve watched every video on this channel at least twice. Great stuff Schwifty!
I love these explanations on Dune, I'm not sure why I didn't get into the books but the latest movie, and lore explained by content creators have gotten me very interested Thankyou for the vid!
It's interesting that in the books, Bene Gesserit wanted Paul to be born a woman, marry her to Feyd Rautha, and then, their child with their combined genetics would be the Chosen One. Instead, they both end up fighting each other in the end, but their destinies were inter-twined from before.
What they forgot about was the fact that Jessica's father was the Baron Harkonnen. So, in essence, they ended up with that genetic mix after a fashion. Paul's second son (the first was killed by either Harkonnen, or Sardaukar, I can't recall which precisely), went on to become the God Emperor of the galaxy.
@@mikeford963 yes, the bene gesserit just forgot about the fact that they already crossed the harkonen and atreides lines once 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
@@mikeford963they didn't forget, they wanted to 'reinforce' their desired genetic mutation. The Sisterhood didn't believe that a male offspring from Jessica and Leto would be strong enough to have the control of mind that is needed. They have a pretty poor opinion of men in general, they consider them too led by their emotions, not totally ' human' in their meaning of the word. They didn't expect Paul to pass the test with the 'box of pain'.
The movie seems to want to promote the importance of Irulan on the same level as book without having her only do narration or something. Given what happens with her later in the books, it’s an interesting choice to see but also understandable.
@mfnickster9754 in the same vein as malevichs black square, maybe. Lynchs Dune is an adaptation with some chest hair, even if it strays further from the original than the new one.
Im glad for people like you and Quinn existing. I watched the movie for the first time not knowing anything about Dune and it was meh. Knowing more about it got me hooked and I eagerly expect November
It’s probably important to note that there’s a 2 year time jump in the book. I’m imagining that’s going to be implemented as happening between the two films.
@@soufian2733 that's what I'm thinking. Maybe some sort of montage showing him learning how to live as a fremen that ends with him driving his first worm
The shot of Paul facing Feyd is _extremely_ interesting to me, because the set of this trailer and how Denis is framing it feels like a mid point, which is just wild to me. Paul does not fight Feyd at a _mid point_ in the book, and we've seen _nothing_ on Alia. The fleshing out of both Chani and Irulan, and the emphasis on Jessica taking her place as a _sayyadina_ of the Fremen in particular also adds to a lengthening of the storytelling overall. Villeneuve has something up his sleeve here, and I'm very, _very_ curious what he's going to do with his translation of Herbert's work. Great work as always, Alt. So glad to hear from you again!
My feeling is that we see more of the fallout of Paul’s rise to power. My fear with an adaptation has always been that the original message Dune had about the nature of heroes and power would be lost in the modern day, but if the repercussions of Paul becoming Emperor would shown to audience sooner, maybe people would get it.
@@guccifer764Villeneuve has said repeatedly that he wants to do a trilogy with the third film adapting Messiah. Perhaps he wants to depict the great Jihad in the last act of this movie to set that up. A film can't as easily explain what happened in-between instalments as a book can.
Watched this last night. This movie will sit in my top 10 over all’s best movies. It was lord of the rings long but that’s all good because as you’re watching you don’t want it to end. Stunning visuals, epic storyline that just keeps building up and up and then delivers the punch just at the right time. 5 out of 5 stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I personally liked the additions to Irulan in the TV series. The books had her just do things but I never believed in her motivations because she was so two dimensional.
Tbh between book 1-2-3 she isn't so much three dimensional as she is three different characters with not much to ground it as character development. It is interesting how in the miniseries she ended up picking some of Margot Fenring's storyline in Dune, only for Wencisia to pick up her less sympathetic storyline in Dune Messiah - I'll be interested to see how Villeneuve handles on the one hand the Paul/Chani/Irulan triangle that's quite central to the events of Messiah, and the Fenrings on the other since Margot made it into this one.
Nice to see Dune finally getting proper attention in Hollywood.. The CG of the miniseries and the first attempt were a little atrocious though good for their time. Dune is an incredibly powerful read and was one of the first novels I ever picked up... Glad to see so many a list actors signed on to do it proper justice.
As to that final quote from Kynes, the entire message that Frank Herbert was trying to convey with the Dune Saga was, simply, Charismatic Leaders should come with Warning Labels.
I was introduced to Dune with the SYFY miniseries and absolutely loved it, but it was pretty low budget for a story that epic. I was so happy to hear they were making a movie and visually really loved the first Dune, but found it lacking in action. I can't wait for the next one. I hope it doesn't disappoint, they do seem to be really putting in the work of world building. 🥰🥰🥰
I couldn’t believe my ears, but KickThePJ you’ve got a very recognizable voice and say specific words in a way that I knew it was you! Good on ya for building such a great channel.
Please do a review of the new movie! I have read the first dune book but after watching your video I understand the book more then I ever could! You structure everything in such a digestible manner!
8:02 Thank you. Not often do I see reviewers or loremasters speak about the mini series. I get that many hated the cheapness and the funky costumes. But, the Shakespearean direction, dialogues and the truly dreamscape visions were some of the strong points, at least for me. In fact, for me, the show captured a Sci-fi atmosphere that was so unlike its contemporaries that it inspired me in ways that I didn't even know existed. From Linguistics, Science, Archaeology, Architecture to Social Engineering and Religion.
I have both of the miniseries and loved them, yes they were low budget, but they still managed to build the worlds with what they had, color architecture and costumes. I hated they used the same shots over and over like them blowing up Harkannons lol but still I think you're absolutely right, they did a good job imo too
@@BooBuKittyPhuk Exactly. The scene where Paul is confronting Jessica with the true visions of Jihad is burnt in my memory. It was just like a stage play with moving lights but Jessica's horror and fear leaped out at me from the screen. I still watch just that scene once every 2-3 months. 😂. Another favourite is Alia's taunt to Shaddam IV.
I’m ok with princess irulon being a bigger character in this movie than the book. She always intrigued me with the quotes at the beginning of the chapters so it will be interesting to see how they make her a bigger character in the movie.
it also gives her something to do, it's easy enough to tell the audience she's playing a longer game than everyone else besides maybe the bene gesserit but then otherwise she does nothing until the end of the film lol
@@chriscunningham8703 I haven't read the books so idk what she's supposed to look like (other than what ASX said in the vid), but Florence is an amazing actress
I always love the contrast between the 1st book of Dune and later books. 1st book is Paul the hero. After that, Paul becomes everything he fought against.
"Either you die a hero or you live long enough to become the villain"...We learn much more about the limits of Paul's 'Total Power' (he is KH, Mentat, and the most powerful Emperor in the history of the universe, and still feels helpless) in Dune Messiah (Part 3)...and we also see Paul become perhaps, an even worse Emperor than the man he replaced, in terms of how many deaths he caused
And had Jessica complied with the original BG plan, bore a daughter, and been grandmother to the KH, all the Jihad and violence would have been avoided...60 billion people died in the Fremen Jihad...the BG's original plan was to unite the two most powerful, warring Houses (Atreides and Harkonnen) through marriage (the united 'family' would also hold a plurality of CHOAM shares), and their son would become KH and take the Emperor's throne peacefully...no doubt by marrying the Emperor's daughter (why the BG deprived the Emperor a son)....so perhaps it can be said that Jessica caused all that violence by thwarting the BG plan
I never read the books but my buddy has and always talked them up as being great. I asked him what he thought about the movie adaptation and he said considering how in depth the books are and just how much content there is to cover that the movie did a pretty decent job with condensing the content for the screen. I thought the first movie was quite interesting....I really enjoyed it. Looking forward to this one a lot!
Having just watched dune part one for the first time like three days ago I am beyond excited for part two. So much exciting content coming out in the coming years between andor season two and dine part two it’ll be a good few years for sequels.
How you manage analyse to the complex Dune story into this trailer is fricken amazing. I think I'll watch Dune 2 only once and wait until after you have released your first video with your interpretation then watch it again. I read a few of the books a long time ago but this is like an executive summary of a 300 page report. From the way you clarify the scenes from parts of the different books is sublime. Do you have a photographic memory? Apart from your clarifications I humorously smirked by your uses of words. "..the phallic worm" and the Mike Jagger & Sting reference with the Rockstar/Psychopath description. The entrance to the fight scene somehow sexualised by looking like a vulva. Shame I missed these after re-watching The Expanse just recently. Didn't know you did them as well. Impressive.
What I don't like about the movies is the character changes and some missing plot points, but what I absolutely love is the design of everything. The armor and the technology has this nice box like look to it.
Pretty amazed that Count Fenring and his wife are showing up in the movie, I had them counted out from the start. My expectations are pretty low but I'd love to be wrong. It's just so difficult for a film to get into the depths of what makes these books so good.
I’m begging you to make a full breakdown of everything that happens in the second half of the book before dune 2 comes out, your last vid dune movie vs book really helped me understand all the context and character motivations while watching dune for the first time
Been with "DUNE" since the Seventys after reading the first paperback book, DUNE. Have since then read the whole series. That is the way, in my mind, to know "DUNE." Movies are nice but holding paper & reading the books give way more info and satisfaction to the mind.
Only thing you missed is that House Atreides didn't just "take over the planet Arrakis", they were specifically sent to Arrakis, by the Emperor, in a plot to destroy Duke Leto and House Atreides. Duke Leto was rising in status and influence and was seen as a potential rival to the Emperor. The Emperor used the poor spice harvesting of House Harkonnen as an excuse to make the change. Otherwise, excellent video.
They covered that in depth in their earlier video about the part 1 movie. This video is mainly about the trailer for part 2, so it's understandable that they kind of skimmed over the details when recapping part 1.
I watched the Lynch movie before reading the book. I loved it. However, there was quite a bit of sci-fi hand waving, which is practical when you're condensing a story as dense as Dune into a couple hours. When I read the book, I was really surprised how Herbert would describe things that you'd imagine as fantastical to be rather practical and down to earth. Like worm riding. It's every bit as dangerous as you'd imagine. But there's a technique. Who knew? Also, the Fremen attitude toward water is not what you expect. Especially when it comes to water you can't drink like sea water (in the next book). Imagined superpowers come from intense training, selective breeding and in extreme cases, performance enhancing drugs like Spice that can give the user prescience but also mutates the user. Religious aspects had been indoctrinated. People fight with swords and knives? Wouldn't an advanced society have more powerful weapons? Oh they most definitely do. But like everything else, there's a reason for that. Etc... It is kind of the magic of Herbert's world building where he introduces a Universe that seems full of fantasy and then he meticulously pulls away the veil to reveal something much more realistic... much more like our own world. But then, I guess that is the nature of sci-fi and the difference between that and high fantasy.
same here, watched Lynch’s movie first then read the book. When u see the Lynch film you expect those sort of artistic details to be described in the book, the weird designs, the ships for instance, but none of it is. Which is why some ppl call Dune not a straight up sci-fi, since it is mystical in parts. Which is why it remains so unique and fantastic, it doesnt get bogged down in the 60s details of spaceships and weapons and whatnot. Ofc, the way the world operates is very important, but it serves the story of what sort of world it is, the post butlerian world where technology is completely removed in-so-far that nothing is without human surveillance and control.
really good high fantasy does this too. the really bad stuff just gives you a cool premise and then keeps it vague. it can be satisfying to read books of the vague-vibe type but at closer inspection it can cause problems.
@@thomasgorecki1321 lol just stop talking as all your comments REEK of insecurity in EVERY level as Dune 2021 IS the “better movies” for EVERYONE to watch as EVERYONE loves it to death from how phenomenal it all is worldwide which you can’t see or under and at all. Nothing about the movie “wAs cRaP” AT ALL and the only thing that IS is your comments here that you’re badly going around and posing here as insecurely as you are as Dune 2021 is a MASTERPIECE of a movie entirely so!
I am Finnish American, and Harkonen is a Finnish name. I managed to talk to someone on Facebook, and they told me that Frank Herbert worked with a man that he absolutely hated and that’s why he made the Harkonens the evil family in the book. I guess the moral is: never piss off an author!
What I enjoyed about the Dune books were the explanations which went into such detail . The books seemed to have something about them which may never be captured on a film . The Weirding Way was explained as a development of the individual in a way that allowed the practitioner to transcend the ordinary limitations of the mind and body by rigorous physical and psychological training . Not with gadgets as the David Lynch film portrayed . The voice appeared to be also a physical and psychological training which allowed the practitioner to persuade the subject to cooperate . Not some strange distorted speech patterns but rather a practical application of persuasive powers of the individual . When a section of the book was dedicated to how an individual can bend just the tip of a finger and develop yogic methods to control the body , this to me hinted at the potential of individuals in an ever more complex society such as our own technological society such as the present one in which the individual appears diminished by an endless progression of technology this makes sense of "The Butlerian Jihad " "Thou shalt not make machine in man's image ." To me this essence of the books cannot be captured by the films and perhaps the books are not ever going to be satisfactorily transferred to any other media . They are perhaps subversive books . Maybe we just have to read them to gain our own individual understanding of what Frank Herbert was trying to write about in these epic works .
That's not a bad idea but the thing is that not really that much happens in that book IIRC. Actually, the if they started doing the sequels then you would basically have long drawn out sequences of people meditating or speaking to each other in ancient Egyptian.
The increase of the Princess' role in the film actually makes sense from both a filmmaking perspective and a meta-perspective. The entries at the beginning of each chapter, written by her, come from her later role as a propogandist for her Husband, Paul. However, those investigations as a historian would have been her natural inclination. The information came from some experiences. Just because we never see her in motion in the book, doesn't mean she isn't in motion within the book to gain the insights she has. Its a little bit of a stretch, I know. But I can see the progression in the film as a logical next step. Also, Denis isn't simply a fan of the book Dune. He's a fan of the film worlds of Dune. The teaser trailer for the first movie was a Hans Zimmer twist on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Joderoski's original 1970s Dune that never got made was going to have the sound track by Pink Floyd. Stylistically, the uniforms of the Atradies is more in line with David Lynch's Dune than either the Book or the Sci-Fi channel mini-series. However, the ornithopers, staying true to the book, clearly took some inspiration from the Sci-Fi channel. Some of the smaller early ads for the first movie included minor Hans Zimmer elements where you could hear chants of "Soo, soo, sook," they cry of the water merchants of the captial of Arakis whom we never even saw in the film. I see this Dune duet of films more like 1981's Excalibur, which was very wrong from the perspective of any single Arthurian legend source but incorporated and stylized ALL of them for a "meta-Arthurian legend" and it was a fantastic homage to the entire body of work. I think this will be as well.
Such a cool universe, but my favourite is the Bene Gesserit. "Governments, if they endure, always tend increasingly toward aristocratic forms. No government in history has been known to evade this pattern. And as the aristocracy develops, government tends more and more to act exclusively in the interests of the ruling class - whether that class be hereditary royalty, oligarchs of financial empires, or entrenched bureaucracy." - Politics as Repeat Phenomenon: Bene Gesserit Training Manual
Irulan's story throughout the Dune series is more complicated and more important than often clear to the reader, as well as from the Bene Gesserit's point of view. Mind you, there's a subset of the Bene Gesserit that harbors the true memories of very long term plans secret from the vast majority of sisters, including the general leadership. On top of that, the sisters are subject to human emotions like anybody else, despite their self-control training and the demands of obedience from their mothers' memories' voices; therefor personally-motivated defiance and small conspiracies develop. Jessica is one of those aware (somewhat) of her importance in the primary Bene Gesserit breeding program yet defies the sisterhood-a major plot point in the first movie, the gravity of which may elude first time enjoyers of the Dune universe. Large portions of Irulan's tale as written in canon and in Frank Herbert's postmortem (dismissible apocrypha to a substantial portion of the fan base) remains somewhat mysterious. She knows and writes about events she should not know, although she spends a great deal of her life present in the background. As long as the movie version of her character makes sense and remains faithful to canon, and as long as it avoids goofiness and merely gratuitous plots inconsistent with the canon SPIRIT of her character, I'm all in. It was a flaw of Herbert's not to have developed her more; but he likely had not yet fleshed out the magnitude of her importance when he wrote the first books. So far, I am greatly pleased with this cinematic rendition. In fact, the previous movies had diverged or deleted so much from the scripts that I have recently come to realize I have forgotten many details later in the first book. I'm jazzed. I've been obsessed with the Dune universe since introduced to it in 8th Grade. All of my original copies of every Dune book remains in my library; but I haven't read the original trilogy in two or three decades. Time to dig them out of storage!
I've missed your channel; it is very nice to have you back. (GoT is "dead to me" -- I hate how they destroyed such a great thing with the final 1-2 years (-_-;).) A very sad side effect of that is beautiful channels like this one have been abandoned. I am glad to see we have some material (Dune) worth your excellent commentary. ((I've missed your voice and beautiful video style.)) Keep up the great work, Cheers -
It will be interesting to be able to compare all three live action adaptations of Dune and the choices they made once we have a complete picture for Villeneuve’s take. All so far have their own takes on the source material that have influenced the following ones as much as the book itself at times.
Your videos are so cool man. Very well done, genuinely excited to see what’s next. This Movie along with GTA 6 might be some of the biggest releases this coming year
Wish they would have kept the weirding module. Sound as a weapon was so cool, and playing Emperor Battle for Dune, final mission using Fedaykin hidden and covered by rocks repeatedly killing Harkonnen heavy attack tanks and vehicles, seeing that circular wave of sound rip through the armor, CHA..... So badass.
is it spoilers? Count Fenring and Feyd-Rautha are super special characters in a way you don't bring up - they were both potential endpoints of the millennia long Bene Gesserit breeding program, failed chances at the Kwizatz Hadderach. Hasimir wasn't just a politician or ally in Saddam V's court, he's also Saddam's personal assassin as the most dangerous combatant in the known worlds, more deadly than even the blademasters of the Ginaz that trained Duncan Idaho. I think the Margot link between them is probably spoilers, but yeah. Feyd & the Fenrings in juxtaposition to Paul as rivals, allies, parallels in other families isn't just, like, personality fill for random NPC adversary slots.
I was going to mention this, but it's _definitely_ spoiler territory, which is why I didn't talk about it. Lady Fenring's position in the film still makes sense though, given that it's basically stated that she's there to be impregnated by Feyd in case something goes wrong with the BG plan. I'm just hoping we get to see the Lady and Count communicate in that weird humming language they use in the book. lmao
before i even start to watch this, I am a Dune film fan because of you, genuinely excited to see what happens in the next movie and I didn't read the book so I don't know what's gonna go down fully, I did watch videos on like what happens after this book, but more or less am still in the dark. I know Paul will probably fight Fae ? and I look forward to him embarrassing the harkonen via defeating Fae, I also look forward to maybe seeing the beginning of his downfall, There is no hero in Dune, just people loosing their minds on drugs, religion and politics, like in the real world, although I say that as an OG star wars fan.
We're not going to see his downfall here. Maybe a vague hint or two of it, but if it ends anything like the original book, it'll be more of an upbeat note than what happens later. "No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero." - taken straight from the book.
@@Brandelwyn I swear I’m going too! I really want to have the visual experience before I read it to see what they left out and to also have a different perspective about it than others who have read it would. I have a copy of it on my shelf waiting to be read, we’ll just have to see if the third movie is going to be apart of the first book as well but from what it seeeems like and what bro bro said, the events that happen in the first two movies will be from the book.
@@arongubbe if youre waiting for a third movie then youll be waiting for a looong time. And its not gonna worth the wait, I can tell ya that already, but the book quadrilogy is already there, waiting for you.
So far yours are best to decode everything from part 1 to trailer in part 2 I am quiet obsessed with this Dune series I think so I have binge watched almost every video on RUclips 😂
Why didn't say anything about final scene, where Poul in foreground against huge explousion? Is this moment about book chapter, where is his coming to blind?
15:34 The book "Dune" was written in 1965, not long after the movie "Lawrence of Arabia" came out in 1962, and the connection between the two stories is obvious enough to suggest it was an inspiration. In that film, some of the earliest characterization of Lawrence is his tolerance for pain and discomfort: First he's showing fellow soldiers a "trick" where he holds a lighter to his hand without even flinching and when he asked what the trick is he says "the 'trick' is not caring that it hurts". Second, when he is sent with an Bedouin guide to contact the Arab rebels, his guide is surprised that he is fine no drinking any more water than an Bedouin. The first one in particular really makes me wonder if this hand pain test and the theme of tolerance tests might have been inspired by Lawrence of Arabia somewhat (even if OBVIOUSLY that's the not the only place one could get such an inspiration).
It's been a while since a big budget movie didn't insult my intelligence. I was pleasantly surprised by the first movie. Your excellent coverage of the lore alongside the creative license the director takes while deeply respecting the original work is phenomenal. Great video.
Same here. I rlly enjoyed Dune becuz it didnt treat you like a baby. But apparently ppl were angry at that? Kind of goes to show modern cinema that ppl complain all the time that everything is dumb and stupid but when something comes up that actually challenges ppl a bit or doesnt explain itself, then its pretentious bullshit
11:20 the salute is inspired from real martial arts, called FMA/Kali/Eskrima/Arnis/and so on :) In Kali it basically means: Teacher teach me, with respect from my heart. It's a expression of respect towards your teacher, your opponent and your trainingspartner. Movies that also used this martial art (stick fighting): Bourne Identity Book of Eli MIssion Impossible III and many more ...
Also remember that Jessica wasnt supposed to train Paul with the Voice, so its interesting that this holy war and galactic struggle are just a method of Jessica's survival.
@@michaelcastro5339 But Jessica brought it on herself by betraying the most important BG orders and covenants...she gave birth to a boy, taught him the Voice, drank the Water of Life during pregnancy....and Leto brought it on himself by taking his family to Arrakis in the first place (and endangering their lives), suspecting it was a trap...He expected an attack but thought he had more time to recruit the Fremen on his side....which made many think Leto really was power hungry, and was trying to take Shaddam's throne....Maybe Leto and Jessica were both power hungry, manipulative psychopaths...posing as good and honorable and righteous, as they often do
Alt Shift X took a break, and now we're back -- working on a big Jon Snow video, and more Dune videos.
Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: go.nebula.tv/altshiftx
Tale Foundry’s Dune genre video: nebula.tv/videos/talefoundry-dune-scifi-or-fantasy?ref=altshiftx
Lindsay Ellis’ Lord of the Rings video: nebula.tv/videos/lindsayellis-how-they-adapted-lord-of-the-rings?ref=altshiftx
Yay
Yay, was watching shwifty and glidus food stream there
So glad you’re back.
GIMME A KISS
Babe wake up Alt Shift X vid just dropped
To add onto Baron Harkonnen being a luxury and sensation obsessed individual; the fact that he's spending most of his time on dune - a place where water is in absurdly short supply and desperately sought after - bathing and immersed in water only adds to the level of self indulgence, greed and cruelty. It's a display for him, a way of indulging in the ability to have things specifically in a manner that deprives others.
Great point! It's reminiscent of the water-wasting ritual at the banquet in the book - wasting water to show off your power and wealth.
The walls look greyish-black, therefore that particular scene probably does not take place inside the Arrakeen Palace. It's possibly Carthag or Geidi Prime.
That’s a great find. Reminds me of the Niander Wallace character in Blade Runner 2049 (another Villeneuve film coincidentally) who’s entire living space is made of wood in a place/time where the land is ravaged and bare. A group of trees are hard to come by let alone an entire estate crafted out of wood. A really subtle way of displaying extravagance and decadence.
One of my favorite moments was when stilgar spat towards leto atreides as a sign of respect. Because water is so precious. They wear suits that recycle all of the water they lose through sweat and urine, so the thing that would normally be offensive is now a gesture of respect. I thought it was amazing story telling in the shortest amount of time. spice might be the most valuable good in the galaxy, but on arakis water is the most valuable.
On a side note: Baron Harkonnen is actually Jessica's father.
Due to the breeding program of the Bene Gesserit to bring forth the Kwisatz Haderach.
So he is also Paul's other grandfather.
In this of course Jessica disobeyed the Bene Gesserit by getting deliberately pregnant from Leto, which was not according to the plans of the Bene Gesserit.
My favorite little thing about Dune lore is that the Bene Gesserit wanted Paul to be a woman specifically because they wanted to marry them to Feyd Rautha. The union between Feyd and Paul would be the Kwizats haderach. I've always liked the fact that they are antagonists when the course of destiny was for them to be husband and wife; it's a neat twist.
this is one of their plans that seemed silly to me. They wanted to produce the Kwisatz Haderach and unite the Houses Harkonnen and Atreides. I can't imagine any way that Leto would let his daughter marry a Harkonnen beast, not while the Baron was alive at the very least, probably not long after either. Sisters be tripping.
@@Albtraum_TDDC Well their hope was to induct fem!Paul into the Bene Gesserit, like his mother. A powerful one at that. From there, the opportunity to sceme and manipulate is endless; do not forget that Leto and Jessica's relationship being one of genuine love is quite unusual.
It's exactly why Fenring does what she does. She can see the likelihood of Rautha dying and she wants to preserve his line.
Not Paul, but whoever the girl that would've been born instead as Jessica was ordered to kill any boys... it's not the same thing, Jesica's second child would have worked just as well as she has all the abilities that Paul has except the ability to see the future as that belongs only to the men who awaken.
I thought that Bene women could decide what sex they would bear. Jessica loved Leto so she gave him the son he wanted.
She didn’t care about preserving any family lines or anything else.
I always liked the parallel between the old duke's fight against a bull and Duke Leto's fight against the Harkonnen, whose name is based on the Finnish surname Härkönen, härkä meaning an ox.
It's also in rhe end a parallel for Paul and the Fremen, trying to control them through acts of Bravura only to be gored on the horns of the Jihad
@jg5879 maybe the atreides are the bull as well. The bene gesserit and the imperium tried to control the atreides line only for it to blow up in their face, with Paul and Leto II both eventually having disastrous effects on those two factions and the universe as a whole
@@JGComments AFAIK Atreides relates to the mythological Greek king Atreus whose name means fearless
oh nice!
IIRC, Herbert had said he’d just skimmed the phone book for an evil-sounding name, though.
I love that you describe Feyd-Rautha as a cross between a rockstar and a serial killer, and he's played by Austin Butler, whose two biggest roles have been playing Elvis and a member of the Manson Family. Just a cool coincidence I'm sure, but can't help but point it out.
Wow that’s wild
Right, didn't know the Mick Jagger inspiration for Feyd, but having Sting play him in the original make sense...& now that "Elvis" guy
I've always thought that Irulan was inspired by the real Byzantine princess Anna Komnene, daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. She's famous for writing the Alexiad, detailing the events of court during her father's reign. Ties into the 'adventurer prince' aspect of Paul too, as he'd be similar to Bohemond in the Alexiad.
Yes, now that you mention it it’s obvious she’s inspired by Anna Komnene. Before reading it I knew of her description of Bohemond, whom she describes as a physically perfect human being, “as if carved by Polycleitos himself” or something like that. But when you read the whole thing that’s just how she describes the main people involved, they are all basically godlike in beauty. It seems just to have been a literary trope, but when you google Bohemond her description of him often gets quoted without that context being mentioned.
@@boreopithecus I mean, the alternative is that Anna was just incredibly thirsty for everyone.
Wow interesting
@@ScienzaMagia that would be pretty funny, she really did describe basically everybody as godlike, like she describes Sikelgaita (the second wife of Robert Guiscard) as being a second Pallas or Athena when she was in full armor in battle against the armies of the Byzantium Empire
Anna's actual husband, Nicefor Bryennios the Younger was a Byzantine general and the right-hand-man to her father, emperor Alexios. He could've been inspiration here too.
His story is particularly interesting because he was captured in young age and by none other than Alexios himself. Nicefor was spared due to his "advantages of body and mind" and gradually climbed the ladder of Byzantine hierarchy, becoming Alexios' second-in-command as "Kaisar" (co-ruler) and "Panhypersevastos" (the Most Venerable One); the second title was supposedly invented exclusively for Nicefor, as was custom at Byzantine court were titles were a currency. Bryennios also took part in the last great battle won by Alexios against Seljuk Turks at Philomelion in 1117 AD and is said to personally participate in combat there, which was considered too risky by most Eastern commanders. Nonetheless, that's totally based.
After all of that transpired Nicefor outlived his emperor and betrayed his wife's trust for the greater cause of peace in Byzantium. In 1119 AD Anna wanted to usurp the throne from her brother John II Komnenos; she planned to kill her own sibling and crown herself an empress along with Nicefor. Bryennios passively participated in preparations for a coup only to (in?)famously betray the conspirators and tell the emperor the truth mere days before it came to pass. John was (understandably) furious and sent Anna to a monastery where she spent the rest of her life writing the "Alexiad" we know and love, while Nicefor remained second-in-command to the second emperor he served, until his death of illness and old age in 1137 AD.
Read about him and praise this unsung gigachad of a hero. He was a historian as well as his wife (a bit underrated in comparison to her, I would say!) and certain passages from his works suggest his betrayal of Anna's coup was enacted out of loyalty to the Empire itself:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikephoros_Bryennios_the_Younger
Hands down the most excellent commentary channel on RUclips. None of your comparisons feel like a reach, the symbolism you recognize is always insightful, I have never once thought “that’s probably not what the director/writer intended” or, worse, “well, duh, that’s not even subtext” the way I constantly do when watching the bigger commentary or “Easter egg” trailer breakdowns. So excited to watch your video once the movie comes out!
The most amazing part of the film for me, was that there wasn’t ever a point while I was watching where I was taken out of the illusion or story for even a second, it was enthralling, suspenseful, amazingly produced and well acted, I constantly wanted more information but was NEVER confused about the story. I can’t wait to see the second film.
the dream sequences did for me. Particularly in the theatre. They were so slo-mo and vague but not in useful ways, to me.
Baron Harkonnen eating when Leto was naked in the chair pulled me right out of it. It made me roll my eyes so hard at the overused cliché. Here was this magnificent film...and that scene took away the magic for me. Really disappointing.
@@madiantin really? Are you being sarcastic? Why would that of all things do it for you?
@@weatheranddarkness Unfortunately, I'm not being sarcastic.
It's because it's cliché. The villain is ALWAYS eating - usually in a gross way. Harkonnen, Denethor etc etc. I couldn't believe such an overused trope would be put in such an amazing film.
That's because it was a MASTERPIECE of a movie entirely so!
This Dune remake so far is not disappointing at all. Great take on a very difficult and complex book series. Denis Villeneuve interpretation, storytelling, insights on the technology and choice of visual effects, including lenses, lights and shadows is impressive. He has become one of my favorite directors.
No mention of Paul's sister Alia yet, in any of the casting or trailers. I'm really interested to see how she will be portrayed in the movie.
As long as it's better than Lovely Feyd.
Yes! Shes the most interesting of the female characters imo
yeah im really wondering how you portray a talking toddler believably
by a trans midget
@@Chilkki defo gonna have to age her up some how
Sooooooooo when we getting the Dune pt2 vid?
Bra, the comment was made 7 months ago and we still don't have a P2 video 🥲 we gonna get GTA6 before we get another video at this rate 🫣
I’ve always respected that this channel believes in quality over quantity. Have loved your videos for years ❤
Thank you! 😊
and in making whatever is hot rn instead of asoiaf videos which were the best tbh
^ this
@@andreww4751He's making a video on Jon Snow. Is it really inconceivable that someone interested in gritty fantasy would also take interest in gritty sci-fi?
@@starseeingthe craziest thing too is the Jon Snow video is probably gonna be as long (if not, longer) than the Tyrion video so the wait would be well worth it. Don’t get how people can’t be patient
literally dropped down here to give the same sentiments.... but couldn't have said it better.... it would be a strikingly less enjoyable world without these canonical summaries.
Irulan did do extensive investigations in the books, and she was more than a minor character. Irulan didn't completely agree with her father, and had her own spies that she sent to gather information. And Paul meets Irulan on Arrakis, the emporor sends her there to gather inforamtion about the Attredies. Irulan was very fascinated with Paul in the book, and was a major player in palace intrigue.
Bless the shifter and his water!
Bless the Coming and Going of Glidus!!!
May his passing cleanse the world
May he keep the meme for his people.
Your videos are the absolute best man. You have this amazing talent of simplifying complex plots/topics and making them easily understood and very intriguing. Thank you, could not be more excited for Dune Part II
I should get into Dune more and this is really good content, keep it up 👍
I've been enjoying it so far. I started on the books after seeing Dune Part I and I'm on God Emperor now. Everything Paul is doing in these movies feels so small in comparison.
The new movie was fantastic.
Man I don’t have the words to describe my elation that you’re making videos again. I’m not joking when I say that I’ve watched every video on this channel at least twice. Great stuff Schwifty!
I love these explanations on Dune, I'm not sure why I didn't get into the books but the latest movie, and lore explained by content creators have gotten me very interested
Thankyou for the vid!
I am a voracious reader and I dont why I have not across it yet
It’s quite a dense read to be honest. Brilliant, but took me a while to get into it (I was only 14 however!)
They are not easy to read, you gotta put it down for some time otherwise you won't get it
@@Darkstar_Dayne Ahhh, didn't think about that
Same
Princess Irulan is my favorite character. I find her extremely complex and tragic. I’m excited to see how they portray her in the movie.
It's interesting that in the books, Bene Gesserit wanted Paul to be born a woman, marry her to Feyd Rautha, and then, their child with their combined genetics would be the Chosen One. Instead, they both end up fighting each other in the end, but their destinies were inter-twined from before.
to quote DanikaXIX, "they can't f***, so they gotta fight"
What they forgot about was the fact that Jessica's father was the Baron Harkonnen. So, in essence, they ended up with that genetic mix after a fashion. Paul's second son (the first was killed by either Harkonnen, or Sardaukar, I can't recall which precisely), went on to become the God Emperor of the galaxy.
@@mikeford963 yes, the bene gesserit just forgot about the fact that they already crossed the harkonen and atreides lines once 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
@@mikeford963they didn't forget, they wanted to 'reinforce' their desired genetic mutation.
The Sisterhood didn't believe that a male offspring from Jessica and Leto would be strong enough to have the control of mind that is needed.
They have a pretty poor opinion of men in general, they consider them too led by their emotions, not totally ' human' in their meaning of the word.
They didn't expect Paul to pass the test with the 'box of pain'.
Damn wasn't expecting the spoiler.
So happy to have you back ASX. Missed your work big man.
The movie seems to want to promote the importance of Irulan on the same level as book without having her only do narration or something. Given what happens with her later in the books, it’s an interesting choice to see but also understandable.
I *super* missed the Irulan voice over intro with the new movie. Right up there with the Star Wars text crawl level of iconic
@@FrelanceEQ so true. the lynch version has its problems, but it is one of my fav movies and the VO is so iconic!
@@entheo302 better than this one, thats for sure
@mfnickster9754 in the same vein as malevichs black square, maybe. Lynchs Dune is an adaptation with some chest hair, even if it strays further from the original than the new one.
@@Brandelwyn what does "chest hair" mean in this? veers way off into irrelevant tangents that have nothing to do with the source material.
Ugh I love logging into youtube and seeing a new Alt Shift X video!!! Very much appreciate what you do!
Im glad for people like you and Quinn existing. I watched the movie for the first time not knowing anything about Dune and it was meh. Knowing more about it got me hooked and I eagerly expect November
It’s probably important to note that there’s a 2 year time jump in the book. I’m imagining that’s going to be implemented as happening between the two films.
No shit
I feel like I read something recently where it picks up right where part 1 left off which surprised me.
I’ll try to find it
Considering we are going to see the water of life scene, that is not possible. We see Paul’s eyes that aren’t blue. It doesn’t start after the jump.
The time jump probably happens during the first act
@@soufian2733 that's what I'm thinking. Maybe some sort of montage showing him learning how to live as a fremen that ends with him driving his first worm
This explanation was just as engrossing as the trailer! Thank you for putting this together.
This channel is so well made, great videos!
Alt Scwift X is way better
The marking/scarring of Jessica's nostril could also be from the nose-tubing of her stillsuit, mentioned several times in the books.
The shot of Paul facing Feyd is _extremely_ interesting to me, because the set of this trailer and how Denis is framing it feels like a mid point, which is just wild to me.
Paul does not fight Feyd at a _mid point_ in the book, and we've seen _nothing_ on Alia. The fleshing out of both Chani and Irulan, and the emphasis on Jessica taking her place as a _sayyadina_ of the Fremen in particular also adds to a lengthening of the storytelling overall. Villeneuve has something up his sleeve here, and I'm very, _very_ curious what he's going to do with his translation of Herbert's work. Great work as always, Alt. So glad to hear from you again!
My feeling is that we see more of the fallout of Paul’s rise to power. My fear with an adaptation has always been that the original message Dune had about the nature of heroes and power would be lost in the modern day, but if the repercussions of Paul becoming Emperor would shown to audience sooner, maybe people would get it.
@@guccifer764Villeneuve has said repeatedly that he wants to do a trilogy with the third film adapting Messiah. Perhaps he wants to depict the great Jihad in the last act of this movie to set that up. A film can't as easily explain what happened in-between instalments as a book can.
Watched this last night. This movie will sit in my top 10 over all’s best movies. It was lord of the rings long but that’s all good because as you’re watching you don’t want it to end. Stunning visuals, epic storyline that just keeps building up and up and then delivers the punch just at the right time. 5 out of 5 stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I personally liked the additions to Irulan in the TV series. The books had her just do things but I never believed in her motivations because she was so two dimensional.
How was Irulan two dimensional in the book? Are you talking about Dune Messiah or Dune?
@@fidalf99 Dune
@@iamsheep oh, okay then.
Tbh between book 1-2-3 she isn't so much three dimensional as she is three different characters with not much to ground it as character development. It is interesting how in the miniseries she ended up picking some of Margot Fenring's storyline in Dune, only for Wencisia to pick up her less sympathetic storyline in Dune Messiah - I'll be interested to see how Villeneuve handles on the one hand the Paul/Chani/Irulan triangle that's quite central to the events of Messiah, and the Fenrings on the other since Margot made it into this one.
@@fidalf99 the two movies are adaptation of book one…why would I mention book two?
Nice to see Dune finally getting proper attention in Hollywood.. The CG of the miniseries and the first attempt were a little atrocious though good for their time. Dune is an incredibly powerful read and was one of the first novels I ever picked up... Glad to see so many a list actors signed on to do it proper justice.
Alt Shift X showing up to give us little tid bits about good things that make the experience that much better. Thanks for what you do, man.
From a lover and an avid reader of Dune Series this is very high quality material and dissection!
Glad to see you’re back! Can’t wait for the upcoming Jon Snow video!
As to that final quote from Kynes, the entire message that Frank Herbert was trying to convey with the Dune Saga was, simply, Charismatic Leaders should come with Warning Labels.
I was introduced to Dune with the SYFY miniseries and absolutely loved it, but it was pretty low budget for a story that epic. I was so happy to hear they were making a movie and visually really loved the first Dune, but found it lacking in action. I can't wait for the next one. I hope it doesn't disappoint, they do seem to be really putting in the work of world building. 🥰🥰🥰
Admittedly, there actually isn't a ton of action in the original book, either.
I couldn’t believe my ears, but KickThePJ you’ve got a very recognizable voice and say specific words in a way that I knew it was you! Good on ya for building such a great channel.
your videos go so in depth and i love how the videos are laid out. so happy you're back!
Please do a review of the new movie! I have read the first dune book but after watching your video I understand the book more then I ever could! You structure everything in such a digestible manner!
8:02 Thank you. Not often do I see reviewers or loremasters speak about the mini series. I get that many hated the cheapness and the funky costumes. But, the Shakespearean direction, dialogues and the truly dreamscape visions were some of the strong points, at least for me. In fact, for me, the show captured a Sci-fi atmosphere that was so unlike its contemporaries that it inspired me in ways that I didn't even know existed. From Linguistics, Science, Archaeology, Architecture to Social Engineering and Religion.
The Children of Dune miniseries is vastly superior. It's much better than the Dune Messiah and Children of Dune books, IMO.
I have both of the miniseries and loved them, yes they were low budget, but they still managed to build the worlds with what they had, color architecture and costumes. I hated they used the same shots over and over like them blowing up Harkannons lol but still I think you're absolutely right, they did a good job imo too
@@BooBuKittyPhuk Exactly. The scene where Paul is confronting Jessica with the true visions of Jihad is burnt in my memory. It was just like a stage play with moving lights but Jessica's horror and fear leaped out at me from the screen. I still watch just that scene once every 2-3 months. 😂. Another favourite is Alia's taunt to Shaddam IV.
@@squamish4244 Yes. It was made quite improved over FH's DUNE but soundtrack and soundscape wise, I like DUNE more than CoD.
I’m ok with princess irulon being a bigger character in this movie than the book. She always intrigued me with the quotes at the beginning of the chapters so it will be interesting to see how they make her a bigger character in the movie.
it also gives her something to do, it's easy enough to tell the audience she's playing a longer game than everyone else besides maybe the bene gesserit but then otherwise she does nothing until the end of the film lol
If only they’d picked a different actress!!!
@@chriscunningham8703 I haven't read the books so idk what she's supposed to look like (other than what ASX said in the vid), but Florence is an amazing actress
@@lolaadam3788 wouldn’t say she’s “amazing”, I’d say average describes her better!!
@@chriscunningham8703which actress would you have chosen?
This video essay is the best referenced ive ever seen. Great editing and script
I always love the contrast between the 1st book of Dune and later books. 1st book is Paul the hero. After that, Paul becomes everything he fought against.
And the first book is the most simple story. After that it gets more and more complicated.
"Either you die a hero or you live long enough to become the villain"...We learn much more about the limits of Paul's 'Total Power' (he is KH, Mentat, and the most powerful Emperor in the history of the universe, and still feels helpless) in Dune Messiah (Part 3)...and we also see Paul become perhaps, an even worse Emperor than the man he replaced, in terms of how many deaths he caused
And had Jessica complied with the original BG plan, bore a daughter, and been grandmother to the KH, all the Jihad and violence would have been avoided...60 billion people died in the Fremen Jihad...the BG's original plan was to unite the two most powerful, warring Houses (Atreides and Harkonnen) through marriage (the united 'family' would also hold a plurality of CHOAM shares), and their son would become KH and take the Emperor's throne peacefully...no doubt by marrying the Emperor's daughter (why the BG deprived the Emperor a son)....so perhaps it can be said that Jessica caused all that violence by thwarting the BG plan
@@koko40800 With the way future visions work in Dune I would not go so far as to say that something like the Jihad would not have in time.
I just want all the unused footage put together into a bloody long multi part series. Love the first film and the 2nd looks just as good.
I never read the books but my buddy has and always talked them up as being great. I asked him what he thought about the movie adaptation and he said considering how in depth the books are and just how much content there is to cover that the movie did a pretty decent job with condensing the content for the screen. I thought the first movie was quite interesting....I really enjoyed it. Looking forward to this one a lot!
Having just watched dune part one for the first time like three days ago I am beyond excited for part two. So much exciting content coming out in the coming years between andor season two and dine part two it’ll be a good few years for sequels.
How you manage analyse to the complex Dune story into this trailer is fricken amazing. I think I'll watch Dune 2 only once and wait until after you have released your first video with your interpretation then watch it again. I read a few of the books a long time ago but this is like an executive summary of a 300 page report.
From the way you clarify the scenes from parts of the different books is sublime. Do you have a photographic memory? Apart from your clarifications I humorously smirked by your uses of words. "..the phallic worm" and the Mike Jagger & Sting reference with the Rockstar/Psychopath description. The entrance to the fight scene somehow sexualised by looking like a vulva.
Shame I missed these after re-watching The Expanse just recently. Didn't know you did them as well. Impressive.
What I don't like about the movies is the character changes and some missing plot points, but what I absolutely love is the design of everything.
The armor and the technology has this nice box like look to it.
Pretty amazed that Count Fenring and his wife are showing up in the movie, I had them counted out from the start. My expectations are pretty low but I'd love to be wrong. It's just so difficult for a film to get into the depths of what makes these books so good.
Good to see you guys upload. Love the channel!
PLEASE MAKE DUNE 2 EXPLAINED
He is
@@CGagnon5 link?
I need this
I’m begging you to make a full breakdown of everything that happens in the second half of the book before dune 2 comes out, your last vid dune movie vs book really helped me understand all the context and character motivations while watching dune for the first time
Been with "DUNE" since the Seventys after reading the first paperback book, DUNE. Have since then read the whole series. That is the way, in my mind, to know "DUNE." Movies are nice but holding paper & reading the books give way more info and satisfaction to the mind.
I love how easily you explain this. Great video, the only Dune videos I watch
I'm happy that Lady Jessica and Irulan will have bigger role in this movie, they are really good character.
Excellent synopsis. Well done!
Only thing you missed is that House Atreides didn't just "take over the planet Arrakis", they were specifically sent to Arrakis, by the Emperor, in a plot to destroy Duke Leto and House Atreides. Duke Leto was rising in status and influence and was seen as a potential rival to the Emperor. The Emperor used the poor spice harvesting of House Harkonnen as an excuse to make the change. Otherwise, excellent video.
They covered that in depth in their earlier video about the part 1 movie. This video is mainly about the trailer for part 2, so it's understandable that they kind of skimmed over the details when recapping part 1.
I watched the Lynch movie before reading the book. I loved it. However, there was quite a bit of sci-fi hand waving, which is practical when you're condensing a story as dense as Dune into a couple hours.
When I read the book, I was really surprised how Herbert would describe things that you'd imagine as fantastical to be rather practical and down to earth. Like worm riding. It's every bit as dangerous as you'd imagine. But there's a technique. Who knew? Also, the Fremen attitude toward water is not what you expect. Especially when it comes to water you can't drink like sea water (in the next book).
Imagined superpowers come from intense training, selective breeding and in extreme cases, performance enhancing drugs like Spice that can give the user prescience but also mutates the user. Religious aspects had been indoctrinated. People fight with swords and knives? Wouldn't an advanced society have more powerful weapons? Oh they most definitely do. But like everything else, there's a reason for that. Etc...
It is kind of the magic of Herbert's world building where he introduces a Universe that seems full of fantasy and then he meticulously pulls away the veil to reveal something much more realistic... much more like our own world. But then, I guess that is the nature of sci-fi and the difference between that and high fantasy.
same here, watched Lynch’s movie first then read the book. When u see the Lynch film you expect those sort of artistic details to be described in the book, the weird designs, the ships for instance, but none of it is. Which is why some ppl call Dune not a straight up sci-fi, since it is mystical in parts. Which is why it remains so unique and fantastic, it doesnt get bogged down in the 60s details of spaceships and weapons and whatnot. Ofc, the way the world operates is very important, but it serves the story of what sort of world it is, the post butlerian world where technology is completely removed in-so-far that nothing is without human surveillance and control.
really good high fantasy does this too. the really bad stuff just gives you a cool premise and then keeps it vague. it can be satisfying to read books of the vague-vibe type but at closer inspection it can cause problems.
I don't know how far you got into the series, but the rest of the books after 2 suck.
I'm so happy there'll be the second part this year. The first part was the best movie I saw in last years.
Try and see better movies. This was crap.
@@thomasgorecki1321 lol just stop talking as all your comments REEK of insecurity in EVERY level as Dune 2021 IS the “better movies” for EVERYONE to watch as EVERYONE loves it to death from how phenomenal it all is worldwide which you can’t see or under and at all. Nothing about the movie “wAs cRaP” AT ALL and the only thing that IS is your comments here that you’re badly going around and posing here as insecurely as you are as Dune 2021 is a MASTERPIECE of a movie entirely so!
I am Finnish American, and Harkonen is a Finnish name. I managed to talk to someone on Facebook, and they told me that Frank Herbert worked with a man that he absolutely hated and that’s why he made the Harkonens the evil family in the book. I guess the moral is: never piss off an author!
I recall Herbert saying he went through the phone book to choose names, and chose 'Harkonnen' because it sounded suitably menacing
Was beginning to wonder if you were coming back. Welcome back!
What I enjoyed about the Dune books were the explanations which went into such detail . The books seemed to have something about them which may never be captured on a film . The Weirding Way was explained as a development of the individual in a way that allowed the practitioner to transcend the ordinary limitations of the mind and body by rigorous physical and psychological training . Not with gadgets as the David Lynch film portrayed . The voice appeared to be also a physical and psychological training which allowed the practitioner to persuade the subject to cooperate . Not some strange distorted speech patterns but rather a practical application of persuasive powers of the individual .
When a section of the book was dedicated to how an individual can bend just the tip of a finger and develop yogic methods to control the body , this to me hinted at the potential of individuals in an ever more complex society such as our own technological society such as the present one in which the individual appears diminished by an endless progression of technology this makes sense of "The Butlerian Jihad " "Thou shalt not make machine in man's image ."
To me this essence of the books cannot be captured by the films and perhaps the books are not ever going to be satisfactorily transferred to any other media .
They are perhaps subversive books .
Maybe we just have to read them to gain our own individual understanding of what Frank Herbert was trying to write about in these epic works .
Detailed videos like this are the proof of your dedication which distinguishes alt shift x from other the bums like alt Schwift x in youtube
I really hope they do Dune Messiah and make it a trilogy. I would love how they deal with Frank Herbert's take on the danger of heroes.
That's not a bad idea but the thing is that not really that much happens in that book IIRC. Actually, the if they started doing the sequels then you would basically have long drawn out sequences of people meditating or speaking to each other in ancient Egyptian.
Such comprehensive walk through!!!
The increase of the Princess' role in the film actually makes sense from both a filmmaking perspective and a meta-perspective. The entries at the beginning of each chapter, written by her, come from her later role as a propogandist for her Husband, Paul. However, those investigations as a historian would have been her natural inclination. The information came from some experiences. Just because we never see her in motion in the book, doesn't mean she isn't in motion within the book to gain the insights she has. Its a little bit of a stretch, I know. But I can see the progression in the film as a logical next step.
Also, Denis isn't simply a fan of the book Dune. He's a fan of the film worlds of Dune. The teaser trailer for the first movie was a Hans Zimmer twist on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Joderoski's original 1970s Dune that never got made was going to have the sound track by Pink Floyd. Stylistically, the uniforms of the Atradies is more in line with David Lynch's Dune than either the Book or the Sci-Fi channel mini-series. However, the ornithopers, staying true to the book, clearly took some inspiration from the Sci-Fi channel. Some of the smaller early ads for the first movie included minor Hans Zimmer elements where you could hear chants of "Soo, soo, sook," they cry of the water merchants of the captial of Arakis whom we never even saw in the film.
I see this Dune duet of films more like 1981's Excalibur, which was very wrong from the perspective of any single Arthurian legend source but incorporated and stylized ALL of them for a "meta-Arthurian legend" and it was a fantastic homage to the entire body of work. I think this will be as well.
Awesome insight and meticulous narrative- thanks Alt Shift X!
Such a cool universe, but my favourite is the Bene Gesserit.
"Governments, if they endure, always tend increasingly toward aristocratic forms. No government in history has been known to evade this pattern. And as the aristocracy develops, government tends more and more to act exclusively in the interests of the ruling class - whether that class be hereditary royalty, oligarchs of financial empires, or entrenched bureaucracy." - Politics as Repeat Phenomenon: Bene Gesserit Training Manual
Awesome video! Forgot how good of a storyteller you are, so glad to see you back! 🍻
Irulan's story throughout the Dune series is more complicated and more important than often clear to the reader, as well as from the Bene Gesserit's point of view. Mind you, there's a subset of the Bene Gesserit that harbors the true memories of very long term plans secret from the vast majority of sisters, including the general leadership. On top of that, the sisters are subject to human emotions like anybody else, despite their self-control training and the demands of obedience from their mothers' memories' voices; therefor personally-motivated defiance and small conspiracies develop. Jessica is one of those aware (somewhat) of her importance in the primary Bene Gesserit breeding program yet defies the sisterhood-a major plot point in the first movie, the gravity of which may elude first time enjoyers of the Dune universe. Large portions of Irulan's tale as written in canon and in Frank Herbert's postmortem (dismissible apocrypha to a substantial portion of the fan base) remains somewhat mysterious. She knows and writes about events she should not know, although she spends a great deal of her life present in the background. As long as the movie version of her character makes sense and remains faithful to canon, and as long as it avoids goofiness and merely gratuitous plots inconsistent with the canon SPIRIT of her character, I'm all in. It was a flaw of Herbert's not to have developed her more; but he likely had not yet fleshed out the magnitude of her importance when he wrote the first books. So far, I am greatly pleased with this cinematic rendition. In fact, the previous movies had diverged or deleted so much from the scripts that I have recently come to realize I have forgotten many details later in the first book. I'm jazzed. I've been obsessed with the Dune universe since introduced to it in 8th Grade. All of my original copies of every Dune book remains in my library; but I haven't read the original trilogy in two or three decades. Time to dig them out of storage!
simply EPIC btw one of the best breakdowns of what dune is at its core kudos
I've missed your channel; it is very nice to have you back. (GoT is "dead to me" -- I hate how they destroyed such a great thing with the final 1-2 years (-_-;).) A very sad side effect of that is beautiful channels like this one have been abandoned. I am glad to see we have some material (Dune) worth your excellent commentary. ((I've missed your voice and beautiful video style.))
Keep up the great work,
Cheers -
Can't wait for a full video about Dune part 2
It will be interesting to be able to compare all three live action adaptations of Dune and the choices they made once we have a complete picture for Villeneuve’s take. All so far have their own takes on the source material that have influenced the following ones as much as the book itself at times.
nice to see alt shift x back! looking forward to more
I was not happy to see Lea Seydoux being cast in this, but man am I excited.
what’s wrong with lea seydoux?
I am just amazed at the the quality of intelligent content on this channel. Bravo!
God this guy does such a good job on these videos ❤
Your videos are so cool man. Very well done, genuinely excited to see what’s next. This Movie along with GTA 6 might be some of the biggest releases this coming year
Alt shift may be back, but I am waiting with baited breath for that vagabond alt shwift X to release the next acok abridged.
Wish they would have kept the weirding module. Sound as a weapon was so cool, and playing Emperor Battle for Dune, final mission using Fedaykin hidden and covered by rocks repeatedly killing Harkonnen heavy attack tanks and vehicles, seeing that circular wave of sound rip through the armor, CHA..... So badass.
is it spoilers? Count Fenring and Feyd-Rautha are super special characters in a way you don't bring up - they were both potential endpoints of the millennia long Bene Gesserit breeding program, failed chances at the Kwizatz Hadderach. Hasimir wasn't just a politician or ally in Saddam V's court, he's also Saddam's personal assassin as the most dangerous combatant in the known worlds, more deadly than even the blademasters of the Ginaz that trained Duncan Idaho. I think the Margot link between them is probably spoilers, but yeah. Feyd & the Fenrings in juxtaposition to Paul as rivals, allies, parallels in other families isn't just, like, personality fill for random NPC adversary slots.
I was going to mention this, but it's _definitely_ spoiler territory, which is why I didn't talk about it.
Lady Fenring's position in the film still makes sense though, given that it's basically stated that she's there to be impregnated by Feyd in case something goes wrong with the BG plan. I'm just hoping we get to see the Lady and Count communicate in that weird humming language they use in the book. lmao
I was also surprised that he talked about them, but you spoiled much more lol
Great to see that Thomas Flight video get mentioned. The Sound Design on Dune Pt1 was fantastic and sadly Sound Design gets overlooked quite often.
before i even start to watch this, I am a Dune film fan because of you, genuinely excited to see what happens in the next movie and I didn't read the book so I don't know what's gonna go down fully, I did watch videos on like what happens after this book, but more or less am still in the dark. I know Paul will probably fight Fae ? and I look forward to him embarrassing the harkonen via defeating Fae, I also look forward to maybe seeing the beginning of his downfall, There is no hero in Dune, just people loosing their minds on drugs, religion and politics, like in the real world, although I say that as an OG star wars fan.
We're not going to see his downfall here. Maybe a vague hint or two of it, but if it ends anything like the original book, it'll be more of an upbeat note than what happens later.
"No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero." - taken straight from the book.
Read the book, dude, youre really missing out
@@Brandelwyn I swear I’m going too! I really want to have the visual experience before I read it to see what they left out and to also have a different perspective about it than others who have read it would.
I have a copy of it on my shelf waiting to be read, we’ll just have to see if the third movie is going to be apart of the first book as well but from what it seeeems like and what bro bro said, the events that happen in the first two movies will be from the book.
@@_Jay_Maker_ maybe I don’t know what hell I’m talking about then. LOL, thank you. I can’t wait to see this film!!
@@arongubbe if youre waiting for a third movie then youll be waiting for a looong time. And its not gonna worth the wait, I can tell ya that already, but the book quadrilogy is already there, waiting for you.
So great to see you back after so long. Excellent video.
So far yours are best to decode everything from part 1 to trailer in part 2
I am quiet obsessed with this Dune series I think so I have binge watched almost every video on RUclips 😂
This should have being a series. Would be a great addition to HBO and become the next game of thrones
Totally agree. Opportunity missed.
Why didn't say anything about final scene, where Poul in foreground against huge explousion? Is this moment about book chapter, where is his coming to blind?
can’t wait for _De-yewn, Part 2_ 👌
Lol I have an Australian accent and even I noticed this. It's more often pronounced "djune" here.
@@melburnian - I like when y’all replace “ah” sounds with “er.”
*Chainey* will definitely be my favorite Deyoon Character
@@maf654321 lol!
15:34 The book "Dune" was written in 1965, not long after the movie "Lawrence of Arabia" came out in 1962, and the connection between the two stories is obvious enough to suggest it was an inspiration. In that film, some of the earliest characterization of Lawrence is his tolerance for pain and discomfort: First he's showing fellow soldiers a "trick" where he holds a lighter to his hand without even flinching and when he asked what the trick is he says "the 'trick' is not caring that it hurts". Second, when he is sent with an Bedouin guide to contact the Arab rebels, his guide is surprised that he is fine no drinking any more water than an Bedouin. The first one in particular really makes me wonder if this hand pain test and the theme of tolerance tests might have been inspired by Lawrence of Arabia somewhat (even if OBVIOUSLY that's the not the only place one could get such an inspiration).
When Feyd screams in the gladiator pit, he looks a lot like Matt Smith from the critically acclaimed Morbius movie
😂😂😂
Excellent, excellent breakdown. Bravo.
It's been a while since a big budget movie didn't insult my intelligence. I was pleasantly surprised by the first movie. Your excellent coverage of the lore alongside the creative license the director takes while deeply respecting the original work is phenomenal. Great video.
Same here. I rlly enjoyed Dune becuz it didnt treat you like a baby. But apparently ppl were angry at that? Kind of goes to show modern cinema that ppl complain all the time that everything is dumb and stupid but when something comes up that actually challenges ppl a bit or doesnt explain itself, then its pretentious bullshit
I now understand so much more about Dune. Thank you.
Well we know for certain that because Duncan Idaho was killed in Part 1, we wouldn't be seeing him return again in Part 2 and other sequels, right?
Book readers will probably hayt this comment.
@@ChristopherB123 Book readers will see that comment for the joke it was
thanks for a spoiler free video, this helped me understand the trailer more
Gosh darn it. Where are the 3rd stage Guild Navigators???
11:20 the salute is inspired from real martial arts, called FMA/Kali/Eskrima/Arnis/and so on :)
In Kali it basically means: Teacher teach me, with respect from my heart.
It's a expression of respect towards your teacher, your opponent and your trainingspartner.
Movies that also used this martial art (stick fighting):
Bourne Identity
Book of Eli
MIssion Impossible III
and many more ...
Also remember that Jessica wasnt supposed to train Paul with the Voice, so its interesting that this holy war and galactic struggle are just a method of Jessica's survival.
Not just about survival, it's mostly about revenge for her... she is really pissed that her husband was killed... that was not supposed to happen.
@@michaelcastro5339 But Jessica brought it on herself by betraying the most important BG orders and covenants...she gave birth to a boy, taught him the Voice, drank the Water of Life during pregnancy....and Leto brought it on himself by taking his family to Arrakis in the first place (and endangering their lives), suspecting it was a trap...He expected an attack but thought he had more time to recruit the Fremen on his side....which made many think Leto really was power hungry, and was trying to take Shaddam's throne....Maybe Leto and Jessica were both power hungry, manipulative psychopaths...posing as good and honorable and righteous, as they often do