I am an Orthodox Dune fan. By this I mean that I feel that only Frank Hebert's original novels are true canon in the Dune universe.
1) The true vision of Herbert is described primarily in the first novel, Dune. Subsequent novels are dimmer echoes of its genius. Many academics feel that Dune should be considered a stand alone novel, or the Dune Trilogy.
2) Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson are doing irreparable harm to the series with their trite, penny a word, and unoriginal works. Part of the beauty of Dune is not fully understanding the schematics of how Mentats are trained, or how the No-Ships were created. The mystery, and mysticism of it all helps to define the series. Yet, BH, and KJA want to beat it over our heads with relentless details, stupid additions.
3) BH and KJA's works fail to do either one of two things. They could faithfully work only with Frank Herbert's notes, and reconstruct only when necessary. Or, they could create a world, with new creations, new ideas, and new potential to craft the Dune universe in all its fullness. Yet, they do neither. Their works describe a universe that is too far from Herbert, and too close to conservative temperaments that it fails. Herbert didn't feel the need to directly write scene to scene, switching PoVs every time something happened. It wasn't necessary. But, BH and KJA too, thus slowing down and mucking up the narrative.
4) Herbert was a gifted and brillant story teller, and without exception, Dune is his greatest achievement. Why? Dune is literally a novel written in poetry. Every sentence is wrought with sublime power, and soul stirring beauty. Literally, it is written as a holy book, to emphasise its religious and spiritual themes. The rest of the series is similar. However, in the prequels and sequels, the tone is exchanged for crap hard sci fi writing that fails to engage the reader.
5) There are few, albiet minor issues with the original Dune series. The prequels, and sequels are frought with errors, let alone when compared to Dune Encyclopedia, which only emphasizes their unofficially nature.
6) Part of the joy of Dune is the fact it is incomplete. It is a magna opus without an ending, because in the end any ending we could conceive would not be worthy of the series.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Spanish Dune Fan Film -- CANCELLED
Terrible news, in August a trailer of a fan developed, not-for-profit Dune video was uploaded on to Youtube. Several days later, Frank Herbert's estate forced the group to take down the trailer, and end the production. The implications of this are staggering.
First, the eight hour production was done by 150 Spanish Dune fans, many of whom were studying film at a college level. It was done as a labor of love, without any benefits whatsoever such as profit. The team hadn't even finished the film, hadn't even uploaded the film to Youtube, just the trailer. And for the trailer, it was pulled. The project is effectively done for, as the group no longer has the will to complete the project.
Second, this means any potential fan films for Dune are doomed if the Herbert estate continues its belligerant response to fans. They have given no response to why. In light of the thousands of Star Trek, and Star War fan films available on line, yet Paramount and George Lucas do not threaten legal action unless they are pulled. Why is this? Fan films by definition are created for the love of the series, and as mentioned before, without making money off the production. They are considered fair use of the series. And they have a self supporting nature: the more fans make fan films, they more they want to read/watch the series, which means fans spend more money on the series. Star Trek knows this, the power of Star Trek fans has always been impressive, from the lettering writing campaign to rename the first Space Shuttle Enterprise, to the conventions. At the end of the day, if you let the obsessed fans do what they want, it means more profits.
But even more importantly, we must realize that as fans of Dune, we have rights. We do not have to listen to Herbert Properties, LLC. We must speak up, protest, and act as our fandom dictates. In light of these, and other reasons, I imploy you readers to sign the petition linked below. We must encourage any and all Dune fan films. I encourage the Spanish Dune fans to continue to making their Dune fans, legal threat or no. Reject the commercialism and capitalism of the Dune series that threatens Dune's inherent beauty and meaning.
Ya hya Chouhada!
Links:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-the-dune-fanfilm
http://es.youtube.com/browse?&session=G7QwHqB5WQG_JK7RFmGK9ZhJT06FRH3cfENJ2qBGU35g226Ef1xn6GkaeGeB-cWMMObfrtL7CT5d7xu0aSaumTaJDPl3G60aX5B62OhMw86qrwKcjczB1e7FpcoHW8wyo1OejOlqR_OTRrsBOahIdMzB6a77gqIkfQYaN-b6wNdJvmpOLdcftwSlhM48OD6Q0QWL8m5HjDKZV46r_zmK6NSfRdqTxeQMhTic8nsV7newYUyJI5lgUiUsenUd0fq5lwKXAd8sjT2vXpvxe6Z0c7UPc8h5aFz8szLpJHZ00Xo=
http://www.dunenovels.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2103&start=0&sid=8ab167200463f1080764c27f5c0d9c4b
First, the eight hour production was done by 150 Spanish Dune fans, many of whom were studying film at a college level. It was done as a labor of love, without any benefits whatsoever such as profit. The team hadn't even finished the film, hadn't even uploaded the film to Youtube, just the trailer. And for the trailer, it was pulled. The project is effectively done for, as the group no longer has the will to complete the project.
Second, this means any potential fan films for Dune are doomed if the Herbert estate continues its belligerant response to fans. They have given no response to why. In light of the thousands of Star Trek, and Star War fan films available on line, yet Paramount and George Lucas do not threaten legal action unless they are pulled. Why is this? Fan films by definition are created for the love of the series, and as mentioned before, without making money off the production. They are considered fair use of the series. And they have a self supporting nature: the more fans make fan films, they more they want to read/watch the series, which means fans spend more money on the series. Star Trek knows this, the power of Star Trek fans has always been impressive, from the lettering writing campaign to rename the first Space Shuttle Enterprise, to the conventions. At the end of the day, if you let the obsessed fans do what they want, it means more profits.
But even more importantly, we must realize that as fans of Dune, we have rights. We do not have to listen to Herbert Properties, LLC. We must speak up, protest, and act as our fandom dictates. In light of these, and other reasons, I imploy you readers to sign the petition linked below. We must encourage any and all Dune fan films. I encourage the Spanish Dune fans to continue to making their Dune fans, legal threat or no. Reject the commercialism and capitalism of the Dune series that threatens Dune's inherent beauty and meaning.
Ya hya Chouhada!
Links:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-the-dune-fanfilm
http://es.youtube.com/browse?&session=G7QwHqB5WQG_JK7RFmGK9ZhJT06FRH3cfENJ2qBGU35g226Ef1xn6GkaeGeB-cWMMObfrtL7CT5d7xu0aSaumTaJDPl3G60aX5B62OhMw86qrwKcjczB1e7FpcoHW8wyo1OejOlqR_OTRrsBOahIdMzB6a77gqIkfQYaN-b6wNdJvmpOLdcftwSlhM48OD6Q0QWL8m5HjDKZV46r_zmK6NSfRdqTxeQMhTic8nsV7newYUyJI5lgUiUsenUd0fq5lwKXAd8sjT2vXpvxe6Z0c7UPc8h5aFz8szLpJHZ00Xo=
http://www.dunenovels.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2103&start=0&sid=8ab167200463f1080764c27f5c0d9c4b
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