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Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

I don't know how many of you like the Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov, but this news makes me giddy. Apple is apparently making a 10 episode mini-series based on the books. Here's the link if you're interested. https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/11/17223728/apple-foundation-trilogy-isaac-asimov-tv-show-david-goyer-josh-friedman      Sorry I don't know how to make a thumbnail come up. Also, Denis Villeneuve is still making a series of motion pictures based on Frank Herbert's Dune, in spite of the less-than-stellar box office returns on Blade Runner: 2049.  I hope I'm not the only person here happy about his news. I'm a dork; I admit it.

 

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

Dune was super boring as a book, but if done well I could see it being a great series of movies. It's good that they won't try and make a dune movie in under 3 hours, as that proved to be terrible the first time. 

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

Dune is boring as a book if you're a slavering retard who has been mentally ruined by a deluge of digital bullshit 24/7 and you have the attention span of a meth addict who hasn't slept in four days  

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago
I am a Star Wars fan (not a sequel fan, thankfully).

I kinda like the subtle political commentary under all the boring "Good vs Evil" shitty trope, with the Empire being basically fascism and the Old Republic at times resorting to evil actions too and being generally an inefficient country divided by power-hungry bureaucrats and factions. Maybe that's because i'm an Empire guy, but still.

There's also the whole religious indoctrination thing that becomes clear when you look at the Jedi's rules (and the Sith, tho they allow more freedom), not to mention those sick KOTOR games and lightsaber duels.

People did recommend Dune to me, tho, so i'll give it a chance when i have time. But coming across some comments about the book(s) being long and boring, i don't know if it's worth it. Would you say it's a long book? And if yes, do you consider it's take and storytelling somewhat close to Lucasfilms' SW on regards to character development/plot heaviness? I take it that the story is much less focused in space wizards and battles (if there are any at all) and more on the political spectrum.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

Star Wars might as well be The Very Hungry Caterpillar when compared to Dune.


 

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago
I don't know if i should take that as an insult or not, but i guess i should expect that trying to compare a character-driven series to what seems to be a plot-driven one.

How much fantasy would i find in Dune? Being someone who prefers works with political plot to have low fantasy at max, i'm really curious. I can't get into Game of Thrones, for example, because of the major ice zombies/dragons plot.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago
....Dune is a science fiction novel.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago
And how can you say you like politics and plot and don't like fantasy and yet still be a Star Wars fan?

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago
Star Wars was never about politics, it is all about the characters interacting on a cliche good vs evil plot with cool lightsaber battles, space wizards and a clash of philosophies (Jedi vs Sith), with the minimal political subplot here and there to give substance to what's happening in the universe at large. Politics were never the primary focus. There is a subtle political commentary on religion at the Jedi and Sith and the opposing governments seem to convey the author's take on totalitarism and democracies as well, which i like, but it's not the focus of the series itself.

Take LoTR, i never cared about politics in that universe. For me it was always about the Ring, wizards, armies and Sauron, with only the barest ammount of the political/historical knowledge of the author being perceptible at some situations (mostly battles between different factions). Considering Dune's plot seems to focused on politics, i just wouldn't feel immersed (or that it would mix well) if i was suddenly bombarded by high fantasy shit like i was when reading and watching Game of Thrones, with armies being obliterated by dragons without means to defend, snow zombies, giants, ice wizard golems, and the list goes on.

And regarding it being Sci-Fi, aliens and spaceships are ok by me, but i'd like them to be as "realistically" portrayed as possible. I think you probably get it by now, but it's just a personal preference. It probably doesn't make sense to argue this at all, as i'll see if i like the book when reading anyway, as it's possible i may like it even if it contradicts what i'm saying here.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago
@Zassuen Make sure to just stick to the first three, the rest are by the author's son and range from mediocre to enraging.

You were bringing up Star Wars and GoT which are really difficult to use alongside Dune for any kind of comparison, but then again it's hard to come up with many examples of really main stream fiction that are much like it, it's very much its own thing. Just reading it for yourself is probably the best course of action. Make a thread in the Reading Corner to let us know what you thought when you're done.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago
No no you got the comparisons wrong. It’s better to compare dune to Sword Art Online as the intricate politics are palable in these two cult classics.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

Dune is definitely pretty long, and it's pretty convoluted. It's also an exceedingly complicated world, and a lot of the politics can be hard to digest. There's no shame in googling some of the obscure terminology lol. 

All in all though it's probably the best science fiction novel out there 

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago
Thanks. I'll get on reading it when things calm down here and i find calm and solitude again.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago
Beta it's okay, you don't need to prove you're a retard with irredeemably shit opinions, we already know.

By the way you're supposed to open books and read the words. I suppose I do understand how gnawing on their corners would have limited entertainment potential even for someone like you.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

Imagine unironically being this pretentious. 

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago
Beta it's okay, I don't have to imagine.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

Isaac Asimov is my favorite science fiction author, so that's exciting news.  As for Dune, my memories of the old movie makes me pessimistic, but we shall see.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

The David Lynch movie is a HOOT! Cow Tongue eating! The movie had cow tongue eating! And everybody would think in whispers! Were they afraid a telepath was eaves-dropping on them? Have you seen the Sci Fi Channel (now SYFI) miniseries from 2000? Closer to the book in a lot of ways and with a lot more pretty bright colors, but very LONG...And William Hurt was his usual bland self as Duke Leto Atriedies. I'm very excited about the Foundation Series since people have been trying to adapt that for YEARS! The BBC did a radio play miniseries of it around 1972, but everybody in that is talking with an English accent. Apparently, the people behind the Westorld TV series were originally going to do Foundation for HBO, but that fell through. We'll see how this goes. Never knew what to think of the Roger Corman movie of Nightfall.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago
I'm going to have to reread Foundation, it's been awhile but it does seem like it would be difficult to adapt.

The 1984 Dune...I was really young when I saw it and I just remember certain disconnected scenes like some kind of fever dream. (Not really sure if rewatching it now would improve the experience there or in fact just make everything weirder.)

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

I can see it would be a challenge to adapt the Foundation Series. Here's a link to the BBC radio-play miniseries if you're interested. https://archive.org/details/IsaacAsimov-TheFoundationTrilogy
Sorry, I don't really know how to make the links actual links. Apple is supposed to be doing 10 episodes, so they may have enough time to develop the world and characters (and most of the characters can stand to be flesh-out a bit more). Maybe if the actors are good enough, they can give the material the dramatic weight it needs. As to Dune, I saw the David Lynch movie in the theaters in 1984. I recall getting kind of bored by the last act, but the first 15 minutes are absolutely GORGEOUS, especially when we see the Guild ships land on Kitain. I almost think the Lynch version would be great to show at a party as a bad movie; there are so MANY howlers in that picture!

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago
Thanks for the link, I've bookmarked it for listening to at work. Episodic might be the only way it could really work.

For links, it depends on whether you're using the rich text editor or HTML. The former should just have a button (usually looks like a chain) and for an example in html go here.

Using html in a forum post means you need to put in line break tags in between paragraphs too. It's kind of annoying but choosing either that or the rich text editor is a site-wide setting and the RTE is a glitchy pain in the ass when writing stories.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

Scifi mini series was better in general, but Baron Harkonnen in the movie was suitably more disgusting.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

I think it was Kenneth McMillan who played Baron Harkonen in the David Lynch Dune. He's Hilariously over-the-top. Although I noticed both the movie and the miniseries shied away from addressing the Baron's Pedophilia. Why should that be an issue? He's a BAD GUY! He does things that make Hitler look like an an ameture but producers are worried about him being  child molester.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

Mizal, I'm usually on my friend's laptop at work. Doing what your suggesting using rich text editor won't mess his settings, will it? Or am I just showing my vast ignorance of computers by even asking that?

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago
The RTE is a setting on the site you toggle on or off from My Stuff > Profile

It's the thing that gives you the little buttons for bold, italics, etc when writing forum posts or editing a storygame so that you don't have to put in the tags yourself.

No comment on your last question. :)

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

I did like the way the actor playing the Baron in the miniseries tried to be charming even at his most psychopathic.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

Oh I agree that I still liked the actor in the mini-series that played the Baron.

As for the Baron's pedo ways, they sort of touched on it very slightly in the movie I suppose with the young looking servant that he pulls the heart plug out of, implying he was into the whole young dudes thing, but yeah I guess they didn't want to bogged down by the Baron's many fetishes.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

I saw the Nightfall movie many years ago, when it first came out.  I can't remember much about it specifically, since it was a pretty forgettable movie.  I simply remember sitting down with anticipation and slowly being overcome with disappointment.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

The movie is only good if you want to see Sarah Douglass topless. Yep, that's about it...

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

I've always loved Isaac Asimov. I actually think he had a good style. A lot of young, aspiring writers can learn some useful things from studying his writing. It's clean, clear and concise. He never cared to waste his readers' time. That's why his novels all read so fast. I've read a good number of them.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

Duuuuuuuuuuune? I hope it looks really cool, I wanna see some sandworms and nose tubes! But I wonder how it'll go down with the villain, since he's very touchy feely nom nom, ya know. Hmmmmmmmmmm. I hope the sandworms look like the ones from The Tree Of Palme! Yep!

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

It'd be Hilarious if they looked like the Sandworms in Beatlejuice. 

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago
Oh man I love everything about Beetlejuice.

It's kind of funny too that Dune placed such emphasis on how 'grossly and immensely fat' Baron H was, so disgustingly fat he needed anti grav devices to walk. Yet going back to it later when I knew what a kilo was made me realize he weighed less than 450 lbs.

Today I see Harkonnens all the time. And we have entire TV shows devoted to people so fat they were beyond the wildest imaginings of a science fiction author from the 60s.

Both Dune andFoundation Series Getting Adaptations

5 years ago

harvey weinstein gets casted at baron harkonnen, I'm calling it