Dune, The Most Important Sci Fi Series Ever? (Feat. Princess Weekes) | It’s Lit

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The planet is Arrakis. Also known as Dune. And y’all, it’s a mess.

December of this year, we were supposed to see the arrival of director Denis Villeneuve’s interpretation of the 1965 novel Dune, which had been previously (and rather infamously) brought to life by David Lynch in 1984, and again in a three-part miniseries on the SyFy channel in the early 2000s.

Now many sci-fi nerds were both excited and nervous about the new adaptation directed by Villeneuve, but owing to the ongoing plague of eternity, the release has been pushed back to next year.

So in lieu of that, y’all have to use this video to tide you over. What is Dune? Why must the spice flow? And what is with all the sand?

Hosted by Lindsay Ellis and Princess Weekes, It’s Lit! is a show about our favorite books, genres and why we love to read. It’s Lit has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.

Hosted by: Princess Weekes
Written by: Princess Weekes, Angelina Meehan
Director: David Schulte
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Producer: Stephanie Noone
Editors: Sara Roma
Writing Consultants: Maia Krause
Assistant Director of Programming (PBS): Gabrielle Ewing
Executives in Charge (PBS): Brandon Arolfo, Adam Dylewski

Produced by Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios.

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[mimzywhimzy]

"...So that when he dies, they'll yeet into the stars and beyond." Literally perfect.

[keithklitses]

Shorty before his passing, Frank Herbert released a book called Eye, a collection of short stories. In his forward, he talks about his feelings about the movie and stated how the movie's ending was wrong and the book wasn't about a man who became a god, but about a man who plays at being god.

[tariqthomas]

Princess is out here analyzing the philosophy and thematic elements of a Sci-fi classic while wearing a Megan The Stallion shirt.

I have no choice but to stan👸🏾❤️

[ZekeStaright]

12:37 Reminds me of people going to Rage Against the Machine concerts cause they like the music & start complaining about all the politics between songs.
What machine do you people think they're raging against?

[snoozley]

'At 15, Paul is ready to become the protagonist in a Science Fiction series.' Amazing line.

[grandsome]

The first book will get you chanting: "Mouad'ib! Mouad'ib!"

The second will get you say:
"Maybe not Mouad'ib?"

The rest of the books will get you to say:
"I'm not sure wtf I've just read, but f*** leaders, anarchy it is."

[NTA_Luciana]

So Dune has the Bojack Horseman problem of people nope-ing out after the setup and missing out entirely on the payoff

[HigherMammal]

"That's the trap of Dune, only seeing the surface level entertainment that is meant to deliver these intense messages." NAILED IT. That one sentence sums up the fundamental challenge with getting a good movie made, even with a director who's a huge fan. Struggling with the studio's execs and decision makers to make sure the point isn't blunted for the sake of more pew pew sci-fi.

[artemisvsvenus]

I would love to see you guys tackle Ursula K. LeGuin's work.

[christopherdonoyan]

I love how this series is so deep and so open to interpretation. Paul always knew the Jihad couldnt be prevented but he actively tried to prevent it, always wanted to, Paul is the protagonist of books 1 and 2 only, i argue that much like Middle Earth is the "main character" of the lord of the rings, the Golden Path is in fact the main character and main thrust of Dune.

[Weazel]

"Lets never have another authoritarian again. Yeah!" Princess, you are a delight.

[ChrisWilliamsDallas]

This helped so much! I had a HUGE problem with how Dune played out and couldn't bring myself to read the other books. What I didn't realise was, that was the point.

[archer]

The first book is just a prologue. The real meat is in the sequels. Leto II is one of the most interesting, complex and ambiguous characters in fiction.

[josephkolar]

I think Paul is also basically T. E. Lawrence in space - a foreigner who adapts to desert life and culture and becomes a military leader, uniting various factions to overthrow an occupying imperial force.

[scottbutler]

This 13-minute video is as good a summary of Dune as any of the 4-hour versions that have been attempted. Better than some.

[morganjones]

1:05 Frank Herbert wrote 6 Dune books; God Emperor of Dune is missing from your list (the books are also shown out of order)

[EmpereurHector]

I want to thank you for your excellent pronunciation of Denis Villeneuve’s name. My Québécois ears are soothed.

[burningflurber]

I'm always surprised when people say the story doesn't get reflective of its tropes until the sequel books. When reading dune it felt kinda clear that the bene gesserit were an insidious colonizing force and that paul's rise was to some degree exploitative and shortsighted. My strongest thought on putting the book down was "man, stilgar sure got a raw deal..."

[Shazistic]

Never be a prisoner of your past, it was just a lesson not a life sentence

-Shazistic

[AnMuiren]

Thanks, great episode. My first reading of Dune was in 1970, and I wholeheartedly agree with your analysis, particularly regarding Caste, Caste, Colonialism, the Noble Savage, and White Saviorism, tropes that are in no danger of dying out any time soon. I saw spice as a metaphor for oil, water, and every other critical resource, natural or engineered scarcity, with one of my favourite relevant lines "It is said in the desert that possession of water in great amount can inflict a man with fatal carelessness."

However, if I were to pick a single line summed the book for me originally, that among the many subtexts of environmentalism and politics resonated most it was "No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero.”

Regardless of how I may now critique the narrative from the perspective distance of a half-century since that first reading, Dune was the beginning of the end, for my faith in the "ideal" of heroic leadership, the myth of redemptive violence. No Gods, No Masters, No Bosses.