Dune

[Theseus]

Not regarding the movie or TV movies...

Rather, the books. Huuuuge fan of Herbert's original works... have read'em at least five times.

I recently read the first prequel trilogy, by his son and Kevin Anderson. I would, in general, say that they sucked. Not so friggin' bad that I had to put'em down, and *sorta* worth it for the prequel color, but no where near the quality of Frank Sr.'s writing.

So now, I gotta figure out whether to read the second prequel trilogy, the House books. The Amazon review are pretty damning. Anybody have any input?

[Q Classic]

Don't. I read a few of the prequels, and then gave up in disgust because of how much they botched the established continuity.

If you like the crapfest that was Enterprise, and what it did to established Star Trek, then you should have no problem with the crapfest that was Kevin J. Anderson's work and what it does to Dune. (That's not to say that anything after God Emperor was that good, but they're still far above and beyond the prequels. It's like Voyager to Enterprise. It sucked, but at least they didn't go there.)

So: A good, to the point review.

[Lancer]

Sr got his inspiration from the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area which extends 52 miles south of my town. His daughter has a little store in Olde Towne selling kitchen stuff. Though we don't have big worms here, the slugs are enormous.

[Zkribbler]

Mmm, scantily clad, big fat ugly slug ladies.

[Theseus]

Originally posted by Lancer
Sr got his inspiration from the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area which extends 52 miles south of my town. His daughter has a little store in Olde Towne selling kitchen stuff. Though we don't have big worms here, the slugs are enormous.

But do they produce SPICE??!!

[Agathon]

I liked the first novel, the others were rather wooden.

Still, it is easily the best SF novel ever IMHO.

[hexagonian]

Re: Dune

Originally posted by Theseus
Not so friggin' bad that I had to put'em down, and *sorta* worth it for the prequel color, but no where near the quality of Frank Sr.'s writing.

Boy, is that an understatement...

[Brundlefly]

There is an excellent board game based on Dune. It was made by Avalon Hill in the 80's. I believe it is out-of-print now, but there is a thriving PBEM community online for the game. If anyone is interested in getting a game together, let me know..

[Tattila the Hun]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
I only watched the first episode of ENT, and didn't like the uniforms.

Paraphrased for ya.

[Q Classic]

Originally posted by Tattila the Hun


Paraphrased for ya.

I never said that I didn't like the uniforms, so far as I can remember. I did dislike the skintight uniforms that they made T'Pol wear, trying to turn her into a Vulcan sexpot barbie, kinda like how they made Seven a Borg sexpot barbie.

And WTF does this have to do with the travesties of Prequel Dune?

[Nostromo]

I loved the Dune novels when I was teenager. I tried to read the first novel a year or so ago. I don't remember exactly why, but I didn't enjoy what I was reading, not at all. I vaguely recall feeling that that prescience was lame, badly handled by Herbert. But I don't remember why, so I couldn't defend my position against you zealots. I couldn't even finish the book.

[Q Classic]

nostromo: Dune itself is a read-once book, in a lot of respects. In my case, most of the joy was in experiencing a whole new universe, rather than the actual story itself.

But your opinions and feelings on the matter of the original source novel wouldn't be called into question, especially in a thread about how much the prequels written by his son suck, as well as how most of the novels after God Emperor were kinda weak and wierd.

[Kuciwalker]

Vulcan sexpot barbie

[mactbone]

You should check out the Ship series (I think it's called). A trilody of books by Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom. I love the whole god complex thing in a self aware ship.

Anybody have any opinion on the other Herbert books? I've seen but never read his other books like Dossadi something or that other desert book.

[JohnT]

Here is my sci-fi club thread about the Dune Chronicles.

I loved the books - the original books, even the ones that sucked (Dune: Messiah.) I liked the sense that this was something distinctive, that there really was no person who could tell this story than Frank Herbert - few books give a better sense of what the author was like than Dune - Herbert is the TimeCube guys far saner cousin.

The prequels, however, I refer to as "abortions." I am stunned in how the authors seem to have no familiarity at all with the source material. If it weren't for Lucas, the Anderson/Herbert Dune books would be voted "All time worst 'prequel' trilogy ever!" I could go into a complete geekfest, rattling off continuity to motivation to basic plot errors after error, but suffice it to say I never bothered reading the second trilogy nor the Butlerian Jihad books. I'd rather read the Left Behind series.