And now we come to the end at the beginning. As I said at the beginning, when I first picked up the book Dune, I read up to the part of the book that I thought would be covered by the first movie. I got it a bit off, but I still enjoyed the movie.

Before I go on, I want to do a bit of housekeeping. As this is the last Dune review I will be doing for a while, I would like to announce that next week we will be making a hard left turn and reviewing the BFG by Roald Dahl, as well as the two adaptations.

“Dune: Part One follows young Paul Atreides as his noble family assumes control of Arrakis, a harsh desert planet that is the sole source of “spice”—the universe’s most valuable resource. Betrayed by the Padishah Emperor and House Harkonnen, Paul and his mother flee into the deep desert to unite with the indigenous Fremen.

Dune: Part Two follows Paul Atreides and his mother, Lady Jessica, as they unite with the Fremen on the desert planet Arrakis. Bent on revenge against the conspirators who destroyed House Atreides, Paul walks a dangerous path between winning the love of the Fremen and preventing a catastrophic holy war.”

These movies were a lot of fun and incredibly intense. If you can see either of these movies in the cinema, watch it. An odd effect of seeing this movie first is that in my head, I saw all the characters played by these actors.

For the first part, I have three thoughts.

Firstly, I would like to talk about the way that the shield system works. In the books, shields will block anything that is moving too fast, but let slow-moving objects through. This leads to an increase in knife fighting instead of relying on guns. The reason I am bringing this up is the fact that whenever contact is made, that point of contact flashes red or blue. So you can see if it is a deadly hit. This means that in a large battle, the flashes of red mean that someone is probably dead.

Secondly, I would like to talk about the portrayal of Lady Jessica. In the book, while you do see how much she cares for her family, she is also plotting to keep them safe. We see her true fear when her son was undergoing the Gom Jabbar; you see her worrying to the point of reciting the Litany of Fear.

Thirdly, I would like to talk about how the Baron is portrayed in different adaptations. In the book, the baron has suspensors that carry most of his weight. But David Lynch decided to make the Baron fly around the room, and that has continued through all the shows and movies, and in this one, the Baron’s clothing makes him look much more intimidating as if he is a giant.

For part 2, I have three thoughts.

Firstly, I would like to talk about the critique against the Missionaria Protectiva. In the book Missionaria Protectiva is something that the Bene Gesserit use to manipulate different native populations through implanting a religion to help a future Bene Gesserit. Other adaptations will lean in to the idea that Paul is actually a Messiah figure, that the implanted religion was right. But in every point in this movie, it is hit over and over again that the very idea that Paul is the Lisan al-Gaib is a complete sham.

Secondly, Jessica is being creepy. Ok, remember when I talked about how loving Lady Jessica is. That changes a bit after she drinks the water of life. Not only is she talking to her unborn baby, but she is the one pushing Paul to lean into the religion aspect. I do wonder if this has something to do with the lack of a time jump, as Paul’s sister in the book would have taken the brunt of the creepiness in that case.

Thirdly, Paul and Chani in the ending. Ok how these two ended is making me wonder how they are still together in the third movie. Throughout the movie, Paul promises to love Chani forever. The problem is that he agrees to marry Princess Irulan without telling Chani that the Princess would never have any of his love. The movie ends with Chani storming out of the room, which I really don’t blame her for. I do wonder how they will get back together.

Thank you for joining me for this long journey through the Dune series and until next week.

Happy reading to all, and to all a good night.