Comments on: He Came From Planet Bathos

By: Stephen K

Stephen K — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:34:24 +0000

Dirigible and Kibi are right. I read all the sequels - that’s a month I won’t get back.

By: Kibi

Kibi — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:59:23 +0000

I have to agree. Damian, if you don’t enjoy Dune you won’t be tempted to read sequels. If you do enjoy it - do yourself a favour, savour the feeling and don’t spoil it by reading the dire sequels.

As for the Fremen being wiped out when they left Dune - you could make the same assumption about the Muslim warriors of Arabia in the 7th century on which they are modelled. Of course there were more factors than simply being born in a tough environment - the religious (best not say crusading in this case) impulse and the sense of invulnerability bestowed by having a prophet on your side were also helpful…

By: dirigible

dirigible — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:27:37 +0000

The Fremen had an all-seeing prophet on their side and a large weapons cache. They also had experience of running down lots and lots of tunnels, which means they’d be fine anywhere Doctor Who has visited.

But Dune was obvioulsy meant to be stand-alone. The sequels were awful (apart possibly from “Children…”) and eventually succumbed to Heinlen’s syndrome.

By: Eugenio

Eugenio — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 06:51:05 +0000

I loved Dune (although some of the followups bored me to tears and I’m convinced that Herbert made up “The Heretics” as he went on) but

SPOILER FOR THE REST OF THE SERIES

I disagree with one fundamental premise - that people living in extreme conditions such as those of Dune make super-soldiers. They can be very good in their environment, but take them somewhere else and they’re much more in trouble than, say, a European who’s been exposed to wildly varying climates. A Touareg can be an excellent soldier in the Sahara, but he’s in serious trouble even in the absence of enemies when you relocate him to Greenlad or the rainforest. In reality, the Fremen would have been wiped out as soon as they left Dune.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:40:18 +0000

I never finished Dune either. I got halfway through when I was 15, then presumably was distracted by Asimov / a girl / something shiny. Totally intrigued by warrior Geoff, though - I’ll have to give it another try.

By: Skuds

Skuds — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:27:31 +0000

Dune is one of the few books I have bought that I never got round to reading. It has always been a bit daunting. Maybe I will dare to open it one day, but for now I am more of a James Herbert reader than a Frank Herbert reader.

Geoff sounds good though. I fully expect the Bradford & Bingley Building Society to rename themselves ‘Geoff’ soon, just after the Central Office of Information rebrands itself as ‘Nigel’. I came to this conclusion after hearing that there is a directory enquiries service called ‘Maureen’ - and of course there is a TV channel called ‘Dave’.

I am sure the process of giving companies homely names is going to accelerate and by 2012 the official sponsors of the Olympic Games will be Tom, Dick and Harry.