I don't think we watched the same episode lol

Enjoyed the first episode and look forward to the rest of the season.

As someone who isn't TOO well versed on the Dune universe, can someone explain why the technology isn't that far off from what we see in the movies? For a show that is a prequel set pretty far ahead of the movies, I expected to see certain technologies but a much more rudimentary versions of said tech.

I get not wanting to advance too quickly after the Butlerian Jihad, but there had to have been SOME major advances in 10k+ years.

Definitely Not A Cop said:

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I think the hand wave this away explanation is that technology DID stagnate after the Jihad due to them not allowing any sort of AI or computers after the event.

The real explanation imo (if it was considered in the writing room at all) is that they didn't want to make a dune show that looked and felt completely different from the dune movie.

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I get that last part and totally agree with it, but like how we see Valya use a very basic version of The Voice on her rival, you can tell what it is but it is a VERY early version of it. I was expecting more of that. Like the shield generators look almost the same. Ship tech looks exactly the same.

Also, how can they possibly fly the ships without the aid of a computer? I know that the Mentats (are they even around in this time period?) are human thinking machines, do they also have pilots that can do the necessary calculations in order to pilot a star ship?

I guess it is difficult for me to wrap my 21st century brain around, considering how dependent we all are on computers in our lives. Look at cell phones, self driving/drive assist in vehicles, etc.

Holy crap.....The AI is already starting to slowly take over....Quick someone find an Atreides!

Someone will likely explain it better/correct me, but the broad strokes version is that the ship pilots (at least by the time of Dune) are essentially mentats that's are dependent on Spice to make their already somewhat magical calculations better by enhancing their minds to where they can look into the future/see future possibilities.

This is why Arrakis can't be nuked from orbit in Dune, because the spice is essential for space travel.

Also the great houses kinda conspired to keep technology from advancing I believe. Or maybe I'm thinking of Mass Effect

I lasted 20 minutes then had to tap out.

As a massive fan of the movies, everything about this feels like a cheap imitation/SyFy Channel knock off. Or one of those random, stuffy, sci-fi BBC shows from twenty-ish years ago.

Either way, once you've had Villeneuve preparing your meals, the more noticeable it is when a different chef, on a budget, tries to imitate him.

That, and given we know where all of this is ultimately headed, I just could not care less about the story, the characters aren't very compelling, the cast is bland, etc.

I don't know, it all just feels way more second rate and boring than I was expecting, to the point where I think I'm going to skip this one altogether.

I'll stick around and give it a chance but this feels more like a Thursday ABC show than a Max exclusive

Definitely Not A Cop said:

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I think the hand wave this away explanation is that technology DID stagnate after the Jihad due to them not allowing any sort of AI or computers after the event.

The real explanation imo (if it was considered in the writing room at all) is that they didn't want to make a dune show that looked and felt completely different from the dune movie.

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That is one of the whole points of Dune. In the far future they build a utopia managed by thinking machines, until it all went wrong. Humanity revolted and destroyed the machines in the Butlerian Jihad. Ever since the Orange Catholic Bible included the declaration "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind." Even the simplest computers and calculators were banned. To compensate humanity pushed the capabilities of the human body to extremes with the use of Spice to create Mentats, Reverend Mothers, Guild Navigators, and eventually the Kwisatz Haderach.

I'm not exactly an expert in the timescale of Dune, but I do think in the time period in which this story is being told they are still in the infancy of creating those human adaptations. We saw a very early version of The Voice. I don't think there would be enough Guild Navigators yet, to make space travel between planets as simple, quick, and and cheap as it is on this show. Even in the time of Paul Atreides space travel was very expensive. Like most TV these days (later seasons Game of Thrones, Shogun, Acolyte, House of Dragon, etc.) they are playing fast and loose with geography and travel times to push forward the story.

Quad Dog said:

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Definitely Not A Cop said:

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I think the hand wave this away explanation is that technology DID stagnate after the Jihad due to them not allowing any sort of AI or computers after the event.

The real explanation imo (if it was considered in the writing room at all) is that they didn't want to make a dune show that looked and felt completely different from the dune movie.

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they are playing fast and loose with geography and travel times to push forward the story.

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I am okay with it so long as they get to a point where the time jumps stop and we just casually move forward in time like HotD did. My wife and I hated the time jumps in season1, but once it settled in, we were good to go

I think the show telegraphed where it's going. Travis Femmel's Desmond Hart character is the Bene Gesserit's opponent (he decried humanity being controlled again to the kid he torched - referring to the sisterhood), and he's had 12 or so tours of Arrakis and a worm appeared before him and he didn't die.

He's possibly some male version of the sisters and has ingested the spice. Maybe his eyes gleaming shows he's not fully empowered like Paul was for whatever reason. He'd be the cautionary tale why men can't take the waters of life lest they go mad.

Valya will probably die for her sins, but we know the sisters prevail and the breeding program and control persist for 10k years before Paul emerges and slips their grasp - finally breaking their control.

Just a guess on DH having mental powers (although the kid/sister burning scene was pretty suggestive).

"The machine war" in the intro was a clue that the creatives are...well unable to use culturally insensitive words.

I do find it funny how these houses retain power for 10,000 years, with minimal "palace intrigue" to dislodge those houses, but certainly a ton of "palace intrigue" to keep audiences engaged for a season or two. If everything is that delicate how to they manage to maintain power for 9,969 other years?

The hand of the BG, of course! It's so obvious.

TheBonifaceOption said:

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"The machine war" in the intro was a clue that the creatives are...well unable to use culturally insensitive words.

I do find it funny how these houses retain power for 10,000 years, with minimal "palace intrigue" to dislodge those houses, but certainly a ton of "palace intrigue" to keep audiences engaged for a season or two. If everything is that delicate how to they manage to maintain power for 9,969 other years?

The hand of the BG, of course! It's so obvious.

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Stagnation is a theme of Dune broadly, so it kind of fits.

The sister burning was a big wtf? for me.

swc93 said:

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The sister burning was a big wtf? for me.

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Yea, have to imagine we get an explanation for all of that soon.

swc93 said:

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The sister burning was a big wtf? for me.

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I hope it's not jedi powers, rather just simple poisoning. He poisoned the groom and the BG to imply connection between them. Stopping the marriage stops the transfer of weapons/harvesters. Blinding the emperor by sowing his distrust of the BG would be logical.

The problem with this show, so far, is we are suppose to view the BG as the good guys? Or at least the POV character? Right now, vikings guy is 1000x more interesting than Blind chick from Red Dragon. I don't get the sense that he is a villain, or rather evil, just because he kills the groom. It's not cersie/Jaime tossing Bran, evil. Especially not when the emperor's wife and daughter both wanted the groom dead 6 minutes ago for the toy machine.

Bran = innocent
Groom = derp who transgresses against Emperor and court