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First episode dropped tonight and I watched. I’m more than intrigued with that episode ending.
I know very little about Dune lore, so I’m not sure if this is based on one of the books, or its taking creative license with a whole new story. Its set 10,000+ years before Paul Atreides starts his thing.
Spoiler:
Nice shot of the Butlerian Jihad in action to start the show. Would’ve liked more of that, personally. Always love a good AI vs. Human war story.
The proto-Bene Gesserit seem cool, but the first use of “The Voice” didn’t seem as freaky/otherworldy as it was portrayed in the most recent movies. I guess it will get refined over the years.
Travis Fimmel doing his usual thing. Always plays a dude who just drips menace. He had a pretty wicked scene at the end of this episode.
Mark Strong doing good acting as the Emperor, who is kind of powerless and seemingly feckless in the face of the many problems undermining his rule.
Jodhi May, who was Queen Calanthe in season 1 of The Witcher, plays The Emperess and presides over a royal wedding party that quickly goes to gak.
I wasn’t all that interested in the hot young royals doing hot young royal stuff, but the Princess seems central to the story so I’m sure I’ll come around. I was more interested in the court intrigues.
All in all, a good start. After the superb Penguin, HBO looks to be bringing some more quality entertainment.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2024/11/18 04:00:20
"Sometimes the only victory possible is to keep your opponent from winning." - The Emperor, from The Outcast Dead.
"Tell your gods we are coming for them, and that their realms will burn as ours did." -Thostos Bladestorm
“Thinking machines” they called them. I assume they were AI. Just a brief 10 second clip of man v. Machine battlefield with some exposition narrative.
"Sometimes the only victory possible is to keep your opponent from winning." - The Emperor, from The Outcast Dead.
"Tell your gods we are coming for them, and that their realms will burn as ours did." -Thostos Bladestorm
It's a shame Denis Villeneuve didn't get to direct the pilot episode for this show, like they had originally planned. I thought the first episode was just okay, big exposition dump at the beginning which might cause some viewers to tune out. The sound design is a bit flat/lacks ambience and atmosphere. Makes it feel like it was all filmed indoors on a set in the same building (which it probably was tbh). I'll be curious to see if it gets better over time.
One analysis I saw said shows either have exposition or very simple flat story's as the writers studios are prepared to pay for aren't good enough to do complex settings without one of those two crutches.
gorgon wrote: Then the young royals clubbing and hooking up felt like a soap opera with soap opera quality script and acting.
Yeah, that took me out of it. Not an expert on the Dune setting by any means, but it felt so out of place and tonally different from the rest of the show.
"Sometimes the only victory possible is to keep your opponent from winning." - The Emperor, from The Outcast Dead.
"Tell your gods we are coming for them, and that their realms will burn as ours did." -Thostos Bladestorm
They should have just skipped to the era of Honored Matres.
It should have been set in the Butlerian Jihad instead of just of that bit at the beginning. Of course I would have had everything on the Thinking Machines side played or voiced by Gerard Butler, for added authenticity.
Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
I’m glad they didn’t. In Frank’s Dune, the Thinking Machines were only tools few men used to oppress many men, not villains. Sounds like the show follows Brian and Kevin’s Dumber Skynet version of the Butlerian Jihad.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: I’m glad they didn’t. In Frank’s Dune, the Thinking Machines were only tools few men used to oppress many men, not villains. Sounds like the show follows Brian and Kevin’s Dumber Skynet version of the Butlerian Jihad.
To be fair, it isn't clear it's one or the other. There is a single shot of a small scuffle in a larger battle. They do not go into who, if anyone, is controlling the thinking machines. It's there for one purpose. To say that House Attredies came out of the conflict being heroes who led the charge and helped humanity over come. And that House Harkonnen was (supposedly) lied about as being cowards and traitors who fled the conflict. And how some of the women in the conflict founded the Bene Geserit as Truth Sayers. It sets the stage for a particular Harkonnen characters motivations of going all in on the Bene Geserit cause because the empire shuns their whole house.
I think people are generally getting pretty upset about a 15-20 second nothing of a scene whose whole purpose has nothing to do with the machines they are upset about.
These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: I’m glad they didn’t. In Frank’s Dune, the Thinking Machines were only tools few men used to oppress many men, not villains. Sounds like the show follows Brian and Kevin’s Dumber Skynet version of the Butlerian Jihad.
Sounds like some anti-Gerard Butler propaganda to me.
Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
Is it just a pun based on his name? My issue is I never picture Gerard wearing a tux and white gloves, like a Jeeves or a Geoffrey. That’s my excuse for not getting it right away.
And the Octavia E. Jihad would ‘go broke’.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2024/11/22 16:48:53
Oh gawd, Gerald Butler isn't in this series as well is he? Definitely a hard pass...
But seriously, I wasn't all that impressed with Denis' take on Dune and a series that's nothing but the Bene-G's breeding program is a major turn off. Can we just have more of Team-Atreides taking down the Titans, instead?
"Atreidies! ****-YEAH! Coming again to save the mutha-****'n Universe!"
"Prescience is the only way, yeah!"
"Titans! Your reign is through! Cos' now ya have to answer to! Atreides! ****-YEAH!"
Not sure what to think, I’m now on the fence with this show. Its not terrible, but it also not inspiring.
The Pros:
Spoiler:
-Some boobs in this episode, which is always welcome. From the moment they introduced this character, I had a feeling she’d be naked or near naked soon enough.
-Mark Strong got a bit more time, which is nice.
-Overall the acting is decent
-The Voice falling flat on our fiery mystery man was pretty cool. Wtf is he? His mystery is probably my main focus of attention.
-The weird afterlife scene was freaky, even though I had no idea how or what was happening. It did have a nice twist and callback to a scene in the first episode that suprised me.
The Cons
-Thargrim previously mentioned sound design being flat and that really stuck with me on my second viewing of the first episode and into the 2 episode. Like ships flying and landing with essentially no sound, other than some generic, borderline lifeless orchestrals. Or no music at all. Just uninspired.
-My understanding of FTL travel in Dune(or its version of warpspeed) was that it was expensive and rare*, but it seems like folks are bouncing around as quickly as they did in The Acolyte, which is not a good sign. Its not explicitly giving us any timestamps, but it seems like these two episodes are day apart and everyone is exactly where they need to be and when they need to be.
*I could be wrong, Dune lore is not my bag.
-There’s a lot going on, and my experience with multi-thread tales is that it requires a maestro to pull it all together succinctly. Usually falls flat. For instance The Duke whose name I can’t remember and his game of heavy handed politics seems badly written, and doesn’t make much sense if you analyse it for a minute. There’s about 5 other plots happening alongside the main narrative.
-Feels like there are too many characters.
I was excited for the show, as it seemed like such a change of pace in intensity and so much more colorful than The Penguin, but I’m already kind of just “meh”. Not checked out like I was 2 episodes into the abysmal The Acolyte or the dreadfully boring Rings of Power, but I’m waiting and willing to be “wowed”. Intrigued enough to continue, but its not going to be a priority viewing like The Penguin was.
Since it only seems to be a 6 episode season, maybe my opinion will change as it concludes. Next week is the halfway point and I hope it gets its hooks in me.
I think I have more fun watching “Quinn’s Ideas” youtube channel and his breakdowns after the episode.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2024/11/26 02:09:27
"Sometimes the only victory possible is to keep your opponent from winning." - The Emperor, from The Outcast Dead.
"Tell your gods we are coming for them, and that their realms will burn as ours did." -Thostos Bladestorm
So I decided to watch the first episode last night and wasn't impressed frankly coming away with simply a "meh" impression. Does it get better after the first episode? The sound design feels subpar (and noticing it is even more odd given that I rarely pay attention to it!) and the general feel of the show feels more like high budget CW or the Shannara series a decade ago than theatrical Dune. I'm not a Villeneuvista nor a Herbertorian but I do admit that the recent films had me interested in watching this but I'm not beholden to either strictly as a casual fan so my relative (moderate) disappointment is strictly in regards to this as a show.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2024/12/21 21:36:50
It kinda did get more interesting, or at least interesting enough to me that i'll watch the last episode of the season tomorrow. It's also been renewed for a 2nd season already. So there is some hope for it at least, unlike The Acolyte.
Thargrim wrote: It kinda did get more interesting, or at least interesting enough to me that i'll watch the last episode of the season tomorrow. It's also been renewed for a 2nd season already. So there is some hope for it at least, unlike The Acolyte.
Thanks and I had seen the news about the renewal the past couple of days and that actually fed into my decision to start watching it after I finished Last of Us. Being better than the Acolyte reportedly was (didn't watch it myself and have no intention to) is fairly faint praise but the renewal does make me a tiny bit more hopeful. I figured the season was coming to a close just given the number of recaps I've seen on my youtube feed and the typical 8 episode mini-season length most shows get nowadays on streaming but didn't realize the final episode is coming this week. That actually works out better for me as well though in case I decide to binge watch it prior.
Watched two more episodes tonight and the first definitely is the most CW so far fortunately as it has improved. Nothing to write home about (though I'm doing that here in a way, lol!) but better.
Mixed feelings about it. I’m intrigued enough about the mystery going into the next season, but not really emotionally invested in the show enough that I’ll watch it again or count the days til season 2. I didn’t really care for any of the characters.
Its weird. Just didn’t feel like an HBO product.
6/10.
"Sometimes the only victory possible is to keep your opponent from winning." - The Emperor, from The Outcast Dead.
"Tell your gods we are coming for them, and that their realms will burn as ours did." -Thostos Bladestorm
BobtheInquisitor wrote: I’m glad they didn’t. In Frank’s Dune, the Thinking Machines were only tools few men used to oppress many men, not villains. Sounds like the show follows Brian and Kevin’s Dumber Skynet version of the Butlerian Jihad.
It does. It's based off one of the novels about the formation of the sisterhood. So it has ALL of that baggage to go with it.
Travis Fimmel plays one role (regardless of what show he's in. Brooding thug) so he's not exactly stretching his skills.
I'm OVER 50 (and so far over everyone's BS, too).
Old enough to know better, young enough to not give a ****.
That is not dead which can eternal lie ...
... and yet, with strange aeons, even death may die.
