Even the people who enjoy the KJA books will admit they’re schlocky fan-fiction and not particularly deep or interesting. It’s like Dune, if it was turned into a cheesy ‘90s syndicated sci-fi show.

There’s arguably more Dune in The Matrix than in Star Wars, desert planets notwithstanding. The One plays essentially the same role as the Kwisatz Haderach.

It’s basically the unhappy ending that Herbert left off the first book so it would end on an upbeat note, definitely.

Hey, it worked for Neo!

At one point he does have Paul saying, “Hey guys, tell me the truth: am I Space Hitler or what?”

Right, and it’s perfectly understandable why Herbert, as well as Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke, would want to get in on that money, since SF writing was historically not a lucrative business until the ‘70s (and then only for a handful of authors).

Right, though the focus is definitely on the kids, and the book goes to some really weird places that readers probably weren’t expecting, based on the first two novels. So it is a fairly major departure, even without the massive time jumps.

There was a good piece on Talking Points Memo this morning about the streamers — I’ll post a link though the story is probably paywalled.

There are some similarities between the end of Messiah and Revenge of the Sith, to borrow a Star Wars parallel (with a Dune novel? who’da thunk it!). Children is very much about the next generation, and I think Villeneuve is more bound up with Paul’s story.

The books get, in Villenueve’s words, “more esoteric” past Messiah. He’s not wrong. There’s a giant Atreiedes spawn worm god emperor in the later books, and Herbert just goes fully out of his mind—and it would be fascinating to eventually see how Villenueve handles that.

This is indeed true, especially with markets other than the United States though I’m not sure how the numbers are within this country. They well could be higher at this point as I’m not as aware of the sales figures across the various comic book series!

The thing is, “anti-wokism” is hugely unpopular with most Americans, especially younger people. It resonates well with Very Online conservatives and the people who watch Fox News and its even more feral imitators, but it doesn’t land with most normal people. The people who believed Barbie would fail miserably because…

Because Robbie is arguably the most beloved and talented actor working in the DC movies. She’s the closest thing they have to Downey. 

I heard that it emphasized verticality, like when Superman takes off. But I never got around to seeing it.

I think that’s just how a lot of movies are made these days, like the directors and the cinematographers are afraid of colors. Maybe it’s an aesthetic choice, maybe it has something to do with shooting digitally. 

“Attractive person is attractive” is why most actors get cast as leads in movies going back to the silent era.

I imagine that as being like the Seinfeld reunion episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where everyone glares at Michael Richards whenever it looks like he’s about to open his mouth.

“Why doesn’t the Fellowship just use the Eagles to fly to Mordor?”

Yeah, you can definitely see that with certain actors (it’s usually dudes) who are briefly in seemingly everything and then never heard from again. In the late ‘80s/early ‘90s there was an ex-Marlboro Man named Brad Johnson who was in a couple of high-profile movies, Spielberg’s Always and John Milius’ Flight of the…

Oh yeah. But that was just another cameo, right?