News & Announcements
Sisterhood of Dune
Kevin J. Anderson has announced that the next Dune book will be Sisterhood of Dune, which will be released in early 2012. This novel will take place after the Legends of Dune series, and will be the first of a trilogy.
From KJA's blog:
"Over the course of three novels, we’ll describe the formation of the Bene Gesserit, the Mentats, the Suk Doctors, the Spacing Guild and the Navigators, as well as the solidifying of the Corrino imperium. It’s a big story set against the great turmoil of continuing anti-technology fervor and the religious unrest of the C.E.T. The first novel is titled THE SISTERHOOD OF DUNE and will likely be published in early 2012. Anyone who’s attended our talks and signings knows that Brian and I have been planning this series for a long time."
The two planned 'inquels' have been postponed and will come out at a later date.
From KJA's blog:
"Over the course of three novels, we’ll describe the formation of the Bene Gesserit, the Mentats, the Suk Doctors, the Spacing Guild and the Navigators, as well as the solidifying of the Corrino imperium. It’s a big story set against the great turmoil of continuing anti-technology fervor and the religious unrest of the C.E.T. The first novel is titled THE SISTERHOOD OF DUNE and will likely be published in early 2012. Anyone who’s attended our talks and signings knows that Brian and I have been planning this series for a long time."
The two planned 'inquels' have been postponed and will come out at a later date.
--posted by Dunenewt on Jul 26, 2010
DuneWiki - March update
The DuneWiki 'Improvement Drive of March 2010' is good ol'Thufir!.
"Thufir Hawat (Master of Assassins-Mentat) (unknown-10,193): The greatest mentat of his age. Thufir was a tough, vigorous old man whose Atreides roots stood always firm. Young and strong in his young age he was not only sharp with his wit but also with the sword. Time took its toll though and training three generations tested him. A great thinker and dreamer, Thufir was always loyal to the Duke. He went so far as to kill himself for Paul Atreides his student and rightful ruler to the house.
Enlisted into the Atreides as their Mentat, Hawat was considered one of the Imperium's greatest Mentat. He was an instructor to Paul Muad'dib and helped clear Arrakis of Harkonnen threats during the Atreides arrival. Help improve!"
--posted by Dunenewt on Mar 11, 2010
Dune news 04-03-10
Not much news at the moment. The official Dune site has a new newsletter, and its own Twitter now, but I'm not sure who's running that one.
Over in the South West England, in Plymouth to be precise, there is a Dune related art exhibition!
'An Exhibition of a Film of a Book That Never Was takes as its departure from the cult Chilean film-maker Alejandro Jodorowsky’s attempted 1976 adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic science fiction novel Dune. This exhibition includes production drawings made by Moebius, H R Giger and Chris Foss alongside commissioned work made in response by three international contemporary artists: Steven Claydon, Matthew Day Jackson and Vidya Gastaldon.'
The exhibition is being held in the Plymouth Arts Centre from the 2nd April until the 16th May. For more information, have a look at the website. I'll definitely be having a look at that, and thanks for Sandchigger for retweeting that.
--posted by Dunenewt on Mar 4, 2010
Dune Editing news 04-03-10
The War of Assassins team have been very busy since the last Dune Editing update. Firstly, they have changed their website domain, and you can now find it at either BattleforDune.eu or WarofAssassins.com.
They've also been producing some videos showing off their progress, for example:
Atreides War Factory Basement Construction
Harkonnen Refinery Basement
New Years Day Video 2010 - definitely worth watching, and will get you excited about the finished release!
As well as this, they also have several new models and screenshots, so have a look at their site, or their thread on our forum.
The team that was working on the Tiberium Wars total conversion mod Dune: Arrakian Wars, which was sadly never completed, have reorganised, and are now working on a stand alone Dune RTS game, entitled Dune: War of the Spice.
'New name, same great project. Dune: War of the Spice is a new fully original Real Time Strategy game loosely based on the Dune novels of Frank Herbert and following in the footsteps of such games as Emperor: Battle for Dune and Dune II: Building of a Dynasty. The game follows the exploits and conflict between the three Great Houses of the Atreides, Harkonnen and Ordos in their fierce battle for power and control of the Imperium, as well as a number of Subhouses that try to use the conflict to their own advantage.
Some of their current concept art looks great, such as the Harkonnen Trooper.
'The even the common Harkonnen Trooper is a formidable opponent. Their armor may make them slow-moving but the heavy maula pistol they carry can easily cut through hordes of enemy infantry.
Most of the foot soldiers fielded by the Harkonnen are are either slaves or conscripts, the brutal treatment which their masters can inflict on them for failure is what motivates them to risk their lives on the battlefield. In the absence of their Squad Leader, they cannot be relied upon not to flee from the conflict in order to escape their servitude.'
Or the Harkonnen Dragon Tank, which looks like a redesigned, meaner and tougher version of the Flame Tank in Emperor: Battle for Dune.
'The Harkonnen Dragon Tank is a heavily armored, slow unit that strikes fear into the heart of everyone who encounters it in battle. It can spray burning napalm over an almost 360 degree radius while traveling in any direction, meaning there is nowhere to hide if it gets close enough to strike.
They can be almost as dangerous to their owners, however. If one of these tanks is damaged or destroyed, the resultant explosion can splatter burning fuel over a wide area.'
They are currently recruiting concept, environmental and texture artists, so if you're interested contact them on their site, or let them know in this thread on our forum. You can visit their website here, and follow them on Twitter.
Dune 2: The Golden Path v1.68 has been released:
* Main executable is again separate from music files, and will be going into the future
* Many, many bugs fixed and some graphics tweaked
* New menu system added for most production buildings (please use your mousewheel)
* Full network synchronization with acceptable speed (still only 2 human players)
* Greatly improved close-range pathfinding (no more units doing the "dune shuffle")
* AI players now send attacks in formation (not as great as it sounds but still an improvement)
* Units put on Retreat will not be selectable until they are close to their destination, when they will default to Move/Protect orders
* Added a timer to the global Retreat Flag button
* Flak Trikes now take double damage from ground units when moving
* Outpost now controls default Retreat settings and building auto-repair (if researched)
* Auto-concrete now has greater range from each ConYard
* Fremen have range 2 instead of 3
* Slightly reduced AOE of Rocket Launchers/Deviators (very slightly)
* Added percentage complete for flyer queues at HTF
* No problems should remain with Sandstorms
* Trading Posts will not appear on enemy radar
* Outposts, Trading Posts, and MTPs have higher vision to balance Sandstorms
* AI Death Hands will now launch when attacked
* Reduced Harvester strength by 10%
--posted by Dunenewt on Mar 4, 2010
AV Club calls Dune Unfilmable
The AV Club has a new article listing all of the novels which they believe Hollywood should never, ever, ever try filming again.
Dune is the final book on the list.
Here is an excerpt from the article:
While I have not been very positive towards the most recent attempt by Pierre Morel to adapt the novel I do feel that there is a great movie held within the text of Dune. Not likely a movie that's 100% faithful to the source material, but a film that - taken on its own merits - could be fantastic. God only knows if we'll ever get it.
Dune is the final book on the list.
Here is an excerpt from the article:
Quote
Overall, Dune is simply one of those books packed with far too much abstract philosophy and internal action and dialogue, which can’t be excised from the story or portrayed effectively in a visual medium.
While I have not been very positive towards the most recent attempt by Pierre Morel to adapt the novel I do feel that there is a great movie held within the text of Dune. Not likely a movie that's 100% faithful to the source material, but a film that - taken on its own merits - could be fantastic. God only knows if we'll ever get it.
--posted by Mahdi the Benevolent Despot on Feb 22, 2010
(Another) Scripter of Dune
The Hollywood Reporter has unveiled Pierre Morel's mystery writer as (drum role please)... Chase Palmer! Who is Chase Palmer you may ask? Well, he's the writer behind... um, nothing really.
In other new, Morel's latest film, From Paris With Love, opened with only $8.2 million at the box office last weekend and is currently rated a disturbingly low 34% at Rotten Tomato's.
Anyone else got the feeling that this production may have went from bad to worse since Berg left? Gotta wonder if the studio is even serious about moving forward with a hugely expensive sci-fi epic tentpole film directed by a newcomer without any big-budget experience whose last movie was a failure and written by another person with even less experience.
In other new, Morel's latest film, From Paris With Love, opened with only $8.2 million at the box office last weekend and is currently rated a disturbingly low 34% at Rotten Tomato's.
Anyone else got the feeling that this production may have went from bad to worse since Berg left? Gotta wonder if the studio is even serious about moving forward with a hugely expensive sci-fi epic tentpole film directed by a newcomer without any big-budget experience whose last movie was a failure and written by another person with even less experience.
--posted by Mahdi the Benevolent Despot on Feb 11, 2010
From Paris With Love - Unlovable?
Pierre Morel, the director/writer most recently tapped to run the newest big screen incarnation of Dune, is not inspiring me with confidence. His newest film, From Paris With Love, is out today and is being savaged by critics. Rotten Tomatos currently has it registered as rotten, with the tomatometer scoring it a horrible 31. Avg. critic scores rate the movie as 4.7/10. By comparison, Peter Berg (the director formerly attached to Dune) scored a 40 on the tomatometer with his last film, Hancock.
Have you seen From Paris With Love? If so, what did you think?
Have you seen From Paris With Love? If so, what did you think?
--posted by Mahdi the Benevolent Despot on Feb 5, 2010
Another Morel Interview - Chock Full Of Goodies!
Seems he's really hitting the internet PR circle. This time it is with Ain't it Cool News' Capone. To put to rest some rumours swirling about here on FED2k and elsewhere, this interview confirms Luc Besson is not the "mystery writer" working on Dune, and that Besson has absolutely nothing to do with Dune. The mystery writer will be officially named next week when work on the script commences.
Most interestingly, one answer of Morel's goes to show that there is still no guarantee his big-screen adaptation of Dune will be produced. It may yet be cancelled, like so many other past attempts.
"If I do Dune, which I hope" - there's the key phrase.
Morel also softly insults Berg's script, saying that it was "a little bit too far away" from what the fans were expecting.
As for his focus in the film, Morel states that he's been interested in the BG and how he's believed Dune is "all about the women". Shades of the CoD miniseries, perhaps?
To read the full interview, click here.
Most interestingly, one answer of Morel's goes to show that there is still no guarantee his big-screen adaptation of Dune will be produced. It may yet be cancelled, like so many other past attempts.
Quote
PM: It’s a way different experience. If I do DUNE, which I hope, it will be with Paramount, and I definitely will not have the same relationship with the studios that I would have with Luc. It’s just a different way to work and a different way to handle the production. I look forward to it. It’s just a new experience; you learn from new experiences. I look forward to that. Will I miss that freedom that he gave me, or will I replace it with something else? I don’t know.[laughs] We will see, but yeah the next movie, if it’s DUNE, will probably be without Luc, but we have other projects coming up together.
"If I do Dune, which I hope" - there's the key phrase.
Morel also softly insults Berg's script, saying that it was "a little bit too far away" from what the fans were expecting.
As for his focus in the film, Morel states that he's been interested in the BG and how he's believed Dune is "all about the women". Shades of the CoD miniseries, perhaps?
To read the full interview, click here.
--posted by Mahdi the Benevolent Despot on Feb 1, 2010
Zetumer's Script Completely Scrapped?
Over in the Duniverse forum Jasonspazz has alerted us to another interview with Pierre Morel, this time with IGN. The only real new piece of information is that the entire script by Zetumer has been tossed and Morel is starting completely from scratch with new "mystery" writers. This development pushes Dune further back from production than it was before. No script, no known writers, no cast, no crew, no schedule - we're basically back to square one. If this movie ever gets made I will be very, very surprised.
On another note, Mass Effect 2 was released earlier this week. Gobalopper wants you to buy it. If you have got it, how're you liking it?
On another note, Mass Effect 2 was released earlier this week. Gobalopper wants you to buy it. If you have got it, how're you liking it?
--posted by Mahdi the Benevolent Despot on Feb 1, 2010
Couple a' Things
No, it's not a Bunch O'Stuff, but it's close.
Last month, Wired magazine listed the top 10 sci-fi shows they'd like to see rebooted on TV. It's a strange list as it includes creations that are currently airing on TV or have successful ongoing film franchises (like Hero's and Batman). Oddities aside, they had this to say about Dune:
At one point the producers of the miniseries did pitch a couple of ideas for a weekly show to the sci-fi channel, but those plans were quickly killed. I believe a weekly TV show set either apart from the Atreides family or during a time period not covered by the novels could have a lot of potential but only if they hired a showrunner of David Milchian level brilliance.
Speaking of TV, Chuck, the Shai-Hulud costume wearing, Dune poster owning Nerd Herder, is back at the Buy-More for a third season. The first three episodes aired earlier this week, way ahead of the previously announced schedule. If you missed them, I suggest checking out the website for whatever TV station currently airs the program in your country.
The third and last item on todays Couple a' Things was brought to us by Dante. It's another Dune centric Penny Arcade comic. Check it out.
Last month, Wired magazine listed the top 10 sci-fi shows they'd like to see rebooted on TV. It's a strange list as it includes creations that are currently airing on TV or have successful ongoing film franchises (like Hero's and Batman). Oddities aside, they had this to say about Dune:
Quote
Although David Lynch’s bizarro 1984 screen adaptation took Frank Herbert’s interrogation of interstellar resource wars to the outer limits, the subsequent miniseries took the spice and ran with it. The creative results were inconclusive, although the ratings for Frank Herbert’s Dune were outstanding in 2000 — two good reasons to expand the late sci-fi writer’s universe into serial programming. Given our real-time drama of climate change, desertification and worse, the time is right for a recurring space opera about the politics of one’s place in space.
At one point the producers of the miniseries did pitch a couple of ideas for a weekly show to the sci-fi channel, but those plans were quickly killed. I believe a weekly TV show set either apart from the Atreides family or during a time period not covered by the novels could have a lot of potential but only if they hired a showrunner of David Milchian level brilliance.
Speaking of TV, Chuck, the Shai-Hulud costume wearing, Dune poster owning Nerd Herder, is back at the Buy-More for a third season. The first three episodes aired earlier this week, way ahead of the previously announced schedule. If you missed them, I suggest checking out the website for whatever TV station currently airs the program in your country.
The third and last item on todays Couple a' Things was brought to us by Dante. It's another Dune centric Penny Arcade comic. Check it out.
--posted by Mahdi the Benevolent Despot on Jan 13, 2010