While the worlds of Frank Herbert’s Dune have been around in multiple forms for years, even a judicial use of the controlling Voice of the Bene Gesserit would find it tough to dissuade you that the franchise has finally come into its own over the last couple of years. The reason, obviously, is all the goodwill that’s been afforded the planets of Arrakis and beyond by Denis Villeneuve’s masterful and absurdly epic two-film adaptation of the first book that finally eclipsed the memorably bizarre attempt that David Lynch mounted in the 80s.
Since then, Dune has landed on TV before thanks to a bunch of green screen led adaptations made by the Syfy Channel, but now that Herbert’s universe has had an injection of a Game Of Thrones style majesty, we now have a official-ish spin off that drops us back into this politically murky world a good 1000 years before the birth of Paul Atreides and his immaculate bone structure. However, while TV spin offs have recently been enjoyed by the likes of Marvel, DC and even Sonic The Hedgehog, can Dune’s latest foray to the small screen fulfill the movie’s grand prophecy?
After a quick rundown of some ancient history which detailed a Terminator-esque war against humans and thinking machines, we are led through the creation of the Sisterhood, an order of women who were trained in the art of recognising and identifying lies and deception in order to serve the Great Houses of the Imperium as Truthsayers. Into this order join sisters Valya and Tula Harkonnen who hope to flee the shame placed on their House’s name after the events of the war and the older Valya soon is taken into the Mother Superior Raquella Berto-Anirul’s confidence until the day she dies.
It’s here that a division starts to form after the Mother Superior has a vision of a burning body on her deathbed and while Raquella’s natural successor wants to continue running the Sisterhood under the thumb of powerful men, Valya becomes convinced that the vision is a sign that instead of guiding history, the Sisterhood should start controlling it. After a shock murder to facilitate her rise to power, Valya sets the Sisterhood on the road to ultimately becoming the Bene Gesserit we recognise from the movies and after thirty years pass, we see her plan to put a woman on the throne of the Imperium in full effect. Her latest step as Mother Superior is to marry Ynez, the daughter of Emperor Javicco Corrino to the nine year old son of House Richese, which will help stabilise the Imperium as strengthen Corrino’s hold on the spice producing world of Arrakis. However matters are made somewhat more complicated with the arrival of Desmond Hart who is apparently the last survivor of an attack from the planet’s native warrior race known as the Fremen. As his presence seem to unsettle the Truthsayers and perplex Corrino, Ynez also indulges in some questionable behavior that could weaken the plans laid out for them.
In many ways, the current success of Dune can be attributed just as much to Game Of Thrones than it can be to the talents of Denis Villeneuve as scheming Houses and complicated plots quickly became the plot choice du jour for any show or movie that wished to follow in the footsteps of the Lannisters and the Starks. However, it’s that very goal to reach the highs of GOT while trying to bottle Villeneuve’s lightning that seemingly seems to be Dune: Prophecy’s major achillies’ heel. Firstly, the show wisely doesn’t encroach on the vastly expanding territory of the movies but rather takes itself over a thousand years into the past in an attempt to ensure it doesn’t have to limit itself too much in the case of visuals or plot and even touches on a huge, man vs machine war that no doubt would give James Cameron or the Wachowskis more than a little hint of deja vu. However, from there we shift ahead to the introduction and rise of Emily Watson’s Vayla Harkonnen and it’s here that we get to the real meat of the first episode.
Essentially joining to escape the shame of her House’s name, Vayla’s story seems to be a neat merging of a woman’s story of emerging from under the shadow of a stifling patriarchy with the tale of a religion going horribly awry due to people having internal disagreements about where their devotion should really lie. The established order is content with being mere servants but Vayla, empowered by the visions of the previous Mother Superior had is all set to run the whole damn show by any means necessary, be it instructing her rival to stab herself in the throat with an experimental version of thar brain overriding “Voice” or engineer and manipulate the entire universe via genetics, planning, coercion and the maneuvering of Houses like chess pieces.
It’s by far the most intriguing aspect of the first episode and it feels the most akin to the movies, however everything else that transpires can’t quite live up to it. It’s mainly because the show has a hell of a lot of stuff to fit in and establish and a lot of it’s either lost in the rush or just downright dull compared to how Game Of Thrones managed to juggle similar plot points in a far more engaging fashion. Mark Strong’s Corrino holds your attention mainly because he’s Mark fucking Strong and the mystery that surrounds the strange acting wildcard that is Travis Fimmel’s rather shell shocked Desmond Rose is somewhat intriguing, but so far everything else feels like a bit of a blur and struggles to stand out. For example, the plot thread of Ynez should be the backbone of the whole show as she’s about to enter the world of the Sisterhood twofold due to both technically joining their number and being manipulated to marry, but while we see her free and determined spirit in such scenes as fighting with those famously cool vibrating shields or bed hopping with an Atreides sword master before her wedding. However, the episode just can’t help making it all feel like extra noise, which is especially disappointing that this is supposed to be a more woman-centric look at Herbert’s world.
Hey, it’s early days yet and maybe subsequent episodes will streamline and focus better now that all the set up is mostly out of the way, but thankfully anyone hoping that the visuals of the movies carry over into the show should be appeased (in fact, to quote one of the characters “If you like barren landscapes and minimalism then you’ll be very happy.”) and yes, we get a couple of glimpses of the sandworms alongside some moody vistas and a few trippy visions. OK, so there’s nothing really here to light a fire under Villeneuve’s ass when he envisions Dune Part 3, it fits just enough to create a visual through line to link it where the plot can’t.
However, if Dune: Prophecy wants to earn its existence, a strong dose of focus is required to cut through the dense nature of the show and it would also help if it could also make us care a bit more about all the backstabbing and plotting that’s going on rather than just letting it blow over us like a complicated sandstorm.
Bottom line, it’s Dune alright, but it could use a bit more spice…
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