Another Nice Review

[Mr. Teg]

http://www.puddingbowl.org/archives/books/001232.php

[Freakzilla]

Imagine Patrick Henry played by Keanu Reeves, or the American Revolution as reenacted by a troupe of actors with voice modulation disorder and you've got a sense of how flaccid the depiction is.

:golfclap:

[lotek]

very true, all of it!

[Sev]

Someone should really keep a copy of that as, as it states at the top of the page, it might not be there in the future. This paragraph stood out for me:

As I poked around the corporate Dune site, I also came across a FAQ the publisher set up in which the authors purport to answer continuity flaws readers have pointed out. It made me a little sad to realize that the answers provided weren't really answers at all... just equivocations. The point wasn't so much to answer the questions as demonstrate that the authors, acting on behalf of the publisher and copyright holders, can pretty much make things up as they go along, and will do so off-handedly. Some will assert that copyright ownership is adequate justification for that sort of behavior, and I'll make no attempt to argue the contrary. It certainly bestows a legal right, but in this case legal right has been exercised to infantilize and then gut a classic series.

I remember that FAQ, and a pitiful thing it was too - but I swear even that's gone from Dune Novels now. It's like they gave up long ago trying to appease people and now its just "If you don't like it, tough"

[Hunchback Jack]

This nicely captures my feelings as well:

I was excited when I first heard about the prequels, thinking they'd represent, perhaps, a real continuation of "Dune." They proved to be a disappointment, and they haven't improved. If I'm angry, it's probably as much with myself for thinking there'd be any real return to "Dune" outside of re-reading the books written by Frank Herbert himself. And I'm angry because any close reading and comparison of the originals and the prequels is evidently considered contemptible nit-picking by the authors, who think the proper role of "their" unearned audience is passive acceptance of their mediocre efforts.

HBJ

[Ampoliros]

The product turned out by Anderson and the younger Herbert is most definitely not about ideas.

Best part of the review.

Some will assert that copyright ownership is adequate justification for that sort of behavior, and I'll make no attempt to argue the contrary. It certainly bestows a legal right, but in this case legal right has been exercised to infantilize and then gut a classic series.

I'd say the argument that should be carried here is that of course, a legal right allows them to control what is labeled and published as official Dune. However, the argument over "Canon" is much more than a legal right. "Canon" refers to what is accepted as true parts of the story and what isn't. As such there is a strong extra-legal element to canon when it refers to any body of important art: that it is controlled not by the 'artist' but by the audience, primarily those that are studying the work for its merits as art and what it adds to scholarly discourse. History has a much stronger say in what will be canon than any legal right of ownership and by creating works that cant even stand up to the test of the moment the HLP, Brian and Kev have effectively sold off the legal canonization of Dune for a short-term profit. THAT is one of the primary reasons so many of the OH hate what they have done. Sure Davinci's family could have made a hand scribble with crayon called Mona Lisa II and said it was based off his original sketches but art historians would only look back on it as a pathetic and laughable attempt at money-grubbing by someone with only a financial respect for their relative's genius

[Apjak]

the Dune franchise dies a strange sort of "lights are on but no one's home" death. Or perhaps it was dead the second the word "franchise" was applied to it off in some corner office.

This is the entire reason I am OH. I hate that DUNE is a brand name. Frank may have written sequels for pay, but he took care to keep them at a higher level each time. I think of all the people who couldn't get through DM, and I think "you hit FH's roadblock. Idiots need not continue."


Also in an aside to Amp: the guy who inherited DaVinci's notebooks kept them locked away for an entire lifetime. Most of DaVinci's advancements in engineering had been rediscovered by the time the notebooks were made public.

At least his fans got the notes.

[TheDukester]

As such there is a strong extra-legal element to canon when it refers to any body of important art: that it is controlled not by the 'artist' but by the audience, primarily those that are studying the work for its merits as art and what it adds to scholarly discourse. History has a much stronger say in what will be canon than any legal right of ownership ...

Well said.

This is exactly what terminal idiots such as Anderjacket and his lackey Byron (and, of course, the mouth-breathing preeks) are in denial about. They can say it's canon all they want, but just pointing to copyright doesn't make it so. Nor does pointing at Bobo and screaming, "But he's Frank's son!" It simply doesn't work like that, especially when there's ample proof that the son in question has absolutely no skill as a writer.

I've said this before, but I'll repeat it: history will not be kind to the McDune drivel. It will be mocked for the hackery that it is. I actually think the HLP hurts its case with every release; the more they truly turn Dune into a brainless fast-food franchise, the farther all of it moves away from being "canon."

[Ampoliros]

Better actually, it wont be mocked, it will be forgotten.

[SandChigger]

"Scholarly discourse"?!

Oh just shut up, you egghead academic!




Snapshot keepers: Frank Herbert's grandson Byron posting "infoTwits" about the Arabic origins of Dune terminology swiped from the speculations of a nice Egyptian fellow who has never read the books.

Doesn't that kinda say it all?

[Ampoliros]

True or False: One of our armchair academics > all discussion elsewhere on Dune

Right now, the OH is the monastic orders saving the books of Herbert while we pass through the Dunce Ages.

[SandChigger]

Shweet!