The Navigators

[SandRider]

also consider Norman Spinrad's position that Dune was about altered consciousness thru drugs ...
prescience becomes not a mystical, magical power, but one that resides in every human, only
requiring the right drugs (and training to make benefit of the drugs) to unlock ....

very 60ish TuneIn-TurnOn, also part of the mindset of the day in which Frank wrote Dune -

also, it's as simple as a necessary plot-device he needed to make the story he had in mind work...

edit> like Freak just said ... and cock-blocked my post with the "Post Review" message,
causing me to back track and hit "submit" again ...

[Freakzilla]

I can rationalize the prescience and Other Memory in a pseudo-scientific way, which others would argue with, enough to suspend my disbelief. I'll discuss it if anyone's interested. Like SR said, the drugs are the main mystical part.

BTW, I was watching the latest episode of "Ancient Aliens" (preemptive ) and they were talking about stored information in our DNA and accessing it would prove our alien ancestry.

So at least some wingnuts still believe it.

[SandChigger]

That "truthseeker" wingnut dipshit Marilyn Martin over on Amazon is always posting about "our alien DNA" in the Aliens forum.

[MrFlibble]

"our alien DNA"

Like in "Ripley clone"?

[Freakzilla]

Yeah. The theory is that the aliens combined their DNA with the Neanderthals to make homo sapiens for slave labor.

I guess the Neanderthals didn't take orders too well.

[Aquila ka-Hecate]

Alien DNA?
Like, alien from where? Or alien from what?
Alien from the Earth?

Gads, what provincial mind sets these loons do have.

[SandChigger]

Alien DNA?
Like, alien from where? ... Alien from the Earth?

Exactly.

Seriously, you OWE it to yourself to go have a peek at this woman's posts. USDA Grade A Certifiably Bugsheeit.

[MrFlibble]

Yeah. The theory is that the aliens combined their DNA with the Neanderthals to make homo sapiens for slave labor.

I really need to go get some sleep

[Visigoth]

Freak, be a little more nice with our new fellow!

Welcome, man!

Well, if your are curious about how the navigator are, you should read the DUNE MESSIAH, the sequel to DUNE written by Frank Hebert, the only real writer of the Dune universe.

In one of the first chapters of the book, there is a description of how a navigator is. They have a fish-like appearance, you can find a lot of draws of a navigator in the web.

I expect I helped you.

Is this the only book which has the physical appereance of the Navigato?r

[Freakzilla]

No.

They appear at the end of Dune but totally human (one's short and fat, one's tall and fat, with eyes of the ibad).

I think there might be a description in HoD, at least people are threatened by the presence of one.

[Smiley]

The spice in Leto's horde was blue.

"She saw munds of dark reddish brown in front of her. Cinnamon filled her nostrils" --Heretics of Dune
page 299. Berkley publishing paperback edition
This is were ordrade finds the spice hoard in Tabr, from my copy of Heretics. I know this has little to do with the this old thread, but does the color of the spice change or is it different in different books? Also this may explain why people think of it as brownish.

[Freakzilla]

The worm, tiring now, kept veering left. Leto slid down the immense slope to
set his hooks anew and keep the giant on a straight course. A soft sharpness of
melange came to his nostrils, the signal of a rich vein. They passed the leprous
blotches of violet sand where a spiceblow had erupted and he held the worm
firmly until they were well past the vein. The breeze, redolent with the gingery
odor of cinnamon, pursued them for a time until Leto rolled the worm onto its
new course, headed directly toward the rising butte.
~CoD

I'm not sure where I got the reference to Leto's hoard, I think it was from when Moneo saw it... too tired to look now.

The spice essence is always described as blue.

[Smiley]

Yes, the essence is always described as blue. I am just wondering if Frank Herbert changed his mind on the color between books or if it is a quirk of my edition of heretics.
And yes, this a very minor point but it has me curious. Until comming to these boards I thought it was brownish red, so I am wondering if I have been tainted by the games and movies, or if my edition of heretics has. Or if it is different colors depending on how well refined, or what not.

[D Pope]

Unrefined, raw spice, in the desert, is purple.
After a little cleaning in a centrifuge, it's red/brown.
Distilled to its essence, it's blue.

I've never thought about it before but as an organic material, what kept the spice
hoard in HoD from decomposing? I guess it's like honey.

[xcalibur]

Guild Navigators are described both as human (with eyes stained completely dark blue from the spice) and as mutants with fish-like characteristics, living inside of tanks full of gas. I imagine the mutated navigators to look sort of like the completely unrelated Zoras from Ocarina of Time.

Unrefined, raw spice, in the desert, is purple.
After a little cleaning in a centrifuge, it's red/brown.
Distilled to its essence, it's blue.

I've never thought about it before but as an organic material, what kept the spice
hoard in HoD from decomposing? I guess it's like honey.

thanks for clearing that up.

[Nanaida]

Hey, welcome! I totally get what you're asking – I remember feeling the same way when I first saw the Lynch film. The whole navigator thing is definitely more of a film invention. In the book, the navigators are important, but their role isn’t shown in as much detail. The floating scene in space and the interaction with the Emperor were just there to explain how spice works and how the Guild operates, not scenes straight out of the novel. It’s been a while since I read the book too, but I think Lynch took a lot of creative liberties to give that “cool” visual representation of the spice and its effects, even though it wasn’t exactly what Frank Herbert described.