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Stillsuit color

Posted: 11 Apr 2008 21:40
by GamePlayer
Were the stillsuits ever described in detail as to color? Or were the color of the suits just described vaguely?

Posted: 11 Apr 2008 22:39
by orald
They're grey and sleek looking. I'd give proper(numerous) quotes but I'm too tired to open the damn PDF.

Of course, no one in the film industry seems to remember the bloody thing has a head piece too(or else it's friggin' useless- you know how much you sweat from the head?) apart from those noseplugs and mouth piece.

Basically, apart from your eyes you're covered all over, unless you need precision with your hands and don't wear the gloves.

Posted: 11 Apr 2008 23:42
by Freakzilla
Now, Paul saw the contents of the mound exposed: the pale glistening gray of
a stillsuit, a battered literjon, a kerchief with a small book in its center,
the bladeless handle of a crysknife, an empty sheath, a folded pack, a
paracompass, a distrans, a thumper, a pile of fist-sized metallic hooks, an
assortment of what looked like small rocks within a fold of cloth, a clump of
bundled feathers . . . and the baliset exposed beside the folded pack.

...

Gurney stood in the same spot, but had sheathed his knife, pulled the robe
away from his breast to expose the slick grayness of an issue stillsuit, the
type the smugglers traded for among the sietch warrens.

~Dune

Posted: 12 Apr 2008 00:37
by orald
Grey, gray, same thing. :P

Ain't my fault you got a silly, inconsistant language.

Posted: 12 Apr 2008 00:53
by Tyrant
i think the original mini series did a pretty good job of making them look accurate

Posted: 12 Apr 2008 06:08
by orald
I can't remember much, but I had the distinct left-over impression that I really hated their version, even more than the Lynch one(granted, despite it being black, I think just an added "cowl" would've safficed to make it perfect).

Posted: 12 Apr 2008 07:05
by Freakzilla
orald wrote:I can't remember much, but I had the distinct left-over impression that I really hated their version, even more than the Lynch one(granted, despite it being black, I think just an added "cowl" would've safficed to make it perfect).
... and a cloak. And remove the part over the palms.

Posted: 12 Apr 2008 10:12
by inhuien
Weren’t the mini series ones in a kind of green camo design?

Posted: 12 Apr 2008 10:22
by GamePlayer
Thanks orald and Freak Z.

I've actually been unimpressed with either version of the stillsuit, in as much as they both failed to replicate what was described in the book.

I do appreciate the Lynch version for the creativity if not the execution. The 1984 stillsuit did appear as a form fitting, walking water pump with catch pockets. Course the cowl and mask were totally missing as was the cloak and (as I've just learned) the color was off. However, the creativity was one of the better aspects of David's film. His sets and costumes may not have been accurate, but damn if the result wasn't visually amazing. Much like Kubrick, Lynch understood the appeal of film. Real is good; interesting is better.

The mini-series stillsuits were more accurate in theory, but the execution was horrible. The stillsuits looked like fabrics from vintage clothing outlets, they were poorly fitted for function and the masks never sat correctly. They also had no means of adjustment, there were no tubes at the neck and no catch pockets. Wasn't impressed with them at all; they just looked awful. I suppose at least they had the cowl and cloak :)

Guess we'll see if Berg can get it right, if nothing else.

Posted: 12 Apr 2008 10:24
by GamePlayer
inhuien wrote:Weren’t the mini series ones in a kind of green camo design?
Yeah, with this weird vein-like design going on at the back of the shoulders and neck. Probably an attempt to make it look sci-fi-ish :)

Posted: 12 Apr 2008 11:06
by Freakzilla
The best stillsuit description is probably when Kynes is adjusting Paul and Leto's for the Spice Harvesting tour.

Posted: 12 Apr 2008 12:28
by orald
Well, a cloak isn't part of the stillsuit itself, it's just something you put over it, or else you just ruin your suit's fabric.

The "thing over the hands"...isn't that just like the little strap aerobics trousers have on so it stretches over the leg and isn't loose?
I can't say this is anything bad. How else can you make the hands all covered up without the sleeves moving to reveal bare skin?

Wasn't aerobics "big" in the 80's? That and black leather/rubber/anything. :lol:

Posted: 12 Apr 2008 12:32
by GamePlayer
I can understand the rubber look. The text describes the suits as "slick"

Posted: 12 Apr 2008 12:44
by orald
Actually I understand "slick" as more like bio-hazard suit's material's look, only tight-fitting. You know what I mean? I can't explain this too good.
Rubber doesn't look all that slick IMO, but I damn well loved it.

Posted: 12 Apr 2008 12:46
by Freakzilla
orald wrote:Well, a cloak isn't part of the stillsuit itself, it's just something you put over it, or else you just ruin your suit's fabric.

The "thing over the hands"...isn't that just like the little strap aerobics trousers have on so it stretches over the leg and isn't loose?
I can't say this is anything bad. How else can you make the hands all covered up without the sleeves moving to reveal bare skin?

Wasn't aerobics "big" in the 80's? That and black leather/rubber/anything. :lol:
The cloak was to keep the sun off the stillsuit. It wasn't part of it but no Fremen would wear one wthout the other.

Stillsuits were tight fitting, I doubt the sleves would move up. How are you going to fight with a knife or hold onto maker hooks with those straps over your palms?

Posted: 12 Apr 2008 12:51
by A Thing of Eternity
I agree with Freak. Beyond even FH's descriptions, only a suicidal person would go into the desert in tight-fitting clothes with nothing over it to block the sun. Heat stroke, really fast. Almost every culture from hot dry areas will cover themselves as completely as possible with cloaks, or at least baggy clothes.

Posted: 12 Apr 2008 13:00
by orald
Those little straps didn't look too obstructing to me. Are you sure you remember them right? Or maybe it's me? :?

Posted: 12 Apr 2008 13:03
by A Thing of Eternity
Sorry, I meant that I agree about the cloak. Straps were fine with me. I don't think FH intended them when he wrote the books, but I can't see them causing any grip issues. Considering hands get sweaty, they may actually help add grip.

Posted: 12 Apr 2008 14:42
by Freakzilla
A Thing of Eternity wrote:Sorry, I meant that I agree about the cloak. Straps were fine with me. I don't think FH intended them when he wrote the books, but I can't see them causing any grip issues. Considering hands get sweaty, they may actually help add grip.
Fremen rub juice from the creosote bush to inhibit perspiration.

:wink:

Posted: 12 Apr 2008 16:17
by orald
Yep, either that or "still-gloves", if they're not doing something which requires precision ATM.