4 stories to prepare you for part 2

“Dune” by director Denis Villeneuve is one of the biggest blockbusters in cinema of the year. The sci-fi epic only tells a small part of the book “Der Wüstenplanet” by Frank Herbert. It was not certain whether “Dune: Part 2” would be released. But now it’s clear: the sequel will appear. That should especially please the moviegoers who are familiar with the template and know that the first movie is only an introduction to the world of “Dune”.

The US record start of “Dune” has apparently removed the doubts of the producing studios Warner and Legendary. “Dune: Part 2” is actually being shot and is scheduled to hit theaters in October 2023. Good thing the Dune Universe has some interesting stories that fans should keep the waiting time short. Here are four curious stories about film and original.

Denis Villeneuve on the director’s chair, a whole armada of stars like Timothée Chalamet or Javier Bardem in front of the camera and Warner Pictures as the studio in the background. “Dune” is a real blockbuster and sets new standards, especially when it comes to the visual experience. If, of all things, the script is not written using the latest technology for such a mammoth production, it does not fit into the picture at all. The fact that the “Dune” script was written with an MS-DOS program on a mechanical keyboard from the 80s seems like a joke at first. But it is not.

Screenwriter Eric Roth has been using the Movie Master, a 30 year old editor, for years as Vice reports. He also wrote “Dune” with the MS-DOS program. As if that weren’t bizarre enough, the Oscar winner, from whose pen classics such as “Forrest Gump” or “The Strange Case of Benjamin Button” originate, types on an IBM Model M keyboard.

In a video interview from 2014, Roth explains why he relies on the ancient software – and it’s astonishingly plausible. The Movie Master 3.09 can store a maximum of 40 pages. This is not a disadvantage for the “Dune” author. On the contrary, Roth claims the limited space forces him to keep his scripts short.

In order to work with the Movie Maker, Roth must use the DOS console from a Windows XP computer. The system has no access to the internet. Another advantage for the author is that his work can at least not be stolen over the Internet. However, he cannot send it digitally either. That’s why he prints out his scripts and hands them over to the studios. They scan Roth’s texts and the absurd story is done.

Arrakis, Dune, the desert planet – three names that all refer to the same planet. An inhospitable place with barren landscapes, on which hardly a plant grows and the sun scorches everything that does not crawl fast enough in the shade for large parts of the day. Doesn’t sound particularly pleasant.

Except for the Fremen, probably nobody wants to live here voluntarily. But would it even be possible to survive on a planet like Arrakis? This is the question three British science journalists have asked themselves and their findings about published the network The Conversation. On your website Climate Archive you can also look at a 3D model of Arrakis and simulate various weather phenomena.

To find out whether Dune would be habitable, the British simulated the climate of the fantasy world. To do this, the three scientists used a climate model with which the weather and climate on earth can be predicted. In order to use such a model, it has to be fed with data such as topography, strength of the sun up to the composition of the atmosphere. The model can then simulate the climate and, among other things, spits out weather forecasts. So far, so easy. But where do you get such data about a fantasy planet?

Fortunately, Frank Herbert is not stingy with details in his works. The three scientists fed their climate model with data on Arrakis that they found in the main novels and the accompanying Dune Encyclopedia. With this extensive information, meaningful results were possible.

After entering all the necessary information, they sat back and waited. Complex models take time, in this case more than three weeks. A supercomputer had to perform hundreds of thousands of calculations. In the end, the British got their answer: Arrakis – if real – would actually be habitable in parts. It wouldn’t be nice with maximum temperatures of around 70 degrees, but people could live there, write the British.

“Dune” is the story of Paul Atreides. The young prince is suddenly faced with absolutely nothing and has yet to understand his abilities. The main role is played by Timothée Chalamet. The 25-year-old is currently one of Hollywood’s most sought-after actors. “Dune” has finally catapulted the American into the ranks of the absolute top stars. The next star run is already in the starting blocks. In Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch”, Chalamet plays alongside greats like Bill Murray and Adrien Brody. The young star has proven that he is a master of his craft. But his fans have now discovered on YouTube that he also practices a completely different craft.

Timothée Chalamet apparently has one too Passion for controller modding – or had. The current film star’s channel features three eleven-year-old videos in which Chalamet presents his work. His face cannot be seen, but if you listen carefully, you can guess Chalamet’s voice with good will.

During the promotional tour for “Dune”, the main actor himself revealed that he had his own YouTube channel. He will have guessed that his career as “ModdedController360 “ wouldn’t be kept secret. In an interview with Youtuber Nate Hill Chalamet also revealed that it took him five hours to paint a controller and made $ 10 on one copy. Why did he give up his hobby? “Too much spray paint in the house.”

For many fans, “The Desert Planet” is one of the greatest and most important science fiction works of all. Despite some parallels to other classics like Star Wars or Star Trek, “Dune” is not a classic sci-fi flick. There are spaceships, battles and futuristic technologies, but robots, computers or AI? Nothing. They just don’t exist. It actually has to be said: it no longer exists.

Many tasks that computers or artificial intelligence perform in other science fiction works are carried out by Mentats in Frank Herbert’s universe. These people go through a complex education and have excellent logical skills. With the help of drugs, Mentats are turned into human computers and are capable of complex calculations.

Space travel can also do without intelligent machines. If you want to travel through space, you have to rely on the spaceman guild. The guild’s navigators need the spice – which can only be mined on the desert planet – to navigate through space and calculate courses.

So no AI. That was not always the case, however. Even before the Spacemen’s Guild existed, there was the Old Empire. At that time, computers and artificial intelligence were ubiquitous. In fact, without AI, humanity would never have made it into interstellar space. But as is usual in empires, there have also been one or two coups in the “Dune” universe. In one of them, the putschists relied on the help of the AI. The empire fell and only a few planets, ruled by noble houses like the Atreides and Harkonnen, were able to hold their own against the machine-assisted coup.

Then came what had to come: The new rulers fell into megalomania and the AI ​​increasingly took the reins into virtual hands. It developed its own collective consciousness and was henceforth called Omnius. And because after the coup is before the coup and not everyone was enthusiastic about the rule of the AI, the next revolt came, the so-called “Butlerian Jihad”. What followed was a pretty bloody time, but at the end of it the humans were actually able to defeat the machines.

The result of the “Butlerian Jihad” was a new empire and the feudal system of rule that we can now marvel at in the cinema. As a consequence, intelligent technologies have been banned. And that’s why there is no AI in the futuristic world of “Dune”.