TV Shows Watched: Dune: Prophecy- S1E1 (MAX) with audio description, Tracker: S2E6 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Somebody Somewhere: S3E4 (MAX) with audio description, The Franchise: S1E7 (MAX) with audio description, Bad Sisters: S1E6 (Apple plus) with audio description
Podcasts: Oysters, Clams, and Cockles (Dune Prophecy recap)
YouTube: Fish jelly Film Reviews (Review: A Different Man)
Movies Watched: Much Ado About Dying (Screener) no audio description, Ed Wood (I Own A Digital Copy through Apple) with audio description
Before we jump into the obvious, I need to acknowledge that while I’m not consistently blown away by Somebody Somewhere and The Franchise, both had really strong episodes this week. Possibly the best of the season for each thus far.
So, what you need to know first is that Denis villeneuve’s Dune is my first interaction with this world at all. I have never seen David Lynch’s adaptation, nor did I read the book. So, from an outside perspective, with just film knowledge, this is how I approach this. I’ve also only encountered this through audio description, unlike things like Star Wars where I have a visual reference from when I could still see.
Dune: prophecy is a prequel set 10,000 years before the film. We open with a massive amount of exposition, including references to the war against the thinking machines. We get an introduction to the sisterhood, the major players (including characters played by Emily Watson and Olivia Williams), a war hero (played by Travis Fimmel), and there’s talk of marrying this one sister to this young boy so one day she can lead. It seems very important.
That’s spoiler free.
My take on it is that it is a lot for one episode. The pilot has a ton of characters, and I had an impossible job of folllowing them all. Sighted people, NEVER underestimate the gift of facial recognition. When you have this many characters, names are tough to follow as they are these flourishy science fiction names (for the most part). I had a bitch of a time following more than maybe 5 characters who were heavily featured. People would talk, and my thought was “who the fuck is that?” The audio description has an Everest to climb as a result. Good luck describing the visuals of a science fiction program,while also introducing a barrage of new faces, ALL brand new faces. Due to the time period, there is NO crossover. You can’t rest on stuff you learned in Dune, because this is 10K years before that.
So, unlike the Penguin, which I really felt managed to grasp its show well, this really needed like an audio description companion. I’m compelled to listen to other people talk about the show, because just me watching it with audio description, as someone new to Dune, I had a really hard time.I may even rewatch this episode. It’s that hard. then again, i really felt like I got more out of Dune (the first one) after a second time, due to my lack of knowledge of Frank Herbert’s world.
That being said, this still has problems. 10,000 years is a mammoth amount of time, and I expect science fiction writers to be able to ask themselves “We see what Denis did with the Dune movies, so in every aspect of this, what came before that, and before that, and before that.” If you are going to choose that much time, you have to show lots of progress, and this show doesn’t feel like 10,000 years before Chalamet swooned audiences. It feels like maybe 50. That “thinking machine” of the lizard feels really similar to the bug Chalamet kills in the first movie.
I understand that by telling us that this is basically after the war with AI that enslaved us, you already are working with some super futuristic shit. However, you chose to make this show. no one forced you. So either have the imagination to support the time difference, or don’t. If we saw a series that was a deep sequel to Terminator, where it takes place where Skynet has taken over humanity, and then we somehow defeat Skynet, and then we go a few years out from that, but then TEN THOUSAND years from that, I’d better not see a fucking terminator.
take all the oldest historical stuff in this world you can think of. Rome. The Pyramids. The Mayans. The Great Wall Of China isn’t 10,000 years old. The Pyramids weren’t even 5,000 years ago. So, when you double that, and look at Prophecy to Dune, really? I mean, really? Is this it?
If you take a big swing, be ready to take a big miss.
