I wouldn't quite say everything. One of the things I liked about it is that several bits of foreshadowing actually lead nowhere. Like at one point the Baron sees his Piter de Vries kill a man, "So that’s how he kills by his own hand, the Baron thought. It’s well to know." That line hints at things to come, but it actually leads nowhere, being rendered irrelevant but four pages later. There is also a whole lot of build-up around Raban that is never resolved, he simply dies off-screen, which pisses Gurney off.The Duchess of Zeon wrote:I love Dune. Yeah, everything said now is mostly accurate, but it's also important to remember Dune remains one of the most spectacular sci-fi conceptions even made. Everything has significance in that novel.
I felt these touches added a nice bit of realism to the story, because in real life not everything is important. Sometimes what one considers to be most relevant is of no real significance.
Herbert considered the ramifications of his technology to a greater extent than you give him credit for. The possibility of what you propose is discussed in the book:fgalkin wrote:No, the fact that it exists is not the problem, that's just magitech. The fact that you could get around the whole Tragic Betrayal! plot by simply sending out a guy with a raygun (by threatening to kill HIS family), or for the more human rights inclined lot, a timed device.
Frank Herbert, [u]Dune[/u], Page 107 wrote:Jessica focused her mind on lasguns, wondering. The white-hot beams of disruptive light
could cut through any known substance, provided that substance was not shielded. The fact that
feedback from a shield would explode both lasgun and shield did not bother the Harkonnens.
Why? A lasgun-shield explosion was a dangerous variable, could be more powerful than
atomics, could kill only the gunner and his shielded target.
...
He’s boasting, Jessica thought. He shouldn’t boast. No person who’ll be sleeping far below
ground level this night as a precaution against lasguns has the right to boast.
If the Landsraad decides the Baron Harkonnen has been illegally using atomics, he, his family, and all of his possessions will be simply and utterly annihilated by combined nuclear bombardment of all the Houses, including the Imperial one. That is not the kind of threat one takes lightly. Hence the need for the traitor.Frank Herbert, [u]Dune[/u], Page 112 wrote:"There is no traitor," she said. "The threat’s something else. Perhaps it has to do with the
lasguns. Perhaps they’ll risk secreting a few lasguns with timing mechanisms aimed at house
shields. Perhaps they’ll . . . "
"And who could tell after the blast if the explosion wasn’t atomic?" he asked. "No, my
Lady. They’ll not risk anything that illegal. Radiation lingers. The evidence is hard to erase.
No. They’ll observe most of the forms. It has to be a traitor."
Regarding the Dune movie / mini-series, I only have one thing to say: