Leo Morales

Catalina Milan

March 25, 2020

Imaginary Lands

How Dune Inspired Other Works of Science Fiction

In the year 1965, the soon-to-be famous and world-renowned author, Frank Herbert

released the first novel of his highly recognized sci fi-fantasy series called Dune. Frank Herbert

began writing Dune in the year 1959. It took him 6 years to finally complete Dune. I doubt that

he knew that the result of those 6 years of work would become a major inspiration and

influence for countless other pieces of literature, films, and even countless video games of

science fiction. Although at first the idea of Dune was turned down by all the publishers that he

attempted to pitch it to, it finally was published by Chilton Books. It was understandable that

Frank Herbert had to go to more than twenty different publishers just so he could find one that

would publish his book; because he was doing something new that had not been done before.

The author of Dune took his idea of a story and made it take place many thousands of years

into the future. He had to portray in his book how he believed that not only people would end

up as but the whole universe. Thus, he had to create a whole new universe, including religion,

government, business and even living forms. In other words, he basically had to predict what

he believed would happen in the future of humanity. Little did he know that Dune would

become one of the defining novels that made science fiction what it is today.
 I will begin demonstrating how Dune has been an inspiration for many works with the

clearest ones, which are based directly in Dune: The Dune movie, TV series and video games

series.

Academy Award-nominated director Denis Villeneuve´s accepted the challenge of

turning Dune into a movie (which is being released this year) for the second time in history.

Plus, it will be accompanied with the new Dune series coming to HBO Max. The first Dune

movie was done by David Lynch and it became a classic. It does not surprise me that when the

movie came out in 1984 it had a negative response from the audience, given that most of the

times movies do not even compare to the actual text. (Ferguson and Hersko, “Dune: Eight

Things to Know About the 2020 Film and TV Series).

A real mess, an incomprehensible, ugly, unstructured, pointless excursion into

the murkier realms of one of the most confusing screenplays of all time. (Ebert, Roger)

Syfy also created two miniseries: “Frank Herbert´s Dune” (2000) and “Frank Herbert’s

Children of Dune” (2003). They were both criticized as well, but at least not as badly as Lynch´s

movie. They even won three Primetime Emmy Awards. Now, a new version of the Dune movie

is coming out in December 18,2020, with Eric Roth as writer and Hans Zimmer in the score.

Joshua Grode confirmed that the plan is to make a two-part film given that when you read the

book there´s a logical place to stop the movie before the book ends. Plus, HBO Max is releasing

the Dune TV series with spin-offs as well in Spring 2020 (Ferguson and Hersko, “Dune: Eight

Things to Know About the 2020 Film and TV Series).

Throughout history there have been many sci-fi works that have drawn a line in history,

one of them is Star Wars. Yet, without Dune this series would not even exist. Since the film’s
release in 1977, it has become a household name all around the world. There have been more

than 10 films, videogame adaptations and dozens of fans inspired books and stories. Star Wars

itself has inspired millions of people to write more science fiction stories. The fact that Star

Wars was inspired by Dune, means that Dune indirectly inspired many more writers.

There are several reasons that demonstrate how Star Wars was made inspired in Dune.

For example, in the film “Star Wars the Return of the Jedi” there is a giant man eating worm like

creature in the middle of the desert; I think it is more than clear that this idea was born in

Arrakis. Another one of the things Star Wars borrowed from Dune was the Spacing Guild that

has a monopoly on the spice and other goods, much like how Star Wars has the Trade

Federation (works very similarly). Also, both main characters come from planets that are almost

covered entirely by sand; Does Arrakis come to your mind with this? Both stories also feature a

lot of hand to hand combat and people with super natural abilities to control objects and

people with their mind. The two stories also include boy and girl sets of twins, much of the

technology is similar, and they both even contain a very similar plot twist. It is incredible to see

the amount of “similarities” are in the two pieces of science fiction. (Quinn, “Everything Star

Wars Stole from Dune)

If this is not enough proof that Star Wars was directly inspired from the Dune novel,

then maybe the fact that Frank Herbert himself said that the Star Wars movie stole his ideas

will demonstrate this. Up to now I´ve said that Star Wars shows “similarities” with Dune but in

fact, they are no similarities because they are copies. I mean, it is too much of a coincidence

that these two works are this similar. “I just hate to get into this damned thing, I am going to try

very hard not to sue. However, I may have no alternative”. In an unknown year, Fred Crafts
created an article that was posted in what appears to be a newspaper, where the similarities of

Star Wars with Dune are exposed. In it, Herbert says that if he does not go to court with the

subject than anyone else that does it will get away with it just as George Lucas did. This was a

matter of great concern between science fiction writers and Herbert stated that if the

producers of Star Wars had come to him first, thing would have been different. (Crafts, “Writer

of Dune say Star Wars used elements of novel without permission”)

Also, in 1990, a film called Tremors was released and although Tremors is not a science

fiction film, it went on to be considered a cult classic. The whole premise of the film is about a

group of people stuck in the desert who must save themselves from giant underground worms.

Just as they were seen in Beetlejuice, which is another classic, as well.

Giant worms have even been seen in the Nickelodeon television series, Spongebob

Squarepants. In season 2 of Spongebob Squarepants, in the episode titled Sandy, Spongebob,

and the Worm, the inhabitants of Bikini Bottom are threatened by a Giant Alaskan Bull Worm

who keeps eating things around Bikini Bottom. So, Sandy Cheeks and Spongebob Squarepants

decide to go find the worm and end its reign of terror over their beloved city. To find the worm,

they travel to the middle of the desert where he finally reveals himself. (Fandom, “Sany,

SpongeBob and the Worm).

Beyond film, Dune has also inspired Video Game creators to design new Science Fiction

video games. Many people believe Dune had a lot of inspiration on hit science fiction video

games such as Halo, Rage, Borderlands and Lost Souls. Lost Souls and Borderlands take place in
the desert of a dry and barren planet and share similar ideas about different companies who

have monopolies on certain goods. Many of these video games also include characters who

super powers.

Since Dune was written, there has been countless works of fiction that show similarities

to Dune in direct ways and indirect ways. Without a doubt, Dune has successfully been able to

change the way authors approach science fiction and has defiantly played a large role in what

science fiction is today and how we think of science fiction. Without great authors such as Frank

Herbert, many people would not be able to enjoy their favorite science fiction stories of today.
 Sources

“Everything Star Wars Stole from Dune.” Youtube, 2 Feb. 2018,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J4LYVs5Gg4&t=11s.

Ferguson, LaToya, and Tyler Hersko. “'Dune': Eight Things to Know About the 2020 Film

and TV Series.” IndieWire, 5 Feb. 2020, www.indiewire.com/gallery/dune-2020-explained-plot-

cast-tv-spinoff/britain-mission-impossible-fallout-premiere-london-united-kingdom-13-jul-

2018/.

“Writer of Dune Says Star Wares Used Elements of Novel without Permission.” Imgur, 4

Feb. 2018, imgur.com/72NB4xt.