The Progression Of Dune Novels By Internet Troll Faces

I really wish I knew who created this to give them full credit. Dune was a science fiction world that always stood out as one of best fantasy universes created. Frank Herbert made a VERY solid 6 book series (even with the questions left in the 6th one) that everyone I know who enjoys science fiction loved.

When he died we all figured the world was done with but his son found a magical collection of notes for a 7th Dune novel that was never completed. So began his foray into the world of Dune with another author. They worked not on the 7th novel but in fact a slew of prequels which ended up giving us some information, a lot of filler space, and in many cases making absolutely no sense.

Finally after swallowing all of that the 7th book came out and… and… it was horrible. Painfully horrible. The entire plot didn’t work. Unless Frank went senile while writing this I’m pretty sure it was pieces together from an all night drinking and drug abusing binge by the two ‘authors‘ (it hurts to type that after what they’ve done.)

But wait.. there’s more! Not only did they piss on the legacy that was Dune but they decided to add in even more filler books. More books IN BETWEEN the novels that Frank Herbert created. I haven’t read them. I don’t think I will. I don’t think I can stomach to have any more of their novels be opened in front of my eyes. It’s just too painful to even contemplate.

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing……Only I will remain.

This was once the litany against fear for the Dune universe. Now though? Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death of Dune brought forth by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. The fear won’t be gone until they stop writing and only at that time can we know peace. Though the nightmares of their works will forever be with us.

Seriously Look At His Facial Expression

2 Posts in a day? Couldn’t be helped!

It’s absolutely amazing how a single inserted flashback scene can make this entire memorable Star Wars scene both 20x more disturbing and humorous. I mean just look at his facial expression right before AND after the flashback. Hilarious.

[Via: io9.]

Science Fiction Geek Chart (now with sexual role playing)

(Click on the image to see it full sized)

A comparison between the different kinds of science fiction geeks that are out there. Going down the list it goes from Moniker, How they like their Science Fiction, Proudest moment, Lamet moment, When they go too far, What to expect if you marry one, How to piss one off, and clearly the most interesting and entertaining of them – sex role playing, I was so entertained by that last line I’d like to throw out a few sex role playing lines for other franchises:

• Battlestar Galactica: There was a lot of news about a sex robot being released earlier this year…
• Dune: I don’t want to think what kind of cosplay is going to be thought up with ‘sand worms’
• Fringe: Well if we go by Walter’s preferences of life there will be a heavy slant towards drug use
• Stargate: Portals where you can go part way through and the rest of you is on the other side? Glory Holes have existed for awhile.

Hey Wednesday is “hump day”.. making fun of the twisted sexual preferences of my fellow geeks is perfectly acceptable! (Wait… that’s “getting over the hump” and not sex? …. meh. My site! I need no excuse to talk about sex!)

Periodic Table of Science Fiction

(Click the image for a larger view)

Like everything else, science fiction can be broken down into its constituent elements. When Avatar was discovered in 1803, H. Samuel Cameron knew it would decompose into Exo Squad, Matrix Revolutions, E.T. and Lost in Space atoms. Now you can understand these stoichiometric processes… and become a total sex magnet!!

Now if I thought owning this print would turn me into a total sex magnet for even a second I believe I’d go from being in a relationship to being single in about 30 seconds flat. Don’t worry hon I don’t believe that. I do believe though that for any science fiction loving geek out there this is a quick and fun read over just for the visual joy that anyone took the time to do this (and makes me wonder why I didn’t take the time to do this.)

You can buy a print over at Topatoco!

Minimalist Star Wars Travel Posters

I have to admit that while I enjoy the Minimalist style it’s not the first thing that I would imagine when going for Star Wars posters. These though absolutely work. I’m actually curious as to Justin’s take on a few of the planets from the Dune universe.

Now that would be extremely entertaining to see. (Also it would cheer me up since there is now a rumor that the new Dune film will be in 3D. Why. WHY?!)

[By: Justin Van Genderen]

Battlestar Galactica Composer Bear McCreary plays with Katee Sackhoff “All Along The Watchtower”

OK this is just epic for anyone who followed the series you know the scene this is starting with and already love the music Bear has put together. So here the composer gets to play with Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck) and really would have been awesome to see. I’ll do a quick post of what was said on the youtube’s info for the video.

This is exclusive footage that I shot at the Grand Performances Series in Downtown Los Angeles.

Note from Bear McCreary: “Kara Thrace herself, Katee Sackhoff, joined me on stage at the grand piano to play Kara Remembers I played the left hand part, and she plucked out the Final Four Theme, just as she did in the climax of Someone to Watch Over Me. Once we had the Final Four Theme going on the piano, the band snuck in, building to Heeding the Call and finally All Along the Watchtower.

Dune.. Home of the.. Liam Neeson Punching You In The Face.. wait I mean Spice. Home of the Spice.

This news came about 3 days ago but I was preoccupied with life and when Matt linked me the Dune Cat above I realized it deserved a write up (if for no other reason but to use the above image again as I hadn’t seen it in a year or two.)

If that title above doesn’t make sense well here’s what it means: Peter Berg was originally lined up to direct the new Dune film but ended up dropping out and set to replace him is Pierre Morel. Who is Pierre Morel you ask? While not as much of a known name as Berg to some he was the director of “Taken.” For those of you who haven’t seen Taken yet it basically starred Liam Neeson as an ex-spy who goes around beating the hell out of people.

While that may not inspire many as Dune is an over the top 20 plot line mess if you think of it in a movie that isn’t under at least 6 hours long or perhaps a 1-2 season mini-series (just for the first novel) I’m still willing to give him a shot as what he has done did look spectacular. Let’s face it if you can’t fit in all of the plot (which will be impossible in the probable hour and a half to 2 hour movie that this will become) it has to at least look visually amazing.

So Pierre, just so you know (and I’m sure you care about the opinion of a blogger you’ve never heard of and probably will never meet) this is my favorite piece of science fiction. Ever. In fact this is one of, if not, my favorite science fiction stories of all time. Please don’t fuck it up.

Score! Children Of The Corn Is Mine!

Thanks to a little contest run by the fine folks at childrenofthecornmovie.com I am now the proud owner of the new Children of the Corn remake that SyFy has recently done. I was a huge fan of the original Children of the Corn and have been itching to be able to watch the new one. Well it’s on the way and soon I’ll be able to get a viewing in. While I’ve skimmed some reviews and see that they’ve been mostly mixed, I’m hoping that it lives up to the high quality of the original!

When a young couple find themselves stranded in the isolated community of Gatlin, Nebraska, they discover that all of the town’s adults have been slaughtered by a religious cult of twisted children who worship a mysterious cornfield deity. Can these adults escape the fanatical wrath of these adolescent zealots, or will they become the next blood sacrifices to ‘He Who Walks Behind The Rows’?

Why Can’t Space Horror Be Good?

So Splice here is the latest movie to be offered up as Scifi Horror. I don’t know about you but this clip really doesn’t look all of that ‘horrifying’ to me. It’s a world where genetic engineering is mainstream and 2 scientists are creating new animals from spliced genes. Eventually they want a new breakthrough and start adding human DNA into the mix. So the creatures they make will become intelligent, warlike, and hate us. That’s my guess. I’m hoping this is just a bad clip because I REALLY want a good science fiction horror flick to come out and Hollywood has just been disappointing me as of late.

Ever since I first saw Alien at a ripe young age the cross between Science Fiction and Horror has been strong in my mind and put it into it’s own little underused genre of both that can produce fantastic results.

“In Space No One Can Hear You Scream.” Alien, Aliens, Event Horizon. Simply fantastic movies. Aliens 3 and Resurrection? Not nearly as good but still entertaining. As of late there haven’t been many attempts at the genre with the only one that stands out being Pandorum which was more of a psychological thriller in certain parts. That would be fine with me though if the movie didn’t have so many weak aspects to it (see: me calling the first of the two twists within 2 seconds of how it was introduced. I really think I would have been happier with the movie if that didn’t happen.)

So Where Did Space Horror REALLY Go Wrong?

I’m not even going to mention my feelings on Friday the 13th, Hellraiser, and Leprechaun… in space. I don’t think I have to. Watch for a laugh? Sure. The concept itself? *sighs* Actually Hellraiser’s concept wasn’t ‘that‘ bad, I just don’t recall it being executed properly. Maybe the rumored Dead Space movie will end up actually being decent? I know I’ve also ranted on this topic before but it can’t be that hard.

Here’s the thing. I’m going to let you in on a little secret that Alien and Event Horizon did to work- use a HUGE amount of build up and suspense and deliver a big payoff. I know it’s hard to believe but really that’s it. That’s what worked. We don’t need the cheap scares every few minutes and without the buildup it just doesn’t deliver the payoff. Long, dark, quiet pathways. Echos from walking or from everything being metal. Think about it your on a space ship or space station, understaffed, and thousands to millions away from help. Suddenly SOMETHING happens. Make the character’s alone. Make them not have help on the horizon. Please, someone, make me a space horror movie that will make audiences happy.

Battlestar Galactica REBOOT To Happen. Frak.

You may or may not know this but I find Battlestar Galactica to be some of, if not the best science fiction to come out in years. Both standing by itself, as a TV show, or compared to movies. I’ve been following the show since Season 1 and have watched the characters evolve through an epic tale of… well there are so many issues touched upon. Religion, Spirituality, The Human Soul, Racism, Torture, Growing Up, Family, Love, Lust, Hatred,LIFE.

At any rate. You would think that hearing about more BSG would be good? Of course it would. IF IT WASN’T BEING RESTARTED. Bryan Singer was a god with X-Men 1+2. As far as reboots go? Superman was very disappointing to a LOT of people. Even that not being the case? It’s the cast and story we were JUST told that made BSG such a wonderful universe. Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer(yum,) Grace Park, Katee Sackhoff, Michael Hogan, Aaron Douglas, Tahmoh Penikett, Donnelly Rhodes, Michael Trucco, Richard Hatch, Kate Vernon- without these actors and the rest of the cast there is NO movie to be made.

Whoever thought this was a good idea should honestly be shot. I’m not exaggerating. I take my entertainment seriously and whoever decided restarting what has become such an amazing show as a movie isn’t worth breathing the same air as me. Frak you! So say we all!

[via: SciFi Squad.]