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January 23, 2005
Prequels: Is the knowing worth the disappointment?
Last night I finished the last book of the Legends of Dune series, The Battle of Corrin. As a setup for Dune itself, it was satisfying enough, but like other prequels, The two trilogies written by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson were a little limp.
Some disappointment was to be expected. Frank Herbert was a much better writer than either of his prequelists and Dune was a unique blend of sci-fi, ecology and religion that couldn't be duplicated. Even the original Dune series started to get tedious and overwrought. I've never read beyond God Emperor of Dune and there are two books after that. Rumor has it that Brian and Kevin found Frank's notes for a 7th book so it'll get even worse.
The nerd side of me was ecstatic with the Legends trilogy because it gave the why and how of Dune. The Butlerian Jihad was explained and goes on through all three books. I learned the origin of the mentats, the spacing guild, the Fremen, the Bene Gesserit, the Atreides/Harkonnen feud, the Suk doctors, the swordmasters and why humans destroyed all the computers. All my geeky wonderment was satisfied.
That's the problem with prequels, though. They're more concerned with setting up the original film or book than with standing as stories with deep characters, good writing and plots that aren't just used to move forward in time. For all the background on Anakin Skywalker you've ever wanted, you also get a crappy movie.
I had a hard time coming up with a good prequel until I found this CBC story about prequels which pointed out that Henry IV was staged after the two Henry VI plays.
Batman Begins comes out this summer and while I like the director (Christopher Nolan) and the Batman (Christian Bale, and after I sat through The Machinist, Christian owes me one), I'm not optimistic. Granted, the origins of Batman won't be quite as hamstrung by future events since it's not a story designed to lead into anything specific unlike the other looming prequel this summer. I'll probably see It during the opening weekend if only to see the first three episodes finally end.
Prequels are probably here to stay as a way for Hollywood to keep from coming up with truly original stories, and people will always be clamoring for them if the original story suggests that something interesting happened before. The only alternative is fan-fiction, which isn't an alternative at all. Ever meet one of those guys who claims to have written his own Star Wars prequels?
Posted by Half-Cocked at January 23, 2005 11:52 PM
Comments
Your nerd quotient just jumped two points:
One point for having read a great deal of the "Dune' original series and subsequent prequels, and one point for specifically referencing the Butlerian Jihad.
Though I also enjoyed reading Dune, I will not suffer from increased nerdiness from having read ONLY "Dune" and 1/2 of "Dune Messiah". Also, you won't see/hear me throwing around Dune-isms like Quizat Haderach.
I will, however, suck up one extra nerd point for purchasing the DVD's of the two Dune series aired by the Sci-Fi Channel.
Your wife and I are now equally nerdy ... and we still despise nerds.
Posted by: Kevin at January 24, 2005 03:55 PM
That's Kwisatz Haderach. And the guy who buys Sci-Fi Channel produced DVD's outnerds the guy who just reads the books.
Posted by: Steve at January 24, 2005 10:30 PM
Wha? I should get at least a point reduction for misspelling that title...
Posted by: Kevin at January 25, 2005 12:06 PM