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Chris Gore reviews the first 4 episodes of “Dune: Prophecy,” now playing on HBO Max.
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0:03
all right Dune prophecy is the HBO Max
0:08
series uh there will be six episodes of
0:12
this
0:13
show it broadly speaking it it tells the
0:16
story of the beginnings of the Benny jzr
0:20
it is in the timeline and the universe
0:24
of the Deni Deni venu Dune part one part
0:27
two and soon to come part three it is
0:31
set 10,000 years in the
0:34
future and 10,000 years uh previous so
0:39
it's 10,000 years from our current
0:42
timeline but 10,000 years before the
0:46
ascendency of Paul atres it focuses on
0:51
Valia har Conan played by Emily Watson
0:55
who we see in the present day timeline
0:58
of the story
1:01
uh she she is the head of the the Benny
1:07
jzer and she we do see her in flashbacks
1:11
as a young woman and what the focus is
1:16
is they're trying to manip manipulate
1:19
the emperor of the known of the known
1:22
universe played by Mark
1:24
Strong um I'm gonna I'm gonna there'll
1:26
be some minor spoilers as I have to tell
1:29
you parts of the story but it'll be
1:31
mostly spoiler-free I will give you the
1:34
broad Strokes okay but basically the the
1:39
series opens on probably the coolest
1:42
thing is in episode one the first five
1:47
minutes which gives you the setup and it
1:50
feels very consistent graphically
1:53
effects wise and everything it's very
1:56
consistent with Deni villanu he designed
1:59
it and I feel what they tried to do is
2:01
match that match the look the effects
2:04
Etc it opens on I mean this is the
2:07
opening
2:08
scene it's it's the butlerian Jihad
2:12
which is the war against the machines so
2:14
what happened Humanity created thinking
2:18
machines there is a giant War throughout
2:20
the Galaxy the machines are defeated and
2:24
technology is banned throughout the
2:27
Imperium no one can use certain types of
2:31
Technology uh thinking or intelligent
2:34
technology and we see a scene I mean
2:37
I'll tell you about it it's it's it's
2:39
right out of
2:41
Terminator it it's it's really sort of
2:43
these these
2:46
these the sort of like almost War of the
2:48
Worlds like
2:50
machines and we see them defeated it's
2:54
actually one of the coolest best action
2:58
scenes of the for episodes and like the
3:01
only real big act action set
3:06
piece after this we cut to after we cut
3:10
a generation about a hundred years after
3:12
that battle we cut to the present and we
3:15
meet our players volia har Conan Tula
3:18
har Conan the emperor played by Mark
3:21
Strong and a mysterious figure enters
3:24
the picture uh tra uh Travis Fel plays
3:29
this character Desmond Hart who survived
3:32
on a racus being swallowed by a sandworm
3:36
or so he thinks I'm not because of the
3:39
way they show it I'm not actually sure
3:42
if he was swallowed by a sandworm Maybe
3:45
he thinks he was which has somehow
3:47
imbued him with mysterious Powers he's
3:50
kind of a Desmond Hart is kind of a
3:52
cross between at least the way he looks
3:55
like a Duncan Idaho meets gurnie Hallet
3:58
and if you're a Dun head you know what I
4:00
mean a manly
4:03
man and he now is advising the emperor
4:07
uh in the first episode there is
4:09
a tragic
4:11
death that sets a course of events
4:15
through the
4:17
series and I'll just say this if I get
4:21
anything more this is the first if I get
4:23
into anymore it will be spoiler
4:25
territory the show aspires to be Game of
4:29
Thrones
4:30
in terms of it its political
4:33
machinations and yes there is sex and
4:37
nudity characters go to
4:41
clubs there is I mean it's an HBO show
4:44
what are you gonna do you will have to
4:46
get naked you there will be a sex
4:49
scene
4:51
so what it wants to be is Game of
4:53
Thrones and Falls far
4:57
short I'm sorry to say
5:00
while they they set the chest pieces up
5:03
for all this Intrigue over the course of
5:06
the four episodes I
5:08
saw quite frankly I was kind of
5:12
bored so now I did watch them all at
5:15
once allinone sitting I didn't watch it
5:18
week to
5:19
week um Desmond Hart is one of the most
5:23
interesting characters along with Mark
5:26
Strong and while it's consistent with
5:29
the World building you know the only
5:32
real action events are the opening scene
5:34
I
5:35
described
5:38
and the sandworm scene with h Desmond
5:42
Hart I really I mean I wanted to like
5:46
this and I will see it through I'll
5:48
watch all six episodes but based on what
5:51
I saw lower your
5:55
expectations uh they introduce a lot of
5:58
characters and while while Emily Watson
6:01
as volia Haron is supposed to be the
6:04
lead it really feels like an ensemble
6:07
piece with just not only weak
6:10
storytelling but weak
6:15
characters uh not the heroes Journey
6:18
that you know Dune the original
6:21
novel
6:24
was and I got to say I'm really
6:27
disappointed and I'm a dud I'm a dude
6:29
fan look you you all know what a huge
6:32
Dune fan I am Dune part one and part two
6:35
were phenomenal but I really think the
6:39
and I'll say the science fiction aspect
6:41
of this is all
6:44
in the world building Den villanu did
6:47
them the favor of doing all the World
6:49
building he did the heavy lifting that
6:52
was all him we kind of know how the
6:55
universe functions the spice what it
6:57
does etc um in the four episodes I saw
7:01
uh no Guild Navigators by the way don't
7:04
get your hopes up um but in the in
7:07
workings of the Benny jzr um I'll just
7:09
say
7:10
this getting a lot of witch Vibes now is
7:13
it as bad as like acolyte or Agatha no
7:18
it this is maybe the best version of
7:21
these witches we've seen and by that
7:24
that doesn't mean it's great do they
7:26
make out at any time there is some of
7:29
that oh yeah so
7:32
it's now
7:34
[Laughter]
7:36
God I'm trying to I'm trying I'm this is
7:39
very broad review but like honestly like
7:43
this is a costume drama where in between
7:47
you'll see a spaceship land and like
7:50
it's very impressive the production
7:52
design you see the emperor has this this
7:55
place where he has meetings and
7:57
everything looks opulent and and
8:00
expensive and but it's just transition
8:03
scenes to what is basically like a
8:06
Bridgeton like costume drama where like
8:09
you know so every sort of setting so in
8:13
between all of the drama is a spaceship
8:16
lands here someone walks down a rampway
8:19
and then they just have a boring acting
8:22
scene
8:23
so I dude I was so by the it was a SLO
8:28
to get through four episodes
8:30
hey only two to go I'll watch it you're
8:33
not selling at all honestly if I got to
8:35
rate this thing I'm going five out of 10
8:38
the first episode probably the best it
8:41
was promising because it set things up
8:44
but wow did it drag they even there's
8:47
there's a scene where they go to a club
8:50
a club in the Dune world and just it
8:52
just seems very generic sci-fi it the
8:56
weakness is now look the actors uh Emily
8:59
Watson is great Mark Strong is great
9:02
Travis Travis Fel is fantastic okay but
9:07
he's not really the lead Mark Strong is
9:10
great not really the lead it's Ensemble
9:14
by the time it gets to the second
9:15
episode and
9:18
honestly it just it dragged and was
9:21
boring I mean really based on what I saw
9:25
now can it maybe it sticks the landing
9:28
and leaves me leaves me wanting more
9:30
great actors great production design
9:35
um interesting
9:38
ideas a really boring script the script
9:43
is the weakness no clear I mean volia
9:47
har Conan kind of disappears then we get
9:49
more of her backstory with her family
9:52
and that was interesting so I am I'm
9:56
it's not like where I would just be like
9:58
look if I didn't have to talk about
10:00
acolyte I would never have finished
10:02
watching it I'm interested enough to
10:05
finish the show only two episodes but
10:10
it's really unless you're a hardcore
10:12
Dune
10:13
fan I don't think this is going to win
10:15
people over uh Den villanu did a much
10:18
better job of making Dune palatable for
10:22
normies this is like this is at the end
10:26
of the day this is Dune fanfic
10:29
it's got Dune stuff it does have worms
10:34
there is spice and there's spaceships
10:37
going places but the story goes nowhere
10:42
interesting it's
10:45
a so for me five out of 10 which is a
10:50
you decide you can five out of 10 for me
10:53
is a is is not really a recommend only
10:57
recommend if you're a hardcore dun fan
10:59
which I am so I will see it through but
11:02
uh but yeah it was disappointing to me I
11:06
I wanted to like it more it just didn't
11:09
have again Game of Thrones you know Game
11:13
of Thrones at it at its
11:15
best had dramatic scenes where it was
11:19
two people in a room talking and the
11:21
tension and the drama was like right it
11:24
never quite hit those Heights it aspired
11:27
to so did this need to be a Game of
11:29
Thrones though or well I'll say
11:32
this uh Game of Thrones was heavily
11:35
inspired by Dune great houses fighting
11:40
rivalries strong female characters and
11:43
male characters Commerce religion
11:46
politics uh romance like all of that is
11:50
dun the the books I'm saying the
11:53
original books by Frank Herbert so this
11:56
is this is Brian Herbert this is like
11:59
this is and I just don't it doesn't have
12:03
the
12:04
weight that that the Dune books have and
12:08
it's not so Brian Herbert wrote these
12:10
books or he wrote that the the books
12:12
that this series is based on were Brian
12:15
herberts correct okay so this is not
12:18
Frank
12:20
okay and um but I did I got the first
12:24
episode I kind of got sucked in it's got
12:26
like got the emperor they've got Benny
12:29
jzd advising them you've got these
12:32
school for
12:34
women to develop their um
12:38
talents which include the voice the
12:41
voice is something that Benny jez can do
12:44
to manipulate people into doing
12:47
things but um yeah in the end as like a
12:50
hardcore Dune fan I gotta say I was
12:54
underwhelmed wanted to like it and you
12:58
know look I I'll finish it but I was
13:02
expecting something else altogether so
13:06
um it's weak it's it's weak in my mind
13:09
so you had this is very broad we'll get
13:12
we will get into a a a deeper and
13:15
spoiler field review on Monday on verses
13:18
but this is my impressions of four
13:20
episodes in I wanted to like it more so
13:24
it's premiering uh Sunday on HBO so well
13:28
yeah you intrigued me with nudity and
13:30
with real space lesbian witches um but
13:34
I'm not ex I don't know do I need to see
13:37
this uh I I mean qu quite frankly I'm
13:42
not I'm not the the Dune sycophant that
13:44
that everyone's becoming uh I I
13:47
appreciate uh what D Denny did with the
13:50
current Dune because I think it was it's
13:51
the probably the better of the dunes
13:53
that I've seen and more understandable
13:55
but I'm not I'm just not enthralled with
13:58
this world and I'm not I'm definitely
14:00
not seeing what you see in the Dune
14:02
series in in any of the films ever made
14:05
and this is not helping it at all all
14:08
either um yeah it just doesn't sound
14:11
interesting to me at all and um and if
14:14
you're saying it's falling short of
14:16
because because the thing is is that
14:18
this series should should what it really
14:20
should do is it should make the main
14:23
movies feel you know give it a lot more
14:25
depth and give it a lot more
14:27
understanding from it its history and it
14:28
just sounds like it's not there and uh
14:31
yeah I was doing I was doing that review
14:33
the whole time I thought you would have
14:34
done what I just
14:36
did yeah you would have thought that huh
14:39
yeah that's why we prep for the show
14:42
yeah there you go well anyways uh I
14:45
just I'm not excited about this at
14:48
all well we're not I'm glad I finally
14:51
get to see the poster thank you what
14:53
what we will do I I'll do like a after
14:56
the finale we'll just do a spoiler fill
15:00
season review but I saw four episodes
15:03
wasn't blown
15:05
away and I wanted I was giving I was
15:09
wanting to like it so what does that
15:12
tell you I me do do you think do you
15:16
think this Dune experiment is getting
15:20
Norm's in I feel like it's
15:24
not no normies are not I feel like they
15:28
like the movies because the movies are
15:29
action-packed it's about a war and this
15:33
is about a war might
15:37
happen Prelude to a war basically
15:40
Prelude to a war but on this butan deod
15:45
is this something that had happened
15:46
already or is this what in the Dune
15:49
timeline it is a major event okay that
15:52
would have been a better
15:54
series it would have been a better
15:56
series and I still don't really
15:58
understand the butlerian Jihad and you
16:00
don't need to explain to me but I it's
16:02
very simple yeah it's it's it's just the
16:06
war on AI Humanity was almost wiped out
16:09
by thinking machines so there was a war
16:12
to destroy them and then throughout the
16:16
Galaxy thinking machines not machines
16:19
right AI basically yes so this is what's
16:23
funny is how timely that is but it's
16:25
also very close to termin minator in
16:29
terms of the story right thinking
16:32
machines almost thinking machines almost
16:35
wiped out Humanity so they were banned
16:38
throughout the uh Imperium so to speak
16:42
which had carried on thousands of years
16:44
to where the movies are right like just
16:47
we can't because we almost became
16:49
extinct
17:02
my
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