As with the book, the script begins with a scene in Gom Jabbar between Paul Atreides and the Reverend Mother Mauheim, except in this version, the Atreides have already made their journey from Kaldan to Arrakis. After Paul passes his test with the box, the four wise men of Thafer, Yoh, Gurney, and Duncan present Duke Leto with a wounded Freeman and three other Harkans.
howt
Killers! They caught the three poor fellows there outside the hills.
Hallick
There was lightning. We had to run for it.
You can see the problem: Right off the bat, Herbert is using dialogue to discuss action scenes that are better seen than heard. He is also introducing the concepts of Left and Right (Bene Gesserit Order, Queszatz Heydrich, Sandworms, Freemen, Harkonnens) without giving them any context.
As in Lynch’s film (and the book itself), we get these beautiful inner thinking voices. Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac in Part one) thinks to himself, “We’ve only been on this damn planet for two days and already the Harkonnens are at work!” Often these VOs consist of psychological dialogue between two characters, a technique Villeneuve uses many times. Part twoas between Fed (Austin Butler) and Lady Fanning (Léa Seydoux).
The bare expository dialogue of the stage-play-executive stages continues as Herbert’s script introduces the world of the hedonist Harkonnens, who seduces the bejeweled Arrakis in his guildship, which is decorated with obscene images. . A character not introduced in Villeneuve’s film is shown torturing Wanna with an “agony box” as Fade essentially videotapes it for Wanna’s husband, Dr. Yoh, so he can get to the House of Atreides. Will do his bidding against. She calls them “monsters”, with the baron explaining, “Of course we are, my dear Vanna.” We will do anything to reclaim our land and its precious spices… We must rule over debt and spice. We all need spice. It prolongs our lives and you Benny Gassert witches need spices for your dreams. Not at all Paddy Chayefsky.
Stilgar arrives at Leto’s Great Hall with the whole gang (including Mapes, Queens, and Chaney) using the Death Steel to extract water from the dead Freemen. Paul tells his mother, Jessica, that he recognizes Chaney from his dreams, predicting that she will hook him up with Freeman. Stilgar gives his people water as a gift to Paul, whom he immediately recognizes as the Mahdi (the Messiah of legend, although it is never specified that he be “short of the path”). Duncan joins Freeman as an olive branch, and Mapes joins Atreides as a housekeeper. On the way out of the hall, Chaney gives Paul one of those backwards looks that Zendaya often does in new movies.
After Vana unexpectedly dies during the torture, the Baron plans to use Yuh to kill Paul with a hunter finder while storing Yuh’s wife in a “crystal case” (a crystal case). Count Fanning (who will lead the Emperor’s Sardokhar to attack the Atreides in Harkonnen’s uniform) arrives on the guild ship. Annoyed by the Harkonnens and acting only in the interests of the Emperor, he hands over the recording of Vana’s torture to Yoh.
On Arrakis, Duke’s remaining troops and supplies (including nuclear) are delivered, with Gurney playing on his ballast. Herbert reportedly insisted that the instrument’s playing appear in the film, which was filmed but cut from Lynch’s film and Villeneuve’s first film. moundbut which appears in the end Part two. Herbert then adds the scene where Duke saves Leto’s crew from the worm, almost killing Lynch, although Villeneuve gave the scene more juice by nearly killing Paul. A great moment acknowledges the injustice done to the Freemans as two of them (the leads) try to board Leto’s ornithopter:
KYNES (VO)
We have no room for them.
Paul (VO)
There is a history of Freeman’s capsule!
We get a cool scene of Duncan fighting literally back-to-back with Stilgar against a squad of Harkonnens. Stilgar punishes Duncan for using his shield (it attracts milk), then they capture a Harkonnen, who warns them that there is a traitor in their midst. The scene where Mapes cuts himself off to show his loyalty to Jessica, as does Paul and Gurney’s practice fight scene (albeit without shields) and the hunter’s attack on Paul.
Because Herbert can’t let go much, we get the banquet scene that was left out of both theater adaptations. mound Because of the political machinations it reflects is not necessary for the plot (Leto is going to die soon). The banquet ended up consuming about 25 pages of the script, before it was interrupted by Count Fanning’s attack on the Atreides castle, lowering the shields with Yueh’s help.