First Impressions: Dune Prophecy
Have you ever wanted to see what a Merchant Ivory space opera would look like?
Well, now you can!
Okay, there’s more to it than that, but if you are a dude just be prepared, that’s all I’m saying.
Dune: Prophecy started life as Dune: The Sisterhood and has been in development since before the plague. It may well have benefited from spending a little too much time in the bottle. It began development during a regime at Warner that was doing its level best to imitate the worst failures of Disney, (as was the style at the time). This thing still has a few fingerprints from those dark days but for the most part, they’ve been sanded away.
This is definitely a show for women but unlike anything by Disney since 2019, this one was made for women with two X chromosomes.
The foundation of this series is power and how men and women pursue gaining power.
Consider Shi-Shi dogs. If you go just about anywhere in Japan you will find these statues flanking the entrance of pretty much anywhere.
One is male and one is female. If you ask someone in that part of the world how you tell one from the other they will briefly fight off laughter before explaining, as if to a child, the obvious difference between a male and female.
The male has his mouth open and the female’s is shut. And it really is that obvious to them. It’s a symbol of energy. A male’s energy is outward-focused, it is power that projects. A female’s is inward focused it is power that gatherers.
That is what this show is about. All of the great houses of the Landraad are ruled by men, there are no women sitting on the various feudal thrones scattered across the galaxy. Yet all of these men have women by their sides. Women that they are dependent on.
The series is set 10,000 years before the birth of Paul Atriedes. It opens with a prolo-o-o-o-o-nged exposition scene. We see the final days of the Butlerian Jihad. We are told about the Atreides commander who disgraced house Harkonnen for cowardice in the heat of battle. Personally, I think 10,000 years is a little long to be carrying a grudge but whatever.
It arguably needed a little backstory and at least they shot a few scenes for it instead of having someone read a script against a painted backdrop.
The show introduces its protagonists. First, we meet the sisters, Valya and Tula Harkonnen. They are both members of the proto-Bene Gesserit sisterhood. At the start of the show, there is a conflict between Reverend Mother Dorotea and Valya. Dorotea is the daughter of the first Reverend Mother of the order and intends to strangle the infant breeding program in its crib. Valya uses the Voice to convince her Dorotea to show her own windpipe the light of day.
The clock jumps ahead a few decades at that point. The Sisterhood provides a unique service to the great houses. The Truthsayers. These women can determine if a person speaking what he believes to be the truth. Whether or not he is, can be a little grey depending on the circumstances.
The current Padishah Emperor is Javicco Corrino. He is facing the twin problems of an insurgency on Dune and the deal he will have to make to crush it.
He is marrying his seventeen-year-old daughter to the nine-year-old son scion of house Richesse. She is his only legitimate heir. He does have a handsome son born on the wrong side of the blanket. Regardless the siblings seem to be close.
As part of her agreeing to be a lamb about marrying a child husband, Princess Ynez Corrino has required that she spend a few years being schooled by the Sisterhood before her husband becomes old enough to become interested in girls. The Sisterhood is very excited by the prospect of suborning the heir to the throne.
This idea of attending the school on Wallach IX was gently placed in her head by her father’s Truthsayer who has become almost more of a mother to her than her own.
Into this mix comes a mysterious soldier, Desmond Hart, who was stationed on Dune for a decade. He has been given a place in the palace by the Emperor and is quickly becoming his confidant. He appears to be able to successfully lie to the Bene Gesserit. He also has at least one more extreme superpower.
The Emperor isn’t wild about this marriage but he is very dependent on it to manage the balancing act of the great houses. There are as yet no Sardakar to enforce his will. I’m pretty sure this is going to change by the end of the first season. Note: The capital of the Imperium at the start of the show is Selusa Secondus, Dune nerds know that’s not right, and this show has sweated the details about so many other things that it has to be deliberate.
I’m guessing that Desmond will be the first commander of the Sardukar. He appears to be quite implacably hostile to the Sisterhood and in the first episode demonstrated that he will go to extremes to disrupt their plans.
As yet there are no characters representing the Spacing Guild… Unless it’s Desmond.
Most of the cast are well-seasoned professionals, Mark Strong is as usual the backbone of whatever production he’s in. Travis Fimmel has never had trouble playing odd and mysterious. Emily Watson and Olivia Williams are so far selling their characters as the sisters born of a disgraced great house who have found a new house.
The first episode was mostly set up. Given how complex the Duneverse is, this is probably unavoidable. Characters have been introduced and motivations are mostly explained. The only one with a question mark over him is Desmond. Sure he’s anti-Sisterhood but his motives for being so are a mystery.
There are plenty of Easter eggs and shout-outs to the Villeneuve Dune movies. This is clearly meant to take place in that iteration of Dune. I will be frank, I found it dull but I know I’m not the primary audience. In any case, I’ve had to watch worse things than Dune Prophecy. If you already have HBO (Max) then go ahead and give it a look. It’s not family friendly but you already know that. If not I can’t recommend getting a subscription just for that.
