The Science Of Dune

The ideas, science and history driving this decade’s biggest sci-fi film

- Paul Parsons

Arid deserts, alien worlds, mystical powers and galactic conflicts – all phrases that might call to mind images from the Star Wars universe. And yet they’re at the root of an older, equally epic sci-fi saga that began more than a decade earlier, in 1965, when writer Frank Herbert published his debut novel Dune.

Set in the far future, when a human empire rules the Universe, Dune tells the story of a desert world wracked by conflict – and of the rise of an unlikely saviour.

On 22 October this year, director Denis Villeneuve, who directed two of the last decade’s best science fiction films Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, is set to bring his own bold adaptation of Dune to UK cinema screens.

Get ready for space opera, superhumans, and more visual effects than you can shake a sand trout at.

Oh, and maybe some science too.

THE ORIGIN STORY

Dune is a landmark in science fiction. It mixes stories about political greed, ecological abuse and unchecked technological progress in a fully realised universe. Award-winning science fiction author Stephen Baxter tells us where Frank Herbert’s idea came from and how it shaped what came after it…

WHERE DOES THE NOVEL DUNE SIT AS A MOMENT IN SCIENCE FICTION?