I realise that this might be slightly lazy blogging on my part, but one of the first things I came across on Youtube this morning was this intriguing video about the history behind the Dune books and films. As you might be able to tell from my last few entries, it’s a series I’m now really getting into. This twenty-five minute History Hit video starts to put Dune into context, laying out where Frank Herbert probably got many of his ideas: perhaps most obviously, much of the Dune saga is based upon the politics and history of the middle east at the beginning of the last century, with Spice being an allegory for oil. I found it captivating, and strongly suggest anyone interested in what is fast becoming cinema’s current foremost franchise gives it a watch.

I am only just starting to get into Herbert and Dune. What I saw at the cinema on Sunday gave me a glimpse of an intriguing, complex fiction which at the moment I know next to nothing about. Videos like this whet my interest even further. The new adaptations really have opened up a completely new fictional world for me, every bit as interesting as my favourites, Star Trek and Lord Of The Rings. I now can’t wait to find out more.