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Dune (1984) (part 9 of 11)
And since this is getting kind of complicated, Irulan steps in again to narrate that Jessica’s daughter, Alia, will now be born with an adult memory, though we don’t get the book’s cool and quite scary explanation for why. Plus, we get a necro cam of the fetus, because hey, that’s what Lynch does.
CSI: Arrakis
Back to Geidi Prime, assuming anyone still remembers the exterior shot that signals this. After a pointless shot of entrails being sprayed into a grate (because, you know, they’re the bad guys), the Baron brags to Feyd about how Hawat is now “all mine.”
They go in to see the imprisoned Hawat, who’s been given his own “heart plug” (the thing the Baron pulled out of the kid’s chest in his first scene), because “everyone gets one here.” And that’s all the explanation we’ll be getting for this rather stupid original plot element.
And then things reach a new low: the Baron reveals that Hawat’s been given a poison, and will now need regular doses of an antidote. In the book, this was quite correctly all we needed to know, but here Hawat has to actually make the antidote himself… by milking a cat that’s hooked up to some H.R. Giger knockoff machine. And there’s also a rat tied up next to it, for absolutely no reason that I can think of. Once again, I have to wonder: Did anyone ever just ask David Lynch “Why?”
The Baron declares that Hawat works for him now, and in the book, this was its own subplot where Hawat secretly makes his own plans to turn the various bad guys against each other while stuck in this predicament. Here, this scene is all we get, which once again makes it completely pointless. Urge to kill: rising.
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Ryan Lohner
Ryan lives in Sparta, New Jersey, a quaint little burg without much for kids to do except go to the movies. Thus began a lifelong love affair, as even back then he grew to love examining why a film worked, or didn't. He is a member of the Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society, and currently studying for a Master's Degree in Library and Information Science. His hobbies include running, piano, and annoying people with that damn lowercase forum user name.
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