Always thought bad-SF on TV was better than none at all. I also prefer weaker SF to average or even good non-genre stuff. Franchise drama DUNE: PROPHECY looks like usually poor sci-fi when presenting a civilisation seemingly unchanged for the next 10,000 years. Technology upgrades and/or any societal advancement, should push cultures towards stability, not stagnation. This epic prequel to DUNE movies is apparently aimed at anti-Gilead viewers who might like dystopian, or plainly dysfunctional, worlds but often support a matriarchal regime, instead of a more typical patriarchy-centred futurism.
Seeming positive, despite variously sinister sisterly ambitions, and mind-games, stars Emily Watson and Olivia Williams play rival ‘HarkonneNuns’, Valya and Tula. Travis Fimmel (VIKINGS) embodies a survivalist warrior - in royal service of sadly weak-willed Emperor (Mark Strong), frequently guided by savvy diplomacy of his wife Natalya (Jodhi May). Despite smart gadgets and techno toys quite clearly in evidence, history notes that machine wars led to formal rejection of any robots as overlords, while super-soldier Hart demos deadly pyrokinetic powers, and claims leadership of new Imperial shock-troops as his unjust reward. While Landsraad houses seethe with sundry family plots, the Bene Gesserit sisterhood forms with greater legacy of their witchy agenda. Above all, before you can say melange or mentat… the frequent symbolic imagery appears, including eye and mouth, portal and pit, signalling tragic horrors for this dark-space opera where tears, like spice, ‘must flow’.
