New Dune miniseries

[DirectorTsaarx]

Originally posted by Aloofi:
Ok, what is that spice thing and what it does and why is so important?
I didn't like Children of Dune cause I can't understand a thing that its going on!
Besides, sci-fi channel have commercials breaking in every 5 minutes. I don't have the patience for commercials.

Spice is "melange"; it's only found on Dune/Arrakis, and is used by Guild Navigators to move ships from one system to another by warping space/time. There's no other way to do faster-than-light travel in the Dune universe, so without spice there'd be no more (or at least a LOT less) interstellar travel. That's also why the Navigator Guild is so powerful - they have virtually complete control over interstellar travel.

Spice also extends lives - IIRC, the Emperor was 150-200 years old or something.

As for commercials, there's a reason I'm taping the miniseries to watch later - the fast-forward button is the best way to deal with commercials!

[ March 18, 2003, 16:23: Message edited by: DirectorTsaarx ]

[Aloofi]

So spice can be eaten and is a fuel at the same time?

Isn't that kind of wierd?
I guess I know now why I didn't like it in the first place.

[kalthalior]

Spice isn't fuel, but IIRC, it is necessary for the Spacing Guild navigators to eat it (in large quantities) in order for them to navigate hyperspace. Eating so much spice has also mutated the navigators as time has passed. They begin apprenticeship the guild as normal humans and undergo transformation as they continue to eat the spice as related in Brian Herbert's House of ... series.

[Fyron]

Yeah... spice is not a fuel.

[oleg]

Originally posted by Aloofi:
So spice can be eaten and is a fuel at the same time?

Isn't that kind of wierd?
I guess I know now why I didn't like it in the first place.

By no means Melange is a fuel ! A ship with Holtzinger (sp.?, sorry) field can warp ro anywhere but it will be lost without a navigator breathing Melange.

I do no think "eating" is a right term. It's more like breathing in Navigator' case. "Normal" people drink melange, not eat it !

Off topic (sort of) When russians speak about consumming vodka, - sometimes we do not use the word "drink" but "eat" instead. Trust me

[ March 18, 2003, 19:23: Message edited by: oleg ]

[Master Belisarius]

Originally posted by Aloofi:
So spice can be eaten and is a fuel at the same time?
Isn't that kind of wierd?
I guess I know now why I didn't like it in the first place.

Is not a fuel.
It's a drug that use the Navigator Guild's pilots to control the space ships in the transtellar travels.
This drug give them a "prescience" that they need to control the ships.

Originally posted by Aloofi:

Isn't that kind of wierd?
I guess I know now why I didn't like it in the first place.

hehehehehe, really you're confused.
Of course many things in the book are "weird", unique, think should say. But IMHO this is one of the reasons because "Dune" is a great book.

[Desdinova]

i thought the spice gave/mutated the guild navigators the ability to fold space, i didnt realize there was an actual drive and the guild just acted as navigators.