Now that Warner Bros. is the proud owner of a thriving “Dune” franchise, they’ve begun the process of brand expansion via the HBO series “Dune: Prophecy.” Set 10,000 years before the events of Denis Villeneuve’s theatrically released sensations “Dune” and “Dune: Part Two,” the show is set some time after Brian Herbert’s “Great Schools of Dune” novels and deals with the origins of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood. It’s got a great cast led by Emily Watson and Olivia Williams, boasts some tremendously impressive production/costume design, and is dull as dishwater.
Apologies to those who love prequels and origin stories, but they are by rule abominations of storytelling, and there are precious few exceptions. Patton Oswalt has a stand-up bit titled “At Midnight I Will Kill George Lucas with a Shovel” that explains hilariously, profanely why this is true, but, basically, all prequels are fill-in-the-blanks endeavors that dramatize stuff we already know. Yes, there are often odd twists and turns within the backstory to which we were not previously privy, but these incidents are nothing more than glorified trivia. This approach to pulp narrative has become so mind-numbingly widespread that it’s only a matter of time before we get a whole movie centered on the jeweler who sold Martha Wayne her pearl necklace.
Harkonnens. You’re here for Harkonnens and why they look so gosh darn different in “Dune: Prophecy” than their relatives 10,000 years in the future. Would the simple answer of “evolution” slake your thirst for knowledge? I suppose not. Here’s how the Harkonnens became the pasty, hairless, pains-in-the-patooty that they are in Villeneuve’s movies.