Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 adaptation ofDune, based onFrank Herbert’sbeloved novels, is in a word:epic. It has everything we could ask for in a science fiction fantasy of space opera proportions. Anoble-born family, whose honor is rivaled only by their good looks? Check. A dangerous mission on a distant, exotic planet, as ordered by the Emperor himself? You got it. How about awe-inspiring landscapes, fantastically powerful space-witches, and sword-wielding super-soldiers that drop right out of the sky? It’s all there!
Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) is the young son of Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac) and Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), and he has a heavy future of intergalactic power ahead of him. Political responsibility calls the House Atreides to the desert planet Arrakis, where they are the unknowing participants of an Imperial plot against them. Betrayal and tragedy drive Paul and Lady Jessica into the desert, where they must survive the unforgiving elements and avoid being swallowed alive by one of the megalithic sandworms that move beneath the sand. But when Paul and Jessica come across the native people of the desert, Paul’s prescient visions and dreams of this moment—featuring a particularly familiar young woman (Zendaya)—point to a future for Paul, his mother, and all of them, that the Imperium wouldn’t dare to imagine.
But in all that fantastical glory,what’s one thing that does seem to be missing fromDune? Guns. The pew-pew kind that we might normally expect from an epic sci-fi film like this. And we can look into physics, a bit, for an explanation.
A noble family becomes embroiled in a war for control over the galaxy’s most valuable asset while its heir becomes troubled by visions of a dark future.
Holtzman Shields Make Guns Difficult in Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’
Let’s talk about a little thing called a lasgun — a continuous-wave laser projector. Sounds pretty cool, right? Lasguns were the preferred weapon of the Old Imperium, and are known for their use among standing armies. However,lasguns are virtually useless when shield defense systems come into play, making these weapons pretty archaic. While usefula few thousand years beforeDune, the lasgun is not as commonly used as it once was. That’s because lasgun + shield = everything goes kablooey. When the beam of a lasgun hits the generated field of a defensive shield, a nuclear explosion occurs. That explosion may happen at any point along the laser beam, meaning that the person firing the lasgun could blast themselves in the process. Not to mention that everyone within a certain radius of this explosion just got nuked into oblivion, anyway.
A shield defense, or simply a “shield,” guards the user with a protective field, and can defend a single person or even a massive, space-traveling ship. Wesee the employment of shields throughout Villeneuve’sDune, like in the training session on Caladan with Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin) and Paul Atreides, and in the battles of the Sardaukar and Atreides on Arrakis. The shield is created by what’s called a Holtzman generator, and is produced by the “suspensor nullification effect.”
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This whole process, usually just called the Holtzman Effect, is the basis for much of the technology we see inDune, including the shields. Those little floating “glow globes” of light that follow a person from room to room? That’s the Holtzman Effect at work. And the unseensuspensors that allow the Baron Harkonnen to ominously hover overhead? You guessed it — the Holtzman Effect. It’s even the basis behind the entire concept of space travel in theDuneuniverse. TheHoltzman Effect literally folds space and time, allowing immediate travel from one end of the universe to the other. You know, fold a piece of paper in half and punch a pencil through it — you might’ve seen that demonstration before.
Blades Are More Effective Than Guns in ‘Dune’
Since an incredibly fast-moving projectile like a bullet or lasgun beam can’t be used against a shield defense, the slower-moving blade of a sword or dagger is a more effective weapon. Please don’t ask for a more detailed explanation of how these physics work onDune… It has something to do with kinetic energy and the speed of a projectile versus the vibrational setting of the shield. This somehowallows a blade to better penetrate the shield and not cause an explosive reaction. So, the best bladed weapon against a shield is a quickly-wielded, close-range dagger of sorts.
Shields Attract Sandworms on Arrakis
That last part about penetrating a shield defense won’t matter much on Arrakis, though. You might not be using a shield there very often. Not only is the generated field of static often malfunctioning from the unrelenting sandstorms, but the shield attracts the sandworms! The vibrational effect of a large shield — like the shield wall that surrounds the city of Arrakeen — is exactly the type of thing you want to avoid on this planet. When the Fremen, the native desert people of Arrakis, want to call Shai Hulud to them, they place a thumping device on the ground to reverberate through the sand. So, if you don’t wantmassive sandworms gobbling up your entire fleet, you probably aren’t going to use a big shield defense.
Maula Pistols Are the Fremen’s Gun of Choice in ‘Dune’
When earlier people began to prefer the close-body protection of a personal shield, the lasgun saw a decline in use. Rather, chemically operated projectiles and pistols became the norm—which we do see a bit of in Denis Villeneuve’sDune.Only the local royalty in Arrakeen, the vicious Harkonnens, or other offworlders dare to use lasguns and shields on Arrakis.
Thenative Fremenof Arrakis, while also skilled with handheld blades, would favor the Maula pistol as their gun of choice inDune.The Maula pistol is loaded with poisonous darts instead of bullets, which are spring-fired from the pistol. The Maula pistol is a silent weapon, and won’t attract any sandworms. Plus, the slower-moving projectile won’t cause a nuclear reaction if it hits a defense shield. Stilgar (Javier Bardem), leader of the Fremen tribe, takes a Maula pistol away from Paul when he and his mother run into the Fremen out in the desert, and tells Paul that he’ll get it back when he’s earned it. However,Dune: Part Twofeatures some epic sword fighting between Paul and Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler), so it looks like a blade suits our protagonist just fine.
Duneis available to stream on Max in the U.S.
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