supersnipe

"Before getting in bed with the Jedi, Han Solo smuggled a fictional drug known as “spice” (the sci-fi classic Dune definitely had an influence on George Lucas) while in the employ of Tatooine’s notorious crime lord, Jabba the Hutt . . . In early drafts of Star Wars, spice was central to the plot. Instead of transporting the all-important plans for the Death Star, Princess Leia was sneaking “two hundred pounds of the greatly treasured aura spice.” from the article @ http://www.konbini.com/us/entertainment/han-solo-drug-smuggler-star-wars/ .

To be certain, Jodorowsky’s proposed ending to his version of Dune is a radical departure from the novel, in which he has the prophet Paul dying and subsequently the entire desert planet of Arrakis is transformed into a lush green world. From my understanding, Frank Herbert didn’t have a problem with this plot twist, and Herbert and Jodorowsky remained ‘amicable.’ If anything, Herbert was taken aback by the length of the story board, which Herbert described as being the size of a “phone book.” The film, if made, could have been great, or a disaster.

What I’m wondering about is wether or not George Lucas was privy to that storyboard back in 1975, and if so, how that would have shaped what we’ve come to know as Star Wars?

It is interesting to note that the hero Paul Atreides has a sister named Princess Alia (pronounced a-Leia) and though their father doesn’t turn out to be evil, it is their grandfather the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen who is the villain and kills their father.

Also interesting to note that Paul is trained by the Bene Gesserit in Prana Bindu (read: Jedi Bendu) which gives the practitioner supernatural powers in combat. This indicates the underlying spiritual theme that is mirrored in both universes.

Another coincidence is that Jabba physically resembles Leto II God Emperor of Dune who is a large worm like creature with human face and limbs and sits upon a dais.

Thank you joefavs for your thoughts. Here’s the thing though, if you look at early drafts of A New Hope [Ver. 3 @ http://starwarz.com/starkiller/the-development-of-star-wars-a-new-hope/] you find that initially, the drug ‘spice’ was very much a central theme of Star Wars. For instance, in this early version, Princess Leia was not fleeing the Empire with the secret plans for the Death Star but rather, holding a cargo of the drug spice. And the two ‘bickering bureaucrats’ (C-3PO & R2 D2) crash land on a planet and find more spice. This version dates back to 1973, coincidentally the same year Jodorowsky’s producer acquired the rights to Dune.

Regarding the movie Dune by Jorodowsky, it in a way does exist, although in another form, that is, two dimensionally on paper. As the documentary explains, the story board contained over three thousand panels painstakingly written by Jodorowsky and drawn by the great artist Moebius. Everything is there including POV shots, long shots, close ups etc. The sword fighting scenes, as an example, mirror certain fight scenes in Star Wars, etc.

I recently watched the documentary Jodorowky’s Dune and it had me rethink the entire Star Wars universe. I’m a long time fan of Star Wars since having seen A New Hope when it came out in theaters. Like most folks, I have mixed feelings about the prequels, feeling something was missing there. This documentary says that Jorodowsky was pushing a two thousand page story board around Hollywood starting around 1975, but was turned down by every studio because it amounted to a 12 hour film. Meanwhile, Jodorowsky had assembled the greatest team I can think of to make a film including Dan O’Bannon on special effects, Moebius and H.R. Giger as artists, Pink Floyd and Magma for soundtrack, and the actors Orson Wells, David Carradine, Mick Jagger, and even Salvador Dali to play Emperor Leto ll. But the project was too far ahead of its time and the studios rejected it, and by 1976 the production money ran out and the film project was canned, until of course the rights were bought by Dino De Laurentis which resulted in the inferior Dune movie of 1984. Hollywood went on to appropriate Jodorowsky’s team with Dan O’Bannon going to work special effects for Lucas on the first Star Wars, then O’Bannon and H.R. Giger worked on Alien, etc.

What I’m wondering is how much did George Lucas know about and then appropriate from Jodorowsky’s Dune? The fact that O’Bannon worked on Star Wars should prove that he knew much. There are so many similarities that I can’t even begin to list them here. Lucas has mentioned in passing the influence of Frank Herbert’s Dune book, but nothing I know of regarding Jodorowsky himself. Much lip service has been given to Kurosawa, Flash Gordan, et al. as influence’s but in comparison to a big project like Dune being pushed at the same time as Star Wars, these are obscure and artsy references at best. It has become like that saying, Jodorowsky is conspicuous due to his absence in the Star Wars dialogue.

My theory is this: Lucas owes a much greater debt to Jodorwksy’s vision of Dune than he is letting on and the key link to this is Han Solo himself. Han was a smuggler, originally, of spice, the same spice Melange from Dune. Lucas has been white washing the Solo character for years and cut him out of the prequels completely. Maybe it’s more than just about ‘Han shot first.’ Maybe it’s a link to the Dune universe.

Do you think this is a viable theory? How much does Lucas owe to Jorodowky’s Dune? Would Star Wars even exist without Dune?