The last time science fiction had such an epic month in mainstream culture was with the simultaneous climax of Game of Thrones and Marvel’s The Avengers in 2019. It’s the success of these franchises that has contributed in part to the arrival of Dune and Foundation on our screens in 2021.

(Dune had worldwide release on September 15 but for unknown reasons the US and EU have to wait until late October.)

The latest adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune exists thanks to the career arc of auteur director Denis Villeneuve. The closest cinema today has to a Stanley Kubrick, Villeneuve has built his reputation on remastering the classics of science fiction. I meditate on the mixed success of Dune, and whether it matched the strange grandeur if the David Lynch version - in the Science Fiction podcast.

Isaac Asimov s Foundation saga was, if not forgotten, then fading from our collective memory, when the mighty Apple chose it to flagship their new streaming tv service. The outcome is something of an embarrassing mess for Apple. Why did the most powerful corporation of the 21st century choose this story to spend $500 million on? I think through the dynamics of power, patronage and storytelling here.

Once widely derided as trash culture, today there’s no doubting the influence of science fiction. I continue my exploration of why in Writing the 21st Century Myth, a course for storytellers of sci-fi and fantasy. Workshop 7 focuses exclusively on Dune, the Savior story and how myths guide us towards self-transformation. This is an advanced course so please take a little time to absorb the premise before leaping in.

Enroll on Advanced Scifi and Fantasy : Writing the 21st Century Myth.

Join the discussion in the Science Fiction community on Facebook.

Damien Walter

Writer for The Guardian, BBC, Wired.

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