Well, yeah, I meant ‘not so implausible’ in a movie sense, that a cave could support human-sized feral blind albino monsters.
But yeah, in a real world situation an ordinary human, even an experienced spelunker, who gets trapped in a cave without light and food is going to die if they’re not rescued in time.
I saw the film again within the last few months and there was nothing at all to suggest that. I think you’re confusing it with another film. Even the alternate ending does not go that direction.
There’s speculation that the sandworms might not be native to Arrakis. They do eat mostly sand containing dry plankton and who knows what their connection to spice has done to them.
I think that last question is explicitly “yes” in D&D lore. The “Underdark” is full of strange magical energies that have a variety of effects, mostly along the lines of turning things into horrible monsters - but also good for growing giant mushrooms.
Yeah, this probably the have-wave answer. We know spice lets humans fold space and other stuff, who’s to say it doesn’t let the worms link to some extra-dimensional source of energy?
Once you get into magic-like science, anything is possible.
Comic books are full of these things
There’s The Borers from Fantastic Four and other Marvel comics
and The Crawling Creature (from pre-Ant Man Tales to Astonish)
and the Mole Man’s hordes (originally a collection of different huge monsters, but later little yellow guys with eyes like sunglasses. Kinda like the Evil Universe version of Minios)
I’m just glad you didn’t dis Tremors. As bad B movies go it’s one of the very very best.
Heck yeah the worms are utterly biologically implausible. But they are so darn cool as a plot device!
Guess you broke into the wrong God damn rec room, didn’t ya!
Underground goddamn monsters! Broke into the wrong Rec Room!!!
Speaking of worms --I don’t think the gigantic Space Worm the Millennium Falcon inadvertently flies into in The Empire Strikes Back is biologically feasible either.
Gawd I love that scene. One of Hollywood’s. Best. Evar.
Thank you!
Tremors is my favorite Cthulhu Mythos film.
Well, I kinda did diss Tremors by including their creatures in my list, but, if it’s any consolation, I wholeheartedly agree with you. Tremors is a beautifully made movie, with great dialogue, wonderful scenes, a proper buildup of knowledge, revelation, and tension, and a great ending that was perfectly set up right from the very first shot. And it was all done with no animation or CGI – only mechanical effects. I would’ve sworn that was impossible.
I also like the first two sequels, which carry the ideas even further, building on them to achieve new and novel concepts, and aren’t simply a rehashing of the first film. (Also, they treat thermal vision properly, unlike films like Hardware, which managed to get everything backwards.)
'Zactly.
You (the audience) have just one (large) item of disbelief to get over but once you accept the worms, the rest just flows. And the way the movie shows the characters figuring out what they’re up against while we have just a bit more knowledge than they do at each step. Masterful.
Namazu, in legend the gigantic catfish that is trapped under the islands of Japan, and causes earthquakes when it moves.
That’s obviously a myth. Everyone knows it’s elephants.
I think to enjoy any movie with fantastical elements you’ve just got to accept the premise and move on. Does it really matter if Dune’s sandworms are impossible? No, because that’s not what the story is about.
It’s turtles on my screen.
True. But if you’ve stuck your heroes in a situation where they have to rely on their wits and improvization to defeat creatures, but those creatures are really impossible (or at least highly improbable), then I’m going to lose patience with you.
The Cave – you’re being attacked by man-sized cave-dwelling creatures – how do you get out of it or defeat them. Go up higher? But wait – they can FLY! I’m outta here.
(actually, I didn’t. I watched the abysmal thing to the end)
But Dune never pulled that stuff. I lived with the giant, non-canonical Burrowing Worms in The Hobbit-- Battle of the Five Armies because they served the purpose of delivering lots of Orcs to the battlefield. I ignored the ludicrousness of the Graboids in Tremors because the film was so good. (I let pass the Sand Sharks in the Outer Limits episode The Invisible Enemy for the same reason.)
But if you puncture my Willi=ng Suspension of Disbelief with cross-motives or pointless features, it’s going to be hard to get it back.
Spice doesn’t let humans fold space. Technological spacecraft engines fold space. Spice gives humans the precognition needed to control those technological engines safely.