In the book that’s not sure at all. He does kill one sex slave (not sure I’d use the word ‘lover’) but that one was booby-trapped to kill him, so I think the Baron gets a pass on that one.
And we do know that at least one of the Baron’s bed-mates (in a younger sleeps-with-women phase) survives long enough to give birth to Jessica
The book Baron is fat, homosexual, and nearly completely ruthless in his ambition; he also lives in a slave-owning society that at least somewhat condones having slave concubines, and takes advantage of that, and these concubines are young but we don’t know exactly how young. But he’s not covered in boils or anything.
And, in fact, I don’t think he’s sadistic; the Baron would see torturing someone for no reason as a shocking waste of resources (obviously, if you have a valuable but sadistic mentat on staff, as the Baron did, keeping them happy is a good reason, but only as long as the costs don’t outweigh the benefits of keeping him happy).
What’s kind of repugnant about the book itself, actually, is how Herbert basically presents being homosexual as enough to show the Baron’s eevvvilll nature (and implies that homosexuality == pedophilia == child raping)
Lynch appears to have read this line – “his figure took on dimension – grossly and immensely fat” – and ran with it. The suspensor belt to help him carry his weight turned into a levitation belt to allow him to float around the room. Most importantly, the description of “grossly” was taken away from the word it was modifying, “fat”, and applied to the Baron’s overall appearance and demeanor. So he became gross and immensely fat.
I agree, the book Baron was probably fatter than the movie Baron - there was only so much that could be done at the time to fake that level of obesity. (This was way before Fat Bastard from the Austin Powers series.) But the boils and the blood showers and the heart plugs and all were all Lynch adaptations.
They certainly overdid it, but I see the same outfits as a shorthand for their family tradition and style of protection suits, showing a distinct culture difference than the Atreides or other Great Houses.
The Lynch version has a lot of scenes that feed from the book, but feel compressed and don’t quite capture the epic scope and grandeur. The stillsuits are pretty awesome, except for the distinct lack of head cover. But Lynch twisted numerous things, from the portrait of the Baron, to the nature of the “weirding” training that Paul used and taught the Fremen. I thought the weirding modules were a neat idea, but that was before I ever read the book.
The SciFi channel version in a lot of ways was truer to the book portrayal, but some style elements were odd - in particular, all the hats for the Princess and the Sardaukar outfits. They wrote the Princess a much larger role. But one thing that didn’t work for me was casting John Hurt and Duke Leto.
The scene where the Duke finds out that the Baron supposedly had Paul murdered, he’s supposed to fly into a rage. The movie did that well. This portrayal goes for a quiet rage, that doesn’t convey well and doesn’t match the description of Duke Leto as a hotheaded and vibrant man.
No, the magazine Cinefantastique had a picture of the mouse (not hamster) in a plunger container, and said it was an invention of the film – Squood, for “Squeezable Food”. But IIRC, it was Jack Nance’s character who drank it, not the Baron.
Are those actual combat uniforms, or court/dress uniforms? They don’t look any more ridiculous than the Swiss Guard, whom I suspect they were modled on.
I remember those. That’s like 5 berets sewn together kicking and screaming. For the most feared soldiers in the universe, they dress like a high school theater production
The hats were a symbol of their bravery. You have to be brave man to wear a hat like that.
Seriously though, there’s a long military tradition of wearing stupid hats, especially by elite forces. Perhaps it’s just a lack of constructive criticism when it’s time to pick their uniforms. Are you going to tell a green beret or a Sardaukar that his hat looks goofy?
Berets were part of the Sardaukar uniform in Dune Encyclopaedia - not that big, though. Stupid hats were a thing in that series, though - vide the Bene Gesserit
And really, 200kg isn’t that obese; this guy is 200kg.
I think the book version was worse than the movie, but yeah as others have said there were no boils/weird showers/heart plugs. But he was obviously a gay pedophile who enjoyed his sex slaves and didn’t think much of having to kill one who tried to assassinate him. But beyond that, the book version was mentally cunning and morally depraved. He was almost admirable in how awful yet intelligent he was, whereas in the movie he was more of just comic book evil. The book version is worse from a mental perspective.
Also, when he died, his suspensor belt did actually cause him to hover off of the floor a few inches, according to the book. But there was no flying around as a comic horror.
I actually think the heart plugs fit well and think it’s one of the few things the movie added/changed that Herbert never included that was pretty awesome.
Also, Herbert hated homosexuality, and even had a son who turned out to be gay who died from AIDS I believe, and they did not have a good relationship. So yes, it was Herbert’s intent to include homosexuality as an example of his evil depravity. Oddly, perhaps, as a gay man myself, I didn’t find it all that offensive.
That explains the bit in God Emperor where Duncan Idaho is aghast that Leto allows the Fish Speakers to have same-sex partners and holds it up as proof that he’s lost his way. I always thought that segment was kind of out of left field.
The ridiculous hats were, I thought, supposed to give things a kind of medieval/Renaissance flair. The images of headgear from those times that Google image searching brings up show people wearing some pretty silly looking hats. They don’t look notably different from the hats in the mini-series.
You must be looking at a different Renaissance. A lot of the hats in the SciFi channel Dune looked structurally unsound. It’s a good thing none of those sandstorm winds kicked up while people had those hats on.
Google image search “medieval hat” and “Renaissance hat” for yourself. The differences are a matter of degree rather than type. The hats in the show are more flamboyantly silly and impractical, but the medieval and Renaissance pieces_once you get beyond that hood thing that serfs and dung farmers wore_were obviously about fashion not about keeping your head warm.
Maybe looking structurally unsound was kind of the point. Look at me. I’m so powerful and wealthy that I can afford to wear this silly looking hat that looks like it’s going to fall apart at any moment. The mitre the Pope wears looks completely ridiculous as well but it’s a real hat.
