this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
198 points (92.3% liked)
Greentext
3981 readers
1985 users here now
This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.
Be warned:
- Anon is often crazy.
- Anon is often depressed.
- Anon frequently shares thoughts that are immature, offensive, or incomprehensible.
If you find yourself getting angry (or god forbid, agreeing) with something Anon has said, you might be doing it wrong.
founded 11 months ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
It has been a while, but I'm pretty sure the bladed weapons are needed because the shields specifically block objects with high kinetic energy. I also recall one of the houses on arakis getting bombed, but only after they were able to turn off the protective barrier. I might be mixing up Sci fi books, though.
You are correct. But the movies did indeed make a poor introduction to the shield technology. I think it was just a short mention when Gurney is training Paul and is easily missed. They even have to train for a specific fencing style that involves slow movements as a fast swung blade can still be stopped by the shield. And I don't remember them talking about the interaction between lasers and shields at all, which creates a huge explosion.
My bigger issue with the movies was the typical hollywood charge. No tactics or strategy involved at all. Just screaming and running.
The shield-based fighting style was also a small note that was missed in the duel between Paul and Jamis in the movie. Paul was missing what they thought were clear cuts and as a result they believed he was cruelly toying with Jamis, but it was because he was slowing his blade at the very last moment due to shield training.
Also a slightly weird moment for me as a book fan was when the thopter Duncan escaped in clearly showed that it had shields with a rock crashing off of it, but then he was being chased by lasguns immediately after.
Glad to know I wasn't the only one who thought that was a bit off-putting. Same where the Sardaukar try to use a laser to get to Paul, nobility is almost guaranteed to wear a personal shield, so that felt like a very bad idea. Although you could argue that Sardaukar are fanatic enough to not care about getting wiped from existence in a nuclear explosion.
From what I remember the movie ignores the lasgun and shield interaction completely, which I think is a reasonable tweak to keep things simple and allow them the to use the nice aesthetics of lasers.