When All Is Said in Dune

Imaginary Worlds

Eric Molinsky

Arts, Science Fiction, Fiction, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2024

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Back in 2018, I interviewed language creator David J. Peterson about how he invented Dothraki for Game of Thrones and other fictional languages in fantasy worlds. David and his wife Jessie just finished a huge project – developing the Fremen language for Dune: Part Two. I talk with the couple about their creative process and the challenge of imagining simple English phrases in the Chakobsa language that Frank Herbert imagined in his Dune novels. We also hear my 2018 episode, “Do You Speak Conlang?” where I also talked with Marc Okrand, inventor of the Klingon language, and Robyn Stewart, a language consultant for Star Trek: Discovery. Plus, Jen Usellis -- a.k.a. Klingon Pop Warrior -- will give you a serious case of earworms (not the kind from Wrath of Khan.) For more episodes about Dune, check out my 2017 episode The Book of Dune, where I talked with Muslim fans of the series about the way Frank Herbert incorporated aspects of Islam into the books. And in 2021, I did an episode called The Ecology of Dune where I looked at the environmental messages in the books and whether Frank Herbert’s environmental sensibilities still hold up today. This episode is sponsored by Surfshark and Magic Spoon. Get Surfshark VPN at Surfshark.deals/imaginary and enter the promo code IMAGINARY for three extra months for free. Get a custom bundle of Magic Spoon cereal at magicspoon.com/imaginary. Enter the promo code IMAGINARY at checkout to save five dollars off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to imaginary worlds, a show about how we create them and why we suspend our disbelief.
0:05.0	I'm Eric Molinsky.
0:07.0	I saw Dune Part 1 at home because it came out during the pandemic so I was
0:15.4	excited to see Dune part two in IMAX and I did not come away disappointed
0:19.8	now Frank Herbert's novel Dune from 1965 used to have a reputation for being quote
0:27.0	unfilmable. The book is so densely packed with imagined customs and cultures.
0:33.4	When I read it, I felt like I had traveled 20,000 years into the future.
0:37.9	The idea that you couldn't translate this novel to a movie only got worse after David Lynch's 1984 film adaptation
0:45.1	completely flopped. But the 2021 movie was a hit and Dune Part 2
0:51.0	has been an even bigger success. The cast and the director have been doing
0:56.0	a lot of publicity for Dune Part 2, but so have a pair of linguists. David and Jesse Peterson developed the language of the Fremen for the movie.
1:07.0	The Fremen are the indigenous population that live on the desert planet
1:14.7	Arrakis. Their language is called Shikopsa.
1:18.0	Kayaevi Unak.
1:20.0	I first interviewed David Peterson in 2018 for an episode about how people create languages for fantasy worlds.
1:28.0	Back then he was a one-man band. Now he and his wife Jesse worked together on every project. I wanted to catch up with
1:35.8	David to find out what it's been like working on the Dune movies and how they work as a couple.
1:42.0	But before we get to that conversation, I want to play my episode from 2018.
1:46.7	It will give you a lot of context of what goes into constructed languages.
1:51.4	I began that episode by talking with somebody who is not a language creator.
1:57.0	She's just a fan of a fantasy language.
2:01.0	Gen Eusellis. Jen Ucellus is a singer in Chicago and about eight years ago a friend of hers told her about a show that was looking for performers.
	...

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