Don’t know your Arrakis from your elbow? Here’s your dummy’s guide to Dune

The second part of the sci-fi juggernaut is about to be released. Didn't read the book, or see the first one? We get you up to speed

Kyle MacLachlan in David Lynch's adaptation of 'Dune'

Ed Power

In the 1970s, the world became obsessed with a science fiction saga set on a desert planet far, far away. Its hero was named after an early follower of Jesus; it featured a scheming emperor, an order of quasi-religious space mystics and masked super-soldiers whose title began with the letter “S”.

But the protagonist was Paul, not Luke, the soldiers were the Sardaukar, rather than Stormtroopers, and the franchise was not Star Wars but Dune. Frank Herbert’s blockbusting 1965 sci-fi novel had been initially serialised in 1963 and 1964. However, it wasn’t until the following decade that it became a phenomenon. It was a child of the 1970s.