The Baron Harkonnen: Good Material (part 10 of 14)

[@Splunkmastah]

I love how the Baron’s reaction to nearly being killed was to act like Feyd had insulted him.

[@toddkes5890]

The Baron was annoyed that Feyd was trying for small stuff, instead of working together to get larger rewards?

[@Robert-hz9bj]

He was more annoyed by how petty Feyd's ambitions were and how inelegant his manipulations proved to be. Dude's wasting time openly killing his uncle in such a clumsy, obvious fashion for the sake of ruling a single house and a pair of star systems when he could make a play to be the fucking king of the universe? How disappointing...

[@phousefilms]

@@Robert-hz9bj Book version of the Baron was warned by Thufir, who had been captured and manipulated into working for him(while he planned to get his revenge for Duke Leto). The Baron was more annoyed with Feyd for failing rather than thee attempt to kill him.

[@Zeratulr]

I would like to take this opportunity to say that Ian McNiece is by far the best part of this mini-series!

[@zenilton80]

Agreed

[@ragzaugustus]

His little part as the Newsreader in Rome is amazing too.

[@fangbanger3556]

A true Harkonnen, through and through...

[@dkupke]

I remember reading an interview where he said that, for the most part, he enjoyed the role. That he drew heavily on his Shakespearean background, namely Henry the 8th, for the character, and that having the Baron occasionally speak in rhyme was his own little innovation. But that physically it was a challenge; to achieve the floating effect t they used a cable-pulley contraption that meant sitting on a bicycle seat for hours. He actually bought the operator a case of his favorite beer to thank him for their shared sacrifice.

[@Setebos]

Have you seen him in Kenneth Branagh's "Conspiracy"? Another great performance.

[@steerpike66]

In the book, Vlad punishes Feyd for the assassination attempt by forcing him to murder all the women in the harem with his bare hands, which is memorably vile and also reinforces the means by which the Harkonnens instill and maintain brutality and ruthlessness in their heirs.

[@Gabronthe]

what I find something quite amusing and humanizing is that Vlad feels pretty bad about it but he knows he has to reign in Feyd.

[@blargh3428]

@@Gabronthe He's not a sadist. He takes no pleasure in it but to him it's an important tool to instill fear and control

[@evilassholee]

@@blargh3428 Yeah, I think he even said something similar in the book too. Something like that he doesn't enjoy being ruthless or brutal but it has to be done to maintain and improve the Harkonnen power

[@bursegsardaukar]

I thought the reason for him doing so is to teach Feyd about the price of failure. Which in this case he failed to assassinate the baron.

[@thedragondemands5186]

The one thing I regret from this scene - or maybe they moved it to another scene - was in the book, the Baron honestly and genuinely offers Feyd that if he promises no more foolish assassination attempts, when the time comes the Baron will voluntarily retire, and Feyd will succeed him. Why? Because the Baron knows he'll never be accepted as a new Emperor but Feyd could, and because the Baron knows he has no children and Feyd is the future of House Harkonnen anyway. I like the sinister intelligence there, that he's not just a maniac but cares about the future of "House Harkonnen" beyond his own lifetime.

[@ABW941]

2:25 the invincible meme is 20 years older than we thought.

[@zaxbitterzen2178]

Perfect Harkonnen. Ruthless, sadistic, self indulgent, but abundantly intelligent and cunning

[@alien4292]

I do like the different interpretations of Baron Harkonenn in the current 3 adaptations McMillan’s portrayal in the David Lynch Dune is utterly insane, revolting and sadistic McNiece’s portrayal has a more calculating mastermind feel to it while keeping his more diabolical traits subdued for the sake of his plots Finally Skarsgard’s portrayal feels otherworldly and terrifying almost like some alien monster I love all 3 for varying reasons and each actor nails their portrayal perfectly, this scene in particular being a highlight of Ian McNiece’s Baron

[@thedragondemands5186]

Yes, the problem with McNiece's choice as a cunning and indeed witty evil genius is that..."witty" can be endearing. When the Baron is supposed to be "terrifying". You dial up the intelligence, you dial up the charm, you end up dialing up the likability. It's a difficult tight rope walk.

[@meldroc]

Feyd! You know you're not allowed to assassinate your uncle! You're grounded for two weeks!

[@coitip2920]

TO be fair in the books the Baron makes him kill all his sex slaves bare handed as a punishment (somthing like a hundred or so women)

[@anaharkonnen2477]

Yes, he made him pay dearly for it!

[@exbronco1980]

or you just get a little slap across the face.

[@steerpike66]

The Harkonnens in this version may be sadistic, calculating, amoral and ruthless but at least they don't live in abject squalor and filth on what looks like a dirty factory floor. They're meant to be very wealthy and decadent, like Saudi monarchs.

[@zannaifacedancer5915]

And that's exactly how I imagine the Harkonnens. The only thing missing in Ian's performance is the deep baritone voice. Skarsgard is going to kill it.

[@MackeyDeez]

Most despotic rulers live in luxury while the population they reign over lives in squalor and poverty.

[@entelin]

@Ronald Pinkerton I think the tone of the 1985 movie was more on point in many ways, however I hated how the harkkonens were portrayed in it, this version is superior in most ways.

[@hydra7427]

Is it wrong I like both versions?

[@steerpike66]

The Lynch Harkonnens were way too gross: the boils, the heart-plugs, the insect juice, the perverted doctors and mutilated slaves and grinding ugly music, the bathing in sewage and murdering catamites. Vividly disgusting at every level but cartoonish.

[@genmaicha.lapsang]

It's sad that both of the Syfy mini serieses don't get enough attention. Despite the limited buget and waky costumes of the first one...they were much more faithful to the spirit of the books.

[@Exodianecross1978]

I assume that the paycheck of someone like Ian McNeice is high, so they had to cut cost elsewhere!

[@madskillsgamer128]

Indeed. Edit: I just liked all your comments... There, everyone wins.

[@ravensthatflywiththenightm7319]

..............I don't see how the miniseries was faithful. They took the time of butchering every scene. Just two examples - the Shield Practice scene has Gurney being a wheezing, senile old man that Paul can verbally abuse all day, and not the strict weapons master who would have given Paul a scar if he screwed up. And the way the miniseries just nuked Duncan Idaho rather than give him his spectacular heroic sacrifice in the book where he ripped through NINETEEN Sardaukar is beyond insulting, like whoever made this miniseries took a dump on Frank Herbert's novel. "much more faithful" my ass...

[@Promilus1984]

@@ravensthatflywiththenightm7319 yeeah... lol. Ok, so appearance of Fenring and the role those duo played exists solely in miniseries. And that IS important bit. Liet died in pre-spice field explosion after being abandoned with no water or working stillsuit by Harkonnen. So it's not exactly like that in Lynch version but is totally different in Villeneuve's. It's ok in miniseries. There's Harah and Jamis in miniseries, there's no Harah in Lynch's version. There's Paul first son in the miniseries - killed in Sardaukar raid. There's secret language in miniseries. So... please show me how Lynch or Villeneuve are more faithful than that.

[@ravensthatflywiththenightm7319]

@@Promilus1984 The miniseries presents the Sardaukar as Angry French Bakers armed with multi-barreled machine guns where Frank Herbert explains the world of Dune has shield tech that forces everyone to use swords. The Harkonnen color is blue, but the miniseries has them in red. Paul Atreides is supposed to be introspective and "weird" because of all the training he had been put through as the heir to his father and being the son of a Bene Gesserit - the miniseries makes him a whiny bitchy spoiled bully whose very first scene involves throwing a pillow at a holographic recording and then bitching and moaning at his mother like he's 6 years old. Also Paul treats everyone like shit. No respect at all for Gurney. Speaking of which, the book describes his duel with Gurney as vicious and harrowing - if he had let his guard down, Gurney would have scarred his face. This is shown in the new movie and the David Lynch film. In the miniseries, Gurney pants and strains like he's gonna get a heart attack while Paul Mary-Sues his way through training. Need I go on?

[@bwy553]

They're kinda like a really evil version of Homer and Bart.

[@malevolenceXXXensues]

that's........strangely accurate

[@barbiquearea]

+malevolenceXXXensues Except the Baron is not as dim witted as Homer.

[@malevolenceXXXensues]

barbiquearea very true

[@fangbanger3556]

Doh!!! **kills sex slave in a fit of sadistic anger**

[@zannaifacedancer5915]

I have the feeling that Villeneuve will include that scene.

[@thedragondemands5186]

*Just imagine what Austin Butler could have done with this scene, had they kept it in the movie Dune Part 2* --- so much is going on in a relatively brief scene, lot's of calculating and mood changes, gears turning in heads. They sort of condensed it into the gladiator arena scene (by making the arena the Baron's idea not Feyd's, and explaining he's trying to make him popular to "so I can make you Emperor")

[@Sextus70]

I think Villeneuve's Dune nailed Feyd's warrior side and turned him into a genuinely intimidating antagonist for the first time on the big screen, but I also feel that he needed at least some scene like this with the Baron instead of... whatever that cannibal harem stuff was about. Overall, to be honest one my few gripes with the new Dune movie series is their re-imagining of the Harkonnens. They are as over the top evil and grotesque as in the 1984 version, but with better style and aesthetics.

[@PERSEUS-NIOR]

I have to agree as much as I loved denis's dune he has a habit of making villains just evil who live in dark spaces dress in dark clothing be it niander wallace from blade runner 2049 or the harkonnens, im not saying make em sympathetic but i wanna se harkonnens as more calculating human guys but anyway thats a small gripe@@Sextus70

[@Sextus70]

@@PERSEUS-NIOR Exactly. The Harkonnens were pretty unsympathetic and evil in the books, but they kept the appearances of a noble house and were still human (like they are portrayed in the miniseries). They certainly weren't the bald freaks ruling a cyberpunk Mordor from the movies. I also watched Blade Runner 2049 and enjoyed it, but the main antagonist sure wasn't one of the highlights of the movie either. It looks like Villeneuve has a weird fetish with edgelord villains lol

[@jamesbuchanan4414]

And this scene right here sealed Ian's performance as the better Harkonnen. Hell, both of them sold it perfectly here. Was it missing elements from the original novel? Sure, but what it gave us was right on the money.

[@narmale]

if only we could have had the more true-to-the-book Ian, mixed with the coldness of Skarsguard... the new dune felt better overall, but really lacked the heart of the books i felt that this little series captured so much better despite the wacky costumes lol

[@mikdan8813]

2:23 the original Omniman meme

[@randomcenturion7264]

Valdmimir beat Nolan by 21 years XD

[@smw1279]

2:23 oh I see a meme right there

[@thenumbah1birdman]

Right colors on his costume too lmao

[@AlphaAurora]

This is probably the best scene in the miniseries. In 1 scene, you see how smart Feyd and Vladimir are, and that they had a plan and plot all along, and its fully revealed quickly and intelligently to us, through Feyd.

[@javiermorales6263]

Maybe the lynch baron is a kind of clown but the performance of McMillan is extraordinary !!!

[@zannaifacedancer5915]

I hate the way they portrayed the baron in the film. No wonder they were not able to film this scene, it would not have made sense. That so-called baron Harkonnen was actually nothing but a mad clown, too dumb to realize that his nephew was trying to kill him. Goodness they made such a mess of the Harkonnens!

[@MackeyDeez]

@@zannaifacedancer5915 Actually, the Baron had assigned Captain Nefud to keep an eye on Feyd because he was afraid that his nephew may plot to assassinate him.

[@zannaifacedancer5915]

Hey you're right, I had forgotten about that. Thank you. That guy was addicted to semuta wasn't he?

[@MackeyDeez]

@@zannaifacedancer5915 No problem

[@zannaifacedancer5915]

In any case, the only one affected is the Baron.

[@yungdograptor6278]

Think Feyd, Think!

[@TheCorrodedMan]

“I COULD PUT YOU ON A THRONE! A THRONE AT THE HEART OF THE UNIVERSE! THINK FEYD THINK!”

[@joshuawaldorf9559]

Ian McNeice is a very good actor.

[@morbius109]

The true Baron Harkonnen was many things. Slovenly, vulgar perhaps, but he was not a fool. Feyd and Rabban underestimated him too many times. Had he not needed both for their own purposes, the Baron would have removed them both. Though I wonder, did the Baron himself not underestimate the Emperor a bit much? Shaddam was a snob but he was no fool, either.

[@dkupke]

+morbius109 Except he Baron isn't exactly as smart as he thinks he is either, as demonstrated by the way he underestimates the Fremen, or doesn't realize the Emperor's real reasons for supporting him against the Atreides.

[@dkupke]

+Jensaarai1 He's also a prisoner of his over-reliance on fear. It means he can never allow himself to ease up and maybe see the bigger picture-he has to be obsessively making sure his enemies stay afraid, his allies stay afraid, and so on. And it means he is completely unprepared when he encounters someone who isn't afraid.

[@wizardsuth]

+morbius109 Count Fenring was the brains of House Corrino until Irulan matured. It was she who pointed out how the Baron might use the Fremen uprising to his advantage. She also guessed at her father's involvement in the downfall of House Atreides, and was the first to figure out that Muad'dib was Paul.

[@wizardsuth]

+Daniel Ryan That's a good point. While he sought to dominate the Fremen, he never attempted to ally with them, nor to earn their true loyalty as Paul did.

[@morbius109]

+Wizard Suth Still, Shaddam wasn't stupid. I'm sure he and Fenring had contingencies to neutralize Harkonnen if they'd had to.

[@andrescarrion8007]

Feyd talk about having his hands clean. The book the Baron explains that it's a trick to fool the emperor's truth sayer.

[@AnnaBellaChannel]

The Baron has the best lines which rhyme.

[@lukevankleef4245]

The Baron should start writing poems. He comes up with some fun rhymes.

[@VersusARCH]

Rap Baron

[@zannaifacedancer5915]

Lmao I guess he would be better at rapping, cannot imagine him writing poems. But who knows, we all have a hidden side and blameworthy pleasures. In an epic rap battle vs the duke I would root for MC Harkonnen TKO. MC Vlad sounds better.

[@vanyadolly]

I always end up rooting for House Harkonnen

[@fangbanger3556]

Once upon time, reading the books for the first time, I was a dyed in the wool Atreides. But after decades of Dune addiction, I agree with you. The only Atreides worth rooting for is Leto II. All the rest are power hungry simpering sycophants.

[@zannaifacedancer5915]

Why is that?

[@zannaifacedancer5915]

Lol Leto's Fish Speakers are the greatest sycophants in the universe, even more than the Fedaykin. And what about piter, is not he also a simpering sycophant? I actually don't root for any house, neither Atreides, nor Harkonnen and Corrino... no thanks. But I really think Jessica is another Atreides worth rooting for. Duncan and Hallec could also be, if they had not become trained dogs of Muad'Dib's regime. But perhaps I would have done the same in their place. Either way I will always root for Sheeana, not the Fremen or the Bene Gesserit, just Sheeana herself.

[@yseson_]

Technically a Harkonen sits on the Throne as Paul and his line are his descendants

[@genmaicha.lapsang]

@@fangbanger3556 Also, my read on the first book is that Leto the first's populartiy was more due to propaganda and misifnormation campaigns and carisma than actual substance.

[@Ghost-fv6lw]

I love the fact that The baron is still willing to kill Feyd despite him being his favorite nephew

[@toddkes5890]

The Baron could be saying, "You are my favorite nephew, but if you get in the way of my plans to benefit all of House Harkonnen I will remove you without hesitation. Do you want to die while trying to kill me, or do you want to support me and gain massive wealth and power?"

[@ravenhull]

Even though he was a bit too old, I thought Sting was a good fit for Fyed. The ego and mannerisms.

[@toddkes5890]

The Baron should have explained that the Emperor's throne would be Feyd's, so Feyd has a personal stake in seeing the plan through. If Feyd behaves, he becomes the Emperor. If Feyd screws things up, he gets nothing

[@jamesbuchanan4414]

Feyd would have either Arrakis or Geidi Prime. He still stood to gain a great deal from this. He's also still Vladimir's heir, so Kaitan would have been his eventually.

[@plr2473]

In the book, as punishment for the assassination attempt, the Baron has Feyd strangle every female in the pleasure area of the palace while the Baron watches

[@theduxabides9274]

2:26 THINK MARK, THINK!

[@zkarebear]

Dune walked so GOT could run

[@jonpendragon2066]

Got is over rated and boring

[@bloodysimile4893]

GOT ran right into a brick walk. Now not even aurthor doesn't care of the story, only the money.

[@Kntrabssi]

If “Dutch angle” were an entire series

[@charlespereira8548]

2:10 Lol the guy in the bed is still breathing, the actor probably trying to pretend to be dead but can't make it slower.

[@EsKeleto2507]

but he is alive, in the books the Baron drugs the boys so that he can rape them more easily. I think it's the same here

[@SuperNovaJinckUFO]

I remember seeing the behind the scenes for this, and I'm pretty sure whenever the Baron slaps someone, it's actually Ian McNiece slapping them XD

[@arcadealchemist]

"You taught me that my own hands must remain clean" This is an important FACT that 2021 OVERLOOKED never do on to others that which you wouldn't want done on to yourself. murder by your own hand will generate an echo that comes back to you eventually least by getting others to protect you and attack your enemies they can avoid a death by another's hand who has already killed. it's an alchemist rule.

[@bursegsardaukar]

So much for the phrase "If you want something done right, do it yourself."

[@Jotari]

Couldn't resist getting Shakespearean could you?

[@dkupke]

He actually is a very accomplished Shakesperean actor

[@fangbanger3556]

Alas, poor Piter Devries ... I knew him well Feud Rautha 😆

[@jameshanlon5689]

Ian McNiece is the better Baron by far.

[@ImperialEarthEmpire]

i dont realized they use tilted view that much...

[@bbenjoe]

Me neither. But it worked!

[@bbenjoe]

Perhaps the best scene in the whol movie.

[@Exodianecross1978]

How can you defuse a situation best if someone calls you a swine? The best response would be "I am a swine and proud of it!"

[@brandonmedina494]

So the Baron was plotting against the Emperor. Shaddam shouldve wiped out the Harkonnens instead of the Atreides as Leto was loyal to the Imperium.

[@Xerxes2005]

Leto may have been loyal to the Imperium, but his loyalty was partly what got him in trouble with Shaddam. Leto was loyal and was able to instill loyalty, fierce loyalty, in his subjects and allies. His armies were getting strong and he was getting very popular among the Great Houses of the Landsraad, which the Emperor perceived as a threat.

[@jamesbuchanan4414]

Shaddam saw Leto as a threat to his throne. The Baron was just another player in the game. McNiece's Baron said it perfectly, when he interrogated Leto before he died. "Never make yourself more popular than the boss."

[@bloodysimile4893]

Leto became more popular than the boss. And you don't become more popular than the boss, unless you planning to sack the boss or have a deathwish.

[@srichael2713]

He doesn't need to. Destroying a Great House financially is just as good especially when it comes to the Harkonnens. He made the Baron pay the expenses for transport which very, very, very expensive. If the Baron tries to embezzle, the Emperor has a good excuse to get rid him. If he fail spice production quotas, he can disgrace while the Baron is still recovering his coffers.

[@PERSEUS-NIOR]

THINK FEYD THINK!! yeah he did it before omniman

[@BilltheTulaneGuy]

“One of the greatest school plays ever filmed…” Thanks Algorithm!

[@DamianCola23]

Hide it. 📍

[@exbronco1980]

weird camera angles here. everything's slanted.

[@booqueefious2230]

Yeah pretty much all the scenes of rhe Harkonens are shot at a Dutch angle. It's meant to be unsettling

[@aryaaswale7316]

Wasnt it supposed to be a boy