Question: Is there any reason they can't introduce sand worms to other planets in the Duniverse, there to proliferate and produce a greater, more widely distributed quantity of the spice? The newborn worms are called sandtrout, by virtue of being more or less the size of such. Should be easy enough therefore to capture some, surround them with sand in the spaceship to imitate their homeworld, and take them to some other planet the Empire is willing to give up for any other use, then let them grow and produce spice? Much greater abundance, much surer supply (the proverbial eggs in one basket), much closer at hand for any other world in the Universe?
Question: What's the relative timeline of this movie? It's stated that it starts in the year 10,191 but there don't seem to be any other dates besides that.
Answer: The entire DUNE universe is much more complicated than any movie. For a relatively useful timeline, see www.smirnov.demon.co.uk/Arrakis/timeline.htm.
Question: How much of a difference is there between the David Lynch version of this film and the Allen Smithee one?
Answer: A lot. The Allen Smithee version is nearly twice as long, the intro scene is completely different, narrated by a man and containing stills of artist renditions of events. The version contains many new scenes, additional dialog and extensions of existing scenes and some minor plot changes. The most famous scene only found in the Allen Smithee version is one of the Fremen making the water of life.
Question: Admittedly the sound on my copy of this movie is lacking somewhat but when Paul is researching Arrakis and Gurney et all enter I swear I can hear the trailer for the movie playing in the background. Am I correct on this?
Answer: No. At least, not on the DVD I have. It does play the title tune in the background, though.
Answer: The beginning narration is playing softly, as if it's coming from whatever computer Paul was doing research on. Like he was watching a movie about the world he is living in, which is sort of odd.
Question: Why exactly did David Lynch have his name removed from the TV version?
Answer: Because it was edited in a way he didn't approve of. The film was actually over 3 hours long, and it was trimmed by about an hour for the cinema version, and then a certain amount of pick and mix went on to come up with the video version.
Question: At the end Paul makes it rain on Arrakis - wouldn't this harm the sandworms? If so, it seems like a mean move on his part, especially considering the role they played in his coup.
Answer: Arrakis did, at one time, have lakes and oceans, and the Fremen (desert people) have an ongoing secret project to restore the surface water of Arrakis (they have multi-million-liter water reservoirs all over the place beneath the planet's surface). Additionally, in the first novel it is mentioned that attempts to drill wells on Arrakis fail because they are inexplicably "plugged up" soon after they start producing water. All of this implies that the Fremen and the worms are working together to protect and hoard a great deal of the water that already exists on Arrakis. If this is the case, then the worms may value the return of surface water as much as everyone else.
Answer: In the books people were trying this with no success, at least by the end of book 3 which is as far as I got. The implication was there was a complex eco-balance needed which they were failing to achieve. It is a big part of book 3 that the smugglers were capturing the sand trout and selling them to offworlders, since this is how Leto II got them to perform his metamorphosis. Perhaps in later books they succeeded at starting another location.
Isn't it so they only discovered the sandworms were the source for the spice by the time Leto II takes charge and turns into one? After which he turns Arrakis into a paradise with only a small patch for sandworms to produce spice in.
lionhead