Imagine living in a desert your entire life, now imagine that someone had devised a way that it wouldn’t kill them in a matter of days. The stillsuit from Dune is an ingenious design that one might think was possible for current use today, but there’s a good reason why it’s still science fiction, and that’s largely because it’s such a wondrous design that not only would they be exceedingly expensive, but the perfect demanded of each suit wouldn’t be negotiable. A malfunctioning stillsuit would be akin to wearing a death sentence in the deserts of Arrakis, especially since this is how the Fremen survive. The upcoming version of Dune is staying pretty loyal to the overall story since the nose plugs that are used as part of the suit are part of the entire system that’s designed to draw moisture from the body in order to deliver it to catch pockets that will hold usable water while the impurities are filtered out of urine and feces and redistributed as the waste materials are purged or reclaimed. It kind of works on the idea that no matter what we excrete, it all breaks down to a common denominator at some point. Of course, the idea of a stillsuit is something that a lot of people would question since there are bound to be those that would wonder what might happen if a person happened to be sick or otherwise hampered by an illness or bodily condition that they couldn’t control.
That doesn’t appear to be a big concern in Dune since the stillsuits are usually seen to be worn by those who are in good condition and are fairly healthy, but then one can imagine that if a person falls ill in the desert that they’re not long for this life anyway. So the answer to the question of what’s in the noses of the actors in the trailers is obvious at this point since the tubes are there to gather moisture, even the little bit that is produced through the nostrils. As little as it is though, even a few drops here and there can make a huge difference in the desert since everything around a person tends to be designed to suck moisture from the air and from a body that’s composed primarily of water. This is a reality of the real world as much as it is of Dune, since despite the fact that deserts can and do harbor life just as any ecosystem can, life in the desert is far more difficult than in many other areas, if only because the lack of available water can hamper many living creatures that absolutely need it to survive. Arrakis is a desert world by all accounts, which means that those that can’t do without water or don’t know how aren’t bound to survive for long.
The story of Dune is one that has enchanted fans for years now and has given way to quite a few stories that have taken off of Frank Herbert’s design and continued the story in a manner that has created an entire reality that people have latched onto in a big way. People have followed the books for years and have been split in their opinions when it comes to whether the movies have done the books justice, and why the movies haven’t continued since the story has. In fact, the story has gone far beyond Paul Atreides, the young monarch that helped to launch the entire thing, and it’s gone far beyond those that supported him as well. At this point, the Dune books have a life of their own as different houses have been explored and the ins and outs of the galaxy have been laid bare in a big way. Sometimes it feels as though the books are simply too big to be fully displayed on screen, since the detail and the story that would need to go into this type of a project is so great that only the most diehard fans would truly appreciate it, and the costs would be enormous to make each movie since things continue to change in the story of Dune on a pretty constant basis. Trying to get it all into one movie isn’t possible, since not only would it last for days, but the amount of detail that comes with this idea is enough to overwhelm a lot of people.
If you really want to know the function of the stillsuit from Dune, there are plenty of sites to visit and there are a few explanations why it would and wouldn’t work, but the most obvious is that the technique of making one isn’t as perfected as one might think. Otherwise, it would be an invaluable item that might have a good number of applications.
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