Jodorowsky's Dune Uncovered

Scenes 52-53 : It's a trap!

Duncan and his group of soldiers are in an Arrakeen street, tending the wounded and helping put out fires using buckets of sand.

A group of Fremen stare, with their completely blue eyes, at blood running through tubes for a transfusion.

Duncan and his ambulances continue on to a town in the desert, the aftermath of a battle can be seen; smoke, charred doors and bodies in the streets.

A Fremen emerges from behind a rock, and begins to run towards the Atreides. Suddenly 15 Harkonnen soldiers appear from behind some sand dunes and block his path.

The Fremen draws a "short, phosphorescent sword" and drags it through the ground, engulfing him in a cloud of dust. The Harkonnen enter the dust cloud, but they all reappear mortally wounded and die. The Fremen himself emerges and although seriously injured too, he run to Duncan, give the sword to him and, with no strength left to speak with, points to the sky, makes a negative motion, and finally dies.

Duncan looks up, and realises there are no vultures circling, and shouts to his men "It's a trap!".

The "dead" bodies tear off their rags revealing Harkonnen uniforms and attack the outnumbered Atreides.

More Fremen appear from the desert and release birds of prey who peck at the eyes of the Harkonnens while the Fremen finish them off.

The leader of the group of Fremen, Farok, tells Duncan that the Atreides helped their brothers, and the Fremen have now saved the Atreides lives - the debt of water has been repaid.

The Fremen depart and Duncan examines the Fremen sword, pulls it from its sheath and it surprised that it gleams and gives out a vibrating sound.

The only Moebius storyboards we have for this scene come from a tweet by one of the producers of the Jodorowsky's Dune documentary Stephen Scarlata (@xNECKx) who posted an "Interesting shot by shot storyboard comparison of Jodorowsky's Dune & Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope." https://twitter.com/xNECKx/status/488760301878128640

However it clearly shows Duncan's convoy (presumably of ambulances?) coming across a burning village filled with corpses. Sadly with only those 4 drawings it is unclear if the rest of the scene played out in a similar fashion.

In the next part we return of the Arrakeen Palace, where Jessica meets Mapes.

Continue to Part 19: Shadout Mapes