So if this was the only planet Spice was found on why was this not the most heavily fortified, guarded, and modernized...

So if this was the only planet Spice was found on why was this not the most heavily fortified, guarded, and modernized? Despite giant desert death worms why didn't an intergalactic empire not overhaul Arrakis?

>>/tv/

The books explain this. Try reading them.

The short answer is because of political reasons.

>I only watched a movie: the post

If you overhaul Arrakis, either the death worms stop you, or they die and no more spice.

Why?

Their natural environment is big fucking patches of arid sand.

They have that already.

Modernizing Arrakis would not improve output of Spice.

Now exporting worms to planets with a Sahara desert equivalent would have been a less bad idea from a purely production standpoint.

But then it would completely upset the social structure of the empire.

Three factions matter here, the Spacing Guild, The Emperor, and the Great Houses.

The Guild has a monopoly on space travel, but require the spice, which they must purchase as they don't have the ability to seize the whole thing by force. So they do their best to keep whoever controls arrakis weak so they can continue trading with the fremen for a secret supply of the spice.

The Emperor can't seize control of Arrakis without being destroyed by the Great Houses, and can only award stewardship of Arrakis to whoever he favors.

The Great Houses are always infighting, and only one can control Arrakis at a time, but cannot build a sufficient force without angering the Emperor, who has the troops to destroy any one great house easily, and can't afford the rates charged by the guild to do as they please.

So no one has a vested interest in developing Arrakis, and would all rather keep it politically unstable for personal gain.

The Guild wouldn't allow ANYTHING that put the spice at risk. Even with all the power Paul had, them bending to his threat to permanently end production is what allowed his rule.

They say in the books that they tried to transplant the worms but they don't do well outside their natural habitat.