I've been rereading Dune by Frank Herbert. Here's something he wrote about where the idea for Dune came from:

"I conceived of a long novel, the whole trilogy as one book about the messianic convulsions that periodically overtake us. Demagogues, fanatics, con-game artists, the innocent and the not-so-innocent bystanders-all were to have a part in the drama. This grows from my theory that superheroes are disastrous for humankind. Even if we find a real hero (whatever-or whoever-that may be), eventually fallible mortals take over the power structure that always comes into being around such a leader."

If you like the Dune series, here is a cool site that should have almost all the information you would want to know. If you haven't read the Dune series, then you really really should.

Also, in the first movie version, there was a scene where Gurney Halleck, played by Patrick Stewart, was playing the balliset. If anyone out there knows where I can find an mp3 of that, let me know. It's not in the DVD or any of the VHS tapes, that I know of.