What's interesting is I apparently know more about Dune than I
  thought because nearly everything you said I recognize.* I don't
  have a complete "all in one" picture of Dune yet I had a
  surprising amount of memories of it. It's possible I did watch
  enough to absorb it, or perhaps my enthusiastic friends talking
  about it sunk in - I'm not sure. It's weird; I can have a long,
  full fledged conversation about Hunger Games, even though I
  never read it because I've absorbed enough of it from people and
  images.* Same with Lord of the Rings; I've only ever read the
  Hobbit and saw the first movie, but I know the whole story as if
  I'd experienced all of it. I could name many others; I usually
  just say, "Yes" and I never have a problem and always learn
  more. With Dune I wasn't so sure I could do that.* Maybe I
  could.* Not sure though. I think it stems back to a friend I had
  when I was 17 and he was 14.* He had just experienced Dune and
  ... well... it was his one topic.* We used to talk about other
  things.* But he kept pressuring me to watch it.* [it was a level
  beyond fandom]* So I think that's what stuck with me.* I should
  get over that hurdle and just go through it. I had the same
  experience with Discworld.* A friend who was more than fandom.*
  There's a few other series' that I kinda avoided like that. Yet,
  fandom I'm ok with.* I'm not sure what the level-past would be
  though. In any case, I need to add it to my bucket-list and
  hopefully get to it before then.