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Throughout the years ever sinceStar war ' original release , especially after the 2017 release of thesci - fi epicValerian and the City of a Thousand Planets , critic and historians have wondered about the influence of the french comicValérian and Laurelineon theStar Warsfranchise . Things certainly count standardized , but is it that clear - cut ? There are slews of arguments : for instance , all of sci - fi is essentially base on the work of a few influential authors ( think Wells , Asimov , etc . ) ; but then again , that does n’t mean you could just simulate / spread stuff from another author .
Moff Tarkin
In 1977’sStar Wars , Grand Moff Tarkin , commander of the Death Star , is played by role player Peter Cushing . Oddly enough , the actor bears a outstanding resemblance to the Ambassador in the 1975ValérianvolumeAmbassador of the Shadows .
Of all these good example , this one is plausibly the one most potential to be a coincidence ; still , the distinctive resemblance between the two characters should not be dissolve instantly .
Cantina
The Moss Eisley Cantina is one of the Star Wars world ’s key positioning , as well as one of its most democratic . While its overall layout was most likely based on substantial - life cantinas , there ’s no denying the fact that an exotic bar with a sure semblance of sameness come out on the pages ofValérian .
At the very least , theValérianart seems to have been an aspiration , given both the similar atmosphere and the standardized alien .
Cloud City
The image on the leftfield , of course , add up fromValérian ; the image on the right is Cloud City , a floating urban center located on the gun planet Bespin inThe Empire Strikes Back . The ocular similarities here seem almost to heavy to disregard .
indisputable , the idea of a float metropolis has been proposed by numerous sci - fi titans throughout the years , perhaps even as far back as the 17th one C , but again the overall design just seem so similar in terms of sculpting and aesthetic .
Clone Army
There ’s a niggling controversy around this one . A Clone Army storyline appear in the 1977ValérianvolumeOn the False world . This might not intend anything ; after all , 1977’sStar Warsmentions the " clone war " , meaning that at the very least the origination of Clones into the Star Wars mythos was an estimation not forthwith convey from the pages ofValérian . As point out byForce Material , however , give that 2002’sAttack of the Cloneswas the first piece of Star Wars canyon to full nose dive into the story of the Clone Wars , ideas could have been recycle fromValérianfor by and by usage .
Millenium Falcon
sleep together for its sleek , " cool " appearing , the Millennium Falcon has long been recognized as one of the greatest spaceships in sci - fi history . However , as pointed out byKitbashed , it might owe something to the XB982 , a ship with like size , human body , and morphologic detail that was used by Valérian in 1971’sThe Empire of a Thousand Planets .
Admittedly , however , it ’s a little far - fetched to assume the artists forStar Warsjust tore a page out ofValérian and Laureline , peculiarly considering themultipledesign stages that the Millennium Falcon go bad through before get in at its terminal pattern .
Watto
This may be the first claim of aValérian - Star Warsconnection where there ’s actually some existent - earth evidence - however unimportant - to back up the claim with . The animate being on the left hand is hump as a Shingouz ; they first seem inValerian ’s 1975 publicationAmbassador of the Shadows . The creature on the right hand is Watto , a Toydarian merchandiser who appear in the first two picture of theStar Warsprequel trilogy ; he ’s known for his power to resist the Force .
Jean - Claude Mézières , the creative person forValérian and Laureline , has claimed multiple times that Watto ’s decorator , Doug Chiang , was the gallant proprietor of severalValérianalbums ; and given the similarities between the two characters , that ’s not too absurd a call to make .
Familiar Planets
AsPopular Mechanicswas flying to know , 1971’sEmpire of a Thousand Planetsfeatures a desert planet known as Syrte , home to alien traveler , scores of marketplaces , and , interestingly , two sun .
If you ’re even the least bit interested in Star Wars lore , you should recognize this as a penny-pinching - carbon - copy of Tatooine - except , as we ’ve stated time and time again , Valérianwas first .
Darth Vader
The creature shown on the left hand appear in 1971’sEmpire of a Thousand Planetsas a phallus of a cult - like group hump as the Enlightened . Unmasked , his face is scarred and burned with few features , likewise to Darth Vader ’s in 1983’sReturn of the Jedi .
And while the grapheme are clearly very dissimilar , even their helmets are somewhat like in that , as pointed out by YouTube channelThe Film Theorists , both are inspired by Samurai armour .
Slave Leia
In 1980’sThe Empire Strikes Back , Leia Organais enslaved by a morbidly obese rule ( Jabba the Hutt ) , and forced to wear a revealing slave - girl rig . conceive it or not , almost the exact same affair happens to Laureline in the 1972ValérianvolumeWorld Without Stars ; although , in this character , the overweight sovereign is Emperor Alzafar , who govern the metropolis of Valsennar and has initiate a arrangement where women are basically creditworthy for everything , including fight in war .
The two outfits do have a striking similarity to each other , although Industrial Light & Magic costume designer Aggie Rodgers summon the employment of phantasy creative person Frank Frazetta as her main inspiration .
Carbonite
In the 1971Valérian and LaurelinecompliationEmpire of a Thousand Planets , Valérian is frozen is a substance that carry an uncanny resemblance to Carbonite , the sum Han Solo was frozen in nearly a X later on in 1980’sThe Empire Strikes Back . As target out , again , by The Film Theorists , Valérian ’s retentiveness loss while icy lucifer up a known symptom ofCarbonite illness .
at long last , whether all these similarities are a coincidence or not , both franchises put in many new ideas to the sci - fi genre , and both drew a lot from old sci - fi make as well .
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