Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Luc Besson's Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is out on DVD and Blu-Ray this week, so we're exploring the film's connections to Star Wars on this week's Force Material podcast!

Much has been made of the debt that Star Wars supposedly owes to writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières' Valerian and Laureline, which ran in French comics magazine Pilote from 1967 to 2010.

Christin and Mézières have both been vocal about the influence they believe their work had on George Lucas' saga, as has director Luc Besson, who brought the long-running sci-fi strip to the silver screen earlier this year.

George Lucas, on the other hand, has never acknowledged Valerian as an inspiration for Star Wars.

This week on the Force Material podcast, we attempt to weigh up the evidence and determine what impact Valerian really had on Star Wars! 

We also share our thoughts on Besson's film, and grapple with the question nobody can answer — why does Hollywood keep trying to make Dane DeHaan happen? 

For a visual comparison between the Valerian comics and the Star Wars films, check out Six ways Valerian (might have) influenced Star Wars.