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The concept of a city covering an entire planet is not entirely new. The planet Trantor in Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels is probably the first fictional planet to be totally urbanized, but it was not the last. Indeed, one of the draft names of Coruscant was "Jhantor", in homage to Asimov's work. Trantor was entirely covered in city except for 100 square kilometers devoted to the gardens of the Imperial Palace; the same is stated to be true of Coruscant in Shadows of the Empire.

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While he was completing his final touches on American Graffiti in February 1973, Lucas started sketching rough ideas for his film. He wrote every morning, and spent his afternoons and evenings researching fairy tales, mythology and the writings of Joseph Campbell (in particular, The Hero With a Thousand Faces) and Carlos Castaneda notably Tales of Power). He also consumed every work of science fiction, from the classics of the genre by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Alex Raymond to the more contemporary tales of Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, E.E. "Doc" Smith, and Arthur C. Clarke. But George knew that he was much more of a conceptualist than a writer, and admitted to having great difficulty getting his ideas down on paper. He was still struggling with those ideas when he first met Ralph McQuarrie, an illustrator for Boeing Aircraft who had also worked for NASA, and asked him for suggestions how to visualize his concepts for the screen.


When his first $10,000 check from 20th Century-Fox arrived in September 1973, George was hard at work on a script. "I was fascinated by the futuristic society, the idea of rocket ships and lasers up against somebody
with a stick," he later commented, but he still had problems fleshing out the characters. Lucas looked everywhere for ideas for Star Wars and borrowed very liberally from his sources. The major influence on his writing was Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon serials. Light bridges, cloud cities, space swords, blasters, video screens, medieval costumes and aerial battles were all lifted from the crude serials of the thirties. From Asimov's Foundation trilogy, he incorporated ideas dealing with political intrigue on a galactic level; from Frank Herbert's Dune, notions of rare spices (ultimately dropped), galactic traders and spacing guilds and a desert planet; from Edgar Rice Burroughs's John Carter of Mars, banthas and huge flying birds (also discarded); from E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman saga came his notions about the Jedi knights and the Force. He also borrowed ideas from his own THX 1138, including the robot policeman (who became stormtroopers) and the underground dwellers (Jawas). Star Wars would be derivative of every great science fiction theme and yet, at the same time, would remain completely original.

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Originally posted by Sol System:
I'm surprised Lucas had time to make Star Wars while "consuming every work of science fiction." I suppose prior to making Raiders of the Lost Ark he read every commentary on the Torah ever written, and for Willow he founded an offshoot of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn to better learn about magic.

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The news through CORUSCANT immediately flew;
When PALPATINE pretended to give himself Airs
"If these rebels are suffer'd their Scheme to persue,
"Lord Vader a Daughter may spy above the Stairs.
"Hark, already they cry,
"In transports of Joy,
"Away to the Sons of ALDERAAN we'll fly,
"And there, with good Fellows, we'll learn to entwine
"Midichlorians of LEIA with MON MOTHMA'S Spine.

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