So, I FINALLY watched all of the Canon Star Wars material (From Phantom Menace to Tha Last Jedi, and The Clone Wars movie and show, and Rouge One; Starting the books soon), and I can safely say that Star Wars is now my second biggest fandom behind Dragon Ball. (Thank you tsarwars and triiforce for suggesting I do this)
After viewing it, I realized that there are a lot of parallels and references to the original trilogy within Dragon Ball. So, I'll share those references here as well as add some thematic similarities.
First up, we have Akira Toriyama's note after watching The Phantom Menace for the first time.
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(Text reads: STAR WARS Episode 1 Whew! It feels like forever but finally, Star Wars is back!! To say nothing of the story, the atmosphere of the world and the designs are wonderful. I am one of those who have been bitten by the bug and I am bursting with excitement. It's been a loooooooooooooong wait for the 4th movie. I'm really excited! Personally, I don't have much interest in the people in this series, so Darth Vader appearing as a child doesn't do much for me, (I'm only looking forward to Ewan McGregor). But watching the trailer, the mecha, robots, aliens and such, all have really great designs. The SFX also look considerably impressive. It's going to be really fantastic! I can't wait! – Toriyama Akira Sensei)
Then there's the time during the Red Ribbon Arc, R2 D2, an Imperial Shuttle and Luke's X-34 Landspeeder can be seen in the background.
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Then there's Cloud City and Korin's Tower and the healing chambers.
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Arale, Dr. Slump, and a policeman dressed as R2-D2, C-3PO, and a stormtrooper.
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There are a lot of other references to Star Wars like Ki (somewhat like the Force, but different), S-Cells (Midichlorians), and Yamcha and Puar (Han Solo and Chewie, but not as useful as their Star Wars counterparts).
There are also some coincidences that I feel are really cool. Like the similarity between Order 66 and Saiyan Eradication in which the "Emperor of the Galaxy" decides to eradicate a powerful group of people that may become a threat one day. Then there's the fact that each series second go around (The Prequels and GT) are seen as "trash" in comparison even though they really aren't that bad and later on get another series that is, for the most part, praised by the fandom (The Sequels and Super). Also, no matter what itteration of the series is made, a specific family has to be involved in the story (The Skywalkers and Sons).Lastly, there's Piccolo and Obi-Wan who were both enemies with the fathers (Goku and Anakin) of their greatest student (Luke and Gohan).
Now, we get to the thematic similarities between Dragon Ball and Star Wars.
Starting with Darth Vader and Prince Vegeta, we have evil fathers who work for the "Emperor of the Galaxy" against his will and eventually redeem themselves. Vader by returning to the light in Return of the Jedi and Vegeta sacrificing himself in the Majin Buu Saga.
Both Frieza and Palpatine are both emperors of massive intergalactic empires consisting of annexed and conquered planets. Both are also incredibly powerful in their own right, each rocking a unique attack, Palpatine with his Force lightning and Frieza with his death beam. The most interesting comparison of all is that both dictators caused the eradication of an entire group of warriors, Palpatine contributing to Order 66 Jedi and Frieza destroying Planet Vegeta and killing off most of the Saiyan race.
Now, the Cell Saga is a mixture of a reference to Star Wars and Terminator (more so Terminator with hints of Star Wars). The Cell Saga and the Goku Black Saga have the main theme of "hope" throughout them like the Original Trilogy of Star Wars.
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Combine that with fact that there's always a reoccurring theme of the relationship between fathers and their children. Goku and Gohan and Goten, Anakin and Luke and Leia, Vegeta and Trunks and Bra, Han and Kylo, Anakin not having a father, and Goku not knowing his father.
These are some of the main things I saw these two series have in common. Anyways, what's your opinion on Star Wars? Dragon Ball? Do you like the Sequels/Prequels? Super/GT? Did you see any other similarities between the two?
