From World War to Star Wars

From World War to Star Wars is a series of Star Wars Blog articles written by Cole Horton, inspired by his World War II and Star Wars comparison presentation at Celebration Europe II.

Articles

1. Comparing general elements of Star Wars with those of World War II.
2. Comparing the Millennium Falcon with various World War II planes, specifically the B-17 Superfortress.
3. Comparing events from World War II and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
4. Comparing submarine warfare with the events of The Clone Wars episode Cat and Mouse.
5. Comparing the pink astromech droids R2-KT and QT-KT to the pink-colored reconnaissance fighters used by the British Royal Navy.
6. Comparing the events of the hunt and destruction of the German battleship Wikipedia:Bismarck with that of the Malevolence story arc from The Clone Wars.
7. Comparing the events of the Declaration of a New Order and Palpatine's rise to power to that of Adolf Hitler's rise to power.
8. Comparing the uniforms and methods of Nazi officers to that of the Imperial officers.
9. Comparing the Wikipedia:B-17 bomber to that of the Ghost from Star Wars Rebels.
10. Comparing the Stormtroopers to their namesake German special forces.
11. Revealing how several props for the various films in the original trilogy, including the makeup of the Lars' Family Speeder, the Death Star's superlaser, items at the Mos Eisley Cantina, IG-88, Obi-Wan's lightsaber, and the Millennium Falcon were derived from the retired and dismantled World War II plane Gloster Meteor.
12. Comparing World War II-era propaganda to that used in Star Wars.
13. Comparing the Tarkintowns in Star Wars: Rebels to that of Hoovervilles during the Great Depression.
14. Comparing the various Bars, Cafes and Cantinas from World War II to those used in the Star Wars franchise.
15. Announced that the original presentation was returning for Star Wars Celebration 2015.
16. Discussing similarities between the Battle of Yavin to the turning point of the Pacific Theater on May 4, 1942, that date's influence on George Lucas and Star Wars, as well as the similarities between Return of the Jedi and the liberation of Denmark and the Netherlands from Nazi Germany on the same day of 1945, coincidentally the same date as May the 4th.
17. Comparing World War II-era dogfights and starfighter combat.
18. Discussing the similarities to World War II-era nightclubs to the Cantina from Episode IV.
19. Discussing how Erich Wolfgang Korngold's musical score inspired John Williams' score for Star Wars.
20. Discussing how several weapons from the Star Wars were derived from actual World War II-era weapons.

Sources

Notes and references