I do not know how much material George Lucas consciously stole from Herbert's masterpiece of science fiction, but it seems like a lot.
'Dune' a.k.a. 'Arrakis', is a desert planet.
"Hey! So is Tattooine!"
Paul Atreides has some special powers.
"Hey! So does Luke Skywalker!"
Both Dune and Star Wars involves a princess.
Shall I continue?
Dune was first published in 1965, but Star Wars came out in 1977,
Dune has an Emperor, and so does Star Wars.
Being a sci-fi geek, and into Star Trek, I would imagine that George Lucas would have read Dune, but I can't be sure.
Dune has mammoth sandworms, and 'Empire Strikes Back' has a mammoth worm living in an asteroid, which makes no sense. How can a worm live there with no air?
The other thing I keep thinking about is, "Hey! Lord of The Rings has a little green guy, and so does Star Wars!"
Last but not least, "Hey! Flash Gordon has scrolling type in perspective and so does Star Wars!" ( I'm not kidding. It's true. Go watch Flash Gordon on youtube. You'll even see electricity out of robot's hands. )
