At his own panel at SacAnime 2019, January 4, Dragon Ball voice actor Seán Schemmel told the fans about his favorite movies. One was Star Wars.
“I’m an original Star Wars fan. Like, here’s the cool thing. I’m much older than everybody in here. So, the cool thing is, is just like you guys have that moment when you saw the first Dragon Ball movie in the theater, or you’re going to see the movie (Dragon Ball Super: Broly) next week, and Akira Toriyama hasn’t pulled a George Lucas and screwed everything up yet, because he’s Akira Toriyama and he’s hopefully not going to do that.
“I had that moment in 1977, when it was the first time I saw Star Wars (May 25, I think was when it was), and I’m in the theater. I had seen ads on TV, my first thought was, “Holy —-, how’d they shoot that in space?” I was nine years old in ’77. The second part was like—you guys don’t understand, with the internet and with modern new moviemaking, up until 1977, there was a giant black hole of nothing for that kind of movie, Star Wars-type awesome action-based movie with cool —- in it. Like you have 2001 for adults, and a bunch of —-y stuff. So when we saw Star Wars it was like, [angelic] Aaaaaaaahhhh. “Oh, my God, I can’t believe this world exists.” And you’re crying. It was amazing. You’re nine years old and everything cool you ever wanted to see in a movie was there, right? I guess the closest thing for you guys would be like a Dragon Ball movie. I can’t imagine ‘cause I’m not your guys’ age. So (I don’t know where I’m going with this.)
“Star Wars would be a good one. Sadly, the franchise has completely lost me. I have no interest in it any more. I used to have a Jedi coat on my wall. I was hard core. And it’s gotten so ruined for me. You know what I mean? It just doesn’t—even with the new movies. Look, I love J.J. Abrams … he’s great, but at the same time, I was watching it, going, “This is not—I don’t think that magic will ever be, in the Star Wars universe, recaptured. And if it does, it will be an amazing feat. I’ve seen all the new movies. They’re good. They just don’t have, for me, that magic … “
