Do you think that the Storm Trooper March was based on Holst's The Planets?!
Question:
Do you think that the Storm Trooper March was based on Holst's The Planets?
Listen to Mars (the bringer of Peace) and then recall the bit that played when the Storm Troopers were marching.
Answers:
First, Mars is the bringer of War.
When Lucas approached Williams to write the music for Star Wars he had music in mind that he wanted it to sound like. Lucas would show a section of the movie with classical music playing and say I want something like that there.
A major difference between Mars and the Imperial March is that Mars is in 5/4 time and Imperial March is in 4/4 time. But does have some similar sounding parts.
If you really want to hear Star Wars music that sounds like Mars, listen to the end of Mars and then watch/listen to the music at the end of A New Hope when the Death Star is destroyed, they are almost identical.