When I saw the subject line about Valerian adaptation, I was hoping that Luc Besson would be spearheading the effort to genetically modify Nederlanders to live on a heavy gravity world like Valeria. We know from the future histories of E. E. "Doc" Smith that these Valerians will be literal supermen with incredible speed, agility, and strength who will be extremely useful in the struggle against Boskone, and they would make "Leon" look like a toddler trying to compete in the Olympics - which is why I presumed Besson would be interested in this project.

For some reason, this is the best link I could find that referenced the Valerians.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/08/possible_habitable_planet_closeby/

One would think that a race of supermen described by one of the early masters of science fiction (whose fiction was influential on the creator of the Superman character) would get a little love.