Gerry Anderson influences in Hideaki Anno's Evangelion

[@domtaylor1887]

When I saw the comparison of Tokyo-3's retractable buildings to those of Marineville, my first thought was: "Tokyo-3, man your battle stations! Anything can happen in the next half hour!"

[@elliswatanabe]

GET IN THE THUNDERBIRD SHINJI

[@mrupload4381]

I've seen twitter posts showcasing Gerry Anderson influence on Hideaki Anno. I'm glad someone put it together in a KZbin video it be easier to share it around people.

[@Dougurasufilm]

Yeah, exactly! I've seen several posts too, but nothing that really collected anything :) I hope this is somewhere near complete, but I doubt it :)

[@milkwater1204]

I wish British TV was still like this, man.

[@stevesgaming7475]

Me too. so much shit on TV now. :(

[@Jim-Tuner]

A couple others: 1) Rei Ayanami looks like Gay Ellis 2) The bad relationship between Gendo Ikari and Shinji Ikari mirrors the dark relationship between Ed Straker and his son. UFO is occasionally a very dark show and no more dark than when Straker sacrifices his son's life for his job. 3) Virginia Lake is either Naoko Akagi or Ritsuko Akagi. She looks more like Ritsuko, but fits Naoko's character better. In some ways, Evangelion is just about a sequel to UFO. The Evangelion units could be re-imagined as adaptations of captured UFO technology. The angels are the next generation of UFOs coming to Earth. After destroying his family for his job, Straker is crazy and willing to do anything to get them back. Lt. Ellis was never human. In searching for an artifact on earth, the aliens are given a plausible motive for what they do.

[@Dougurasufilm]

Hey thanks for the feedback. 1) I did look into the hair from the UFO styles, but I couldn't find any conclusive proof that either Rei Ayanami or the girl in 3.00 with the pink hair was based on Gay Ellis. In other words, I wasn't convinced this was actually a reference or inspiration. It could've been, but I just wasn't convinced enough. 2) This one I actually kind of disagree with. Straker DID love his son. I watched the episode in it's entirety to make sure I didn't miss anything, but it just didn't feel the same. I know he basically has to sacrifice his son for the cause, but he does use his power to try and save his son and he does feel incredibly responsible for his death. However... that's as far as it goes. It has a few themes that overlap, and maybe it was the spark of an idea, but I don't think it's strong enough of a connection. 3) This is the only connection I hadn't seen yet :o I'd have to look more into it, but this one seems plausible. In any case, I did see some parallels or people on the internet drawing parallels, but most of them just didn't hit home to me. Felt forced, like the first two in your list. I wanted this one to be either blatantly obvious when put next to each other or confirmed in interviews. But it must be clear that UFO was a huge influence to Hideaki Anno, probably in more ways than what we described :)

[@juanjunior10]

Nah, it's more like UFO had a mega crossover with the first Ultraman series.

[@obliviify]

UFO looks so groovy baby.

[@radishesonmars9309]

I love how people look so much into NGE and its supposed deep symbolism but like in the end it was created by a bunch of nerds who wanted to reference everything they loved as kids. You could do a whole other video about how Anno references Space Battleship Yamoto in everything or how Steven Universe references the early Gainax work.

[@Dougurasufilm]

Absolutely true! I do like however, that the references aren't over the top obvious and usually serve a purpose. In Eva it all feels so seamless and usually it's an idea taken and expanded upon. It's absolutely nerdy, but it's also highly impressive still.

[@radishesonmars9309]

Dougurasufilm really good video series called “Everything is Remix” about how all human advancement and creativity is born from rearranging and expanding upon the things that came before.

[@minicle426]

Heck, there are even references to Sailor Moon in the show (Rei).

[@aarond5765]

I was watching Destroy All Monsters not too long ago and was surprised to find quite a few nods to Thunderbirds, especially in the design of spaceships, launch sequences, weapons, etc.

[@minicle426]

The Ultraman series also owes quite a lot to Gerry Anderson.

[@protosaur]

Stuff like this is strangely inspiring to me

[@Dougurasufilm]

Yeah it means it’s okay to let things inspire you. It’s not stealing if you iterate.

[@ericmotta1]

I just started watching UFO because it inspired one of my favorite games of all time UFO Enemy Unknown and after the first episode I loved it and noticed some similarities to Evangelion specially the uniforms, flashing text and intro and to my surprise UFO also inspired my favorite thing ever, Evangelion. What a legendary tv show.

[@diosrightcalfmuscle4090]

The one thing that brought me here was that one of the battle themes in Eva, EM20, sounds soooo Barry Gray. The horns and the high, piercing strings really make it.

[@Dougurasufilm]

Hmm, maybe... I don't feel it quite as much. I feel it way more with EVA-01's theme from the original show. A bit of a march like the Thunderbirds march. But maybe you're hearing things I don't hear :b

[@zokya6822]

That is really interesting.

[@ElleRoni]

Hideaki Anno does remember love (of film and sci-fi)

[@Kardlonoc]

Damn nice work. I would have never known this connection.

[@Dougurasufilm]

Thank you!

[@DiamandaHagan]

A Stracker Angle's Thesis.

[@drewdederer8965]

You left out a couple of notable ones. One, Col. Foster was the basis for Kaji (they said as much in the thin "Newtype" summary books. You also left out the funky colored wigs in UFO (when one of the new Bridge Crew has THAT style (in pink) in movie 3.00.

[@lbsc1201]

Plus the uniform simliarites, Gendo's character, and the similar structure of NERV/SHADO and the Human Instrumentality Commitee/International Astrophysical Commission. Keel Lorenz was also more heavily based on James Henderson in the original pitch.

[@Dougurasufilm]

Ahhh Col Foster I could probably add... the pink wig thing, but I kinda felt it was tenuous. The colors don’t really match. The SHADO and committee links are also interesting... maybe I should make a version 2 of this video :b

[@Pan_Z]

Thanks for assembling this. Interesting how much directorial inspiration took from Gerry Anderson.

[@Dougurasufilm]

Pan Z no prob :D it was a fun little project :b

[@carlosrios8837]

The Shado moon base girls were probably the inspiration for the "bridge bunny" troope, Mobile Suit Gundam's Degwin Zabi and Super Dimension Fortress Macross' Bodolza look like The Hood. In Super Dimension Fortress Macross Misa Hayase has a hairstyle similar to that of the Shado moonbase girls. Rei Ayanami looks like a love child of Ed Straker and Gay Ellis.

[@kikiash2425]

As a massive Evangelion fan this almost makes me wanna watch some of the shows listed (UFO in particular) if only I could find a way to watch it without paying lmao

[@Dougurasufilm]

It's on dailymotion but don't tell anyone I said that ;)

[@line4169]

@@Dougurasufilm I heard ya'

[@ArilandoArilando]

Just torrent lmao

[@fokkusuh4425]

2020s and people still pay for basically free media

[@imfsresidentotaku9699]

A couple of scenarios from Evangelion feel like something out Thunderbirds, namely Jet Alone and Magma Diver. Other Gerry Anderson shows not mentioned here include Supercar, Fireball XL5, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (possible inspiration for Misato?), Joe 90, and The Secret Service, and if you really want to go back to before Gerry did science fiction, there's The Adventures of Twizzle, Torchy the Battery Boy, and Four Feather Falls. Should you wish to watch any of Anderson's shows, they're readily available on KZbin. Enjoy!

[@emilystewart6175]

A fantastic video. Tbh the only homage I think is missing is the episode where there's the nuclear robot that they have to disable before there's a huge nuclear explosion. It always reminded me of the ending of The Mighty Atom since both endings involve the characters having to hand move a set of rods in order to disarm the explosion.

[@Dougurasufilm]

Emily Stewart Oh yeahhhh! I should do an update :b

[@DT-od3hd]

@@Dougurasufilm Far as I can tell Eva Episode 7 was lifted almost wholesale from the Thunderbirds ep Path of Destruction, but we still love it folks.

[@Dougurasufilm]

@@DT-od3hd That's not even that farfetched! :o Nice, I like it :D

[@binnieb20]

I think another thing I'd like to point out is that Mike Trim, who was one of the Thunderbirds vehicle designers, also worked on Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds on the Tripods. There is a song in Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds called "The Spirit Of Man" where a Priest believes that the Tripods are Demons. Sounds familiar in some ways, except in Evangelion they were real Angels.

[@dkzVirtual]

I never thought that Anno would be that inspired so much by the works of Gendy Anderson. But I rebember seeing the car of lady Penelope at the end of Otaku no Video.

[@BohbearonYT]

Being a big Thunderbirds fan as a kid, I missed out on UFO till way later, but I was floored seeing all this and never making the connection! Great work!

[@Dougurasufilm]

Thanks :D I loved doing it :D

[@ontheedge33371]

The sound track in season 1 episode 3 of space 1999 is almost the same in Gundam December Sky or Thunderbolt 🤷🏻‍♂️ and I am here because I noticed the space shuttles are same in space 1999 and Evangelion ! Fascinating 🧐

[@Dougurasufilm]

Haha, Gundam wasn't made by Hideaki Anno though, so it doesn't qualify for being in this video ;)

[@ryanvandalinda12345]

I'm a longtime EVA fan and this is the first I've had this is the first time I've been made aware of the clear influence of Gerry Anderson's work on the franchise. Well done.

[@Dougurasufilm]

No prob :D

[@limetwistanimations8628]

Bring it full circle; Bring back UFO as an anime.

[@minicle426]

Well it's coming back as an audio.

[@Markkzilla]

Not surprised, There is so many influences and thorns Anno referenced or straight took from other stuff. Since I’m also a massive Tokusatsu fan as well as anime fan I definitely notice those for sure.

[@Dougurasufilm]

I love seeing where Anno took his inspiration from. I love how he takes elements and twists them to both fit his story and to make them more interesting :D

[@Kea_172]

Great vid, I'm impressed how well Barry Gray's music fits Eva

[@qm230]

Found this linked on discord, didn't know about this stuff at all. Really cool.

[@itskevinjustkevin]

All roads lead to the UK 0:53 need to know the name of that sound track

[@Dougurasufilm]

That's oversimplifying a lot and making the UK more important than it is imho. I just happen to be a fan of both Evangelion and Gerry Anderson's body of work, so I like to make connections there, especially ones that have been documented or are extremely likely influences. But for example other examples from influences that Hideaki Anno had is the Andromeda Strain, which is an American movie based on an American book. Or some of the music has quite obvious influences from Koyaanisqatsi, which is an American film and the music made for that is by Philip Glass whose family were Latvian and Russian-Jewish emigrants. Clearly not all roads lead to the UK :o

[@minicle426]

​@@Dougurasufilm Well no. There's a sea in the way after all. :P

[@jonahi1304]

@@Dougurasufilm just for fun you can make most "roads lead to the UK". I guess Chrichton said he was inspired to write Andromeda Strain by A british book "The IPCRESS File" by Len Deighton. For Phillip Glass best I have is his family probably had to go through one of England's ports to get to America

[@Dougurasufilm]

@@jonahi1304 Yes, just for fun let's put the UK in an undeserved spot of attention. Look I'm not anti-UK, and I think a lot of good stuff comes from the UK. But to say "all roads lead to the UK" leads you down an awful road of awful history and a dismissal of other cultures and artists. It's a fun throwaway little thing to say, but it crumbles at the tiniest bit of scrutiny.

[@jonahi1304]

@@Dougurasufilm alright dude. again i did it just for fun. If it helps you "All roads lead to UK" doesn't necessarily mean all good things you can say both positive and negative. which makes sense a lot is tied to Britain/U.K. as it was one of the largest empire's. I don't really care what the first guy was saying it for again its just fun for me.

[@ruaraidhwilliams8631]

As a big fan of Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds, recently watching the Evangelion Rebuild I knew there was something similar in its feel and essence - it was Shiro Sagisu’s Eva soundtrack that first made me think of Barry Gray and that there may be a connection between the two! Both two amazing shows in their own rights .

[@thelegolegend1]

I just started evangelion and immediately felt nostalgia when Shinji gets put into EVA 1. Guess I was not the only one who grew up on thunderbirds etc and found the resemblance.

[@CAL1MBO]

@VikVaughnMISClol

[@ListerDavid]

This was bloody brilliant, I was just explaining to my eldest how a lot of anima has hints and nods to the worlds of Gerry and Silva. Top work, SIG.

[@Druffmaul]

This is amazing. I was so into Space 1999 as a little kid in the 1970s, and I've been a huge Eva fan since 1997, but I never had any idea there was any connection whatsoever.

[@Dougurasufilm]

This is why I liked making this! Sometimes people see a lot of things as reference that aren't quite, but this one is TOTALLY confirmed and everyone should know about it! :D

[@NoddyTron]

And you're forgetting the most obvious one! Fly Me To the Moon on the end credits. Gerry Anderson always used croony 60s tunes on his end titles and it influences dozens of animes to this day.

[@Dougurasufilm]

Hmmm.... not sure I count that one... Fly Me To The Moon isn't exactly "I Wish I Was A Spaceman". And it's also not exclusively made for that show, when all of Gerry Anderson's songs were. Nah, I feel it's too unsubstantiated, honestly.

[@NoddyTron]

@@Dougurasufilm Fair enough, but the first time I watched it in the late 90s the credits immediately stood out to me as inspired by Anderson, and that was long before I knew what Eva was or who made it and that there were other Anderson references in the work. As for it not being an original track, I think that would have been a budget issue; spending money to commission an original 60s sounding track would have been a real extravagance - we all know the budget problem romours surrounding this show. I think they would have been more than happy just having anything as long as it was in English and had the right sort of vibe. I mean lets be honest, Fly Me To The Moon, lyrically at least, is a very similar sentiment to I Wish I Was a Spaceman. And it's got the same sort of meloncholic 60s vibe as Aqua Marina :). Anyway, unsubstantiated it is, but I still think it's the most obvious Anderson homage.

[@Dougurasufilm]

@@NoddyTron Hmmm, I don't quite agree with the budget issue, though... Fly Me To The Moon is not a cheap song I think, and besides they sung over 30 versions of this song :ooo If there was ever a budget issue in the ending theme department we would've just had the same one every time, but we don't :o So would it have been easier to make their own song? I mean they did it with End of Evangelion too... I won't deny your immediate instinct that it was inspired by Anderson though, maybe it's a collection of reasons they did the ending song like they did and the Anderons similarity was one of them c:

[@internetrules8522]

came here from recent digibro video, really liked this one, good compilation showing EVAs influences, does a good job at making me interested in everything shown as well.

[@Dougurasufilm]

Thanks! I saw my video in the background and I kinda flipped :o And then he even started talking about it and linking it :D Pretty psyched about this XD Thanks for liking :D

[@freakofnature96]

Love this video! Grew up as a huge Anderson fan and my first anime was Evangelion so it was meant to be! Nearly finished Anno's previous series, Nadia & The Secret Of Blue Water, that's ripe with Anderson references too! Heck there's a shot for shot Thunderbird 2 launch sequence and the New Nautilus is inspired heavily by Thunderbird 1! All that's missing is some Barry Gray music!

Excellent edit. Well done. My gratitide for making and sharing.

[@Dougurasufilm]

No prob :D

[@gmosphere]

In the island arc of "Nadia :Secret of Blue Water" there is a straight up parody Thunderbird 2's launch sequence.

[@Dougurasufilm]

Are you for real?!! What episode is that? :o

[@gmosphere]

@@Dougurasufilm episode 25

[@Dougurasufilm]

@@gmosphere Ah it turns out it's episode 26! But nice find!! I had no idea. Now what XD A big thing I missed for this video :b

[@kazyrou3063]

This deserves more views man

[@gatrizi]

Wow your editing skills are incredibile. Good job

[@Dougurasufilm]

Thank you :D

[@arch9enius]

0:57 That's not Peter Cushing? UPDATE: :p Now (as of 5 minutes later ) I'm of the opinion it's Peter Capaldi, impossibly. Thr briefcase is a dead giveaway , though .

[@zacktrever1878]

I figured it out on my own today randomly browsing older shows I watched as a kid (nightrider, 6 million dollar man, get smart, etc.) Saw Ufo (never seen show), was curious, watched and my synapses sparked up. Made association of UFO and Evangelion Only to find this video the very same day (saw a comment after watching show that spoke about the same direct influence I pondered - confirmed after a yt search and stumbling onto this vid) Lol Edit: After watching UFO intro - I went on the weird tangent that lead me to the anime-70s show comparison and *this video* (Jumpcuts to black with white writings and Earth Defense against 👽 gave me the association of UFO and Evangelion) Didn't know Thunderbirds were also one of the influencers of evangelion (Had the toy collection as a kid -- piolet's 2-4 - green red and yellow ships --- the green ship was my fav) Didn't watch newer evangelions, or I would of recognized the ships direct association between shows

[@chevy-is-a-good-boy]

As they say, nothing exists in a vacuum. Great job here!

[@tanujbirdi7812]

Hideaki Anno Influences- Hayao Miyazaki, Gerry Anderson and Eiji Tsuburaya

[@minicle426]

Noticably the second opening of 'Big O' is near identical to UFO's.

[@sarabarra]

Thank you so much for making this!

[@mytimetravellingdog]

This is incredible!!

[@MrBattlestar10]

giant robo is a huge influence as well

[@FearsomeWarrior]

Awesome. Thank you.

[@drifter402]

I would love to see Annos thunderbirds documentary

[@Dougurasufilm]

Me too o.o I have not found it yet :o

[@mechajay3358]

Truly Epic

[@lafleur9277]

I loved this!!

[@GeneralOlde]

A lot of the more ignorant western anime fans view Evangelion as being influenced by Gundam and super robot anime. I’m glad to see videos like this dispelling those notions.

[@Dougurasufilm]

Well, to be fair, it's not mutually exclusive :o But Anno seems to pretty definitively be influenced by these shows.

[@line4169]

He is also influenced by 2001 a space Odyssey...

[@minicle426]

Ultraman and Godzilla were big influences as well.

[@Xesthan]

Ideon's movie "Be Invoked" was a pretty big inspiration for End of Evangelion.

[@mobius273]

​@Xesthan is that the one where the robot destroys the universe at the end

[@LukSter18998]

i love akagis voice

[@juanjunior10]

You should do one with Ultraman's Akio Jissoji's directed episodes

[@Dougurasufilm]

I really don't know enough about that to do that on o.o But don't let me stop you from doing it :D

[@walljos314]

If you watch the opening theme and snippets from UFO show (1970) at kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6GpZ6JoYtOraqs, the spaceships used resemble entry plugs.

[@Dougurasufilm]

They do a bit... but it feels teneous :o

[@moisesmaciel5123]

Isso me fez me interessar por esses filmes

[@Dougurasufilm]

Haha legal! Mas eles não são super bons, se estou sendo honesto. (google translate)

[@leonardotavaresdardenne9955]

@@Dougurasufilm Jesus Christ google translate is super accurate, it actually amazes me But yeah these 70s Gerry Anderson shows are super campy and should be watched with that in mind. I was raised with Star Trek TOS so I can handle camp quite wel l :D

[@auliamosha9492]

I never knew this 😍

[@tanujbirdi7812]

0:50 what is the name of the song?

[@Dougurasufilm]

It's from The Spectrum Strikes Back Suite on the old 2003 Silva Screen Captain Scarlet soundtrack.

[@Spyderist]

Good video

[@MisterHeroman]

oh no no evabros what the fuck do we do now???

[@kiryusannagi5171]

This is much better comparison than Popular Christian/Bible Imagery

[@Dougurasufilm]

Hey, don't curse in my chruch. In here we pray to the mighty Gerry Anderson, we chant Stingray Stingray, drink Pernod (the blood of the holy Sylvia), and eat wafers in the shape of Thunderbirds.

[@kiryusannagi5171]

@@Dougurasufilm i dont curse

[@Dougurasufilm]

@@kiryusannagi5171 it was a joke :b

[@kiryusannagi5171]

@@Dougurasufilm I know chill

[@lillieiliff3639]

Gerry and Sylvia Anderson !!! Get it right ! Call yourself a fan lol try reading my fab years by Sylvia Anderson fir the true facts

[@Dougurasufilm]

Call myself a fan? You have seen my work right? XD Don't think I need to prove that I'm a fan, that speaks for itself. But yes, you are right. Sylvia Anderson also had a big and probably even equal share. But as it says on the Century 21 logo... "A Gerry Anderson Production". That's what I went with, since all of the shows are known for that and labelled that. However, I will absolutely make a note of this in the description, because what you said about Sylvia having a far bigger role than she has been credited for is undeniable. I cannot change the video itself anymore. though, of course.

[@1stgearfrag]

Finally, a video I can post this too and have it make sense. kzbin.info/www/bejne/m6OTfYuhbp2AfpI

[@Dougurasufilm]

Oh absolutely!!

[@DanTheMan2150AD]

Jesus, the man wasn’t even subtle about how much he appropriated. I’d forgive it if Eva was any good but that’s a hard no. At least Anno and Higuchi have gone on to make far better productions and their influences haven’t dissuaded them from that.

[@Dougurasufilm]

I mean obviously I disagree vehemently with your statement on if Eva was any good, but at least I can see that you got something out of this video XD

[@johjoh4571]

evangelion has an opening song that's 100x better than what it deserves. i'm not taking it back, either.

[@joshshrum2764]

joh joh Evangelion is way better then it really deserves to be general.

[@minicle426]

​@@joshshrum2764It could have been way better then what it ended up being. :P

[@iamthestormthatisapproaching69]

Man ano is cultured af