The Big O (TV)

The opening theme "Big-O!" by Rui Nagai is heavily inspired by Queen's "Flash!" from the 1980 film Flash Gordon.

Episode 26, "The Show Must Go On," is named after the Queen song from the 1991 CD Innuendo - the band's last studio album before lead vocalist Freddie Mercury died of AIDS that same year.

One of the background songs, originally written by Barry Gray, was previously used as the opening theme and background music for Gerry Anderson's "U.F.O.", a live-action science fiction series about mysterious green skinned aliens attacking Earth in spinning flying saucers, and the secret organization that uses advanced weapons to defend against them. The show sometimes delved into deeper subjects than the usual SF space war series, such as the nature of being human, the meaning of memory, and the callous disregard required for war. The leader Straker, who poses as a movie studio executive, has personality much like Roger Smith. The lunar defense base is helmed by women in tight silver costumes and identical purplish wigs, and bear more than a passing resemblance to R. Dorothy (the men of the moon base appear as themselves sans the dehumanizing costume.) There are, as far as I can remember, no giant robots in "U.F.O." although there was one sea monster. The soundtrack album for "U.F.O." was produced in limited edition for the members of the web site UFOSeries.com and also independantly in Japan, from which the piece for "The Big O" may have derived.

The robot designs were derived from a combination of elements from Mobile Suit Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion. The Gundam elements are the rigidity and "workability;" while the Evangelion elements are the flexibility and fantasy design style.

Throughout the series, a red balloon indicates the presence of a member of the Union.

The opening credits with a "radioactive liquid" background with black silhouettes is based on the opening credits of the Japanese sci-fi TV classic, ”Ultra Seven” (1967).

This show came into existence after model designs of mecha action figures for a proposed toyline were made.

According to Chiaki Konaka, R. Dorothy was originally going to be more robotic than she was presented on the show.

The idea for the show was in development for two years.

Kazuyoshi Katayama stated his favorite episode was episode 10.

Chiaki Konaka stated his favorite episode was episode 7.

Mitsuru Miyamoto stated his favorite episode is episode 6.

Chiaki Konaka spent one year writing the plot for Season 2.

In episode 7, Roger Smith wears a tan jacket, bluish-black undershirt, and black slacks and shoes outfit that looks very much like the same combination for Terry McGuiness' usual outfit from Batman Beyond.

In episode 11, it is revealed that Dorothy’s dress size is a size 3.

In episode 18, Beck the Great RX3 is an homage to classic super robots of the 1970s. The scene where Beck launches his car through a ramp is a nod to Kazuya Ryuuzaki's Tryper 75S in Tōshō Daimos while the docking sequence references the Hover Pileder and Brain Condor of Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger, respectively.