[EVA] The Moon & Preliminary Plot

[Rachel K. Clark]

Peter Svensson wrote:

> >The MP Evas were anticipated before the "retcons"; they were just put by 
> >the wayside in EoTV, like so much else.. (And they are also absent in the 
> >Proposal.)
>
> The words "EVA Series" are mentioned. We only find out what that means 
> later.

They mention a little more than "Eva Series"...

*****

#07

MAN:
Oh, I have one more piece of good news. All members of the UN except the 
U.S.
have approved the budget for Eva Unit 06.
Well, it's probably just a matter of time
for the U.s. as well. That country is allergic to unemployment, after all.

IKARI:
And what about your country?

MAN (OFF):
We will participate beginning with the construction of Unit 08.
The plans for the second installation project are still viable.
However, there is the problem of not yet having found a pilot.

*****

#22

MISATO:
Construction of Evas up through Unit 13 has begun?
In seven different locations around the world?

HYUGA:
This information came via Shanghai. The source can be trusted.

MISATO:
Why are they rushing mass production at this stage?

HYUGA:
We've lost two Evas in the past and two are currently heavily damaged.
Perhaps they're rushing to reinforce our reserves
with an eye towards the secondary preparations.

MISATO:
I don't know.
Even here, we're getting Germany to give us parts
from Unit 05 and 06 that are being built there.
There seems to be a lot of money changing hands lately.

HYUGA:
Our budget was doubled since we came here after all.
Do you suppose that just shows how desperate the higher-ups are?

MISATO:
I sense a certain impatience on the part of the Committee.

HYUGA:
Then are they anticipating a case where not single,
but multiple Angels are deployed against us at once?

MISATO:
Maybe, but there's no reason to do it unofficially.
They must have some other objective in mind.

*****

#23

MAN E:
Eight Evangelions are already being prepared.

MAN F:
Which leaves four more.

KEEL:
The annihilation of New Tokyo-3 will be good material
upon which to advance our plans. Hurry their completion.
That will be our promised day.

*****

>>Is there proof that this is the case, or is this just speculation?

> There is plenty of proof. <snip>

By "proof", I meant words from the staff, or behind-the-scenes material, or 
whatever. (What they refer to in certain sectors as "SAUCE".)

> Rei is associated with the Moon because she's Angelic, and the Angels come 
> from the moon.

In the Proposal, anyway, I thought only the "12 Strongest Apostolos" came 
from the Moon.

In the show, Rei is identified with the Moon, but nobody else is.

> Yes, Rei is something special. But the TV series managed to be so vague 
> about what that something was that I suspect they didn't know what it 
> meant until EoE when they had to come up with something. Let's put it this 
> way, we didn't learn WHAT Rei was until Episode 26'. They managed to drag 
> out the mystery until then.

EoTV essentially abandoned the narrative, but that does not mean narrative 
details (of the sort we're discussing here) had not been considered at that 
point.

>>Also, I don't see why they would give Rei an ATF exceeding all others in 
>>its badassitude if she lacked any special qualifications. And Rei's 
>>musings (after Kaworu says "You're the same as me") don't make much sense 
>>if she is 'Angelic' (whatever that term denotes) and nothing more.
>
> Kaworu wasn't the avatar of Adam in TV 24. His being such was revealed 
> after the fact. It's a clumsy retcon.

I think Adam/Lilith Kaworu/Rei is a rather elegant and appropriate dynamic, 
myself.

Also, you didn't directly address my points.

> Kaworu's antecedent in the preliminary plot was just another angel.

And Adam vaporized the Dead Sea instead of Antarctica (to name one thing off 
the top of my head).

A preliminary is a preliminary.

> We don't get any information in the TV series that would contradict a "The 
> Angels were born on the moon!" theory.

There isn't anything that really supports it, either.

> We just got that they were composed of a special hand-wavey material that 
> mimics human DNA, and are born of Adam and wish to reunite with him but 
> get confused by Lillith.

Regarding the latter, I don't think it's so straightforward. (To the point 
where no amount of fanwankery can save it.)

> Basically, I'm arguing that Gainax was making up a good chunk of the EVA 
> mythos as they went along and had to later backtrack to make their final 
> ideas work.

Given the circumstances under which the final stretch of the show was 
produced, I can't fault them for going back and "touching up".

-Reichu