Influence on The Nightmare Before Christmas

As a huge lover of stop-motion and an animator myself, I don't know how it is that I never saw this one until today.

Anyway, I knew that the Rankin Bass specials were one of the main inspirations for The Nightmare Before Christmas, but it really struck me how many elements of that film seem to have been evolved directly from this. If you watch with this in mind there are all sorts of little details that will pop out at you, like the little gremlins leap-frogging over each other similarly to Lock Stock and Barrel, certain shared motifs like the aerial shootout, use of black and white in Dr. Frankenstein's lab... so many. But the most pronounced thing I noticed is how closely Jack and Sally resemble Felix and Francesca. I wouldn't be at all surprised if their designs evolved from TB doodling F&F and gradually drawing them more and more Burtonized. Really they're just dead and Burtonized Felix and Francesca. I can't unsee!