• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Time For Bond to Retire?

Part of the appeal of Bond, IMHO, is the UN-realism. The reason Bond is so cool is that he's a tuxedo-wearing suave secret agent who gets into fights with the bad guys, beds all the women, and still never harms a hair on his head. In the end, Bond is not supposed to be realistic.
That's one interpretation of the character and one that I like quite a bit too, but I don't want every Bond film to be like that. I like that the tone and character changes every few years or so even if I like some more than others. That's what keeps Bond fresh after more than half a century.
 
That's one interpretation of the character and one that I like quite a bit too, but I don't want every Bond film to be like that. I like that the tone and character changes every few years or so even if I like some more than others. That's what keeps Bond fresh after more than half a century.

True, but it's probably fair to say that Bond was never intended to be deadly serious John LeCarre-style espionage tales. A certain degree of pulp adventure and escapism was built into the original novels, which were sometimes even more over-the-top than the movies. (Heck, there's a giant squid in Ian Fleming's novel Doctor No; I remember being disappointed as a kid that that the monster squid didn't make it into the movie version.)

But, yes, there are varying degrees of pulpiness . . . .
 
The Bond franchise has over the top movies like You Only Live Twice, Moonraker and Die Another Day, alongside more serious Bond films; such as Casino Royale, Golden Eye, From Russian With Love. And let's not forget the exploitation films in the series, Live and Let Die (Blackploitation), The Man With The Golden Gun (during the Kung Fu craze), Diamonds Are Forever (more comedy than Bond for the time), License to Kill & The Living Daylights (Bond vs Drug Cartels and exporters from the 80s), etc. I've always seen Bond as escapist fantasy. The spectrum is really wide, and you can have a jolly old time watching Bond films from different era.
 
My friends and I have this theory that Bond is sent in as a distraction while the real team comes in from another direction. That's why he's almost always greeted by some ridiculously named piece of cheesecake: the bad guys are hoping to distract whomever is running the overall op. Of course, what the bad guys are up to generally also has very little to do with what Bond actually runs into, so all's fair. ;)
 
If Judi Dench did not carry over as "M", the Craig era would qualify unequivocally as a reboot (many view it that way anyway--I do, I just ignore the carry over because, well, Judi Dench). The previous films are murkier--there are various attempts at maintaining continuity (the opening montage of OHMSS, Moore's Bond taking out Blofeld after visiting Tracy's grave, Leiter's comment to his bride to be about Dalton's Bond having been married once, and, of course, Moneypenny and Q's presence almost entirely throughout--I'm sure I'm missing more).

If Craig, as seems likely, does not return, I would favour another reboot. The films have zero connection to the books now and planning 3-4 film arcs in terms of continuity, while making each film stand reasonably alone, would expand storytelling possibilities (female Bond, black Bond, South Asian descent Bond--even a white male Bond ;) ). Bond has never been about strict continuity in any case, but if it's explicit that each actor playing the role represents its own self-contained continuity, it could make for interesting explorations of the character.

Of course, my "dream" version would be a period piece revisiting of the original Fleming novels (set in the 50s onward). I'm a big fan of Mad Men, I enjoyed the Man From Uncle film and was quite sad to see Agent Carter's run cut short--any opportunity to revisit the late 40s to early 70s on film is welcome to me (and this time, though not with too heavy a hand, a few nods to the challenges of that period would be nice to see).

In any case, as with Trek, I'll pretty much watch anything with Bond, so whatever follows on, I'll be there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kor
Moonraker. :lol:
Let's not forget Diamonds Are Forever and Die Another Day's diamond satellite lasers.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

:lol:
 
To me, From Russia With Love strikes the perfect balance; high adventure without the silliness of many of the films that would follow, and plenty of peril, but without the joyless brutal grittiness that seems obligatory to today's cinema.

Kor
 
If Judi Dench did not carry over as "M", the Craig era would qualify unequivocally as a reboot (many view it that way anyway--I do, I just ignore the carry over because, well, Judi Dench). The previous films are murkier--there are various attempts at maintaining continuity (the opening montage of OHMSS, Moore's Bond taking out Blofeld after visiting Tracy's grave, Leiter's comment to his bride to be about Dalton's Bond having been married once, and, of course, Moneypenny and Q's presence almost entirely throughout--I'm sure I'm missing more).
Looks like Connery-Lazenby-Moore could be the same continuity, with the first reboot happening with Dalton. Not sure if Brosnan is in continuity with Dalton. Then finally we have Craig as another reboot. That makes 3 or 4 different continuities for Bond.
 
I'd include Dalton with the earlier set owing to the wedding reference. Otherwise, Q's presence with Brosnan ties him in as well for me. YMMV
 
I dunno. Dalton was younger than Connery and Moore so I could see him being a different Bond. As for the wedding reference, I imagine that roughly the same events happened to every version of the character. Craig would be the only Bond who has yet to be married, I'd think.
 
Sometimes fans put forth the hypothesis that "James Bond" is actually a code name used by various agents.

If that were the case, then it's quite interesting that Lazenby Bond marries Tracy, then Connery Bond goes after Blofeld for revenge for Tracy's death, and then Moore Bond mopes over her grave and goes after Blofeld too. She must have made quite an impression on all of them! :lol:

Kor
 
Bond's family history is fairly well known, isn't it? So the 'code name' theory would seem to, not actually work.

What I want to know is, what did Bond do in the navy? His naval career (and rank) have been mentioned, but do we have any idea what he actually DID? What was his duty posting? Meaning, was he a sailor, an aviator, an intelligence officer, or what?
 
Bond's family history is fairly well known, isn't it? So the 'code name' theory would seem to, not actually work.

What I want to know is, what did Bond do in the navy? His naval career (and rank) have been mentioned, but do we have any idea what he actually DID? What was his duty posting? Meaning, was he a sailor, an aviator, an intelligence officer, or what?
I imagine he did a lot of snorkelling and scuba diving.
 
I've often said that I think the first act of DAD is the single best Bond act of the last 40 years. It's just the other two-thirds are really that bad.
 
The posters bemoaning the lack of 'fun' and that Bond shouldn't be too serious are seriously p*ssing me off. I just wish I could say that they're wrong.

To me they are very wrong - I read the books for the first time in my early teens (I've read the ones by Markham, Gardner, Benson etc. etc too) and Dalton replacing Moore was fantastic and well overdue.

However, if you've never read Fleming and love Moonraker the movie, who am I to argue with that. You've fallen in love with a film franchise through a movie I'd rather didn't exist, but your love of it is as valid as mine for the literary Bond, which is best reflected in the From Russia With Love and Casino Royale films.

There's no 'right' version. Just ones YOU like.
 
Last edited:
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top