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Is "James Bond" Sci-Fi?

Is James Bond Sci-Fi?

  • Yes

    Votes: 9 15.5%

  • No

    Votes: 19 32.8%

  • It Depends on the Film

    Votes: 30 51.7%
  • Total voters
    58
TedShatner10

TedShatner10

Commodore
Commodore
Anything James Bond related is automatically shunted to this forum away from the "Science Fiction & Fantasy" forum, even though volcano bases, laser satellites, invisible cars, and steel teethed henchmen are in the realms of science fiction. Sure, you have relatively grounded instalments like From Russia With Love and Casino Royale, but even they have some elements of fantasy or sci-fi, with Tomorrow Never Dies and Goldfinger being more further out there, while You Only Live Twice and Moonraker were the real deal.

I can say Quantum of Solace will be comparable to Dr. No and GoldenEye in being more heavily sci-fi than Casino Royale, without pushing the boat out like Die Another Day.
 
It really depends on the film. We're talking Dr. No or Casino Royale vs. Moonraker or Die Another Day here.
 
TedShatner10 said:
Sure, you have relatively grounded instalments like From Russia With Love and Casino Royale, but even they have some elements of fantasy or sci-fi, with Tomorrow Never Dies and Goldfinger being more further out there, while You Only Live Twice and Moonraker were the real deal.
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I see what you're saying, but I would say Bond films carry elements of the fantastic without being fantasy or sci-fi. Much in the same way it has humorous bits without being a comedy, or romantic scenes without being a romance. These things are just elements of the action adventure spy-thriller (or however its classified in the video store).
 
Depends on the film. Bond shouldn't be Sci-fi - Fleming hardly intended it to be. However, as regards the movies, you'd have to say that Moonraker for one is sci-fi. Indeed, many of the movies feature gadgets that remain scientifically infeasible at this time - flying cars, jet packs, laser guns, super weapons etc.

Arguably the only movies that contain no sci-fi elements (off the top of my head) are Dr No, From Russia With Love, Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only, The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill and Casino Royale. Even OHMSS, while gadget free, features a sci-fi-ish biological weapon.

I'm guessing that Quantum will be similarly sci-fi-less to its immediate predecessor. However, I think that arguably Bond belongs in the Sci-fi & Fantasy forum just as much as any discussion of the Batman movies. As I say, the Craig movies don't belong there, but arguably neither do the Nolan/ Bale Batmovies. Taken as a whole, the two collections of movies definitely have at least one foot each in the skiffy camp, though.
 
Most Bond falls under the "espionage/action" label but some take such extreme imaginative leaps with he tech that they flirt with borders of SF. (Really, all fiction is SF since all fiction presents alternate universes in which characters and events that do not exist in our reality are presented as if they do--by that reckoning, Rabbit, Run and Portnoy's Complaint are SF.)
 
Non sci-fi through and through, sometimes it has alittle science and maybe some sci-fi but its not qualified to be put in sci-fi.
 
Bond movies are definitely far more than just "espionage thrillers". One could argue that they fit into the looser definition of "fantasy" that includes comic book super-heroes.
 
Bond movies are practically a genre unto themselves. They have their own rules, logic, and a fairly set formula. They have elements of just about every genre, action, espionage, comedy, romance, even sci-fi...but ultimately they are Bond Films.
 
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