History Headscratchers / DrNo

* What was the point of drugging the coffee. Bond and Honey were already prisoners and everything they had on them was taken during the radiation cleansing procedure? Next we see Bond sleeping in bed and someone, presumably Dr. No, looking over him. Not only did they drug them, but someone apparently put them to bed.

** It’s a holdover from a trait of Dr No that wasn’t otherwise included in the movie: he likes to perform “medical experiments” (actually just sadistic tortures) on prisoners, and he wanted to have a look at them to decide what experiments they’d be suited for. In the scene in the novel he inspects their sleeping bodies carefully and then decides Bond is a good candidate for his DeathCourse, which in the movie becomes just an AirVentEscape.

** It’s just an insult. No is claiming to be a new breed of criminal mastermind and saying Bond’s just stupid small-time law enforcement when he doesn’t agree. He's also just turned down No's offer to defect to SPECTRE. The conversation’s straight from the book IIRC. As for Honey’s comment, he is technically there to investigate the disappearance of Strangways, so she’s just making incorrect (but reasonable) assumptions.

** [[Tropers/{{Kalmbach}} This troper]] is happy to work in such a place. Although it's an industrial research and development laboratory rather than a nuclear reactor, and the danger is from carbon dioxide or nitrogen gas, there are alarms and signs to warn personnel to evacuate if something goes wrong.[[note]]Carbon dioxide and nitrogen aren't poisonous, and nitrogen makes up about 70% of the air we breathe, but excess concentrations can decrease the amount of oxygen, causing loss of consciousness or even suffocation.[[/note]] Really, it's just a different version of a fire alarm, and indicates that Dr. No [[EvenEvilHasStandards isn't going to let his staff die of radiation poisoning]].

** [[Tropers/{{Kalmbach}} This troper]] is happy to work in such a place. Although it's an industrial research and development laboratory rather than a nuclear reactor, and the danger is from carbon dioxide or nitrogen gas, there are alarms and signs to warn personnel to evacuate if something goes wrong.[[note]]Carbon dioxide and nitrogen aren't poisonous, and nitrogen makes up about 70% of the air we breathe, but excess concentrations can decrease the amount of oxygen, causing loss of consciousness or even suffocation.[[/note]] Really, it's just a different version of a fire alarm, and indicates that Dr. No [[BenevolentBoss might actually care about the safety of his staff]].

** It's never officially given, to my knowledge. I seem to remember him being designated 4 somewhere once, though. I suspect that's because 4's the lowest number never used by a named character. (They go Blofeld, Largo, Klebb, unnamed guy in YOLT, Kronsteen, Jacques Bouvar, leaving a nice gap for No to be the "original" Number 4 before the YOLT guy. Plus that means Bond's neatly ascending the SPECTRE hierarchy.)

** It’s just an insult. No is claiming to be a new breed of criminal mastermind and saying Bond’s just stupid small-time law enforcement when he doesn’t agree. The conversation’s straight from the book IIRC. As for Honey’s comment, he is technically there to investigate the disappearance of Strangways, so she’s just making incorrect (but reasonable) assumptions.

* Why do Dr. No and Honey Ryder refer to Bond as a police officer? Before Honey talks about her father's death, she mentions that "I've never met a detective before." and asks Bond if he'll arrest No. And later, Dr. No tells Bond "Unfortunately, i misjudged you. You are just a stupid Policeman." So, in no way is Bond a Policeman or a Detective. Is this just a leftover line? Was Bond originally supposed to actually be a Detective/Policeman in the script instead of with MI6?

** It’s just an insult. No is claiming to be a new breed of criminal mastermind and saying Bond’s just stupid small-time law enforcement, too pathetic to worry about. The conversation’s straight from the book IIRC. As for Honey’s comment, he is technically there to investigate the disappearance of Strangways, so she’s just making incorrect (but reasonable) assumptions.

* Why do Dr. No and Honey Ryder refer to Bond as a police officer? Before Honey talks about her father's death, she mentions that "I've never met a detective before." and asks Bond if he'll arrest No. And later, Dr. No tells Bond "Unfortunately, i misjudged you. You are just a stupid Policeman." So, in no way is Bond a Policeman or a Detective. Is this just a leftover line? Was Bond originally supposed to actually be a Detective/Policeman in the script instead of with MI6?

* Where WAS Chang? Bond beat him up for disguise as he was undressing and presumably went straight into Dr No's rocket toppling chamber. If Bond hadn't done that Chang would STILL not be at his station - did he risk the wrath of Dr No for a bathroom break?

** It’s a holdover from a trait of Dr No that wasn’t otherwise included in the movie: he likes to perform “medical experiments” (actually just sadistic tortures) on prisoners, and he wanted to have a look at them to decide what experiments they’d be suited for. In the scene in the novel he inspects their sleeping bodies carefully and then decides Bond is a good candidate for his DeathCourse, which in the movie becomes just an AirVentEscape.

** It was Dr No. Most likely the motive was that he was going to invite Bond to dinner and didn't want to take chances that he and Honey would break out of their room somehow before then. He was probably busy with planning the next stage of his operation when Bond showed up (the nurses mention that they didn't know when Bond would show up, only that he would) and, beyond that, No is a ControlFreak who wants to dictate when and where and how he and Bond finally meet.

** It's never officially given, to my knowledge. I seem to remember him being designated 4 somewhere once, though. I suspect that's because 4's the lowest number never used by a named character. (They go Blofeld, Largo, Klebb, unnamed guy in YOLT, Kronsteen, Jacques Bouvar, leaving a nice gap for No to be the "original" Number 4 before the YOLT guy.)

* What was the point of drugging the coffee. Bond and Honey were already prisoners and everything they had on them was taken during the radiation cleansing procedure? Next we see Bond sleeping in bed and someone, presumably Dr. No, looking over him. Not only did they drug them, but someone apparently put them to bed.

** They may have wanted to initially monitor him at first, possibly bring him in for questioning when he rode away with the fake driver as soon as he arrived in Jamaica. With Bond easily seeing through the ruse and with him beginning to make considerable headway in the case, it's possible Dr. No felt getting rid of Bond would be easier in the long run then allowing him the opportunity to uncover the truth. And in truth, it was Dent who panicked and visited No during the day. Dr. No simply didn't have the right man to deal with Bond and needed to rid himself of an inevitable problem.

*** It was probably too late to stop the base exploding by then.