James Bond

And yet, at the same time, he presumably assumed that the world would hate Koreans forever.

I find the progression of state-sponsored bad guys in the Bond series interesting, as it reflects the changing times. Russia > China > North Korea (once) > None. Heck, China, a common Bigger Bad in the Connery films, is the victim in TND!

The USSR is never a direct villain in a James Bond film. They have a seeming inability to stop their superweapons/cryptography devices/sensitive cultural treasures from being stolen by insane renegades, but that's about it.

The closest they come to being the main bad guys is in For Your Eyes Only, but even then the main emphasis is on Kristatos's treachery.

edited 21st Nov '14 4:22:17 PM by Achaemenid

Even that was more racing against the Russians to get the MacGuffin, rather than fighting against them.

The reason I bring up Goldeneye was because of the mission against Orumov in the Dam depicted in the pre-credits. I'm not sure if the mission to destroy that facility was actually against the Soviet government, or if Orumov was already considered rogue by that point. Of course he was promoted officially after the mission, but Britain may have known something the Russians didn't.

Correction, it's 1997.

Coming out of Skyfall again just now, I got these questions:

1. Mirror trick aside, anyone notice other nods to TMWTGG, with Severine being the Anders to Silva's Scaramanga, and the latter having a private island as his hideout?

2. What rifles were Silva's men using in the climax anyways?

3. Where exactly is Olivia Mansfield written on that bulldog given to Bond anyways?

4. Were Andrew and Monique the names of Bond's parents in the books, or were the names inventions of MGM and EON/Danjaq?

edited 3rd Dec '14 6:59:04 AM by HallowHawk

1. I don't think those are specific references. Silva had already deliberately provoked MI 6 because he wanted revenge on M, whereas Anders acted entirely against Scaramanga's plan since it did not benefit Scaramanga to deliberately piss off Bond. Sure, he appreciated the chance to kill him in the end, and he was acting against the British government by targetting that Solex, but the allegiance of the scientist in question was incidental and he didn't specifically try to bring down the UK. Girls acting as Severine has happened on several occasions, such as Corrine in Moonraker, as have villains with private islands (Dr No and Crab Key for example).

2. The IMFDB is a great source of weapons info for any film. I'm not sure which guys you're referring to specifically, but that page should have it covered.

3. It's not actually on the bulldog itself, but the box. The article has the screencap.

4. That information comes from this official companion book, I believe.

1. Oh yeah. Forgot about Crab Key and Corrine. Thanks.

2-4. Thank you as well on those.

Speaking of which, how are you on my comparisons between AVTAK and LTD to QOS in the previous page here?

A little slip of nostalgia - this is the old trailer for the James Bond collection, from the VHS version of Moonraker:

This might be an unpopular opinion, but:

Moonraker is a hugely underrated film.

How so? Sure, Jaws gets a girlfriend/companion, and the space visuals and action are kinda fun, but the plot is a rehash of The Spy Who Loved Me, and it was an obvious cash in on Star Wars.

Moonraker is Moore's best Bond film. Accept no substitutes. It may have been a riff on Star Wars, but I'm fine with that. If you don't like it, then you're welcome to your opinion.

I've since formed an opinion that Moonraker isn't exactly good, but it sure as hell is fun and memorable.

Is Moonraker the one with the pigeon in Venice doing a double-take?

And the one with Patrick Mc Nee.

@Quag

Moonraker is excellently paced, has a very good Bond girl - despite the comedy name, has pretty well-done special effects, an engaging villain, and nicely wraps up the story of Jaws.

EDIT: Let's rank Bond themes! Top 5 best, and 1 worst.

• 5. Duran Duran - "A View to a Kill", A View to a Kill.
• 4. Alicia Keys and Jack White - "Another Way to Die", Quantum of Solace. Best bit of the movie.
• 3. Chris Cornell - "You Know My Name", Casino Royale. The Craig themes are excellent. "Skyfall" would be #6 if I could have 6.
• 2. A-Ha - "The Living Daylights", The Living Daylights. Underrated, and so very European.
• 1. Tina Turner - "Goldeneye", Goldeneye. Absolutely stunning.

And the worst: "The Man with the Golden Gun", Lulu.

edited 26th Nov '14 7:04:52 AM by Achaemenid

In regards to Dr No, how exactly was Taro getting arrested supposed to be Early-Installment Weirdness? I mean, Bambi, Thumper, and Nick Nack didn't die in their respective films, so what makes Taro's arrest any different?

Who said it was? She and Miss Chung (the photographer) are arrested in the book too.

Fair points, I guess. I'll have to watch it later (I'm rewatching all Bond movies, btw - next one is Diamonds Are Forever).

My list of Bond themes:

• 5 - Shirley Bassey - "Goldfinger", Goldfinger
• 4 - John Barry - "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", On Her Majesty's Secret Service
• 3 - Paul McCartney and Wings - "Live And Let Die", Live And Let Die
• 2 - A-ha - "The Living Daylights", The Living Daylights
• 1 - Nancy Sinatra - "You Only Live Twice", You Only Live Twice

Worst: Madonna - "Die Another Day", Die Another Day

edited 26th Nov '14 8:38:19 AM by Quag15

Best and worst Bond songs

1) Surrender (k.d. Lang), Tomorrow Never Dies. Maybe not technically a Bond song as it plays over the closing credits rather than the opening ones, but it was very clearly the basis for the movie's soundtracks - you can hear it repeated throughout the film - and it's an excellent song. And it does a great job of being about the movie without being too blatant about it.

2) Goldeneye. Isn't clearly connected to the movie's plot, but is an amazing song. (If you include Surrender, it's rather notable that three of the four Brosnan Bond movies had a female-voiced Villain Song as their Bond Song, and almost none of the other films did.)

3) You Know My Name, from Casino Royale. Another one that does a great job invoking the themes and plot of the film in a relatively subtle way.

4) Live and Let Die. Crappy movie, great song.

5) The Living Daylights.

Worst Bond Song: I kind of like all of them, but "Moonraker" and "Die Another Day" are definitely my least favourite songs. I hated "Another Way to Die" (Quantum Of Solace) the first time I heard it, but it's really grown on me, and now I like it.

EDIT: Let's talk best opening credits, too. Casino Royale unquestionably has the best ones, hands down (yay for thematic elements and artistry rather than just a bunch of naked women!), but which others do you like?

edited 26th Nov '14 2:53:54 PM by WarriorEowyn

Goldeneye's opening sequence is fantastic:

Patrick Macnee was in A View To A Kill by the way, just to nitpick :P

I'll reply to the other stuff when it isn't 1am, including Hallowhawk's request for answers at the top of the page.

In no particular order cuz lazy, my top five: Living Daylights, Goldeneye, Live and Let Die, Skyfall, Tomorrow Never Dies (yes, the Sheryl Crow one, shut up), The World Is Not Enough

Goldfinger is classic, but its a bit overplayed to me. Like the melody of you only live twice, but the voice irks me. Can't take TMWTGG seriously now that I know it was Lulu. I keep thinking of her character from To Sir With Love. Honestly don't remember the rest.

Moonraker is a fine film until the very end. It would have been solid, serviceable Bond like Octopussy or You Only Live Twice if they hadn't done the space battle stuff at the end. To be honest, the only Bond I outright find no value in is Quantum of Solace because of how deeply the writers appear to feel ashamed that it is, in fact, a Bond film. It sucked all fun out of the series. Even the Dalton films maintained that.

edited 28th Nov '14 6:04:08 AM by CrimsonZephyr

The thing is, I don't find anything more implausible about Moonraker than I do in You Only Live Twice - which gives us Spectre's SSTO rocket, Bond "becoming Japanese", and Blofeld hollowing out a mountain without the Japanese government noticing.

Certainly, I strongly doubt there is anywhere in the Japanese Home Islands from where you could launch a rocket without thousands of people seeing it. At least the Amazon is sparsely populated.

EDIT: Is it just me, or is the music video for Die Another Day creepy as fuck. Probably NSFW. Also there's the Unfortunate Implications of Madonna being brutalized by a bunch of thuggish-looking Asians.

edited 28th Nov '14 9:35:41 AM by Achaemenid

Didn't they mention going to a different island that shouldn't necessarily be any of the Home Islands? Plus, it was 1967, so wouldn't Japan back then be not as populated as Japan now. Also, the movie's version of the lair was Roald Dahl's idea because the novel's version of the lair couldn't make sense on the big screen.

Speaking of Bond opening songs, here are my favorites:

1. "You Know My Name"

2. "Die Another Day"

3. "On Her Majestys Secret Service (Main Title)"

4. "A View To A Kill"

5. "Opening Titles: James Bond Is From Russia With Love/James Bond Theme"

edited 28th Nov '14 8:49:29 PM by HallowHawk

I actually like that Madonna video. She's a bloody good physical actor, fit as fuck, and there's a noticeable lack of Flynning in the video - when the two Madonnas are fighting each other they really look like they want to kill each other to death. Plus axes. Axes are cool.

And the video's theme fits the theme of the film as a whole, particularly since the song itself plays as Bond is getting tortured by the Norks.