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Iridener Since: Dec, 2019
Feb 19th 2023 at 5:22:35 AM •••

Someone has added a WMG headliner mentioning all the Bond films on every film's page. I don't think this is a good idea, I find it quite ugly and unnecessary on the pages.

Edited by Iridener
LanceOmikron Since: Sep, 2009
Jun 17th 2013 at 3:35:30 AM •••

Forgive me if this has already been hashed out at one point or another, but at one point, Film/JamesBond featured descriptions of every actor to play Bond, as well as the movies they were in. They were later removed, and (as I found out recently) each actor was given his own section on the character page, which was a good choice. However, I noticed that while each Bond actor got his own list of tropes, the old descriptions weren't put there (and, in fact, the individual sections do not have descriptions at all).

The old descriptions are still stored in the history, and I personally think that they'd be a nifty addition to each bond actor's section, but what does everyone else think? For reference, here are the descriptions:

Sean Connery: As the first cinematic Bond *

, Connery is perhaps the best known. When people think of Bond, they often think of his distinctive accent and his suave sophistication. In fact, it was due to Connery's portrayal that Bond was canonically established as half-Scottish. First to employ the Bond One-Liner, naturally.

George Lazenby: Lazenby was an obscure actor and an obscure Bond. He only appeared in one movie, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. However, it is well liked among hardcore Bond fans and casual viewers alike. The film is widely assumed to be bad, since if it had been good, Lazenby would have made more, right? Well, not really. Lazenby's problems were primarily behind the scenes, and the fact that he was replacing Connery made it a no-win situation with some critics, but most of that criticism has faded with time. The film is well regarded these days among those who have seen it. Lazenby says that he didn't return because he was given advice not to. Apparently his agent told him that the Bond franchise was on its way out, but boy was that wrong. Lazenby fired his agent soon afterwards.

Roger Moore: Moore tended to play his Bond more for comedy, but he did do it pretty serious at times, as in For Your Eyes Only. He probably hung around too long, and was older than Connery when he took over the role, and is tied with Connery for the number of Bond movies made. He's perhaps the most polarizing actor on this list, since two of his movies—The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only—are among the most well-received Bond flicks, while The Man with the Golden Gun and A View to a Kill are considered among the worst.

Timothy Dalton: Nothing will start an argument among Bond fans as quickly as praising Timothy Dalton, the Marmite of Bond actors. He began the trend of portraying Bond with a darker tone, and is still considered the darkest of all of them, which some felt was needed after the sometimes overly comedic Moore films. He was also a fan of the books and tried to create Ian Fleming's Bond on-screen twenty years before Daniel Craig and the Bond producers ever thought of doing so. At the same time, he has also been praised for having the most realistic love scenes. The producers actually considered him for On Her Majesty's Secret Service, but he felt he was too young at the time, and didn't want to be the one that replaced Connery.

Pierce Brosnan: Brosnan is the other person whom people think of when they imagine Bond these days, especially among viewers who came of age in The '90s and GoldenEye was the first Bond flick they saw. He was supposed to appear in The Living Daylights, but the production staff of Remington Steele decided to pull a fast one on EON Productions. Brosnan was just what the franchise needed after the six-year hiatus due to legal issues. He rates second on the Bond poll. He also scores points for looking the most like Bond as Ian Fleming described him (Black hair that falls into a comma over the right eye, cold blue eyes).

Daniel Craig: When Daniel Craig was cast as 007, he got a lot of flak from the press. He was blond. He was short *

. He wore a life jacket on a speedboat ride to the announcement. A "Craig Not Bond" movement started up. Then Casino Royale came out. Now there seems to be a divide between fans who love Craig's Bond vs. fans who absolutely detest this version.

Edited by 69.172.221.2
OldManHoOh It's super effective. Since: Jul, 2010
It's super effective.
Aug 18th 2012 at 12:10:43 PM •••

Due to the Comic-Book Time employed by the rest of the movies, though the Craig films are often branded a ReBoot, they are actually a Retcon and are officially still considered part of the same series.

He's given his 007 status at the start of Casino Royale. How is that not a reboot?

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suedenim Since: Oct, 2009
Aug 18th 2012 at 1:25:29 PM •••

Agreed, that's quite obvious. All I can think is that some people take that "James Bond is just a code name that's been used by several people over the past 50-some years" theory way too seriously. (IMO, it's silly and completely unnecessary as anything more than a mildly amusing Fan Fic premise.)

Jet-a-Reeno!
OldManHoOh Since: Jul, 2010
Aug 18th 2012 at 1:51:05 PM •••

Don't get me started on that theory. It not only has holes, but glaring holes.

masamune1 Since: Nov, 2009
Aug 22nd 2012 at 6:19:00 PM •••

A reboot means that its the start of a new series, which the new ones are not. Its a Retcon because it uses the same cinematic style, at least one recurring actress in the same role, and is explicitly part of the same franchise, same producers and everything. Also, Bond has never been been shown gaining his 007 status before.

Its the opposite of the "Bond is a code name" theory. The fact that everyone from Connery to Brosnan is supposed to be the same man is why the Craig films are more retcon than reboot- they have always had a loose continuity.

Edited by masamune1
suedenim Since: Oct, 2009
Aug 24th 2012 at 3:51:57 PM •••

It *is* a new series, though. It's the same *franchise*, but that's not the same thing.

The Superman of 1961, the Superman of 1986, and the Superman of 2012 are all clearly different versions of the character, with different histories, etc. Just because they all appear in issues of Action Comics doesn't change that.

I mean, you're free to come up with theories as to how From Russia With Love and Casino Royale can be fit together, if that's what floats your boat, but I think it's at best Fanon.

Jet-a-Reeno!
OldManHoOh It's super effective. Since: Jul, 2010
It's super effective.
Aug 18th 2012 at 12:12:13 PM •••

Moving here, in case someone can find a way of integrating the "Bond formula" into paragraphs.

Common things in the official Bond films include:

  • The Q scene, in which Bond gets his gadgets for the movie. Expect humorous other gadgets to be seen i.e. a decapitating tray (completely absent from Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Live And Let Die. While Q appears in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, he introduces only one rather disappointing gadget to M - radioactive lint to plant on a suspect's clothes as a form of tracer device).
    • Also worth noting that many pre-Craig movies had a scene where Bond's watch has just the function needed when he's in a tight spot.
  • Bond and Moneypenny flirting (She has yet to appear in the Daniel Craig films).
  • The gun barrel sequence, which has started every movie (yet again, except for Casino Royale onwards, where it's moved to the end of the pre-titles sequence and incorporated into the sequence's plot).
  • The Bond Girls. Usually at least two of them in one movie. You could write a book on the different girls Bond has bedded over the years - in fact, Maryam D'Abo and John Cork did. The former played Kara Milovy in The Living Daylights, so she knows what she's talking about. Although it goes back to Thunderball, the Bad Bond Girl has become something of a feature recently.
  • "Oooh, James!"
  • Lavish, surreal opening credit sequences, often featuring silhouettes of naked women and thematic to the movie, set to a Title Theme Tune. May also be a Villain Sucks Song (Most notably, Goldfinger) or Villain Song (as in Thunderball).
  • Every Bond film includes at least one of the following
    • Underwater action sequence
    • Skiing action sequence (in one case a memorable snowboard chase scene)
    • Aerial action sequence
    • Car chase (pretty much all of them!)
    • Speedboat chase
    • Sport vehicle chase: snowmobiles, motorcycles, jetskis...
    • An action scene with a helicopter (which might be any of the above)
  • Bond And A Babe In A Boat: On a documentary about the making of The World Is Not Enough, one scriptwriter commented that the ending had to follow the form "the villain's base explodes as Bond and the girl escape in a rubber dinghy". But, because it had become a cliche of the series, it couldn't actually be "the villain's base explodes, as Bond and the girl escape in a rubber dinghy".
  • Usually a title with one or more of the following:
    • "Gold" (such as "Goldfinger", "Man with the Golden Gun" and "GoldenEye")
    • "Day" or similar (such as "The Living Daylights" or "Tomorrow Never Dies")
    • "Die" ("Live And Let Die", "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "Die Another Day")
    • "Kill" ("A View to a Kill", "Licence to Kill")
    • "Love" ("From Russia with Love", "The Spy Who Loved Me")
    • "Never" ("Never Say Never Again", "Tomorrow Never Dies")
  • M tries to call Bond at the end of most films, but Bond ignores him/her.

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