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The irony being of course is that QOS is, out of the 3 films, the one that should be tied most closely into SP.
Le Chiffre and Silva largely just had stand alone plans and just saying they were working for SPECTRE is enough but with QOS there is the whole Quantum meeting at Tosca, Guy Haines, Mr White and how it all fits together in relation to SPECTRE.
But I think they just took advantage of the fact that no one remembered QOS to just ignore it and hope that anyone who did vaguely remember would assume the shadowy organisation in QOS was SPECTRE.
Much easier than writing a coherent explanation of what Quantum was and how it was taken over or morphed into SPECTRE.
To be honest I wish they would just do a George Lucas and go back and edit any mention of Quantum in QOS and change it to SPECTRE and then whole retconning thing might just hold together.
I just watched QoS yesterday, and I think QUANTUM is only mentioned by name once. By Greene himself, in the desert.
It is a valid question. My guess is that the missionin QoS was more about Vesper: she was the point of pain there.
The burden of proof lies with SP and QoS can't be held responsible for crimes committed against it in the future. Don't be a part of the cover-up Wiz.
Also, speaking of opera sequences, love both of them. If I remember right RN's is considerably longer, but I think they're equally brilliant. I'd give the nod to Bond because, well... it's Bond.
I'd be shocked if EoN were pulling such a stunt because a) it's unnecessary and b) QoS is a lot better than EoN probably realise and c) there are a number of films much worse than QoS in the series that EoN should really be ashamed of.
Greene doesn't have a substantial connection, he's distanced from these moments. The connective thread is about the emotional pain Oberhauser/ESB has been able to exert on Bond, not how the organisation works - this is the kind of guff we got with trade federations etc in the SW prequels. It's not a stretch to envisage Quantum being an arm of SP. I don't need to know if one became the other, how it happened, whether the shareholders struck lucky during a merger. It's totally irrelevant.
It's retcon. It can never be seamless and no amount of exposition can undo what has been done. It's clear they wanted Quantum to be Spectre, Babs said as much, but shit happens. I personally think they did as decent a job as could be expected. No labouring over Quantum which is absolutely the right thing to do, but no dismissing them either. Quantum as an organisation have to feel small next to Spectre and that is translated in the movie.
It might have worked better if they just kept the organisation as Quantum, or have some exposition where Oberhauser has worked his way to the top, having a ding dong with Mr White on the way and revamped the whole organisation.
But they didn't, so I don't see the point in labouring over it. There's nothing glaringly problematic about it.
Yeah I wouldn't say there was, but still it might have worked better, just saying, don't think I was labouring on it?
I still think people would've found something to complain about. That wasn't directed at you @tanaka123.
However, I don't think that Quantum felt small next to Spectre. On the contrary actually. Watching QoS recently, I realized that it is Quantum that seems like the more menacing entity, due to the more mature manner in which the 'organization' was revealed in that film. Even M seemed scared of them in QoS. Truly a dark, behind the scenes villain.
They should have just let White take it one step further in his exposition and indicate that Quantum was the South American/African branch of Spectre, or even let Q mention that after he had done his research. Simple, and would have been much clearer for the general audience.
I agree, Quantum did have a more sinister feel about them.
Honestly, I'd rather work for the organisation that meets at the opera and wears pretty little branded badges than the one where I may be replaced by a man who will gauge my eyes out and then break my neck. I'm being a tad facetious of course, but I find Spectre infinitely more formidable. I love what they did with Quantum actually, but no need in going over old ground. SP was concerned with Oberhauser/ESB and he knocks Greene into a cocked hat for me. That opening scene in Rome is a classic.
which makes sense kind of... but I will see how it feels once I watch the four Craig films presumably this fall.
You mean the scene they took directly from The Bourne Supremacy?
They do mention it, when Q explains that Le Chiffre, Quantum, Silva were all part of Spectre. How they are part isn't vital information. I agree that you could include exposition, I've mentioned it before, but I can see why they would choose not to go down that route. The thinking is obviously that with it being retcon it's better to leave it vague than include unnecessary detail.
Regarding the Quantum meeting in QoS: I think Forster used some impressive visual tricks to convey scale at the Tosca performance. Greene was in the box looking down on the others, who were in the crowd. Additionally, although the Quantum members were a small part of the crowd, the feeling was that Greene was essentially in charge of the entire crowd, since the Quantum lot were immersed within the audience. It was impressive from a visual perspective.
With the SP meeting, I would have preferred if Bond and co. were not looking down on Blofeld. Also I would have preferred him not at the table himself but somewhere else looking down on his audience (even via satellite feed). There is a reason a similar approach was taken during the TB meet (with Blofeld not actually being at the table, but rather, in an overlooking room).
The opening of QoS is absolutely fantastic. The actions sequences in this film are among the best in the series, and even though this is a lesser picture than CR and SF in my opinion, there're lots to like here. For me.
And you don't want to go to the opera instead?
No but seriously, when I was a kid, going to local charity concerts which were sometimes featuring opera arias (I love opera since I was a child), I used to imagine similar stories, meeting of villains while artists were performing on stage.
Better yet, don't make Quantum part of Spectre at all. Among Eon's missteps was linking Spectre (and Blofeld) to the plots of the previous three films. It was unnecessary. The better route: Spectre was a relatively new organization that came to be after Quantum broke apart. Mr. White still could have had a significant role.
I don't know if there is a definitive line on that, but I always understood that Quantum was the proto-SPECTRE, like in the novels Blofeld had created criminal organizations before creating SPECTRE.