It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
It's completely practical to have Bond return to space in realistic fashion. There are many ways this could come to fruition. The question is whether it's a good idea or not, not whether it can happen.
(If Bond's are going to take 3 or 4 years to make why not have an alternative agent? could go for a slightly different audience, younger, more street cred, with chance to try new directors? not just a female Bond) just an idea
Interesting. What sort of ideas did you have in mind?
I'm not questioning whether humans can go into space or to mars (although mars is still a ways off). I'm questioning how we get Bond there that doesn't descend into parody. There's not a lot of espionage or assassinations in space. Archer already did a story arc about a rouge group taking over the space station with plans of colonizing Mars. And that's a parody of Bond. I think nearly any "Bond in space" story will run a high risk of copying its own parodies.
No... please, just, no...
No seriously (and less seriously), I would love to see a sequel of a pre-Brosnan film involving the same characters. It would be a treat for the long-time fans of the series and a learning opportunity for new fans. Moonraker would look awesome now. Having Jaws come around again would be pretty cool too. I don't want a mysterious villain reveal late in the movie either. Bond…early…in some rich guys lair (hopefully, Drax) and the whole movie circling on revenge. Throw in Stromberg Jr. later for dramatic effect.
If as @Darius suggests, it's too incredible, then do a "remake" years ahead in the future. Just want to see an old plot recycled once. Craig & Co. have built up enough credibility for the franchise. Let's get one movie (lower-budget obviously) to take a step back and then drive ahead in another direction.
Sounds like a great opportunity to expand the Bond franchise. "Marvel-ize" it if you will. I though the idea came around with Jinx after DAD, but maybe it can be revisited. As far as Bond 25 itself, I'm not sure what the female Double 0 would add than we haven't already seen.
The big question therefore should be: How do we get Bond into space without making it look like a cheesy parody, but more of a believable, credible and realistic driving force of the story?
That should be, in my opinion, the starting point of an entire screenplay based on this. And perhaps the International Space Station could be a setting for the film. No Ken Adam-esque, lush escapist set, but the gritty, dark confinements of the real ISS. And perhaps, it could be merely a setpiece for the mid part of the movie, thus not being a 'grand finale'.
Also, we're talking about....James Bond no? May I remind you the villain's scheme of "OHMSS"? Usings women to execute biological warfare?? Very Fleming-esque off course, but wasn't that a bit of a parody as well?
Space travel has and will continue to become the reserve of Billionaires. In the heightened reality of the Bond-verse I don't personally find it a stretch to conflate the idea of 'uber-villain' and 'conflict in space'. Not army vs. army, but something smaller scale. I don't think it suits the trajectory that we are currently on, but it could be done in a plausible way in the near future.
This is really the sixty four dollar question, isn't it?
At present, the ISS is a small scientific research facility that only accepts people there that have been scheduled to go years in advance. Such people have undergone complex international vetting and training during those years and are all experts in their own fields. It's not the sort of place you can just zip up to on a casual basis because you think a double agent may be operating there. Besides, the ISS is international territory, which means MI6 do not have jurisdiction there.
The ISS has a mere 388 cubic metres of habitable space, most of which is taken up by scientific equipment -- not really the best venue for a car chase or a fist fight.
So what plot suggestions do you have?
I believe that EON has now chosen its path. They have brought Bond to a modern times and the Craig-era films (well, don´t know about Spectre, haven´t seen it yet!) have reflected the current times quite well.
Now that Spectre is back in business, the future plots will very likely have something to do with Spectre and the current political climate.
There´s always room for reality and down to earth attitude with some Bondian touches but not for space, laser weapons and Lee Tamahori.
I fully agree! On top of that, I'd like to think that most Bond films have a certain 'theme locale', certain setpieces -both action and locations- the movie became famous for in the first place. Some examples:
--> "From Russia With Love": TheHitchcock-ian "Cold War Espionage Thriller"
--> "Thunderball": The "Exotic Underwater" Bond-film
--> "On Her Majesty's Secret Service": The "Winter/Christmas" Bond-film
--> "Live And Let Die": The "Voodoo/Blaixploitation" Bond entry
--> "Moonraker": The "Outer Space" Adventure
--> "Licence To Kill": The true "American" Bond film
--> "Casino Royale": The one and only "Casino" Drama/Thrilller
So I think Bond 25 could very well be the "Formula One Car Racing" adventure :-). It would be an entirely fresh and original film within the franchise. Especially when it concerns the locale. On top of that....let's add a tense tennis match between Bond and the villain (Just read "Devil May Care"). That hasn't been done before either. And that's weird, because Wimbledon could be such a Bond-esque setting.
I think Formula One could be an interesting venue for an action set-piece (it's certainly one that hasn't been used before), but I think that the esoteric and confined nature of F1 makes it an unlikely vehicle for an entire movie. I say this because in the past, organised sporting events, such as football, rugby, cricket, Formula One, tennis, and so on have been ignored by scriptwriters, simply because their use will always seem somewhat contrived, unless the movie is exclusively about said sport. The Bond movies have never been, and hopefully never will be, exclusively about sport.
I read Devil May Care a while back (and wish I hadn't) and I found that the tennis match described here between Bond and Gorner was well-written and described, but it was one of a series of "cookie-cutter" plot elements used by Faulks. In other words, it parodied (and in many ways satirised) Fleming's confrontation with Goldfinger on the golf course and Bond's confrontation with Drax over the Bridge table. Faulks is really showing up Fleming's over-use of the "Bond challenges villain to a game in which the villain cheats, and Bond manages to outwit said villain by being a better cheat." plot device. If we do the same thing in the movies, it becomes just as much of a predictable cliché and will come over as either satire or parody. In CR, the use of a casino game becomes tense and exciting because poker is mostly a game of chance. Tennis leaves little to chance (being a game of pure skill) and if we place it in a Bond context, the notion of Bond happening to be a Wimbledon-class tennis player as well as being an active agent for HM Government stretches credibility too far.
Thanks for your comments. So, what would you do then :-)? Lots of people know what to say when they think an idea doesn't work. But what idea does work then according to you. And how would you...handle a few of my ideas instead in a Bond film to make it actually work?
By the way, go see "Rush". That movie will inspire you ;-).
Any fantastical elements should have grounding in science-fact. The hadron collider being used for some sinister means, or SPECTRE covertly taking over the European space program for extortion, etc.
But no on the Formula 1 thing, please. It is too gimmicky. Like Bond getting mixed up in football or FIFA, for heaven’s sake… let’s keep the plots political, military or terrorist based.
It’s not so much a question of being ‘original’ (we’ve seen that a Bond film doesn’t need to be original to be good), it’s more a question of how to put a fresh spin on the old Bond tropes.
A tight, 2 hour mission grounded in real spycraft territory. Russia's re-emergence as a threat to the West seems to be begging for this kind of back to basics cold war Bond.
Yes, I have seen Rush and it is a good movie, but it is a biopic and not an original work of fiction. As such, it is more about the characters of James Hunt and his rival Nikki Lauder, rather than the genre of F1 itself -- that is really just a backdrop. As such, the movie is a character-driven dramatization of a larger-than-life relationship that existed back in the seventies and was not only fuelled by Texaco, but also by the press.
You ask me to say what I would do with your ideas for Bond in space, F1, and tennis. The simple answer is that I wouldn't do anything because I don't think they're workable, and I have given detailed reasons for this belief. It's up to you to develop your own ideas, not to expect others to do it for you. I do recall asking you to expand upon your plot ideas for a Bond in space several posts ago, but you haven't replied.
So?
...and the USA is a huge market for Bond! Excellent point.
A Female as a lead Villain would be good to see. Bunt is the brains and HINX could be back doing her dirty work.
She just looks like the perfect psychotic villain causing terror across the globe!
Death to Spies (2018)
Following the events of 'Spectre'?
(Blofeld tasks Irma Bunt with taking out a list of secret service agents.) After a failed attempt on 007's life, results in the death of Madeleine. James Bond and mi6 are on the hunt for who is behind these killings.
Cast:
James Bond: Daniel Craig
Irma Bunt: Tilda Swinton
Anna Arquette: Charlotte Le Bon
Hinx: Dave Bautista
Blofeld: Christoph Waltz
004: Idris Elba
Madeleine Swann: Lea Seydoux
Felix Leiter: Jeffrey Wright
Minister of Defence: Charles Dance
Q,M,Moneypenny, Tanner: Same as Spectre
(Scenes with Blofeld in prison like Hannibal Lector!)