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Is it time for Bond to go back to fighting the Russians?

QuantumOrganizationQuantumOrganization We have people everywhere
in Bond Movies Posts: 1,187
What with Putin, and his expansion into Eastern Europe, Should Bond go back to fighting Rogue Russia Generals and Iron Curtain operatives?

Comments

  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,338
    Maybe, though there is no Iron Curtain these days of course.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Bond didn't really ever fight the Russians, .... Merely rogue elements connected to them.
    As it was decided early on that Bond wouldn't do real politics.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,338
    The following article from The Guardian might be of interest to this thread:

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/30/james-bond-007-relevant-donald-trump-oligarchs
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,249
    @Thunderpussy is absolutely correct. In the movies, he's fought Russians who defected to SPECTRE (Klebb) and dissident and corrupt generals (Orlov, Koskov, Ouromov). In some cases an uneasy alliance was formed between the British and the Russians to defeat a common enemy and sometimes, out of those alliances, sincere respect and love arose.

    Going flat out against Poetin's regime seems like a bad idea, not just from a political point of view, but also because I can't see how that could result in an enjoyable Bond script.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Bond should always remain an apolitical industry. What's known as common enemy that is SPECTRE and its likes is exactly what Bond should fight. And the common enemy has to play both sides for fools just to benefit from the loss of the two powers. That's what separates Bond from the Jason Bourne kind of movies. And I'd very much rather it stays that way.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,218
    Russians maybe and I hope so. But Russia? Not a chance!
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    He could. After all, Bond is working for the real villains, City of London.
  • QuantumOrganizationQuantumOrganization We have people everywhere
    Posts: 1,187
    Thunderpussy wrote: »
    Bond didn't really ever fight the Russians, .... Merely rogue elements connected to them.
    As it was decided early on that Bond wouldn't do real politics.
    Notice I said Rogue Russian Generals. :)

  • Jones_The_BondJones_The_Bond
    Posts: 344
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    He could. After all, Bond is working for the real villains, City of London.

    Bond isn't working for the City of London, he is working for Her Majesty's Government.

  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Sorry Quantum, I didn't notice :\">
  • QuantumOrganizationQuantumOrganization We have people everywhere
    edited December 2016 Posts: 1,187
    that's quite ok, pussy! :D
  • M16_CartM16_Cart Craig fanboy?
    Posts: 541
    i think it's a bit shortsighted to go after immediate issues.

    remember solar power being the big bad villain in man with the golden gun?

    or supporting the muhjadeen in the living daylights (which was awesome, but dated)?
  • RevelatorRevelator
    edited January 2017 Posts: 2,919
    Bond fought against SMERSH and the Russians in most of the Bond novels, and they were splendid adversaries. He briefly switched to Spectre but said the Russians would return if they "got up to their old tricks." They did, and they're doing so now. But...
    In an ideal world Bond would be going up against the Russkies onscreen, but that's not going to happen, because the Bond movies do good business in Russia. The only country Bond has recently offended is North Korea, and that only happened because NK isn't a potential film market. Perhaps Bond could after a cabal of rogue Russians who have reformed SMERSH...
  • QuantumOrganizationQuantumOrganization We have people everywhere
    Posts: 1,187
    good idea!
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Yes. The Russians are still a threat and some of the rudest people on the planet (generalising of cource)! Get them back as the enemy.
  • bigladiesmanbigladiesman
    edited January 2017 Posts: 1,009
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Bond vs Putin and his American puppet. I like that.

    I would like some kind of alliance between a mad American oligarch and and an even more insane Russian traitor like in TLD, but reversing the parts: now the Yank is the puppet in a powerful position while the Russian lurks in the shadows!

    However, as some serious users - I'm never serious, mind you -say, Bond is huge in Russia, since... 1974, when TMWTGG was screened in the Kremlin and they even had a good laugh with it? ["It seems we didn't train that Scaramanga properly" XD]. And Russia, being a dictocracy, could boycott the project with disastrous results for EON. :(
    BTW, anyone of you know who represented EON on that 1974-75 private screening in the Kremlin?
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    I don t think anyone from EON was there.
  • bigladiesmanbigladiesman
    Posts: 1,009
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    I don t think anyone from EON was there.

    I guess I was wrong, then. :\"> Thanks for the clarification.
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    No....that would be a problem in today's age.

    The Russians are not the main problem anymore.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    edited January 2017 Posts: 6,356
    We got a bit of Putin in SP...the poisoning of Mr. White.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/putin-implicated-in-fatal-poisoning-of-former-kgb-spy-at-posh-london-hotel/2016/01/21/2c0c5052-bf92-11e5-98c8-7fab78677d51_story.html?utm_term=.88dc15595af2
  • daltondalton
    Posts: 1,631
    No. CNN features enough of this type of thing on their airwaves. Bond, even at its most serious, needs to have some element of escapism. This would provide absolutely none, and would rather be an extension of what much of us are watching unfold in real life rather than anything that could potentially be entertaining.
  • bigladiesmanbigladiesman
    Posts: 1,009
    Birdleson wrote: »
    That was my point when I said it. I thought it was an obvious joke.

    OK, let's get serious.

    I think most of us are joking, too. The idea of bringing back that Reagan-era cinematic bravado is preposterous as it can be, but we can have fun remembering those bigoted but fun movies. I think this is what we want to convey. At least in my case. The consecuences of doing this kind of movie would be disastrous: I think EON would lose all the Russian audience and a good chunk of the American.

    That said, on the news, it's hard to tell what's serious and what's a joke. At least in my country. It's the world Eliott Carver would dream of.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    It s the same throughout the whole West. It s because they are all fed the same news from the same agencies, Reuters, Associated Press and what have you. All the major news outlets are owned either by a big transnational corporation or they get funded by the State. How independent does that make you?
  • bigladiesmanbigladiesman
    Posts: 1,009
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    It s the same throughout the whole West. It s because they are all fed the same news from the same agencies, Reuters, Associated Press and what have you. All the major news outlets are owned either by a big transnational corporation or they get funded by the State. How independent does that make you?

    Agreed 100 %
  • RevelatorRevelator
    Posts: 2,919
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    It's the same throughout the whole West. It's because they are all fed the same news from the same agencies, Reuters, Associated Press and what have you. All the major news outlets are owned either by a big transnational corporation or they get funded by the State. How independent does that make you?

    More independent than a news agency directly controlled by a dictatorial state that is just as rapacious as a transnational corporation, which is what the news agencies in Russia and China are.
    As for the element of escapism, what's not escapist about a British agent almost single-handedly defeating a Russian murder squad? EON will not risk Russian box office by making the Russkies badguys, but if I was a continuation novelist I'd say this was a great time to revive SMERSH.
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