The biggest missed opportunities in the Bond franchise

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  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    Posts: 2,629
    Lazenby in DAF.
    DAF being the revenge film, vice the parody.
    An early 90s Dalton film.
    Dalton in AVTAK
    John Barry doing TSWLM score.
    Desmond in LALD (even for just one scene).
    Bringing back Jack Lord as Leiter in GF.
    Bringing back Terrene Young to direct GF.
    Raquel Welch as a Bond girl.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Why didn't Q appear in LALD??
  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    Posts: 2,629
    He was doing the TV show Follyfoot at the time. He was actually written out of a few episodes so Desmond could appear on LALD, but the producers opted to keep Desmond out of LALD.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Kerim wrote:
    He was doing the TV show Follyfoot at the time. He was actually written out of a few episodes so Desmond could appear on LALD, but the producers opted to keep Desmond out of LALD.

    Interesting, I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing @Kerim.
  • X3MSonicXX3MSonicX https://www.behance.net/gallery/86760163/Fa-Posteres-de-007-No-Time-To-Die
    Posts: 2,635
    If Q had appeared at LALD, the movie could be better?
  • Posts: 4,762
    Starting Roger Moore early on with OHMSS and DAF, letting Timothy Dalton take over in '85 with AVTAK, and letting him have at least two more Bond movies in 1991 and 1993, going along with the typical two-year gap.
  • Posts: 5,745
    Luds wrote:
    chuck007 wrote:
    Sean Bean as Bond
    Bean indeed could have been sensational as Bond.

    Indeed, and the perfect buffer between Dalton and Craig!
  • Posts: 5,634
    Well there's so many isn't there, but let's start anyway


    #1 Lazenby was not given another shot at Bond, would of been ideal to return for Diamonds and a revenge against Blofeld, but it never saw the light of day. Would of wanted George to do a couple more even

    #2 Tim Dalton only doing the two features, if they could of managed a couple more if possible between 89/95 Tim would of been fine in the part and was still borderline plausible for Goldeneye I feel instead of Brosnan

    #3 Lewis Collins not having at least one outing in the early 1980s, I always insist he would of made a fine 007

    #4 Allowing Moore to stay on when he should of retired from the role say after For Your Eyes Only, i.e Roger- 'I want to do some more Bond films', -No, Mr Moore, that simply isn't possible' etc, Octopussy and View To A Kill would of been so much better with someone else

    #5 Sophia Loren as a Bond girl in at least one film

    #6 Finding some decent artists for theme music instead of settling on some awful stone deaf crap they have served up throughout the years. Some real opportunities missed I say

    #7 Leaving Jaws out of Moonraker altogether, good bad or otherwise

    #8 Actually making Goldfinger that much better. Connery was slightly past his supreme best by 1964 but still very capable and I feel he was wasted that time. They had the ingredients for a fine Bond film but the sum total was a mundane, banal disappointment

    #9 Rosamund Pike as the Bond girl for Die Another Day, not the awful Berry

    #10 I'll say Jeremy Irons as a Bond villain, main part of course. I was thinking about this earlier. I realize he wasn't oscar material for Die Hard III, but nevertheless it's something I would of wanted to see

  • JWESTBROOK wrote:
    Luds wrote:
    chuck007 wrote:
    Sean Bean as Bond
    Bean indeed could have been sensational as Bond.

    Indeed, and the perfect buffer between Dalton and Craig!

    This is exactly what I was going to say. So I will just repeat it...

    Sean Bean as Bond!
  • Posts: 1,407
    I'm going to go out on a limb and say Connery in OHMSS. I know in YOLT he was growing bored but I fully believe Peter Hunt and the great script would of provided motivation for Connery. And I believe that if OHMSS had starred Connery, it would be a much more recognized film. And I'm gonna go on record in saying I don't hate Lazenby's performance
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    edited March 2012 Posts: 6,387
    Kerim wrote:
    Lazenby in DAF.
    DAF being the revenge film, vice the parody.
    An early 90s Dalton film.
    Dalton in AVTAK
    John Barry doing TSWLM score.
    Desmond in LALD (even for just one scene).
    Bringing back Jack Lord as Leiter in GF.
    Bringing back Terrene Young to direct GF.
    Raquel Welch as a Bond girl.

    The needless recasts of Leiter (and Blofeld) are one of the worst elements of the series.
    6of1 wrote:
    Missed opportunities? I'd have liked another Roald Dahl script and perhaps the Burgess script used for TSWLM. And if way out directors are an option the obvious choice would have been Charles Laughton.

    Yes, Burgess! Maybe they will adapt some of this for a future film.
  • Posts: 7,653
    JWESTBROOK wrote:
    Luds wrote:
    chuck007 wrote:
    Sean Bean as Bond
    Bean indeed could have been sensational as Bond.

    Indeed, and the perfect buffer between Dalton and Craig!

    This is exactly what I was going to say. So I will just repeat it...

    Sean Bean as Bond!

    Not so much a missed opportunity but a missed disaster.

    I honestly believe that without the lighter Brosnan there would not have been any need for a Craig simply because the franchise would stalled.
    The franchise looks more like a balancing act than some fanboys really want to accept, while they want gritty the general paying audience want fun and escapism.

  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,999
    SaintMark wrote:
    I honestly believe that without the lighter Brosnan there would not have been any need for a Craig

    No Brosnan = no Craig? I could live with that.


    Bonds:
    William Franklyn (1958-1962) 4 films
    Richard Johnson (1964-1972) 5 films
    David Warbeck (1974 - 1985) 7 films
    Dalton (1987-1998) 5 films
    James Purfoy (2000 - 2008) 5 films
    Richard Armitage (2010-2016) 4 films

    Villains:
    Klaus Kinski
    Elke Sommer & Virna Lisi (see Sommer & Sylva Koscina in Deadlier Than The Male)
    Anthony Hopkins

    Misc:
    Make OHMSS, YOLT then TMWTGG in that order


    That's enough for now.
  • 002002
    edited March 2012 Posts: 581
    Here is a List:

    * Timothy Dalton for Bond 17= Property of a Lady and Another Bond Film
    * Pierce Brosnan in Casino Royale or Qantum of Solace if Craig does a "Lazenby"
    * An Adaption of Everything or Nothing with Pierce Brosnan
    * Michael Fassbender as James Bond instead of Daniel Craig
    * A Better Villian for The Living Daylights
    * Monica Belluci in Tommorow Never Dies
    * Sean Connery in OHMSS
    * David Henderson in The Living Daylights
    * Eraise Qantum of Solace and Replace it with Skyfall with Craig
    * John Barry making the music for Goldeneye
    * Yvone Starogski (the actress from Chuck) as a Bond Girl
    * The Cut Sex Scene of Bond and Vesper reinstated in Casino Royale
    * Releasing the original Goldeneye 64 on Wii and Xbox 360
    * a video game with Timothy, Lazenby or Moore


  • Posts: 501
    Well there's so many isn't there, but let's start anyway



    #4 Allowing Moore to stay on when he should of retired from the role say after For Your Eyes Only, i.e Roger- 'I want to do some more Bond films', -No, Mr Moore, that simply isn't possible' etc, Octopussy and View To A Kill would of been so much better with someone else


    After Moonraker Moore's contract was over, and he didn't want to apeare in another bond film, but the producers and director convinced him. With Octopussy, again, he was cast the last, because he didn't want to do it again, but again, the producers thought that bringing a new Bond having to fight against Sean Connery's Bond, NSNA, was too risky. The same happened with A View To A Kill, they convinced him, although he didn't want to play the role again, and in fact, he said he didn't like how he played Bond in AVTAK. So he never said 'I want to do some more Bond Films'.
  • Posts: 172
    SaintMark wrote:
    Not so much a missed opportunity but a missed disaster.

    That's debatable my friend, since Bean give good performance in Goldeneye, i truly believe Sean Bean actually can be a good Bond. Brosnan's last three actually is the real disaster
    SaintMark wrote:
    I honestly believe that without the lighter Brosnan there would not have been any need for a Craig simply because the franchise would stalled.

    if Brosnan's fifth come to reality, i believe the franchise would stalled
    SaintMark wrote:
    The franchise looks more like a balancing act than some fanboys really want to accept, while they want gritty the general paying audience want fun and escapism.

    Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace proof general paying audience ALSO want gritty approach beside fun escapism.
  • 002002
    Posts: 581
    and we all know that Qantum of Solace payed off....we ended up with a hiatus like with Licence to Kill...
  • Posts: 11,189
    I don't know about Bean as Bond. Possibly, possibly not. Great as Trevelyan though.

    Personally I never thought of him as Bond until I came on to this website. That said its well known he was a potential contender at the time.
  • edited March 2012 Posts: 11,189
    [/quote]
    Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace proof general paying audience ALSO want gritty approach beside fun escapism [/quote]

    QoS made a lot of money because it was a follow up to one of the best movies in the series - it was bound to be a huge hit. The reviews it received however were extremely mixed.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited March 2012 Posts: 12,480
    Kennon wrote:
    Miles Davis doing a score for a b/w Bond directed by Polanski or Truffaut with Jeremy Brett as Bond and Catherine Deneuve.

    That sounds awesome! Pretty creative, Kennon.

    and for me, among other things I will think of shortly - Monica Belluci as a main Bond girl, Dalton in one more (AVTAK would be have the way to go there, I think), Pierce's fifth with a truly good script, and Daniel Day Lewis as a main villain.
  • edited March 2012 Posts: 11,189
    As much as I love CR I do think its a shame Pierce didn't do a fifth (final) film. A long time ago people actually liked him.

    I maintain that one of the reasons he's hated now is because DAD was his final film. Not to mention the messy way he left.
  • Posts: 172
    002 wrote:
    and we all know that Qantum of Solace payed off....we ended up with a hiatus like with Licence to Kill...

    QOS and LTK were not the reason the franchise got hiatus

  • Posts: 11,189
    002 wrote:
    and we all know that Qantum of Solace payed off....we ended up with a hiatus like with Licence to Kill...

    Both LTK and QoS are (arguably) inferior follow-ups to superior films. However unlike LTK QoS did extremely well at the box office. It is funny that problems followed both films that affected subsequent productions. I think that's just a coincidence though.
  • Posts: 1,082
    I´d say Brosnan not doing a fifth film in 2004 was the biggest shame. Dalton also could have done one or two more during the hiatus.
  • DB5DB5
    Posts: 408
    I think the biggest mistake was choosing to make YOLT after TB instead of OHMSS. Connery probably would have enjoyed the development of the Bond character offered in OHMSS, and maybe would have stayed around for a few more films.
  • Posts: 5,634
    I think Connery was maybe done after Thunderball but it's an interesting idea. Lazenby did OHMSS, some view it as a Bond classic and in hindsight I don't mind George in that release, he wasn't the big failure that some make out
  • Daltons in OHMSS (the seriousness is right up his alley.)
    Get a good follow up and revenge with Dalton in DAF.
    Rachel Weisz being a Bind girl (though I guess she actually is in many ways) :)
  • I think MR could have been much better, even with the outer space elements. I know I'm one of the few (maybe the only one) who likes Bond's journey into space. I like Drax's plan, the laser dual, and Bond and Holly's chase of the three destructive globes. Remove Jaws completely from the film, take out all the lame attempts at humor (double-taking pigeons, people falling in the water etc.) and you would have have an exciting, quality film. The special effects are great. I'll take model work and blue screens used in MR over all the CGI crap from DAD any day of the week.
  • Posts: 11,189
    I know this is a bit controversial but Brosnan not doing a final (good) film is a shame. Had he left on a better note I suspect he'd be more fondly remembered today.
  • Posts: 5,634
    If had not been for the advent of Star Wars before it, James Bond would never have even gone into orbit

    The laser finale just looks trite to an extent, stupid even, this is James Bond damn it, not some absurd galactic shoot 'em up, I'll always feel some resentment towards it

    Get rid of Chiles from the picture, Get rid of Kiel also, neither were needed

    The Saint Marks Square, Venice sequence is simply embarrassing for anyone out of diapers

    @BAIN123 Not really controversial. I do feel Brosnan was past in by 2002 but had DAD been different we may well remember him in a different light. If Only Brosnan had left after TWINE, that would of been a perfect stand down even if some think it was a bit premature



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