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I've been one of those claiming, "oh, we never used to get spoilers in the good old pre-internet days"...and I'm certainly not changing my tune generally on that topic... BUT! It occurs to me that in one sense I've mis-remembered the reality of what I did know and when did I know it when I saw my very first Bond films on the Big Screen. So: with the need to set the record straight on the subject of spoilers, return with me now to those thrilling days of yesteryear...circa 1966 or so, when young BSE managed to see a triple bill of Thunderball (at that time the current Bond film) followed by Dr. No and Goldfinger (in that order of play) one very long Saturday afternoon.
As I've mentioned earlier, I'd been made very well aware of Bond by commercials on television, articles on the Bond phenomenon in newspapers and magazines, and repeated playings of the theme songs to Goldfinger and Thunderball on the radio. I'd seen the television special "The Incredible World of James Bond" ...and at the age of 12 I was frankly uncertain when I would be considered mature enough to actually SEE a Bond film in person. (My family seldom went out to movies. I'd seen a few Disney films on my own, plus -- of course -- Help! and A Hard Days' Night. But this was somewhat different territory.)
Finally, the impetus of 3 Bond films in one afternoon was too much to resist. I asked my parents for their permission to go...plus a ride to and from the theater. I may or may not have even gotten the entrance fee plus a few shekels for popcorn from them. I don't really remember that part...I had a paper route in those days and may very well have paid the fare myself. But my memory is clear: I finally saw my first Bond film(s) on that long-ago day. However, I must now admit that I DID have the benefit of one source of previously-undisclosed spoiler information on the plots of those films.
And that source of information was........ bubble gum cards. Trading cards, with a black & white photo on one side of the card and a prose description of the action it depicted on the other side... sold five random cards to a pack along with some brick-hard slabs of pink bubble gum. And if one bought enough packs of these cards, and arranged them in sequential order, one could determine the plots of the four different movies that had been filmed and released by that time. I seldom bothered to chew the bubble gum, mind you, but by that time I had developed a habit of picking up some trading cards at a local market on the way home from school most every day. Baseball cards... Beatles cards... Batman cards...... just don't ask me about Mars Attacks cards. Oooh, those were not well received by my parents at all, I'll tell you that for free!
So, let the record be clear: I did not see my first three 007 films that blessed Saturday afternoon totally without the advance information received courtesy of those trading cards. Of course, that was how we did things back then. Don't follow my bad example... No spoilers here, not now, thanks very much! But if you have a mint set of Mars Attacks cards you'd like to unload cheap, well -- you know where to find me....
if you could amass a complete collection, the cards told you the entire story of each movie up through Thunderball. So yeah, as spoilers go, it was pretty thoroughly spoilerish.
hahaha epic, you'd collect your own comic-Bond together (I have the comic version of For Your Eyes Only somewhere, something that wouldn't sell with modern films I guess).
Marvel's first two issues of "Star Wars" came out before the movie hit theater screens. In my mind, the level of fan excitement for the SW storyline before the film was actually released, was largely generated by the Marvel Comics adaptation. Once the fans started lining up in front of theaters for hours before the doors opened to let the audience in, a phenomenon was born. I don't see the two issues released before the film opened as spoilers -- I see them as preparing the audience to be interested in the movie.
Just a bit later, Marvel had a two issue adaptation of the Eon 007 film, For Your Eyes Only. My memory is that one issue was released before the film came out, and one issue after it hit the screens. (I could be wrong there, but that's the way I remember it.) Again, no big deal was made about any spoilers.
But in 1980, Marvel released a Special Edition adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back. This was a full adaptation of the entire movie... and if you will remember, there is a *BIG* surprise plot twist around the end of this film. ("Luke... I am your *Big Spoiler 20 Years After the Fact*!") Comics at that time were trucked from the printer to the distributors, and then released to the various stores...and stores in the East Coast of the USA routinely got their books several days before those on the West Coast.
By this time, I was working for a comic book distributor -- and a few days before we received our copies of the ESB adaptation -- about a week or so before the movie was scheduled for release -- I got a phone call from the Home Offices. Had we gotten our copies of ESB yet? No. Then BY ALL MEANS, when we received them the boxes containing these magazines were NOT to be opened -- by anyone. They were NOT to be distributed to any of our customers, regardless of who they were or how much clout they might hold. It seems that Mark Hamill had been hanging around the streets of New York City the previous weekend... had bopped into a comic book store on a whim... and had seen the ESB adaptation there on the stands, revealing the BIG SPOILER to anyone who cared, about a week before the film was set to be released. Mark had gotten on the phone to George Lucas and George had gotten on the phone to his lawyers and the lawyers had gotten on the phone to Marvel... and I guess you can guess the rest. The genie couldn't exactly be put back into the bottle, but it was surely going to be prevented from escaping from as many bottles as possible.
Nobody (in any official capacity) had any problem with spoilers before that. (Promotion is a GOOD thing. It puts the fannies in the seats. What more need be said?) But after that, spoilers were routinely a thing to be avoided for many movie adaptations. We put our copies of the Marvel Comics Octopussy adaptation in Super Secret Hidden Storage for a couple of weeks a few years later and nobody argued about the practice.
Is that a good thing for the frenchise as a whole? Are we as fan overly sensitive to 'spoilers'?
So the plot was spoiled way ahead, and you still wanted to go and see the film? I find it an interesting thought that nobody used to care about it. Still, perhaps there's a huge difference between seeing the video material and knowing the plot?
I think we're planning on remaining spoiler-free for awhile yet. Personally, I enjoy watching the trailers before the films are released -- as far as I'm concerned, if Eon is okay with us seeing this stuff before we get to the film itself, then I'm okay with it too. But this is definitely a film that should be approached spoiler-free if at all possible. I'll just say that I really, really liked NTTD and I thought it was a great finish for the Craig era. James Bond Will Return and I look forward to seeing where the franchise goes next!
Thanks for NOT writing anything about NTTD yet. But then this thread will go full bore reviews, analysis, and chat on all things No Time To Die. B-)
But this thread will open up sooner.
That would be interesting to know.
This song has been on my mind recently, especially with the discussions regarding hero stories that this forum engenders... the lyrics "just like a paperback novel, the kind the drug store sells" always brought the Signet editions of the Bond books up for me back when this song was first released. I'm a bit of a newsstand junkie and back in the day, you couldn't pass a drug store paperback book rack without seeing a few copies of "Goldfinger" or "From Russia With Love" on the stands.
Great song. Underrated singer/songwriter. Could've done a potential Bond theme.
My town had 3-4 local bookshops called Readmore that I grew up with. Always the place to get the latest comics, magazines, paperbacks, food, greeting cards and on and on. They indeed carried copies of the Bond novels. Not sure about the original Signets as they were before my time, but when I became a big Bond fan they carried whatever the publisher that had the rights around 1980 or so with a more modern-looking Bond depicted. I also recall the one Readmore I didn't frequent as often had copies of the Christopher Wood novelizations on its racks. I could slap myself for not buying a couple of copies of those to put back at the time, but I was just then getting into Bond and barely 13.
Readmore finally closed up shop in 1999. Our mall's bookstores left about a decade later. Today, my town doesn't have any bookstore. You have to go to a chain store like Walmart, Kroger or Meijer for magazines or books. We had a ninja store and still have a frisbee golf store but no book stores. Kinda' speaks to the times.
The Bennster isn't an original afak. He became a father somewhere during the '00's, and I'm quite sure he's not an 'old dad'.
Anyway, good to know when this thread opens up for NTTD. I hope I'll be able to see it next tuesday, but I'll refrain from visiting this site anyway from now on, so I have no accidental run-ins with too big a spoilers.
this Friday, October 22nd. And NOT before then, please
We will start with First Impressions From Originals
We welcome comments from all members, absolutely - but we are targeting participation of the older fans as our base - those who saw a Sean Connery Bond film in the theater during its initial run. Mine was Diamonds Are Forever; which is the last qualifying film to be considered an "Original" on this thread.
Full reviews of the film will be done after first impressions noted.
Here is a helpful explainer about this thread. It is different from all the others on this forum and its previous content is often golden.
Our founder, SirHenry, from his first post explained why he started this thread. Folks reading since 2013 till now missed out on the in depth discussions from older members and I heartily recommend going to the beginning of this thread. So many fine reviews and discussions to enjoy. Here is how SirHenry opened this place up:
(Bolding is mine, not SirHenry's)
*******
This one is dedicated to the fans on this Forum who saw their first Bond movie starring Sean Connery in the theater. Fans who saw OHMSS as their first Bond movie in the theater can also join in, as you no doubt saw the Connery films as well during that time. The point of the thread is that it is geared largely to those of us around 50 and older who were the original fans of Bond and have witnessed the changes of lead actor and general direction over the years.
First up, let's find out exactly how many of us there are here. I know of a few of us like OHMSS69, Very Bond, sir seanisbond, and of course Bill who wrote the "Bond Unmasked" book, etc, but there are probably others. So if this fits you, stand up and be counted! We can all suggest various topics, Bond or not, and have some fun giving our views on them. I'll start thinking about my experiences over the years, and hopefully the younger generation of fans will enjoy and learn from what we have seen and done.
*******
So that was SirHenry laying out this thread. If you have questions, please feel free to DM me.
If you think you qualify as an Original, please say so and why (note the film and year you saw the Connery Film in the theater; or OHMSS in the theater - initial run of these movies) and welcome aboard!
Gather together here, Originals from past years and newly found Originals today ~
Starting this Friday - it's No Time To Die
Cheers! B-)
I have a busy week, but I am sure I can get my initiial impressions sorted. My full review will take longer. I hope to see NTTD a 4th time this coming weekend (if possible).
When we do our full review, we'll use the established format from previous Originals reviews. Of course I'll give examples of that, in detail.
But first impressions are fun, insightful, and good to write down as they may change over repeated viewings. Certainly, I gained more insight and picked up on nuances and dialog better on my 2nd and 3rd trip to the theater for NTTD. But I am eager to read Originals' first impressions. We won't spend a whole week on that; just a few days. B-)
Starting this Friday! #007 #Originals #FirstImpressions #NTTD
This thread & gathering place is now open for:
First Impressions of No Time To Die.
If you are an older fan, and we mean not just from the 1980s - harken back to Sean Connery. If you saw Sean or George Lazenby in the cinema during the initial run of their Bond films, then you qualify as an Original for this thread.
I'm asking all Originals to take a moment and please give us your first impressions about No Time To Die. Not full review yet. (We will use the previous format for that, in less than a week). But for the next several days (giving all Originals a chance to get on here) please jump in and share your opinion about this latest James Bond movie.
NOTE: By now, many of you have already written quite a bit on other threads. If you have a paragraph or two that expresses your thoughts very well, please feel free to copy/paste it here - and add another sentence or two. If you've written a book on it already, I don't want to you feel like you have to sweat out all that typing again. But I do want Originals' opinions here. So we can chat as a group and discuss maybe points about NTTD.
All other members, who do not qualify as Originals, are VERY welcome to jump in and share your first impressions of No Time To Die also. I just want to make sure the older fans are here - they are our core, our foundation.
Helpful Hint: If you are new to this thread, have joined since 2013 and not looked at the back pages here - please take a few minutes to check out the early pages and reviews. SirHenry and other Originals shared quite a lot of really interesting chat. He added tons of background info after we had done our full review of each film.
And a key point about this thread is the tone: We are here to share, with humor and grace and respect, our thoughts about all things Bond ... but we do not allow mean spirited snark, putting down of other members, or the constant tit for tat arguing, trying to make others' see your own brilliant point of view over and over again ... none of that for this thread.
:)>-
We are here to share, with respect; to reminisce, give our perspective and interpretation, and have fun with each other as lifelong comrades in Bond. James Bond.
Who shall return ...
Cheers! :-bd
Keep scrolling down through the page I have linked below - a ton of trivia and background info, and you can look on that page or the ones next to it to get a flavor of the kind of discussions this thread was built upon.
I hope this link works, as it took me a very long time to get to it (I don't know any easy way to search threads, just click on the pg number ...) Anyway, enjoy! I chose this page because it is on Casino Royale, which certainly is apt as we start our discussion on Daniel Craig's final film, No Time To Die.
A look at Casino Royale
https://www.mi6community.com/discussion/3341/sirhenryleechachings-for-original-fans-put-daniel-craig-into-a-previous-bond-film/p62
That puts us in frame of mind to remember Daniel's Bond starting out ... and all these years later, we are now musing on No Time To Die; this Bond completing his journey.
So please join us! Through the next several days, drop by here with your initial impressions of No Time To Die All members welcome - and dear Originals, you especially matter here. Yes, considerably. B-)