Reporting For Duty
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Categories
In this Discussion
Signed_By_RogerMoore's Bond Blog Thread
Dear all
With the permission of @DarthDimi, I am creating a thread which will be primarily to publish online reviews/articles I write about the Bond universe. Subject matter will be mixed and though some articles may belong in existing threads, I will use this thread just to publish them. Feedback and discussion on my ideas and writings will be greatly welcomed and appreciated and the thread will be used (I hope) to discuss what I write.
I will try to publish an article a week on Bond issues and if anyone has any article ideas you want me to write, I would be happy to oblige.
Thank you all
With the permission of @DarthDimi, I am creating a thread which will be primarily to publish online reviews/articles I write about the Bond universe. Subject matter will be mixed and though some articles may belong in existing threads, I will use this thread just to publish them. Feedback and discussion on my ideas and writings will be greatly welcomed and appreciated and the thread will be used (I hope) to discuss what I write.
I will try to publish an article a week on Bond issues and if anyone has any article ideas you want me to write, I would be happy to oblige.
Thank you all
^ 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
25th of December. Christmas Day. The season to be jolly, a time to wish goodwill to all men. A time where friends celebrate the past year, where families come together and exchange gifts and tokens of love and affection. As a child, it is the best time of the year, full of great food and toys, complimented by the unstoppable hum of laughter and excitement. But on Christmas Day 1993, that wasn't the case in a house in London. Behind a blue door, a five year old child was unhappy. No one would play with him, his sisters only wanting to play with there Barbie dolls and draw crude paintings of what were apparently Disney princes. Huffing and Puffing round the house, this little boy was in no mood to do anything apart from ride his bike round the leaf strewn streets of Inner City London. He was certainly in no mood to sit watching television, especially when there were no cartoons. His Dad and his Grandad were sat, chilled, relaxed, in contrasting mood to the little boy. His Grandad scooped him up, trying to calm down. "Watch this, then we can play games".
The little boy looked to the screen. It wasn't Alice in Wonderland, the film he had watched just 24 hours before. Far from it. He saw a man driving a bus, being chased by several police cars. This was luck as the little boy was obsessed with buses and vehicles with sirens so immediately fell silent. He watched for a few seconds more (or was it minutes?) to see that same bus have it's top deck being knocked off by a low bridge. The little boy was stunned. As a five year old, he had never seen anything like it. He was so impressed, struck with how cool it was. Amazed so much, he immediately asked my Dad to rewind it (VHS, the 'good' old days). He watched it three times before his Dad and Grandad got bored and promised him that "there's more like it". He laid with his hands propping up his head, just a few inches from the screen. He was mesmerised, dazzled by what he saw.
As you may have guessed, that bratty boy watching Live and Let Die was me and 25th December 1993 was the day I first met James Bond and the day I fell in love with a character and a set of movies that I continue to enjoy today. The impact of that scene (and the crocodile scene later on in the film) on my life cannot be understated. It gave me access to a world of action, a world of adventure, a world where good always defeats evil and where a suave, good looking, brave, strong man not only gets the girl but always saves the day in the best places in the world using the most advance of technologies. Once it is a world you have peered into, it's hard to forget. Trying to forget Bond must be like Dorothy trying to forget Oz, with all it's colour and appeal, it's escape from a bland, bad world.
James Bond, 007, licensed to kill is our cinematic friend. We watch the films and read the books and we all want to be like him. Growing up as an adolescent, I wanted to be James Bond so bad. Saving the world and getting the girl, it was all I wanted. I think I watched a Bond movie once a week even (at times) once a day. I slaved in my house and got myself a paper round, all to earn money to save up and buy, one at a time, the Bond films on DVD. I remember the anticipation of completing the collection to have the James Bond logo complete on the DVD sleeves, ripping open the plastic wrapping of Die Another Day to switch the covers and the anxious wait for the release of The Living Daylights (anyone remember the issues with regards to the DVD release?).
The Bond movies are 22 (soon to be 23) masterpieces. We on this forum and other like minded websites argue the finer points, analysing each aspect of each film, pitting one film against the other. It's what we do and who we are. I can argue that Moore is better than Connery, that Octopussy is better than Casino Royale and Ernst Stavro Blofeld is a better villain than Auric Goldfinger all day long (and that's the fun of this forum, it's a never ending debate fuelled by passion and insight). Ultimately though, I love them all. I wouldn't change a thing about them because for 50 years, they have kept audiences entertained and have given people dreams that wouldn't have happened if Ian Fleming hadn't put pen to paper. Without a shadow of a doubt, I have no embarrassment or shame in declaring that they are my 22 favourite films. Dr No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man With The Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View To A Kill, The Living Daylights, Licence To Kill, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace. Read that list again, savour every film in that list. Every film brings back a memory, making me smile when I remember a line, a character, a stunt, a gadget, an action set piece. I remember each time I lost my 'virginity' with each movie. Watching Live and Let Die that fateful Christmas day, sneaking in as underage kid to see The World Is Not Enough. My favourite one has to be taping A View To A Kill when I was on holiday and waking up at 5am to watch it for the first time. It's been a guilty pleasure ever since.
What has given me most satisfaction over the years is introducing people to the world of James Bond, to the films of Connery, Lazenby, Moore and Dalton. Having a James Bond sleepover with mates when I was 15, I remember there faces when they saw Bond ski off the mountain in The Spy Who Loved Me...I can still here my friend say "Wow, F*** me!", breaking the silence that had filled the room. I can recall watching my first Bond film with each of my girlfriends. Some were bored (them relationships didn't last!), some were interested (one was particularly fascinated by You Only Live Twice). What they all respected was the lure of the series and of Bond. Films like Slumdog Millionaire and The Artist may have won Oscars and received acclaim from critics but they are not loved and respected by audiences the world over like James Bond is. James Bond is a cultural phenomenon who has defined a nation and it's cinema to some extent over the past 50 years. Anyone questioning this has only to look at the opening of the Olympics and 007 escorting her Majesty to the opening ceremony. No one else could have done that, turning the Queen into the ultimate Bond girl.
Bond, James Bond may be 50 years old. But there's plenty of life in the series yet. New technologies and, sadly, new geopolitical situations such as 9/11 mean that anything is still possible in a Bond movie. Like a faithful dog, Bond is there every time we have a hard day, every time we need a pick me up in new and exciting ways. It's not just the movies. Forums such as this are greats to make the fan base bigger and to exchange ideas regarding the series. Though we may not agree, we are members of a club, a club with one goal: to celebrate everything to do with James Bond. Though I have never met any of you nor will I likely to, you are all my friends, we are all the same, each in love with the same person and the same movies and I relish debating with you and cherish the conversations and discussions.
And to think, I owe it all to being a brat that Christmas Day.
It was a 'test' article and I hope to cover a range of Bond related issues/reviews/topics in the coming weeks.
@myworldisenough Certainly those Christmas Day Bond films were a highlight for many people (was informed my family used to fit dinner around the scheduling in the 1980's). A magical time in some respect, and I guess with Home Media such as VHS and DVD, the magic is lost slightly.
@PeterGreenhill I am jealous! I would love to have been alive to seen each film on the big screen.
Progress isn't always a good thing, especially in the sense of romanticism. We take for granted the opportunity to over analyse the films. My father and grandfather probably saw each film a handful of times over a couple of decades. Now, I can watch a film everynight. It's good...but loses it's sense of magic I think
Great blog btw.