The "Gardnerisation" of James Bond [1981-1996]

Dragonpol

What 'winds of change' do you think that John Gardner introduced to the literary James Bond universe between 1981 and 1996. Here are my thoughts on the matter, which I have termed 'The Gardnerisation of James Bond':

1. The disbandment of the Double-O Section in 1979
2. The cut-backs on James Bond's smoking and drinking habits in the 1970s
3. James Bond is in his 50s - hair greying at the temples etc.
4. James Bond Junior element - daughters of Felix Leiter and Ernst Stavro Blofeld in For Special Services. The Special Section with 007 as the sole member - piossibly illegal organisation?
6. The promotion of Commander James Bond RNVR to Captain James Bond in Win, Lose or Die (1989)
7. Drinks tea (Brokenclaw) and beer, both of which Fleming's Bond abhorred!
8. More real-life intelligence world across the board - reaching its peak in The Man From Barbarossa (1991)
9. James Bond cast more in the role of a police detective - Scorpius, WLOD and Never Send Flowers
10. More experimental a la TSWLM and QoS in Fleming's time - see Brokenclaw, The Man From Barbarossa, Scorpius, WLOD, Never Send Flowers and COLD/Cold Fall
11. Replacement of Special Section with the Two Zeros Section and government overseer MicroGlobe One - replacement of old M with female M.
12. Bond's new pasttimes - watching videos, jazz music, visiting Disney World, Orlando
13. Euro Disney used as a location in Never Send Flowers - pisstake or for real?
14. Less of exercise regims/new fads and favouites
15. Different 'knowing' relationship with M.
16. Bigger, more action-oriented role for Chief of Staff, Bill Tanner
17. Love interest near to marriage - Fredericka "Flicka" von Grusse
18. James Bond defending real-life people - Scorpius, WLOD and Never Send Flowers
19. MI5 and MI6 cast at loggerheads - more HUMINT role than in the Fleming books
20. More real-life scenarios - presient plots - see Licence Renewed, For Special Services, Scorpius, WLOD, The Man From Barbarossa, Never Send Flowers, COLD
21. More low-key Euro-villains/criminals wanting to benefit out of the Cold War - some Flemingesque exceptions in Vladimir Scorpius/Father Valentine, Brokenclaw Lee, David Dragonpol and Sir Max Tarn.
22. More of a Special Forces Bondian background for James Bond and Bill Tanner - SAS training etc.

These are some of my thoughts on this - anyone got any more examples of the Gardnerisation of James Bond?

Agent007391

Does anybody but me think that Bond was actually somewhat smarter in the Gardner novels than the Fleming books? It just seemed to me that the Gardner Bond would have never made the mistakes the Fleming Bond made.

chrisisall

I'll let you know when I start reading them!

Villiers53

Congratulations Dragonpol, you are a real Gardner expert and your 22 examples are extremely pertinent and when taken together substantiate that he achieved a totally credible 1980s reboot (something that Jeffrey Deaver completely failed to do with "CB") whilst maintaining the ethos of the character (something that Faulkes failed miserably with in "DMC").
I remember my culpable excitement when, in 1981, I payed £6.50 for my beautifully jacketed CAPE 1st edition of "Licence Renewed". I'd missed the pre-launch publicity and stumbled across a huge display of the Richard Chopping covered novels in a local store and completed the fastest impulse purchase in literary history. One of my favourite all time authors had come together with my all time favourite hero.I couldn't wait to get home to read it. In fact I may have read the first chapter as I was leaving the shop!
I was not to be disappointed. Gardner had maintained the master's high old tone but gave us a 007 fit for purpose in Thatcher's 1980s Britain.
Bond's first outing under JC's stewardship was entirely credible and in my opinion, he maintained a good standard for his first five adventures.
After that, for whatever reason ( boredom, health issues)? The project went down hill and what followed was fare from Gardner's best work.
That said, John Gardner was a great writer (Oakes, Kruger, Moriarty et all) and he deserves to be remembered as the man who "rebooted" Bond for a new era. Something that Higson and Westbrook have done for the spinoffs but something that is yet to be repeated for our adult Bond.
Will Boyd will pull it off ? After the DMC & CB debacle IFP have a lot riding on him.

Dragonpol

Villiers53 wrote:

Congratulations Dragonpol, you are a real Gardner expert and your 22 examples are extremely pertinent and when taken together substantiate that he achieved a totally credible 1980s reboot (something that Jeffrey Deaver completely failed to do with "CB") whilst maintaining the ethos of the character (something that Faulkes failed miserably with in "DMC").
I remember my culpable excitement when, in 1981, I payed £6.50 for my beautifully jacketed CAPE 1st edition of "Licence Renewed". I'd missed the pre-launch publicity and stumbled across a huge display of the Richard Chopping covered novels in a local store and completed the fastest impulse purchase in literary history. One of my favourite all time authors had come together with my all time favourite hero.I couldn't wait to get home to read it. In fact I may have read the first chapter as I was leaving the shop!
I was not to be disappointed. Gardner had maintained the master's high old tone but gave us a 007 fit for purpose in Thatcher's 1980s Britain.
Bond's first outing under JC's stewardship was entirely credible and in my opinion, he maintained a good standard for his first five adventures.
After that, for whatever reason ( boredom, health issues)? The project went down hill and what followed was fare from Gardner's best work.
That said, John Gardner was a great writer (Oakes, Kruger, Moriarty et all) and he deserves to be remembered as the man who "rebooted" Bond for a new era. Something that Higson and Westbrook have done for the spinoffs but something that is yet to be repeated for our adult Bond.
Will Boyd will pull it off ? After the DMC & CB debacle IFP have a lot riding on him.

Yes, thank you. I like the controversial aspects of the John Gardner books - see The Bondologist Blog for more details... http://www.thebondologistblog.blogspot.co.uk/

I also agree regarding Faulks and Deaver - they've certainly shown how difficult the task of writing a post-Fleming Bond continuation really is and what a great story crafter the criminally underrated John Gardner really was. I think Boyd will deliver on this occasion!