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I haven't read them but from what I can tell, the purpose here would be to adapt a good series of books.
They could make a one off TV series and still make the films. In fact I don't see how it'd affect the film series at all.
By that logic why make the computer games? Why carry on the series at all, isn't 23 films more than enough really?
And here we go with the ridiculous comparisons. This reminds me of the posters who say stupid stuff like "what's next, a white guy playing a slave?!" when the topic of a black Bond is bought up.
A one off mini series based on a handful of well received books is in no way similar to any of those things you mentioned. Although for the record, I wouldn't mind a Blofeld origin story.
But the more spin-off material you put out - not in written form but as a TV series or movies - the more your franchise begins to smell of Lucasian greed. Of course I put the ridiculous comparisons in there because unfortunately, that's how it goes. If one spin-off proves successful, greedy people will only dig deeper and produce more ridiculous content. Take Terminator. Two good films and lots of comic books wasn't enough. They gave us more sequels in the movie canon plus a television series in an alternative Cameron movie canon. Next they released material assembled from the Salvation video game as an animated feature, the Machinima series! Now they're working on a reboot, no doubt with more extra product planned.
Of course I have the choice to not mind and just stick with the stuff I like. But when you have a certain love for a franchise, you hate to see it inflict so many wounds on itself.
Another argument I'd like to bring up is that MP and Q were never much more than superficial characters; formula fillers with only a minor few truly pivotal moments throughout the films. Nothing in the Fleming books or the movies shows any sign that there's any back-story of interest for these characters. So someone has to do a lot of plotting to give us something interesting since there isn't the least bit of stuff in the Fleming vault to tie it to. James Bond was never about this kind of myth or world building. We move from story to story without relying too much on continuity or even consistency for that matter. Unlike the Star Trek or Batman universes, most Bond adventures are fairly stand-alone adventures. I wonder in what way spin-off series can contribute to the already loosely interconnected Bond universe?
Lastly, I haven't even too big a problem with this MP TV series suggestion. I'm told the MP diaries are good books and I intend to read them myself one day. But hardly a few hours after this topic was brought up again, someone suggested a Q book series. Not a single book for fun, mind, but a serious Q book series. How could that even work? What does one put into such a book series? Thomas Harris can hardly piece together four decent Hannibal Lecter stories and now we should get a book series on the funny quartermaster of the Bond films? Which Q will it be modelled on? The Wisham Q, thereby throwing off all those Bond fans who will cry blasphemy over the memory of dear Desmond Llewellyn? Or the Llewellyn Q, thereby blasting this thing immediately out of continuity with the current films? You see where the ridiculous comparisons come from? ;-)
I'm sorry I can't see this thing work. Bond isn't like Superman or The Avengers. In the land of superhero comics, you can take even the most insignificant character and pull him into his very own comic series. But the James Bond books/films have so much to offer already, why then should we - and I use the word again - dilute the series further. Also, I do see this interfere with the films as I can't see EON selling parts of their property to other studios. They'd have to occupy themselves with all these things at once and in the mean time produce a good Bond film, which is ultimately what we expect.
That said, I'm not going Rambo over this. I simply can't see it work and I say so. I used ridicule to make a point, but it's nothing too serious really. Plus, I like the debate. ;-)
From a literary perspective, I thought Samantha Weinberg's Moneypenny Diaries were absolutely genius and had huge unisex appeal. A significant part of that appeal was the story being uncovered and related by Moneypenny's niece, Kate Westbrook. That aspect of things should be maintained and personally, I'd be in favour of a high quality period adaptation that remained completely faithful to the books and which had the phenomenal production values of 'Cambridge Spies'.
I'm surprised IFP & EON haven't got together and discussed both this and the 'Young Bond' franchise. It wouldn't step on anybody's toes and would be additional revenue for both parties.
Sign me up for "Oddjob Goes to Camp".
Except that it was pretty obvious that she was Moneypenny, I did like the idea.
She just needs to be cast as a Bond girl. Period.
If you want to see the extensive role of a secretary in MI6, watch The Sandbaggers. The secretaries are not the main characters, but they have their time in the spotlight. Quite interesting actually, but the series is a quasi-documentary that takes the exact opposite road to the Bond movies.
Read the books, this would be a period piece with some real world politics thrown in. Hardly a competition for the movie series.
If this is what House of Cards turns out to be in some magical twist of fate and logic, then I'll allow it.
I have other books to read, and plenty of them. And I prefer to read Fleming than his pastiches, which I don't care for. Period piece or not, it would be distracting.
I found the Moneypenny diaries easily the best Non-Fleming books when it comes to the world of 007. Well worth your time and surprisingly good to read as the story is partially situated in the Fleming years.