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John Cleese as Q/R

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  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    edited July 2016 Posts: 7,226
    Loved him as Q. The Q scene in DAD is one of those scenes I did enjoy, despite the overall result.

    Actually hoped for him to come back.
  • jake24jake24 Sitting at your desk, kissing your lover, eating supper with your familyModerator
    Posts: 10,592
    GoldenGun wrote: »
    Loved him as Q. The Q scene in DAD is one of those scenes I did enjoy, despite the overall result.

    Actually hoped for him to come back.
    He did reprise himself in Everything or Nothing, so at least we got to see him for penultimate time.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    That s true. They have all worked very well.

    Peter Burton? Competent in the role is the best praise I can offer.

    As for Cleese thought he was awful in TWINE (although I think he was only following the script and direction) and decent in DAD.

    You have to feel sorry for him - playing Q for 20 years might have helped him out with his alimony payments but Tamahori killed that golden goose for him just as he killed Pierce's Bond career.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Peter Burton was more Fleming s character.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Cleese as Q was a parody. He was crap.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    Peter Burton was more Fleming s character.

    Agreed.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    suavejmf wrote: »
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    Peter Burton was more Fleming s character.

    Agreed.

    Well only in the sense the character of Boothroyd only ever appears in DN.

    If you were to swap Burton and Desmond round in DN and FRWL you'd then say Desmond was more like Fleming's character.

    It's only from GF onwards where the Q character took on a life of its own outside of the books. Desmond in FRWL plays it no different to Burton before him.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Also true. Only from GF onwards did we get the EON amalgamation of QBranch and Boothroyd.
  • RevelatorRevelator
    edited July 2016 Posts: 2,922
    Cleese had to work with very broad, substandard gags in TWINE, and the role as Q's bumbling assistant didn't fit someone whose comedic persona is that of an authority figure. He was better served in DAD and was able to exploit his snarky, sarcastic side ("You know, you're cleverer than you look." "Better than looking cleverer than you are.") and returned to the usual Bond-Q antagonism. Cleese has spoken highly of Brosnan, and the two had an obvious rapport onscreen. That would not have been the case with Craig, whose films had a far more solemn tone. Incidentally, Wizard will be glad to know that Cleese has finished paying off his alimony.

    "Q" was never an actual character in the books: Fleming only devised "the Armorer," not the Quartermaster, and we only hear of "Q Branch," not "Q." The Armorer is introduced as "the greatest small-arms expert in the world" and not as a gadget-master. There is no evidence linking Boothroyd with Q Branch. Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz had a debate about this issue, with Mankiewicz arguing that Q and Boothroyd were separate characters. Maibaum argued otherwise--since he wrote the later drafts of TMWTGG and TSWLM, he prevailed by merging Q with Boothroyd in those films. But he was wrong. A rare instance of Mankiewicz being more faithful to Fleming!
  • MyNameIsMyBondRnMyNameIsMyBondRn WhereYouLeastExpectMeToBe
    Posts: 221
    Revelator wrote: »
    Cleese had to work with very broad, substandard gags in TWINE, and the role as Q's bumbling assistant didn't fit someone whose comedic persona is that of an authority figure. He was better served in DAD and was able to exploit his snarky, sarcastic side ("You know, you're cleverer than you look." "Better than looking cleverer than you are.") and returned to the usual Bond-Q antagonism. Cleese has spoken highly of Brosnan, and the two had an obvious rapport onscreen. That would not have been the case with Craig, whose films had a far more solemn tone. Incidentally, Wizard will be glad to know that Cleese has finished paying off his alimony.

    "Q" was never an actual character in the books: Fleming only devised "the Armorer," not the Quartermaster, and we only hear of "Q Branch," not "Q." The Armorer is introduced as "the greatest small-arms expert in the world" and not as a gadget-master. There is no evidence linking Boothroyd with Q Branch. Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz had a debate about this issue, with Mankiewicz arguing that Q and Boothroyd were separate characters. Maibaum argued otherwise--since he wrote the final drafts of TMWTGG and TSWLM, he prevailed by merging Q with Boothroyd in those films. But he was wrong. A rare instance of Mankiewicz being more faithful to Fleming!

    It All Started As 'Bric-a-Brac' and ended up as "Q"...All for the reason of Visual Effects..and the rest is Movie History-Charlie Chaplin Style..!
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    Revelator wrote: »
    "Q" was never an actual character in the books: Fleming only devised "the Armorer," not the Quartermaster, and we only hear of "Q Branch," not "Q."

    A popular misnomer.

    There are two references that I am aware of to 'Q' rather than 'Q Branch'.

    In CR M says to Bond 'Have a talk to Q about rooms and trains and any equipment you want' and in LALD M also says to Bond 'Then get some new skin grafted over the back of that hand. Q will put you on to the best man'.

    Now of course you might argue that M is just abbreviating 'Q Branch' to 'Q' but equally he may well be talking about the Quartermaster.
    From the quotes above his brief seems fairly wide reaching sorting out hotels and travel but also, crucially, equipment.

    However I do think you are right that Boothroyd the armourer seems to be a different character until TSWLM.

    Had Maibaum not done this we could have had Boothroyd played by Burton and Q played by Desmond and both being totally different characters.

  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Makes sense that the Quartermaster would have the same responsibility as aboard a ship. Stowing the hold, so to speak. Being in charge of equipment. Not so much rations, perhaps.
  • MyNameIsMyBondRnMyNameIsMyBondRn WhereYouLeastExpectMeToBe
    Posts: 221
    "Q" is a 'Military Head Quarter Master Supplier'-around 1940 they held Lieutnant' rank and file..not Major-(Boothroyd)-Fleming gave the advisor of the Beretta Bond used a recognition with a higher rank and file...(the person told Fleming that the beretta was a womans arm..)..!
  • thelivingroyalethelivingroyale
    edited July 2016 Posts: 12,837
    Revelator wrote: »
    Cleese had to work with very broad, substandard gags in TWINE, and the role as Q's bumbling assistant didn't fit someone whose comedic persona is that of an authority figure. He was better served in DAD and was able to exploit his snarky, sarcastic side ("You know, you're cleverer than you look." "Better than looking cleverer than you are.") and returned to the usual Bond-Q antagonism. Cleese has spoken highly of Brosnan, and the two had an obvious rapport onscreen. That would not have been the case with Craig, whose films had a far more solemn tone. Incidentally, Wizard will be glad to know that Cleese has finished paying off his alimony.

    That basically sums it up for me as well. Really liked Cleese as Q in DAD, similar to Desmond but more sarcastic and snarky towards Bond than just grumpy and disapproving. I agree with those who say that Q has never been miscast. Wishaw is fantastic (I can't believe how skeptical I was before SF came out) and I hope he stays on, reboot or not (I think Fiennes and Harris should leave with Craig though, as his era will likely be its own stand alone thing and too many actors carrying over could get confusing). He could and should play Q for a long long time.

    The R thing reminds me that at one stage it looked like Q would be retired with Desmond. Cleese was introduced as R in TWINE and in Agent Under Fire (video game that came out between TWINE and DAD, the first bit of cinematic Bond media since Desmond's passing) the character was referred to as R. Now Cleese wasn't in the game (he did the adverts for it though so I'm not sure why) but that does make it seem like they weren't sure whether or not if the Q title would be passed on after Desmond. I think it probably would have come back with Wishaw in the reboot though even if they hadn't used it for Cleese.
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