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The Lost Adventures of James Bond

coco1997coco1997
in Literary 007 Posts: 128
https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Adventures-James-Bond-Forgotten/dp/173546161X/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2B1GW6CXKM120&dchild=1&keywords=lost+adventures+of+james+bond&qid=1605805912&sprefix=lost+adven,aps,168&sr=8-2

Has anyone gotten this book yet? I'm curious just how much truly new information about the lost early '90s Bond films it contains.

Comments

  • Escalus5Escalus5
    edited November 2020 Posts: 628
    Yes, I have the book.

    The author includes summaries of the Bond 17 story treatment by Alfonse Ruggiero & Michael Wilson (which is already available from a number of sources) and the screenplay loosely based on that treatment by William Osborne & William Davies. Also included are interviews with Ruggiero and Osborne.

    Richard Smith's Reunion with Death treatment (which was analyzed in an issue of MI6 Confidential and on the James Bond Complex podcast) is summarized as well.

    Not '90s Bond, but there are interesting interviews with John Landis and Cary Bates about their work writing material for THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and MOONRAKER, respectively, and a look at the early version of THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS that had Bond as a young agent.

    It's a decent book and worth getting, although the only "new" stuff pertaining to '90s Bond is the summary of the Osborne/Davies script and the interviews (there's another good interview with Nicholas Meyer where he talks about his writer's roundtable pitch for TND).
  • ManyLives007ManyLives007 NYC
    Posts: 15
    Thanks so much for asking about the book! I think it's INCREDIBLE, but I might be biased. Full disclosure, I wrote it.

    There's a lot of new material about Dalton's third and fourth Bond, as well as an alternate first Bond film. There’s even a little info on an alternate second Bond film. I try to dispel certain myths and put existing information in a new context. I think I bring (or at least I tried to bring) new information forward and extend the conversation. So even if you’ve read or listened to everything out there, I believe you will discover a lot of new material.

    I don't think anyone has secured an interview with Alfonse Ruggiero about writing Bond 17. It's one of the highlights of the book. He explains their intentions and talks about the writing process. He also discussed alt. titles and addresses if the film would have been called Property of a Lady.

    I also briefly touch on two spin-off films in the Brosnan era. (It's super brief but still worth noting.) Landis talks about working on THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and Carey Bates talks MOONRAKER (and clarifies why people mistakenly think he was a writer on SWLM).

    But the book isn't just about the Bond films. I also look at Bond novels, video games, comic books, radio dramas, etc.

    I look at the Dark Horse comics run and find out how those unfinished stories would have ended and look at planned sequels for the comic book series.

    I report on an unmade Dynamite comic sequel to James Bond Origins.

    I solve the literary mystery of who wrote The Adventures of James Bond Junior.

    Few more other topics:
    • An interview with Toby Stephens about playing 007 on the radio
    • Maibaum's Bond essays
    • Raymond Benson about his novels and his unproduced Bond play
    • Bond theme-park ride
    • "Lost" Never Say Never theme song

    I also take a deep dive into James Bond Jr., with interviews with the co-creator, co-director, and many writers on the show. Oh, and the lyricist too. I also interview the writers of the tie-in books and novelizations.

    There are 3 appendixes. In one, I attempt to list every actor who has played Bond. I come up with more than 30. In another, I tried to list the titles of every Bond film, novel, short story, comic book, video game, etc.

    Anyway, I hope you check out the book.

  • Risico007Risico007
    Posts: 9,847
    i am sorry what is Reunion with death?
  • ManyLives007ManyLives007 NYC
    Posts: 15
    Good question! Reunion with Death could have been the fourth Dalton film.
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,634
    ManyLives007 wrote: »
    Thanks so much for asking about the book! I think it's INCREDIBLE, but I might be biased. Full disclosure, I wrote it.

    There's a lot of new material about Dalton's third and fourth Bond, as well as an alternate first Bond film. There’s even a little info on an alternate second Bond film. I try to dispel certain myths and put existing information in a new context. I think I bring (or at least I tried to bring) new information forward and extend the conversation. So even if you’ve read or listened to everything out there, I believe you will discover a lot of new material.

    I don't think anyone has secured an interview with Alfonse Ruggiero about writing Bond 17. It's one of the highlights of the book. He explains their intentions and talks about the writing process. He also discussed alt. titles and addresses if the film would have been called Property of a Lady.

    I also briefly touch on two spin-off films in the Brosnan era. (It's super brief but still worth noting.) Landis talks about working on THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and Carey Bates talks MOONRAKER (and clarifies why people mistakenly think he was a writer on SWLM).

    But the book isn't just about the Bond films. I also look at Bond novels, video games, comic books, radio dramas, etc.

    I look at the Dark Horse comics run and find out how those unfinished stories would have ended and look at planned sequels for the comic book series.

    I report on an unmade Dynamite comic sequel to James Bond Origins.

    I solve the literary mystery of who wrote The Adventures of James Bond Junior.

    Few more other topics:
    • An interview with Toby Stephens about playing 007 on the radio
    • Maibaum's Bond essays
    • Raymond Benson about his novels and his unproduced Bond play
    • Bond theme-park ride
    • "Lost" Never Say Never theme song

    I also take a deep dive into James Bond Jr., with interviews with the co-creator, co-director, and many writers on the show. Oh, and the lyricist too. I also interview the writers of the tie-in books and novelizations.

    There are 3 appendixes. In one, I attempt to list every actor who has played Bond. I come up with more than 30. In another, I tried to list the titles of every Bond film, novel, short story, comic book, video game, etc.

    Anyway, I hope you check out the book.

    I am interested in what you have in store for us. Should be a nice Christmas present!
  • ManyLives007ManyLives007 NYC
    Posts: 15
    That is very nice of you to say! I hope Santa doesn't disappoint!
  • ChriskarrChriskarr Spain
    Posts: 46
    I have the book and only can say that's Amazing. The first book that explains writting process of Bond 17 in 1990.
    Maybe this script https://propstoreauction.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/26/lot/3381/JAMES-BOND-BOND-17-Draft-Screenplay was written by Alfonse ruggiero and michael wilson?
  • ManyLives007ManyLives007 NYC
    Posts: 15
    Chriskarr --- that's great news. I'm glad you are finding something of value in it!
  • 007ClassicBondFan007ClassicBondFan
    edited December 2020 Posts: 2,270
    Just purchased the book for Kindle. Looking forward to reading it!
  • ManyLives007ManyLives007 NYC
    Posts: 15
    007ClassicBondFan -- That's wonderful! Thank you!
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,183
    I even pre-ordered the book and it arrived a few days ago. I'm really looking forward to reading it, which I presume I will be able to do this weekend or the next. I certainly appreciate the effort that went into writing it. I wish I had a book in me, so I applaud anyone who's actually an accomplished writer. Well done, @ManyLives007! I'd love to pick your nose for some technical details, just out of curiosity, but I'll probably drop you a pm for that. :)
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,413
    Escalus5 wrote: »
    Richard Smith's Reunion with Death treatment (which was analyzed in an issue of MI6 Confidential and on the James Bond Complex podcast) is summarized as well.

    I started to listen to this today; thanks for the tipoff. But not only is it a really tough listen (I just can't get through most Bond podcasts) but the script itself seems massively Bond-by-numbers stuff, he even starts taking bits from Living Daylights. Maybe it improves, I'm not sure, but I don't think we missed a classic
    :D
  • ManyLives007ManyLives007 NYC
    Posts: 15
    DarthDimi -- I'd be happy to answer any questions. Feel free to message me. (And thank you very much for pre-ordering the book!)

    MTM -- if you ever get a chance to read that chapter, I hope to change your mind. At least a little bit. Richard Smith made a valiant attempt to return to the Bond of the novels. Bond's secretary Loelia Ponsonby even makes an appearance.
  • ggl007ggl007 www.archivo007.com Spain, España
    Posts: 2,541
    We already did on twitter, but we want to publicly thank again @ManyLives007 for mention Archivo 007 in the acknowledgments page.

    Your book looks fantastic and I can assure you there'll be orders from Spain ;)
  • Escalus5Escalus5
    edited December 2020 Posts: 628
    mtm wrote: »
    Escalus5 wrote: »
    Richard Smith's Reunion with Death treatment (which was analyzed in an issue of MI6 Confidential and on the James Bond Complex podcast) is summarized as well.

    I started to listen to this today; thanks for the tipoff. But not only is it a really tough listen (I just can't get through most Bond podcasts) but the script itself seems massively Bond-by-numbers stuff, he even starts taking bits from Living Daylights. Maybe it improves, I'm not sure, but I don't think we missed a classic
    :D

    The episode is a bit long-winded. That particular podcast goes through every Bond novel and continuation novel chapter by chapter, so the hosts are known for taking their time and poring over every detail. I find it interesting, but it's not everyone's cup of tea.

    I agree, the story treatment isn't great -- seems like a mishmash of ideas from the films and novels with weird tonal shifts -- but the writer made an admirable attempt to do a (very loose) 90s spin on YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. I like the fight scene at the climax with the villain in samurai armor.

    I also enjoyed Smith's many references to the books: In one scene, Bond constructs a firearm from pieces of a laptop computer, a bit taken almost directly from Christopher Wood's novelization of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME. Also the use of a Takijiro Onishi poem (Onishi was Tiger Tanaka's military superior in the backstory of the YOLT novel).
    ManyLives007 wrote: »
    Bond's secretary Loelia Ponsonby even makes an appearance.

    Loelia also turns up in Michael France's GOLDENEYE, which was being written around the same time. I guess for a brief time EON wanted to bring that character into the film series and, in doing so, shift focus away from Moneypenny in the initial scenes.
  • Escalus5Escalus5
    Posts: 628
    I'll add that I urge everyone not to skip over Mark's interview with John Peel, who wrote the James Bond Jr. novelizations, even if you disliked the program. Peel has some fascinating anecdotes about writing those books, and you really get a sense of his frustration in trying to craft decent material out of subpar scripts. It's a terrific interview.
  • ManyLives007ManyLives007 NYC
    Posts: 15
    ggl007 -- I should be thanking you. Archivo 007 does an incredible job of preserving and celebrating Bond stories that might otherwise be lost.

    Thanks to Archivo 007 I was able to write about Zig-Zag's run of 59 Bond comics. Those include both faithful adaptations of Flemings novels and short stories as well as many more original stories. Such incredible work. Bond battles a Yetti, a bigfoot creature, and infiltrates a gang of crooks who dress up like bees and wear jet-packs.

    Escalus5 --- Thanks for the kind words about the Peel interview. As you know, he wrote 6 novelizations. Because they are out of print, they aren't necessarily part of the conversation about Bond literature.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,803
    Escalus5 wrote: »
    I'll add that I urge everyone not to skip over Mark's interview with John Peel, who wrote the James Bond Jr. novelizations, even if you disliked the program. Peel has some fascinating anecdotes about writing those books, and you really get a sense of his frustration in trying to craft decent material out of subpar scripts. It's a terrific interview.
    I want to quickly add John Peel is more well-known for his writing for Dr. Who, Star Trek, and his original material.

    He wrote the James Bond Jr books under the name John Vincent circa 1992, if anyone is searching them out.

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    And yes, yes I'm ordering my copy of The Lost Adventures of James Bond, very interesting material.

  • ManyLives007ManyLives007 NYC
    Posts: 15
    RichardTheBruce --- that's great. Thank you so much. I hope you get a kick out of the book.
  • w2bondw2bond is indeed a very rare breed
    Posts: 2,252
    Before I order this, can anyone tell me the differences in layout, paper quality, and other differences between the two covers? (The Dalton cover seems to only be available on Amazon)
  • ManyLives007ManyLives007 NYC
    Posts: 15
    w2bond. Thanks for the question. It's essentially the same book. There are very minor differences in content between the two. The Dalton one is slightly more updated. I'm able to tweak that slightly when a new Bond story comes out. But they are essentially the same book. I prefer the Dalton layout. But pick whatever version you prefer and is easiest to obtain. Hope that helps.
  • Herr_StockmannHerr_Stockmann
    edited January 21 Posts: 910
    Hello @ManyLives007 and congratulations on your new book. While waiting to read it, I had a question regarding your previous instalment: how did you select the unrealised or canceled projects that you wrote about? For example, you focused on Reunion With Death, but you choose not to mention Michael France's GoldenEye that was written a little earlier and that seems to have inspired certain choices by Richard Smith (I'm thinking in particular of the presence of Loelia Ponsonby). Another example I'm thinking about is Diamonds Are Forever and its earlier drafts, written back when Lazenby was set to return: what led you to deal with the lost adventures of Timothy Dalton rather than George Lazenby?

    The Lost Adventures of James Bond was an excellent and very enriching read, even for someone like me who already knew a lot about unmade Bond movies, but I was curious why you chose certain projects rather than others.
  • ManyLives007ManyLives007 NYC
    Posts: 15
    I'm really happy to hear you liked the book! Thanks for giving it a shot.

    Now to your question. It's a long and complicated answer so I'll write to keep it brief. The big target and goal was to bring out new information about Unmade Dalton. I was particularly interested in his Unmade Third Bond. During research, I found out about his Unmade Fourth and an alternate first.

    Reunion with Death was written Dalton in mind and future films largely didn't draw from it. With Michael France, Also, you could see the direct line from it to the GoldeneEye we know. Plus, I didn't think that I could add anything new to the conversation. But I did explore the subject in my research before deciding not to devote a chapter to it.

    For DAF, I'm still searching for that original script. Would love to get my hands on it.
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