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Build your own legacy
Monsieur_Aubergine
Top of the Eiffel Tower with a fly in my soup!
With 50 years of Bond fast approaching take time to reflect and imagine yourself as cubby, Harry, barbara or MGW and come up with the top 5 decisions in any aspect of the legacy that you would have made that may have changed the franchise as we know it purely for your own satisfaction. Over to you.
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1. Kept Terrence Young as director for as long as possible. Guy Hamilton steered off course in Goldfinger. Thunderball went back to the film franchise origins, but from YOLT on (except for OHMSS), gagdets became too involved. Plus, the early 70s wasn't exactly known as the Golden Age of Bond. I honestly don't believe Hamilton ever watched OHMSS or read any of the novels. This seque's to my second one.
2. Kept George Lazenby on for at least for DAF. Let's face it, DAF is Connery spoofing himself. At least with Lazenby in DAF, the revenge of Tracy's death would have been a lot more meaningful.
3. Reversed the release order of FYEO and OP, and signed Dalton from FYEO-GE. OP belongs to Moore. Had OP as Moore's swan song and brought in Dalton for FYEO. Imagine Dalton in FYEO. I think it would have been even better. At least we would have avoided the grandpa stigma for FYEO and AVTAK. GE was written with Dalton in mind.
4. Got someone other than A-ha to do The Living Daylights theme. While it's acutally a good theme song, A-ha and John Barry alledgedly didn't work well together. This caused Barry to leave the franchise. The franchise would have at least had him for LTK. The LTK soundtracked suffered from Barry's absense. Other than GE and maybe CR, I don't think we've had a good soundtrack since.
5. Lose Lee Tamadori's and Madonna's phone numbers. Enough said.
Otherwise, I think things turned out all right.
Mine are pretty much all concentrated on the music since I'd say that's what I'm most passionate about.
1. Go with John Barry's "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" as sung by Dionne Warwick for Thunderball rather than "Thunderball" sung by Tom Jones.
2. While I would have loved to see Timothy Dalton in GoldenEye, I would have also loved to see Sean Bean as Bond. I also think with him cast as Bond, the tone of the Brosnan films would have been a lot more different and closer to Dalton's Bond.
3. I enjoy watching the movie, but I wish Quantum of Solace had more time in its creative stages, particularly the development of the story and writing of the script. I know the 2007-2008 Writer's strike played a role in this, but I say always have a back up plan rather than just rushing to finish something. I know I'm generalizing here, but I'm sure you get the idea I'm attempting to convey.
4. Also, on Quantum of Solace, I would have steered away from attempting to copy the "Bourne" style of fighting and cutting in the editing room. It just doesn't ring true to Bond in my opinion. I'm not saying to just use masters for the scenes, but rather to be more creative and invent something new. Something that hasn't been seen before.
5. Lastly, also about QoS, I definitely would have preferred "No Good About Goodbye" as sung by Shirley Bassey over "Another Way To Die." I don't have too strong of a dislike towards the latter, but you can't deny the tingling sensation one would get on the hairs of their skin had they gone with Bassey doing what she does best for the title sequence. And as to not totally abandon the former, the Jack White written song could have played at the end credits after the Bond theme. I never really understood the enthusiasm for "Crawl, End Crawl" by Four Tet.
Well, those are my 5. On to the next car of the train.
#2 - would've held off on Moonraker, and done FYEO as originally planned in '79..... I'm not sure how much different the story would've been - I would've tried to keep it close to the same..... but the reason FYEO works so well, at least for me, is because of the film it followed....
#3 - I would've tried to keep the plot of Moonraker more in line with the novel... the idea of hijacked missile defense system used to attack the country it's meant to defend would've been an excellent spectacle - especially during those particular years in Moore's career.... but if I had to go the space route with MR's plot, then I would not have gone into space at all... i would've left on the earth, with the final battle taking place in Drax's shuttle launching headquarters - and had Drax killed off by the booster flames of one of his own rockets...
#4 - i would've let Moore retire gracefully with Octopussy, and brought Dalton in with AVTAK, with a little tweaking to the script to fit his style, and minus Tanya Roberts..
#5 - DAD should never have happened..... period.
#2 - FOR YOUR EYES ONLY would have been Roger Moore's final Bond film. Timothy Dalton would have picked up the role for OCTOPUSSY and A VIEW TO A KILL. Both these films would be changed dramatically, and would have been more in the vein of THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS than the campy films that they are now. Dalton would have gotten a fifth film as well, tentatively called YEAR OF THE SPY, which would be loosely based on 007 IN NEW YORK, and would involve him hunting down a Soviet spy ring in Manhattan.
#3 - I would have used Anthony Burgess' script for THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (instead of the final script that was approved) in an attempt to reinvigorate the series after the train wreck that was THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN. This would give way to attempts to attract the highest-quality talent in cast and crew. THE SPY WHO LOVED ME would be followed by a proper adaptation of MOONRAKER, with unused elements of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN mixed in.
#4 - Pierce Brosnan would have been given a series of films that would have been more representative of his ability as an actor. GOLDENEYE would be untouched, but TOMORROW NEVER DIES would get serious re-writes and minor re-writes a few casting changes (*cough*Denise Richards!*cough*) would be made to THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, which would subsequently become a high point for the series.
#5 - DIE ANOTHER DAY would remain exactly as it is. I believe that it is the poor film that we had to endure, and that its failure was a leading cause in the reboot that gave us CASINO ROYALE, which is one of the best films in the franchise.
1. I would Not cast Roger Moore as Bond, he is too old!
2. Dalton should take over after Sean, and Connery should have done a least one film with proper adaptation should have done OHMSS
3. Proper adaptation of Moonraker and Live and Let Die with only some minor changes
4. QOS, I think it was too short and fast. GOod movie but fast paced and we dont need that
5. Fired the writers that wrote DAD and TWINE, and get new fresh writers, and hire some good directors. Fired the composer and get a famous one
#2 - I would have forced Lazenby to star in all of the 70's Bond films.
#3 - I would then have fired Lazenby and hired Dalton for all of the 80's Bond films, which would not have the input of Michael G. Wilson nor the direction of John Glen.
#4 - AVTAK, TND, and DAD would never have been made.
#5 - I would never have rebooted the series, and Clive Owen would be playing Bond today.
Their plot revolved around turning people into walking bio-weapons, implanting them with devices that would release nerve agents through their skin when activated. World leaders could buy a repreive from having the devices activated in their cities by performing embarrassing acts: the Royal Family had to parade naked through the streets of London, the Pope had to paint over the frescoes in the Sistene Chapel, the American President had to wipe his backside with the Declaration of Independence and the Russian President had to masturbate on live television. If they did so, their countires would be spared. Bond gets put on the case and ends up disarming the people with acupuncture needles.
However, Burgess' script never came to be because of the legal status surrounding SPECTRE. Dozens of scripts were actually commissioned for the film, but most have been lost. Eventually, the re-tread of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE was made.
Elements of this came up in the original DIE ANOTHER DAY draft where cities were held to ransom and had until sunrise to pay up. The villain used a device called "Solaris" (which eventually became "Icarus" when George Clooney appeared in a film called SOLARIS, also released in 2002) that would detonate a bomb when it was exposed to sunlight. The Solaris device would be moved around to make it harder to stop. The idea was abandoned when EON realised that most of the film would simply involve Bond chasing after Solaris with no time to investigate the villain's plot because of the time limit.
2- In combination with (1), considering that YOLT would have likely been a far superior film, depending on Connery's views on the matter, either make OHMSS/DAF with him or keep Lazenby for both flicks. This implies that DAF would have been a far different film about avenging Tracy's death. (1) also implies that TMWGG and TSWLM would have been a far different and far superior film with Young at the helm, no casting of the incompetent and untalented Barbara Bach no doubt.
3- As transition to a new director came through, there would have been an option to jump directly to Timothy Dalton in the early late 70s or early 80s. Roger Moore would still have been a part of the series for LALD up to TSWLM, maybe Moonraker, passing the torch to a young Dalton for FYEO.
4- Keep John Barry as long as possible, and never ever hire this fraud of a "composer" David Arnold and his cheap pop-ish electronic sounds. Barry could have continued up to LTK or GE, passing the torch to someone worth mentioning, there are many choices here, the key would have been not to carry someone who didn't work out more than a flick.
5- As Dalton would have been Bond for an extended period, films like FYEO, OP, AVTAK, and GE would have been far superior films with a far superior actor capable of portraying real emotions, not something out of an American Soap Opera like the Young and The Restless. Obviously John Glenn would not have directed any of those, but one thing is for sure, Martin Campbell would have remained after GE. Just imagine it, Sean Bean along side an actor who can actually carry his weight, GE would have been fantastic.
6- That goes without saying, Purvis and Wade would never have touched, thought, or whispered anything related to Bond.
7- After Dalton, there would have been a few options for another great Bond actor. A young James Purefoy could have been cast, or a young Clive Owen evidently. This would imply no painful pain-faces, no over-acting, no dreadful TND, TWINE or DAD. Martin Campbell would have directed proper spy flicks, no Tamawhore-i no reboot, no Craig. With Purefoy or Owen at the helm, the Franchise would now be looking into a replacement within the next few years, just like it is now with Craig.
2) Moore is still Bond, but he doesn't overstay his welcome and retires with dignity.
3) Dalton takes over sooner rather than later and instead of A View to a Kill in 1985, a faithful adaptation of Diamonds are Forever is done instead. It's a real shame that Dalton never got to do a fully fledged Bond novel to work with.
4) Regarding Brosnan, the 6 year hiatus still happens because let's face it, the series was tired out by the late 80s and spending more time on a potentially great Bond film is alot better than rushing a film that would more than likely be disastrous. Anyway, the 6 year hiatus still happens and Brosnan is still cast, but his Bond portrayal is alot more consistent between films and Die Another Day doesn't happen. Instead, a much better film is released and Brosnan has his swag song on a much higher note.
5) Even if I could see everything fine and people exaggerate a fair amount, the editing in Quantum of Solace is alot more tight.
#2 The Bonds - The Bond actors are thus: William Franklyn (1958-1962), Richard Johnson (1964-1972), David Warbeck (1974-1988), Timothy Dalton (1990-1998), Nathaniel Parker (2000-2004) & Matthew Marsden (2006-). Marsden possibly making his 4th and final film in 2012, with James D'Arcy being the frontrunner replacement for 2014.
#3 The fall and rise of 007 - OHMSS, YOLT & TMWTGG are kept in their proper literary chronological order and filmed during the Warbeck era.
#4 Re.. what? - Bond is never rebooted. That kind of bandwagon jumping is not used for this Bond series.
#5 To the sin bin - Tamawhore-i, P&W, Arnold, Forster etc... never step foot within 100 miles of a Bond film.
I know I have cheated on some of those. :-"
2) Michael Giacchino replaces David Arnold in TND, TWINE, DAD, CR, QOS, B23.
3) Liam Neeson plays Bond from 1995 to 2010
4) Neeson gets to do a proper adaptation of MR (but name changes, as the 1979 MR still happened)
5) Michael Fassbender takes over in 2012 - NO REBOOTS !!
Good call on Nathaniel Parker.
2. Pay any amount to hold Connery through OHMSS and into DAF. It is the only thing that would make OHMSS better, it would have set up a much better and more serious DAF to be his swansong. Besides, they ended up filling the check anyway. (Not to discredit Lazenby. I still highly enjoy him in his film, and he very much made it HIS film.)
3. Let Moore be his own Bond, and stop him at a fifth film, Octopussy. LALD and TMWTGG could only benefit from Moore being broken of the mold of his predecessor. Then Leave FYEO and AVTAK for Dalton to pick up on, and follow through TND.
4. Bring Natalya back from GE and into TND as Mrs. Carver in Dalton's swan song. This is probably the most brilliant almost-happened-but-didn't continuity in the entire franchise. It would connect Dalton's last two, and if they treated her death and the rest of the film in a similar vein to LTK, TND would probably be the DAF we never got, and maybe even the #1 film of the franchise.
5. Henry Caville or someone younger in CR. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Craig in the role. But CR was NOT the film for him. Yes it's great, maybe the best film we've gotten. But the bottom line is that he is too old. It doesn't distract you in the film, but two films later and the vibe of his era is still unclear. A younger actor in CR would be able to take the 'new guy' act through his hole tenure, and we'd truly be able to see a young Bond grow into his role, both figuratively in the films, and literally with the actor. Save Craig for later, or save CR for a younger Bond.
I have a feeling these will be very controversial to a few.
I absolutely agree!! One of the most maddening things for me about the Bond series is that other than connery or lazenby each actor they have cast as Bond has been at least 38 at the opening of his first film (RM was 46 TD was 42, PB was 43 and DC was 38), whereas Fleming's Bond is said to be 35-39 and the mandatory retirement age for 00's is 45. This gives all of them a cushion of about two films before they look too damn old for this s**t. I think if they cast a younger actor (28-32) he could grow into himself and have a solid five films before the whispers for someone new start.
*not hiding my fandom for Tim well here....*