The 007 Timeline Discussion thread

24

Comments

  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Posts: 3,157
    Timeline 1:

    1962 to 2015:

    Craig
    Connery
    Lazenby
    Moore
    Dalton
    Brosnan

    it's so obvious really, and as continuity never played a role in the series, this is the proper timeline to watch the films.

    Then why doesn't Bond know Leiter or SPECTRE in Dr. No? And why does M say she misses Cold War if CR is set before movies such as Octopussy and The Living Daylights?
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,304
    Walecs wrote: »
    Timeline 1:

    1962 to 2015:

    Craig
    Connery
    Lazenby
    Moore
    Dalton
    Brosnan

    it's so obvious really, and as continuity never played a role in the series, this is the proper timeline to watch the films.

    Then why doesn't Bond know Leiter or SPECTRE in Dr. No? And why does M say she misses Cold War if CR is set before movies such as Octopussy and The Living Daylights?

    Stupid Mendes.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    You can put SP after DN and FRWL easily, it doesn't matter even as Connery also returned after Lazenby.

    I don't mind people fantasising about timelines and stuff, but personally I will never look at the Bond franchise with "timelines" in mind.

    Bond is not Star Trek, if you look for alternate timelines there you'll find a plenty.
  • At the very least, they started over with Casino Royale. New time line. New "fictional universe," whatever you want to call it.
  • Posts: 19,339
    I will always consider AVTAK as Bond's last mission,even with all the timelines etc etc,i will always watch AVTAK as 007's last battle..if you watch it with that in mind,it actually becomes a special Bond film.
  • Posts: 4,325
    barryt007 wrote: »
    I will always consider AVTAK as Bond's last mission,even with all the timelines etc etc,i will always watch AVTAK as 007's last battle..if you watch it with that in mind,it actually becomes a special Bond film.

    Given how old Bond is, perhaps it's not too hard to see it that way ...
  • Timeline discussion...

    DN-->DAD
    CR-->Ongoing

    Exactly.

    Hence I already took into account the two different main timelines in the Big Bond Poll @ClarkDevlin :-):

    http://www.mi6community.com/index.php?p=/discussion/16631/bond-polls-2016-the-top-10-james-bond-007-film-ranking-contest-results-winner-on-page-60#latest
    TzcRFqz.jpg

    Regarding the three unofficial screen adaptations.......I did want to take into account the production chronology. Hence I put them in the list like I did.

    But overall -if you check other Bond forums and IMDB forums- the above division in two main timelines is largely agreed upon.
  • JustJamesJustJames London
    Posts: 216
    Murdock wrote: »
    Timeline 1 (1962 to 1985) (Original Bond)
    Timeline 2 (1987 to 2002) (Younger Bond) TLD starts off with a training mission so it gives off a slight rebooted feel.
    Timeline 3 (2006 -)

    That makes nice sense. Slight problem with Dalton remembering being married. I think they should have gone to the Bond identity as a code name or role switched between agents when they rebooted to be honest...that way the relationship with Judi Dench M makes more sense. (There's an argument for doing that even sooner in TLD, but M is only really developed as an actual character once it's Dench.) ...and might have made the end of Skyfall less silly as we could have avoided dour Scotland scenes (nothing wrong with Scotland, but it felt....cheap.)
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    JustJames wrote: »
    Murdock wrote: »
    Timeline 1 (1962 to 1985) (Original Bond)
    Timeline 2 (1987 to 2002) (Younger Bond) TLD starts off with a training mission so it gives off a slight rebooted feel.
    Timeline 3 (2006 -)

    That makes nice sense. Slight problem with Dalton remembering being married. I think they should have gone to the Bond identity as a code name or role switched between agents when they rebooted to be honest...that way the relationship with Judi Dench M makes more sense. (There's an argument for doing that even sooner in TLD, but M is only really developed as an actual character once it's Dench.) ...and might have made the end of Skyfall less silly as we could have avoided dour Scotland scenes (nothing wrong with Scotland, but it felt....cheap.)

    Not exactly. Tim's/Pierce's Bond married Tracy in their timelines as well. OHMSS happened for them though we don't see it on screen obviously. No need for the Code Name theory.
  • Posts: 19,339
    The code name theory is yet another crap on Fleming's Bond....takes everything he wrote away from him and chucks it in the bin.
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,400
    I think Campbell can be credited for starting the "modern Bond" era with Goldeneye. The years between 89 and 95 had seen the advent of primitive CGI techniques, so we get a revamped, more modern title sequence. Also there is the more aggressive presence of political correctness, and a fresh new headquarters. So interestingly, assuming we don't get another film until 2019, the classical era (1962-1989) and the modern era (1995-2019) are now roughly the same length. Perhaps we will see the start of a new era in the near future.
  • Posts: 19,339
    I think we will @Mendes4Lyfe ...surely CraigBond has driven off into the sunset,and the story arc has closed.

    Best to bring a new Bond in ,start afresh again..my worry is they will wait until 2020 ,to start a new Bond in a new decade,especially with his 60th anniversary in 2022.
  • Posts: 352
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Timeline discussion...

    DN-->DAD
    CR-->Ongoing

    Spot on,thats how I see it...members have to try to avoid the dates the films were made,that only confuses the issue IMO.

    Does "ongoing" mean anything that happens after Casino Royale regardless? Just trying to clarify.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    @joshdeese93, we won't know that until the next actor takes over. For now, I'd say it was listed as "ongoing" because we aren't 100% sure if Craig is returning for a fifth or not.
  • edited March 2017 Posts: 352
    @creasy47 Thanks for the clarification!
  • Posts: 19,339
    Does anyone think,when Craig's timeline is over,that EON will revert to the original timeline or carry on in Craig's world with a new Bond.

    If they carry on then that means Tracy never existed and Bond never married,which is not right,as that is all part of Bond's history and Fleming's writing.
  • Posts: 9,847
    Ok let's discuss this

    Connery-Brosnan are all one time line loosely (I look at it like the events of the various batman comics they all fought Catwoman Joker Penguin but the when and how of the events uhm yeah )

    Craig- (whomever is the next bond and possibly the next actor after that) is a new time line

    end of discussion
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    Bond is not Star Trek, there are no time lines. End of discussion haha...

    Craig is in the same time line as Connery, he just came before. IF we want to time line the films, which imho is ridiculous and useless anyway.
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Posts: 3,157
    Bond is not Star Trek, there are no time lines. End of discussion haha...

    How can you say that? You don't have as many earth shattering proves as I do.
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,217
    Connery,Lazenby and Moore are in the same timeline; The Bond in Dr. No is the same as in A View to a Kill.

    Dalton and Brosnan are the same Bond and then there is Craig. Depending upon the age of his successor, his timeline can continue or a new one can begin with a younger actor.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    Walecs wrote: »
    Bond is not Star Trek, there are no time lines. End of discussion haha...

    How can you say that? You don't have as many earth shattering proves as I do.

    There is no evidence for neither theory. EON has always just violated continuity as they pleased. Craig being a sorts of Bond Begins was no different really.

    Biggest "proof" though that CR is not a new time line is Judi Dench of course.
    And saying she played two different characters is downright silly and clinging to an illusion.
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    edited June 2017 Posts: 8,217
    Dench is playing the same character in two different timelines. Is it confusing to some, yes, but silly no. The M in Brosnan's films is not the same M as in Craig's, even if played by the same actress.
    In theory, if Brosnan were to return in a one-off, Dench could also return because that M has not died.
  • Posts: 12,837
    I used to think it went Connery-Brosnan as oke universe and Craig's as another. Then I decided that Connery-Moore, Dalton-Brosnan, and the Craig films made more sense. But even then you get a lot of inconsistencies. The real answer of course is that the producers never gave a shit about continuity and we shouldn't either, but if we have to decide on clear timelines I think it's best to just take each actors era as its own thing, even if some events/backstory elements carry over.
    barryt007 wrote: »
    I will always consider AVTAK as Bond's last mission,even with all the timelines etc etc,i will always watch AVTAK as 007's last battle..if you watch it with that in mind,it actually becomes a special Bond film.

    I've felt this way for a while too and I'm not sure why. I think it's because of Moore's age and the sometimes melanchonic score (if you listen to Wine With Stacey, it's easy to imagine that playing over a scene of Bond deciding to retire). How about this as alternate ending to AVTAK: after the violence he's witnessed (the miners getting gunned down) Bond decides that he's had enough and he's too old. He turns Stacey down, and after one last visit to Tracy's grave, decides to take Moneypenny out for a drink. That's the end then TLD is a reboot. I think that would have been a great ending for Moore's version of Bond and Maxwell's moneypenny.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    edited June 2017 Posts: 15,423
    Don't look too much into it. It's Connery-Brosnan, and one reboot with Craig. That's all.

    The pre-Craig films focused on the hero that is. Bond and told the story of each mission in a standalone film, thus updating the character and the setting without having to give it much of a thought. The dates are discarded (like the one on Tracy's gravestone) and don't play important parts for the audience, unless you're a die-hard fan and like to look too much into it and nitpick, like the DB5 in Skyfall and the constant assumption of it being the same as the one acquired from Dimitrios. It's just there, take it for what it is.

    It's only the Craig films that started this tight continuity "relevance". It can be made to work out on many pasted ideas with a fan's creative mind. But, at the end of the day, it's just its own. If a film tells you the otherwise, then you can start thinking about it. If it doesn't, then it isn't.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    For me it's three seperate era's. It works for me.

    1. Connery/Lazenby/Moore.

    2. Dalton/Brosnan

    3. Craig
  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 9,509
    In DAD, a film I haven't watched in well over a decade, so I may be faulty about specifics, but:

    Bond, with Q, was looking at some of the gadgets from his past adventures, even smelling Klebb's shoe, if memory serves... So wouldn't that indicate that Bond is (loosely) the same man from Dr No to DAD?

    (even the reference about Tracy in LTK, would suppose that Dalton Bond was also in the original timeline)
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    Similar events happen but it's just a different universe. Think of the Tim Burton Batman movie and Nolan Batman movies. Bruce Wayne's parents die and he still becomes Batman but it's a different universe.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    edited June 2017 Posts: 15,423
    peter wrote: »
    In DAD, a film I haven't watched in well over a decade, so I may be faulty about specifics, but:

    Bond, with Q, was looking at some of the gadgets from his past adventures, even smelling Klebb's shoe, if memory serves... So wouldn't that indicate that Bond is (loosely) the same man from Dr No to DAD?

    (even the reference about Tracy in LTK, would suppose that Dalton Bond was also in the original timeline)

    Yep! Like I said, the pre-Craig films never "rebooted" Bond, never started a new timeline. They just move the timeline into newer settings. So, if Dr. No happened in 1962, with Brosnan, you're going to suppose it happened in 1982, or whatever. It just updates it, without coherence in detection of a continuity. It's all the same. There's no "old Bond", "young Bond" in either. The aging character debuted in the Craig timeline to certain given dates.
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,217
    Murdock wrote: »
    For me it's three seperate era's. It works for me.

    1. Connery/Lazenby/Moore.

    2. Dalton/Brosnan

    3. Craig

    You sir, are a wise man. ;)

  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    I have my moments. ;)
Sign In or Register to comment.