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Reading up on it just now the BBC were going to scrap it too in January 2020 but after complaints they decided to suspend their decision, literally at the eleventh hour. I'm a Teletext/Ceefax fan so I'm glad they've still kept something over from that older pre-Internet analogue world that's faded away! :)
That's why that sort of time-set character (almost in amber) can't be easily transported to the 2020s without major changes to the character that, were they to be enacted, would make one wonder whether the project was worth the candle. Just like the largely Victorian creation Sherlock Holmes entering into the Jazz Age or World War II, perhaps that original literary James Bond can't be supplanted so far into our modern world without losing virtually everything that made him distinctive and of his time, warts and all. I see it as an admission of defeat on the part of IFP that they have since 2005 largely focused on period-set adventures, be they Young Bond or 1950s and 1960s set adult Bond novels.
Jeffery Deaver's Carte Blanche (2011) was the one beacon of contemporary-set Bond in this sea of period-set adventures over the last 16 years. Presumably disappointing sales, like Colonel Sun before it, accounted for IFP stopping dead in their tracks with that approach and doubling down on producing period-set adventures instead. The commissioning of this new "Bondless" Double O series, albeit in a contemporary setting, seems to confirm the fact that IFP believe that Fleming's literary Bond is an uneasy fit for the modern world the film character seamlessly inhabits.
But also I loved Carte Blanche I was talking to a friend of mine in all seriousness the world is scary and dark I want to see a Bond deal with the issues
I tend to think that the period thing is just because the writers they hire (who are big names, don’t forget; and with that comes a certain amount of creative control) just wanted to do that.
I don’t think this Sherwood series is any kind of reaction to the Bond character himself not being able to fit in the present day, because there’s a really popular film series which says otherwise. I think they’re probably just trying to grow the brand a bit, nothing more sinister.
But he's become that because Fleming made him so up to the minute contemporary, and I love it.
I do think it's tricky to bring the literary Bond up to date, because there are so many parts of his life that have disappeared. People don't dine at their clubs any more, or have housekeepers, so it's harder to imagine his domestic setup between missions. Does Bond put out his recycling bins? I can't picture it.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/nov/05/the-names-not-bond-where-next-for-007-no-time-to-die-kim-sherwood?fbclid=IwAR29Z0I9PRzJugQXTl71FbFs5vLEq0DTVuqMPmIwSA9wfAwrK7Kd_1N-Ux0
I guess this idea is interesting, but like I've said with doing Felix Leiter standalone stories or films/series, we watch or read these for James Bond. He's unique and we know and look forward to where his adventures take us and the supporting characters are just that. Rounding them out won't necessarily make them more interesting, a less is more case. We'll see, but I'm anticipating an Agents of Mi6 similar to Marvel's Agents of SHIELD.
I still wouldn’t rule out Alec Trevelyan in one way or another. Maybe he’s the mole in MI6.
A film character appearing in the literary Bond world? Sacrilege!
Can we say that Fleming already did this by including Ursula Andress in OHMSS? I suppose that is a bit different... ;)
Yes, there was the odd limited crossover with the films in Fleming's novels towards the end but for some reason I don't feel it's appropriate the other way around. The film Bond gets enough exposure without leaching into the literary Bond world as well. Just my thoughts as a Fleming purist.
The trick is whether they have permission to use EON related materials. If not, 006 might as well be renamed, or it’ll be different traitorous 00.
Well Gardner did a lot of bending around to make GoldenEye fit his continuity: didn't Bond have to be demoted to Commander or something? Plus don't forget he had Felix maimed for a second time in LTK! :D
I've never heard of the Mawdsley name ever having anything to do with Eon, I've always assumed it's a Benson invention.
He obviously can't be the same guy, born in 1920/21, as in the Fleming/Horowitz-timeline. I've never read the continuations, other than Deaver and Horowitz. Do they do the thing from the films, where Bond is just perpetually between 35 and 45? Or does he age?
Anyway, if for this they set him up to be, let's say 50 in 2022, so born in 1972, they could then try and position some prequels to that timeline as future novels with Bond as the main character that don't have to dance around the exact words of the Fleming canon but also don't have to go extremely current with it.
On the other hand, I am thinking in a way to "comic book universe"-way about this. If you have to spend 5 minutes explaining the timeline implications of a Bond novel, you have probably greenlit the wrong pitch.
Yes, that's right. Gardner did age him slightly. He's meant to be 50 or in his 50s by the time Licence Renewed (1981) begins. Gardner also tells us that he's greying at the temples slightly which is fair enough. So you could say some subtle aging was done to the character. However, this didn't stop one criric from writing a review of Licence Renewed entitled "Bond at 70"(!)
You're also right in that while Gardner was given the brief to bring Bond into the 1980s having acquired the knowledge and tradecraft he would in the intervening years, Benson was briefed to bring his novels in line with the Brosnan Bond films as much as possible.
Kinda surprised there hasn’t been a Leiter novel. He’s already had his own comic book.
Side note: while reading the Felix Leiter comic books, I had sometimes the impression that Robinson was more interested in telling a Tiger Tanaka story. I wouldn't be against more products about Tiger (novel, comics, anything). Of all the Bond characters, this is, IMO, the one that has the characteristics best suited for a spin-off.
Minor NTTD Plot Spoilers: