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Barbra had this weird thing where she didnt want the Bond video games / toys to feature guns. Lego got around it by including an extra “exhaust piece” in the DB5 kit that doubled as a gun. For the games, I guess she relented on it in the end. But it is weird nevertheless.
To be honest I can sympathise with the gun thing with toys, even if just to avoid controversy in America alone. Video games not so much (they tend to be more for teens, often older ones, and beyond anyway).
Yes, her enthusiasm had gone. The fact she killed off her intellectual property is the evidence of little to no enthusiasm.
Consider this....
I doubt Lucasfilm would kill off Indiana Jones in one film then be motivated to reboot the franchise in the next film.
I doubt Warner Bros would kill off Harry Potter in one film then be motivated to reboot the franchise in the next film.
Everything that happened with NTTD is consistent with the outcome in 2025. Craig gone, Bond dead, Eon with no enthusiasm to continue = no development of Bond 26 = Amazon taking over.
And, of course, her obvious lack of enthusiasm to carry on would have been made stronger when Amazon offered the cash. it's very easy to go from "I'm kinda unsure if I want to carry on" to absolute conviction: "yes, I've had enough, I quit!" when Amazon are offering to pay you a billion dollars to quit. Kinda makes the decision a lot easier.
Indeed, and Spielberg had Indy ride into the sunset in the last film he intended to make with the character- it took 14 years for him to be persuaded to come back, and many people felt his heart wasn't in it when he did. Chris Nolan 'killed off'/retired Batman in his last film, and arguably had said all he had to say with that character. I don't think that, or Indy riding into the sunset, was a sign of lack of enthusiasm with the character while they were making those films: it was just the story they was telling at the time.
When I see folks slagging them off for that then the criticism of Dame Barbara will seem more balanced.
I can tell you, there is no "gun" toy problem in America. I know outlets like the Guardian and BBC like amplifying any problem because it's a national sport to turn your nose up at America. My point is it's not like they stopped selling Nerf or G.I. Joe in the toy aisles.
To be clear I don’t have an opinion on this either way. I’d side with the opinion toy guns don’t automatically turn kids into school shooters at least! But Bond is a very high profile franchise, much more so than GI Joe, so I can understand concerns that selling realistic looking toy guns in briefcases (so different to nerf guns) to children might not get the best press from everyone nowadays. On a slightly more personal level I sympathise with someone disliking kids playing with toy guns based on their own moral opinion of this. Where I come from with this is hearing anecdotes from my dad about my late Grandad who served as a young man in WW2. He disliked both his sons playing with toy guns or playing ‘soldiers’ or whatever because he thought it glamourised war I guess, rightly or wrongly. So like I said I can sympathise.
I am reminded of the old Nilsson song: "I can't live...if living is without yooooou!" She decided that she could not do another Bond film without Daniel in it. And so his suggestion that the character die in the end made perfect sense to her.
It actually all seems so sad and understandable, and adds an important para-textual element to the entire Craig era. She was secretly (and maybe not so secretly) in love with him.
That was my experience with Bond. Much more appealing as a 13 year old than as an 8 year old.
Were any of these Brosnan era toys sold and marketed in the USA, or was that just an international market thing? I used to watch endless hours of Nickelodeon, Fox Kids, and Kids WB programming I don’t remember seeing much of anything Bond related advertised on those children programming blocks on TV besides the inescapable GoldenEye 64 game.
We've talked all of these other issues (Bond's color, Campbell's age, "Is Barbara in love with Daniel?", "Who's responsible for killing Bond? Daniel, Barbara, Danny Boyle, Danny Partridge?") to death. I don't see any new perspectives on any of this, from any angle.
This is all just The Sun or some other tabloid looking for clickbait.
Unnecessary little rant there.
It's interesting that on some products there's been a version of the 007 logo without the gun part, I forgot what I've seen that on now; I think some shoes or trainers, maybe the sunglasses? I don't know if it's a choice of the brand owners or licensees, I guess the style guide probably has an option for either version. I suppose it makes sense if you don't want a little gun on your product, but it might purely be an aesthetic thing, who knows. It does make the logo taller so a designer might just use it to fit the available space better.
From memory I remember the gun-less 007 logo popping up a lot on the merch for DAD at the time too.
It’s something I thought of even when the sale was happening in 2021. Eon really used to depend on the product placement especially when MGM was having trouble with funds. With Amazon’s resources and Eon’s experience it would be a formidable force. Oh well!
Yeah maybe, they did apparently spend megabucks on that awful Christmas movie even though it didn't look it.
I must admit I quite like the product placement, which is a weird thing to admit! :) It sort of reminds me of how Fleming always went on about brand names in the books.