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Questions about "Moonraker"
I just finished watching this.
5 questions:
Where was Drax running to when Bond was chasing him? There was nothing there but an airlock into space?
http://www.imagebam.com/image/d7416e144186782
How did Bond knew Drax's Moonraker 5 had a laser on it?
When Jaws and his girlfriend were in that piece of the space station that broke apart and headed back to earth, shouldn't it had disintegrated when it reached Earth's atmosphere?
Even before that, shouldn't they both be dead from lack of oxygen and life support in there?
Also, Drax's ground crews that didn't get to go on the 6 shuttles, they were just left behind to die? Talk about job security!
It's funny one doesn't ask questions like this when one first watches it in 1979 at the age of 14!!
5 questions:
Where was Drax running to when Bond was chasing him? There was nothing there but an airlock into space?
http://www.imagebam.com/image/d7416e144186782
How did Bond knew Drax's Moonraker 5 had a laser on it?
When Jaws and his girlfriend were in that piece of the space station that broke apart and headed back to earth, shouldn't it had disintegrated when it reached Earth's atmosphere?
Even before that, shouldn't they both be dead from lack of oxygen and life support in there?
Also, Drax's ground crews that didn't get to go on the 6 shuttles, they were just left behind to die? Talk about job security!
It's funny one doesn't ask questions like this when one first watches it in 1979 at the age of 14!!
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Comments
He could of figured it out on the way up. HIS JAWS!! HE CAN'T DIE!!! AND DOLLY HAD THE KISS OF JAWS SO SHE CAN'T DIE!!! seriously any one got a better one...
Drax Didn't tell them
Now for @DaltonCraig with his original explanations
Good question. I just think he was running away from the deadly fuss. Must be one of those 'I don't care where I end up as long as it's far away from here' moments. Maybe he was planning to hide there and return to safer grounds when everything had calmed down.
How did Bond knew Drax's Moonraker 5 had a laser on it?
How did he know? Maybe Holly, who is in the position to know, told him off-screen. Maybe he observed it somehow. No doubt such a little bit of information can get to him during moments when we're occupied with other stuff.
When Jaws and his girlfriend were in that piece of the space station that broke apart and headed back to earth, shouldn't it had disintegrated when it reached Earth's atmosphere?
No. When the angle is right, you can safely return. There might have been a security program installed, which automatically directs this part back to Earth for a 'safe' landing in the ocean, in case something goes wrong. Remember, even smaller rocks from space sometimes land on our planet without being burnt up completely. But you're right, the chances are very small.
Even before that, shouldn't they both be dead from lack of oxygen and life support in there?
No. You see, there are several options here. 1) They can find themselves a suit and wear it during the short trip. 2) This central portion of the station seemed quite protected by very thick doors. The O² support might have easily still been 'switched' on so they would not have been without oxygen during the trip.
Also, Drax's ground crews that didn't get to go on the 6 shuttles, they were just left behind to die? Talk about job security!
Easy. Why would Drax care? He's about to kill nearly all of mankind. Those people down on Earth, there's no telling what they had been told. It's not like everyone involved knew exactly what Drax was up to.
But we're trying to find logic and a sense of reality in a film that hardly values that. And that's no complaint by the way.
"Moonraker 5. That's the Answer. Drax's shuttle is armed with a Laser."
one final question: why was this an Anglo-French production. Did EON run out of money at the time to make a Bond film?
Thanks!
I have the entire Bond collection on DVD but I hardly watch the special features.
P.S.:
I've never seen an episode of Dallas.
I didn't even know til now that Lois Chiles was on Dallas in 1982.
She was quite a dish!!
;;) :-j
But like I said, MR is not the type of film that seeks 100% credibility, despite Cubby referring to it as science fact, instead of science fiction.
If you can explain why we can hear those explosions in space In a credible way I might send you a bottle of Bollinger (and a nobel-prize!)
The fact that you didn't get bogged down with these questions whilst you watched the film the first time, shows that the film worked as entertainment to me. You didn't care untill subsequent viewings. Something I quite enjoy doing when watching a Bond film now.
You know, like how did Blofeld construct that hollowed out volcano without anyone knowing?
And who was Drax on the phone to when he was seeking a replacement for Chang?
And why was he called Chang when everyone called him Char?
And where the hell was I ?
I used to think i was going mad as i KNEW they were saying Char in the film :
"Convalessing,your friend Char just tried to kill me ".
Then I proceed by explaining sound waves can't exist in the absence of matter. ;;)
Physics can be fun. :)
A couple of years ago, I posted about the engineering inconsistencies in Moonraker. I'll try to find the post and provide a link to it. Needless to say, if I view the film through the prism of real-world engineering, there are many eye-rolling moments.
To answer your immediate question, it would not have mattered how Drax's space station was orbited. From the film, it is clear (IIRC) that neither the US or the Soviet Union were aware of it (".... well we didn't put it up there."). In the real world, space launches - even those with classified payloads - are impossible to keep a secret. For example, if Dax used his own Moonraker shuttles to launch parts of the station for assembly in orbit, those Solid Rocket Boosters and External Tanks have to come down somewhere. And assuming that Drax couldn't kill everyone that saw these objects falling back to Earth, it would have a relatively simple mathematical issue to calculate the intended orbit for Drax's launches.
As for the station itself, even in the 1970s an amateur astronomer with a good size telescope would have spotted it. To site another real-world case, depending on the time of launch, during the Apollo lunar landing missions, amateur astronomers were able to record video of the SIV-B stage engine as it fired to put the spacecraft on a lunar course (you can actually see this in the 2019 Apollo 11 documentary, although for that film they used footage from a test firing done by the Apollo 9 crew earlier in the year since similar footage didn't exist for Apollo 11 itself).
As for Drax having a runway long enough to land a space shuttle, I've always assumed that the US government knew that Drax had independent space ambitions. If not, it would have been spotted by the spy satellites of both the US and the Soviet Union long before it was ever completed, and alarms would have been raised.
Now, having said all of this, Moonraker is still a fun film - if you don't think about it too heavily. Like most sci-fi films, there are things that aren't really accurate - even "2OO1" has several errors in this regard. BTW: The Moonraker Special edition is full of nice BTS photos and facts.
https://www.mi6confidential.com/issue-s7.php
Found it!
https://www.mi6community.com/discussion/3016/attempting-re-entry-moonraker-appreciation-thread/p18
PS: Today these situations are even harder to conceal. In the past, the exact launch times for classified missions were withheld until the last minute, to give a nation's opponents less time to track the payload and calculate its' final order. Today, amateur astronomers keep a nearly constant watch on objects in Earth-Lunar space, and usually within a day or so, they report on any new objects in orbit. For example, just last week the upper stage of a Chinese launch vehicle broke apart in orbit which resulted in the creation of up to 700-900 pieces of new space junk - which was reported by various governmental and amateur groups.
Why would Drax need to hijack a shuttle from England when it was on loan. Why not just ask for the shuttle to be returned? Instead he hijacks his own shuttle because the one he made had defects? If it was so time sensitive why does Bond have 3-4 days to investigate Drax and travel around the world?
So many questions and no real logical answer to them. But like other Bond films, go with the flow and enjoy the ride. This is not hard hitting Bond, this is light and fluffy Bond. But as Cubby said "it was based in science fact." I keep waiting for the Space Force of the US to show us their laser guns. :)
A great line by Drax "Take care of Mister Bond, see that some harm comes to him." But why? Bond is merely there to see if there is anything nefarious going on at Drax industries. Why provoke him and give him harm. Be a charming host, show him nothing weird is going on and Bond will leave none the wiser. But no, I think I will give him a spin in the centrifuge machine. Then as he is leaving I will have a sniper in a tree try to kill him. Makes no sense.
I suppose you have a point @CrabKey I feel that some Bond films are not to be held up to logic or scrutiny and some are. MR is one that has many plot contrivances and jumps of logic that can remove enjoyment of the film.
The plausibility issues of MR run even deeper than a non-astronaut shuttling off into space for a laser show. Indeed, Drax requesting the immediate death of someone sent to investigate what could've happened to his missing Moonraker, is stupid and not unlike Osato demanding Bond killed while the latter has barely turned his back.
I've long thought that Drax was going to commit suicide because his plans had come crashing down around him. The evidence to support this is in Drax's dialogue to Bond when he lifts the laser gun: "At least I shall have the pleasure of putting you out of my misery."
Hey but there is a Space Force at least! :)
The OP mentions Bond knowing that Moonraker 5 has a laser gun- I always rather liked that as the ultimate example of know-it-all Bond: he doesn't just know about every subject M asks him about, he also sort of just absorbs knowledge he didn't have an hour before by osmosis or something! :D