Amph 60+ Years of James Bond 007

Just finished reading the second and final volume from the comics team of Ellis-Masters, James Bond 007: Eidolon. An excellent read.

What makes it work for me is Ellis has clearly decided Bond works best as a remorseless, total bastard doing terrible things for good ends and that's it. There's no getting in Bond's head to work out how he ticks, or concern for his feelings, no, you need stuff done? This is who you send.

At the same time Ellis weaves in a pitch-black, desert-dry sense of humour for Bond, for instance, objecting to a new gun because it ruins the line of his suit. There's a particularly sharp one-liner in this volume about gun disposal in the US too.

 

I think that's a smart move on Craig's part. By the time they're ready to make it, he wont' be as burned out as he was right after Spectre. Hopefully this motivates Purvis & Wade to turn out a great script as that's probably the only way they'll get Craig on board.

 

Lest we forget...

...production designer Ken Adam, who died on this date in 2016.

And belated Happy Birthday to...

 

I am actually hoping at this point that Craig doesn't come back for the next film and it ignores Spectre entirely. I love Craig. He is a fantastic Bond and his movies have been a step up from some of the films we have gotten in the past, but...man, I just didn't like Spectre. To the point where I am willing to sacrifice Craig to not see a direct continuation of that film's story.

Sent from SQUADALAH

 

Spectre was just disheartening. It appears so difficult to make a good James Bond movie.

 

I don't know that it is, I think you just have to find the right mix of an engaging story and Fleming. I had a 5 hr flight last week and watched Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace back to back. Casino Royale holds up 11 years later (...) and that's even considering the fairly profound plot flaw of "Hollywood doesn't understand securities", with respect of the shorting of Skyfleet stock (which, to be fair, only people who've traded would actually understand as a flaw).

The main reason is the pacing, the cast, and the story which dovetails nicely into QoS and is abandoned for Skyfall because of either the hidebound conservatism of the producers, or just a fear of walking a defined path and trusting the audience to follow.

Spectre, though, represents the kind of conservative idiocy that lead to Die Another Day, among others.

 

OHMSS is the perfect Bond film. I went out and bought it on blu ray whenever I went to see SPECTRE in theaters and realized they tried to remake OHMSS into a worse film.

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It really is. And the novel is pretty damned good too.

https://www.omegawatches.com/planet-omega/cinema/james-bond/

Speaking of - I used to wear a 36.25mm quartz Seamaster Diver 300m in blue. I just upgraded to the 41.5mm chronograph in black.

Easiest reference point are the Casino Royale watches - the blue is what I had, now I have it in black though the wave pattern on the face has gone.

 

ok and I can't help it, I just went and bought a NATO strap for it, so I can rotate between the metallic bracelet and this exact one:



Usual retail in Australia for a NATO strap would be AU$20-50 really, I guess.

Comparison then for the official Omega grey and black NATO strap? AU$220.

Damn you, Mr Bond.

 

Ender Sai : I remember discussing those official Omega NATO straps back when they came out... so you did end up going for that more expensive option after all, haha. The new watch sounds nice. Honestly, though, maybe Bond should have gone back to wearing Rolexes when he went back to driving Aston Martins. I'm sure Omega didn't want to give up that sponsorship, though.

 

Well no, to be fair I think the Rolex of Fleming's day is either Omega or Brietling today. Like Bentley, which was a sporting brand in Fleming's youth (with people like Wolff Barnardo and the Bentley Boys winning the 24hrs of Le Mans in a 4 1/2 Litre Bentley Blower), the brand has evolved to a much more high end provider. The Submariner is pretty much the same watch in most regards as my Seamaster, in terms of diving to 300m (1000ft). The Sea-Dweller is good to 1200m/4000ft and would be a serious deep sea explorer's watch.

Given Bond wore a sports watch (a diving watch, as well as a racer's watch or pilot's watch, would be considered a sports watch, as opposed to a dress watch) to highlight his active lifestyle, and his naval roots, Omega are actually pretty close to this. Bond has once worn a TAG-Heuer watch - in the Living Daylights, when it was likely a Heuer watch (TAG only just finalised the purchase this year) - but TAG-Heuer has always struck me as the brand people buy when they want an expensive watch but don't know anything about expensive watches. Bond would care about the message his watch sends, so no - not a TAG-Heuer. Omega is pretty much the most aligned to Bond's interests.

 

Yeah, it's true that Rolex has let their dress watches and even things like gold and jewel-decorated sports watches lead to an image that dragged them off their original purpose some (seeing as how they pretty much invented tough, waterproof cases and self-winding movements, for example). They're not quite the same image-wise as they were when Fleming Bond or Connery wore a Submariner. Omega has moved upmarket too, but maybe not as dramatically. So yeah, I do think the Seamaster and the latest variations on it do fit him well, but out-of-universe I'm sure the paid placement has to be a factor too. Aston Martin and Rolex never paid for it before, but now Aston Martin does and so does Omega.

In related news, my Omega (a black dial Seamaster Pro) was stolen in a break-in. It was a gift from my parents-in-law, which is actually the worst part of losing it. So now I just have one watch.

 

Yeah that's a good point. All those mechanisms, the cases designed to resist pressure, the helium release valves - Rolex pioneered that. But it's the gold and diamond watches that define the brand now, which is a shame because the Submariner is a beautiful watch, as is the Sea-Dweller.

Aston-Martin was a bit different through, because Bond drove the Aston Martin DB Mk III in Goldfinger and the producers wanted to use the latest model, the DB5. Aston Martin, though, retained their market position and whilst it's probably been a little sullied by rappers and pop scrotums buying their cars, they've more or less had the same kind of position over time. So they haven't moved upwards like Bentley (even though the Continental and the GT3 spec'd Continental are, objectively, stunning cars).

I'm lucky I've got the black chronograph and blue quartz as options. Though I'll get the bracelet put back on the black one ahead of my US visit; I don't really want to go walking for dozens of kilometres and sweat into a nylon strap, nor do I want to swim with it.

If I'm being honest, I didn't like the DB10 from Spectre. Lines wise it was a bit strange, and I much preferred how the DBS V12 was used in CR and QOS. Keeping it at the Vanquish or neo-DB9 - even DB11 - without gadgets is how I'd like to see them continue.

 

Yes, the documentary Everything or Nothing covers it too. As did I think the Top Gear Bond Cars special.

Though as for the issuing of cars, the Lotus would still fit. This is what Fleming wrote in Goldfinger:

The car was from the pool. Bond had been offered the Aston Martin or a Jaguar 3.4. He had taken the DB III. Either of the cars would have suited his cover - well-to-do, rather adventurous young man with a taste for the good, fast things of life. But the DB III had the advantage of an up-to-date triptyque, an inconspicuous colour - battleship grey - and certain extras which might or might not come in handy. These included switches to alter the type and colour of Bond's front and rear lights if he was following or being followed at night, reinforced steel bumpers, fore and aft, in case he needed to ram, a long-barreled Colt .45 in a trick compartment under the driver's seat, a radio pick-up tuned to receive an apparatus called the Homer, and plenty of concealed space that would fox most Customs men."

By the way this is written, you could imagine a few of these cars are retained by SIS for the 00 division as cover. Consider, the "Jaguar 3.4" is the 1959 XK 150:



And the "battleship grey" Aston Martin DB Mk III (called a DB III in the novel):



Profile wise, for the time, these are sporty grand tourers so you could easily imagine an F-Type and other similar modern GT cars in use by SIS for the 00s.

 

I wish I could afford a nice watch, but alas. Not all of us work for the SIS.

Sent from SQUADALAH

 

Can't you just not get a fridge or something?

 

Can't even afford the fridge. Maybe I should look into doing government work.

By the way, been meaning to ask you if you're into John Le Carré. I have only read two of his books (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Honorable Schoolboy). Wanted to know what you think of his books.

 

I really like his Karla trilogy (Tinker, Tailor -> Honourable Schoolboy -> Smiley's People) and his standalone books. If you can get the BBC adaptations of Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People, with Alec Guinness, you should. Avoid the film at all costs though.

 

I have viewed and enjoyed the Tinker Tailor BBC series numerous times. It is one of the best adaptations of a book I have ever watched. I haven't yet watched Smiley's People because I want to read the book first.

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I wish they'd done Honourable Schoolboy. I loved Joss Ackland as Jerry Westerby.

 

Who wears watches any more... pffffffft.

 

Whilst I found it enjoyable I think its clear QoS tried to revert to more of a standard action film whilst without the same focus on Bonds personal drama that Casino Royal had. Skyfall by comparison was I think much less conservative avoiding the standard action film plot as much.

QoS's approach for me ment that it was a pretty natural end to that story, it did follow up on some of the drama of Casino but didn't really do much to further it to the degree I think that plot had naturally ended by the time it was finished.

Spectre to me whilst again enjoyable enough felt like a bit of a mismatch of styles, trying to do a standard "Blofeld takes over the world" plot full of standard bond things(car chases, big evil henchmen, important gadgets etc)whilst keeping the very personal focus of Skyfall and not doing full justice to either as a result.

 

Peasant.