Re: Universal Exports - The James Bond Thread

[Patrick]

Lotus Esprit from TSWLM up for auction

The astonishing part of this story is that the car was apparently found in a storage container in Long Island, New York.  A contractor bought the container in 1989 for $100 without knowing what was inside.  Even when he opened it, he didn't know it was the Bond Lotus, because he'd apparently never seen a Bond film.  

[The Co=Ordinator]

Such people do exist Fast Liver.

[Patrick]

I can only hope the size of the population that has never seen a Bond film is a distinct minority. I shudder at the thought of being outnumbered in a world of the un-Bond-familiar.

[Patrick]

If the C=O wants to take on the title of “Whovian Expert,” so be it.  I will take on the title of Wrinklydom’s resident expert on all things James Bond.  And if you want to challenge that, you are free to take me on in a Bond trivia contest.

So I am reviving this thread to report on a little news item I found on Keith Topping’s blog.  I did a bit of research, and found THIS ARTICLE which seems to support the news Keith reported.

Some of you may know this already: the single biggest legal battle of Ian Fleming’s career concerning James Bond came about in the late 1950s.  Fleming entered into a short-lived partnership with an Irish film-maker named Kevin McClory to develop an original script for a film featuring James Bond.  The reason it was short-lived was that Fleming became increasingly frustrated at the budgetary constraints script-writing imposed upon the story, and withdrew from the project.  But never one to leave a good story idea sitting idle, he went off and wrote it as the book “Thunderball.”

When McClory got a copy of the published book, he realized that the ideas he’d been collaborating with Fleming on had just been written up in novel form, and he’d gotten no credit.  So he filed a lawsuit, and the case ended up in the British High Court before being settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.  McClory always claimed that he had invented the character Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

Cut to 1965, and EON Productions has moved forward with making Thunderball into a film.  To avoid further legal entanglements, they invited McClory on board as a producer on the film, and struck an agreement that McClory could do no further work on the Thunderball concept for a period of 10 years.  This allowed EON Productions to use the character Blofeld in the next three Bond films: You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Diamonds Are Forever.  When McClory’s ten year hiatus came to an end in the mid-70s, he began shopping studios to produce a remake of Thunderball.  You may have noticed that since DAF, Blofeld has not appeared in an EON Productions film.

It now appears that’s changed.  Apparently, last week, EON very quietly finalized a deal with McClory’s estate to acquire the rights to the character of Ernst Stavro Blofeld. This news has hardly been reported at all.  This is significant because with the next Bond film scheduled for release in the Fall of 2015, they are very heavily in script development right now.  We also have an organization called QUANTUM which featured in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace which many have speculated could very well be a re-branded version of SPECTRE.  Perhaps with Blofeld back in business. And with the news effectively buried, the return of Blofeld would be a huge surprise for unsuspecting audiences.

So, who’d like to see Blofeld return, and who would you like to see cast in the part?

[The Co=Ordinator]

I'd certainly like to see Blofeld. Will have to take a rain check on the casting for now.

[Patrick]

BBC-America is heavily advertising its new series "Ian Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond," and I have to admit the commercials make it look quite appealing. Has anyone seen enough of it to offer an appraisal?

[The Co=Ordinator]

Never even heard of it.

However, good news - if you check the book of Face there seems to be footage of me doing "Pick up Song" to Adele's 'Skyfall' in the early hours of this morning..............

[Patrick]

Never even heard of it.

However, good news - if you check the book of Face there seems to be footage of me doing "Pick up Song" to Adele's 'Skyfall' in the early hours of this morning..............

  
Oh, dear.  I have added commentary.

On the subject of Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond, here's BBC America's Page about it.  Lara Pulver plays Ann O'Neill.  Shaken and stirred.

[Patrick]

In honor of the fact that BBC-America is premiering its new series, "Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond," the BBC-A website now has a new test for you to take:

WHICH BOND ARE YOU

I am Timothy Dalton. Which probably means I'm going to be re-incarnated as Rasillon and project some spittle while addressing the High Council.

[The Co=Ordinator]

Delighted to say that I am Roger Moore.

[Patrick]

Delighted to say that I am Roger Moore.

Why does that not surprise me?

[The Co=Ordinator]

Because Sir Rog is the ultimate Bond.

[Patrick]

Wearing a safari suit and driving a Citroen 2CV?  Oh, wait, I forgot to whom I'm speaking- the only person ever to actually like Moonraker.
  

[The Co=Ordinator]

As we all know, it's THE greatest Bond film of all-time.

[Patrick]

As we all know, it's THE greatest Bond film of all-time.

  
You've clearly set your expectation bar extremely low. Re-read my review of Moonraker, and be enlightened.

[The Co=Ordinator]

Your review is wrong from start to finish. Fact.

[Patrick]

There is nothing wrong with my review. You simply watch Moonraker through rose-tinted glasses.

[The Co=Ordinator]

How did you know what they looked like?

[Patrick]

Intuition.

[Patrick]

So, I watched the first episode of "Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond" last Wednesday. Fantastic opener. Aside from seeing these biographical facts about Fleming dramatized so effectively, it makes a great treat to watch for all the Bond movie references. Next episode this coming Wednesday is apparently about the incident at a hotel in Lisbon where Fleming attempted to wipe the Germans out at a game of Chermin De Fer, thereby giving him the inspiration for the ultimate plot of "Casino Royale."

[Patrick]

Second episode of "Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond" was brilliant. True to history, Fleming blew a fortune at the Baccarat table trying to bankrupt the Nazis.

But that was only part of the story in Wendesday night's episode. We also met Muriel Wright, the woman Fleming was seeing because he couldn't have the very married Anna Chancellor. Mrs. Wright was killed during a bombing raid in the London blitz, but not before she had made enough of an emotional etch on Fleming's life that he devoted a character to her memory in a future book: Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," the only woman Bond ever married.

[Patrick]

Third Episode of "Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond" was last night, and I continue to be highly impressed with how this show has gotten its history right. This episode featured the formation of Fleming's squad, the 30 Assault Unit "Red Indians" that he ran. We continue to see the tensions that exist between Fleming's mother and Anna Chancellor, the woman Fleming would eventually marry once her husband divorced her. And there's a fascinating conversation that takes place between Fleming and his brother, Peter, about what it's like to have a gun and shoot another man.

Seriously, if you can get a hold of this series, and you like the Bond franchise, this little gem of a series will not disappoint.

[Patrick]

Penelope Cruz is to be the next Bond Girl.  Which is ironic, since her husband was the villain in Skyfall.

Filming is expected to begin in November.

[The Co=Ordinator]

And I believe we're still going for the man who turned down the chance to be the 11th Doctor as the villain.

[Patrick]

I'm still clinging to my theory that the news from last November about Eon Productions purchasing the rights to Blofeld and SPECTRE from Kevin McClory's estate means they plan to "re-boot" Blofeld.

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