Your dream Bond film timeline.

Imagine a world where the Bond series was actually well-planned out. Imagine a world where EON didn't have a knee-jerk reaction to every one of their successes. Imagine a world where YOLT was made after OHMSS.

Or perhaps you'd rather imagine a world where Roger Moore played Bond from 1962 until the present day.

If you'd been running the show, what timeline of actors and films would you have done? (I'll post mine eventually.)

Edit: This might be in the wrong forum. Cast & Crew maybe? Mods help me plz?

Within the boundaries of realistic possibility:


Connery 62-65
DN, FRWL, GF, TB = Director Terence Young.
Music John Barry

Lazenby 67-77
OHMSS, YOLT, DAF, LALD, TMWTGG, TSWLM = Director Peter Hunt.
Music John Barry

Moore 79-83
MR, FYEO, OP = Directors Gilbert x1/Glen x2.
Music Barry/Conti

Dalton 85-97,
AVTAK, TLD, LTK, GE, TND = Directors Glen x3/DePalma x2.
Music John Barry

Neeson 99-08
TWINE, DAD, CR, QOS = Directors DePalma x2/Tarantino x2.
Music John Barry

Craig 08-?
BOND 23, BOND 24 = Director Quentin Tarantino.
Music Bill Conti


Producers: 62-74 Harry & Albert, 74-95 Albert, 95-? MGW.

I get DePalma Lazzers, but Tarantino? :o

Sharky wrote:

I get DePalma Lazzers, but Tarantino? :o

Explained at length in the current debate thread. Although I'd have put Polanski's name on most of these if I wasn't trying to operate within the boundaries of possibility.

One reality would have had Eric Braeden as Bond as soon as Connery got tired of it -- the guy has looked fantastic for decades, he could have played it for a LONG stretch and still been credible.

The other aspect would be Dalton taking over in 1980 or so, and I'd certainly omit Moore from the role entirely, along with the increasingly moron-level humor that started with DAF and climaxed with what, a double taking pigeon?

trevanian wrote:

One reality would have had Eric Braeden as Bond as soon as Connery got tired of it -- the guy has looked fantastic for decades, he could have played it for a LONG stretch and still been credible.

Took me a while to find pics of him young, but he actually quite looks the part.
http://www.darkhorizons.com/assets/0015/2611/colossus_article.jpg?1311021690
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6c/Dietrich_ratpatrol.JPG <-- Come to think of it, I recall seeing this image on KTBEU before.

Sharky wrote:

I get DePalma Lazzers, but Tarantino? :o

I'm more baffled by the willing inclusion of Glen. Guess he's reliable, like a rock... But for all that, the films he directed in real life might as well have had a rock in the director's chair. Not to rag on your choice, Laz. To me he's just easily the odd one out in the old school trio of Young, Hunt & Glen.

Lazenby. wrote:

Although I'd have put Polanski's name on most of these if I wasn't trying to operate within the boundaries of possibility.

Ha, well, my timeline is completely a pipe dream. So I'll do the impossible.

Here's how mine would play out. (And I know, I put way too much thought into this.)


GREGORY PECK (b. 1916) 1957-1958 | SEAN CONNERY (b. 1930) 1962-1970 | CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER (b. 1929) 1975-1979

TIMOTHY DALTON (b. 1944) 1982-1992 | JASON ISAACS (b. 1963) 1994-2000 | DANIEL CRAIG (b. 1968) 2003-2011

Bankable American star Gregory Peck would take on Bond in 1957, first doing a straight Fleming adaptation, then a second film that adapts the 'For Your Eyes Only' short story and extrapolates it to feature length. Peck would bail on the series, and Bond would be re-introduced to audiences four years later in Fleming's first adventure, 'Casino Royale', with relative unknown Sean Connery in the lead. The budgets would rocket, SPECTRE would become a recurring presence and, with Connery on board, the 007 saga would become the stuff of cinematic legend. After a shocking 'end' to the series with 1970's You Only Live Twice, the role would be recast five years later and Bond would return from his apparent death. Christopher Plummer would play an older, hardened Bond, and his films would be high on atmosphere, low on budget; more detective stories than anything, always starting simple but ending in a nightmare, with many bizarre villains and scenarios. The series would return to its Cold War roots for a 25th anniversary film, A View to a Kill. Timothy Dalton would be a new Bond: weary, romantic, with the weight of the SPECTRE saga (and the passage of time) no longer on his shoulders. His first two entries would be best described as low-key, experimental thrillers. Connery-esque adventure would return for another Cold War-flavoured film, and then stay on for another full Fleming adaptation. Dalton would finish with GoldenEye, which would wrap up Bond's association with the Cold War, as well as balance the two differing approaches his previous films took. After Dalton's ten-year run, the character would be taken back to the same age Connery was in the role with the casting of 31-year-old Jason Isaacs. Isaacs would play an intelligent, sharp-tongued Bond, taking on modern threats in films not dissimilar in feel to the contemporary Jack Ryan features. His last film would see Bond's licence to kill revoked and Bond taking a temporary placement in the military. Isaacs would then hand the reins over to Daniel Craig, who would continue his portrayal into the next millennium while also adding more swagger to the role. The military flavour of the previous outings would continue, but would quickly give way to a re-introduction of the fantastical SPECTRE. And, no matter what, James Bond would return. Henry Cavill, anyone?

Moonraker (1957) - Bond vs neo-Nazis. Main setting: British
For Your Eyes Only (1958) - Hitchcock-style chase film pitting Bond & a lady friend against anonymous Soviets. Main setting: American
-
Casino Royale (1962) - Low-budget feature in which Bond resolves to destroy the forces that make spies spy. Main setting: West European
From Russia, With Love (1963) - SPECTRE attempts to use and humiliate Bond after he disrupts their activities. Main setting: East European
Thunderball (1965) - Big-budget feature in which Bond foils SPECTRE's first great scheme. Main setting: Caribbean
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1967) - Bond infiltrates and ruins SPECTRE and looks again to settle down. Main setting: West European
You Only Live Twice (1970) - A broken 007 takes revenge for the murder of his wife. Main setting: Asian
-
The Man With the Golden Gun (1975) - Bond returns to cinemas (and the Secret Service) with a bang. Main setting: Caribbean
Diamonds Are Forever (1976) - Bond goes undercover to disrupt a diamond-smuggling ring. Main setting: African
Dr No (1978) - Drug-smuggling and a giant squid. Main setting: Asian
Goldfinger (1979) - Gold-smuggling... or is it? Main setting: American
-
A View to a Kill (1982) - A détente feature, with Bond & Soviets vs third party. Main setting: Mediterranean
The Spy Who Loved Me (1984) - Takes place entirely in a motel, with Bond entering at the mid-way point. Main setting: American
The Living Daylights (1987) - The Cold War re-ignited. Main setting: East European
Live and Let Die (1989) - Action-packed, voodoo-infused feature. Main setting: Caribbean
GoldenEye (1992) - Post-Cold War feature in which Bond faces an old mentor-turned-villain. Main setting: East European
-
Tomorrow Never Lies (1994) - 007 must prevent a media baron from turning the world against Britain. Main setting: West European
My Enemy's Enemy (1996) - Bond allies with a female Chinese agent to prevent terrorist attacks in Hong Kong. Main setting: Asian
Naked Warfare (2000) - Bond must track down a mole in MI6 whose duplicity caused his capture and torture. Main setting: British
-
Blood and Thunder (2003) - Bond picks up the trail of an old enemy while on a tour of duty. Main setting: Middle Eastern
Colonel Sun (2005) - All of MI6 is thrown into jeopardy when a re-surfaced SPECTRE kidnaps M. Main setting: Asian
The World is Not Enough (2007) - 007 goes deep undercover and learns SPECTRE's disturbing ultimate goal. Main setting: South American
By Royal Command (2011) - Bond falls in love with the female leader of SPECTRE and is forced to assassinate her. Main setting: East European

All directed by Roman Polanski. He would also find time to make every other film he did in real life.

All films directed by Terrence Young and starring Sean Connery.

Casino Royale, Moonraker, From Russia With Love, Dr. No, Thunderball, On Her Majesty's, You Only Live Twice, Man with the Golden Gun.

And no more. Lasting from the late fifties to the early seventies. All in the cinematic style of DN and FRWL more or less -- that is to say slightly enhanced versions of the Fleming originals -- with no meddling from Kevin McClory on TB, and as stated in the opening post, no meddling from Broccoli and EON.


Also -- Roman Polanski?? Really?? What gives you the impression he could or would be a good choice for a series of Bond films stretching 50+ years and shifting genres and actors constantly?

I was... just kidding, about that part...

Your timeline looks good though. Simple, clean. Although you seem to be missing a LALD. I think a Connery-era adaptation of that would've been awesome.

While I like LALD the book, I think trying to do blacks and Harlem and Pirate Dubloons with Connery in the early sixties would've hurt the series significantly. Likewise on the evil cowboy menace of DAF.

Not exactly my dream timeline, but an alternative one I would have liked.

Sean Connery (1962-1971)

1962: Dr. No
1963: From Russia with Love
1964: Goldfinger
1965: Thunderball
1967: On Her Majesty's Secret Service
1969: You Only Live Twice
1971: Diamonds Are Forever

Roger Moore (1973-1979)

1973: Live and Let Die
1974: The Man with the Golden Gun
1977: The Spy Who Loved Me
1979: Moonraker

Timothy Dalton (1981-1989)

1981: For Your Eyes Only
1983: Octopussy
1985: A View to a Kill
1987: The Living Daylights
1989: Licence to Kill

Jason Isaacs (1995-2002)

1995: GoldenEye
1997: Tomorrow Never Lies
1999: The World is Not Enough
2002: A Better Title

Daniel Craig (2006-2016)

2006: Casino Royale
2008: Quantum of Solace
2012: Bond 23
2014: Bond 24
2016: Bond 25


Directing?

Terence Young:
DN
FRWL
TB

Guy Hamilton:
GF
DAF
LALD
TMWTGG

Peter Hunt:
OHMSS
YOLT
FYEO
OP
AVTAK
TLD
LTK

Lewis Gilbert:
TSWLM
MR

Martin Campbell:
GE
TNL
TWINE
ABT

Matthew Vaughn:
CR
QOS
B23
B24
B25