SPECTRE: Predictions and Speculation (SPOILER FREE ZONE)

Control wrote:

I certainly think she's going to be a love interest, in a way like Tracy was in OHMSS. Plus, Craig's going to be 47 by the time this film is finished, and Bellucci is in that age range. I think she's the best candidate for a Mrs. Bond, or, like Gravy said, a woman that he falls in love with.

I'm thinking that too, everything seems to be lining up for this film to be sort of an OHMSS-type film. It'd be interesting if they take the path willy suggests and have an arc leading into Bond 25 as it's probably going to be Craig's last. Would give him a strong way to end his run as Bond.

Also have to say prediction wise, Bellucci's character dies whether she's a love interest or not and Mr. White gets offed by SPECTRE in a gruesome fashion of sorts. Probably fails to kill Bond and pays the penalty or is set-up in a similar fashion to the two men in straw hats from the Casino Royale novel.

I'll go for the DB10 being dashed to ribbons not long after it appears, thus keeping the trend going.

Oh wow… My prediction was confirmed pretty quickly…

dr. strangelove wrote:

Yes, I like this idea, as well. SPECTRE could be like an amalgamation of story elements from the TB and OHMSS novels, and Bond 25 could draw inspiration from the YOLT novel. I like the title of Shatterhand, as well. Could make for a playful alliteration for the end of Craig's "trilogy", as well.

SKYFALL
SPECTRE
SHATTERHAND

I like this. Now Shatterhand is a good title! Backed that one for years.

Welcome back Jet Set Willy!

I do not like the title, Miss Bellucci was long overdue in the franchise, with mendes around I am not sure that we'll end of with a decent movie instead an overpretentious movie with a script that would be refused by any competing franchise. QoB was supposed to have the unfinished script, SF was a far worse offender considering the huge plotholes.

My hopes for SPECTRE are not that high even if the current era does seem to have more continuity than the previous series.

Good to see jet set willy back around here.

saint mark wrote:

QoB was supposed to have the unfinished script, SF was a far worse offender

Don't be daft.

Great to see jet set's returned. Hope it's not just for the announcement.

Will do my best to keep the forum updated with the latest photos and leaks, even if it involves pilfering from Cb.n and MI6.

FieldsMan wrote:

I will throw it out there and say Quantum becomes SPECTRE so that the producers save QOS from becoming pointless, but also because the new one liner re: Spectre's plot suggests that a message from Bond's past could be Quantum.

It will be interesting to see what happens, but I feel this is accurate. I suspect they'll tie them together somehow. So many different options:

1) Quantum was just SPECTRE under a different name as it rebuild.
2) SPECTRE maniuplated QUANTUM to secure funds to be built up.
3) Mr. White thinks he works for QUANTUM and there is a boss above him. Only to find out he is actually just a small part in the huge organization that is SPECTRE. Even he doesn't realize its grasp.

And so on and so forth. There's many ways they can take it. But I'm sure Quantum and SPECTRE will somehow tie in so Quantum gets erased.

Honestly as mentioned before, the "reboot" has been pretty half assed from day 1. Bond's a rookie for the pre-title sequence of CR and that is it. After that he is just rough around the edges through out all of CR and QoS.

By Skyfall we have a tired, weary Bond with references to past films like Goldfinger with the ejector seat. I'd rather them just say Fuck It and have it be a resurgent SPECTRE emerging from the ashes with Blofeld still at the helm. Have that cryptic message about the past be about Tracy. We can all just assume the events of the DN-DAD happened in between QOS and Skyfall. Even if there are a lot of discrepancies (male M/female M).

Just blend the two together. Old and new. Fine with me as long as it's a good film.

^Agreed. I want SPECTRE to be already established, and not a SPECTRE Begins kind of thing…

On a side note, couldn't they think of another name other than Franz for Waltz's character? Has been a name of a Bond villain before and all that…

Moore wrote:

Honestly as mentioned before, the "reboot" has been pretty half assed from day 1. Bond's a rookie for the pre-title sequence of CR and that is it. After that he is just rough around the edges through out all of CR and QoS.

By Skyfall we have a tired, weary Bond with references to past films like Goldfinger with the ejector seat. I'd rather them just say Fuck It and have it be a resurgent SPECTRE emerging from the ashes with Blofeld still at the helm. Have that cryptic message about the past be about Tracy. We can all just assume the events of the DN-DAD happened in between QOS and Skyfall. Even if there are a lot of discrepancies (male M/female M).

Just blend the two together. Old and new. Fine with me as long as it's a good film.

That's one way to go. Would make that 007 LEGENDS video game canon.

Some ideas on what we might see:

1) Lucia Sciarra is the first daughter of Marc-Ange Draco, and married into the Sciarra crime family to create an alliance between the Dracos and Sciarras, stabilising their positions as the dominant crime families in Europe.
2) Oberhauser is Blofeld, a member of Quantum's senior executive. Quantum is now a redundant and largely dormant - but still-functional - network that Blofeld intends to take control of.
3) To achieve this, he proposes bringing the remains of Quantum and the Sciarras together, but he knows that sooner or later, he will have to get rid of Lucia.
4) Mr. Hinx is his enforcer, killing off previous Quantum operatives. Given their high profile, he stages them to look like accidents.
5) Mr. White contacts Bond with a warning about Blofeld. Bond is aware that Blofeld exists, but not that he is using the name Oberhauser.
6) Denbigh is the new Guy Haines, having taken Haines' place after Haines suffered one of Hinx's "accidents". As a Special Envoy to the Prime Minister, Denbigh tries to influence MI6's investigation to focus on Lucia, rather than Oberhauser.
7) Blofeld poses as Oberhauser to get close to Bond, having identified him as his biggest potential threat.
8) Swann is an innocent in all of this. She knows nothing, but due to unfortunate circumstances, she is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and so Blofeld and/or Hinx are convinced that she can compromise them.

Everyone is so fixated on the Octopus tentacles from the cracked glass that I don't think anyone is actually wondering what the bullet hole itself is meant to relate. Anyone want to hazard a guess? I mean, the first thing I thought of was the windshield at the end of OHMSS, where Tracy is dead.

I think that was mentioned before already.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Everyone is so fixated on the Octopus tentacles from the cracked glass that I don't think anyone is actually wondering what the bullet hole itself is meant to relate. Anyone want to hazard a guess? I mean, the first thing I thought of was the windshield at the end of OHMSS, where Tracy is dead.

The original timeline of Bond has been rewritten now due to the reboot back in 2005, so I'm not convinced the cracked glass is the windshield from OHMSS.

Craig's Bond has never met Tracey, unless he does in the new film, which will then inevitably include a tragic ending like CR, and to a lesser degree in SF too. Will EON really go down this route for the new film, and reboot OHMSS too? I doubt it. That would mean 2 of Craig's films has the Bond girl being tragically killed at the end, one of his films he doesn't even get the girl, and the other he doesn't even have a girl, but has to cope with the death of M instead.

More likely the smashed glass is replicating the SPECTRE icon, and I really hope for this one Craig finally gets his end away with a female at the end of the movie.

Many like to mention that SKYFALL went after THE DARK KNIGHT, now it seems comic book fans will claim SPECTRE is going after Marvel.

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/will-next-james-bond-film-court-marvel-fans-with-spectre-1201371254/

I'd say its less to do with Marvel and more to do with timing and going for what SF set up. Article should have mentioned that Stan Lee actually admitted that HYDRA was pretty much a knock off of SPECTRE, even reinventing Nick Fury as his 007 stand in.

Although some are speculating that EON may try and give us a twist and reveal Monica Bellucci to be Blofeld, I'd be more than disgusted if that were to happen.There's no value in bringing back SPECTRE and then not giving the fans what they want: the real Blofeld. We don't need gimmicks or sleight-of-hand plot devices; we just need good storytelling.

I'd much prefer Bellucci's character be one that fulfills the old motto: 'Behind every successful man is a successful woman.' Show her to be spine for Blofeld; the manipulator. Maybe she's the head of Quantum and he's the up-and-coming head of SPECTRE and they merge their two power-organizations. Or they could be a husband and wife team; maybe he's more timid....more of a realist...maybe he's a consensus maker, and she's telling him to go out and fight for what they want. Maybe he's the body of Blofeld that we know, but she's the brains. I have no problem with that. That kind of power-dynamic has worked in many political relationships.

But the only way to enjoy the Blofeld we've come to know over the years is that he must be male, bald, disfigured, dress in sharp gray suits, and stroking a white cat (though I did like Max Von Sydow's take on the character). Any trick, any gimmick, any twist that reveals Blofeld to be someone other than Waltz will result in a waste of everyone's time.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Although some are speculating that EON may try and give us a twist and reveal Monica Bellucci to be Blofeld, I'd be more than disgusted if that were to happen.There's no value in bringing back SPECTRE and then not giving the fans what they want: the real Blofeld. We don't need gimmicks or sleight-of-hand plot devices; we just need good storytelling.

I'd much prefer Bellucci's character be one that fulfills the old motto: 'Behind every successful man is a successful woman.' Show her to be spine for Blofeld; the manipulator. Maybe she's the head of Quantum and he's the up-and-coming head of SPECTRE and they merge their two power-organizations. Or they could be a husband and wife team; maybe he's more timid....more of a realist...maybe he's a consensus maker, and she's telling him to go out and fight for what they want. Maybe he's the body of Blofeld that we know, but she's the brains. I have no problem with that. That kind of power-dynamic has worked in many political relationships.

But the only way to enjoy the Blofeld we've come to know over the years is that he must be male, bald, disfigured, dress in sharp gray suits, and stroking a white cat (though I did like Max Von Sydow's take on the character). Any trick, any gimmick, any twist that reveals Blofeld to be someone other than Waltz will result in a waste of everyone's time.

Agree totally. Waltz has to be Blofeld, and he has to be bald and stroking a white cat. Anything else will just come off as EON trying that little bit too hard to be different again, or trying to be clever for the sake of it.

I wouldn't be happy with Bellucci being Blofeld at all, and I can't see how she would be Blofeld's wife, which we all know was the round, fat, toad-like Irma Bunt, unless EON want to piss on Fleming's grave yet again...

While it might be shocking in the theater to see that, I don't think it wouldn't be a good move. Because it would seem, as mentioned above, they are just doing something completely different just to be different.

With that said, I do think something is definitely up. Naming the film SPECTRE gives away a lot of what's coming and Waltz seems like too obvious a choice. I think they might do a twist and have someone else in the cast or unannounced cast member appear as Blofeld.

I'm bored with seeing the same story. Kudos to Eon if they try and do something different.

If they stick to the Blofeld we know from the novels and films, I think there's at least one opportunity they have that the past films never took real advantage of: A resolution. The last time we officially had Blofeld in a Bond film, he was dangling in a mini-submarine. After that, all we got was a sequence in FYEO that was less of a dignified end to Blofeld's story and more of a "fuck you" to McClory. Now with EON having the rights, they can redo SPECTRE and give it a proper resolution, possibly with Craig's fifth and final film. Then maybe in the future films, SPECTRE can be revived like in the post-Fleming novels, or retired for good.

Whatever they do, I'm really hoping they finally use Blofeld's Garden of Death. I think Mendes has what it takes to pull that off.

Makeshift Python wrote:

I'm really hoping they finally use Blofeld's Garden of Death. I think Mendes has what it takes to pull that off.

After the comparatively low-key lodge finale in Skyfall, Eon might get away with that. Only thing is, I think the fans hear the name Blofeld and think of an epic confrontation. Depends on whether Eon feels the need for fanservice or not.

Personally, I'l like some fan-service Manga-style. Give the feminists what the want, just make sure the girls are showing their panties. Everyone's happy.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Everyone is so fixated on the Octopus tentacles from the cracked glass that I don't think anyone is actually wondering what the bullet hole itself is meant to relate. Anyone want to hazard a guess? I mean, the first thing I thought of was the windshield at the end of OHMSS, where Tracy is dead.

Maybe it's just a stylistic thing.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Makeshift Python wrote:

I'm really hoping they finally use Blofeld's Garden of Death. I think Mendes has what it takes to pull that off.

After the comparatively low-key lodge  finale in Skyfall, Eon might get away with that. Only thing is, I think the fans hear the name Blofeld and think of an epic confrontation. Depends on whether Eon feels the need for fanservice or not.

Personally, I'l like some fan-service Manga-style. Give the feminists what the want, just make sure the girls are showing their panties. Everyone's happy.

A lot of Bond fans were still upset with SKYFALL and its low-key finale. A lot of Bond fans really don't admire Thomas Newman's work in SKYFALL merely because it doesn't have a bunch of inane leitmotifs for each character like "Vesper's Theme", thus "it's not memorable".

Despite whatever gripes a large amount of Bond fans have over that film, it still made over a billion dollars, which is a barrier usually only broken by DC/Marvel and Disney films. I find it pretty incredible how much the film has been embraced in such a way despite being so different from the rest of the market. Clearly they got something that really connected with audiences.

The Brosnan era may have been successful, but it never broke out in a way that SKYFALL did, and I think that's because those films, especially the latter three, tried too hard to appease to Bond fans that in the end they never really shot up in a way that Connery and Moore's films did with audiences. They just remained successfully niche and safe.

Makeshift Python wrote:

I find it pretty incredible how much the film has been embraced in such a way despite being so different from the rest of the market. Clearly they got something that really connected with audiences.

Skyfall breaks all the rules. The protagonists are middle-aged and over for starters, and it features a James Bond who's betrayed and broken by his own side simply as a matter of routine. I find it absorbing, adult and completely different from any other Bond film, despite its lip service to the series' conventions. However, I've no idea why that connected with a new audience.

On that note, I found this forum's lack of interest in Skyfall's multi-layered story to be disappointing. Though that might be expected from a forum where some take the Brosnan era seriously, in the end our implosion was caused by just one member's mental illness. A sore that was allowed to fester.