Changes to the series you would make...

They could be any changes you want to make, on any level: director, actor, actress, musical talent, locations, etc.... I've got a few:

LICENSE TO KILL: Replace Gladys Knight with INXS and come up with a different title song (maybe their 1993 song, THE GIFT) ; I'd leave the title alone as LICENSE REVOKED. Would also have hired different stylist; Dalton's hair and make-up looked dated even in 1989. Would've replaced Maurice Binder with Daniel Kleinman.

GOLDENEYE: Leave Tina Turner in (she's pure gold), but give her a better song. Have her use her 1989 hit THE BEST (of course in my alternate timeline the song wouldn't have been released yet) and move it to the closing credits. Move U2 up to the opening credits and put in HOLD ME, THRILL ME, KISS ME, KILL ME (how did *that* not become a Bond song? Did the Batman Forever team simply get to Bono first?)

FROM A VIEW TO A KILL: Would replace Tanya Roberts with Cybil Shepherd (who was at her most stunning sexyfulness back in 1984-85), and convince Barbara Bach to come back in a surprise cameo appearance as Anya Amasova, instead of Pola Ivanova being the character Bond runs into (as had originally been considered).

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

GOLDENEYE: Leave Tina Turner in (she's pure gold), but give her a better song. Have her use her 1989 hit THE BEST (of course in my alternate timeline the song wouldn't have been released yet) and move it to the closing credits. Move U2 up to the opening credits and put in HOLD ME, THRILL ME, KISS ME, KILL ME (how did *that* not become a Bond song? Did the Batman Forever team simply get to Bono first?)

Completely agreed. I like the title song that Bono and The Edge ending up writing for GE, especially when compared to the awful title tunes we had come after it, but "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" would have been a far better song for GE.

Also regarding GE, the biggest change I would have made would have been to retain Dalton in the role of Bond and then cast Anthony Hopkins opposite him as Trevelyan, as was rumored to be an early idea for the film. If that proved to be impossible, I would have gone with Sean Bean as Bond. I would have also tried to give the film a bit more flair, as it looks quite dull for long stretches of the film, at times bordering on looking like a TV movie. The early parts of the film would also be altered to give Bond a bit more to do.

It'd take me years to make a decent list, so I'll just limit it to the last two films:

QoS: give Bond a motorcycle that doesn't make him look like a kid on a moped.
QoS: give Greene a henchman who has more menace than Matthew Broderick.
QoS: give the filmmakers six more months of postproduction and limit editorial to a single (non-Bourne) editor.

CR: change EVERY SINGLE THING -- except the woman playing Solange.

Cast Dalton in FYEO.

Cast Lazenby in the Hamilton films, so he could first of all kick Hamilton's arse (complete with "and that's for Goldfinger" quip) before bringing in Peter Hunt to salvage the Bond TV movies of the early 70s with some severe international asskickery, as our man Lazenby wreaks havoc in Vegas, Harlem and the Far East, not a single man left standing, such is the force of nature and utter Bond awesomeness that is George Lazenby. Keep Laz and Hunt on for TSWLM to avoid Rog's smugness, then rope in an on-form Rog for some mighty double-taking pigeon space capers in MR, keep him on through his sorely underappreciated Glen films before giving the tidal wave of utter intense brilliance that is Dalton a massive seven-film run from 87 to 99 and Bob Brown's M an 83-99 run. Not really arsed what happens after that TBH, why f*ck with brilliance, I'd just end the series there and then before Bond ends up in a dress, ripping off Bourne and moving to insufferably shit music.

Retroactively abort David Arnold. Someone get me the DeLorean.

Casino Royale with Sean Connery.

Jason Isaacs instead of Brosnan.

More screentime for Lana Wood's tits.

I'd change whoever does the CGI. In the last few films it sucked more ass than an enema.

People were wowed back in 1979. There were real stuntmen used in aerial sequences. But even with an alleged 200m budgeted in SOLACE, that freefall bordered on pathetic and was faker than Pamela Anderson's plastic tits. It literally stank and ruined the whole moment. The only thing worse was Brozzayawn para-surfing on a CGI tidal wave in Die Another Day, without even getting his hair wet. I've seen better special effects in free online games like Seal Bounce and Bloody Pingu.

Either get it right with a real stunt crew or get a better CGI team. EON can certainly afford one instead of shoehorning the shittiest ones around.

CASINO ROYALE. I'd have Obanno really lop off Valenka's arm, sort of the same way Ovie did it in Hitman but not as graphic. That way, Valenka actually serves a purpose instead of just being eye candy.

Solange would actually have sex with Bond.

1. Pay Sean what ever it would have taken to get him to continue playing a fatter older Bond through the 70's and 80's. Fat Sean is still better than all the rest.
2. Failing that, pay Lazerbee whatever it would have taken to get him to play Bond thru the 70's and 80's. In otherwords, all the Rog and Dalts films.
(Not that I don't appreciate Moore. He's way better than any that followed him, but either Sean or Laz would have been better. They are the only two great Bonds.)
3. If only someone could have bought out Bab's shares in Danjaq/Eon. If only.......:(
4. If only Dan Craig had got sick on his audition day. What am I saying!? Bab's hired him because she liked his bare arse scene in Layer Cake. He was a lock from the moment the director said, " Time for you and the skinny blonde to get naked"
5. If only Babs had taken notice of the part about Bond being tall dark and handsome.
6. If only Craig wasn't such a pc nit.
7. If only Brozzer had still been locked into his Remington Steele contract.
8. If only Dalton hadn't read Fleming and Hamlet on the same night and instead based his research exclusively on Sean's performance in GF.
9. If only Haggfish had been so distraught with the plight of the poor Bolivian indiginous, that he quit QoS mid-production and devoted the rest of his life to digging for water in the global south.
Otherwise I'm reasonably happy. We always have the original 7 films to treasure plus the Rog films. The rest are bonus.

Mrs Aural Sects wrote:

I'd change whoever does the CGI. In the last few films it sucked more ass than an enema.

People were wowed back in 1979. There were real stuntmen used in aerial sequences. But even with an alleged 200m budgeted in SOLACE, that freefall bordered on pathetic and was faker than Pamela Anderson's plastic tits. It literally stank and ruined the whole moment. The only thing worse was Brozzayawn para-surfing on a CGI tidal wave in Die Another Day, without even getting his hair wet. I've seen better special effects in free online games like Seal Bounce and Bloody Pingu.

Either get it right with a real stunt crew or get a better CGI team. EON can certainly afford one instead of shoehorning the shittiest ones around.

They're using excellent vfx people ... they just aren't giving them the time to get the work done properly. The post schedules on these things are ridiculously short, and unless you shoot your effects in-camera, which nobody can afford to do because time is money, they wind up done digitally. There are nearly 1000 vfx shots in QoS, probably more than there were in the first quarter-century of Bondflicks. Doesn't matter how much money you throw at the best companies, you can only polish a turd to a semi-matte finish, not a high gloss.

BTW, I agree with you about DAD ... they should never have gone digital with the parasurf thing, they'd've been better with a miniature Brosnan and just throwing or puppeteering the figure high speed, like the flying scenes in BRAZIL. You can do 100 takes in a day and you'll have SOMEthing goodout of it.

Minor changes: Have David Hedison portray Leiter in more Moore films, i.e., be Holly's supervisor in MR and do Chuck Lee's role in AVTAK(minus his being killed by May Day of course). Then, cast Lee Horsley(millionaire TV detective cowboy Matt Houston) as Leiter in the Dalton Bonds and Brosnan Bonds(instead of Jack Wade).

Some really interesting ideas here, especially Prince Kamal Khan's Lee Horsley as Leiter, that's inspired!

I'd have prefered Clive Owen as Bond after TWINE (even though I love DC). And as for TWINE, well, that has to be one of the most missed opportunities in the series. They came so close so many times with that one that it kills me to watch it, even though I want to like it so much.

With CR, the only chagne I'd make is the longest night ever sequence beginning at the poker table at The One and Only Club and ending on the MIA runway: seems like the entire first half of the movie takes place in one day.

With QOS, another month of script development would have probably fixed most problems.

With TND, better script development, less action, less Segal

With GE, Bond took a lot of hits in this one. It seems the writers were trying to make fun of the Cold War relic dinosaur, I didn't like that it all, it really took me out of the film. Also, the plane jump in the PTS was stupid.

I could go on, but I need to get back to work.

Prince Kamal Khan wrote:

Minor changes: Have David Hedison portray Leiter in more Moore films, i.e., be Holly's supervisor in MR and do Chuck Lee's role in AVTAK(minus his being killed by May Day of course). Then, cast Lee Horsley(millionaire TV detective cowboy Matt Houston) as Leiter in the Dalton Bonds and Brosnan Bonds(instead of Jack Wade).

Lee Horsley...now that's a name. I liked him as Matt Houston. Could've been an interesting Felix Leiter.

Agreed about the lack of Leiter in the Moore films. In fact, I think one thing that would definitely help is to have story arcs in mind when making these films. Because, having said that....I would have found Trevelyan a much more interesting villain and more believable as Bond's friend and compatriot if we'd either gotten Trevelyan introduced in GE and then is the lead villain in TNL (or another Bond film) or we get a co-mission between 006 and 007 *BEFORE* the credits and then Trevelyan's death is shown *after* the credits, somewhere around the 30 minute mark.The movie would have been longer, but the relationship would have been more believable. And let me tell you something, I like Sean Bean a lot (maybe not enough to make him Bond), but it was really Sean doing all the work in those scenes between him and Pierce; when Sean asks "For England, James?" you don't really buy into Pierce's reply "No, for me." Some of that could just be Campbell's direction; the film, tonally, seemed to shift more than the Sahara Desert.

And I always felt that, no matter how wooden John Kerry's performance felt in TLD, he really should have been brought back for LICENSE TO KILL. He was the established Leiter at the time, and the decision to bring Hedison back was so arbitrary and the reasons so superfluous, that the casting simply can't be respected. Hedison is too old to be Dalton's contemporary and friend.

In MR I'd rewrite the PTS villain, so that the stewardess holds the gun, puts on her parachute, shoots the controls, abandons the plane, and Bond flies after her to steal the parachute off her back. I think that scene is much more interesting when it's a woman that Bond is taking the parachute from, but I'm not sure that would have worked in the Roger Moore milieu, and I'm not convinced Moore would stand for it. We saw how squeamish he got doing the kick-the-car-off-the-cliff scene in FYEO.

dalton wrote:

Completely agreed. I like the title song that Bono and The Edge ending up writing for GE, especially when compared to the awful title tunes we had come after it, but "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" would have been a far better song for GE.

Also regarding GE, the biggest change I would have made would have been to retain Dalton in the role of Bond and then cast Anthony Hopkins opposite him as Trevelyan, as was rumored to be an early idea for the film. If that proved to be impossible, I would have gone with Sean Bean as Bond. I would have also tried to give the film a bit more flair, as it looks quite dull for long stretches of the film, at times bordering on looking like a TV movie. The early parts of the film would also be altered to give Bond a bit more to do.

Turner's vocals were great, so no problem there. My dissatisfaction with the song comes not from her delivery (which is pitch perfect), but that the tune itself lacks a whole lot of spark. It's like an airplane that feels as if it never quite takes off. It's got its nice moments, but you could just as easily take THE BEST and lay a set of credits over it from Maurice Binder or Daniel Kleinman and the results would be much, much better. Additionally, THE BEST was a hit song in the U.S. and even bigger in Europe and Australia, whereas Goldeneye was...not so much. I think THE BEST probably works with AVTAK's credits played over it. It's got a pulsing, pounding beat, and lyrics that could easily describe 007 :"You're simply the best....better than all the rest...better than anyone...anyone I ever met...I'm stuck on your heart.....I hang on every word you say..."

I agree also that Anthony Hopkins would have made an interesting villain, especially in a mentor-type role, but I don't think that Hopkins didn't get the role for lack of trying. I heard he also turned down the role ofElliot Harmsway in TOMORROW NEVER LIES. I think after being allegedly turned down twice, EON wouldn't make any further attempts at getting him, and I kind of think he's past his shelf life, at this point, of being a box office draw as a villain. He was at his peak post-Silence of the Lambs in the 90's.

HOWEVER, I would NEVER make this retro-alteration, but just imagine if Hopkins had taken over the role of "M" instead of Dench....and M was written so that he would also be the leader of the Janus Group (but not have been shot and killed at the beginning of the film)....and M attempts to recruit Bond into Janus when Bond exposes the theft of the Tiger Helicopter in order to steal the Goldeneye. Bond ends up having to kill this "M", but we've already gotten a glimpse of the new "M" because Dench would have filmed a few scenes (maybe taking Tanner's lines) as a security expert and analyst, and therefore her promotion to "M" status (and it's clear by now that "M" is a status or designation in the movies, not an abbreviation of Miles Messervy's name) is organic and natural when she is introduced to us as "M" in TOMORROW NEVER LIES DIES. Actually, that doesn't sound too bad, and it would beat MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE from doing something similar 6 months later. Just imagine the satisfaction of wiping that smug smile off of Tom Cruise's face when he finds out that EON has made M the villain just like Paramount has made Jim Phelps the villain. Then Cruise and Paula Wagner and Paramount are forced to go back and do costly rewrites and film new scenes to change the plot (the parts that were discernible, that is). :)

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE: ditch the out-of-control story for a faithful adaptation of the novel.

TOMORROW NEVER DIES and DIE ANOTHER DAY: toss 'em in the trash.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

I agree also that Anthony Hopkins would have made an interesting villain, especially in a mentor-type role, but I don't think that Hopkins didn't get the role for lack of trying. I heard he also turned down the role ofElliot Harmsway in TOMORROW NEVER LIES. I think after being allegedly turned down twice, EON wouldn't make any further attempts at getting him, and I kind of think he's past his shelf life, at this point, of being a box office draw as a villain. He was at his peak post-Silence of the Lambs in the 90's.

I know that he's turned the villain role down once or twice over the course of the franchise, but if put in the position to try to make changes to the film, which is the premise of the thread, I'd at least try to make that change to the film. If I couldn't have Dalton and Hopkins, though, I'd look at the same pairing of Brosnan and Bean, but just flip their roles and have Bean play Bond and Brosnan play Trevelyan. Brosnan has proven that he's much better outside of Bond (still not a great actor, but he's much, much better away from the Bond franchise), and Bean would have given Bond a bit more of a harder edge than Brosnan did, which would have helped to strengthen the character in a film where the supporting cast of characters are practically unified in trying to tear down the Bond character as something of a relic and out of touch with the times.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

HOWEVER, I would NEVER make this retro-alteration, but just imagine if Hopkins had taken over the role of "M" instead of Dench....and M was written so that he would also be the leader of the Janus Group (but not have been shot and killed at the beginning of the film)....and M attempts to recruit Bond into Janus when Bond exposes the theft of the Tiger Helicopter in order to steal the Goldeneye. Bond ends up having to kill this "M", but we've already gotten a glimpse of the new "M" because Dench would have filmed a few scenes (maybe taking Tanner's lines) as a security expert and analyst, and therefore her promotion to "M" status (and it's clear by now that "M" is a status or designation in the movies, not an abbreviation of Miles Messervy's name) is organic and natural when she is introduced to us as "M" in TOMORROW NEVER LIES DIES. Actually, that doesn't sound too bad, and it would beat MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE from doing something similar 6 months later. Just imagine the satisfaction of wiping that smug smile off of Tom Cruise's face when he finds out that EON has made M the villain just like Paramount has made Jim Phelps the villain. Then Cruise and Paula Wagner and Paramount are forced to go back and do costly rewrites and film new scenes to change the plot (the parts that were discernible, that is). :)

I quite like this idea and it would have taken the already solid premise of GE and made it that much better, assuming the talent in front of and behind the screen was capable of pulling it off in a convincing manner.

Mr. Dog suggested that Caroline Munro should have been given a bigger and better role in TSWLM or a leading role in another Bond movie since she was his favourite Bond girl to wank to.

He also grieves that Ornella Muti was never cast as a Bond girl...

Mrs Aural Sects wrote:

He also grieves that Ornella Muti was never cast as a Bond girl...

Agreed. A very stunning woman. Quite interesting that she never appeared in any Bond films. She could have been cast in FYEO (though it had already started shooting when FLASH GORDON came out in December of 1980). Would have been perfect as Octopussy. Oh well, at least Timothy Dalton got to give her a great line: "Lying bitch."

Hmmm...and Melody Anderson would have made a better Stacy Sutton than Tanya Roberts.

And the guy that played Ming The Merciless...he could have been a great Blofeld.

But Sam Jones...he couldn't have helped the series at all.

Mrs Aural Sects wrote:

Mr. Dog suggested that Caroline Munro should have been given a bigger and better role in TSWLM or a leading role in another Bond movie since she was his favourite Bond girl to wank to. ]

I agree. She should have swapped roles with Barbara Bach.

Quote :

And the guy that played Ming The Merciless...he could have been a great Blofeld.

Max Von Sydow did play Blofeld except he wasn't any good.

clublos wrote:

Some really interesting ideas here, especially Prince Kamal Khan's Lee Horsley as Leiter, that's inspired!

Thank you, sir. :) Sidenote: Horsley and Priscilla Barnes made a TV comedic western movie together called "The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch" back when he was Matt Houston and she was Teri on "Three's Company."



It would've been interesting for the 2 of them to reteam later as Mr. and Mrs. Felix Leiter in LTK.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Prince Kamal Khan wrote:

Minor changes: Have David Hedison portray Leiter in more Moore films, i.e., be Holly's supervisor in MR and do Chuck Lee's role in AVTAK(minus his being killed by May Day of course). Then, cast Lee Horsley(millionaire TV detective cowboy Matt Houston) as Leiter in the Dalton Bonds and Brosnan Bonds(instead of Jack Wade).

Lee Horsley...now that's a name. I liked him as Matt Houston. Could've been an interesting Felix Leiter.

Agreed. To have watched Remington Steele and Matt Houston on the same mission together would've been cool for those who remember the '80s.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Agreed about the lack of Leiter in the Moore films. In fact, I think one thing that would definitely help is to have story arcs in mind when making these films. Because, having said that....I would have found Trevelyan a much more interesting villain and more believable as Bond's friend and compatriot if we'd either gotten Trevelyan introduced in GE and then is the lead villain in TNL (or another Bond film) or we get a co-mission between 006 and 007 *BEFORE* the credits and then Trevelyan's death is shown *after* the credits, somewhere around the 30 minute mark.The movie would have been longer, but the relationship would have been more believable. And let me tell you something, I like Sean Bean a lot (maybe not enough to make him Bond), but it was really Sean doing all the work in those scenes between him and Pierce; when Sean asks "For England, James?" you don't really buy into Pierce's reply "No, for me." Some of that could just be Campbell's direction; the film, tonally, seemed to shift more than the Sahara Desert.

Interesting ideas about the 006 vs. 007 relationship, GS. And I agree, Sean Bean definitely outacts Pierce Brosnan in GE. Another reason I wish Timothy Dalton was cast in GE instead.

The following is a little more indepth. It's my "alternate universe" version of a Dalton AVTAK:

Pre title sequence: Introduce Timothy Dalton as the new 007 in a mini-adventure that has nothing or little to do with the rest of the picture(in the style of the teasers for GF, TB, FYEO and OP).

Title Sequence:(I would've retained the Duran Duran song, one of the few highlights of the actual film)

Albert R. Broccoli presents

Timothy Dalton as James Bond 007 in Ian Fleming's

FROM A VIEW TO A KILL
(I would have restored the full original Fleming title)

starring

Alison Doody as Mary Ann Russell

Patrick Macnee as Sir Godfrey Tibbett

Fiona Fullerton as Pola Ivanova

Christopher Walken as Max Zorin

and Tanya Roberts in a very small 5 minute appearance as the "sacrificial lamb" Jenny Flex

Movie opens proper: The first 20-30 mins would be a relatively faithful adaptation of the actual short story "From A View To A Kill". The SHAPE driver's murder would appear on screen and 007's subsequent investigation. He would be assigned to work with fellow agents Tibbett and lovely Mary Ann Russell(the girl in the original story), and would impersonate the SHAPE driver and infiltrate the Russian spy gang in the forest. The head assassin(who Bond is sure he has seen before) of this spy gang gets away and Bond finds a stash of Zorin microchips among the KGB spy ring materials. After a brief dalliance with the gorgeous Mary Ann, Bond reports this information to M. Bond would learn that Zorin industries are a private British defense contractor that is developing microchips that are impervious to the magnetic pulse of a nuclear explosion but they've not been put in use by the British defense systems yet. Zorin would still be of East German origin but he defected to England, became a U.K. citizen and then spent several years in New York where he made his millions. (This would explain Walken/Zorin's NY accent). M then sends Bond to investigate Zorin at a party his Chantilly estate. While there Bond meets and flirts with Zorin's mistress/secretary Jenny Flex(who Zorin brought from NY, also explaining her accent) Bond also runs into another lady at the party, his ex-lover, ballerina/KGB agent Pola Ivanova. After some brief flirting and catching up on old times, Pola mysteriously vanishes. To get more info on Zorin, Bond starts romancing Jenny which Zorin learns about and of course has her promptly executed(a la Corinne Dufour). Bond uses his gadgets to listen in on Zorin and his partner-in-crime whom he recognizes as the KGB assasin from the forest. Thru closer detection, Bond realizes that Pola and the KGB assassin are one and the same. Bond is caught spying and is captured by Zorin & put in some deathtrap from which of course he escapes but not without Zorin thinking he is dead.

Bond continues his mission in pursuit of Pola to learn more about what she and Zorin are up to. The Siberian ski chase could be inserted here where Bond pursues her but ultimately rescues Pola from an avalanche(a la Bond and Elektra). After this experience, they "warm up" in a hot tub reminiscing about old times. As Bond gets more of the information on their plan, Pola doublecrosses Bond and he is again captured by Zorin. It turns out that Zorin and Pola are planning to cause a nuclear blast in outer space over the U.K. to, as Frederick Gray put it, "paralyze us at the Russian's mercy". This will be done after Zorin installs the "nuclear-explosion impervious" microchips(which of course won't be) in all of Britain's national defense systems. In the end, Bond of course thwarts Zorin and Pola's plans with the aid of Mary Ann who Bond ends up with in the final clinch. Tibbett would also have a larger role as Bond's ally and not be killed off. Perhaps Tibbett
should become head of Station F-France.

Great story PK although I would cast Tanya Roberts as Mary Ann Russel, and make sure she gets lots of quality screen/bikini time and opportunities to be rescued so she can yell "James James", in that hoarse voice of hers.

One of the real missed opportunities of AVTAK was that Roberts didn't get a chance to prance about in a bikini, ala Ekland or St.John.

Prince Kamal Khan wrote:

Tibbett would also have a larger role as Bond's ally and not be killed off. Perhaps Tibbett should become head of Station F-France.

Good idea. He and Moore worked well together, and he deserved to be more than the male ally killed off at the beginning to get Bond's blood boiling. All five Glen films pull that trick, actually, and I don't care for it. It's just cheap writing. I never liked that Patrick Macnee was killed off in AVTAK. What made it worse is that Bond just seems to forget about Tibbett after he vanishes, and he's never mentioned again. (Unless I'm remembering incorrectly.)

As for the other male allies who get killed - the bit where Bond finds Ferrara dead was quite chilling, so I'll give that one a pass. Vijay? I was happy when he died. Wretched character. Tibbett dying was totally unnecessary (reminds me of Mathis, actually). Saunders' development, subsequent murder and its effect on the story was perfect. I am not such a fan of Sharky dying - I don't like that the last time we see him alive isn't when he's helping Bond, but when he's agreeing to help Bond. As if just allying himself with Bond sealed his fate...

Prince Kamal Khan wrote:

Thank you, sir. :) Sidenote: Horsley and Priscilla Barnes made a TV comedic western movie together called "The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch" back when he was Matt Houston and she was Teri on "Three's Company."

Teri was always my second favorite female roomate...right behind Janet. To me Janet was always the prettiest, sexiest of the women on the show, especially after she lost about five pounds, cut the curly hair, and brushed it straight down and to the sides.

Quote :

Interesting ideas about the 006 vs. 007 relationship, GS. And I agree, Sean Bean definitely outacts Pierce Brosnan in GE. Another reason I wish Timothy Dalton was cast in GE instead.

The following is a little more indepth. It's my "alternate universe" version of a Dalton AVTAK:

I've always felt that Roger should have stepped aside after OCTOPUSSY. He would have gone out on an all-time high, and AVTAK would have benefited immensely from having a younger Bond (therefore a younger Tibbett and a newer, younger Moneypenny). Though AVTAK is a great film, it held potential for so much more, but additionally, I think it would have been a great film for an actor to cut his teeth on. With Dalton in the role we might've gotten a casting search to pull up a better actress than Roberts, whom I've always been convinced was despised by John Glen (no way would he possibly have directed her to scream and wail and act helpless as a kitten if he had liked her).

Quote :

It turns out that Zorin and Pola are planning to cause a nuclear blast in outer space over the U.K. to, as Frederick Gray put it, "paralyze us at the Russian's mercy". This will be done after Zorin installs the "nuclear-explosion impervious" microchips(which of course won't be) in all of Britain's national defense systems.

What about the original plot to have Zorin manipulate Haley's Comet into crashing into Silicon Valley? How would that have been accomplished? Through a nuclear detonation in outer space? At first it sounds like a great idea, but then when you do the science you realize a comet crash into any part of the planet would likely wipe out the human race as we know it.

Louis Armstrong wrote:

Prince Kamal Khan wrote:

Tibbett would also have a larger role as Bond's ally and not be killed off. Perhaps Tibbett should become head of Station F-France.

Good idea. He and Moore worked well together, and he deserved to be more than the male ally killed off at the beginning to get Bond's blood boiling. All five Glen films pull that trick, actually, and I don't care for it. It's just cheap writing. I never liked that Patrick Macnee was killed off in AVTAK. What made it worse is that Bond just seems to forget about Tibbett after he vanishes, and he's never mentioned again. (Unless I'm remembering incorrectly.)

As for the other male allies who get killed - the bit where Bond finds Ferrara dead was quite chilling, so I'll give that one a pass. Vijay? I was happy when he died. Wretched character. Tibbett dying was totally unnecessary (reminds me of Mathis, actually). Saunders' development, subsequent murder and its effect on the story was perfect. I am not such a fan of Sharky dying - I don't like that the last time we see him alive isn't when he's helping Bond, but when he's agreeing to help Bond. As if just allying himself with Bond sealed his fate...

Hmmm...I never thought of that. I guess Glen did have a sacrificial lamb in each film, and a flying bird that startles Bond.

Your criticism of Tibbett's death brought back memories of 1985 and the critical reaction to the film. One of the universal complaints about the film was that Tibbett even died in the first place, much less how he died. It's interesting to notice the reaction to Tibbett's death was almost stronger than the killing of any other character other than maybe Jill Masterson. What was it about Tibbett's killing that angered people? Was it because MacNee was beloved by millions of fans around the world? Was it because he was a seasoned citizen at the time the movie was made?

Fans were really offended by Tibbett's killing. I guess I can relate, though. I was horrified at the way Bond treated Mathis' body in QUANTURD OF SOLACE, even though I didn't object to Mathis being killed off.