57 replies to this topic

[Diamond]

Blue Eyes (31 Jul, 2001 03:16 a.m.):
Well there ya go! I've got more to post. More exclusive for us.
But what do you all think?
Off the top of my head I posted parts with 'R' in it? Well before the first script was written I'm sure that EON/MGM had decided already that R would be Q in the next, in fact I don't think the TWINE script even referred to Cleese's character as R. Surely anyone employed to do a treatment would know such a fact?
But one thing I will say. It's a professionally written script. I think Diamond commented the same. It's professionally written. But I feel it lacks original content. It's too much of 'past ground', such as a car that goes underwater. Would they really recycle such an idea in such a major way?
Thoughts please people!

Cheers 4 the greeting Bluey!! Put it this way..... with Bond 20 anything could happen. It's a major film. The producers want to create something special for the 40th anniversary and what better than a plot like this. Having such a shock for Bond's character and the franchise could be the difference between another TWINE & a new direction. As I previously said to ZenCat - whoever did write this plot has still kept true to Fleming but elaborated. I was speaking to a development exec at MGM on Friday about Bond and he had heard through certain channels that the writers had been working on many drafts. If Purvis and Wade had written this plot - then only they would decide if R was going to be Q's successor. Perhaps they were working on a treatment where Q did retire and then it has been decided to have R take over fully. I can't say - but looking at the script you have posted - it seems the writer has mixed the old with the new. For this to be the 40th anniversary film - this would make sense. The Spy Who Loved Me's Lotus Esprit mixed with TWINE's Q Boat. It would be one cool car. The Esprit was great underwater - but a car that becomes a speedboat - well I'd like to see it!!!

Stay cool - Diamond

[Diamond]

[quote]Blue Eyes (31 Jul, 2001 03:09 a.m.):
Well Diamond, you asked for it.

Here it is as sent to me!! Tell me what you think I'm posting half now, half later cause of size restrictions

SCRIPT ABOVE

Blue Eyes - where did you get this? Do you also have a link with Bond20.Com or are you working with them??? Or do you also have a copy of this Final Assignment????

There is something very wierd going on here. The exec I spoke to at MGM said he had heard that the film was going to be called Final Assignment as well!!!

Do you sites know something we don't???

Also, are Bond20.Com spouting off that they are angry that CB.Net is rubbishing their news or is it their scooper whose angry??? I'm confused!!

It looks to me like the scooper is airing his views and it's not the site?? Do you know which?

Please confirm all of the above. I am also going to make this a topic incorporating all of my posts to this topic - others may have their own views!!!!

[Blue Eyes]

Diamond (31 Jul, 2001 04:26 a.m.):
Blue Eyes - where did you get this? Do you also have a link with Bond20.Com or are you working with them??? Or do you also have a copy of this Final Assignment????
[/quote]

Nope I have no association with Bond20.Com. I don't have the whole script either. Basically, the person who first contacted Bond20 contacted me a few hours after I posted the news where I stated I felt the script was false.

[quote]There is something very wierd going on here. The exec I spoke to at MGM said he had heard that the film was going to be called Final Assignment as well!!![/quote]

You're pulling my leg aren't you?

[quote]Do you sites know something we don't???[/quote]

I know a few things I'm not allowed to reveal. But nothing along this line.

[quote]Also, are Bond20.Com spouting off that they are angry that CB.Net is rubbishing their news or is it their scooper whose angry??? I'm confused!![/quote]

You're confused? So am I!! I feel it's their scooper though.

Hope this helps you!

Just on what you wrote before. While it would be great for fans to re-introduce some older elements, I personally can't see EON allowing it! But I could be wrong of course!

[Diamond]

[quote]
There is something very wierd going on here. The exec I spoke to at MGM said he had heard that the film was going to be called Final Assignment as well!!!
[/quote]

You're pulling my leg aren't you?

[quote]

No - that's what I heard. I was pitching an idea and he said he heard about it through the grapevine. When I pushed - he shut up.
Do you sites know something we don't???
[/quote]

I know a few things I'm not allowed to reveal. But nothing along this line.

[quote]
Also, are Bond20.Com spouting off that they are angry that CB.Net is rubbishing their news or is it their scooper whose angry??? I'm confused!!
[/quote]

You're confused? So am I!! I feel it's their scooper though.

Hope this helps you!

Just on what you wrote before. While it would be great for fans to re-introduce some older elements, I personally can't see EON allowing it! But I could be wrong of course![/quote]

[Diamond]

There is something very wierd going on here. The exec I spoke to at MGM said he had heard that the film was going to be called Final Assignment as well!!!

You're pulling my leg aren't you?

No - that's what I heard. I was pitching an idea and he said he heard about it through the grapevine. When I pushed - he shut up.

Just on what you wrote before. While it would be great for fans to re-introduce some older elements, I personally can't see EON allowing it! But I could be wrong of course!

Neither can I - but perhaps with the 40th anniversary being such a important date - they have decided to give Purvis & Wade licence to mix the old with the new??

Stay blue!

[Blue Eyes]

Strange what the guy at MGM said to you.

There's a large surge of visitors right now. Let's hope some make a few comments on the boards!

[Blue Eyes]

Well now that we're back we can start discussing again.

I've been looking at some other forums and there is one majoy idea in this plot, revenge. Same thing from License to Kill!! Strange that isn't it?

There's a lot of recycled stuff in this script. Old ideas have been mutated into new ones. It's all very strange. But never mind. If anyone else wants I can continue to post bits of the script that I haven't before.

[James Page]

007_Fanatic (06 Aug, 2001 09:46 p.m.):
the pre-title sequence had nothing to do with the actual plot for the rest of the film. They could do that again for Bond 20 if they wanted to.

I doubt they'll venture down that route again, purely for the fact that they've had a hell of a job trying to squeeze the movies into the 2-hour slot as it is. (About twenty minutes was cut from TWINE?) Remove the use of the teaser as the story's precursor (-sans credits) and you are left with about 1:45.

Personally I'd like to see a 2:20er, something to get your teeth into a bit more (imagine how much better TND would be if there were dialogue between the action sequences for instance).

=
J

[Jacques Nexus]

FINAL ASSIGNMENT.........sounds like a boring title to me. My head's spinning about this...I don't know what to think except that EON don't normally go for this type of scenario. All the stuff about 007 & 008 taking over their father's numbers sounds stupid. I don't mind having a very personal storyline for 007 but this crap is over the top. Anyway...what's the caper ?...can anyone tell me ?.

Also...ATTENTION ZENCAT: the BMW Q Boat sequence is reminisent of your SHATTERHAND pre-title treatment in the fan fiction area...what do you think ?.

[R]

Having cast an eye over the Bond 20 plot, I have to say that there are certain parts of it which are VERY reminiscient of what was being talked about on various discussion boards not long after the release of TWINE. I personally can remember:

Bond seeking revenge for the death of his parents. There was even one idea that the pre-credits would be the climbing accident, with Brosnan playing ANDREW Bond.

Bond taking over the 007 number. In the scenario I heard, Lt-Com James Bond, RNVR, was on the sub waiting to pick up 007 from his latest mission. Something goes wrong, and Bond is sent to rescue 007, 007 dies, but not until after Bond has salvaged the mission and killed in cold blood, thereby earning his license to kill.

So we can confirm that they certainly ARE fan-created ideas (unless Purvis and Wade were batting ideas around on the boards, but I don't think that's likely).

Also, the whole stolen list of 00 agents and Bond breaking into the SIS computer is basically a re-run of Mission: Impossible. I don't think there's any way that EON would do something THAT derivative.

As for the scripts, a couple of details make me think that these are NOT genuine.

"Round the bloody back"...as far as I can remember the ONLY Bond film to contain swearing of ANY kind is LTK, which wound up with a 15, thereby contributing to its dive at the box office. Would EON do this again? Likewise for the level of violence:

"Bond's palm snaps up and the nose explodes, blood erupting"...and...
"THE GUARDS run screaming, burning in different directions."

just don't seem in keeping with the comic-book-feel of traditional Bond violence. Of course, this might be a sign of the more hard-edged Bond that Brosnan is after, but again, we're talking cert 15 territory.

Some other incidental details:

The car is a BMW. BMW no longer have the contract to supply Bond's vehicle's, at the moment the front-runner appears to be Aston Martin again (pleeeeeaaaaaassssse!). Would a genuine EON-originated script be so out of date with regards to the hardware?

Finally, I know it's picky but..

"I'm getting a case of deja vous"

it's actually spelt "deja-vu" (without the accents). I might be wrong but shouldn't professional writers KNOW these things?

My theory: the script for Final Assignment is not from Purvis and Wade. Elsewhere on these boards James Page has mentioned a dumped script being left in a canteen. This is very similar to the legend of the "found" Dr Who movie screenplay, which was discovered lying around at a covention. It turned out that this was a screenplay writer touting for business. I believe that is the case with this screenplay. Whoever it is, and there is no doubt that they ARE talented, has "leaked" an example of his work to some rumour-hungry fans, hoping to get noticed. It appears to have worked, but expect the denials from EON to start surfacing soon.

[spacebabe]

Yup, I agree.

More pickiness...

Bond has a flashback as he's falling down the mountain of R showing him the watch, which he then uses to save himself. For one thing he'll proabably be Q then, as he was only ever referred to as R in Bond's joke, and they called him that in the titles only has he was not called by any other name in the movie.

But my main point, when has a Bond movie ever used flashbacks? This isn't Sunset Beach!

In every movie, Bond is shown his gadgets, then later on his life is threatened in such a way that only the particular gadget he happened to have been given can save him (Q must be psychic or something), which he then uses. They always assume the audience will be able to remember as far back as a whole hour (not being made by an American studio) when he was given said gadget. Why the flashback?

And another thing, when Bond is dying in the water chamber, his line: "Where did you find him? Psycho's R us?"
Would Bond be able to quip when he's drowing to death? He generally makes his little jokes after having defeated someone, not whilst in the middle of drowning.
And it just doesn't sound very Bond, somehow. Some of his jokes are pretty cheesy (shocking. Positively shocking.) But Psycho's'R'Us sounds kinda cartoonish.

[zencat]

Blue Eyes (31 Jul, 2001 03:16 a.m.):
But one thing I will say. It's a professionally written script. I think Diamond commented the same. It's professionally written. But I feel it lacks original content. It's too much of 'past ground', such as a car that goes underwater. Would they really recycle such an idea in such a major way?

My thoughts exactly. These pages aren't bad. The only thing that feels amateur are the fundamental ideas. Could this be the work of Ben Willcock who has mysteriously shown up on the IMDB as the writer of Bond 20? (P&W are now credited w/ story only.)

[zencat]

Blue Eyes (31 Jul, 2001 03:19 a.m.):
I stand corrected. The TWINE second draft referred to Cleese as R. I think it may have changed later though. Zencat could tell us better.

This "R" thing has caused so much confusion. Yes, Cleese's character first appears in the 2nd draft by Dana Stevens and is called "R." But that's NOT his actual character name. It's just a style thing. Bond makes the joke, "That would make you..."R"? so Stevens uses "R" (in quotes) when referring to the character in description. Sounds better than "Q's Assistant." Purvis & Wade did the same thing w/ "Cigar Girl." Like I said, it's just a writing device, and unless you give the character a proper name somewhere in the script that's how the character will be credited. That's why Cleese is called "R" in the final credits.

My understanding is Cleese is now "Q" and will be called "Q".

[zencat]

Diamond (31 Jul, 2001 04:26 a.m.):
There is something very wierd going on here. The exec I spoke to at MGM said he had heard that the film was going to be called Final Assignment as well!!!

Really!? Well this is getting very interesting. Of course, this exec may have "heard" this from the internet. In my experience, I've found MGM execs to sometimes be completely in the dark as to what's going on over at EON.

Sounds like we're running in the same wolf pack, Diamond. If you wanna get together and talk Bond, I have a favorite covert locale near the beach that serves great margaritas? Email me if you're so inclined: [email protected]

Of course, maybe I know who you are... I believe I still owe you a scotch..?

[zencat]

This was on Dark Horizons today (8/6/01)

"Bond 20: More details on that "Final Assignment" script is up at The007.TV though unofficial word from MGM indicates that the script is NOT being used."

So why would this be "unofficial"? Why not an official denial? Maybe this was indeed a draft of Bond 20 that was commissioned by Eon then rejected. Maybe in a fit of depression the writer decided to leak it to the net. This doesn't seem impossible. Maybe this is the Ben Wilcock draft?

[zencat]

Jacques Nexus (01 Aug, 2001 04:00 p.m.):
Also...ATTENTION ZENCAT: the BMW Q Boat sequence is reminisent of your SHATTERHAND pre-title treatment in the fan fiction area...what do you think ?.

That's nothing. In my SHATTERHAND treatment (written in 1998 ) I team Bond up with, yep, you guessed it, a female Agent 008.

Grrrrr...

[Diamond]

E mail me Zen

[alexgilbert]

This rumor was originated on some other board where a quite entusiastic fellow suggested that plot. It could have been on one of the IGN boards but i just browsed it and can't find it. i remember he used a nick along the lines of godfather0061.

[White Persian]

Well, frankly I don't buy this script at all. It reeks of hoax to me. I can't see anyone seriously calling a villain "Saten", the ice climb is recycled from the T.N.D draft, the submarine car is, as has been noted, straight out of TSWLM, the dialogue is poor and the hokey attempts to suggest that maybe Brosnan's Bond is the son of Connery's Bond is...well...hokey. Does anyone really imagine that MI6 passes 00 numbers on from one generation to the next like family heirlooms. And would a pro screenwriter really write "deja vous" for deja vu?

If it is fan fiction, it seems, from the reference to the car's "bonnet" rather than the American "hood" to be of British origin. If the M.G.M. contact has heard that the title will be "Final Assignment", it only means that the rumour mill is working flat out as a result of this dubious script.

[Jacques Nexus]

zencat (01 Aug, 2001 07:25 p.m.):

Jacques Nexus (01 Aug, 2001 04:00 p.m.):
Also...ATTENTION ZENCAT: the BMW Q Boat sequence is reminisent of your SHATTERHAND pre-title treatment in the fan fiction area...what do you think ?.

That's nothing. In my SHATTERHAND treatment (written in 1998 ) I team Bond up with, yep, you guessed it, a female Agent 008.

Grrrrr...

A female 008 is a popular idea. Even I have written one into my scenario #7 (fan fiction board) called SILVERTONGUE.

[The Admiral]

spacebabe (01 Aug, 2001 06:36 p.m.):
Yup, I agree.

More pickiness...

Bond has a flashback as he's falling down the mountain of R showing him the watch, which he then uses to save himself. For one thing he'll proabably be Q then, as he was only ever referred to as R in Bond's joke, and they called him that in the titles only has he was not called by any other name in the movie.

But my main point, when has a Bond movie ever used flashbacks? This isn't Sunset Beach!

In every movie, Bond is shown his gadgets, then later on his life is threatened in such a way that only the particular gadget he happened to have been given can save him (Q must be psychic or something), which he then uses. They always assume the audience will be able to remember as far back as a whole hour (not being made by an American studio) when he was given said gadget. Why the flashback?

And another thing, when Bond is dying in the water chamber, his line: "Where did you find him? Psycho's R us?"
Would Bond be able to quip when he's drowing to death? He generally makes his little jokes after having defeated someone, not whilst in the middle of drowning.
And it just doesn't sound very Bond, somehow. Some of his jokes are pretty cheesy (shocking. Positively shocking.) But Psycho's'R'Us sounds kinda cartoonish.

As far as I know, one flashback has been used in the whole series. In Moonraker when Bond tries out the gravity thing. When it starts getting painful, Bond get's a flashback of Q showing hi the dart gun on his wrist.

[The Admiral]

This may sound completely mad, but do you think someone from EON or MGM has made up some script to put the fans on the wrong track? I just had an idea of it being some smoke screen to just keep us busy at this script, while another is being sorted out?

[Diamond]

Dave (04 Aug, 2001 03:08 p.m.):
This may sound completely mad, but do you think someone from EON or MGM has made up some script to put the fans on the wrong track? I just had an idea of it being some smoke screen to just keep us busy at this script, while another is being sorted out?

Dave - I doubt it. Reputable companies like EON/Danjaq would not steep so low. I think this is an early draft of P & W and Ben Wilcox has added to it.

The latest sequence on Bond20.Com is impressive. They would not waste their time writing a whole screenplay. I think it is an early draft.

Let me know what you think?

Diamond

[R]

Does anyone really imagine that MI6 passes 00 numbers on from one generation to the next like family heirlooms.

This does happen in one film featuring Bond; the...er...unique "Casino Royale".

I think that demonstrates the quality of the idea.

[James Page]

zencat (06 Aug, 2001 11:07 p.m.):
Maybe in a fit of depression the writer decided to leak it to the net. This doesn’t seem impossible. Maybe this is the Ben Wilcock draft?

Well he isn't going to find it easy getting work in Hollywood again =)

=
J

[The Admiral]

It was just an idea, I can see your point though.

If you're on about the "pre-title" sequence, I read that yesterday and I thought it sounded great. However, I have great concern over what the bike will look like.

[Icephoenix]

online daniel

[Blue Eyes]

Dave (04 Aug, 2001 03:08 p.m.):
This may sound completely mad, but do you think someone from EON or MGM has made up some script to put the fans on the wrong track? I just had an idea of it being some smoke screen to just keep us busy at this script, while another is being sorted out?

No Dave. Why would they need to? A lot of people out there are willing to do it for them