3 replies to this topic

[Praetorian]

I think a lot of Bond titles thrown around the internet lack imagination. We must be careful to stick to the basic formula of what makes a title a BOND title. A Bond title is one of the following:

(1) A person's name (e.g., Goldfinger, Dr No, Octopussy, The Man With The Golden Gun);
(2) The name of a thing - usually with military implications (e.g., Goldeneye, Moonraker, Thunderball);
(3) A government phrase (e.g., Licence to Kill, For Your Eyes Only, O.H.M.S.S.);
(4) A witty play on a famous catch phrase (e.g., Live and Let Die, You Only Live Twice)
(5) An invented phrase (Diamonds Are Forever, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Spy Who Loved Me, From Russia With Love).

You will have no doubt noticed that certain words pervade Bond titles: "love", "die", "live" or "living", "never", "kill", "You or Your", "For" (whether by itself or in "Forever").

Here is an idea for a title that conforms to (4): "BETTER RED THAN ALIVE" - efficient if the movie is about some staunch communist megalomaniac (and plays on the phrase, "Better red than dead".) It also continues the tradition of "live" words. Or how about "CATCH-007" - a play on "Catch-22", which could reflect a cat-and-mouse plot in which Bond is the hunted for a change. "Licence To Kill" - a pretty obvious one - wasn't thought of until the late '80s; there is no reason why 007 should not appear in the title.

"DANGER IN NUMBERS" - a play on "Safety in numbers" - ideal for any movie that involves something numerical.

A title idea that conforms to (5):
"OUT OF THE SILENCE"

A title that conforms to (2) and which would be relevant for the rumoured cyber-terrorism Bond 20:
"MINDTRAPPER"

What do the rest of you think. Just a few honest ideas I thought I'd throw to the wind.

Hear from anyone soon.

Cheers

[Jacques Nexus]

[quote][b]Praetorian...
Here is an idea for a title that conforms to (4): "BETTER RED THAN ALIVE" - efficient if the movie is about some staunch communist megalomaniac (and plays on the phrase, "Better red than dead".) It also continues the tradition of "live" words. Or how about "CATCH-007" - a play on "Catch-22", which could reflect a cat-and-mouse plot in which Bond is the hunted for a change. "Licence To Kill" - a pretty obvious one - wasn't thought of until the late '80s; there is no reason why 007 should not appear in the title.

"DANGER IN NUMBERS" - a play on "Safety in numbers" - ideal for any movie that involves something numerical.

A title idea that conforms to (5):
"OUT OF THE SILENCE"

A title that conforms to (2) and which would be relevant for the rumoured cyber-terrorism Bond 20:
"MINDTRAPPER"[/quote
__________________________________________________________
You've got some nice titles here...my favourite one here is "DANGER IN NUMBERS"...brilliant !
P.S. That title would make a very fine alternative to Benson's FACTS OF DEATH...numbers played an important part in that novel.

[Blue Eyes]

Fantastic little theory there Praetorian. Would you mind if I published it on the main site as news?

[The Admiral]

That's a great article there!

Fleming's titles followed these rules, and the book that he never wrote was going to be called "My Enemies enemy is my friend" - I think that's what it was going to be called?