5 replies to this topic

[White Persian]

Over the years there has been discussion about the briefing scene in Dr No where M says "Since I've been head of MI7, there's been a X% reduction in casualties" (I've forgotten the exact %), contradicting the books where Bond is with MI6.
In subsequent films, 007 is back with MI6.
I always suspected Bernard Lee's voice was dubbed in where he says "MI7".
The new "extra footage" video of Dr No (and the DVD too I suppose) has a funny old B&W documentary about Bond made at the time. The briefing seen is shown in part, and sure enough M did originally say MI6!
Presumably this was changed to the fictitious MI7 during post-production because someone got cold feet about suggesting the real MI6 was sending out agents with a licence to kill.

[Digitarius]

"R" is right. MI5 deals with internal affairs, and MI6 deals with overseas affairs. This is highlighted in the Gardner novel, Death is Forever, where the two agencies cross lines.

This is more or less the equivalent to the FBI/CIA situation in America.

[Blofeld's Cat]

James from MI6 says that MI6 is now called SIS.
But I wonder for how long?
The caption in TWINE describes the the building on the Thames as "MI6 Headquarters".
Could this be a faux pax?

[James Page]

Ok, I suppose I'd best clear this up...

MI-5 - Military Intellience 5, internal affairs (anti-terrorism etc)
http://www.mi5.gov.uk

MI-6 - Now goes under the guise of...
SIS - Secret Intelligence Service
Deals with intelligence gathering outside British borders.

Judi Dench visited the SIS HQ before the release of TWINE as a dinner guest. Even then the bloody media got it wrong on that occasion and called it MI6.

The department is and will be called SIS for the forseeable future.

The name "MI6" is purely historial now, and the reason the movie makers / media still use it is because:
a) The general public have heard of it
It was used for such a long time
c) It remains congruous with MI5

And as for MI1 to MI4, and up to MI22... Fiction and fact have blurry lines. If there are those departments, then they are likely to be extremly small, specıalısed and have narrow ops.

Anyway... For a special treat - if you mega-slow-mo the scene in TWINE where King is walking to his money and the camera cuts to the overhead shot of him walking over the MI6 crest, you will see "OO Section" on the bottom of the motif. :-)

[R]

If I remember correctly, MI5 (Military Intelligence: Section 5) deals with matters of internal security, and MI6 with overseas threats. Now I've heard that there are MI's 1 to 4, and even go all the way up to MI22, and that these are SO secret that the government won't even admit they exist (as indeed was the case with MI6 up until the late 80's).

So there IS an MI7, but if we ever found out what it did, we'd probably get a visit from a nice big lad from HM's Forces, and taken for a little drive in the woods...

[Blue Eyes]

So they dubbed it in post production. Very strange. I'd presume the reason would be cold feet as White Persian suggested. A 'secret' government agency mentioned in the movies would have been a big step back then. Perhaps they were worried about MI-6 intervening and putting a bar on the film as a result?