30 replies to this topic

[eddychaput]

This is the first time I start a thread here, so bare with me please!

How were you lured into the amazing world of 007? What was the first Bond film you watched? Under what circumstances? What was your initial impression? Awe at first sight? Only got into the whole thing with later viewings? Etc...


I remember when I was a kid, maybe 8 or 9, I stayed home from school one day because I was sick. My mother, bless her, had the brilliant idea of renting a film. Instead of renting a Disney cartoon (which would have been fine by me), she came home with Octopussy (Roger Moore was always her favorite Bond). She thought that I might like it. Action, gadgets, intrigue, all the stuff a young lad like me enjoyed but, you know, this 'apparently' had more class.

2 hours later and I was floored. I was really excited by what I had just watched, fever or no fever. This funny, witty (although I wasn't familiar with that word at the time) Englishman traveling the world with gadgets up his every sleeve, facing these maniac villains and saving the day. There was nothing more I could have asked more as a young boy. Absolutely nothing. It didn't take long before my mother and father were renting Bond movies for me every couple weeks or so. By the time Goldeneye came out in 1995, which was my first silver screen 007 experience, I knew exactly who Bond...James Bond was and loved everything about it.

What's your story?

[staveoffzombies]

The first Bond movie I really remember seeing was The World Is Not Enough. I didn't see all of it, and I remember not being impressed in the least. Brosnan looked like some pretty boy waltzing around and I couldn't understand the appeal of the character at all. It wasn't until a couple years later when I saw The Man With the Golden Gun and You Only Live Twice on TV and became a fan.

[golrush007]

Location: Video rental store, Hilton-South Africa, sometime in 1997.

While looking for a video to rent, I as a 9 year old was looking amongst the usual kind of videos that I liked to rent. However, my dad had the idea of renting a Bond film. He chose Moonraker, as that was one of two Bond novels he had read. I was unhappy with the choice, but my father got his way and we rented Moonraker.

The Pre-title sequence of the film grabbed me immediately. The james bond theme, Jaws, the skydiving stunts - all added up to an instant captivation with Bond. I've loved every minute of Bond since, although my dad didn't know that he was creating a monster when he introduced me to Bond.

[BoogieBond]

I can symathise with you golrush007, it was much the same situation for me

I was 5 years old and mum and dad took my brother and myself to go see Moonraker. It took all of the PTS to realise that the films were cool and exciting, the next week I badgered mum to take me to The Spy Who loved me, which was on a double bill with Moonraker. The epic nature of them and the style made me immediately want to be James Bond, apart from the kissing the girls bit, as I was not quite into girls at that age but the visiting exotic locations and beating bad guys up, I was up for that.

[ImTheMoneypenny]

I have two strong Bond memories of first seeing Bond when I was really little, like well under 8 years old.

DAF (Bambi and Thumper was all I remembered about it for years.) and Octopussy.

[Zorin Industries]

My Dad insisted we see OCTOPUSSY at the cinema in the summer of 1983. I dug my heels in and wanted to see RETURN OF THE JEDI again. But - for various reasons - my Dad insisted and we went to see OCTOPUSSY - my first 007 film and first one at the cinema. I remember being fascinated by the tuk-tuk chase and the gymnastics at the end. And the colours and verve of the titles stuck with me too. Still do.

[Conlazmoodalbrocra]

I must have been no older than 5, because I remember Goldeneye hadn't come out yet. My uncle introduced me to Roger Moore's films. I think the first one I saw was Live And Let Die, and I was blown away by every minute. I loved the way Bond seemed to be invincible, and cool in the face of danger. For a kid who didn't have much ambition, I suddenly knew who I wanted to be. My love for Bond has flourished over these past 13 years.

[Safari Suit]

First Bond film I saw all the way through was OHMSS, after my grandfather taped it off ITV. It was January 1996 (I would have just turned 9), I remember this because we watched it on the last day of my Christmas break. I didn't know this was Lazenby's only film, I remember my Grandfather explaining that it was to me afterwards, and the reasons Lazenby (and Connery) had quit. It didn't occur to me at the time that the series would be unable to continue if Bond got married, so I didn't see the death coming, but I don't remember being especially shocked or upset either.

I think I had seen bits and pieces of Bond films before that, I certainly was aware of the character, and that he had been played by Sean Connery and Roger Moore. I also remember my mum telling about Bond having a secretary who was in love with him but whom he wasn't in love with, I have no idea why she told me this or why I remember it.

And there was James Bond Jr. of course

I remained interested in the series, but I don't think I became any sort of "proper" fan until I saw LTK on ITV in the summer of 99 (ten years soon ). Exploding heads, shark maulings, an illusion of grit and maturity and the 15 certificate vibe in general are very exciting and alluring when you're 12. It remains "officially" my favourite Bond film for nostalgic reasons, if nothing else.

[ChrissBond007]

You know, I wanted to start this thread about a month ago. But I was totally forgot it! But well...

The first game I played on the Nintendo 64 was Goldeneye. I think it was somewhere in 2000. I loved the game! And we had a rare channel which where showing Goldeneye! I loved it and it was awesome to regognise the game in the movie!

I saw later that they where showing a Bondmovie every week! So every saturday a Bondmovie, I believe it was DAD a week later. But after I saw some of the Roger Moore Bond's, TMWTGG, TSWLM and Moonraker, I became really addicted to the series (still am ).

Edited by ChrissBond007, 22 January 2009 - 02:21 PM.

[Double-0-Seven]

Having played the GoldenEye video game shortly after it was released, I became interested in seeing some of the James Bond movies. I rented the movie, and following my first viewing I was already on my way back to the video store to purchase a copy. Later that week I rented another Bond film and it went from there. I was hooked right away.

[Wronschien]

I was around ten, and couldn't sleep one night so I got up and joined my father watching FRWL on TV. I was much intrigued by it because James Bond was famous and indeed quite enjoyed it.
Yet it's been a couple of years later that I eventually decided to watch the few VHS we had to know better (DN, FRWL, TMWTGG, TSWLM, OP) and this time I was hooked immediately.

[DamnCoffee]

The first time I was ever introduced to Bond was back in 1996. I was 5 years old. My grandparents brought The Spy Who Loved Me back for me when they were at Blackpool. I wanted a Disney movie, but they couldn't get it. And I remember sitting in my grandparents house, and they gave me the VHS.

I was a little confused at first, because I was thinking to myself, "Who is this James Bond fellow?", the moment I went home, I watched it. I absoloutly loved it.

And my love affair with Bond started right there.

[Mr. Blofeld]

When I was a wee tyke of 6, my parents had a little vacation cottage in New Hampshire; we didn't get cable there, just the Big Three on a little dinky rabbit-eared thing. One late night, I was sitting on the couch, watching the ABC Movie of the Week, and there was a strange thing happening: a funeral procession passing in front of a man, then killing him and celebrating about it. The movie was Live and Let Die, and that was my first introduction to Mr. Bond...

Of course, I didn't really get into Bond until I went to see Casino Royale at the cinema with my father, and it hooked me immediately.

[HH007]

I was about six or seven when my parents rented THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS for me on video, and even though I didn't grasp the entire plot at the time, I loved it nonetheless. A year later I went to see LICENSE TO KILL in the theater (yeah, a great movie for an eight year old to see), and the rest is history.

[Gothamite]

I'll be damned if I can remember what the exact moment James Bond came into my life, was. It's strange as well, because I can recall instantly how Batman and Superman entered my thoughts (my other two favourite fictional heroes).

James Bond Jr. was on all the time when I was young and while I can't really remember much about it, the name and the main character were stuck in my head afterwards.

My Dad used to tell me all the time about the 'James Bond Toy Car' he used to have, with the ejector seat (the DB5, which I now have the modern replica of), so that always fascinated me, as well.

As for the first actual film, I am inclined to think that it was either Never Say Never Again (which I remember thinking was called 'James Bond: The Movie' which is odd, because McClory wanted to call it something like that at one point) or possibly For Your Eyes Only (I remember seeing the Helicopter PTS at a very young age).

The first, firm, indelible Bond memory I have was when my brother and I rented GoldenEye; when I must have been about five or six. Funnily enough, there was a documentary on TV about the film shortly after we turned off the tape.

When the 'James Bond Season' would play on TV, I would tape them as often as I could and this is how the seeds of my fanaticism began. I must have watched You Only Live Twice, Diamonds are Forever and Licence to Kill a couple of dozen times each when I was young.

[Garth007]

I was like 3-4 and my dad like watching the movies and Thounderball came on and ever since i loved watching all the james bond movies. (except Die Another Day)

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

Many people here would have my guts for garthers killed for telling it so much times, but, I don't care.

The last weeks of 1997, I was amazed by watching a Cinecanal GoldenEye ad on teh street, then, I went with my dad to a shopping mall near my house, where some guys where playing the N64 game of the film. My dad there explained who James bond was, and nearly a month later, I saw the GoldenEye transmition on Cinecanal. Then, my dad took me to see Tomorrow Never Dies, and bought me The Man with the Golden Gun, one day before my grandma rented The Living Daylights. After all that, I saw Live and Let Die and Moonraker and I'm now a hard core Bond fan!

[DamnCoffee]

I remained interested in the series, but I don't think I became any sort of "proper" fan until I saw LTK on ITV in the summer of 99

Yes. I remember watching that too. It's really comforting to think that when I sat down and watched it, at the exact same time, someone else became a hardcore Bond fan.

[Harry Fawkes]

The very first time I met our suave agent was through Ian Fleming. My girlfriend handed me a book called Casino Royale and when I read it I was hooked. Then I remember I was at home one evening and my dad was back after six months fighting the IRA in Northern Ireland and all the familly was sitting around the heater waiting for this film to start on TV. It was Goldfinger and from that evening onwards I was a Bond fan.

The moment when Connery walks into Goldfinger's suite and Jill says:
'Who are you?'
and Connery just looks at her with that dead cool smile and says: 'Bond. James Bond.'
was the defining moment for me!

I was hooked for life!

[danielcraigisjamesbond007]

When I was younger, I remember walking past a display case in a store. The DAD DVD was there, and I looked at it for a second. My mother got it for me as a gift that X-mas. But, it was when Casino Royale was about to be made that my real interest for Bond began. I had decided to read the novel before the film came out. After reading it through for the first time, I didn't understand some of the French terms. However, when the movie came out in '06, I LOVED it!!! Thus began my fascination with James Bond. Shortly thereafter, I got all four of the Ultimate Edition DVD boxsets.

Edited by danielcraigisjamesbond007, 28 January 2009 - 12:27 PM.

[Professor Pi]

1977 - The Spy Who Loved Me

Then I saw the rest at a film festival while in the fourth grade. I went to a 20 year high school reunion a couple of years ago and a former girlfriend there remembered to my wife that I was totally obsessed with Bond back then. Wife informed old girlfriend that problem is much worse now!

Now neither girlfriends nor wife are with me, but Bond still is. Ten years from now I know will still be a Bond fan. Just don't know who'll tolerate it with me!

[9007]

i first met Mr Bond in Octopussy on vhs,

with my Dad (he passed Nov 2007), I must have been about 5yo. The whole infiltration of op's island sticks in my mind, then mum told me to go to bed, but Dad overided her and i got to see some of the best action ever in a movie... then there was goldeneye at 15, which, like many of us, hooked me, the next few weeks were a glut of bondian joy, Bond has been with me ever since!

For Dad, Thanks Mate.

[Professor Pi]

i first met Mr Bond in Octopussy on vhs,

with my Dad (he passed Nov 2007),


For Dad, Thanks Mate.

Sorry to hear that. I took both my parents to see QoS after sending them a DVD of CR as they're both getting up there in age. I'm sure I would have discovered Bond eventually, but it was Dad who introduced me. I paid it forward with my stepson with The World Is Not Enough and took him to every Bond film since.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

i first met Mr Bond in Octopussy on vhs,

with my Dad (he passed Nov 2007),


For Dad, Thanks Mate.

Sorry to hear that. I took both my parents to see QoS after sending them a DVD of CR as they're both getting up there in age. I'm sure I would have discovered Bond eventually, but it was Dad who introduced me. I paid it forward with my stepson with The World Is Not Enough and took him to every Bond film since.

My dad also was important in my Bondmanship.

[Ravenstone]

I feel so old.....

I can't remember a time when there wasn't Bond. It was always the Christmas Day/Easter Sunday/Bank Holiday treat on ITV. I can't remember the first Bond film I saw at the cinema either. I can't remember when I first read a Bond story. My Grandfather had all the Pan paperbacks - the ones with the really good covers - and I loved them. I've still got them, all boxed up, although I got the new Penguin ones for Christmas so I have brand new versions as well. I think the first one I read was Octopussy and The Living Daylights, but I can't remember how old I would have been. I do know I must have been under 13, because I can remember sitting in my grandparents' lounge, reading it, and they moved house when I was about 13.

[Brian Flagg]

When HBO aired TSWLM which was around 1978-79. Then they played all the Bond films one per month up to Moonraker, this being 1979-80. My grandparents were the ones who introduced me to 007. They were infinitely cooler than my lame-o baby boomer parents, who never had a clue about what was good cinema (or music).

[NecroVMX]

Caught "The Living Daylights" on TV at a relatives house. Never heard of the series, and had no idea the movie was even part of one, but It was great, I was like 8 or 9 at the time.

[williarob]

My parents took me to see a double bill at a drive in movie place in California in 1977. I was 3 and a half. A Herbie movie (for me) was up first and I was supposed to be asleep after that. I think I was for most of it. I only remember seeing that beautiful white Lotus Esprit dive into the ocean. Obviously I have seen the movie many times since then and seen that iconic picture in books, but it is not just the scene of the movie that sticks out in my mind, it is the backdrop of the drive in place with the mountains visible on either side of the giant movie screen that make it a real memory. I'm told my father took me to see Star Wars that same year, and I am a huge fan of Star Wars too, but I don't remember seeing Star Wars until it premiered on British Broadcast TV in the early 80s.

I was 8 or 9 before I saw another Bond movie. I remember watching Thunderball on a small black and white TV, and trying to reassure myself that, since it was made in the 60s it was probably in Black and White anyway. Soon after, I saw Octopussy at the local cinema with my mum. After that I always tuned in to all the Bond movies around Christmas and had seen about 5 or 6 Bond films by the time I was 12 and visited my father (for the first time since I was 4) and discovered he had them all (Dr No - A View to a Kill) on VHS. I watched them all in less than a week and I've been hooked ever since.

I bought all the 25th anniversary books the day after I saw The Living Daylights at the theater. Sally Hibbin's The Official James Bond Movie Book is still a favorite. Since 1987 I have seen every Bond movie at the theater in its first week of release, and while some are 'better' than others, I don't think I've ever left the theater disappointed. I still feel the same excitement and energy when watching Bond, that I felt when I was 12, and that is quite something.

Incidentally, I asked my wife what her first Bond movie was and she can't remember if it was The Spy Who Loved Me or Moonraker, but she does recall that she was only about 5 years old and that she stood up during the opening title song and said rather loudly "Look Daddy - they've got no clothes on!"

[Jose]

The first meeting with Mr. Bond was TMWTGG at my cousin's house (strangely, his name is Felix) when I was maybe 9. I didn't watch the rest of it, I went outside and played. After that, I caught some of LTK on TV just when Bond killed a henchman with the speargun. I didn't watch the rest either. After THAT, I only saw bits and pieces of the Brosnan films but they didn't really grab me.

Then in 2007, I was at a classmate's house for his brother's birthday party. We all ate A LOT of Chinese food so we didn't want to do anything that involved actually moving around or whacking the pinata. We went inside and they had just bought Casino Royale on DVD so they popped it in. Bond's nonchalant attitude when confronting Dryden, or beating the crap out of Fisher, the song grabbed me. The free-running chase was awesome! This Bond was amazing. A million times better than all the Brosnan stuff. But I only got to see up until he sat down to win Dimitrios's car. A few months later, I got around to renting TLD and CR. Both were just mindblowing. Since then, it's all been good.

Edited by Jose, 11 February 2009 - 02:44 AM.

[double o ego]

1992...I was 7 years old. We were living in Finchly because that was the first time I ever saw a James Bond film. I had always heard about James Bond but never actually saw a Bond film and even then what I watched wasn't the entire film. It was the ending of LALD, particularly the moment when Bond and Solitaire are tied and hanging aboe the shark pool. I still remmeber thinking, "I want Bond's watch" after seeing him buzz saw the rope.