2 replies to this topic

[Qwerty]

Now on the CBn main page...

Looking Back: 'James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me'

The 1977 James Bond novelization by Christopher Wood

[Donovan]

I suppose technically you could say that Spy was the "first novelization in the Bond cannon" since it was based on a screenplay that was actually filmed at about the same time. But it wasn't the first Bond book adapted from a screenplay (commonly referred to as a novelization), or teleplay, considering Thunderball and the short stories in For Your Eyes Only were originally conceived for film and television, respectively. Not sure if I'm imagining things but I seem to recall Moonraker was also originally conceived as a film.

I know Fleming always wrote his books with the idea that they could be made into films, but I'm referring to specific projects that fell through and he used the material to create new books.

[Qwerty]

I suppose technically you could say that Spy was the "first novelization in the Bond cannon" since it was based on a screenplay that was actually filmed at about the same time. But it wasn't the first Bond book adapted from a screenplay (commonly referred to as a novelization), or teleplay, considering Thunderball and the short stories in For Your Eyes Only were originally conceived for film and television, respectively. Not sure if I'm imagining things but I seem to recall Moonraker was also originally conceived as a film.

I know Fleming always wrote his books with the idea that they could be made into films, but I'm referring to specific projects that fell through and he used the material to create new books.

A valid point, Donovan. My line of thinking for this particular article was going off the generally accepted categories that each book falls into (James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me being classified as a novelization, Thunderball a novel, For Your Eyes Only a short story collection, and so on...).