1531 replies to this topic

[coco1997]

I think my issue with repeatedly using Quantum is that we're not closer to understanding who is behind it all. Quinn, Faust, Krause; they're all just Greene-esque villains. Middle maangement. They're clearly answering to someone, and we need to see that someone in action. Look at the Age of Connery - SPECTRE might have been a constant throughout the films, but Bond worked his way up through Kronsteen and Klebb to Largo and Blofeld. It's getting a bit stagnant when it's just so static like this.

I think with the way things are shaping up, you'll get your wish very soon, Captain. From the sound of it, UB27 will be a defining chapter in the Quantum story arc with the (presumably) death of Mr. White, our first glimpse of the head of Quantum and an overall deeper look into the machinations and inner workings of Quantum.

[Mr. Blofeld]

If we're having an anthologized Bond 27, I want -- for a change -- for Felix to get the pre-title sequence that sets up the rest of the strands of story, although we wouldn't know until the final wrap-up sequence.

Barring that, he could chase a villain in the PTS we later see (though it's earlier on) having a small role in one of the 00-agents' stories...

[terminus]

I'm not sure we settled on the anthological approach to UB27 - what do people think?

[tdalton]

I think my issue with repeatedly using Quantum is that we're not closer to understanding who is behind it all. Quinn, Faust, Krause; they're all just Greene-esque villains. Middle maangement. They're clearly answering to someone, and we need to see that someone in action. Look at the Age of Connery - SPECTRE might have been a constant throughout the films, but Bond worked his way up through Kronsteen and Klebb to Largo and Blofeld. It's getting a bit stagnant when it's just so static like this.

I think with the way things are shaping up, you'll get your wish very soon, Captain. From the sound of it, UB27 will be a defining chapter in the Quantum story arc with the (presumably) death of Mr. White, our first glimpse of the head of Quantum and an overall deeper look into the machinations and inner workings of Quantum.

While I completely agree with you that the defining chapter of the story arc is coming up with the next project with regards to who is behind Quantum, etc., I also think that there's room within the current project to explore a bit behind all of that as well. With regards to the Quinn character, I've been revising (after all of the discussions that eventually got her elevated to a more primary villain) the now long-delayed character background for her, and I think that within the context of that background (which I'll post hopefully sometime tonight or tomorrow afternoon), there's room for her to be a bit more important within Quantum than someone like Faust, Krause, Greene, or any of the other villains that either the EON films have conjured up (save for perhaps Mr. White) or any of those that we've created in the last few projects. I think that this could be accomplished without changing the current story that we have set-up really at all, so I'll keep tweaking the background a bit to try to make something like that work.

I'm not sure we settled on the anthological approach to UB27 - what do people think?

I think that there are quite a few pros and cons behind such an idea with regards to the next project (in a vacuum, however, I think it's a pretty good idea). On the pro side, I think that it would allow us to examine in greater detail some of the characters not named James Bond. I could see such an episodic film focusing a chapter on Goodnight and one of her missions that leads up to the joint mission with Bond and the other Double-oh, as well as, as someone mentioned earlier, a chapter featuring Felix, as well as a chapter featuring the as of now unnamed Double-oh agent.

But, I think that the middle entry in a trilogy, even a loose trilogy, should be a fairly cohesive storyline that really raises the stakes within the context of the overall story arc and really puts things on a collision course towards the final chapter, and I'm not sure that an episodic story in the style of Inglorious Basterds would really accomplish that.

Also, in using Goodnight and potentially Mr. White in UB27, we already have those fields filled, so that leaves one space open for Henchman and Ally each.

I think that we could potentially get away with having both of those characters in the next installment without using up a space on the proforma. Given that we're headed into a second part of a trilogy, I think that the cast of characters could expand a bit, giving the whole thing a more epic feel and a sense of their being many, many different things in motion heading towards a final conclusion to the overall story arc.

[coco1997]

I think the anthological idea is original to say the least, but for some reason I don't think it would work as in the middle of the trilogy, as tdalton already said.

On the other hand, how about once the Quantum arc is finished, we do an anthologized story (as UB proposed) with each vignette featuring a different Bond (Connery-Craig) with a common story thread running through each one? Maybe each vignette could spawn from a shortened version of the pro forma?

[terminus]

The 'special event' I aluded to in earlier posts to do after the Craig Trilogy is finished, would be to go back and do a single UB for each of the Bond's, with period specific casting, plots and locations - which would be a sort of anthology and would see us doing more standalone adventures.

[Captain Tightpants]

If we're having an anthologized Bond 27, I want -- for a change -- for Felix to get the pre-title sequence that sets up the rest of the strands of story, although we wouldn't know until the final wrap-up sequence.

Barring that, he could chase a villain in the PTS we later see (though it's earlier on) having a small role in one of the 00-agents' stories...

I don't think Leiter should be doing things Bond would normally do - no chases, no gunfights (unless he has to); nothing like that. I'm thinking Leiter should be more of a throwback to the Cold War in that he's cloak and dagger, working behind the scenes.

[coco1997]

What's your idea on how to include the 'spark suit', Captain?

[Mr. Blofeld]

I don't think Leiter should be doing things Bond would normally do - no chases, no gunfights (unless he has to); nothing like that. I'm thinking Leiter should be more of a throwback to the Cold War in that he's cloak and dagger, working behind the scenes.

I wanted to show how well he adjusts to his prosthetic legs; I also think that those "Cheetah" legs would be great to showcase (with the aid of a stunt double, of course) in an action (possibly chase) sequence.

[terminus]

Well - am sure we can fit that in even if we don't go with the anthology idea, mrb. It does sound cool.

[Mr. Blofeld]

Well - am sure we can fit that in even if we don't go with the anthology idea, mrb. It does sound cool.

Thanks, terminus; glad you like it.

[Captain Tightpants]

What's your idea on how to include the 'spark suit', Captain?

Simple: it's needed to power the computers at Oak Ridge. Escpecially the one that can factor large numbers.

[tdalton]

Here's the background that I've come up with for the Quinn character. It's rather rough, as it's gone through several changes since we've been discussing the relationship between her, Marcus, and "Damien Blanc", but I wanted to get it posted now in a more rough form than wait to polish it more and have the project progress even further without it.

"Quinn" (not her real name, which is unknown) is a French national who, after several rebellious teenage years is sent to a military school to straighten her up. After graduation, she enlists in the armed forces and is deployed to Afghanistan as a part of the US-led operation within that country. She is part of a convoy that is attacked while on a routine mission, and is the only one to survive and is taken captive, but is presumed dead by her superiors and is never found.

While in captivity, she is slated to be eliminated, but after fighting off ten of her captors before finally being subdued, she gains the attention of Mr. White, who is in the region, monitoring the situation in an effort to help the newly-formed Quantum organization to get more people to take part in its operations. Before Mr. White is able to free her from captivity, however, she is force-fed countless types of drugs (mostly experimental), leaving her somewhat mentally unstable and a borderline psychotic, making her all the more effective as an enforcer, at least in the eyes of Mr. White.

Mr. White hires her as an enforcer for one of the cells of the organization, headed-up by a man known only Victor, operating within Asia. She makes quite an impression as an enforcer/hitwoman, eventually earning enough of a reputation to take her talents into the private sector, commanding at times up to a million per hit. It is here that she acquires the name "Quinn", as she takes the first name of her first victim, leaving her past behind and allowing her to become even more anonymous and fall even further off the grid.

After showing a very high aptitude in her service to Victor, Mr. White promotes her to lead her own cell within Quantum, stationed in the United States. In an effort to even further protect her identity within the U.S., she hires for her first mission a man named Demetri to launch a cyber attack to disrupt the economic infrastructure. Once his mission is complete, she eliminates Demetri and assigns the credit for the attack to a man named "Damien Blanc", who then is put on every most-wanted list around the world.

Throughout several missions spanning the course of about three years, she hires and eliminates at least ten different "Damien Blancs". While on a recruiting trip to California, she meets a man named Marcus, who has a unique skill-set in that he's an expert computer hacker while also having received extensive military combat training. She identifies him as a prime candidate to take over the "Damien Blanc" cover. Instead, she falls in love with him and opts not to bring him into the Quantum organization, although he is aware of her affiliation with the organization and offers to help her in any way that he can. He eventually does some computer work for her on various missions, but never taking the "Damien Blanc" tag (and he is never made aware of the fates of the other "Damien Blanc" agents that she hires).

After several failed missions by operatives known as Greene, Faust, and Krause, Mr. White and his superiors opt to up the ante and try to take control of a supercomputer that can unlock the key to every electronic transaction in the world. Quinn is hand-picked by the Quantum brass to head-up the assignment, and she goes to work trying to recruit a new "Damien Blanc" to assist in the task. When she is unable to find a suitable candidate, Marcus volunteers for the job, and rather enthusiastically so. Quinn tries to talk him out of it, but allows him to take the job when she realizes that he's the only chance she has of pulling the assignment off.

Upon his promotion, Marcus and Quinn hire a man named Sebastian, a former gangster who is desperate to "get back in the game" to be a second "Damien Blanc", the "public" face of the operation, which Quinn hopes will allow her and Marcus work so far under the radar that she can allow Marcus to hang-up the "Damien Blanc" mantle without having to be eliminated after the completion of the mission.

Hopefully this doesn't impede much, if at all, on the storyline as we've conceived it thus far. This particular background has gone through quite a few changes since the first time I wrote it down, in an effort to reflect the changing dynamics of the three villains of this particular project. Obviously, just as a disclaimer, it's 100% pure fiction (putting that disclaimer there just in case), but hopefully it's a background that is worthy of the high-standard that has been set for both this project and the series of projects we've been working on.

[terminus]

Nice work - and it jives with the idea that Quantum pursue the computer project due to their dwindling finances after their disasters in the Far East (in TotD, TPoaL and CoW).

[coco1997]

Fine job, t! I suppose a lot of that backstory could be explicated during a briefing between Bond and M.

[terminus]

I'm picturing there being room for a briefing between Bond and Felix in San Diego, possibly - or with M on location in San Diego before the encounter with Mercedes' former mentor. It couldn't occur any earlier as until Bond encounters Quinn in Oak Ridge, nobody knows Quinn is involved in the plot to kidnap Mercedes Baines.

[tdalton]

I'm picturing there being room for a briefing between Bond and Felix in San Diego, possibly - or with M on location in San Diego before the encounter with Mercedes' former mentor. It couldn't occur any earlier as until Bond encounters Quinn in Oak Ridge, nobody knows Quinn is involved in the plot to kidnap Mercedes Baines.

I like the idea of a briefing between Felix and Bond, especially since it kind of breaks up the usual on-location briefings between Bond and M, which have really become a staple of the actual film series as of late.

[terminus]

Cool - will put it in next time the plot is revised.

[terminus]

We need a title for this - and I know that The Hildebrand Rarity has been suggested, but I'm keen on that for the title of the subsequent film as it fits with the villains plot I was going to suggest.

• New York - Bond infiltrates a meeting between a group of underworld thugs and senegalese rebels, the rebels are planning to buy weapons from the thugs. But Bond's identity is uncovered, despite the intervention of his contact at the club - a burlesque dancer with the stage name Rusty - and his drink is laced with a drug cocktail, he tries to escape but collapses on the subway after being shot. Entering a psychadelic delirium through which he hallucinates things like the early Fleming paperback covers -

CBN PRESENTS

DANIEL CRAIG
as Ian Fleming's James Bond 007

in

CBN MEMBERS'
UNTITLED PROJECT UB26

Ashley Greene
Natalia Paris

James Woods

Melanie Laurent
Jackie Earle Hailey

Dita Von Teese

Jeffrey Wright
Emily Blunt
Jesper Christensen

and Timothy Dalton as M



"TBC" sung by Pink
"TBC" composed by Pink and Don Davis

Soundtrack by Don Davis

Directed by Kar Wai Wong

Written by Joe Carnahan, Brian Bloom & Skip Woods with David Wolstoncroft

• Barcelona - Bond is placed on a recuperative leave - and meets Lucia Rojos, a Spanish waitress who yearns to travel. Feeling emotions for the girl, he decides to try to live a normal life as any women he has become involved with in the course of being a spy have either been killed or traumatised. As the recuperative leave and relationship progresses, they take a train journey. Bond plans to propose to Lucia on the train journey - but the journey gets targetted by a fringe group of Basque terrorists. Bond stops the attack and saves the passengers, the carriage being blasted off a bridge over a valley and landing in water - Bond drags passengers to safety on the banks of the river, almost loosing Lucia when she is trapped (giving him flashbacks to the death of Vesper) which makes him realise he can't live a normal life as he does so. It is suggested that the fringe group of terrorists have been armed by the same people who were involved in the deal to arm the fringe Senegalese rebels - a shiny silver pin settling into the murky riverbed intimates the involvement of Quantum.
  
• MI6 - After Bond is cleared for return to active duty by Sir James Molony, M assigns him to a simple mission - prevent the abduction of Mercedes Baines, a computer programmer and person of extreme interest.
  
• INTERCUT WITH MI6 - Mr White is seen standing in front of a picture window speaking on a phone - outside the window appears to be a lush tropical landscape. In the discussion, he explains that 'our endeavours in the Far East have prooven to be an embarassment, our finances have been damaged - we need to recoup our losses' - a subsequent call suggests to someone that 'the services of Monsier Blanc might be needed ...' As the phone is hung up, the lush tropical landscape changes to a frozen tundra - it becomes clear that we have no idea where we are, that the 'picture window' is a floor to ceiling digital picture frame.
  
• Oak Ridge - Bond tries and fails to prevent the abduction of Mercedes Baines by Quinn. Quinn chases the pair through the buildings and campus after setting off the fire alarm, sprinklers and cutting the lights. Bond thinks he has saved Mercedes, but she is bundled into a car and he gives chase in the Lotus - only to loose them in a set-up traffic jam. Bond decides to travel to San Diego to meet with Mercedes' mentor, to understand what she was working on.
  
• San Diego - After meeting with Felix and discussing the person who kidnapped Mercedes in Oak Ridge - identified as Quinn (we recieve some of her believed background here). Going to meet with Mercedes' mentor, Professor Banks, Bond discovers that Mercedes was working on a method to hack the worlds online banking system using the Jaguar computer in Oak Ridge. However, it transpires (to us, but maybe not to Bond) that the mentor is the person who leaked the method to Quantum). The mentor is 'kidnapped' which results in Bond and Felix breaking in to an abandoned power station on the outskirts of the city. Quinn has abandoned the station. Bond tries to flee the station with the mentor in a glider (as the mentor realises he's outlived his usefulness now) - but the glider and Quinn, in a pursuing helicopter, enter a field of electricity pylons - amidst a thunderstorm - leading to the glider crashing. The mentor is assasinated, as a liability, by Quinn and Bond barely escapes with his life.
  
• Chicago - Evidence in San Diego about the construction of a duplicate of the Jaguar points Bond to a shell company which holds offices in the Trump Tower. In the tower, Marcus oversees the construction and operation of a duplicate of the Jaguar. Bond, with the help of Felix Leiter, leads a team of Navy SEALS to the building and, although they rescue Mercedes and destroy the duplicate Jaguar, Quinn and Marcus escape. Also rescued is 'Damien Blanc' - or, at least, the actor that Quinn has hired to 'play' Damien Blanc. He doesn't know much, but he knows enough to help Bond and Mercedes to piece together what Quinn and Marcus were doing. Leiter is kidnapped and thrown into the lake - loosing his leg due to hypothermia, he is put into intensive care at a nearby hospital whilst Bond and Mercedes must continue the investigation alone.
  
• Dakar, Senegal - Mercedes has knowledge that the duplicate Jaguar was used to syphon money from the worlds bank accounts in order to fund rebel Casamance seperatist actions in Senegal. Having tried to pull the plug in Chicago and failed, Bond and Mercedes travel there (she'd be the only one with the skills to return the money to the original accounts) and are tracked through a river delta with all sorts of nasties and goons out to get them and confront Quinn in a luxurious, but abandoned, resort - with a battle between three helicopter gunships.
  
• Epilogues -
  
  i) Mercedes, who has never been attracted to Bond, though she appreciates his abilities and skills, walks off into the sunset.
  
  ii) Quinn, who has killed Marcus and escaped the destruction of the resort in Senegal, makes a selection on the replacement of the person to 'play' Damien Blanc.
  
  iii) After he watches Felix in hospital (possibly at a CIA installation in Spain) Bond spies on Lucia as she goes about her daily life. The Lotus sits on a mountain road with Bond watching Lucia through the crosshairs of a rifle-scope as she shops at a fruit stall, she loosk round as if she senses someone watching her - but only sees the Lotus speeding off down a dirt road.

[coco1997]

I propose a one word title, something in the vain of "Goldfinger" or "Octopussy"--something Flemingesque but original, perhaps pertaining to technology/the Internet.

[terminus]

What about using Risico?

[coco1997]

What about using Risico?

Meh, perhaps. Only if we could find a way to make it work in the context of the story, though.

I would really like to see someone come up with something like "Goldfinger," "Moonraker", "GoldenEye", etc. A one word Fleming-style title that's entirely original. Terminus, I know you had proposed the title "Mindweaver" a long time ago. I don't think that would fit this story, but that's the kind of thing I'm getting at.

[Mr. Blofeld]

How about WhiteKnight?

[Captain Tightpants]

I'm thinking THE HILDEBRAND RARITY. We're dealing with a theoretical computer here, so the Hildebrand Rarity could be the point where the computer stops being theoretical and starts being possible. Mercedes' mentor - the man who discovered it - could be named Hildebrand.

[coco1997]

I'm thinking THE HILDEBRAND RARITY. We're dealing with a theoretical computer here, so the Hildebrand Rarity could be the point where the computer stops being theoretical and starts being possible. Mercedes' mentor - the man who discovered it - could be named Hildebrand.

It sounds like terminus already plans on titling UB27 'The Hildebrandt Rarity'. I really do think we need an entirely original title for this one, preferably something one-worded. We've used "of"/"of the" in three consecutive stories.

I was thinking that it could incorporate the words "Web" or "net" in the title in going with the Internet theme..."Netbreaker" or something like that.

[tdalton]

One possibility for the title would be to use the name of the supercomputer as the title of the project. I think, though, if we went down that route, we'd have to change it from "Jaguar" to something else (I don't think "Jaguar" would be a great title), but I think that would be the best way to go about getting a one-word title for this project.

[terminus]

I do like the idea of the title being the name of the computer - makes it very GoldenEye-ish.

White Knight would be too evocative of Bond, but I'm open to other similar titles - nto sure about using Web in the title either, unfortunately, as that sounds like it could be very cheesy.

Reboot, a cartoon series you might remember, did a Bond pastiche with title-song homage, entitled 'Firewall', which could work as a title as the computer could break down firewalls as it accesses financial records. Maybe the programme could be entitled 'Firebreaker' or something like that - JAMES BOND, 007 in FIREBREAKER?

[Mr. Blofeld]

The reason why it was WhiteKnight was because of Blanc's name; perhaps it's the codename for the virus?

[terminus]

Perhaps. I forgot the Blanc translation - it could be a nice double entendre.

And, I just realised Firebreaker might be too similar to the Alex Ryder title 'Stormbreaker'.

[coco1997]

FIREBREAKER is pretty hot. 8-)