254 replies to this topic

[Captain Tightpants]

Well, that's the general idea. But I still don't think that the detective assigned to Derrick's case should suddenly be revealed as being gay. We're already directly addressing the issue of homosexuality - particularly in government agents - with the investigation into Derrick's death. And, possibly, through our insane preacher of a villain. We don't need to keep driving the point home by having Paul Beckwith come out of the closet mid-narrative. Like I said, earlier, having a gay man investigate a murder at a gay nightclub/sauna/gym/whatever would be the same as having an Asian man investigate a murder in an Asian grocery store. I still think Beckwith should have his roots in the Manchester gang unit, especially if TEMPEST is designed to trigger a gang war that escalates to a racial conflict.

[Captain Tightpants]

Also, another idea for a Bond girl - Cobie Smulders, also known as Robin Scherbatsky:





Maybe not as Tamara. She could be better-suited as a secondary Bond girl.

[XavierDolan]

I have some ideas for characters:
Firstly, I think it would be a great idea to base the Bond around Michael Fassbender:


For the villain, I think Bryan Cranston would be a good one to base around:


For the bond girl, I think it should be based around Alexa Davalos:


Another idea I had, I think the novel should have a classic, good old fashioned henchwoman (e.g. Fiona Volpe, Naomi). It'd be nice considering we haven't seen a proper one since Die Another Day and the novel 'DoubleShot'?

[Captain Tightpants]

I have some ideas for characters:
Firstly, I think it would be a great idea to base the Bond around Michael Fassbender:

That's already been decided.

For the bond girl, I think it should be based around Alexa Davalos:

Ugh. She was horrible as Gwen Raiden in "Angel". Fortunately, she didn't come into play in the over-arching narratives very much.

[XavierDolan]

I have some ideas for characters:
Firstly, I think it would be a great idea to base the Bond around Michael Fassbender:

That's already been decided.

For the bond girl, I think it should be based around Alexa Davalos:

Ugh. She was horrible as Gwen Raiden in "Angel". Fortunately, she didn't come into play in the over-arching narratives very much.

So she's not an option because she played one character horribly, when she was good in 'Chronicles of Riddick' and 'Clash of the Titans'?

[Captain Tightpants]

No, I don't think she should be an option because she's not a very good actor.

[XavierDolan]

Oh I see, sorry, but what about my idea for the villain and about having a henchwoman?

[Captain Tightpants]

Well, if you read through the thread, terminus - who is running this show - doesn't want to decide on the villains too quickly.

And while it's true we're not actually casting actors in roles, I have to say I just can't see a character who looks like Davalos appearing in the story because Davalos herself is not a very good actor, and thus I can only picture her with a blank look on her face.

[XavierDolan]

Okay then, my other choices for Bond Girls were either Paula Patton, Lea Seydoux or January Jones?

[Captain Tightpants]

It's not a case of having a choice. This isn't like the Ultimate Bonds, which was a case of dream casting the various roles. This is about finding someone who would be a suitable model for a character. If you're suggesting January Jones, the character wouldn't necessarily be Jones - just someone with more than a passing resemblance to her.

I suggest you go back to the start of the thread and read through all the content we've brain-stormed so far. It will give you some insight into how the creative process works for a collaborative project works. It will also help you come up with better-suited suggestions.

[terminus]

MANCHESTER - Bond works with Beckwith, who is revealed to be gay, to follow the trail of the murderer through the city and follow him down to ...

I'm still not happy with this. I just don't like the idea of the way the guy investigating a death in a gay sauna just so happens to be gay himself.

Do we plan to use Felix Leiter when Bond is in New York?

It's a possibility - but not definite. I dont want to use him in a throwaway capacity.

Derrick made several enquiries about, and information pertaining to, the codeword TEMPEST, after listening to a recording of a phonecall made by a member of parliament, a personal friend of the prime ministers and an aquaintance of M's himself.

Okay, what if TEMPEST is not a superweapon, but a plan of the villain's? The villain would be the member of parliament, who was upset by the riots in London and so decided to contact the infamous Colombian paramilitary and sicarii. The notorious paramilitary believe they car carrying out a social mission, eradicating crime in Colombian cities because they do not believe the government in Bogota is capable of doing it themselves. So they go around killing criminals (and their opponents). Officially, the paramilitary have demobilised; unofficially, they still control half a dozen cities in Colombia. The villain has contacted the sicarii and wants to unleash them on the streets of England to clean up undesirable elements.

Alternatively (and similarly), the villain might want to see Charles Manson's "Helter Skelter" scenario play out. Manson claimed there would be an apocalyptic race war; African-American men would rebel when Caucasian women were no longer sexually available to them. They would attack Caucasion communities in retaliation, nd the Caucasians would fight back. In the end, the African-Americans would prevail, but because Manson believed they were too stupid to be able to effectively govern themselves, he and his Family - who had endured the war in a shelter out in the California desert - would rise up and lead a new era of humanity. TEMPEST could be a variation on "Helter Skelter", starting a racial war between Hispanics and African-Americans, with both sides decimating one another and Caucasians using the conflict to take back control of "their" country.

Have to say - really really really not keen on the direction you're suggesting for the story to move in. It moves away from the direction we'd already decided (the 'Tempest' [name borrowed from the early draft of GoldenEye by the way] being a superweapon that the UK pretended was destroyed, but in reality they faked its destruction and hid it - the villain setting the whole plot up as a way of getting the establishment to locate the method of their own destruction.

Well, I was thinking we could have this insane preacher as the villain. Someone who makes Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church look sensible. They're so upset about the state of affairs that they decide to do something about it, and so start up TEMPEST - a reimaginging of "Helter Skelter" designed to exorcise all of the "undesirable elements" (homosexuals, immigrants, Jews, etc.) from the country by starting up a gang war. They could be based in the UK or the USA; it doesn't matter which. TEMPEST could apply to either. And when the dust settles, he will lead the country back down the path it was "supposed" to follow. He's an ardent believer in something similar to sharia law, where the Qu'ran is interpreted as the laws by which society will be governed (except in the case of TEMPEST, it's the Bible, not the Qu'ran, that is held up as the law). This is a minor point of controversy in Australia at the moment, because there have been a spate of attacks by Muslims that have been "in accordance" with sharia law. There's even one crackpot - I'm sorry, but there is no other word for it - who is demanding that Australia (and all her citizens) be held to account under sharia instead of the existing legal system. The idea here is to pit Bond up against a villain who is completely unhinged and whose plan is so insane that it is absolutely impossible, but in which he nevertheless believes in.

As a possible subplot, we could have two FBI agents (or the UK equivalent) escorting a prisoner back to the scene where he dumped the body after the crime he was incarcerated for. In the process, they find the site is now a massive marijuana plantation, which the villain is using to fund his operations ("This country is so determined to go to hell that I have no problem in helping them get there a little faster.").

What I said above.

Well, that's the general idea. But I still don't think that the detective assigned to Derrick's case should suddenly be revealed as being gay. We're already directly addressing the issue of homosexuality - particularly in government agents - with the investigation into Derrick's death. And, possibly, through our insane preacher of a villain. We don't need to keep driving the point home by having Paul Beckwith come out of the closet mid-narrative. Like I said, earlier, having a gay man investigate a murder at a gay nightclub/sauna/gym/whatever would be the same as having an Asian man investigate a murder in an Asian grocery store. I still think Beckwith should have his roots in the Manchester gang unit, especially if TEMPEST is designed to trigger a gang war that escalates to a racial conflict.

I'm sorry, but I just don't see how your argument (re: not making Beckwith gay) holds any water whatsoever - the death of Derrick, someone who Bond had never met and for whom their sexuality is inconsequential is a direct contrast to Beckwith, someone with whom Bond has to work side by side. I'd imagine that Beckwith would be mentioned at the briefing by M - stating that he is MI5's man on the scene, that it is HE who Bond will be working with. Of course, no mention is made of Beckwith's sexuality - given it is inconsequential to the mission at hand, but also because M may not see the relevance of divulging that fact (given they'd undoubtedly have his sexual preferences on file). Bond, upon arriving in Manchester, would be quite taken in by the man - he is everything that Bond is: handsome, well built, a good tactical and analytical mind, fond of fast cars, good food and good clothes. Bond makes the assumption - as ninety nine percent of the public is want to do: that someone is straight. And then it throws Bond when he sees Beckwith kiss another man - it forces Bond to evaluate how he sees Beckwith and how he works with him and, ultimately, it shows that Bond is a modern man and someone who can see Beckwith for what he is: someone who is exactly like Bond, but just sleeps with men instead of women.

And we've not decided ANYTHING about the villain yet.

Also, another idea for a Bond girl - Cobie Smulders, also known as Robin Scherbatsky:





Maybe not as Tamara. She could be better-suited as a secondary Bond girl.

Cobie Smulders, aka Maria Hill, would probably be good in a minor role were we casting the 'story' as a film. Therefore, probably a good model for one of the minor girls.

I have some ideas for characters:
Firstly, I think it would be a great idea to base the Bond around Michael Fassbender:


Another idea I had, I think the novel should have a classic, good old fashioned henchwoman (e.g. Fiona Volpe, Naomi). It'd be nice considering we haven't seen a proper one since Die Another Day and the novel 'DoubleShot'?

As CT has said - we'd already agreed to use Fassbender as our role model for Bond. And, I would agree, it might be nice to have the henchman actually be a woman - like Fiona or Naomi. If the murder wasn't due to take place in somewhere it would be illogical for a woman to be able to enter, then I would have suggested the woman be the murderer. But I'm sure we can develop a femme fatale henchwoman for Bond to encounter in Canada that would suit your tastes.

And welcome to the boards, Xavier - four posts and they're all in this thread Give the kid a break, CT, it's his first day on the site!

[Captain Tightpants]

Have to say - really really really not keen on the direction you're suggesting for the story to move in. It moves away from the direction we'd already decided (the 'Tempest' [name borrowed from the early draft of GoldenEye by the way] being a superweapon that the UK pretended was destroyed, but in reality they faked its destruction and hid it - the villain setting the whole plot up as a way of getting the establishment to locate the method of their own destruction.

Okay, what if Tempest is not actually a superweapon, but a plan from World War II designed to stop the Nazis by starting a civil war in Germany, a plan that never went beyond the draft stages but attained a legendary status as a "weapon" that could have ended World War II before it began? It was never destroyed or hidden away; it was simply forgotten. If you want to get really clever, the villain could be a KGB defector who became a preacher when he arrived in the West (because the Soviets stamped out the freedom of religious expression - and when you think about it, it's the perfect cover), but has discovered that he hates what the West represents. So he gets access to a secret government plan code-named Tempest, one that will stir up civil unrest by triggeing a racial war, and tries to put it into action. It's possible he learned this plan from a town ("Defectorville", not its real name) where the British kept defectors when they first arrived, to make sure they were legitmate ("We don't want a repeat of that Bletchley House business", a callback to THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS). They did this by wiring the houses up for surveillance, but the town was eventually abandoned. The villain eventually wired them all up, giving them power over his followers because he knows their innermost secrets. However, Oliver Derrick used the town for casual sex (it being halfway between London and Manchester and therefore convenient), and the villain overheard a reference to Tempest (which he had a rough knowledge of because of his past as a Soviet spy). He then tapped into Derrick's phone to try and find out more. He then kills Derrick to distract MI5 and MI6 while he puts Tempest into action, and also because he hates homosexuals (or anyone who doesn't think like him). As for the person who can stop him and who Bond has to protect (possibly based on Smulders), they are possibly a former member of the congregation who fled to Canada after realising that the villain simply spews hatred.

I'm just having a really difficult time coming up with both a superweapon and a reason for the UK to pretend it was destroyed. Especially one that fits the original briefing: something that could endanger British society.

[terminus]

Okay, what if Tempest is not actually a superweapon, but a plan from World War II designed to stop the Nazis by starting a civil war in Germany, a plan that never went beyond the draft stages but attained a legendary status as a "weapon" that could have ended World War II before it began? It was never destroyed or hidden away; it was simply forgotten. If you want to get really clever, the villain could be a KGB defector who became a preacher when he arrived in the West (because the Soviets stamped out the freedom of religious expression - and when you think about it, it's the perfect cover), but has discovered that he hates what the West represents. So he gets access to a secret government plan code-named Tempest, one that will stir up civil unrest by triggeing a racial war, and tries to put it into action.

Really not keen on Tempest being a plan to stir up racial hatred - it's not the direction I want the story to go in.

It's possible he learned this plan from a town ("Defectorville", not its real name) where the British kept defectors when they first arrived, to make sure they were legitmate ("We don't want a repeat of that Bletchley House business", a callback to THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS). They did this by wiring the houses up for surveillance, but the town was eventually abandoned. The villain eventually wired them all up, giving them power over his followers because he knows their innermost secrets. However, Oliver Derrick used the town for casual sex (it being halfway between London and Manchester and therefore convenient), and the villain overheard a reference to Tempest (which he had a rough knowledge of because of his past as a Soviet spy). He then tapped into Derrick's phone to try and find out more. He then kills Derrick to distract MI5 and MI6 while he puts Tempest into action, and also because he hates homosexuals (or anyone who doesn't think like him). As for the person who can stop him and who Bond has to protect (possibly based on Smulders), they are possibly a former member of the congregation who fled to Canada after realising that the villain simply spews hatred.

That said, I like the concept behind "Defectorville" - but not necessarily how you have suggested that it be used here. It's certainly something I could see us merging into the story - but perhaps relocated across to Canada in British Columbia, perhaps. I'm not keen on the chain of events you have mentioned, though.

Here is how things had been in place in my mind -


- The villain (or, at least, one of them) knows about Tempest
- Villain arranges for Tempest to be mentioned in a phonecall, also arranges for the phonecall to be tapped by a national newspaper
- Both a newspaper reporter and the MI6 operative put in charge of assesing the tapes of the phonecalls are killed, we hear about the reporters death, but we see the operatives death
- It is the twin fact that the reporter and the operative have both been murdered that sparks M assigning Bond to work with MI5
- Bond/Beckwith investigate the murder, follow what is ultimately revealed to have been a trail of breadcrumbs
- The trail of breadcrumbs were laid to ensure that Bond would track down and locate the Tempest
- The villain wants to use the reality of Tempest to cause the downfall of the government by embarassing them publically by them faking the destruction of the Tempest, shaking their diplomatic relations with America and France, as well as Russia and China by the reveal that the Tempest exists

Perhaps there is another villain who ultimately seeks to use the Tempest itself, second to the villain (a politician) who wants to cause the downfall of the current government in an attempt to ensure that he will rise to power. He has made a pact with the devil, so to speak, and he would need to be in his fifties/sixties (at least) to ensure he was involved (possibly through working for the Ministry of Defence) in the original conception/development of Tempest.

Or perhaps he leaks mention of something called Tempest to an unsavoury character and then arranges for a phonecall made by that person to be tapped by MI6, and the tapped phonecall to have a mention of Tempest. Thus spurring on Derrick's enquiry into the meaning of the phrase and drawing in MI6 - even though his death was already guaranteed (to draw in MI6 and guarantee that they will track down the Tempest itself).

[coco1997]

Just out of curiosity, terminus, is there a reason you want to wait to start fleshing out the villain? I always thought, at least with the original Ultimate Bond stories, that having a good sense of who the villain is from the outset or at least fairly early really helped guide the story from there on out.

[XavierDolan]

Perhaps there is another villain who ultimately seeks to use the Tempest itself, second to the villain (a politician) who wants to cause the downfall of the current government in an attempt to ensure that he will rise to power. He has made a pact with the devil, so to speak, and he would need to be in his fifties/sixties (at least) to ensure he was involved (possibly through working for the Ministry of Defence) in the original conception/development of Tempest.

Or perhaps he leaks mention of something called Tempest to an unsavoury character and then arranges for a phonecall made by that person to be tapped by MI6, and the tapped phonecall to have a mention of Tempest. Thus spurring on Derrick's enquiry into the meaning of the phrase and drawing in MI6 - even though his death was already guaranteed (to draw in MI6 and guarantee that they will track down the Tempest itself).

I like the idea of another villain. It gave me an idea that links in with my henchwoman idea. Basically, there is another villain whose posing as an ally of Bond to get closer to the Tempest - but Bond finds out that someone is trying to 'use the Tempest itself' and tells this 'ally', who decides to get rid of Bond by sending his henchwoman/ female assassin to kill Bond, but unfortunately fails and she ends up dead herself.

[tdalton]

I know that I haven't been contributing to the project, but I've been following it closely, and I do think that having a henchwoman would be a good way to set this story apart from some of the more recent Bond entries (be it the cinematic or the literary version) in that we haven't really had a henchwoman in quite a while, or at least not one that was particularly good anyway. I think we'd have to go all the way back to GoldenEye in 1995 to find the last one (although I have yet to read CARTE BLANCHE, so I could be wrong). I don't think Miranda Frost really counts there as she was more of a turncoat or mole rather than a straight-up henchwoman.

Going back to XavierDolan's suggestions, I think that modelling such a character after someone like Paula Patton would be great.

Also, welcome to the boards XavierDolan.

[terminus]

Just out of curiosity, terminus, is there a reason you want to wait to start fleshing out the villain? I always thought, at least with the original Ultimate Bond stories, that having a good sense of who the villain is from the outset or at least fairly early really helped guide the story from there on out.

I think the difference between the UB and what we're doing now is pretty marked - with UB we knew who the character of Bond was, so it wasn't so much about who Bond was, the story was about who the villain was and what their story was, but with this project, it's the reverse, the story is about Bond, who he is, how he views the world and the story should be constructed in order to allow us to explore him.

I like the idea of another villain. It gave me an idea that links in with my henchwoman idea. Basically, there is another villain whose posing as an ally of Bond to get closer to the Tempest - but Bond finds out that someone is trying to 'use the Tempest itself' and tells this 'ally', who decides to get rid of Bond by sending his henchwoman/ female assassin to kill Bond, but unfortunately fails and she ends up dead herself.

I'm not sure about how you've suggested the female henchman - or the villainess - be implemented in the story, but having a female villain (even a secondary or tertiary one) is definitely something that we could explore. I'm glad you returned to participate some more! It's always good to have new blood.

I know that I haven't been contributing to the project, but I've been following it closely, and I do think that having a henchwoman would be a good way to set this story apart from some of the more recent Bond entries (be it the cinematic or the literary version) in that we haven't really had a henchwoman in quite a while, or at least not one that was particularly good anyway. I think we'd have to go all the way back to GoldenEye in 1995 to find the last one (although I have yet to read CARTE BLANCHE, so I could be wrong). I don't think Miranda Frost really counts there as she was more of a turncoat or mole rather than a straight-up henchwoman.

Going back to XavierDolan's suggestions, I think that modelling such a character after someone like Paula Patton would be great.

Also, welcome to the boards XavierDolan.

What does everyone else think on the female henchwoman/secondary villain idea? I've got an idea for how Bond could initially encounter her on the cruise liner, alongside Tamara. I will flesh the idea out in my head some more and post the concept tomorrow, it would lead into the New York sequence with the villain coming to the assumption that Bond and Tamara are working together instead of just having a casual relationship.

Re: Paula Patton. This choice seems to be popular, so shall we limit our girls to Romola Garai, Cobie Smulders and Paula Patton? Romola Garai, obviously, as Tamara. Cobie Smulders in a tertiary girl role, Paula Patton as our female henchman/villainess role.

[XavierDolan]

Just out of curiosity, terminus, is there a reason you want to wait to start fleshing out the villain? I always thought, at least with the original Ultimate Bond stories, that having a good sense of who the villain is from the outset or at least fairly early really helped guide the story from there on out.

I think the difference between the UB and what we're doing now is pretty marked - with UB we knew who the character of Bond was, so it wasn't so much about who Bond was, the story was about who the villain was and what their story was, but with this project, it's the reverse, the story is about Bond, who he is, how he views the world and the story should be constructed in order to allow us to explore him.

I like the idea of another villain. It gave me an idea that links in with my henchwoman idea. Basically, there is another villain whose posing as an ally of Bond to get closer to the Tempest - but Bond finds out that someone is trying to 'use the Tempest itself' and tells this 'ally', who decides to get rid of Bond by sending his henchwoman/ female assassin to kill Bond, but unfortunately fails and she ends up dead herself.

I'm not sure about how you've suggested the female henchman - or the villainess - be implemented in the story, but having a female villain (even a secondary or tertiary one) is definitely something that we could explore. I'm glad you returned to participate some more! It's always good to have new blood.

I know that I haven't been contributing to the project, but I've been following it closely, and I do think that having a henchwoman would be a good way to set this story apart from some of the more recent Bond entries (be it the cinematic or the literary version) in that we haven't really had a henchwoman in quite a while, or at least not one that was particularly good anyway. I think we'd have to go all the way back to GoldenEye in 1995 to find the last one (although I have yet to read CARTE BLANCHE, so I could be wrong). I don't think Miranda Frost really counts there as she was more of a turncoat or mole rather than a straight-up henchwoman.

Going back to XavierDolan's suggestions, I think that modelling such a character after someone like Paula Patton would be great.

Also, welcome to the boards XavierDolan.

What does everyone else think on the female henchwoman/secondary villain idea? I've got an idea for how Bond could initially encounter her on the cruise liner, alongside Tamara. I will flesh the idea out in my head some more and post the concept tomorrow, it would lead into the New York sequence with the villain coming to the assumption that Bond and Tamara are working together instead of just having a casual relationship.

Re: Paula Patton. This choice seems to be popular, so shall we limit our girls to Romola Garai, Cobie Smulders and Paula Patton? Romola Garai, obviously, as Tamara. Cobie Smulders in a tertiary girl role, Paula Patton as our female henchman/villainess role.

I think Paula Patton would be great choice, if you want I could do some more research into modern-action movie femme-fatales and how they really connect with the story and become relevant?

[terminus]

Remember, we're not really casting the role - just selecting a visual model for the character so if different people write different chapters involving the same character, all of their visual descriptions should be roughly the same.

You could do that - but I would suggest reading through all eight pages of the thread first. Make sure you understand what we're aimining to ultimately do - which is to write a serialised novel (one chapter a week seems to be the aim at the moment) and release it over a year, so whilst understanding how femme fatales are implemented in the modern action era, we need to understand how such a character would/could be integrated into the plotline we are developing first.

Oh - and it occured to me today to suggest Hayley Atwell as our version of Miss Moneypenny, Chief of Staff of the Double-Oh Section.

Is there room for a female ASIS or Australian Navy officer in your "pretitle sequence" that we could slide Cobie Smulders into the role of, to provide a visual reference for the character.

[Captain Tightpants]

Really not keen on Tempest being a plan to stir up racial hatred - it's not the direction I want the story to go in.

Well, I'm stuggling because you say we need a superweapon, but we don't really have any idea of what this superweapon might be. Yes, I know I was the one to suggest it as a plot element (motivated out of a desire to see a superweapon plot done properly), but I was hping there would be a few more ideas.

That said, I like the concept behind "Defectorville" - but not necessarily how you have suggested that it be used here. It's certainly something I could see us merging into the story - but perhaps relocated across to Canada in British Columbia, perhaps. I'm not keen on the chain of events you have mentioned, though.

The original idea for "Defectorville" came after I first heard Kyuss' Welcome to Sky Valley. The cover art in particulr really stirred up the idea in me. I figured it would be this lonely, isolated town that was miles from anything else. And it had a secret - it was established by the CIA to debrief Soviet defectors once they made it to America. But the entire place was placed under surveillance so that the Americans could be certain their new-found friend was, in fact, freindly and not a double-agent. To this day, I still think of the town as being called Sky Valley (to my mind, it was in a canyon that grew dark before sunset, but the sky overhead was still light, creating a 'valley of sky'). Instead of having it in British Columbia, it could be in Montana or one of the Dakotas (probably North), which Bond could visit on the way to Vancouver. If it is going to be in Canada, then it needs to be somewhere isolated (because the British/American/Canadian intelligence services couldn't risk putting a potential double-agent near metropolitain areas). I recommend somewhere along HIghway 16, probably between the towns of Prince George and McBride.

Is there room for a female ASIS or Australian Navy officer in your "pretitle sequence" that we could slide Cobie Smulders into the role of, to provide a visual reference for the character.

There's room for a naval officer. As I said before, ASIS is a lot like MI6 - it has no jurisdiction in their home country; in this case, Australia. There's a lot of women in the Australian Navy, so it can work. I'm thinking we should call her "Difficult" Danika Whitney. Because she's stubborn, argumentative, temperamental and very good at it.

[coco1997]

A henchwoman is definitely something we haven't had in a while. I'm all for it.

[Captain Tightpants]

Ken Block's Gymkhana FOUR comes out some time today. I know Block is like Christopher Nolan - after his second video, it became popular to hate him simply because he was successful - but I think a gymkhana-inspired chase would work really well in a Bond story. It would have to be done properly, of course; it would be inspired by the videos rather than directly based on them (ie Bond isn't going to drive over lightbulbs in slow motion). For example, the villain is attempting to ecsape a harbour in a luxury yacht, and Bond has to catch up to him before he escapes. Of course, he has to make up a massive lead, so he ends up driving out onto the dock, taking a very unconventional route that uses gymkhana elements to catch up to the boat, culminating in a leap off the end of the dock and onto the deck.

Gymkhana actually features in the video game DIRT 3, where it plays out like a skateboarding game: the Battersea power station and surrounds have been converted into one big playground, and there are eighty tricks to perform around the four zones (parking lot, depot, waterfront and the power station itself). For example, there's one where you have to drive up on top of some shipping containers, then drop off the opposite end in such a way that you drive through an open container set opposite the drop-off. In another one, you drop right down to the Thames waterfront and have to zig-zag between piles of debris at speed. In a third, you have to drift under a semi-trailer. And so on and so forth; I think it would have the makings of a spectacular sequence. Especially if it's just before the final confrontation with the villain.

[beaker]

I have an idea for the start of the 50th year of the 007 movie franchise. If you could get (Sirs) Sean Connery; Roger Moore; Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan in a private game of banco or poker. Daniel Craig walks in and introduces himself as "Bond, James Bond". He sits down to play a hand and the other players proceed to give him tips about "Life after 50" and "Aging Gracefully". Jack White and Tina Turner ought to do the Exit Music.

[Captain Tightpants]

I have an idea for the start of the 50th year of the 007 movie franchise. If you could get (Sirs) Sean Connery; Roger Moore; Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan in a private game of banco or poker. Daniel Craig walks in and introduces himself as "Bond, James Bond". He sits down to play a hand and the other players proceed to give him tips about "Life after 50" and "Aging Gracefully". Jack White and Tina Turner ought to do the Exit Music.

That's not really something we're going for here. The idea behind the Fanfiction Project is to come up with a detailed synopsis for a story, and then writing it. It's not really intended as a film, and has nothing to do with the anniversary. And we're modelling Bond on Michael Fassbender rather than Daniel Craig.

On a more poersonal note, I have to say I really, really, intensely dislike your idea. It's nothing person - I just feel that it represents everything that went wrong with DIE ANTOHER DAY: novelty for the sake of novelty, too much of a focus on referencing the past films, and, I'm afraid, it's as tacky as it is unnecessary. Especially since it's been established that the Craig films exist in a different timeline to the first twenty films; in the Age of Craig, Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan never existed. Having them make cameos for the sake of the anniversay film contradicts the newly-established canon.

[terminus]

Really not keen on Tempest being a plan to stir up racial hatred - it's not the direction I want the story to go in.

Well, I'm stuggling because you say we need a superweapon, but we don't really have any idea of what this superweapon might be. Yes, I know I was the one to suggest it as a plot element (motivated out of a desire to see a superweapon plot done properly), but I was hping there would be a few more ideas.

That said, I like the concept behind "Defectorville" - but not necessarily how you have suggested that it be used here. It's certainly something I could see us merging into the story - but perhaps relocated across to Canada in British Columbia, perhaps. I'm not keen on the chain of events you have mentioned, though.

The original idea for "Defectorville" came after I first heard Kyuss' Welcome to Sky Valley. The cover art in particulr really stirred up the idea in me. I figured it would be this lonely, isolated town that was miles from anything else. And it had a secret - it was established by the CIA to debrief Soviet defectors once they made it to America. But the entire place was placed under surveillance so that the Americans could be certain their new-found friend was, in fact, freindly and not a double-agent. To this day, I still think of the town as being called Sky Valley (to my mind, it was in a canyon that grew dark before sunset, but the sky overhead was still light, creating a 'valley of sky'). Instead of having it in British Columbia, it could be in Montana or one of the Dakotas (probably North), which Bond could visit on the way to Vancouver. If it is going to be in Canada, then it needs to be somewhere isolated (because the British/American/Canadian intelligence services couldn't risk putting a potential double-agent near metropolitain areas). I recommend somewhere along HIghway 16, probably between the towns of Prince George and McBride.

Is there room for a female ASIS or Australian Navy officer in your "pretitle sequence" that we could slide Cobie Smulders into the role of, to provide a visual reference for the character.

There's room for a naval officer. As I said before, ASIS is a lot like MI6 - it has no jurisdiction in their home country; in this case, Australia. There's a lot of women in the Australian Navy, so it can work. I'm thinking we should call her "Difficult" Danika Whitney. Because she's stubborn, argumentative, temperamental and very good at it.

1 - I think part of the point would be that Bond, and perhaps even the villain who wants Tempest for the purposes of using it, are unsure about the nature of the weapon outside of it being a weapon of sheer force. I know earlier we discussed it being something on the MOAB family; given the weapon was designed in the seventies/eighties, could it have been an experimental advanced air burst bomb of some sort?

2 - Perhaps Alberta/Saskatchewan or even the Northwest Territories to provide a suitable contrast to BC and Quebec.

3 - And we have our second named Bond girl - Danika Whitney (Cobie Smulders)!

The girls of 'Semper Occultus' (working title)

A henchwoman is definitely something we haven't had in a while. I'm all for it.

It seems to be a general consensus then.

Ken Block's Gymkhana FOUR comes out some time today. I know Block is like Christopher Nolan - after his second video, it became popular to hate him simply because he was successful - but I think a gymkhana-inspired chase would work really well in a Bond story. It would have to be done properly, of course; it would be inspired by the videos rather than directly based on them (ie Bond isn't going to drive over lightbulbs in slow motion). For example, the villain is attempting to ecsape a harbour in a luxury yacht, and Bond has to catch up to him before he escapes. Of course, he has to make up a massive lead, so he ends up driving out onto the dock, taking a very unconventional route that uses gymkhana elements to catch up to the boat, culminating in a leap off the end of the dock and onto the deck.

Gymkhana actually features in the video game DIRT 3, where it plays out like a skateboarding game: the Battersea power station and surrounds have been converted into one big playground, and there are eighty tricks to perform around the four zones (parking lot, depot, waterfront and the power station itself). For example, there's one where you have to drive up on top of some shipping containers, then drop off the opposite end in such a way that you drive through an open container set opposite the drop-off. In another one, you drop right down to the Thames waterfront and have to zig-zag between piles of debris at speed. In a third, you have to drift under a semi-trailer. And so on and so forth; I think it would have the makings of a spectacular sequence. Especially if it's just before the final confrontation with the villain.

I've not seen any of the mentioned videos but it does sound suitable for an 'action set piece' assuming we can suitably write such a set piece to make it appealing in prose, but also sutiably describe it as it would obviously be very visual in nature too. We've got the set piece involving Bond and the car in Quebec (rescuing Tamara, presumably) so I don't want two similar car-based set-pieces.

[Captain Tightpants]

I've not seen any of the mentioned videos

Now you have:

Ken Block on Top Gear

GymkhanaTwo

Gymkahan_THREE - Ultimate Playground

The 'Top Gear' one is probably closest to what I have in mind. It's basically precision driving taken to an extreme.

[terminus]

Much appreciated, fella - looks like it could certainly be an interesting concept for an action sequence whether we use cars or adapt it into motorbikes. Or would it be possible to do the other action sequence with the bomb and the checking-in points in Montreal/Quebec with motorbikes instead of cars?

If we did go down the route of this being one of the finale set-pieces, it suggests it would need to posssibly be against Paula Patton's currently unnamed villainess whom Bond would have first encountered on the liner from England to New York. Speaking of the cruise liner, I've discovered one of my housemates used to work on one so I can pester her for insider knowledge when we get to that sequence.

[Captain Tightpants]

It's possible with bikes, but I think it's a little more spectacular with cars. Here's, the latest one, Gymkhana 4 -The Hollywood Megamercial (it was shot on a studio backlot), and I can't really see bikes working in it. Unless Bond was in a car and the villains were on bikes:

[terminus]

Oh, yes - but could the other sequence involving Bond having to drive around the city visiting points to add time to the clock work with Bond driving a motorbike?

[Captain Tightpants]

Yeah, that could work just fine. Hell, he could do it on a jet ski up and down the St. Lawrence river.