Yes, the impression I got was that from now on it's probably the old/'classic' pattern of anteroom with Moneypenny and double doors with M behind them, all done in a stylishly old fashioned early 20th century Empire'/art nouveau deco. To tie-in on the past you could use a short scene in Bond's own office with that hideously ugly porcelain dog on the desk, showing how much Bond cares in having that bloody thing voluntarily on a daily basis in his eyesight.
Upside would be it would give much more of a homely atmosphere, the premises of M's office practically being a trusted character of its own, saving Eon a lot of money in coming up with another postmodern award-winning architectural designer set for every new film [something previously reserved for the Blofeld-league of Bond villains].
Downside would be it might easily lead to a drowsy atmosphere of complacency. In familiar surrounding surprising events are much less likely to happen. Question is, would we like to be surprised from time to time?
I think the key is to use the setting in new ways. The classic Bond comes into the office scenes tended to be formulaic since the set did not extend past Moneypenny's anteroom. You had Bond come in, toss his hat on the rack, flirt with Moneypenny and then go in to see M. I'd love to see a continuous long shot of the rooms and corridors outside the famous office as Bond moves from either his office or the parking garage up to M's office when summoned - like Mendes did with Tanner bringing Bond into the new digs in Skyfall. Given EON's increased budget and production value, they could really explore the old HQ in new and exciting ways now.
Assuming that the ending in Skyfall in M's new office was not a temporary one while they repair, where would it be located now?
It looks like one of the buildings down Whitehall, does this mean that 6 is moving to another location in the Bond world, or just the 00 section, does M no longer run 6 but just deals with the 00 section.
Whats going on?
Is is a plot hole demed suitable to move the series along?
The building they're in now is the Old War Office Building which served as MI6 HQ / Universal Exports from Octopussy to LTK. Before it was vague about which building housed MI6. Usually there was just a overview shot of London or a close-up of the Universal Export sign.
Interesting. I don't know how accurate the dialogue in Skyfall was, but would not Tanner's line about them using part of Churchill's old bunker suggest that the MI6 Bunker in Skyfall is possibly below/attached to the Old War Office building? Making it perfectly logical to retain a more permanently renovated version of the bunker sets as the new HQ? Great possibilities with the new status quo in my opinion.
Edited by TheManwiththeWaltherPPK, 16 March 2013 - 08:54 PM.