16 replies to this topic

[Guy Haines]

This will, I expect, sound like heresy, but I'm used to it. I suggested, on another thread, that it might be interesting if we had a Bond film in which it turns out that "M" was the villain of the piece (Since Skyfall was released, some on Cbn have argued that she was, but that's another thread!)

 

However - last night I watched some of the film "Avengers Assemble", and, disappointed as I was that neither John Steed nor Emma Peel put in an appearance  , I did wonder, in the light of the announced "Batman and Superman" film for 2015, which character/s from another fictional genre forum contributors could see alongside, or opposing Bond, if (Heaven forbid) such a film ever were to be made.

 

Frankly, I'm not sure I'd want any, but for the sake of argument, suppose we had:-

 

Bond and John Drake - Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and the agent who'll neither kiss the girl nor shoot the bad guy unless forced to. A kind of espionage version of "The Odd Couple"

 

Bond and Harry Palmer - the latter could have used Bond's expertise in dealing with megalomaniacs in "Billion Dollar Brain"

 

Bond and Solo & Kuryakin - a tag team match. MI6 & UNCLE -v- SPECTRE and THRUSH. And, yes, I know George Lazenby put in an appearance as "JB" in "The Return Of The Man From UNCLE"

 

Bond and John Steed - winning the war against the bad guys from "the playing fields of Eton"? According to a fictional biography of Steed, they were both pupils there.

 

Bond and Simon Templar - complete clash? Both often disregard the rules, and both would compete for the ladies. Might have been interesting though, Connery's Bond and Moore's Templar in one adventure.

 

Bond and Sherlock Holmes - by which I mean the one in the recent BBC TV series, set in the present day. I suspect the current 007  would find the current resident of Baker Street, er, "challenging".

 

As I say, I'm interested only out of curiosity - do Cbn members have any suggestions, or would they prefer things as they are?

 

 

[S K Y F A L L]

This wouldn't be a bad idea if there was someone who equaled Bond. In terms of other film series as epic as 007 only a few come to mind but don't live up to it; Godzilla, Star Trek and Harry Potter.

 

I think I've read someone suggest Bond and Dr. Who....

How about a team up with a real person like Jackie Chan? Jesus or the second coming of Christ? 

Winston Churchill could be interesting. Either he is brought back to life or Bond is sent back in time to WW2.

Princess Diana?

Hooch from TUNER AND HOOCH?

[Guy Haines]

This wouldn't be a bad idea if there was someone who equaled Bond. In terms of other film series as epic as 007 only a few come to mind but don't live up to it; Godzilla, Star Trek and Harry Potter.

 

I think I've read someone suggest Bond and Dr. Who....

How about a team up with a real person like Jackie Chan? Jesus or the second coming of Christ? 

Winston Churchill could be interesting. Either he is brought back to life or Bond is sent back in time to WW2.

Princess Diana?

Hooch from TUNER AND HOOCH?

Well, we almost did get Bond on the 'phone to Margaret Thatcher in FYEO - instead the late Iron Lady got the bird! Regarding Dr Who, in recent series the Doctor has encountered real life historical and literary figures - Charles Dickens and Queen Victoria for example. Suppose we have a future episode in which the Tardis arrives at some point in World War II, and the Time Lord finds himself working with, say, British Naval Intelligence against a familiar foe (Daleks, Cybermen?) working for the Nazis? And the Doctor's liaison officer with the British is a Royal Navy Commander, working for Admiral Godfrey, who has a vivid imagination and hidden ambitions to write a spy story? I think you know where I'm heading.

 

I can just imagine the final scene after the villains have been vanquished. It is the early 1950s in Jamaica, and sitting at his desk, Commander Fleming is struggling to find a name for his central character. In walks a certain rather odd character he met back in the war, who surveys the bookshelf and casually pulls off a book called "Birds Of The West Indies". He shows the front cover to Fleming. "How about this chap?" asks the Doctor. "James Bond? The ornithologist?" Fleming replies.

 

"Yes. From watching birds to, well, lets not go there. But he'll become the most watched, least secret agent in the Universe!"

 

Cue a few bars of Monty Norman's Bond theme, or something that sounds similar to it, as "Ian Fleming" types out the first line of Casino Royale, before the music segues into the theme from Dr Who.

[Dustin]

Interesting idea, going to weigh in later, pressed for time right now.

[Grard Bond]

Maybe (just for the fun of it) think about a (British?) superteam (like the Avengers, by the way why is it called Avengers Assemble in the U.K.?):

 

Bond together with Steed & Emma Peel, The Saint, Sherlock Holmes, Danger Man, The Champions and Jason King (to name a few legendary from especialy the sixties) against a supervillian.

Edited by Grard Bond, 20 August 2013 - 11:49 AM.

[JohnnyWalker]

James Bond and Nicholas Angel, uncovering a madman's diabolical revenge plan against the law. Only a quarter of the film would be Angel reminding Bond of the rules.

[Grard Bond]

Do you mean the guy from the Hot Fuzz movie? That could be very funny!

Edited by Grard Bond, 20 August 2013 - 01:09 PM.

[JohnnyWalker]

Do you mean the guy from the Hot Fuzz movie? That could be very funny!

Yep.

[Double Naught spy]

I'm still waiting for a 007 movie teaming him up with a 'worthy' Felix Leiter.  No offense to the actors who have played Leiter in the past, but that spirit of Bond and Felix being co-equals from the novels just isn't in the films.  More often than not, Felix is portrayed as Bond's (a) lackey (ex. Thunderball) or ( exasperated nursemaid (Diamonds are Forever, Live and Let Die).  

 

There was some promise for Felix back in Dr. No and the character showed some signs of being Bond's equal.  However, by his next appearance in Goldfinger, the Felix was cast as a middle-aged CIA agent (Cec Linder) who sort of just shook his head at 007's womanizing reputation and then led the "cavalry to the rescue."  No offense to Mr. Linder, but his portrayal was far from being that of the dry-witted Texan who could spot a dishonest bartender a mile away!   Back then, I guess the powers-that-be (understandably) wanted to make sure that the spotlight was clearly focused on Connery's machismo. 

 

But we are clearly in a 'new era' of the cinematic Bond and Jeffrey Wright's portrayal in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace shows great promise of someday being Bond's equal/friend.  Perhaps someday, the power-that-be will break the '007 formula' mold even more and give a movie with a honest-to-goodness team-up with these two long-time literary friends.  If that ever happens, hopefully they won't give us the old, "James, you're out of control" tripe from Felix that serves as 'tension' among other cinematic duos (Lethal Weapon, etc.)  No, a Bond/Leiter team-up should be one that both men are on the 'same page' regarding whatever assignment they're on with little to no friction between them or their respective governments.   

 

As for fan-fiction team-ups:  007 & 24's Jack Bauer or 007 & Reese (Henry Cavill's character on TV's Persons of Interest) 

[glidrose]

James Bond and Inspector Clouseau (Moore and Sellers, of course)

 

JB and Cheech & Chong

 

JB and Jason from the Friday the 13th films

 

JB and Han Solo (Star Wars)

 

JB and Enoch Powell

[Revelator]

Ian Fleming once proposed to Rex Stout that they write a James Bond/Nero Wolfe crossover (details are here): "we might have quite fun together starting up a kind of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby relationship between our two heroes. And I should be very amused to find the English agent, James Bond, slipping into one of your pages and perhaps being thoroughly seen off over a girl by Archie Goodwin." Stout declined, saying that Bond would get the girl instead.

But imagine if the crossover had actually happened, and if EON decided to faithfully adapt the novel...

Also, Fleming was good friends with Raymond Chandler--had Chandler lived a bit longer, perhaps they would have collaborated. Just think: Bond meets Phillip Marlowe...

[Guy Haines]

I'm still waiting for a 007 movie teaming him up with a 'worthy' Felix Leiter.  No offense to the actors who have played Leiter in the past, but that spirit of Bond and Felix being co-equals from the novels just isn't in the films.  More often than not, Felix is portrayed as Bond's (a) lackey (ex. Thunderball) or ( exasperated nursemaid (Diamonds are Forever, Live and Let Die).  

 

There was some promise for Felix back in Dr. No and the character showed some signs of being Bond's equal.  However, by his next appearance in Goldfinger, the Felix was cast as a middle-aged CIA agent (Cec Linder) who sort of just shook his head at 007's womanizing reputation and then led the "cavalry to the rescue."  No offense to Mr. Linder, but his portrayal was far from being that of the dry-witted Texan who could spot a dishonest bartender a mile away!   Back then, I guess the powers-that-be (understandably) wanted to make sure that the spotlight was clearly focused on Connery's machismo. 

 

But we are clearly in a 'new era' of the cinematic Bond and Jeffrey Wright's portrayal in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace shows great promise of someday being Bond's equal/friend.  Perhaps someday, the power-that-be will break the '007 formula' mold even more and give a movie with a honest-to-goodness team-up with these two long-time literary friends.  If that ever happens, hopefully they won't give us the old, "James, you're out of control" tripe from Felix that serves as 'tension' among other cinematic duos (Lethal Weapon, etc.)  No, a Bond/Leiter team-up should be one that both men are on the 'same page' regarding whatever assignment they're on with little to no friction between them or their respective governments.   

 

As for fan-fiction team-ups:  007 & 24's Jack Bauer or 007 & Reese (Henry Cavill's character on TV's Persons of Interest) 

I agree regarding Felix Leiter. It is one reason LTK didn't quite work for me - the close relationship between Bond & Leiter of the books was undermined because we had a different person in the role every time, with a different approach. There might just as well have been a different CIA man dealing with 007 in each film. When LTK came along we had David Hedison (who was a very good Leiter in LALD) in the role again, but the connection between his Felix Leiter and Dalton's Bond just wasn't there, for me at least.

 

Jeffrey Wright, on the other hand - he was terribly underused in CR, and especially QoS, and yet there's a chemistry between him and Craig's Bond, I think. It was a good idea to retain him as Leiter. I hope he returns in Bond 24 or 25, or both, and in a much enlarged role.

[Dustin]

When I was a wee boy, years before I saw my first Bond film at the cinema, I used to have that little trick toy car from some guy the older kids called 'James Bond' or sometimes '007'. It had that ejector seat, red pull-out thingies on its rear axle, a shield aft and machine guns for'ard, and it came with two small figures, one blue, one black/white (I didn't know which was supposed to be 'James Bond' and which '007'). I had lots of fun playing with this, my only gripe was I only had one other car approximately the same scale, the Batmobile with Batman and Robin (with a strange golden cape instead of the usual yellow one I knew from the comics), so I regularly played Batman and James Bond. You might say I have some experience - after a fashion - with crossovers...

 

The most interesting possible pairings are already mentioned: Nero Wolfe, Marlowe, Holmes, The Prisoner/John Drake and so on. At the moment I can only think of a far-out-there team-up: Bond and Conan. There was a series (by 'Jeffrey Lord' a pseudonym for various writers) from the late 1960s/early 1970s about MI6 agent Richard Blade who was teleported into various different dimensions at the start of each book. It was in effect a fantasy series with a spy frame story, a bit like the Warlock DC comics from the 1970s.

 

More serious crossovers would have been Bond meeting Travis McGee and/or Matt Helm, the two towering thriller figures of Fawcett's Gold Medal era. Fleming also was a fan of Georges Simenon and his extraordinary output over the decades. He might have liked his hero meeting Simenon's most famous protagonist Maigret.

 

In terms of cinematic appeal none of the above are particularly likely, as none of these characters today - with the exception of Sherlock Holmes - holds even a fracture of the attraction Bond does for the public. In the end Bond is not a team player, his adventures are primarily his own.  

[Guy Haines]

I'd like to thank Cbn members for their replies to date, regarding something that just occurred to me watching a film the other night. I still think Bond is a lone wolf, and I for one cannot see him as part of a double act or a buddy movie. Some of the suggestions for partners have been intriguing, though - James Bond and Nero Wolfe, for example.

 

As I've already posted, I agree with Double Nought spy about Felix Leiter. One of the closest to an "equal" in the Fleming books, yet in the films he seems to be there to either needle Bond, or hold his coat while he gets on with the serious business of taking down the bad guys. The lack of consistency regarding casting didn't help.

 

I'd have been intrigued how 007 would have handled the situation in the film "Billion Dollar Brain". This is the closest Michael Caine's "Harry Palmer" got to a "Bond-averts-World-War-III" scenario, but with a villain - General Midwinter - from the other side of the Atlantic, not in it for the money, or to set up a new civilisation, but because he sincerely believed he could single-handedly overthrow communism by invading a Soviet satellite state and inciting counter-revolution. It would have put Bond on the spot, but I think he'd have come to the same conclusion as Palmer (To his treacherous colleague, Leo Newbegin - "When he (Midwinter) gets within five miles of the Russian border, every alarm bell in the world will go off, and four minutes later, nobody will be around!")

[glidrose]

Here's another (not very serious) suggestion...

 

JB meets Danny Wilde and Lord Brett Sinclair (from "The Persuaders").

[Walecs]

About Sherlock Holmes, there was an unofficial short story in which Bond meets Sherlock Holmes, and the latter finds out M is Moriarty.

[Dustin]

Amis himself once proposed an idea for a (short-?) story about a 70-something Bond contacted by the daughter of a US senator while on holiday in the Swiss Alps (but no longer skiing). Her father had been kidnapped by KGB 'General Moriarvsky', for whatever reason KGB generals may do such things. She calls for Bond's help and offers to do everything he wants her to. To which Bond responds 'A bit late for everything but I'll help you.'
Whatever shenanigans this adventure causes do, er, shenaningan away and at the end of the story Bond and Moriarvsky fight in front of a waterfall where they both drop into and disappear. The Glidrose-people (Ian Fleming Publishing back in the day) apparently turned pale when hearing this and warned Amis to never write it. No idea when exactly this happened, probably during the hiatus of the 1970s when no new Bond continuations were published other than Pearson's and the film tie-ins.