14 replies to this topic

[wakeup37]

I've recently got the full series on Blu-Ray, and while I could happily watch them all in production order, I'm wondering if their are any satisfying alternate orders to watch them in. I don't mean 'satisfying' in terms of 'fixing' continuity - there are enough discussions on this board as to that never-attainable beast!

 

I'm thinking perhaps thematic orders, such as sets of different themes like "cold war russia", "blofield", "exotic", "revenge" or watching them in the order the books were written in (although I'm not sure that would be a satisfying alternative considering how far the films can stray from the source).

 

To some degree this post delves into it, but it's more concerned with continuity :

http://debrief.comma...fits/?p=1254298

 

I'd be interested to hear everyones ideas!

[Hansen]

Personally, I noticed that my viewing of Bond films often depends on the season:

e.g

This summer, I watched TB, LTK & QoS (very related to water)

As autumn is coming, I feel like watching GF, MR, OP, TWINE

For Winter, I would be more OHMSS, AVTAK, TLD, GE

Spring would be DN, FRWL, FYEO, TND, CR

 

Some are missing but it is my guts feeling as it is now.

[Grard Bond]

I'm just always watching them in no order wat so ever and it realy doesn't matter at all.

 

Ofcourse you can watch all the Connery films in the right order

and all the Moore,and Brosnan etc.. films in the right order. Beginning with their first afford to their last one.

[AMC Hornet]

I'm embarking on an extended marathon next month (one a week in production order). The reason I'm waiting until October is so that I can still see most of my Christmas favorites in December.

 

I don't know if this counts as thematic to anyone else, but I do have certain films that I like to watch in certain seasons:

 

Spring: Thunderball, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, Octopussy. These ones motivate me to shake off the winter lethargy and get out into the fresh air. Also, they were mostly summer releases, so I associate them with the summers when they came out.

 

Winter: Casino Royale '54, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, The Man With the Golden Gun, Never Say Never Again, Die Another Day. All Winter releases, which I associate with the Christmas when I saw them.

 

The rest I can watch any time. I know when they came out, but they don't have as strong an association for me with that particular season.

[Trevelyan 006]

I have the annual tradition of (chronologically) watching one Bond movie a night, every night, starting on June 1st.

 

By June, it is usually the beginning/peak of summer, which was nice for a High School student (at the time when I started the tradition),

as I didn't have to worry about rolling out of bed the next morning! My how time flies...

 

I have watched them in novel order as well and it was pretty interesting to see the differences between each film. I suggest it. 

Edited by Trevelyan 006, 12 September 2013 - 01:46 AM.

[Guy Haines]

Haven't tried it yet, but I'm thinking of watching the first few films in the order I actually saw them for the first time at the "flicks", decades ago. This would be as follows:-

 

OHMSS, Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever as standalones, and

 

Dr No/Thunderball and From Russia With Love/You Only Live Twice as double bills.

 

I could see why DN and TB might be billed together at the cinema - both adventures in the sun, at sea or on an island - but the pairing of the hard edged cold war spy thriller FRWL and the relatively OTT YOLT was, in retrospect, intriguing. Not that the cinema management would have thought about it that way - they knew that Bond was a guaranteed banker during the school holidays when these double bills tended to be shown, it didn't much matter which films were paired.

[kronsteen63]

I know you mentioned something different than the order of the novels, but I have my own personal twist to the novel approach (to keep things interesting and to include every film). I have not watched them in this order yet, but I hope to when I get around to re-reading the novels again. My logic on some of these might escape some people, so I have added explanations where I feel necessary:

 

1. Casino Royale

2. Live and Let Die

3. Moonraker

4. GoldenEye (Trevelyan shared similarities to Drax - both felt betrayed by the British although they both originally appear loyal to the crown, both are scarred, both target London, etc.)

5. Die Another Day (Very, and I mean VERY, loose ties to Fleming's Moonraker)

6. Diamonds are Forever

7. From Russia with Love

8. Dr. No

9. Goldfinger

10. A View to a Kill (From a View to a Kill is the first short story in FYEO)

11. Quantum of Solace (Third short story in FYEO)

12. For Your Eyes Only (Takes elements from the second and fourth short stories in FYEO)

13. Licence to Kill (Takes elements from The Hildebrand Rarity - final story in FYEO)

14. Thunderball

15. Never Say Never Again

16. The Spy Who Loved Me

17. Tomorrow Never Dies (I really didn't know where to put this one, so I stuck it after TSWLM, since neither have many Fleming story elements to them - and they both end in giant boat-like bases)

18. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

19. You Only Live Twice

20. Skyfall (Takes the James Bond "dying" scenario/obituary from YOLT the novel)

21. The Man with the Golden Gun

22. The Living Daylights (Second short story in OP&TLD)

23. Octopussy (Loosely takes elements from the first and third stories in OP&TLD)

24. The World is Not Enough (M gets kidnapped, similar plot point to Colonel Sun)

[glidrose]

3. Moonraker
4. GoldenEye (Trevelyan shared similarities to Drax - both felt betrayed by the British although they both originally appear loyal to the crown, both are scarred, both target London, etc.)
5. Die Another Day (Very, and I mean VERY, loose ties to Fleming's Moonraker)
6. Diamonds are Forever

And of course DAD shares much in common with DAF.

16. The Spy Who Loved Me
17. Tomorrow Never Dies (I really didn't know where to put this one, so I stuck it after TSWLM, since neither have many Fleming story elements to them - and they both end in giant boat-like bases)
18. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Again, in TND and OHMSS, Bond loses a woman he once/still loved/loves.

19. You Only Live Twice
20. Skyfall (Takes the James Bond "dying" scenario/obituary from YOLT the novel)
21. The Man with the Golden Gun

You should have put SF after TMWTGG because as Dustin very astutely mentioned elsewhere on these fora, SF reworks much material from Fleming's novel TMWTGG and the Roger Moore film itself.

22. The Living Daylights (Second short story in OP&TLD)
23. Octopussy (Loosely takes elements from the first and third stories in OP&TLD)

Don't forget that OCT also uses the East Berlin location from TLD short story. While we're at it, the film FYEO uses the mountain climbing sequence from Fleming's OCT short story. Don't know if I've ever seen that remarked here.

24. The World is Not Enough (M gets kidnapped, similar plot point to Colonel Sun)

Yeah, this is a tricky one to categorize. Not sure I like its placement, but can't think where else it goes. Of course the Elektra idea contrasts nicely with CR. In each story, a female betrays Bond. In one she commits suicide. In the other, Bond kills her. Perhaps placing CR and TWINE at opposite ends does work, since once you've viewed TWINE, you're back to CR.

[Skylla]

I've recently got the full series on Blu-Ray, and while I could happily watch them all in production order, I'm wondering if their are any satisfying alternate orders to watch them in. I don't mean 'satisfying' in terms of 'fixing' continuity - there are enough discussions on this board as to that never-attainable beast!

 

I'm thinking perhaps thematic orders, such as sets of different themes like "cold war russia", "blofield", "exotic", "revenge" or watching them in the order the books were written in (although I'm not sure that would be a satisfying alternative considering how far the films can stray from the source).

 

To some degree this post delves into it, but it's more concerned with continuity :

http://debrief.comma...fits/?p=1254298

 

I'd be interested to hear everyones ideas!

You could mix them after the actors age and finish with AVTAK (or NSNA, if you include it in your canon. They are talking about retirement in the end.) So you would have (NSNA), AVTAK, OP, DAF, DAD, YOLT, FYEO, LTK, TWINE, MR, SF, TB, TSHLM, TND, TMWTGG, TLD, GF, LALD, GE, QOS, CR , OHMSS, FRWL, DN (you have to start with the b/w Pts from CR). 

[glidrose]

 

I've recently got the full series on Blu-Ray, and while I could happily watch them all in production order, I'm wondering if their are any satisfying alternate orders to watch them in. I don't mean 'satisfying' in terms of 'fixing' continuity - there are enough discussions on this board as to that never-attainable beast!

 

I'm thinking perhaps thematic orders, such as sets of different themes like "cold war russia", "blofield", "exotic", "revenge" or watching them in the order the books were written in (although I'm not sure that would be a satisfying alternative considering how far the films can stray from the source).

 

To some degree this post delves into it, but it's more concerned with continuity :

http://debrief.comma...fits/?p=1254298

 

I'd be interested to hear everyones ideas!

You could mix them after the actors age and finish with AVTAK (or NSNA, if you include it in your canon. They are talking about retirement in the end.) So you would have (NSNA), AVTAK, OP, DAF, DAD, YOLT, FYEO, LTK, TWINE, MR, SF, TB, TSHLM, TND, TMWTGG, TLD, GF, LALD, GE, QOS, CR , OHMSS, FRWL, DN (you have to start with the b/w Pts from CR). 

 

 

You'd have to start with OHMSS, because Laz was the youngest bond of all. He was 29 when OHMSS began filming. Connery began filming Dr. No when he was 32.

 

If going by age this is the proper order:

 

OHMSS

DN

FRWL

GF

TB

YOLT

CR 2006

QOS

DAF

TLD

GE

LTK

TND

SF

LALD

TWINE

TMWTGG

DAD

TSWLM

MR

NSNA

FYEO

OCT

AVTAK

 

... by which point you'll be gasping for air, screaming NO MORE! Praying there will never be another geriatric Bond.

[Achtung74]

How about by director? Start with Terrance Young (DN, FRWL, TB) then proceed to Guy Hamilton, etc.

[AMC Hornet]

How about by advances in technology?

 

That puts them in order of release and makes nonsense of anyone's theory that CR, QoS and Skyfall take place before Dr. No.

[glidrose]

How about by actor... or alphabetically (three CR's in a row)... or by running time.

 

I also put no stock in argument that the DC films are prequels. Far as I'm concerned, CR 2006 is a sequel to DAD. Bond lost his 00 status in DAD and due to idiotic government regulations (any other kind?), he had to get two new kills.

 

Or, the CR b&w pre-title happens before DN, but the rest of the film after DAD.

[AMC Hornet]

Walther made P99s in 1962?

Oh wait - in Dr. No Bond said he'd been using a Beretta for ten years, so the CR PTS must take place in 1952 - two years before Barry Nelson's CR (that makes sense, except for Dryden's car...).

[wakeup37]

Thanks everyone, I think I'm re-invested in doing them in novel order, as outlined by Kronsteen63 and others :-)

 

I like the idea of the "aging bond" order for novelty, but I think glidrose is right - it'll get weird and weary near the end. At least there would be Patrick Macnee to look forward too!

 

However, I'm still interested in thematic groupings - and I guess they would have to be lots of small groupings rather than one long sequential order.