3 replies to this topic

[OHMSS Spion]

Anyone else watching the time travel show Timeless? In the episode that aired on Monday, they end up travelling to Germany during WWII and run into Ian Fleming. Obviously Fleming wasn't actually in Germany at that time (as far as we know), but it was a fun episode with a lot of James Bond nods. They infiltrate a castle and stop a Nazi plot. When the return to the present, 

Spoiler

they find out that in the new timeline resulting from their interference with history, their adventure inspired a novel that Fleming wrote, in addition to the ones that exist in our timeline. The novel was also made into a movie with Sean Connery, called "Weapon of Choice."

I enjoy the show for the time travel, so it was a fun surprise to see Fleming pop up.

[Double Naught spy]

I watched it last night.  Just like the previous week, where the heroes traveled back to the Rat Pack's 1960's Las Vegas, having Ian Fleming guest star smacked of a cheap attempt to generate 'buzz' for the show.  I guess I shouldn't complain too much - At least this week, we actually get to see guest star Fleming, whereas last week, we only got glimpses of the back of Sinatra's head and an out-of-focus camera shot of JFK.  The credits even list actors playing Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr., but they must have been in "blink and you'll miss 'em" scenes because I sure didn't spot them.

 

I'm curious as to why the show had Maguire/Fleming claim that his decision to become a spy was brought upon by the fact that he witnessed his brother being killed during the Blitz of London.  Is that accurate?  

 

I also thought it was odd that the two instances where the show's time-traveling heroes 'name dropped' from the 007 franchise were "Skyfall" and "Never Say Never Again" - two film titles Fleming had no part in coming up with!  Equally as odd was the fact that, in both instances, Maguire/Fleming looked thoughtfully off into the distance as if he were thinking to himself, "Hey, that's not a bad title for a book."

Edited by Double Naught spy, 26 October 2016 - 02:27 AM.

[ggl]

I watched it last night.  Just like the previous week, where the heroes traveled back to the Rat Pack's 1960's Las Vegas, having Ian Fleming guest star smacked of a cheap attempt to generate 'buzz' for the show.  I guess I shouldn't complain too much - At least this week, we actually get to see guest star Fleming, whereas last week, we only got glimpses of the back of Sinatra's head and an out-of-focus camera shot of JFK.  The credits even list actors playing Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr., but they must have been in "blink and you'll miss 'em" scenes because I sure didn't spot them.

 

I'm curious as to why the show had Maguire/Fleming claim that his decision to become a spy was brought upon by the fact that he witnessed his brother being killed during the Blitz of London.  Is that accurate?  

 

I also thought it was odd that the two instances where the show's time-traveling heroes 'name dropped' from the 007 franchise were "Skyfall" and "Never Say Never Again" - two film titles Fleming had no part in coming up with!  Equally as odd was the fact that, in both instances, Maguire/Fleming looked thoughtfully off into the distance as if he were thinking to himself, "Hey, that's not a bad title for a book."

Michael Fleming died as a POW after Dunkirk in France.

 

All the other "name dropped" are just due to bad screenwriting... Just one thing: guess how Ian said his name for the first time? Really...?

[David_M]

I watched the pilot for this show and gave up on it.  After going to some effort to explain why altering the fate of the Hindenburg could cause incalculable damage to the timeline, they end up letting it crash on the wrong date anyway, and with a different passenger list.  This after the heroes spend time defusing a bomb, only to cause a stray gunshot to ignite the dirigible, after all.  

 

When they get back, everyone remembers history differently than the heroes do (because they're from "our" timeline, which they've destroyed).  Sounds like the Fleming episode continues this pattern. So how much screwing with history are they allowed to do? And why should viewers care about anything that happens in a universe that is, by the end of the first episode, no longer our own?

 

I'm still waiting for a "biographical" movie where superspy Ian Fleming, on a mission in Africa, meets Edgar Rice Burroughs, who swings through the trees wearing a loincloth.