42 replies to this topic

[thuffner]

I don't have a concrete answer for this question. It would be great to get more and more 007, but it would also be nice to see 007 ride out in the sunset one last time.

Any thoughts?

[Double-0 Six]

If the Bond films were to end I'd hope they went out whilst still on top. There was a thread around here ages ago discussing whether Bond should be killed off in the final film, but I think that would make for a very unrewarding cinema experience.

Personally, if the series were to end, I'd like the final shot to be of Bond sitting in his Jamacan retreat with a Vodka Martini in one hand and a attractive girl in the other. Leave the future open.

[M_Balje]

Originally posted by Double-0 Six
If the Bond films were to end I'd hope they went out whilst still on top. There was a thread around here ages ago discussing whether Bond should be killed off in the final film, but I think that would make for a very unrewarding cinema experience.

Personally, if the series were to end, I'd like the final shot to be of Bond sitting in his Jamacan retreat with a Vodka Martini in one hand and a attractive girl in the other. Leave the future open.

Sitting is the house "Goldeneye" of Ian Fleming.

[Simon]

I don't think it should ever end - maybe following the producer's dwindling interest, the studio going under or whatever, there could be a new slant on the series (and I don't mean Jane Bond, or Jamie Bond the gay spy, or son of Bond, or the cartoon Bond or Bond meets the Dukes of Hazard)

This could be the period Bond whereby there has been enough of a break to separate all association to the previous series.

However, I feel this won't be in my lifetime or any time soon. But it is the only way a period Bond could be entertained.

[RITZ]

All good things come to an end. There will come a point where Bond movies will not be made any longer.

But he must go on a high note

[1q2w3e4r]

I disagree on the high note. Bond lives life to excess because he doesn't expect to retire. He always spends all his money, leaving little for when he expects to be killed on some assignment.

I think it should end with him shot, not dead. Or better still a perfect ending would be Fleming's one in From Russia With Love.

Leaving it all open for the next film.

[BONDFINESSE 007]

well i dont think we will see the end for a good long time yet

[Loomis]

Looking at it logically, it seems clear that the Bond franchise WILL end at some point. Hard to imagine it continuing for hundreds of years, anyway. Then again, it's difficult to picture exactly when the series is likely to be wound up.

Personally, I'm not sure that I'd want it to continue without the involvement of Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. When those two stop working, it might be time to call it a day (although I guess other hands at EON could take the reins).

If Wilson (who would appear to be the single most important guiding force behind the franchise) is planning on bowing out within a few years (and, frankly, he's not getting any younger), then perhaps it would be a good idea to end the cinematic James Bond with a 50th anniversary film released in 2012. Although I have a feeling that no one will want to knock Bond on the head in just nine years' time.

I think the death of James Bond in a film would be too much of a downer. A final scene (along the lines of the NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN ending) of 007 settling into comfortable retirement in an exotic location with a beautiful girl would be appropriate. I'm sure Fleming would have had Bond die if he'd been writing a final 007 adventure, but this is the cinematic Bond we're talking about here.

On the other hand, you could have Bond die (say, in a huge explosion) but leave some sly hints just before the closing credits that he might have survived after all. This would satisfy both camps, and, besides, I'm sure that MGM/EON would never bring the curtain down on Bond with such finality and not leave the door ajar for a future revival, even if they had announced beforehand that this was to be the last Bond film.

[Mr Trump]

The Series will probably have a flop movie eventually and the series will go away for a while and then make a comeback like they did with Goldeneye, but if the comeback then flops that would probably be the end of the series as when you look at it realisticly it's going to lose it's popularity someday.

[JackChase007]

Personally, I think they should start making their movies more like "The Bourne Identity". It was certainly more dramatic than Bond and was more of a thriller, very much like, say, From Russia With Love, although Doug Liman filmed it with such energy that it kept audiences (for the most part, at least) at the edge of their seats and eager to see what would happen next.

[DanMan]

Here how I think the Bond series should end...

Bond has just finished his final mission and then we fast foward about ten or twenty years into the future where Bond is a writer and uses the name Ian Fleming to write about his past adventures.

[Turn]

I said it before in a similar thread that as long as the character makes money the Bond series won't die. Everything old is new again, and just as Tarzan, Superman, Sherlock Holmes and other venerable characters get renewed every few years, somebody would bring 007 back as well.

And it wouldn't matter how the series ended. The forum would have people who loved it and people who didn't.

[taxman2001]

If Bond has to finish I'd just like to see the following words appear after the final shot:

James Bond will not return

Dah dah dah, dah dah dah, dah dah dah dah daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah ....

[Thunderball8]

I like the idea that it ends with Bond in Jamaica...although the metamorphosis into Ian Fleming is a more definite ending.

I think the 007 formula is so universal that it can continue almost indefinitely. He's no longer just Britain's hero...he's some kind of globalized super-agent. Every generation knows him as a different person with a different style. My dad knew him as Sean Connery, I knew him as Roger Moore, and my youngest brother knows him as Pierce Brosnan. It can go on and on and on, it will update itself for each era.

As long as people in the world are causing trouble, James Bond has reason to return.

And every two or so years, both in the films and historically, it's true. If it's not KGB vs Capitalists, the controversial US Space Program, the threat of Nuclear war, the Korean Crisis, Information fraud; there's always something 007 can do for a world that wants someone to solve all its troubles.

And now we even have the exotic Middle East providing Bond possibilities.

Even if the series never makes a flop from now on, the real end of James Bond, I believe, is World Peace.

[General Koskov]

Yes, I've been trying to thwart World Peace efforts so Bond will go on, but those demonstators just don't get it!

[Thunderball8]

Yeah, you know, there are some people who tell me that 007 has evolved somewhat....

Because in some far-fetched, light-hearted fashion, Bond reflects a certain indifferent and self-assured attitude towards even the most devastating of relevant problems.

Let's face it, we all like that.

That's the secret to making 20 sequels, and possibly many more sequels....Will it ever really end?

[solitaire]

As much as I love Bond films,I think they should have ended years ago. DAD was great entertainment,and I enjoyed it for what is was,but it ultimately left me sort nostalgic for the older ones. The producers to me at least have lost Bond's "mojo",and are just going through the motions hoping no one will notice. Seeing as DAD is a hit,the studio will keep rolling out paint by the numbers films in the forseeable future,but unlike a lot of the thinking here,I can see an end coming for the franchise. And a lot sooner than many think,if MGM and Eon were smart they would be planning a gradual end to the series,before the public does. However I don't want to see Bond get killed,he should have one last great mission and get the girl. That film probably should have been DAD,but greedy producers will keep this series going more than anything else.

[Thunderball8]

We could end up with what happens with every great series coming to an "official end".

A reprieve that results in a surprise-revival that gets the ball rolling again.

I don't know about you guys...but the sudden appearance of the Goldeneye trailer caught me and a couple of people by surprise after not having Bond for 6 years. It was a happy one to be sure and I'm watching those movies now.

If they announce the "official end" we could end up with the same thing....either fans will say..."No,. let's have one more, and then another..." Or....they'll come back later on, hit everyone by surprise and then it will continue again.

[M_Balje]

Originally posted by Mr Trump
The Series will probably have a flop movie eventually and the series will go away for a while and then make a comeback like they did with Goldeneye, but if the comeback then flops that would probably be the end of the series as when you look at it realisticly it's going to lose it's popularity someday.

In An interview that i have seen on Dutch tv in an englisch feature.
Michael G. Wilson say that Bond Quite about an long time.
But that he one day returns.

[kevrichardson]

Originally posted by thuffner
I don't have a concrete answer for this question.  It would be great to get more and more 007, but it would also be nice to see 007 ride out in the sunset one last time.
Any thoughts?

Yes! Given all the thought that has been give as to when Brosnan will leave the role and who will replace him . I feel that a all out effort ought to be mad with regard to Bond 21 . To amke it the best of the Brosnan era ,and to rank with the best overall in the series. It would be ashame for Bond to end up like some many action series after 40 years on screen. Like at what has happen to Sherlock Holmes.

[SirMiles83]

If Bond is going to die in the future, how about him "dying" the way he did in YOLT, the novel:
"What was it all about? Bond didn't know or care. The pain in his head was his whole universe. Punctured by a buffet, the balloon was fast losing height. Below, the softly swelling sea offered a bed. Bond let go with hands and feet and plummeted down towards peace, towards the rippling feathers of some childhod dream of softness and escape from pain."
I don't think he should ever be killed by someone, but he should mysteriously vanish after brushing very close to death and be presumed dead. He would then read his own orbituary while sipping a martini in Goldeneye in Jamaica.

[freemo]

How the final film should end....

Bond, along with M (Judi Dench), Moneypenny (Samantha Bond) and Q (John Cleese) stand outside the Emerald city....

Bond faces M.

Bond: See M, you didn't need the Wizard to give you a brain, you had one all along. It's just that your excessice alcohol intake was preventing your brain from functioing corectly. Managing to get yourself kidnapped, that wasn't brainlessness, it was merely incomptetance. Put the bottle down and get on with your life.

Bond hugs M, and then turns to Moneypenny.

Bond: See Moneypenny, you didn't need the Wizard to give you a heart, you had one all along. It's just that due to the Producers caving in to the demands of femminists, you've dropped the "Miss" from your name and now it's you that makes all the witty oneliners at me. Not to worry dear.

Bond attempts to hug Moneypenny, but she won't hear of it. Bond finally turns to Q.

Bond: Q, R, or whatever your name is, I think I'm going to miss you most of all.

Bond gives Q back his watch, perfectly intact for once. He then slowly walks away, turning back breifly to wave to his friends. Bond then clicks his heels there times.

Bond: There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.

THE END

JAMES BOND WONT RETURN

[White Tuxedo]

James Bond will always return as long as people will pay to see him, no matter bad it may get.

Interestingly, I don't really James Bond as a person anymore. He's more of a... concept. That's not the right word. Basically, if there's a Bond movie in say..2021, I don't see it as the same person. That said, as long James Bond remains fun and alluring there's always a place in the world for him.

I don't see him as a real person, but as a genre. That's a better way to put it. I think there's always room for his genre.

[Blofeld's Cat]

The following is my idea that I posted a while ago in a Zencat thread called Bond 21: Into the Past.....

Originally posted by Blofeld's Cat (edit)
Not too sure about this whole retro idea. I'd need to think about it for a while.

However, if were decided to finish doing the Bond movies and there was one left to do, I'd like to see the current Bond (whoever that actor would be) on the mission that caused his gun to jam and put him in hospital for six months. A prequel to Dr. No so to speak.

That way the ending can appear to show that Bond is dead (a-la FRWL novel) thus ending the franchise, but bring the whole Bond cinematic saga full circle.

A bond movie timeline with no start or finish.

[ChandlerBing]

The ending is where we find out that all of the Bond movies since Sean Connery left have all been a dream. Connery wakes up in bed with Jill St. John, on that boat, and says, "I had the worst dream...."

[Simon]

Originally posted by kevrichardson
It would be a shame for Bond to end up like so many action series after 40 years on screen.

Like so many which other action series after 40 years?

Isn't this the uniqueness of the Bond series? 40 years non-stop.

Journalists with "inside" knowledge have been predicting the end of the series since Thunderball. Presumeably, if they continue to predict after every film, there will come a time when they actually get it right.

Otherwise, the bullet and fade out is the best suggestion from above. Although that full circle idea was quite inspired BC.

[YOLT]

I think they must end if:
A film wins best film or actor oscar
If a films revenue reaches at 10billion$
If the films becomes totally american
If a film becomes too unsucessfull

But dont worry these will never happen I think, 007 forever...

[Se]

This question is comparable to: Will Superman ever be forgotten? I don't think so...

[Martini]

I think after 20 films the series can end with every wrong decision of the producers. It

[booyeah_]

[quote]Originally posted by Se