h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The James Bond films - 1981-1992 - A804737
Author: Danny B. [Still harping on about the Musicians' Guild (U150368)] - U182633

Part III. Part IV will follow... eventually

Aha! A typo: "which is important is the audience" - AS the audience (and an un-needed semi-colon in the next sentence).

Again, you've skipped the 'unofficial' one. I thought you would, but there's no indication in the title that this is 'official' Bonds only.

The only other major ommission I can see is the music.

Great stuff so far, I await part 4 with baited breath (whatever that is).

Gif

I can't believe it's taken you until part III to find a typo

Music - there's an excellent article on John Barry on the front page, which deals with Bond music in great detail. Barry is mentioned in Part I (although I don't think he's linked yet), as is Shirley Bassey.

Unofficial Bond films?

OK, what I'll do is a closing paragraph in Part IV, dealing with miscellaneous issues such as music, unofficial films, competitors, spin-offs and the general Bond phenomenon - how does that sound

That sounds

Gif

For your miscellaneous stuff, the following weblink might help you cover a lot of ground - the books, comics, radio broadcasts and more:

http://00heaven.org/

There's a superb book coming out for the anniversary this November from Virgin (my mate Jim Smith, who did the recent Tim Burton book) - can't wait to see the finished thing

Thanks for that

I think Part IV might take a little longer to make it to PR than I'd planned, but I'll try to get it finished asap

Just a little slip... At the start of The Dalton Years you have put:

"As a replacement for Pierce..."

I'm guessing this should say: "As a replacement for Moore..."

Otherwise... good stuff. Looking forward to the last part.

The producers' original choice to replace Roger Moore was Pierce Brosnan, and he was almost signed up, but then discovered that he was contractually bound to 'Remington Steele', so the producers had to look for a replacement for Pierce to be a replacement for Roger, if you see what I mean... Perhaps I can clarify things a little

Yeah... I was aware of the Remington Steel thing... but clearly there was a skip here. A little juggling should sort it...

Good article - I've a question which may well be aided by clarification in the article. You mentioned the injunction on SPECTRE in "Octopussy", but you didn't say how long this injunction lasted. When did it end, or is it still ongoing? Or has the issue finally become moot since MGM did its swap with Warner on letting them release "Austin Powers: Goldmember" (and rights to superhero film) in exchange for the Bond rights Warner owned...?

<BB<

Good point... SPECTRE, as far as I know, is owned by Kevin McLory, whose involvement in the Bond story is covered in the first part. Therefore it's unlikely that it will ever be available for the official Bond producers to use (at least, not until 50 years after McLory's death, or whatever the copyright laws specify at the moment..!)

In about 1999 McLory sued again, claiming the he was owed royalities from the entire Bond series, and not just from Thunderball. He lost...

So ...

When Moore decided to leave, they asked Daltry to play Bond, but Moore stayed on.

When Moore actually left, they asked Brosnan to play Bond, but got Daltry.

And this is Brosnan's last film (I think). Hmm.

Anyone got any ideas who they asked to play Bond before giving the role to Brosnan? What are the chances that that's who gets the role next?

Gif

As far as I know, they went straight to Brosnan when Dalton retired. There wasn't much of a gap between Dalton quitting and Brosnan being announced as the new Bond.

However... one site gives this as a list of actors who were 'considered' (not necessarily screentested)

Clive Owen, Jeremy Northam, Greg Wise, Colin Wells, Ralph Fiennes, Mark Frankel, Jason Isaacs, Sean Bean, James Purefoy, Nathaniel Parker, Adrian Paul,Hugh Grant...

Moving from Dalton to Hugh Grant should have pretty effectively killed off the series ...

Gif

There was quite a gap between Dalton's last movie and Brosnan's first though. What's important to remember here is that Brosnan was announced by the press a fair while before he was *officially* confirmed by MGM/UA. And the gap between Licence to Kill and Living Daylights was the longest in the series' history.

Personally, once Brosnan's had enough, I hope Clive Owen gets it. he looks wiry enough to be a real killer, and he's a very good actor too.

> There was quite a gap between Dalton's last movie and Brosnan's
> first though

Yes, but Dalton didn't resign until it was announced that the legal wranglings were over and that production on a new film was to start. Although his last film was 1989, Dalton was James Bond from 1987-1994, the same length of time as Sean Connery, but without the gap in the middle!

The problem with all the 'possibles' is that most of it is speculation - the producers don't generally tell people officially who they tested, and so the information has to be gleaned from other sources. This means it's rife with rumour, counter-rumour and plain untruths.

Next bit of notes for you Danny:

During the period where Moore was mulling over whether to leave or not, Michael Jayston (Nicolas and Alexandra / the Valeyard from Doctor Who) was under consideration as a replacement - he eventually got to play the part on radio ten years later.

'Fortunately, the main body of the film, the first to be directed by experienced Bond editor John Glen,'

Nitpicking, but did he edit any others after this point? If not, would 'former' Bond editor be better?

'captured by smuggler Kristatos (Julian Glover)'

Glover had also auditioned (with half of the actors in Equity, by the sounds of it) for the role of Bond during the 1960s.

"The leading lady, Maud Adams, earned the distinction of being the only woman to appear as two differnt 'Bond girls'"

Tiny typo there - 'different'

Last part - see you there

Jims

Nice easy ones - done those

These are all so good!

I'm really learning a lot!



- Jimi X

(again) Jimi!