Bond villains: 2 minutes into the future

DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
edited May 2012 in Bond Movies Posts: 23,559
Bond villains have a long tradition of being exceptionally conscious of the benefits of science and technology. Some major advances in various fields of science and engineering have been explored and exploited by them and few were so ridiculous as to not be proven possible over the decades.

Doctor No took a leap in the field of radioactivity and long-distance communication disruptions. While the underlying physics was left extremely vague, the idea of generating enough power from nuclear fission to fuel a machine that produces incredibly strong waves of some type, needed for the toppling of missiles, seems reasonable enough. The Lector, though more of a MacGuffin, is a testament to increasing abilities in old-fashioned message decoding, forced into redundancy by the age of the computers, and allows us a glimpse into what was considered modern and hightech at the time. Applying lasers for all the energy they might project is what Goldfinger saw fit for his plans. Well, we do indeed have very powerful lasers nowadays. Goldfinger was also aware of the potential of harvesting nuclear power. SPECTRE then settled for nothing less than nuclear energy in its most destructive form and proceeded by conquering space. We turned to biological warfare next and returned to perfected laser technology after that. Our interest in new sources of energy culminated in a brand-new solar power tool, as even hitman Scaramanga understood its potential. The tracking devise, however the bloody thing operates, is what got Stromberg to almost drive his point home and Drax actually managed to launch a space shuttle before the rest of the world could. EMP resistant microchips formed the basis of Zorin's operations and indeed, we would want to posses those, wouldn't we? After all, what are a country's defences worth today when its computers fail? Enter Janus. Again we turn to EMP, this time in accordance with the theory that a nuclear blast in space will create a dangerous pulse and effectively disable all our electronic tools within a broad radius from the blast. Satellites can be used for disinformation, as demonstrated by Carver, which in this day and age can be an even more powerful weapon that the H-bomb. And lastly, we get to invisible cars. Not really a villain's invention but needless to say it's definitely something of a wet dream for most of us. Well, to be honest, research in the field of metamaterials is progressing so rapidly as we speak, the practical applications of invisibility might not be all that far away from us at this point.

I'm wondering though, where might our Bond villains (or Q) take us in the next couple of films? Will a Bond villain use quantum computers to hack all encrypted files, worldwide, within a microsecond? Will a Bond villain learn to master the power of nuclear fusion and become dominator of this world instantly? Will force fields, quantumteleportation, antimatter engines or superintelligent robots all find their way into our beloved franchise? Keep in mind please that most of these concepts are as we speak being taken very seriously by scientists and engineers all over the world, and could become common everyday reality in an unpredictably short amount of time. We could have any of these things as early as 2030 or even 2020 for all we know.

Do you have any ideas for future Bond villains? What are your thoughts on technological advances as major plot points in a Bond film? Are you bothered with the idea of James Bond amidst ultramodern things and would you rather have them keep 007 away from things that are entirely 21st century based or are you looking forward to major scientific breakthroughs being featured almost immediately in the Bonds, giving Bond a head start over the rest of the world?

Comments

  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    I look forward to see major technological advances, but believable ones. I'm OK with everything you mentioned there @DarthDimi, even the invisible car though I wished it had been better done, that was just silly. Speaking of which that film just went way out of hand when it comes to science. Thinking that it could have been done so nicely but ended up like something an 8 year old (and not a very smart one by the way) would do [-(
  • X3MSonicXX3MSonicX https://www.behance.net/gallery/86760163/Fa-Posteres-de-007-No-Time-To-Die
    Posts: 2,635
    As a techplot - quick term i just did for this - i believe that one day we can see a Bond villain that has the capable mind of using a electrothermal gas that can destroy any electronic system. When a missle gets launched, it blows up on the bases but no people gets harmed, so the militars could think it was a fake missile, when actually the gas infects through the electronic system and deactivates it or destroy it smooth and stealthly. When they detect that there was a problem on the electronic system, it will be too late.

    I know that there was such similar thing to Bond films already, but i couldn't think of anything better.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 5,980
    QoS was underwhelming but I do think we'll see another villain not unlike Greene in the future, since the environment and global warming will continue to be an issue.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,559
    I agree with that, @echo. Much like the red scare from the past, these issues may keep recurring for a while.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited May 2012 Posts: 12,459
    biochemical dominance/warfare unleashed.
    pandemics/epidemic/allkindofdemics masterminded by one truly evil villain Who hopefully does not look like Greene.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    edited May 2012 Posts: 5,980
    I think MGW, with his engineering background, is the keeper of the flame for introducing bleeding-edge technology in the films. Babs seems to be more concerned with casting; I believe she pushed for both Craig and Bardem.
    X3MSonicX wrote:
    As a techplot - quick term i just did for this - i believe that one day we can see a Bond villain that has the capable mind of using a electrothermal gas that can destroy any electronic system. When a missle gets launched, it blows up on the bases but no people gets harmed, so the militars could think it was a fake missile, when actually the gas infects through the electronic system and deactivates it or destroy it smooth and stealthly. When they detect that there was a problem on the electronic system, it will be too late.

    I know that there was such similar thing to Bond films already, but i couldn't think of anything better.

    I think this is interesting. The great fear about Russia is that its nuclear capabilities could fall into the wrong hands or somehow otherwise fail (remember Y2K?), so I could see a plotline like yours happening. And of course Bond in Russia almost always works.
  • Posts: 1,548
    A US President controlled by a shadowy organisation looking to invade middle eastern countries to exploit their oil resources. Could be plausible!
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,037
    Doesn't seem like the threat of Nuclear domination is going away anytime soon. They'll have to come up with something even scarier than that!
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,559
    An asteroid is heading towards Earth. We have the tools to deflect its coarse but for some reason some villain would like nothing but for the actual impact to occur. There's evidence of sabotage. Bond needs to find the key players in this dangerous sabotage before it's too late...
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