SirHenryLeeChaChing's For Original Fans - Favorite Moments In NTTD (spoilers)

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  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 7,946
    I hope it will! Will take some time before I can go and see it...
  • edited September 2021 Posts: 3,564
    There is one thing I'd like to say on the topic of spoilers and I suppose now is a good time to say it...

    I've been one of those claiming, "oh, we never used to get spoilers in the good old pre-internet days"...and I'm certainly not changing my tune generally on that topic... BUT! It occurs to me that in one sense I've mis-remembered the reality of what I did know and when did I know it when I saw my very first Bond films on the Big Screen. So: with the need to set the record straight on the subject of spoilers, return with me now to those thrilling days of yesteryear...circa 1966 or so, when young BSE managed to see a triple bill of Thunderball (at that time the current Bond film) followed by Dr. No and Goldfinger (in that order of play) one very long Saturday afternoon.

    As I've mentioned earlier, I'd been made very well aware of Bond by commercials on television, articles on the Bond phenomenon in newspapers and magazines, and repeated playings of the theme songs to Goldfinger and Thunderball on the radio. I'd seen the television special "The Incredible World of James Bond" ...and at the age of 12 I was frankly uncertain when I would be considered mature enough to actually SEE a Bond film in person. (My family seldom went out to movies. I'd seen a few Disney films on my own, plus -- of course -- Help! and A Hard Days' Night. But this was somewhat different territory.)

    Finally, the impetus of 3 Bond films in one afternoon was too much to resist. I asked my parents for their permission to go...plus a ride to and from the theater. I may or may not have even gotten the entrance fee plus a few shekels for popcorn from them. I don't really remember that part...I had a paper route in those days and may very well have paid the fare myself. But my memory is clear: I finally saw my first Bond film(s) on that long-ago day. However, I must now admit that I DID have the benefit of one source of previously-undisclosed spoiler information on the plots of those films.

    And that source of information was........ bubble gum cards. Trading cards, with a black & white photo on one side of the card and a prose description of the action it depicted on the other side... sold five random cards to a pack along with some brick-hard slabs of pink bubble gum. And if one bought enough packs of these cards, and arranged them in sequential order, one could determine the plots of the four different movies that had been filmed and released by that time. I seldom bothered to chew the bubble gum, mind you, but by that time I had developed a habit of picking up some trading cards at a local market on the way home from school most every day. Baseball cards... Beatles cards... Batman cards...... just don't ask me about Mars Attacks cards. Oooh, those were not well received by my parents at all, I'll tell you that for free!

    So, let the record be clear: I did not see my first three 007 films that blessed Saturday afternoon totally without the advance information received courtesy of those trading cards. Of course, that was how we did things back then. Don't follow my bad example... No spoilers here, not now, thanks very much! But if you have a mint set of Mars Attacks cards you'd like to unload cheap, well -- you know where to find me....
  • Thanks, @Birdleson. It's great fun remembering those halcyon days! I just have a hard time dredging up memories I haven't already shared with you all...
  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 7,946
    Thank you for sharing that memory @BeatlesSansEarmuffs ! Goes to show how much the world has changed. Must've been a fun wy of learning tidbits from the plot, but it can hardly been much of spoilers at all.
  • Thank you for sharing that memory @BeatlesSansEarmuffs ! Goes to show how much the world has changed. Must've been a fun wy of learning tidbits from the plot, but it can hardly been much of spoilers at all.

    if you could amass a complete collection, the cards told you the entire story of each movie up through Thunderball. So yeah, as spoilers go, it was pretty thoroughly spoilerish.
  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 7,946
    Thank you for sharing that memory @BeatlesSansEarmuffs ! Goes to show how much the world has changed. Must've been a fun wy of learning tidbits from the plot, but it can hardly been much of spoilers at all.

    if you could amass a complete collection, the cards told you the entire story of each movie up through Thunderball. So yeah, as spoilers go, it was pretty thoroughly spoilerish.

    hahaha epic, you'd collect your own comic-Bond together (I have the comic version of For Your Eyes Only somewhere, something that wouldn't sell with modern films I guess).
  • edited October 2021 Posts: 3,564
    The suggestion that putting the cards together would allow one to "collect your own comic" brings to my mind a few experiences with comic books and spoilers. Allow me to share some memories:

    Marvel's first two issues of "Star Wars" came out before the movie hit theater screens. In my mind, the level of fan excitement for the SW storyline before the film was actually released, was largely generated by the Marvel Comics adaptation. Once the fans started lining up in front of theaters for hours before the doors opened to let the audience in, a phenomenon was born. I don't see the two issues released before the film opened as spoilers -- I see them as preparing the audience to be interested in the movie.

    Just a bit later, Marvel had a two issue adaptation of the Eon 007 film, For Your Eyes Only. My memory is that one issue was released before the film came out, and one issue after it hit the screens. (I could be wrong there, but that's the way I remember it.) Again, no big deal was made about any spoilers.

    But in 1980, Marvel released a Special Edition adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back. This was a full adaptation of the entire movie... and if you will remember, there is a *BIG* surprise plot twist around the end of this film. ("Luke... I am your *Big Spoiler 20 Years After the Fact*!") Comics at that time were trucked from the printer to the distributors, and then released to the various stores...and stores in the East Coast of the USA routinely got their books several days before those on the West Coast.

    By this time, I was working for a comic book distributor -- and a few days before we received our copies of the ESB adaptation -- about a week or so before the movie was scheduled for release -- I got a phone call from the Home Offices. Had we gotten our copies of ESB yet? No. Then BY ALL MEANS, when we received them the boxes containing these magazines were NOT to be opened -- by anyone. They were NOT to be distributed to any of our customers, regardless of who they were or how much clout they might hold. It seems that Mark Hamill had been hanging around the streets of New York City the previous weekend... had bopped into a comic book store on a whim... and had seen the ESB adaptation there on the stands, revealing the BIG SPOILER to anyone who cared, about a week before the film was set to be released. Mark had gotten on the phone to George Lucas and George had gotten on the phone to his lawyers and the lawyers had gotten on the phone to Marvel... and I guess you can guess the rest. The genie couldn't exactly be put back into the bottle, but it was surely going to be prevented from escaping from as many bottles as possible.

    Nobody (in any official capacity) had any problem with spoilers before that. (Promotion is a GOOD thing. It puts the fannies in the seats. What more need be said?) But after that, spoilers were routinely a thing to be avoided for many movie adaptations. We put our copies of the Marvel Comics Octopussy adaptation in Super Secret Hidden Storage for a couple of weeks a few years later and nobody argued about the practice.

  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    edited October 2021 Posts: 7,946
    That makes for an interesting thesis: will the amount of released material of the next (current) Bond increase the interest in the film? I guess there are few film franchises that can claim the marketing value of any 007 film. Is it better the bigger the frenchise gets to reveal as little as possible whilst with smaller films the opposite is true? I've been amazed about the amount of film that's already out there in behind the scenes 'documentaries', the several trailers, etc.
    Is that a good thing for the frenchise as a whole? Are we as fan overly sensitive to 'spoilers'?
  • edited October 2021 Posts: 3,564
    I think "spoilers" became much more of a thing in the late '80s, when fan-oriented publications began to proliferate, and info about upcoming action/science fiction films was more easily available to potential ticket-buyers. Does anyone remember being upset when newspaper reviews of OHMSS gave away the ending to that film before audiences were able to view it? I don't think so... most of the reviews were something along the lines of, "The new guy playing Bond isn't a very good replacement for Connery at all. He gets married in this flick, if you can believe that -- but don't worry, the bride is dead just a few minutes after reciting her wedding vows." Of course, anybody who'd already read the Fleming novel knew that. Some could have hoped that this film might not follow the plot of the novel, I suppose -- but still, at this point the movies were largely following Fleming's lead, YOLT's volcano base notwithstanding.
  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 7,946
    Birdleson wrote: »
    OHMSS was the last Bond film for me to see from the original classics, because my parents didn’t take me to see it, like they did everything from GF onward (finally, beginning with TMWTGG, I started going with friends). We saw DAF, so apparently the issue with Majesty’s was that an unknown in a tux wasn’t good enough to splurge the 50 cents for a carload at the drive-in. I didn’t see it until it was on television in the late ‘70s. When I first started collecting the books around ‘74, I would buy them and read them in whatever order I came across the paperbacks at the used bookstore, $.50 each. OHMSS was also the last book I found (except for OP, I didn’t even know that collection existed until I stumbled across it by accident a few days after finding OHMSS). Hence, the last one I read. So having read YOLT much earlier, I had been “spoiled” and waiting for that story in any form for many years.

    So the plot was spoiled way ahead, and you still wanted to go and see the film? I find it an interesting thought that nobody used to care about it. Still, perhaps there's a huge difference between seeing the video material and knowing the plot?
  • I think "spoilers" are really only important to a small minority of people -- we can call them "fans" but that's really not an accurate assessment. They're people that are really strongly anticipating the release of a given film, but they (paradoxically?) also want to see that film (initially, at least) with fresh eyes. (And yes, I am one of those people and I recognize the inconsistency of my position in this matter.) Some "fans" get a great deal of enjoyment out of learning everything they can about a film before it is released, including plot details, perhaps so they can feel part of an elite that is "in the know" before the rest of the world. The majority of the public doesn't pay a great deal of attention to advance info on upcoming films. Maybe they pay passing attention to reviews when a film is released, and if they like what they hear about a film they'll go see it...but it's very rarely that these folks are even remembering much of what they've been told about the movie at hand other than "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" and the genre, stars, and so forth. THESE are the viewers that most film-makers are trying to attract, because they're the folks who buy the vast majority of movie tickets. Fans (both pro- and anti- spoilers) can be the core of a movie's audience...but any commercially-released film needs to expand way beyond that base in order to be successful. Thus, a fine line must be observed: the general audience needs to be lured in to the theaters and they require a decent amount of info about the film at hand before deciding to attend...while the fan community is strongly divided regarding how much and what sort of information we want to have before attending films featuring our favorite characters.
  • Posts: 1,879
    I'm not sure when this particular group wants to begin discussing NTTD, but now that I've seen it I can say I'm glad I stayed spoiler-free although there were a couple close calls here and there on the web.
  • edited October 2021 Posts: 3,564
    BT3366 wrote: »
    I'm not sure when this particular group wants to begin discussing NTTD, but now that I've seen it I can say I'm glad I stayed spoiler-free although there were a couple close calls here and there on the web.

    I think we're planning on remaining spoiler-free for awhile yet. Personally, I enjoy watching the trailers before the films are released -- as far as I'm concerned, if Eon is okay with us seeing this stuff before we get to the film itself, then I'm okay with it too. But this is definitely a film that should be approached spoiler-free if at all possible. I'll just say that I really, really liked NTTD and I thought it was a great finish for the Craig era. James Bond Will Return and I look forward to seeing where the franchise goes next!
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited October 2021 Posts: 12,459
    Yes, sorry - we are NTTD spoiler FREE for a short while yet, maybe only 1 more week. We have an active member of this thread who is American and has not seen it yet due to work schedule issues. I love this movie, and I hope we can chat about it possibly by next Monday (18th?).

    Thanks for NOT writing anything about NTTD yet. But then this thread will go full bore reviews, analysis, and chat on all things No Time To Die. B-)
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 12,914
    Not to complicate the plot--still I note the Australia (11 November) and China (29 October) releases pending.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,459
    Yes, for sure. And sorry about that! I had to wait a month to see Spectre.
    But this thread will open up sooner.
  • Does this thread even HAVE any originals based in China or Australia?
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,459
    Yes, Benny. Bless his heart, in Australia. But that is the only one I know of.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 12,914
    Yes, for sure. And sorry about that! I had to wait a month to see Spectre.
    But this thread will open up sooner.
    Fair enough, yes. And I've weathered that experience in Korea and Japan over the years.


    Does this thread even HAVE any originals based in China or Australia?
    That would be interesting to know.

  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,459
    Benny is an Original, I am pretty darn sure. But he does not post often. He is in Australia. Other than that, nobody has let me know over the years that they are based in Australia or China. I hope we can open this thread next Monday. I am waiting on my American friend, who plans to see it this week. He just has not been able to yet, and he is active on this thread.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,459
    I will ask Benny. Not sure. Chris is another young one who just made it. ;)
  • I hope no one thinks this is a spoiler... it was released in 1970. A lovely, slightly melancholy tune by Gordon Lightfoot:



    This song has been on my mind recently, especially with the discussions regarding hero stories that this forum engenders... the lyrics "just like a paperback novel, the kind the drug store sells" always brought the Signet editions of the Bond books up for me back when this song was first released. I'm a bit of a newsstand junkie and back in the day, you couldn't pass a drug store paperback book rack without seeing a few copies of "Goldfinger" or "From Russia With Love" on the stands.
  • Posts: 1,879
    I hope no one thinks this is a spoiler... it was released in 1970. A lovely, slightly melancholy tune by Gordon Lightfoot:



    This song has been on my mind recently, especially with the discussions regarding hero stories that this forum engenders... the lyrics "just like a paperback novel, the kind the drug store sells" always brought the Signet editions of the Bond books up for me back when this song was first released. I'm a bit of a newsstand junkie and back in the day, you couldn't pass a drug store paperback book rack without seeing a few copies of "Goldfinger" or "From Russia With Love" on the stands.

    Great song. Underrated singer/songwriter. Could've done a potential Bond theme.

    My town had 3-4 local bookshops called Readmore that I grew up with. Always the place to get the latest comics, magazines, paperbacks, food, greeting cards and on and on. They indeed carried copies of the Bond novels. Not sure about the original Signets as they were before my time, but when I became a big Bond fan they carried whatever the publisher that had the rights around 1980 or so with a more modern-looking Bond depicted. I also recall the one Readmore I didn't frequent as often had copies of the Christopher Wood novelizations on its racks. I could slap myself for not buying a couple of copies of those to put back at the time, but I was just then getting into Bond and barely 13.

    Readmore finally closed up shop in 1999. Our mall's bookstores left about a decade later. Today, my town doesn't have any bookstore. You have to go to a chain store like Walmart, Kroger or Meijer for magazines or books. We had a ninja store and still have a frisbee golf store but no book stores. Kinda' speaks to the times.
  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 7,946
    An amazing song for sure, of the kind of quality that's very hard to come by these days.

    The Bennster isn't an original afak. He became a father somewhere during the '00's, and I'm quite sure he's not an 'old dad'.

    Anyway, good to know when this thread opens up for NTTD. I hope I'll be able to see it next tuesday, but I'll refrain from visiting this site anyway from now on, so I have no accidental run-ins with too big a spoilers.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited October 2021 Posts: 12,459
    OK, I plan to open up this thread to be all things No Time To Die
    this Friday, October 22nd. And NOT before then, please

    We will start with First Impressions From Originals

    We welcome comments from all members, absolutely - but we are targeting participation of the older fans as our base - those who saw a Sean Connery Bond film in the theater during its initial run. Mine was Diamonds Are Forever; which is the last qualifying film to be considered an "Original" on this thread.

    Full reviews of the film will be done after first impressions noted.

    Here is a helpful explainer about this thread. It is different from all the others on this forum and its previous content is often golden.

    Our founder, SirHenry, from his first post explained why he started this thread. Folks reading since 2013 till now missed out on the in depth discussions from older members and I heartily recommend going to the beginning of this thread. So many fine reviews and discussions to enjoy. Here is how SirHenry opened this place up:
    (Bolding is mine, not SirHenry's)
    *******
    This one is dedicated to the fans on this Forum who saw their first Bond movie starring Sean Connery in the theater. Fans who saw OHMSS as their first Bond movie in the theater can also join in, as you no doubt saw the Connery films as well during that time. The point of the thread is that it is geared largely to those of us around 50 and older who were the original fans of Bond and have witnessed the changes of lead actor and general direction over the years.

    First up, let's find out exactly how many of us there are here. I know of a few of us like OHMSS69, Very Bond, sir seanisbond, and of course Bill who wrote the "Bond Unmasked" book, etc, but there are probably others. So if this fits you, stand up and be counted! We can all suggest various topics, Bond or not, and have some fun giving our views on them. I'll start thinking about my experiences over the years, and hopefully the younger generation of fans will enjoy and learn from what we have seen and done.
    *******

    So that was SirHenry laying out this thread. If you have questions, please feel free to DM me.
    If you think you qualify as an Original, please say so and why (note the film and year you saw the Connery Film in the theater; or OHMSS in the theater - initial run of these movies) and welcome aboard!

    Gather together here, Originals from past years and newly found Originals today ~
    Starting this Friday - it's No Time To Die
    Cheers! B-)
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited October 2021 Posts: 12,459
    Yes, this Friday it is! I'm excited. :-bd

    I have a busy week, but I am sure I can get my initiial impressions sorted. My full review will take longer. I hope to see NTTD a 4th time this coming weekend (if possible).
  • I wish I had the time to have seen NTTD more than once at this point...but no such luck! So my post coming on Friday will indeed be my First Impressions! Looking forward to gabbing with you all again...
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited October 2021 Posts: 12,459
    First impressions here are ones I am definitely looking forward to!
    When we do our full review, we'll use the established format from previous Originals reviews. Of course I'll give examples of that, in detail.

    But first impressions are fun, insightful, and good to write down as they may change over repeated viewings. Certainly, I gained more insight and picked up on nuances and dialog better on my 2nd and 3rd trip to the theater for NTTD. But I am eager to read Originals' first impressions. We won't spend a whole week on that; just a few days. B-)

    Starting this Friday! #007 #Originals #FirstImpressions #NTTD
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited October 2021 Posts: 12,459
    It's time. Time to call all Originals! B-)
    This thread & gathering place is now open for:

    First Impressions of No Time To Die.

    If you are an older fan, and we mean not just from the 1980s - harken back to Sean Connery. If you saw Sean or George Lazenby in the cinema during the initial run of their Bond films, then you qualify as an Original for this thread.

    I'm asking all Originals to take a moment and please give us your first impressions about No Time To Die. Not full review yet. (We will use the previous format for that, in less than a week). But for the next several days (giving all Originals a chance to get on here) please jump in and share your opinion about this latest James Bond movie.

    NOTE: By now, many of you have already written quite a bit on other threads. If you have a paragraph or two that expresses your thoughts very well, please feel free to copy/paste it here - and add another sentence or two. If you've written a book on it already, I don't want to you feel like you have to sweat out all that typing again. But I do want Originals' opinions here. So we can chat as a group and discuss maybe points about NTTD.

    All other members, who do not qualify as Originals, are VERY welcome to jump in and share your first impressions of No Time To Die also. I just want to make sure the older fans are here - they are our core, our foundation.

    Helpful Hint: If you are new to this thread, have joined since 2013 and not looked at the back pages here - please take a few minutes to check out the early pages and reviews. SirHenry and other Originals shared quite a lot of really interesting chat. He added tons of background info after we had done our full review of each film.

    And a key point about this thread is the tone: We are here to share, with humor and grace and respect, our thoughts about all things Bond ... but we do not allow mean spirited snark, putting down of other members, or the constant tit for tat arguing, trying to make others' see your own brilliant point of view over and over again ... none of that for this thread.
    :)>-
    We are here to share, with respect; to reminisce, give our perspective and interpretation, and have fun with each other as lifelong comrades in Bond. James Bond.
    Who shall return ...
    Cheers! :-bd
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited October 2021 Posts: 12,459
    As an example of the kind of background information SirHenry gave us in the past, along with the "thesis questions" we all discussed a couple of times a month, here is page 62 of this thread (Nov 2013). I just wanted to share this again as we contemplate Daniel's Bond, his whole era. And especially now No Time To Die.

    Keep scrolling down through the page I have linked below - a ton of trivia and background info, and you can look on that page or the ones next to it to get a flavor of the kind of discussions this thread was built upon.

    I hope this link works, as it took me a very long time to get to it (I don't know any easy way to search threads, just click on the pg number ...) Anyway, enjoy! I chose this page because it is on Casino Royale, which certainly is apt as we start our discussion on Daniel Craig's final film, No Time To Die.

    A look at Casino Royale

    https://www.mi6community.com/discussion/3341/sirhenryleechachings-for-original-fans-put-daniel-craig-into-a-previous-bond-film/p62
    That puts us in frame of mind to remember Daniel's Bond starting out ... and all these years later, we are now musing on No Time To Die; this Bond completing his journey.

    So please join us! Through the next several days, drop by here with your initial impressions of No Time To Die All members welcome - and dear Originals, you especially matter here. Yes, considerably. B-)
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