The James Bond Questions Thread

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  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 13,879
    A couple of questions I have for those who have done the full-on Bond marathon (all 25 films in release order) - did you enjoy the experience, and would you recommend it to those of us who have not done it?
    It's a great experience, but I find the first half of the marathon to be the most entertaining. I can only watch one or two a day now or I'll burn out.

    The films are playing in order on TV right now, on channel Gem.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou. I can still hear my old hound dog barkin'.
    edited December 2022 Posts: 8,657
    I don't know if this has already been discussed here (I found a 15 to 20-year old thread on commanderbond.net, but not a real solution to my question):

    When in the PCS of TWINE Sir Robert King crosses the floor in MI6 Headquarters, there is a crest on the floor, showing a lion and a unicorn, with the inscription "MILITARY INTELLIGENCE - DIVISION 00 - PER PIU SIGUREZ A". There is an obvious gap between those last two letters, and they must have somehow lost the second "Z", in which case it would be "For more security" in Italian if it were at least spelled "SICUREZZA" (no "G"). Nothing else makes real sense, either, but why would a British intelligence service choose an Italian motto?

    I mean, there are of course old French mottoes from ancient Anglo-Norman times (Honi soit qui mal y pense, Dieu et mon droit) and the occasional Latin phrase, all easily explainable from history. And nothing against the beautiful Italian language. But it seems out of place to me in this case.

    Has anybody read more about this than I could find? Did the set decorators simply goof?

    Apart from this, I find "Division 00" a little awkward, too.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou. I can still hear my old hound dog barkin'.
    Posts: 8,657
    No takers for the question? Not even the Italians among us?
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    edited December 2022 Posts: 6,761
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    No takers for the question? Not even the Italians among us?

    Just stumbled upon this because I have a question of my own. The phrase you’re to referring is most certainly not Italian, nor is it Latin. Might be some sort of dialect, but that does make even less sense.

    To be honest, looks like someone wanted it to sound like Latin, but messed it up.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou. I can still hear my old hound dog barkin'.
    Posts: 8,657
    Grazie, pistola d'oro :-). I was surprised it isn't even in the goofs on IMDb, unless I overlooked it twice.
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    edited December 2022 Posts: 3,382
    I know Bond used to drink Bollingers and other liquors, but are they real? Are they drinking those liquors for real?

    I mean we saw it, even in the colors of the champagne for example, it's real! Those Bollingers in both Octopussy and AVTAK for example.

    I mean they do get drunk on set right? 😅

    For sure it's a part of Product Placement, the brand was displayed, so they're really drinking it right?

    Thank you for those who will answer 😊
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,730
    MI6HQ wrote: »
    I know Bond used to drink Bollingers and other liquors, but are they real? Are they drinking those liquors for real?

    I mean we saw it, even in the colors of the champagne for example, it's real! Those Bollingers in both Octopussy and AVTAK for example.

    I mean they do get drunk on set right? 😅

    For sure it's a part of Product Placement, the brand was displayed, so they're really drinking it right?

    Thank you for those who will answer 😊

    I remember reading on the back of a Bond magazine in the late 1990s that they didn't drink real alcohol on set but that it was things like ginger ale etc. That's the only source where I can remember reading about that. However, I do recall Christopher Lee saying that he was drinking real Guinness etc. on the beach at the beginning of TMWTGG so that flies in the face of what it said on the back of that magazine!
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou. I can still hear my old hound dog barkin'.
    Posts: 8,657
    I'd suppose that with the real threat of having multiple takes for a scene, the directors and producers wouldn't let the actors gobble real booze. But then, Guinness isn't really booze. You can have 15 takes with the actor sipping on a beer, but it may get complicated if you have the same number of takes with the actor imbibing a genuine vodka martini in each one.

    Hey, I just realised this may be a solution to one of my favourite pet peeves in TV crime shows: The investigator meets someone in a bar, orders a beer, but after a few words with the suspect or whoever the other person is, says thank you and leaves without even having touched the drink. Always thought it was strange. But maybe it was because they didn't use fake beer and were afraid their protagonists would start gibbering after the fifth take.
  • ImpertinentGoonImpertinentGoon Everybody needs a hobby.
    Posts: 1,351
    I may destroy your enjoyment of almost every TV show, but focus on coffee cups the next time you see one on TV. They are almost always empty. Both mugs and to go cups seemingly have no weight to them, and actors gesture with them as if there is no chance for things to spill. Which is exactly the reason why they have empty cups. A spill, even if it’s just water, would probably set them back at least half an hour while wardrobe is trying to dry the costumes and props and design are cleaning and drying the set. But once you’ve seen it, you can’t stop noticing.
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 6,761
    Also, the name Bollinger gets butchered all the time in the course of our beloved franchise, here’s the right way to do it ;)



    Avec plaisir!
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    edited January 2023 Posts: 3,382
    With an exception of the Craig Era, did any of the Bond Girls fired their guns before?

    I mean the majority of the Bond Girls only pointed guns towards an enemy, but had any of them shoot it?

    Had any of the Bond Girls (in the classic era) shot someone (using a gun) before?

    Because if my memory serves, there's none, yes they may have their guns as a style or just pointing it or just holding it, but to use it to shoot someone, I don't remember.

    Can someone help me at this, thank you 😊.....
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    edited January 2023 Posts: 13,879
    Tanya shot Klebb
    Domino shot Largo with a speargun - in both films
    Tiffany shot a few oil rig guards
    Holly zapped several MR elites with the laser pistol
    Melina fired both crossbows
    Wai Lin dual-wielded MP5s on the stealth
    Jinx shot someone on Zao's helicopter at Los Organos
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    Posts: 3,382
    QBranch wrote: »
    Tanya shot Klebb
    Domino shot Largo with a speargun - in both films
    Tiffany shot a few oil rig guards
    Holly zapped several MR elites with the laser pistol
    Melina fired both crossbows[/b]
    Wai Lin double-wielded MP5s on the stealth
    Jinx shot someone on Zao's helicopter at Los Organos

    Yes, thanks!

    Never thought of those, though I'm only looking for only guns/pistols like that of Bond's.

    So yes, Tatiana, Tiffany, Wai Lin and Jinx! They're the Bond Girls who shot those baddies using a Pistol!

    Thank you! :)
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 13,879
    My pleasure. Sub-machine guns for Tiff and Wai Lin.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited January 2023 Posts: 14,861
    Jinx also murders that doctor inside the clinic with her pistol.
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    edited January 2023 Posts: 3,382
    mtm wrote: »
    Jinx also murders that doctor inside the clinic with her pistol.

    Thanks, @mtm for the additional answer, really and much appreciated! :)
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 13,879
    Ah yes, Dr. Alvarez - efficiently taking out him and his cheque in one shot.
  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 4,905
    MI6HQ wrote: »
    I know Bond used to drink Bollingers and other liquors, but are they real? Are they drinking those liquors for real?

    I mean we saw it, even in the colors of the champagne for example, it's real! Those Bollingers in both Octopussy and AVTAK for example.

    I mean they do get drunk on set right? 😅

    For sure it's a part of Product Placement, the brand was displayed, so they're really drinking it right?

    Thank you for those who will answer 😊

    The actors on the American TV Cheers hated drinking the "beer" on the show. It was an awful mix and was required so that the head of the "beer" would show. You will notice that they rarely take sips on camera and when they do, they are acting to the max. LOL!

    Yes I am sure that intoxication could be real depending on the number of takes and number of angles that are required for each shot. I also wonder how they are able to stomach the food in scenes. Never hot and likely sitting for hours. I enjoy on shows when the meal is over most of the plates are still full! LOL
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    edited January 2023 Posts: 3,382
    thedove wrote: »
    MI6HQ wrote: »
    I know Bond used to drink Bollingers and other liquors, but are they real? Are they drinking those liquors for real?

    I mean we saw it, even in the colors of the champagne for example, it's real! Those Bollingers in both Octopussy and AVTAK for example.

    I mean they do get drunk on set right? 😅

    For sure it's a part of Product Placement, the brand was displayed, so they're really drinking it right?

    Thank you for those who will answer 😊

    The actors on the American TV Cheers hated drinking the "beer" on the show. It was an awful mix and was required so that the head of the "beer" would show. You will notice that they rarely take sips on camera and when they do, they are acting to the max. LOL!

    Yes I am sure that intoxication could be real depending on the number of takes and number of angles that are required for each shot. I also wonder how they are able to stomach the food in scenes. Never hot and likely sitting for hours. I enjoy on shows when the meal is over most of the plates are still full! LOL

    Yes, but do you think those liquors had already mixed with something or diluted for it to not to be heavy? I've seen some hacks on Facebook on making those liquors and if not a food coloring, they're using Iced Tea.

    And I'm not sure if it's connected but there are really some incidents of getting drunk on set, I don't know if it's something to do with the taping or they happened to just get drunk to avoid stress.

    Yes, about the food thing, I've seen that many times in TV shows and even in Bond films, look at Stromberg's table in TSWLM or even at Octopussy when Kamal was having a dinner with Bond and Magda, the plates were still full, don't remember if Dr. No had some because it's not that fully shown on screen.

  • Posts: 1,964
    If the producers came out and said they wont be making anymore Bond films. Would everyone be ok with NTTD being the last one ever?
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    edited January 2023 Posts: 3,382
    fjdinardo wrote: »
    If the producers came out and said they wont be making anymore Bond films. Would everyone be ok with NTTD being the last one ever?

    No problem.....

    Though I doubt that the producers will stop as long as they can get money from Bond,

    Quantity is valued over quality these days for the sake of money at EON.

    If there's no money coming in for Bond, maybe they would stop making them, but until there's money coming in, they wouldn't.
  • BennyBenny In the shadowsAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 14,816
    In Skyfall after the house has been blown up in the explosion, and Bond has avoided the fireball in the tunnel.
    How are the lights still on in the tunnel afterwards?
  • Posts: 5,774
    Batteries, I think.
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    Posts: 3,382
    Benny wrote: »
    In Skyfall after the house has been blown up in the explosion, and Bond has avoided the fireball in the tunnel.
    How are the lights still on in the tunnel afterwards?

    Fire, I think, it's lighted by those torches.
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    edited January 2023 Posts: 3,382
    If Bernard Lee's M, Robert Brown's M are, as we know, both Admirals, because they're both Admiral Miles Messervy right?

    Then what about Judi Dench M? Did she have a Military Rank? It's never implied at all.

    Was she an Admiral or what?

    And bonus question, MI6 stands for Military Intelligence Unit 6/Six.

    Are agents there should be from Military, or it's not necessary? And if it should, then what is Nomi's military rank? Is she in the Military as well?

    Thank you for those who will answer.
  • CharmianBondCharmianBond Pett Bottom, Kent
    Posts: 533
    MI6HQ wrote: »
    If Bernard Lee's M, Robert Brown's M are, as we know, both Admirals, because they're both Admiral Miles Messervy right?

    Then what about Judi Dench M? Did she have a Military Rank? It's never implied at all.

    Was she an Admiral or what?

    And bonus question, MI6 stands for Military Intelligence Unit 6/Six.

    Are agents there should be from Military, or it's not necessary? And if it should, then what is Nomi's military rank? Is she in the Military as well?

    Thank you for those who will answer.

    There's always the fan theory I like that Brown's M is Admiral Hargreaves from The Spy Who Loved Me.

    As for Dench's M, her first M (if we are counting them as two separate characters) is based on Stella Rimington the MI5 chief at the time who worked up the ranks of MI5, the whole point is she's seen as a bureaucrat with no experience in the field.

    The first woman admiral in the real life Royal Navy was promoted in 2021 and women in the army wouldn't have been in combat roles until 2016 so it's unlikely that Mansfield served but it's possible. There's a line in Skyfall where she says 'I was never a good shot' which implies she may have been an agent, like Eve, who couldn't cut it.

    But having a military background isn't a prerequisite for being an agent, only one of Sherwood's three main 00s are. I think Nomi could be ex-military with her attitude but probably not the Navy given the whole 'Commander' Bond thing, but as far as I know there isn't any evidence in canon.
  • Posts: 5,774
    As a matter of fact, the list of the heads of the Secret Intelligence Service, which can be found on Wikipedia, shows only four men with military ranks : one captain, one admiral, and two (very models of a modern) major-generals, and those are the fist Cs. From 1956 to today, none of the chiefs have had military ranks.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_of_the_Secret_Intelligence_Service

    So, being from the military is not a pre-requisite for being head of His Majesty's Secret Service. And neither is it a prerequisite for being an agent (most of whom would not live the life Bond lives anyway).
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 14,861
    MI6HQ wrote: »
    If Bernard Lee's M, Robert Brown's M are, as we know, both Admirals, because they're both Admiral Miles Messervy right?

    Then what about Judi Dench M? Did she have a Military Rank? It's never implied at all.

    Was she an Admiral or what?

    And bonus question, MI6 stands for Military Intelligence Unit 6/Six.

    Are agents there should be from Military, or it's not necessary? And if it should, then what is Nomi's military rank? Is she in the Military as well?

    Thank you for those who will answer.

    There's always the fan theory I like that Brown's M is Admiral Hargreaves from The Spy Who Loved Me.

    Apparently it doesn't work though: Hargreaves is a Vice-admiral in TSWLM whereas M is wearing the insignia of a Rear admiral in TLD, so he would need to have been demoted for it to be the same person which seems unlikely.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou. I can still hear my old hound dog barkin'.
    Posts: 8,657
    mtm wrote: »
    There's always the fan theory I like that Brown's M is Admiral Hargreaves from The Spy Who Loved Me.
    Apparently it doesn't work though: Hargreaves is a Vice-admiral in TSWLM whereas M is wearing the insignia of a Rear admiral in TLD, so he would need to have been demoted for it to be the same person which seems unlikely.
    My understanding has always been that Miles Messervy had died (or been retired) in the meantime (as in fact Bernard Lee did), so Admiral Hargreaves (vice or not) had been moved to his post. I don't know if rear admiral or vice admiral makes a difference, but I'm sure the government would have somehow made up for any difference in payment for that. No need to demote anyone under the circumstances. Sir Miles was just no longer on his post and was replaced.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 14,861
    I'm not sure I quite follow. In TSWLM Hargreaves (played by Robert Brown) is wearing the uniform of a Vice-admiral, in TLD we see M (played by Robert Brown) wearing the uniform of a Rear admiral, which is a subordinate rank to a Vice-admiral. So for them to be the same character he would for some reason have had to have had a reduction in rank between the two films, which would be odd. It is more likely they are two characters: Vice-admiral Hargreaves and Rear admiral Messervy.
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