Other Science Fiction Series

Does James Bond belong in the 20th Century?

POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Sunday, July 1, 2012 18:29
VIEWED: 7316
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CHRISISALL

Saturday, June 30, 2012 4:14 PM

I was having this discussion with a co-worker: Does Bond work best in the era in which he was created?
Would Sherlock Holmes or Indiana Jones work well rebooted to be contemporary characters?
A new Bond novel is currently being written set in 1969
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/12/william-boyd-james-bond-no
vel
and I think it's a great idea to put him in that time, not TODAY.
Funny thing- the first novels and the last Indy film are set around the same time...

Thoughts?

WHOZIT

Saturday, June 30, 2012 4:25 PM

Hmmm? Can you imagine a reboot of the storys Phillip Marlowe or Sam Spade taking place in the 21st Century? Bond storys can take place anytime, there were spys in the 60's and there are spys now, it isn't a period piece.

CHRISISALL

Saturday, June 30, 2012 4:33 PM

There were a couple of Marlowe movies that were set in contemporary times & they were okay... just seemed a little 'off' because of it IMO.
And- there were archaeologists in the 30's and NOW- so Indy would work today, right?

Chrisisall, wearing a frilly Mal thing on his head, and ready to shoot unarmed, full-body armoured Operatives

SUASOR

Saturday, June 30, 2012 4:57 PM

BBC America has been showing a Sherlock Holmes series using a contemporary Sherlock (Dr Watson, for example, had served as a military doctor in Afghanistan). It's a most excellent show, even though the original Sherlock was written for a century earlier. Some things are timeless.

WHOZIT

Saturday, June 30, 2012 5:21 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
There were a couple of Marlowe movies that were set in contemporary times & they were okay... just seemed a little 'off' because of it IMO.
And- there were archaeologists in the 30's and NOW- so Indy would work today, right?

Chrisisall, wearing a frilly Mal thing on his head, and ready to shoot unarmed, full-body armoured Operatives

One of my fav detective shows is "Cannon", it's about a big fat badass P.I. who lives large and drives a big Lincoln, you could reboot that today (they're rebooting everything) but w/o William Conrad and the 70's it would suck.

CHRISISALL

Saturday, June 30, 2012 6:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Suasor:
Some things are timeless.

I say we make a Hercules movie, but set it in today's time.

Chrisisall, wearing a frilly Mal thing on his head, and ready to shoot unarmed, full-body armoured Operatives

ANTHONYT

Saturday, June 30, 2012 7:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Quote:
Originally posted by Suasor:
Some things are timeless.
I say we make a Hercules movie, but set it in today's time.

Chrisisall, wearing a frilly Mal thing on his head, and ready to shoot unarmed, full-body armoured Operatives

Hello,

A lot of modern cinema IS a retelling of these classic stories with the details and language updated to the time.

I LOVE the BBC Sherlock. I consider it better than the current movies.

I think Bond works very well in his own era. I like him less when he is tracking drug dealers and real-life style terrorists, though. I like to keep his threats a bit over-the-top, with vast secret organizations or villainous masterminds with weird stuff going on. The one where he fought drug dealers was well made but didn't feel bondish at all. Just like the last Die Hard movie didn't feel Die Hardlike to me.

I think that some of the classic figures partly exist to celebrate a certain degree of sexist behavior. So that's hard to translate. If you set it in its own time it's okay, but when you transport them to modern times you either need to update their behavior and lose a flavor character aspect, or retain their behavior and have them look barbaric and wrong.

--Anthony

Note to Self:
Raptor - woman testifying about birth control is a slut (the term fits.)
Six - Wow, isn't Niki quite the CUNT? And, yes, I spell that in all caps....
Wulf - Niki is a stupid fucking bitch who should hurry up and die.

“The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” -Thomas Szasz

CHRISISALL

Saturday, June 30, 2012 8:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ANTHONYT:

I think Bond works very well in his own era. I like him less when he is tracking drug dealers and real-life style terrorists, though.

Quite, while I like Dalton as an actor, his two movies were, after all, simple 80's action flicks. The 'Bond' feel was all but lost.
Quote:
I like to keep his threats a bit over-the-top, with vast secret organizations or villainous masterminds with weird stuff going on.
Yes, if there isn't a bit of the outrageous in the film (or novel), then it might as well be a Mission Impossible or Bourne flick.
Quote:

I think that some of the classic figures partly exist to celebrate a certain degree of sexist behavior. So that's hard to translate. If you set it in its own time it's okay, but when you transport them to modern times you either need to update their behavior and lose a flavor character aspect, or retain their behavior and have them look barbaric and wrong.
Precisely. While I love the first 3 Brosnan movies (I just like Pierce so much), I'm the first to admit that his Bond is a good fellow, and Bond should be someone you wouldn't necessarily want to pal around with much. So Brosnan's movies, to me, are sort of like alternate reality Bond, where he's a flat out hero. So, your point is made there.

And Craig's movies? Well, now in hindsight, I think his Bond is pretty good (although he's a bit smallish, physically speaking). But he'd work better in the 50's or 60's IMO. Today is high tek- drones do the explosions, finance runs evil, the enemies are out in the open, and they are mostly old guys that threaten the world with resource depletion & political corruption. Setting a ruthless Bond in today's world is kind of like bringing a gun to a cyber fight.

Chrisisall, wearing a frilly Mal thing on his head, and ready to shoot unarmed, full-body armoured Operatives

CATPIRATE

Sunday, July 1, 2012 6:56 AM

Bond, James Bond is a secret agent. He is not a detective that is what NCIS does. He gathers intelligence. Spying is not the same as an assassin. The latest flicks 007 has uncovered the Illuminati. Food for oil, cover ups, conspiracies, guns for money, political, religious, and economic terrorism is all around us in the 21st. The US alone spends 1 trillion dollars for the spy industrial complex. That is not the stealth ships, aircraft, and satellites with the military industrial complex. We need him in the 21st century.

The Blue Bird Corporation trains in Africa. They are based from Israel. The US is not the only spy in the air.

CATPIRATE

Sunday, July 1, 2012 8:28 AM

QoS is a great conspiracy flick. He has a license to kill for in the line of duty. The only time it is State sanctioned is when an agent has turned. It would be a thin line in State terrorism which we know that doesn't happen.

Unfortunately I misjudged you, you are just a stupid police man.......
...who's luck has run out. Dr No 1962