Both. And neither.

Look, at the start of (name escapes me), Roger Moore goes to Tracy (his dead wife's) grave. But she died in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, where George Lazenby played Bond.

There's also the book continuity, which is different.

But, in the films, he's *kinda* the same person. They don't tend to dwell too much on continuity though (the mention of how Bond's parents died first appeared relatively recetly in Goldeneye for instance), so it doesn't really matter.

Possible he's a time lord. We'll find out when we get to the 13th actor.
 

Which means they simply MUST have Bj�rk sing the theme song for this one. Ever heard her cover of "You Only Live Twice?" Fucking GORGEOUS, & I ADORE the Nancy Sinatra original.
 

Did you know that Under the Ice will be Pierce Prosman's last Bond film? Who will replace him? I have heard rumors that it will be Robie Williams, Cuba Godding Jr. or that guy who played the Gladiator in "Gladiator."
 

I've always sorta assumed that continuity runs within the series of movies with the same Bond actor but not beyond that, i.e. Goldeneye, TND and TWINE are in one universe where Bond was born in the 40s or 50s and M looks rather similar to Judy Dench, while the Moore movies are in another conceptual universe where Bond was born in the 30s and M is most decidedly male. Q's the only constant.

In any case, the Bond franchise certainly took an easier route regarding continuity than that other franchise, y'know the one that gets ripped to shreds for disregarding its continuity even though its gone above-and-beyond in creating a well-fleshed-out universe. Oh, whoops, I was on the soapbox there.

And for Bond Twenty... (hmm, I'm wondering if Bond Thirty will just drop the unique title and be called Bond XXX )I've read Michelle Yeoh will be back in a lessened capacity and the plot will involve Hong Kong gangs. *shrugs* I know Brosnan's been lobbying for some time for a trip to Ireland, so who knows. Bond script inevitably feature a minimum of three locations spread across the world. There's also some talk that Ang Lee might direct, but MGM execs are reluctant to give him the final cut. AFAIK "Under the Ice" hasn't been confirmed by anyone officialish.

As for the next Bond, the gossip mill is indeed suggesting that Brosnan will throw in the towel after 20, but no firm word on who's gonna be tapped next. (Methinks TPTB will keep word as hushhush as possible so as to avoid the Brosnan/Remington Steele scandal again.) And while the same old rumours are going that we need a black Bond or a female Bond for the new millenium, I wouldn't put too much credence in them. There is apparently some Scottish nobody guy that the Harry Knowleses of the world love to death and think is prefect for the role and IIRC he does have some officialish word behind him as being firmly in the eyes of TPTB. Wish I could remember his name.
 

Or course, by TND, she thinks he's great.

There's also a picture of the original M in the Scottsh MI5 headquarters in TWINE.
 

Our favorite little Ds9 Doctor was on that list , Alexander Sidig (SP) AKA Bashir was one of the front runners on that list , of course this was more then a year ago and I'm sure the Studio Execs are looking more at the star power of Russell Crowe then poor Alex.

In my Opinion Russell Crowe doesnt fit the bond bill , hes a beefy guy , not really a suave agent.
But he is a good actor and hes shown the ability to change for a role so maybe we'll be surprised.
 

Maybe I'll bump up my usage of this board from the occasional showing my ugly head , to a frequent showing of my ugly head.
 

Here's my beef about Crow: isn't he Australian? I kind of like the idea of each James Bond being played by a British actor.
 

I don't think he has enough "movie grace", but then neither had Dalton.
 

The two different male M's were supposed to (I believe) be the same character. Dench's M is obviously not.
 

I think Crow would make an excellent Bond.

Na I dont Crow playing bond either , they already experimented with robots as Bond , remember Timothy Dalton?

yeah i know , that was bad , i'll go somewhere else now...
 

Dench was in NONE of the Dalton flicks!

Actually, one thing I really like about "Tommorow Never Dies" is the interplay between M and Admiral Roebuck -- although I wasn't aware of this until just a few months ago, apparently the two actors star in a sitcom which airs on PBS here in the States every now and then.

Speaking of which, "TND" is my favorite of the Bond flicks. Especially that amazing opening scene -- WOW! That was done SO well! And that BMW -- !!!!
 

anyone played the World Is not Enought N64 game? i think it really sucked compared to Rare's goldeneye and Perfect Dark.
 

Also, why is there an apostrophe in "get's"? I do not know.
 

John Cleese was pretty bad as R, he's gone sooo soft after about "Clockwise", he's totally lost the cynicism, sarcasm and irony of his Monty Python years and "Fawlty Towers"...
"Fish called Wanda" was pretty good, but he had started his conversion into gullible-cuddly-old-man then...

All IMO, naturally.
 

BROSNAN! BROSNAN!

Damn my wandering brain.

Yeah, part of the point of Q's final scene in The World is Not Enough was that is could be used as a "retiring" scene. Lewellyn did state however, shortly after, that he'd continue playing Q as long as he could. Which fate no doubt took to be a challenge.
 

I dunno if he minds being called "British". You'd have to ask him.
 

However, Cleese will probably be "Q" in the next flick. Simply because, it's "Q" branch, and the head of "Q" branch is "Q", much as the head of MI-6 is "M." If one "M" or "Q" dies, then another person becomes "M" or "Q" and takes their place. Judi Dench is "M", not "N" ... or, actually, since she's the third "M", she'd be "O".

So, Cleese will be "Q" in the next flick. I point out that Bond nicknamed Cleese "R" -- "if you're Q, is he R?" -- and that we don't know if it's an official MI-6 moniker ... although, if "Q" is for "Quartermaster", "R" could be for "Replacement" ... or for "Bumbling Moron" but then we'd call him "B" and not "R", right?
 

The Living Daylights was probley the best out of the Dalton films , that chase sence in the was great and Bond and his girl in the cello case that was great. Plus Aha (That Euro band with the take on me song) did the theme , its one of my favs next to Goldeneye and Duran Duran's a Veiw to a kill.

BTW , M is a designation for the head of MI6 I think in the Bond movies, so I wouldnt be surprised if apon retirement someone got "promoted" to M , maybe Dench was a 00 Agent before and has been selected to desk duty. Who knows maybe Bond could get offered the M position.

Oh , and i did some research (Can you say to much time on my hands?) There have been 3 M's , unfortunatly I'm to lazy to type it here and i figure i might as well cut out the middle man so goto

http://www.007database.com/allies.html

Very kick ass site.

[ June 27, 2001: Message edited by: Dr. Obvious ]
 

http://www.geocities.com/bluehazemovies/bond20/

and another little nugget

http://www.mi5.gov.uk

The Official Homepage of the UK's Intelligence Service , very cool site.

Even has a break down of its budget.
 

I don't think we'll ever see Bond being offered or accepting the "M" position. I mean, for one thing, he's way to good at his job. How many Double-Oh agents have died in all the films? 006 in "GoldenEye" (albeit by 007), a Double-Oh agent in "TWINE", a whole bunch in one of the Dalton ones, methinks ...

Oh, one other thing -- the black MI-6 dude, "Charlie", I think -- was he in any other Bond flicks besides "TND" and "TWINE"? Not the actor neccessarily, but the character. Just wondering, b/c, I think he's a pretty cool dude, and I would think HE would be the next "M".

[ June 27, 2001: Message edited by: Jeff Kardde ]
 

That black dude was only in the last two films. Tanner's only been in a few, hasn't he? I know the current actor was in Goldeneye and TWINE, and there was a replacement character in TMD that was also in TWINE.

If you're interested, pick up The Bond Files by Andy Lane and, er, someone. I dunno how easy it'll be to find in the US, but it's a nice little unauthorized pocket book full of interestingf facts and reviews on the books, films, comic strips, and other gunk. It goes right up to TWINE.
 

I pity the fool who don't use 1-800-collect!!!!!
 

And after Dalton had killed the man that killed his pals, he parachuted down on a boat with a rich girl and boned her. That's a nice change of pace, that is.
Talk about not being emotionally involved with one's work. Maybe it's like therapy for him.
 

The only problem with that is that later on, whe Lazenby goes to his office, he looks at a load of momentoes from previous films, as if they mean something to him. Which they wouldn't, if Connery's Bond was a different person.

Of course, he shouldn't actually have any of the momentoes he's got, but still...

And in any case, it doesn't explain Connery coming back for one final film. And why he's chasing down Blofeld for the murder of Tracy too. I can't see that he retired, then heard that his replacement's wife was shot, and then took it upon himself to avenge her death. Besides, Blofeld doesn't comment that Bond looks different. Of course, Blofeld himself looks different, so that doesn't hold up...
 

Nest thing you know we'll be talking about the canonicity of the Bond universe. 8)
 

Consider! In TWINE, MI6's Scotland headquarters ... is in Glenfinnen, on the Shores of Loch Shiel. It's the castle Connor MacLeod was born in, and although we never see Duncan there, it's a good bet he knows where it is.
Looks like MI6 bought it from the MacLeods!

Also, in one of Highlander's 5th season episodes, "The Ransom of Richie Redstone", in a flashback to a casino in France in the 1970's, MacLeod greets a character whom it is strongly hinted is "Bond, James Bond."
 

Q's replacement is R, according to TWINE dialouge and the end credits of the film.

and IMO, Brosnan is the best bond yet.
 

For one thing ... if Mr. Lewelyn HADN'T died, he would be back as Q in #20. The ONLY reason "R" was there is because Lewelyn had been pushing TPTB to give him an assistant for quite some time.

Second of all, "R" was never shown to be Cleese's official designation. Bond made an offhand remark, "if you're Q, does that make him 'R'?" No one refered to Cleese as "R" ... "R, come here; R, do that..." He was listed as "R" in the credits because that was Bond's joke.
 

Er, Tim, I've already done that one.

Honestly, admins today. Useless, eh?
 

"Possibly he's a time lord. We'll find out when we get to the 13th actor."
 

When I first saw the movie, I got the impression that R was taking over eventually, and that may have been Q's final scene. Now I know for sure, dont you find it odd that Q's scene in TWINE had certain closure to it? Then the actor dies in a car crash?
 

Cleese will be in the next film, certainly. But he was in TWINE because Lewelyn had been pestering the producers to give him an assistant for quite a few years. While certainly Cleese was being groomed to take over for Lewelyn, I think the producers and various PTB were expecting Lewelyn to be in film 20 as well -- in fact, if he hadn't died, he would've been.

Now, as to what Cleese will be called ... okay, Wes, did you even SEE TWINE? I doubt it, because you apparently operate on the assumption that "R" was Cleese's character's name. IT WASN'T. When was he called "R"? When Bond says to Q, "if you're Q, does that make him R?" Aside for that, no one calls him R. He does not call himself R. For all we know, he is "S" (for Slow, or Stupid).
 

I do agree that there's a possibility he'll be called "Q", but then they might also keep that, er, name empty, to honour Major Boothroyd and Llewelyn.
 

Always seemed to me Q was Q because he was the head of the Quatermaster Branch (Q-Branch, for short). Just as the person in charge of MI-6 is called M.
 

Time Lords, when their body receives a traumatic shock or somesuch, rather than dying, have the ability to regenerate their bodies. This results in them looking different. And having slightly different personalities. It also allows a TV show to last 30 years. It also allows the BBC to deceide that one of the biggest sci-fi shows ever, that's been successfully sold all over the world, and that makes the BBC a shit load of money in merchandise and other stuff, isn't worth making. So the cancel it. Bastards.

Er, anyway, a Time Lord can only regenerate 12 times. So he can have 13 bodies. The Doctor's have been:

William Hartnell
Patrick Troughton
Jon "Worzel Gumage" Pertwee
*all dead*
Tom Baker (who's probably getting nervous. But he was in the remake of Randell and Hopkirk. And he rules)
Peter Davison
Colin Baker (who isn't related to Tom)
Sylvester McCoy (who was good. Honest).
and, in the film, Paul McGann.

Fun, no?
 

For those of you who haven't seen this flick, after Alcatraz (known afectionatly as "The Rock") is siezed by vengeful US Marines, the FBI recruits John Mason -- a Federal prisoner -- to help liberate the island. Mason is a British national who has been imprisoned by the US Government for nearly 30 years after he stole, and hid, microfilm detailing "national security" secrets of the US Gov't: who killed JFK, the truth about Roswell, etc.

Anyway, Mason, SAS, was sent by the British government to get the microfilm. He escaped from Alcatraz: the only person to do so.

It could work ...
 

Wes1701E: You have all the bond films on DVD? cool! Your lucky man. I wish I had the cash to get all those movies on DVD. As a matter of fact, I wish I had the cash to get a DVD player!
 

Wouldn't THAT drive some people insane?
 

Wouldn't it be funny if Lando was played by a fat bloke with peacock hair! And Londo was played by smooth talking Billy Dee Williams!

LAUGH!