Talk:James Bond (character)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	James Bond Portal This article is part of WikiProject James Bond, an attempt to improve content and create better coordination between articles related to the James Bond 007 genre of books, films, characters and related articles. You can help in improvement by editing James Bond (character) or related pages.
B	This article has been rated as B-Class on the Project's quality scale. (If you rated the article please give a short summary at comments to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses.)

	Film Portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Films. This project is a central gathering of editors working to build comprehensive and detailed articles for film topics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
B This article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale. Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the priority scale.
Editing Guidelines Please remember these guidelines when editing a film article: If a non-film article already exists with the name of the film that you are trying to create an article for, disambiguate and use (film) in the title: Film Title (film) For more information see: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (films) When writing an article about a particular film, the general format should be a concise lead section, followed by a plot summary of no more than 900 words, production details, a cast list, a reception section, and references. Create an Infobox that tells all pertinent information about the film.
Additional Information: This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-Class status: Referencing and citation: not checked Coverage and accuracy: not checked Structure: not checked Grammar: not checked Supporting materials: not checked To fill out this checklist, please add the following to the template call: <!-- 1. It is suitably referenced, and all major points are appropriately cited. --> |B-Class-1=yes/no <!-- 2. It reasonably covers the topic, and does not contain major omissions or inaccuracies. --> |B-Class-2=yes/no <!-- 3. It has a defined structure, including a lead section and one or more sections of content. --> |B-Class-3=yes/no <!-- 4. It is free from major grammatical errors. --> |B-Class-4=yes/no <!-- 5. It contains appropriate supporting materials, such as an infobox, images, or diagrams. --> |B-Class-5=yes/no

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the James Bond (character) article.
Please sign and date your posts by typing four tildes (~~~~). Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic. New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Ask questions, get answers. This is not a forum for general discussion about the article's subject.	Be polite Assume good faith No personal attacks Be welcoming	Article policies No original research Neutral point of view Verifiability

Contents 1 No other actor pictures? 2 About the Modern Bond 3 Sexist? 4 General criticism of article 5 MI6 and SIS 6 Fan wankery indeed 7 WP:NOR and the League of Extraordinary Gentleman 8 Gin or Vodka Martinis? 9 Date of joining 00 section 10 Confusing Assertion 11 Actors 12 "Popov declared to a group of Italian journalists in 1981, shortly after his death at his residence outside Cannes" 13 Interpretations 14 Oh really? Tiny Beretta

[edit] No other actor pictures?

How come we don't have pictures of the other actors playing Bond? KFan II 22:13, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Daniel Craig is the current Bond, which is the only reason why we have him here. The others aren't really discussed yet. Most of that is at James Bond. It has to probably be sorted out with a section here that would justify all the images (technically again). I'll get around to something like this soon. See Doctor - that's kinda what I'm talking about here. K1Bond007 04:26, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

Since no-ones seen him in a bond film yet I think a picture of Connery or Moore would be better since they were bond for 7 movies each --Astrokey44 12:26, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

But he is Bond and people have seen him as Bond. Eventually we'll get images (perhaps a collage) of all the Bonds in the article in the same vein as the Doctor. It's on my to-do list. K1Bond007 17:38, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

collage was a good idea, made one from the promotional photos --Astrokey44 16:40, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

Cool. Just as a note, I don't think the image can be counted as promotional, although it may be comprised of promo shots. Photoshopped together, it would be simply fairuse. I corrected this and gave it a little more detailed description. K1Bond007 20:57, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

I agree with the one above me. ~Chektt 12:32 November 18, 2006 (not UTC)

[edit] About the Modern Bond

So, if I understand, the modern Bond is a German-born British, more precisely English, right? Leader Vladimir

Not English, Scottish. Emperor001 (talk) 21:59, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Sexist?

Is he really deserving of this title and thus being placed in the catagory? He has sex with a lot of women, which may make him a womanizer, but does he at any time express his belief in the superiority of men over women? (If he has, then I immediatly drop the argument). —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Madhackrviper (talk • contribs) .

Yeah, he's pretty sexist in most, if not all, media. Fleming's Bond is pretty bad, though perhaps more in tune with the times. M in GoldenEye flat out called him a sexist - other than that Brosnan's Bond was pretty lax in that department. Connery on the other hand had numerous sexist scenes. Example in Goldfinger he meets Felix while he's with a girl in Miami. He smacks her on bottom and tells her to say goodbye, following that up with "man talk." :P

Alrighty then, argument excepted! --Madhackrviper 00:44, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] General criticism of article

This whole affair smacks of fanwankery. It has clearly been put together by individuals who are far too serious about this very fictional character. Chris 02:54, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] MI6 and SIS

MI 6 IS known as the Secret Intelligence Service, see the MI6 page for reference!

In one film M says they work for MI7. I think it's From Russia With Love but I can't remember for certain. It later becomes MI6 in another film. If anyone knows which film this was then I think it should be mentioned. Richard75 20:26, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

In no film did any character mention that Bond worked for MI7. This statement is wrong therefore not worth mentioning

Bernard Lee says it in his scene as M in Dr No. --Straw Cat (talk) 00:39, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

But the subtitles say MI6. Emperor001 (talk) 22:00, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Fan wankery indeed

I would have to say that this entire article is one huge glaring error. There should be two different interpretations of the Bond character. The character from the book is very much different from the one in the movies. Its like night and day. Mashing them all up together like this isn’t giving anyone a clear picture of Bond.

I would prepose that there should be a distinction between the literary description of the Bond character, and a cinematic one.

[edit] WP:NOR and the League of Extraordinary Gentleman

Just to be clear, WP:NOR prevents "unpublished facts, arguments, concepts, statements, or theories, or any unpublished analysis or synthesis of published material" from being included in articles. It is certainly possible that this interpretation is not novel, but merely sourcing some of the facts to the comics would not address that issue. The opinions and analyses would also need to be sourced to reliable publications (i.e. not fan boards or the like) and represent enough of a consensus that they are worthy of standing alone in the article. Croctotheface 11:16, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gin or Vodka Martinis?

I was looking an answer to wether Bond drinks traditional gin martinis, or does he prefer vodka martinis, but the article goes both ways without saying if the source is from the novels or the movies.

See: Bond is famous for ordering his vodka martinis "shaken, not stirred." ... He also drinks and enjoys gin martinis, champagne, and bourbon. According to www.atomicmartinis.com Bond consumes 317 drinks of which 101 are whisky, 35 sakes, 30 glasses of champagne and a mere 19 vodka martinis.

So, which it is, or what was Fleming's version? The Merciful 12:52, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Date of joining 00 section

In Chapter 5 of Goldfinger, Bond is described as having been in the Double-O section for six years. Goldfinger was published in March 1959, and various cultural references, such as the introduction of the Series B £5 note (Chapter 7) and the expansions to Idlewild Airport (Chapter 22) place the action of the novel in the late 1950s. The exact year can be calculated more accurately from Goldfinger's age. In Chapter 6 he is described as having arrived in England in 1937, age twenty. This would put his birth year at around 1917. In Chapter 17 Goldfinger describes how he has made "a large sum of money in twenty years", presumably meaning since 1937; this would suggest a date of 1957. However, in Chapter 23 Bond remembers an aeroplane crash that took place over Persia, "back in '57", implying a later date. In Chapter 2 Mr du Pont mentions how he has seen Goldfinger's passport, which gives his age as forty-two. If Goldfinger was born in 1917, he would be forty-two in 1959. M speculates in Chapter 7 and Goldfinger confirms in Chapter 22 that the latter is an agent of SMERSH. According to Chapter 5 of Thunderball, SMERSH was disbanded in 1958. With 1957 and 1959 both ruled out, the only possible remaining date for the action of the novel is thus 1958. If Bond had been in the 00 section for six years in 1958, he joined it in 1952. This doesn't sit very comfortably with Bond's own description, in Chapter 20 of Casino Royale, of the two assassinations he carried out to achieve 00 status, and which appear to have taken place during the Second World War. The first killing was of a Japanese cipher clerk in New York, and in Chapter 1 of Live and Let Die Bond's arrival at Idlewild is described as "his first sight of America since the war", suggesting that the death of the Japanese took place during that conflict - and before December 1941 at that. The second killing was of "a Norwegian who was doubling against us for the Germans", though of course the Germans referred to could be the forces of the German Democratic Republic rather than the Third Reich. However, these points, though worth mentioning, do not contradict the 1952 date. Opera hat 18:28, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Confusing Assertion

This statement is confusing:

He has been portrayed on film by Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig, the last interpretation being the only one with an official fictional biography of the character.

Anybody have any idea what the bold section means? James Bond had an official backstory (revealed through dialogue) before the Daniel Craig film, even if we didn't see his first case. Any reason why this line should be retained? --Chancemichaels 21:14, 17 October 2007 (UTC)Chancemichaels

[edit] Actors

"The first actor to portray James Bond was Sean Connery in Dr. No, released in 1962." This is true of the EON Pictures Bond, but famously not true overall. Barry Nelson played Bond in a television production earlier [1]. I would change this, but the whole article is slanted toward the EON Pictures Bond and needs adjusting. --Tysto 23:18, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Popov declared to a group of Italian journalists in 1981, shortly after his death at his residence outside Cannes"

Surely that should be 'shortly before his death'?

Or did Popov only live twice...? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.203.84.34 (talk) 11:55, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Interpretations

i feel that the james bond character should be split into different artcles depending on the actor who portrayed him each actor gave something different to the character. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Helicopter tours (talk • contribs) 16:21, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

I have an idea... don't know what others think of it... that James Bond, Agent 007, is a transferable identity given by the agency to elite agents. Whatever name they were before, it is their name for the duration. When they "retire" or feel justified in transferring (perhaps their face is too well known), they return to their protected previous identity, and immediately, or after a suitable interval, the name and number is assigned to another qualifying elite agent. Thus, James Bond can remain relatively young, compared to the progression of years (as the genre of movies shows). In addition, it is conceivable that a previous holder of the designation could be reactivated to it in order to accomplish a necessary goal - as in actor Sean Connery's brief return to service with the same apparent name as another active agent. GBC (talk) 00:13, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

That theory's completely bogus. See James Bond (character) under alternate theories. It lists why this is impossible. Emperor001 (talk) 22:03, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Oh really? Tiny Beretta

"In the novels preceding Dr. No, Bond uses a 0.25mm Beretta automatic pistol carried in a light-weight chamois leather holster, however, in From Russia with Love, in the draw, the gun snags in Bond's jacket, and, because of this incident, M and Major Boothroyd order Bond re-equipped with a Walther PPK and a Berns-martin triple-draw holster made of stiff saddle leather. "

Considering that the smallest bullet ever invented was 2mm, I find this difficult to believe. 0.25mm would be so small as to be completely ineffective. Is this what's actually stated in the novels? Agharo (talk) 04:06, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

It wasn't .25mm, it was .25 caliber. There's a difference between caliber and mm measurement of bullets. Emperor001 (talk) 22:04, 17 May 2008 (UTC)