Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, it's me Josh, and I'd like to welcome
Speaker 1: you to the Stuff You Should Know Summer Movie Playlist.
Speaker 1: It's summertime, and we thought what better way to kick
Speaker 1: off one of the four greatest seasons of the year
Speaker 1: with a focus on movies, Because what scream summer more
Speaker 1: than a nice, darkened, cool, air conditioned theater and a
Speaker 1: great movie playing right in front of you. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna start the whole thing off with our July twenty
Speaker 1: ten episode on What's the Deal with Bond? James Bond.
Speaker 1: Hope you enjoy. Welcome to you Stuff you Should Know
Speaker 1: from HowStuffWorks dot Com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Josh Clark. Hi with me is Charles W. Chuck Bryant.
Speaker 2: Bryant, Charles Bryant.
Speaker 1: How is it going, Chuck? It's an odd way to
Speaker 1: introduce yourself, don't you.
Speaker 2: Think not if you're a super spy?
Speaker 1: Are you a superspy? Actually?
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say James Bond was even a spy.
Speaker 1: Secret Service? Is that a spy? Really? No, he was
Speaker 1: an assassin and yeah, just general plot disruptor. I would
Speaker 1: say he was.
Speaker 2: A blunt instrument of the Crown Yeah, if you wanted
Speaker 2: the job done, and you couldn't if you didn't have
Speaker 2: time to worry about you know, the politics or you
Speaker 2: know the diplomacy, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: You just sent James Bond.
Speaker 2: Yeah, get jb on the phone double seven. Yeah, he'll
Speaker 2: he'll take care of business. Like Elvis.
Speaker 1: You could call him on his car phone long before
Speaker 1: any car had a phone.
Speaker 2: Yeah all right, yeah, he was always pre dating technology.
Speaker 1: Yeah. As a matter of fact, there's a James Bond
Speaker 1: theory of entrepreneurial innovation.
Speaker 2: I believe that.
Speaker 1: And from Russia with Love nineteen sixty three, he talked.
Speaker 1: I can't remember who he talked to, but he was
Speaker 1: in his car using the phone. Yeah, that was in
Speaker 1: his car, and audiences went nuts for it.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, they were like, oh my god, he's on
Speaker 2: the telephone.
Speaker 1: Right in a car. But that's what they sounded like
Speaker 1: in England though. Oh yeah, well sure that this actually
Speaker 1: Ghana right.
Speaker 2: So Josh, where do we start here? We can't, we
Speaker 2: can't not start with Ian Fleming.
Speaker 1: Ian Fleming, so we gotta start. Let's do it. No,
Speaker 1: that was there was a colon after that.
Speaker 2: Oh, Ian Fleming colon was as everyone knows, and if
Speaker 2: you didn't, you need to get out from under your
Speaker 2: rock that you reside in right now. The creator of
Speaker 2: James Bond, right in novel form.
Speaker 1: He was also originally a journalist and a stockbroker, and
Speaker 1: World War Two starts to come around and he joins
Speaker 1: the naval Naval volunteer Royal Navy, Royal Navy, and he
Speaker 1: was actually Chuck did you know assigned as a spy
Speaker 1: himself in Washington, DC.
Speaker 2: Yeah, sort of a spy, you could call it. He
Speaker 2: was in intelligence and he would occasionally he was an
Speaker 2: administrative guy, but sometimes they would send him out to
Speaker 2: do field work where he would take secret pictures of documents,
Speaker 2: just like in the movies.
Speaker 1: Do you know who was assigned to his spy unit
Speaker 1: James Bond? Yeah, no, there we was the guy who
Speaker 1: was the inspiration for James Bond. His name was William Stevenson,
Speaker 1: aka Intrepid.
Speaker 2: Right, yeah, one of many inspirations.
Speaker 1: Right. But in an interview in The Times in nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty two, Fleming said, you know, James Bond is this
Speaker 1: romanticized version of a spy. Bill Stevenson is the real thing.
Speaker 2: Right, Well, in romanticized version of himself.
Speaker 1: To an extent. Sure. Another member of that spy ring
Speaker 1: was a guy named Roald Dahl who wrote James and
Speaker 1: the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and a bunch of body books.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: He also had the non children's books that were a
Speaker 2: little racier. Yes, not many people know that.
Speaker 1: So Chuck, let's talk a little bit more about Ian Fleming.
Speaker 1: Well give it to us, buddy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, like I said, he was, he sort
Speaker 2: of James based James bond on kind of I think
Speaker 2: who he wanted to be. He was a playboy. He
Speaker 2: was an island hopper, an adventurer, an adventurer.
Speaker 1: A skier.
Speaker 2: He dove with Jacques Cousteau and you know, snow skied
Speaker 2: from the tops of mountains in Switzerland. And had a
Speaker 2: place in Jamaica where he actually wrote all these books.
Speaker 1: Right. He named the place GoldenEye. And every year he
Speaker 1: would go to Jamaica and write a book. And I
Speaker 1: just want to dig him up and throttle him for that,
Speaker 1: because I mean, what a what a life? Yeah, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's time for me to go to my estate in
Speaker 1: Jamaica and write a book that's going to just make
Speaker 1: me millions more.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which he did. And he reportedly picked the name
Speaker 2: James Bond because he wanted the most boring name he
Speaker 2: could find for his super secret agent. I think he
Speaker 2: didn't want the name to compete with the actual character,
Speaker 2: Like why bother giving him some fancy name, just shame
Speaker 2: him James Bond and having kick butt.
Speaker 1: Right, you know what the opposite of that is, hack
Speaker 1: saw Jim Duggan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he should have named him that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, then it would have competed with the character.
Speaker 2: Duggan hacksaw Jim Dugan. I could hear that? So, yeah,
Speaker 2: he wrote. See the article says thirteen novels.
Speaker 1: Well, he wrote thirteen books.
Speaker 2: I got fourteen.
Speaker 1: What's the fourteenth?
Speaker 2: Well, I've got twelve novels plus two short story collections
Speaker 2: right for your eyes only, and Octopusy in the Living
Speaker 2: Daylights was another collection. Right, So it seems like it'd
Speaker 2: be easier to find this out. But I literally saw
Speaker 2: two different sets of information.
Speaker 1: Huh, So are we gonna go with fourteen? Because you
Speaker 1: are quite the sniffer, Let's.
Speaker 2: Go with fourteen total? Okay, twelve novels.
Speaker 1: All right? But he wrote I think he wrote the
Speaker 1: novels first maybe or did he write the short story
Speaker 1: books like in between?
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were in between. They were toward the end.
Speaker 1: Okay, but so he was getting fat and lazy in Jamaica.
Speaker 2: Yeah, interestingly though, or maybe it's not that interesting. They
Speaker 2: made the movies way out of order.
Speaker 1: Yeah they did.
Speaker 2: The Doctor Now was the first film, but that was
Speaker 2: the sixth novel.
Speaker 1: Right, But did you know that they originally the people
Speaker 1: who made the official Bond movies originally wanted to make Thunderball.
Speaker 1: Thunderball was a story that Ian Fleming came up with
Speaker 1: with another guy who who wanted the rights to make
Speaker 1: a movie out of it. Oh really, that fell through,
Speaker 1: but Ian Fleming went ahead and wrote the story anyway
Speaker 1: that they come up with as Thunderball. The guy sued
Speaker 1: his pants off and actually gained custody gained the rights
Speaker 1: to the book Thunderball, which tied it up and made
Speaker 1: them opt for Doctor No to go first instead.
Speaker 2: There was a lot of litigation over the years in
Speaker 2: the Bond franchise.
Speaker 1: Yes, there was.
Speaker 2: I guess when you have a franchise that long and
Speaker 2: that vast, there's going to be people suing people over something.
Speaker 1: Well, plus it's legendary. He's a legendary character, and you know,
Speaker 1: he's made a lot of money for a lot of people. Absolutely.
Speaker 2: The other interesting thing I thought just before we move
Speaker 2: on was that Moonraker was written in nineteen fifty five.
Speaker 2: That was the third novel that is insightful, And of
Speaker 2: course there wasn't a space shuttle like they changed the
Speaker 2: setting and all that stuff, but it did involve like
Speaker 2: a nuclear weapon, so you know, kind of odd. And
Speaker 2: a man with a golden gun, which was the Roger
Speaker 2: Moore's second film was the final novel and it was
Speaker 2: released after his death. Huh, so it was way out
Speaker 2: of order.
Speaker 1: And in that one he predicted herve Vasche, which nobody
Speaker 1: saw come in except Ian Fleming. Yeah, you know right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's talk about James Bond a little bit, the character
Speaker 1: James Bond. So it turns out James Bond had a
Speaker 1: Scottish father, which it didn't originally.
Speaker 2: Now that came about because of Sean Connedy.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Ian Fleming was not a big fan of Sean
Speaker 1: Connery at first, and then Sean Connery is like, check
Speaker 1: this out, and he made one peck go up while
Speaker 1: the other went down. A bunch of times, and Ian
Speaker 1: Fleming just like clapped and squealed and that was that. Right.
Speaker 1: He was a big fan, and he said, you know
Speaker 1: what you are, James Bond. And he actually went back
Speaker 1: and changed James Bond's history to kind of Matt Sean
Speaker 1: Connery a little bit because he came to see, like,
Speaker 1: this guy is Bond, right, Yeah, So he gave James
Speaker 1: Bond a Scottish father.
Speaker 2: Andrew, and a Swiss mother Monique Delacroix and nice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they both died mountain climbing, right.
Speaker 2: Yes, When little James was eleven years old, he went
Speaker 2: to the orphanage. And he went to an orphanage. He
Speaker 2: was supposedly born on November eleventh, nineteen twenty, but there
Speaker 2: are different accounts of his birthday and when he was born. Clearly,
Speaker 2: when you have a franchise with Daniel Craig playing him
Speaker 2: in two thousand and eight, he can't be born in
Speaker 2: nineteen twenty.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because Body the exhibition wasn't showing in Miami in
Speaker 1: like nineteen fifty eight or anything.
Speaker 2: So yeah, there's a sliding scale there obviously to make
Speaker 2: it viable. But James, much like his author namesake, Ian
Speaker 2: Fleming not namesake that would make and change fun much
Speaker 2: like the author Ian Fleming was went to the Royal
Speaker 2: Navy in World War Two, rose to the rank of commander.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: After the war, that's when he entered the sis known
Speaker 2: as mi I six.
Speaker 1: Right, which is the sixth branch of the Military Intelligence Directorate.
Speaker 1: You got that, buddy, right, and his first two assignments chuck, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're two taps.
Speaker 2: Weren't they assassinations right off the bat?
Speaker 1: So he that's apparently you have to kill two people
Speaker 1: to get a double O status, which is the license
Speaker 1: to kill, and he got them, like you say, right
Speaker 1: off the bat.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he was the seventh dude to get him.
Speaker 2: So that's where double O seven comes from, right, the
Speaker 2: seventh agent. I shouldn't say dude because they were were
Speaker 2: there female agents? Yeah? There were female agents.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm pretty sure, and we should probably take the
Speaker 1: time here to explain. I like James Bond. I know
Speaker 1: that you like James Bond movies too.
Speaker 2: Is this the disclaimer We're gonna get killed here?
Speaker 1: We are not members of James Bond fandom? I would say,
Speaker 1: all right.
Speaker 2: I mean I've seen all the movies, but no, I
Speaker 2: haven't studied the books.
Speaker 1: I've never read any of the books. I don't think
Speaker 1: i've seen all the movies. Yeah, but I do like
Speaker 1: them in a very recreational manner. So that being said,
Speaker 1: we are not going to get every single thing right here,
Speaker 1: if we're going to walk right past information sure that
Speaker 1: we just don't know exists. So in a very friendly manner,
Speaker 1: if there is anything that you have to say that
Speaker 1: can round this podcast out even further, the more we
Speaker 1: love knowing new things. That's so please let us know,
Speaker 1: I guess is what we're saying. Right.
Speaker 2: Oh, they'll let us know. They will, except for the
Speaker 2: three dudes that just turned it off into it Well,
Speaker 2: they have no business even attempting this thing.
Speaker 1: Right, and then they go give us a one star
Speaker 1: rating on iTunes.
Speaker 2: So back to Bond. He as we all know as
Speaker 2: a sharp dresser, and he loves fast cars. He loves
Speaker 2: his martini shaking nuts stirred. He loves women.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and do you know if you shake a Martine
Speaker 1: instead of stirring it, you pretty much ruin it.
Speaker 2: I disagree, I shake all my martinis.
Speaker 1: Dude, How does it ruin it? It feathers it? I
Speaker 1: think what does that mean it means it's screwed up?
Speaker 2: What does that mean? I like a good dirty martini myself.
Speaker 1: Oh you like them dirty?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, gross, Jared said. Word.
Speaker 1: I like my martini's so light. It's basically this a
Speaker 1: vodka rocks.
Speaker 2: So you just like the vermouth bottle just waved near
Speaker 2: the glass pretty much. I like just a little vermouth,
Speaker 2: little olive juice, but no olive.
Speaker 1: No olive juice. I'll put in all I'll put three
Speaker 1: olives in usually really all right, But then I eat
Speaker 1: him so fast that they have no time to taint
Speaker 1: the martini.
Speaker 2: Well, that's why you're not a super spy. So Josh
Speaker 2: James Bond a couple of the other traits we should
Speaker 2: just mention. He is a martial artist. He's a gifted
Speaker 2: man with his fist and feet or if you're Roger Moore,
Speaker 2: a karate chop. Yeah the karate Oh yeah, yeah, that
Speaker 2: was a big deal in the seventies. And he carried
Speaker 2: a famously carried a Walter PPK handgun thirty two caliber. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and that's the little guy. Have you ever seen him?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, they're small.
Speaker 1: And I've played Golden nine, played best game. Just played
Speaker 1: Golden Nine. It is a great game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know they're bringing that back for wee.
Speaker 2: I've heard Matt Frederick of Coolest Stuff on the Planet
Speaker 2: told us that they are bringing that back because it's
Speaker 2: still sort of the standard for first person shooters, like
Speaker 2: fifteen years on. Yeah, it's still a great game. So
Speaker 2: they're bringing it back as is, like completely as it was,
Speaker 2: but with better graphics.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be fantastic for the Wii.
Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty exciting. Back to the real life of the
Speaker 2: Fake Life of James Bond.
Speaker 1: That's why we should have titled this podcast the.
Speaker 2: Real Life of the Fake Life.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: How about uh, let's talk about some of the enemies.
Speaker 1: Doctor No. He was the first one to appear in.
Speaker 2: The films, Doctor Julius, now right, he's.
Speaker 1: An atomic scientist.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was clearly. Joseph Wiseman played him, and he
Speaker 2: was a great, great villain Goldfinger. You can't talk about
Speaker 2: Bond without talking about Goldfinger.
Speaker 1: Yeah he was. Eh, you don't like him, no, not really,
Speaker 1: that was a big Goldfinger guy.
Speaker 2: He tried to laser the crotch of James Bond.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's right, pretty hardcore. Yeah, it's like Max Scorpio. Yeah,
Speaker 1: in that Simpsons where oh yeah, ends up going to
Speaker 1: work for the super villain. Right. Yeah, he's like, no,
Speaker 1: mister Bond, I expect you to die and be a
Speaker 1: very cheap funeral.
Speaker 2: Odd Job was one of my favorite, and he was
Speaker 2: one of Goldman's henchmen in the big Asian guy with
Speaker 2: the bowler hat that he could cut like the head
Speaker 2: off a statue. His hat huge, Yeah, very big dude. Yeah, Jaws.
Speaker 2: We grew up with Roger Moore, so he can't not
Speaker 2: talk about Jaws.
Speaker 1: No, he was great too. He was in two of them, right,
Speaker 1: he was in Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me.
Speaker 2: I thought he might have been more than that, but
Speaker 2: he definitely.
Speaker 1: I looked it up.
Speaker 2: He was only in two two really, goy, I made
Speaker 2: quite an impression.
Speaker 1: Yeah he did.
Speaker 2: He found the girlfriend in Moonaker I think.
Speaker 1: Yeah, falls in love or something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the little like nerdy girl.
Speaker 1: And then he pops up again in Happy Gilmore.
Speaker 2: Was he in that? Yeah? I didn't see that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was Happy Gilmour's boss, like on the construction
Speaker 1: site and he ends up becoming a.
Speaker 2: Fan and wow, did he have the teeth?
Speaker 1: No, he didn't have the teeth just for the movie.
Speaker 1: But he was a big guy.
Speaker 2: Yes, lately, we've had more recent villains that I don't
Speaker 2: think the new villains compare personally.
Speaker 1: They kind of come and go. You know, there's like
Speaker 1: in Casino Royale.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean they're okay, but they're all the villain
Speaker 2: was Yeah. That that like, they're all decent, but they're
Speaker 2: not like iconic characters like they used to be, right, Like, yeah, well,
Speaker 2: Blofeld was the sort of legendary I don't know how
Speaker 2: many movies he was in, but he was played.
Speaker 1: By like Tellis Pleasance.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Donald Pleasance was my favorite version. And Max van
Speaker 2: sea Doll played him, I think, and uh, never say
Speaker 2: never again.
Speaker 1: Maybe Max fan he's a class act.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was, what did I watch the other day? Oh,
Speaker 2: Shutter Island. He's in that. And I told lean over
Speaker 2: to Emily. I was like, you know, I want to
Speaker 2: see Max van Seadal play like a kindly grandfather in
Speaker 2: a movie. I don't think anytime that dude pops up
Speaker 2: in the movie, you're like, oh, well, he's the evil doer, right,
Speaker 2: He's the villain, or so.
Speaker 1: You think until Shutter Island falls apart at the end.
Speaker 1: Don't ruin it so u.
Speaker 2: Yes, that was Blofeld. He was the bald guy and
Speaker 2: he was the head of Specter, which was the Special
Speaker 2: executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion. Right, it's great
Speaker 2: villainoust title there.
Speaker 1: That's not only like a great name that it's your
Speaker 1: mission statement.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, all wrapped up into one.
Speaker 1: One of my favorites, mac Zorin, played by the great
Speaker 1: Christopher Walkin. He was he was the dude.
Speaker 2: I know you loved that movie.
Speaker 1: One of the best bomb movies ever, but.
Speaker 2: That had the worst Bond woman ever, Grace Jones. No,
Speaker 2: Tanya Roberts, I don't remember her. She was the Bond girl.
Speaker 1: I don't remember.
Speaker 2: She was the lady from the seventies show that was
Speaker 2: like one of the late Charlie's Angels replacements.
Speaker 1: Tanya Roberts. Yeah, yeah, who cares. It was the eighties,
Speaker 1: nobody was paying that much attention.
Speaker 2: But it was a good song.
Speaker 1: It was, and Christopher Walkin was in it. Grace Jones
Speaker 1: was in it. She was pretty scary in that. Yes,
Speaker 1: she was excellent. Talk about a martial artist. But mac
Speaker 1: Zorin is did you know he was the product of
Speaker 1: genetic experiments by Nazis. Walking was well not walking man, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I don't I don't remember that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And one of the unintended side effects was he
Speaker 1: was a complete psychopath.
Speaker 2: I thought you were gonna say. One of the side
Speaker 2: effects was his use of punctuation.
Speaker 1: You are good man.
Speaker 2: Everybody does walking.
Speaker 1: I can't do it walking.
Speaker 2: Let's hear it.
Speaker 1: My No, it's really just an altered h John Travolta,
Speaker 1: why are you so weird?
Speaker 2: Dude?
Speaker 1: That's great, of course, Chuck, there's double six Alec Trevlyn.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what was he? And that was one of the
Speaker 2: Pierce Brosen ones, wasn't it.
Speaker 1: Yeah? I think yeah, which I don't remember those. I
Speaker 1: love Pierce Brosen, Like, oh he was good. The fact that,
Speaker 1: like he wasn't James Bond earlier He's like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're gonna cast Timothy Dalton, are you well, I'll go
Speaker 1: be Remington Steel well jerks. Yeah, And then they tried
Speaker 1: to get him again, right, I think so.
Speaker 2: And he was committed to Remington Steele. Yeah, was sort
Speaker 2: of like James Bond for TV.
Speaker 1: Oh so did he do Remington Steel first? Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, he did. Remington Steele. Well, it goes back and forth.
Speaker 2: There was like Timothy Dalton was offered the role before
Speaker 2: Roger Moore. Did you know that?
Speaker 1: No, I didn't.
Speaker 2: When he was twenty one years old. Really he was
Speaker 2: going to replace Sean Connery. Well, and Dalton said, I'm
Speaker 2: too young to play James Bond. And then he comes
Speaker 2: around years later just like to just like uh Brosnen did.
Speaker 1: Okay, but I am glad that Pierce Brosnen went in.
Speaker 1: I just happened to think that those his period of
Speaker 1: movies were unfortunate.
Speaker 2: I thought they were pretty good.
Speaker 1: I didn't like him. Now I'm really happy with Daniel
Speaker 1: Craig's stuff so far.
Speaker 2: Well, you know my statement on that is that was
Speaker 2: the only direction they could take that franchise after the
Speaker 2: Jason Bourne movies. You couldn't have a guy like winking
Speaker 2: at the camera like Roger Moore and like slapstick sounds
Speaker 2: and sound effects. You had to take him into like
Speaker 2: a real bad, bad direction.
Speaker 1: Yes, you mean like sim Ohaia bad. Yeah, so Double
Speaker 1: six Alec Trevlyn he is. I think he informs the
Speaker 1: character Alex Krychek from X Files. You think, so, huh,
Speaker 1: very nice Josh.
Speaker 2: All right, So those are some of the villains, clearly
Speaker 2: not all, but we should also talk about some of
Speaker 2: the people that James Bond had working on his side
Speaker 2: at m I six.
Speaker 1: All right, which we will call from here on out
Speaker 1: the superfluous characters.
Speaker 2: No, dude, they're great. M Q M was the head
Speaker 2: of m I six and there were several ms. It
Speaker 2: was just a title, and M was the one that's
Speaker 2: always frustrated with Bond. Yet he knows that he's the
Speaker 2: blunt instrument of choice, you know, pretty much in every movie,
Speaker 2: right que, you.
Speaker 1: Should say he or she for M true Dame Judy
Speaker 1: Dench took over.
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, she's doing a great job too. Is the
Speaker 2: head of the Q branch, Judy Dench.
Speaker 1: Did you hear that? Chuck just said you were doing
Speaker 1: a great job. So keep it up, Keep.
Speaker 2: It up, Dan Jersey, Dame Dane, Dame Dame.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she's a Dame.
Speaker 2: Q is the head of the Q branch. I six
Speaker 2: is research and development branch, and Q, as you might know,
Speaker 2: is the guy who in all the films gives James
Speaker 2: his gadgets. There's always that great scene where James goes
Speaker 2: into the laboratory and starts messing around with the gadgets
Speaker 2: and exasperates Q because he's burning something or he's firing
Speaker 2: a missile inside and he shouldn't be.
Speaker 1: That's Q, right, And he's now been replaced by his
Speaker 1: former assistant R.
Speaker 2: Right now is R John Clees?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, he's doing a good job, but he's the
Speaker 1: new Q.
Speaker 2: He just used to be R well because Q died,
Speaker 2: right Lee Ellen, Yes, Chuck, that was the actor that
Speaker 2: played the original Q.
Speaker 1: Is that right?
Speaker 2: Or the Roger More Q that I loved? Right? Who else?
Speaker 1: We got Felix Leiter who I like, Jack Lord Jeffrey
Speaker 1: Wright both played him agent huh. And then there's another
Speaker 1: guy named Hayward Wade. Was he Cia? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I thought they said they didn't know if he was
Speaker 2: Dea or Cia.
Speaker 1: He was around before the Dea was was he? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And then you've got I think Jack Wade is his name.
Speaker 1: And he was actually played by a couple of people,
Speaker 1: including Joe Don Baker, Oh yeah, Pierce Brosnan ones, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: he had a couple of American counterparts.
Speaker 2: It's a good point.
Speaker 1: And little known fact. Joe Don Baker was in Oh
Speaker 1: I can't remember the name of the movie, but it
Speaker 1: was one of the greatest Mister Science Theater three thousands.
Speaker 2: Really yeah, bad movie. And then, of course we have
Speaker 2: to mention Moneypenny. He was M's personal assistant and Moneypenny.
Speaker 2: You always knew Moneypenny because James would come in and
Speaker 2: flirt very much with her. And I always got the
Speaker 2: sense that if James were to ever settle down with anyone,
Speaker 2: which he clearly won't, it would have been Moneypenny sure,
Speaker 2: or at least he made her think that. Right, every
Speaker 2: day was Secretary's day when James Bond was around. He
Speaker 2: was always just so nice to her, bringing her things
Speaker 2: from his travels, shot glasses and stuff.
Speaker 1: Right, spoons, she had an extensive spoon collection, refrigerator, magnets, Chuck, Josh,
Speaker 1: let's talk about the movie show. Yeah, sure, well, let's
Speaker 1: talk about James Bond on screen, because it wasn't necessarily
Speaker 1: just relegated to the movies.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, good point.
Speaker 1: So James Bond first appears on screen on the small
Speaker 1: screen on a CBS TV series called Climax with an
Speaker 1: exclamation point really yeah wow, And he was first played
Speaker 1: by a guy named Barry Nelson. Barry Nelson, you may
Speaker 1: recognize as mister Olman, the manager of the Overlook in
Speaker 1: Kubrick's The Shining who tells Jack Torris the ropes. That's
Speaker 1: the first guy to ever play James Bond.
Speaker 2: Wow? Was he English?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: American?
Speaker 1: Yes, CBS TV series.
Speaker 2: So we've had a Scotsman's quite a few Englishmen, an
Speaker 2: American and an Australian And what what do you mean Australian?
Speaker 2: I mean someone from Australia. That was George Lazenby was Australian?
Speaker 1: Was it? You know what happened to him? Well, he
Speaker 1: wasn't much of an actor. Well, it wasn't just that
Speaker 1: he after the success of his Bond movie. I mean,
Speaker 1: he played James Bond and it was you know, filmed
Speaker 1: and produced and released on Her Majesty's Secret Service, Right,
Speaker 1: he was like, holy Colm, James Bond and I'm going
Speaker 1: to buy a boat and sail around the world for
Speaker 1: a while. And he came back and his star had
Speaker 1: already faded because he did one thing and that was that.
Speaker 1: Oh really yeah, yeah, he kind of blew it. He
Speaker 1: wasn't much of an actor either, It wasn't but it
Speaker 1: wasn't just that. It was yeah, it was a combination
Speaker 1: of those two things.
Speaker 2: He was a bad dude though, like he he got
Speaker 2: the role apparently because he impressed Ian Fleming because he
Speaker 2: had a faux fight scene with a wrestler for his
Speaker 2: audition and he actually punched the guy, like got mad
Speaker 2: and punched him, and Flemings like this is hard, dude.
Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, because Fleming wrote the Bond character much darker.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the novel character for sure.
Speaker 1: Like Roger Moore took it in a very awful director
Speaker 1: specific direction. You know that was not the least bit
Speaker 1: like how Ian Fleming had written them.
Speaker 2: You're the ultimate Roger Moore apologist. He's good in the
Speaker 2: Saint and that's why I got the role, I think. Okay,
Speaker 2: the TV show The Saint, all right, So Chuck, let's
Speaker 2: get back to the beginning again. So we talked about
Speaker 2: Barry Nelson and on the big screen, the first Bond
Speaker 2: ever was Sean Connery. Right, well they did. They did
Speaker 2: a pilot though on TV as well.
Speaker 1: That's the Barry Nelson one. Oh it was called Casino
Speaker 1: Royale though no, right, it was based on Casino Royal Climax, Okay,
Speaker 1: which I think you know how they used to do
Speaker 1: like they would they would have the name of the series,
Speaker 1: but then there there'd be like different like like Wonderful
Speaker 1: World of Disney. Yeah, it was like the name of
Speaker 1: the series, but then there were different like documentaries or
Speaker 1: gotcha tunes or whatever. Okay, I think it was like
Speaker 1: that and that flopped and I didn't know what they
Speaker 1: were doing with TV back in the day.
Speaker 2: They had no idea.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2: Doctor NOA was the first film in nineteen sixty two,
Speaker 2: and there's been twenty two in total. No, yes, and
Speaker 2: we're waiting. And that's official Bond films because they parodied
Speaker 2: him in other things what he Allen played him for
Speaker 2: Heaven's Sake.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, in the parody he did of Casino Royale. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's also an unofficial Bond film with an official Bond right,
Speaker 1: let's hear it, Never Say Never Again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was Conrie's That was also fraught with the lawsuits.
Speaker 1: You know, that was based on the Thunderball lawsuit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they remade Thunderball, right, and.
Speaker 1: They named it Never Say Never Again because Conrie had
Speaker 1: said after nineteen seventy one that he'd never play Bond again.
Speaker 1: Because he played Bond what for the first like six
Speaker 1: movies something like that.
Speaker 2: One, two, three, four, five, and then George Lazenby then
Speaker 2: he came back and did Diamonds or Forever.
Speaker 1: And then after after that Kime Roger Moore. Yes, and
Speaker 1: then Roger Moore had a pretty good run. So Sean
Speaker 1: Connery stops playing Bond. George Lazenby comes along, does it.
Speaker 1: Once leaves, Sean Connery has to come back another time.
Speaker 1: After Sean Connery, they get Roger Moore. In the midst
Speaker 1: of Roger Moore's run, Sean Connery makes another Bond film.
Speaker 1: That's what we were kids, twelve years after the last
Speaker 1: one he'd made.
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, and yeah, Kim Beasinger was the Bond checking
Speaker 2: that one.
Speaker 1: She was and they called it never Say Never Again
Speaker 1: because he'd said that he would never play Bond again.
Speaker 2: Never Trebek That's what he said, right, Timothy Dalton, I
Speaker 2: guess we might as well venture into his years.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I saw those when they first came out, like
Speaker 1: in the theaters, and I didn't think anything of them.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they were over my head or whatever,
Speaker 1: but I didn't like them.
Speaker 2: They were pretty good living daylights and licensed to kill.
Speaker 2: They were both are they good. Really, Yeah, I mean
Speaker 2: it was definitely a more novelistic Bond, like he was
Speaker 2: darker and little more bad dude, and that, I mean
Speaker 2: it might have had something to do with it was
Speaker 2: coming off the heels of Roger Moore in his vaudeville
Speaker 2: act that he brought to Bond and Dalton had a
Speaker 2: two picture run and then was replaced by who everyone
Speaker 2: thought should have been Bond before Dalton, Pierce Brosnan for one, two, three,
Speaker 2: four films, right, and then they went the inevitable direction
Speaker 2: with a blond bond with Daniel Craig.
Speaker 1: Is that inevitable you think?
Speaker 2: Well, I meant the inevitable way of making him a
Speaker 2: tough dude. But yeah, his blondness was not inevitable.
Speaker 1: You know. You make fun of Roger Moore, but he
Speaker 1: had a seven picture stint as James Bond.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and that was our childhood, trust me, dude.
Speaker 2: At the time, I loved it. But then when I
Speaker 2: got older, I revisited all of the Sean Connerys, and
Speaker 2: then I saw the butt kickingness of Timothy Dalton and
Speaker 2: now Daniel Craig, And now I'm kind of like Roger
Speaker 2: Moore was kind of a joke to me. Now you
Speaker 2: still stand by it?
Speaker 1: I do, all right. I like Roger Moore.
Speaker 2: Sam Neil was considered at one point.
Speaker 1: I could see him as James Bond. He was great
Speaker 1: and dead calm.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was a good movie.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know that this even qualifies as
Speaker 1: a podcast.
Speaker 2: People canna be like you guys are just kind of
Speaker 2: chit chatting, Chuck.
Speaker 1: There's also theories, tons of the best one actually, the
Speaker 1: only one I could find really is the code name theory.
Speaker 1: Have you heard this?
Speaker 2: I have not cracked.
Speaker 1: I got a lot of publicity for it. By It's
Speaker 1: a fan theory that basically says, James Bond is a
Speaker 1: it's a name that goes along with double O seven.
Speaker 1: And there's each actor was playing an actual different person
Speaker 1: who had assumed this undercover name James Bond. Really, which
Speaker 1: explains the changes in personality. Yeah, it explains why Sean
Speaker 1: Connery was so suave and Roger Moore was so goofy. Sure,
Speaker 1: explains why Daniel Craig and Timothy Dalton were so violent, right,
Speaker 1: It explains a lot of stuff. Actually explains George Lazenbe's
Speaker 1: departure because his wife the only time James Bond has
Speaker 1: ever been married died in that one honor her Majesty's
Speaker 1: Secret Service.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he had a wife most people don't.
Speaker 1: Know, and she was killed by Blofeld. Right, so he
Speaker 1: leaves after that. That explains that, right, absolutely. There's actually
Speaker 1: holes in that theory.
Speaker 2: Do you know them?
Speaker 1: I know a couple like, for example, George Lazenbee recognized
Speaker 1: gadgets that were debuted during Sean Connery's tenure. He was
Speaker 1: a new person, he would it would be new to him.
Speaker 1: He'd be like, what's his start gun? Right? Exactly right?
Speaker 1: And I think the spy who loved me, Roger Moore
Speaker 1: is recognized from his college days at Cambridge as James Bond,
Speaker 1: which would mean that he was using the name before then.
Speaker 1: But it's still a pretty cool theory. If you want
Speaker 1: any cool theory shot down, I recommend you go to
Speaker 1: Commander Bond dot net, m I six do co dot
Speaker 1: uk or James bondwiki dot com. Those are some good sites.
Speaker 2: I'm going to retrack my Roger more bashing a little bit. Okay,
Speaker 2: I actually liked like four out of seven of his films.
Speaker 1: Okay, see, so you're right.
Speaker 2: I forget sometimes I forget about the awesomeness of Live
Speaker 2: and Let Die and Man with a Golden Gun for
Speaker 2: your Eyes Only. Those are all pretty good. It was
Speaker 2: like Octopussy, Moonraker was really silly, does not age well
Speaker 2: at all, and uh, you do a kill? I just
Speaker 2: can't get behind him.
Speaker 1: You do a kill is awesome. What about the Spy
Speaker 1: who Loved Me? That's the one with the greater water lotus?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, great, great movie.
Speaker 1: And I have one last fact. Are you ready? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: the legendary Bond producer co producer Albert Cubby Broccli. Yeah,
Speaker 1: his family invented broccoli. They crossed cauliflower with rabe and
Speaker 1: invented broccley. And he actually left the family farm to
Speaker 1: go to Hollywood to pursue his fortune when he was
Speaker 1: like eighteen.
Speaker 2: Are you making this up?
Speaker 1: I am not.
Speaker 2: He invented broccoli.
Speaker 1: His family did is like parents, grandparents. That's a pretty
Speaker 1: good fact, Rockley, very cool.
Speaker 2: Good for him. They're in trouble now though, because MGM
Speaker 2: is in trouble.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but they're saying like it's just a blip on
Speaker 1: the radar. If you listen to any anybuddy who's attached
Speaker 1: to the Bond twenty three.
Speaker 2: Oh, it'll happen at some point, but it's like fine, Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's being delayed big time though, because MGM's and over
Speaker 2: their heads financially.
Speaker 1: If you know anything about MGM, if you're an insider, MGM,
Speaker 1: we want to hear from you. Let us know what's
Speaker 1: going on with Bond.
Speaker 2: That's funny, we should. We got to talk about Bond girls.
Speaker 2: That's one of the hallmarks of Bond films. And usually
Speaker 2: there's two Bond girls. At least there's like a hot
Speaker 2: villain and like a hot an aid that helps him
Speaker 2: out in some way. Sometimes she turns out to be
Speaker 2: a villain. But there's usually two Bond girls and he's
Speaker 2: equally attracted to both. Like Grace Jones, Yeah, he's attracted
Speaker 2: her for some reason. They are fem fatales. Like I said,
Speaker 2: Bond cannot help but fall for them, even though they
Speaker 2: it might mean he has to eventually kill them after
Speaker 2: he makes sweet love to them. Right, And I'm gonna
Speaker 2: go ahead and ask you what your favorite Bond girl is.
Speaker 1: I just recently realized that Carrie Lowell was a Bond girl.
Speaker 1: And I used to have the biggest crush on her
Speaker 1: when I would watch Wild Orcid no Law and Order
Speaker 1: reruns on A and E. Yeah, they used to show
Speaker 1: like Law and Order for like eight hour blocks on
Speaker 1: A and E and I'd be like, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to class to day, I'm just gonna watch Law and Order.
Speaker 1: And she was on a lot of them. Yeah, she
Speaker 1: would be my favorite Bond girl.
Speaker 2: I'm going with Ursula Andres. Yeah, she was hot dude
Speaker 2: back in the day. She played Honey Rider. And that's
Speaker 2: another hallmark of the Bond women is they usually had
Speaker 2: really awful names that hinted it sexual innu Window.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, plenty o tool An.
Speaker 2: Ryder, pussy Galore, uh, actually Solitaire, Jane Seymour, she was
Speaker 2: pretty good and Living let Die like that.
Speaker 1: She was actually a really good actor. Okay.
Speaker 2: Moonraker of course had a holly goodhead and a view
Speaker 2: to a kill. I had Tanya Rarts as Stacy Sutton.
Speaker 2: They didn't even give her a cool.
Speaker 1: Name, So, Chuck, what's the best Bond theme song? Well,
Speaker 1: let me take a wild guess.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say Live and Let Die is probably my favorite.
Speaker 1: Because I would have put a thousand dollars on that or.
Speaker 2: What's her name? Carly Simon, spy who loved me? Nobody
Speaker 2: does it better?
Speaker 1: Love that song best Bond theme song. If it's not
Speaker 1: You Do a Kill? Okay, if it's not that, it
Speaker 1: is Nancy Sinatra singing You Only Live Twice?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was awesome. Yes it was Shirley Bassie. Just
Speaker 2: another little factoid.
Speaker 1: She did.
Speaker 2: No, she did more than that. She did gold Finger,
Speaker 2: she did Diamonds or Forever, she did Moonraker, Moon Raker's
Speaker 2: that's three total. I was also a big fan of
Speaker 2: She and Easton's For Your Eyes Only. Yes, she did
Speaker 2: go and readA Coolidge all time high from Octopussy.
Speaker 1: Didn't Tom Jones do Thunderball or something?
Speaker 2: He did?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: He did Thunderball. And since we're talking about the songs
Speaker 2: that have really gotten lame in recent years, like the
Speaker 2: Chris Cornellen and Garbage, you probably didn't even remember they
Speaker 2: did songs.
Speaker 1: Garbage did the one for World Is Not Enough?
Speaker 2: Oh okay, Pierce Brosnan, Yeah, and Sheryl Crowe did one,
Speaker 2: did she really?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: And Madonna did one and and now it's gotten to
Speaker 2: the point where they're just like, like the last one
Speaker 2: they put Jack White with Alicia Keys.
Speaker 1: Up next is Miley Cyrus. Oh God, say it ain't
Speaker 1: so fond twenty three?
Speaker 2: What else do we have here?
Speaker 1: This is the podcast that won't die, No I do.
Speaker 1: It's like James Bond, It just goes on.
Speaker 2: I do have a couple of more facts.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, first of all, before.
Speaker 2: You move on, if we're going to talk about the songs,
Speaker 2: we need to talk about the opening sequences, the title sequences.
Speaker 2: When you're a young Baptist boy and there are naked,
Speaker 2: silhouetted women jumping on trampolines.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's very titillating and arousing and arousing for a
Speaker 1: young boy named Chuck. I'm titillated and aroused.
Speaker 2: And then the opening sequence of the films typically is
Speaker 2: some awesome action scene and then the title sequence comes up.
Speaker 2: There'll be like a seven minute action scene.
Speaker 1: Right. They call it a cold opening, Buddy, a cold opening.
Speaker 1: Uh huh. That's very nice.
Speaker 2: And I just got a couple of more facts for you, Josh,
Speaker 2: And then I'll let you put this to bed, all
Speaker 2: right with it? What would you say is the highest
Speaker 2: grossing Bond film of all time adjusted.
Speaker 1: Gross adjusted gross? I would say Casino Royale, No.
Speaker 2: Top two all time Thunderball and gold Finger. You're a
Speaker 2: liar adjusted gross.
Speaker 1: You know, Casino Royale worldwide knitted like almost six hundred
Speaker 1: million dollars so far.
Speaker 2: A bunch of money. Thunderball and Goldfinger did more, did
Speaker 2: they really? Yeah? Thunderball and nineteen sixty five dude, gross
Speaker 2: to one hundred and forty one million dollars?
Speaker 1: What and is that worldwide or us?
Speaker 2: That's worldwide? And that is close to what licensed to
Speaker 2: Kill gross in nineteen eighty nine that grows like one
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty something and Thunderball, you know, thirty years
Speaker 2: more gross one hundred and forty one million.
Speaker 1: Right, But what I'm saying is Casino Royale gross six
Speaker 1: hundred million?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, yeah, that's not an adjusted gross though
Speaker 2: you can't compare.
Speaker 1: You're figuring inflation in Yeah, that's what it's called an
Speaker 1: adjusted gross.
Speaker 2: And that's about it. I mean, we could say the
Speaker 2: cars he used real quickly, the Aston Martin obviously.
Speaker 1: My favorite is the Lotus, the Lotus.
Speaker 2: The Alpha Romeo and then that new Audi that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Do you like the Audi?
Speaker 2: Yeah it looks awesome, Okay, but missed the Lotus in
Speaker 2: the fact that it could also be a submarine.
Speaker 1: And lastly, Chuck, I would like to say to all
Speaker 1: the kids of our generation, if you ever noticed a
Speaker 1: similarity between Inspector Gadget and James Bond, you were dead on.
Speaker 2: Yeah you think so?
Speaker 1: Yeah? All right, So that's about it. If you want
Speaker 1: to know more about James Bond, Like I said, there
Speaker 1: are three, at least three really good websites for all
Speaker 1: things Bond fandom. You can check out our website by
Speaker 1: typing James Bond brings up a bunch of stuff in
Speaker 1: the handy search bar. And now, if you can believe it,
Speaker 1: it is time for listener mail.
Speaker 2: Yes, Josh, I'm gonna call this samurai stuff from Thomas Guys.
Speaker 2: I'm a total samurai geek. I practiced Japanese sword based
Speaker 2: martial arts, kendo and ayado. I've read all this material
Speaker 2: about samurai and your podcast was a very good introduction,
Speaker 2: and I thank you for it. However, I am kind
Speaker 2: of surprised you did not mention the greatest samurai of
Speaker 2: all time, Miyamoto Musashi. This guy was the epitome of
Speaker 2: everything samurai were supposed to be. A dedicated soyvant, a poet,
Speaker 2: a painter, a calligrapher, philosopher, a general, and an all
Speaker 2: round butt kicking killer. Not only did he write the
Speaker 2: Book of Five Rings, he also killed sixty men in
Speaker 2: single combat before age forty, not to mention all the
Speaker 2: guys he killed in warfare. At one point in your
Speaker 2: podcast you talked about the wooden katana called bokung in Japanese. Yes,
Speaker 2: it was a practice sword, Josh, but it was also
Speaker 2: a weapon in its own right. Because Japan is such
Speaker 2: a wet climate, swords were sometimes destroyed by rust. Bokan
Speaker 2: were cheap and easy to replace, and Musashi was famous
Speaker 2: for winning some of his greatest battles with the wooden sword.
Speaker 2: Ow I know, can you imagine dude.
Speaker 1: Owyh uh coving smacked to death.
Speaker 2: Well, he says instead of cutting someone's heads off, he
Speaker 2: would brain them, which I guess means like the skull
Speaker 2: until their brains come out. Also, he was a big
Speaker 2: fan of using two swords at one time, sometimes two katana,
Speaker 2: sometimes the short and the long, whatever it took to
Speaker 2: do the job. You guys, Rocket love your show. I'm
Speaker 2: grateful for the Samurai show from Thomas.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you Thomas for the extra information. As I said,
Speaker 1: we are always interested in knowing everything we possibly can
Speaker 1: about a subject. So if you have anything to tell
Speaker 1: us about James Bond that we missed, that we got wrong,
Speaker 1: that we need to know, we want to hear it,
Speaker 1: wrap it up and send it in an email. Don't
Speaker 1: forget to spank it on a bottom and maybe serve
Speaker 1: it a dry martini shaken not stirred. Address it too.
Speaker 1: Stuff podcast at HowStuffWorks dot com.
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