q

BAM!

This BAM! moment from Diamonds Are Forever (1971) always reminded me of the old onomatopoeia words from fights in the live-action Batman television show from the 1960s.

It doesn’t involve a fight with Sean Connery’s Bond, but only serves to convey Bond’s quick departure from his phone call with Q when Bond realizes he has to cover his tracks with a newly escaped Peter Franks. While Bond congratulates Q on his successful fingerprint scam gadget, it’s kind of neat to check out what’s going on in the background at Q Branch. It looks like one of the few instances where we see a Q Branch Bond car – in this case some sort of an Aston Martin – getting serviced (they’re installing its stinger missiles).

And it’s funny because in the next scene, Bond *does* fistfight Peter Franks ithat could get away with using some BAMs! POWs! or THWACKs! Oh well…

Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - BAM!

James Bond and Q look up Emile Locque's info in For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Terrible FYEO Computer

James Bond and Q look up Emile Locque's info in For Your Eyes Only (1981)

In For Your Eyes Only (1981), Bond and Q look up baddie Emile Locque’s information in Q Branch’s database and get a gist of his criminal history. Alongside that, they get poor grammar, some bizarre and unnecessary abbreviations and a misspelling (“biblography” – which I guess should be “bibliography” as it is spelled at the bottom, but Locque’s profile has nothing to do with books…).

I guess it can be chalked up to the primitive nature of computers at the time (1981), but the look on Q’s face right after they read the information may indicate that Q realizes it “hasn’t been perfected yet.” 🙂

James Bond and Q look up Emile Locque's info in For Your Eyes Only (1981)

That's not a gadget, 007!

Don’t touch that! That’s my lunch!

The Q Branch scene from GoldenEye (1995) is one of my favorites of the series. It has it all: physical humor, great chemistry between Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and Q (Desmond Llewelyn), funny one-liners and quips and…the only time another movie’s theme is mentioned in a previous movie? Although it’s great, it does have its flaws.

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Keeping the British end up, sir…

This all=time one-liner at the end of The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) gets me every time. As Bond (Roger Moore) and Triple X (Barbara Bach) are caught in the act in an escape pod, a stunned General Gogol (Triple X’s boss), M (Bond’s boss) and Sir Frederick Gray (Bond’s boss’s boss) can’t believe their eyes.

The exchange is legendary: “Bond!” “Tri-PULL X!” “Bond! What do you think you’re doing?” make the men sound more like disappointed parental figures rather than government intelligence. A speechless Q can only watch in awe, almost jaw-dropped.

And then 007 quickly quips a legendary James Bond line of lore. It ends with a celebratory-sounding chorus line version of the movie’s theme, declaring “nobody does it better” in a hilarious double entendre. HA! So awesome!

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) - Keeping the British end up, sir...

Daniel Craig as James Bond and Ben Whishaw as Q in Skyfall

Spectre > Skyfall

There, I said it. 🙂

Daniel Craig as James Bond and Ben Whishaw as Q in Skyfall

Whatever you do, don’t touch it.

desmond

Q enters your query into the Identigraph in For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Ask Q’s Identigraph: Create a poem about James Bond’s love for martinis

James Bond (Roger Moore) and Q (Desmond Llewelyn) load the Identigraph 3D generated image system in For Your Eyes Only (1981)

James Bond (Roger Moore) and Q (Desmond Llewelyn) load the Identigraph 3D generated image system in For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Q Branch’s Identigraph machine from For Your Eyes Only (1981) has been updated with the latest in AI technology to perform as a chatbot. Ask it anything related to the world of James Bond!

Query: Create a poem about James Bond’s love for martinis.

Q enters your query into the Identigraph in For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Q enters your query into the Identigraph in For Your Eyes Only (1981)

A martini, shaken not stirred,
A drink that Bond, forever preferred.
A symbol of his suave and style,
A drink that always made him smile.

With a twist of lemon, or a pearl of olive,
Bond’s martini, always had a certain finesse.
A sip, a taste, and a subtle nod,
Bond’s love for martinis, always in the spotlight.

Whether in a casino, or in a spy chase,
Bond’s martini, always in the right place.
A drink of class, a drink of grace,
Bond’s martini, a love story without a trace.

So let us raise a glass, to Bond and his martini,
A love story, that will forever be mini.
A drink that defined a spy, a legend,
A drink that will forever, be remembered.

Answers generated by ChatGPT. 🙂

Bond & Q

Rami Malek as Safin in No Time To Die (2020)

No Time To Die Character Posters

The official 007 Twitter account has just posted six awesome character posters in anticipation of tomorrow’s trailer to No Time To Die and they are AWESOME! They feature Daniel Craig as James Bond, Léa Seydoux as Madeleine Swann, Rami Malek as Safin, Lashana Lynch as Nomi, Ben Whishaw as Q and Ana de Armas as Paloma.

Some quick, random thoughts about them:

  • Bond is a badass in gloves and tactical holster on his thigh – almost looks like an assassin. Is Bond required to kill Safin?
  • Swann looks great but overall muted…does she meet her maker in the beginning part of the movie?
  • Safin is devious and kind of hiding his hands (akthough you *can* definitely see skin if you look close enough) Are they or will they be metallic? Safin aka Dr. No?
  • Nomi is a badass…looking left to Safin’s character in the Tweet…does she first try to take him down and Bond helps her finish the job?
  • Whishaw’s Q is a treasure…we are spoiled to have someone take up the Q helm worthy of Desmond Llewelyn.
  • Paloma is a lowkey (not anymore) badass apparently…between the dual klobb in the teaser to the teaser trailer and this pic, she will likely be a force to be reckoned with.
Daniel Craig as James Bond in No Time To Die (2020)

Daniel Craig as James Bond in No Time To Die (2020)

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The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838, an oil painting by the English artist Joseph Mallord William Turner

Skyfall’s “The Fighting Temeraire” Painting

The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838, an oil painting by the English artist Joseph Mallord William Turner

James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Q (Ben Whishaw) meet at the National Gallery in London in front of painting The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838, an oil painting by the English artist Joseph Mallord William Turner in Skyfall (2012)

James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Q (Ben Whishaw) meet at the National Gallery in London in front of painting The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838, an oil painting by the English artist Joseph Mallord William Turner in Skyfall (2012)

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