James Bond & Friends

How much Bond continuity is successful? How much is necessary?

This episode we consider the problem of continuity in a 57 year-old film franchise. We speculate why the Daniel Craig era leaned so heavily on connections to the past and wonder what could have happened to poor Sylvia Trench. Along the way we stumble on abandoned continuity opportunities, James Bond in a retirement village, alternate universes in the franchise, possible timeline strategies after Craig, David’s plan to drop Waltz’s Blofeld down a chimney stack, our hopes and wishes for No Time To Die, Cary’s Instagram account, Mathis’ AirB&B, what a Danny Boyle Bond could have looked like, and a composer compromise all culminating in a rare track from Sir Roger to play us out.

The recording took place on November 1st in the USA, Spain, and New Zealand.

Paul Atkinson and James Page are co-founders of MI6-HQ.com and the magazine MI6 Confidential

Phil Nobile Jr is Editor-in-Chief of Fangoria magazine, former Bond correspondent for Birth.Movies.Death

Bill Koenig runs the Spy Command at hmssweblog.wordpress.com

David Leigh runs thejamesbonddossier.com

This podcast is copyright Pretitles LLC © 2019

Music credit 'Spy & Die' by Jay Man

How did the character of Moneypenny evolve from page to screen?

In light of the news that Naomie Harris has suggested an independent Moneypenny adventure, we delve into the character of M’s long-serving secretary and the other women of the MI6 offices – both in Fleming’s work and the film adaptations. We discuss the way the characters of Loelia Ponsonby, Mary Goodnight, and Miss Moneypenny merged to form the screen incarnation of the latter and Fleming’s grappling with the reception and characterisation of women in the workplace. Along the way we wonder where the other 00s have gone, stumble into Moneypenny’s wardrobe, and upon Desmond Llewelyn’s fridge, muse on Moneypenny’s missed opportunities, Rami Malek’s least-likely character name in No Time To Die, our Netflix spin-off that will never get made, catch up with Honey Ryder and her journey through the encyclopaedia, and return to the topics of unsurprising surprise castings, the attitudes of filmmakers and treating audiences with respect.

The recording took place on October 25th in the USA, Spain, and New Zealand.

Paul Atkinson and James Page are co-founders of MI6-HQ.com and the magazine MI6 Confidential

Bill Koenig runs the Spy Command at hmssweblog.wordpress.com

David Leigh runs thejamesbonddossier.com

Lisa Funnell (@CinemaOnFire) is Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma

Ben Williams writes for MI6-HQ.com and MI6 Confidential

This podcast is copyright Pretitles LLC © 2019

Music credit 'Spy & Die' by Jay Man

It is one of the world's largest collection of James Bond posters, and it's about to go under the hammer at auction on November 5th. Who better to chat about it than the man himself, Adam Carter-Jones, and the poster consultant for the auction Mike Bloomfield. We discuss how the collection started, some of the rarest and oddball items in the 460+ lots, personal favourites, and how the poster collecting scene has changed in recent years. You can check out the collection online at PropStore.com

The recording took place on October 31st in the USA and UK.

James Page is a co-founder of MI6-HQ.com and the magazine MI6 Confidential

Adam Carter-Jones is the founder of bondposters.com

Mike Bloomfield is the James Bond poster consultant for propstore.com

This podcast is copyright Pretitles LLC © 2019

Music credit 'Spy & Die' by Jay Man

We asked 100 James Bond fans...

Taking a break from our usual discussion format, we play Family Feud (or Family Fortunes, depending on where you're from) with Universal Experts and Team Oddjob to see who can best guess the results of the top 100 answers from an MI6 survey of James Bond fans. Play along at home and see how many of the top answers you can guess. Who will walk off with the star prize?

The recording took place on October 18th in the USA and Spain.

James Page is a co-founder of MI6-HQ.com and the magazine MI6 Confidential

David Leigh runs thejamesbonddossier.com 

Bill Koenig runs the Spy Command at hmssweblog.wordpress.com

Lisa Funnell (@CinemaOnFire) is Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma

Ben Williams writes for MI6-HQ.com and MI6 Confidential

This podcast is copyright Pretitles LLC © 2019

Music credit 'Spy & Die' by Jay Man

How do the films most faithful to Fleming stack up against the best original adventures? 

The panel selects their favourite film from the franchise that is closest to the Ian Fleming source material and - conversely - picks out their best wholly original adventure and we see how the two shortlists compare against each other in a theoretical boxset battle. Along the way, we credit Connery for his commitment, deep dive into a wasted title, discover a bargain book shop, and relive a white knuckle drive that only a true Bond fan would endure. 

The recording took place on October 11th in the USA, UK, and Spain. 

James Page is a co-founder of MI6-HQ.com and the magazine MI6 Confidential 

David Leigh runs thejamesbonddossier.com 

Bill Koenig runs the Spy Command at hmssweblog.wordpress.com

Joseph Darlington is Head of Section at beingjamesbond.com

This podcast is copyright Pretitles LLC © 2019

Music credit 'Spy & Die' by Jay Man

Does the scale of the villain's plot affect the quality of the adventure? 

We explore a hypothesis that the effectiveness of a James Bond film is related to the scale and stakes of the villain's plot. Along the way we discover a SPECTRE call centre, a firmware update to ATAC, MI6's station in Singapore doing overtime, Judi Dench's air miles, Bolivian oil changes, and why not just leave Scaramanga alone. 

The recording took place on September 27th in the USA, UK, and Spain. 

James Page is a co-founder of MI6-HQ.com and the magazine MI6 Confidential 

David Leigh runs thejamesbonddossier.com 

Bill Koenig runs the Spy Command at hmssweblog.wordpress.com

Joseph Darlington is Head of Section at beingjamesbond.com

This podcast is copyright Pretitles LLC © 2019

Music credit 'Spy & Die' by Jay Man

Which two pictures make the best double feature?

We explore the history of Bond double bills before pitching our ultimate double features to screen in our imaginary picture house. Our selections are designed to showcase some interesting tone, thematic or other connection amongst the 24 official films to date. Along the way we discover Frankenstein Moore, the odd pairing of non-Bond and Bond films, Pussy Galore's missing bikini, UA's selective amnesia, the dearth of faithful Fleming adaptations in the Moore era, retro Daniel Craig, hidden Fleming material in Licence to Kill, Della's consolation prize, reboots, murky chronology, and a series within series.

The recording took place on September 22nd in the USA, UK, and New Zealand.

Paul Atkinson is a co-founder of MI6-HQ.com and the magazine MI6 Confidential

Edward Biddulph is the author of 'Licence to Cook: Recipes Inspired by Ian Fleming's James Bond', and writes James Bond Memes

Bill Koenig runs the Spy Command at hmssweblog.wordpress.com

Joseph Darlington is Head of Section at beingjamesbond.com

This podcast is copyright Pretitles LLC © 2019

Music credit 'Spy & Die' by Jay Man

How is America treated in the James Bond series?

We kick off this week talking about the use of American locations in the James Bond novels and films, and quickly get detoured in to a deeper discussion about how the lense of Bond bends the relationship between the UK and the US through distortions and battles of power, culture, and sex. Along the way, we stumble upon rogue palm trees, 2 am commutes to Fort Knox, Welsh paddy fields, and banishing 007 from LA.

The recording took place on August 29th, 2019 in the USA.

James Page is a co-founder of MI6-HQ.com and the magazine MI6 Confidential

Lisa Funnell (@CinemaOnFire) is Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma

Bill Koenig runs the Spy Command at hmssweblog.wordpress.com

Ben Williams writes for MI6-HQ.com and MI6 Confidential

This podcast is copyright Pretitles LLC © 2019

Music credit 'Spy & Die' by Jay Man

Who should cover a Bond song?

We draft in new artists to perform cues for an imaginary 'Shaken And Stirred' album for the 2010s. With only our regular panelists' suspect musical taste and Q The Music's Warren Ringham to guide us, we make the case for some of our favourite performers to have a crack at a Bond song. Along the way Ben and David snipe each others' picks, and we stumble on Burt Bacharach's suspect vocal stylings, Sam Smith's falsetto, title songs as marketing, Dennis Waterman and his theme tune complex, creepy Goldfinger, Ringo's lost Bond theme, getting music recommendations from a computer, a musical theatre dark past, Queen's stealth hits, live podcast research, Wolverine on vocals, and the YouTube cover artist market.

The recording took place on August 16th, 2019 in the UK, USA and Spain.

Paul Atkinson is a co-founder of MI6-HQ.com and the magazine MI6 Confidential

Warren Ringham is the founder and manager of Q The Music

David Leigh runs thejamesbonddossier.com

Bill Koenig runs the Spy Command at hmssweblog.wordpress.co

Ben Williams writes for MI6-HQ.com and MI6 Confidential

This podcast is copyright Pretitles LLC © 2019

Music credit 'Spy & Die' by Jay Man

Why do the origins of characters have to be explained?

In part two of our recording with Joseph Darlington, Head of Section at Being James Bond, we cover some recent 007 news not related to Bond 25 and answer questions from listeners using the hashtag #askbond. Along the way, we stumble across the return of a non-biodegradable nemesis, strange audiences, speedy run-times, rogue audio effects, fake-out flops, clipboard wielding girls, life's loose threads, and bouncing pearls. Thanks to @SeekOutWisdom, @MediumAtomic, and @Stingray_travel for the questions.

The recording took place on August 23rd, 2019 in the USA and Spain.

James Page is a co-founder of MI6-HQ.com and the magazine MI6 Confidential

Joseph Darlington is Head of Section at beingjamesbond.com

David Leigh runs thejamesbonddossier.com

Bill Koenig runs the Spy Command at hmssweblog.wordpress.com

This podcast is copyright Pretitles LLC © 2019

Music credit 'Spy & Die' by Jay Man