The James Bond Rewatch: Current Movie - SPECTRE

[Doc755]

Veknoid_Outcast said:

Darwinianevolution said:
One question: were the Bond movies made in chronological order? "Diamonds Are Forever" seems more a sequel to "You only live Twice" than to "On Her Majesty's Secret Services", and not just because of the change of actor. In DaF, Bond starts to hunt for Blofeld in Japan, where he ended in YoLT, he doesn't seem affected by the death of her wife, and Blofeld has no signs of the wounds he took in "OhMSS". Am I the only one bothered by this?

It bother me too, but it's just a side effect of the unfortunate reality that the film studio made the movies in a different order from the books.

As @Doc755 will point out, continuity was a minor concern in 60s and 70s filmmaking.

I actually typed out a response to this last night however replying in mobile form still leaves a lot to be desired for this site. Coupled with not feeling well, I scrapped it. But yes, it definitely has to do with adapting the films out of sequence as well as shifting from Connery to Lazenby and then back to Connery. The original idea appears to have been for YOLT, OHMSS and DAF to be a trilogy however once Connery left and came back, they adjusted those plans and not very well.

In OHMSS, Bond was supposed to have had plastic surgery which is why Blofeld does not recognize him. Blofeld in the novels employed this as well I believe. However they cut it because it seemed to be winking at the audience too hard and they were trying to downplay the actor change. Never mind it leads to a huge goof in the screenplay.

When Lazenby was to stay on, DAF was to be a direct continuation of OHMSS however when he left, they wanted to distance the series from the one and done entry so Bond is still seeking to kill Blofeld however the reason behind it is left vague. In fact, it’s not even until For Your Eyes Only, that Tracy Bond’s death is affirmed as being canon. Ironically, that was written because they thought Moore was done after Moonraker and it would be a way to introduce a new actor.

The novels do have a Blofeld Trilogy: Thunderball, OMHSS and YOLT. For reference sake, the novel order is:

Casino Royale

Live and Let Die

Moonraker

Diamonds are Forever

From Russia with Love

Dr. No

Goldfinger

Thunderball

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

You Only Live Twice

The Man with the Golden Gun

Last edited by Doc755 - on 30 November 2019