James Bond Question
 

I grew up with my step dad loving Bond, but I never got into the series. I have seen all of the Moore and Connery, but none of the new movies. After seeing a commercial for Casino Royal last night, there was a line that got me wondering.
Have they ever addressed the different the actors playing Bond? Is "James Bond 007" a title and they just cycle secret agents into that role as an opening occurs?

Not in the official films, no. In the parody version of Casino Royale, the real James Bond has retired and has been replaced by a knockoff in order to keep the legend alive.

I've always wondered if each Bond (actor) lived all the movies or did the Moore Bond just live the Moore movies & Connery Bond only lived the Connery movies and the Moore adventures didn't happen.

There have been references to Tracy (from On Her Majesty's Secret Service) in both Moore and Brosnan films...which implies that it's all one dude.

The trailer I saw for the new Casino Royale

Not sure if this is a spoiler or not, but what the hell. Cusm:

I'm excited about the reboot, but man, does Daniel Craig look busted. That cover of EW is scary.

As well as in the Dalton flick Licence to Kill....

Exactly...when Felix tells his wife "He was married...but it was a long time ago."

Plus, the Moore Bond takes care of Blofeld at the beginning of FYEO...even though Moore's Bond hadn't encountered him before (only Connery and Lazenby).

However, there's also evidence that they were all different men...like when George Lazenby says "That never happened to the other fellow" at the beginning of OHMSS. But I think that's widely considered a "throw away" line...the general concensus is that they're all the SAME guy.

I think the most tell-tale piece of evidence that Commander Bond is one and the same throughout the movies is shown in

ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE

when Lazenby's Bond goes to his office, looks through his desk drawers, and takes a trip down memory lane by playing with all of the old gadgets that he collected from previous adventures, such as Thunderball, Dr. No, From Russia with Love (making the audience member ASSUME that he's reliving his own memories, not someone else's)

Plus, at the beginning of DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, Connery's Bond is searching for Blofeld, after what he did to him in Lazenby's OHMSS.

The point is, there is some CONTINUITY established through the series, even with the different actors.

Yeah, before "Casino Royale" they made an effort to continuously remind the audience that it was the same guy across all 20 films. Even in "OHMSS" where there's that throwaway line they showed footage from the previous films in the credits and had a scene where Bond reminisced about past missions while looking at gadgets from the previous films.

I can't remember if it was mentioned in any of the movies, but the novels talk about other 00 agents.

Well I always figured there were 8 other 00 agents, but was not sure about 007 after seeing the new trailer, I always assumed from the old movies it was suppose to be one person. With Groucho's explanation, it explains the trailer better.

I was under the assumption that they were different people. I too caught this on the trailer for the new Casino Royale, but assumed that it was how they had dealt with the rest of the film...this may be due to my way of thinking about it though.

I was also apprehensive about Craig, but I think he is going to fill the role well!! This newest movie looks great!

There's also Die Another Day in which the new Q and Bond walk thru a lot of the old props for the previous films and Bond mentions that he never knew they still had all that stuff around.

James Bond: So, this is where they keep the old relics, then, eh?
Q: I'll have you know our TOP cutting-edge technology is designed here.
James Bond: [fingering a blade] Point taken...
Q: Must you touch everything?
James Bond: [seeing his Thunderball jet pack] Hey, does this still work?
[He activates the jet pack, and Q struggles to subdue it]
Q: Now look...

In Golden Eye, 007 faces a former 006.

At the beginning of The Living Daylights, Bond is on a training exercise with three other 00 agents. Apparently, the actors cast as the other agents were supposed to have a resemblence to Connery, Lazenby, and Moore...but I don't see it.

002 is killed at the beginning of The Man With The Golden Gun

003 dies at the beginning of A View To A Kill

004 is one of the 00's killed at the beginning of The Living Daylights

006 is the Sean Bean character in GoldenEye

008 - M threatens to replace Bond with him in Goldfinger

009 is killed at the beginning of Octopussy. There's a 009 mentioned in Thunderball (presumingly the one that is killed in Octopussy) Another 009 is mentioned in The World Is Not Enough.

Thunderball showed all the 00 agents sitting in number order at the briefing, sitting next to 007 was a bearded 006, which he probably shaved his beard before the events of GoldenEye. ;)

You can spot 002,003 and 009 and see if they look alike to their later appearances.

Hey, even 007 had a beard for a while in DIE ANOTHER DAY. ;)

Offscreen. And 2 years prior to the movie.

The other agent - another 002 - isn't killed. Just "taken out" of the war games by an SAS trooper. The actors playing both 00 agents were picked because they slightly resembled Moore and Lazenby.

Something he also threatened to do in Goldfinger...

I believe he also threatens it in Goldfinger.

Didn't he do that in Goldfinger?

That happened to be in Goldfinger.

:lol:

Casino Royale 2006 opens with the mission that earns James Bond his 00 licence. Thus, 007 is not the only officer/agent working for MI6.

Its presumed that when you earn the licence to kill, you earn a 00 number. This is reinforced by M in Die Another Day. She revokes his 00 number and licence to kill. Up until she reinstates it, she refers to him only as James. In the previous films she switches between James, Bond, James Bond, and 007 when talking about him.

M also reinforces that all the Bonds were the same person with her line in Goldeneye: " Good, because I think you're a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War, who's boyish charms, though wasted on me, obviously appealed to the young lady I sent out to evaluate you."

Even Q mentions it with the line about the watch given to Bond in Die Another Day being his 20th. The 2002 film was the 20th official Bond film.