• [NEWS] Everything Paramount will control if it buys Warner Bros.

    From Your Name@YourName@YourISP.com to rec.arts.tv, rec.arts.sf.tv, rec.arts.movies.current-films, rec.arts.movies.past-films, rec.arts.sf.movies on Sat Feb 28 13:36:42 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies



    Everything Larry and David Ellison Will Control
    if Paramount Buys Warner Bros.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Paramount Skydance's sprawling media empire will get a major
    boost if the deal gets approved.

    Less than a year ago, Skydance Media closed its $8 billion
    merger with Paramount, making the Trump-friendly Ellison
    family - billionaire Oracle founder Larry and his son David,
    CEO of Paramount Skydance - among the most powerful media
    moguls in the country. A looming Paramount Skydance merger
    with Warner Bros. Discovery would expand their empire even
    further.

    Now that Netflix has backed out of its bid to acquire WBD,
    the Ellisons stand to gain an entirely new trove of
    significant intellectual property, from DC Comics to Harry
    Potter. As part of the deal, the Ellison Trust is committing
    to $45.7 billion in equity and a $7 billion termination fee
    if federal regulators don't approve of it, according to
    Reuters.

    Paramount's merger with Skydance has already brought about
    mass layoffs, including at CBS News, where Free Press
    founder Bari Weiss is leading a cultural overhaul as
    editor-in-chief. In January, Oracle became a partial owner
    of TikTok, giving the Ellisons even more cultural currency.

    Here's everything the family would control if the WBD deal
    goes through.

    - CBS and CBS News
    Besides its news division, which includes 60 Minutes, CBS
    is also home to hits like Tracker and Matlock, along with
    reality stalwarts Survivor and Big Brother.

    - HBO and HBO Max
    Among the most Emmy-winningest networks to exist, HBO's
    library includes classics like Game of Thrones, The Wire,
    and Veep, as well as newer hits like The Pitt, The Gilded
    Age, and Thrones spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
    (Outside of Canada, HBO Max is also a key distributor of
    hockey smut drama Heated Rivalry.)

    - CNN
    While CNN's ratings dipped last year, it remains a news
    juggernaut and a top 5 cable network, featuring household
    names like John King, Kaitlan Collins, and Anderson Cooper
    (who recently announced he will be leaving 60 Minutes at
    the end of the current season).

    - DC Comics
    The merger would put Paramount Skydance in control of
    storied comic book franchises like Superman, Batman, and
    Wonder Woman.

    - Harry Potter
    The wizarding world of Harry Potter, including all eight
    fantasy films and the upcoming HBO television series slated
    to premiere in 2027 would also be under the Ellisons'
    purview.

    - TikTok
    As of a deal finalized in January, Oracle now holds a 15%
    stake in TikTok's US operations.

    - Star Trek
    All 13 Star Trek movies and television shows are owned by
    Paramount Skydance. At a press event last year, Dana
    Goldberg, cochair of Paramount Pictures and chair of
    Paramount Television, said the franchise would be a
    "priority across the company."

    - Warner Bros. Studios
    Home to blockbusters like Barbie, The Dark Knight, and more
    recently, One Battle After Another, and Sinners.

    - Comedy Central
    South Park announced a five-year, $1.5 billion deal with
    Paramount last July, just prior to the merger with Skydance.
    The show has since skewered Donald Trump and those in his
    administration regularly.

    - Avatar Studios [The Last Avatar, not James Cameron's sci-fi]
    In December, Paramount+ announced it would be the exclusive
    streamer of Avatar Studios content, including animated film
    The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender and series Avatar:
    Seven Havens.

    - A Bunch of Cable Channels and Networks
    The Food Network, HGTV, Discovery, TLC, OWN, Adult Swim,
    Showtime, TNT, and TBS are all part of WBD.

    - Other Key Franchises
    Other notable titles that are or would be controlled by the
    Ellisons, pending the WBD takeover include: The Lord of the
    Rings franchise, the Mission Impossible franchise, and the
    distribution rights to Dune: Part Three.



    <https://removepaywalls.com/https://www.wired.com/story/everything-the-ellison-family-will-control-if-paramount-acquires-warner-brothers-discovery/>





    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Ubiquitous@weberm@polaris.net to rec.arts.tv,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies on Fri Feb 27 22:12:51 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    In article <10ntdaq$2vqd3$1@dont-email.me>, YourName@YourISP.com wrote:

    Everything Larry and David Ellison Will Control if Paramount Buys Warner Bros.

    Better them than Netflix!
    (But not much)
    --
    Dems & the media want Trump to be more like Obama, but then he'd
    have to audit liberals & wire tap reporters' phones.

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From BTR1701@atropos@mac.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Sat Feb 28 21:14:31 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On Feb 27, 2026 at 4:36:42 PM PST, "Your Name" <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:

    Everything Larry and David Ellison Will Control
    if Paramount Buys Warner Bros.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Paramount Skydance's sprawling media empire will get a major
    boost if the deal gets approved.

    Conservative Oracle founder Larry Ellison dropped $110 billion to have Paramount-Skydance devour Warner Bros. Discovery whole.

    CNN? HBO? CBS? All ours now. MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Showtime, TNT, TBS, Adult Swim, Paramount+, Warner Bros. Studios, the DC and Harry Potter universes... the entire propaganda hydra just got choked out and rebranded under conservative control.

    Netflix tried to play savior but they folded.

    For decades the leftist cultists treated the media like their personal prefrontal cortex, pumping out leftist propaganda 24/7, manufacturing consent for open borders, aborting babies, groomer policies in schools, hug-a-thug crime policies, mutilating children in the name of transformer ideology, and every flavor of degeneracy that keeps their dopamine-starved base seething and voting blue.

    That was their only real power. Not ideas. Not truth. Just narrative control. The 4AM talking points. The gaslighting machine. The slow-drip poison that convinced half the country black was white and men could get pregnant.

    The exorcism has begun.

    One of the comments I saw on the exTwitters to a BSNOW talking head bemoaning the loss of their cultural hegemony was as hilarious as it was crude:

    "Karma isn't just a whore. SherCOs a blood-soaked hellbitch with a 12-inch strap-on and zero lube, and she's balls-deep in the collective asshole of
    every blue-check leftist propagandist who thought they'd own the culture forever."



    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Paul S Person@psperson@old.netcom.invalid to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Sun Mar 1 08:50:04 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On Sat, 28 Feb 2026 21:14:31 -0000 (UTC), BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com>
    wrote:
    On Feb 27, 2026 at 4:36:42 PM PST, "Your Name" <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:

    Everything Larry and David Ellison Will Control
    if Paramount Buys Warner Bros.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Paramount Skydance's sprawling media empire will get a major
    boost if the deal gets approved.

    Conservative Oracle founder Larry Ellison dropped $110 billion to have >Paramount-Skydance devour Warner Bros. Discovery whole.

    CNN? HBO? CBS? All ours now. MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Showtime, TNT, >TBS, Adult Swim, Paramount+, Warner Bros. Studios, the DC and Harry Potter >universes... the entire propaganda hydra just got choked out and rebranded >under conservative control.

    Netflix tried to play savior but they folded.

    For decades the leftist cultists treated the media like their personal >prefrontal cortex, pumping out leftist propaganda 24/7, manufacturing consent >for open borders, aborting babies, groomer policies in schools, hug-a-thug >crime policies, mutilating children in the name of transformer ideology, and >every flavor of degeneracy that keeps their dopamine-starved base seething and >voting blue.
    Nice projection. Too bad its been used so often it is yawn-inspiring.
    That was their only real power. Not ideas. Not truth. Just narrative control. >The 4AM talking points. The gaslighting machine. The slow-drip poison that >convinced half the country black was white and men could get pregnant.
    Nice projection. Too bad its been used so often it is yawn-inspiring.
    The exorcism has begun.

    One of the comments I saw on the exTwitters to a BSNOW talking head bemoaning >the loss of their cultural hegemony was as hilarious as it was crude:

    "Karma isn't just a whore. SheAs a blood-soaked hellbitch with a 12-inch >strap-on and zero lube, and she's balls-deep in the collective asshole of >every blue-check leftist propagandist who thought they'd own the culture >forever."
    That's OK, it'll be Fox's turn soon.
    What goes around, comes around.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Pluted Pup@plutedpup@outlook.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Sun Mar 1 18:42:42 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On 2/28/26 1:14 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    On Feb 27, 2026 at 4:36:42 PM PST, "Your Name" <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:

    Everything Larry and David Ellison Will Control
    if Paramount Buys Warner Bros.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Paramount Skydance's sprawling media empire will get a major
    boost if the deal gets approved.

    Conservative Oracle founder Larry Ellison

    Who care's if he's a Conservative? All Jews are on the
    same side.


    dropped $110 billion to have
    Paramount-Skydance devour Warner Bros. Discovery whole.

    CNN? HBO? CBS? All ours

    "Ours"? Speak for yourself.


    now. MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Showtime, TNT,
    TBS, Adult Swim, Paramount+, Warner Bros. Studios, the DC and Harry Potter universes... the entire propaganda hydra just got choked out and rebranded under conservative control.

    The "buying out the competition" scheme only "works" if it's
    a major power buying out low power outlets, to suppress
    competition, but we need *more* competition, not less.
    Monopoly Media is Rent-Seeking, and no Ellisons, Brins,
    Finks, Musks, etc., are heroes here.


    Netflix tried to play savior but they folded.

    For decades the leftist cultists treated the media like their personal prefrontal cortex, pumping out leftist propaganda 24/7, manufacturing consent for open borders, aborting babies, groomer policies in schools, hug-a-thug crime policies, mutilating children in the name of transformer ideology, and every flavor of degeneracy that keeps their dopamine-starved base seething and
    voting blue.

    That was their only real power. Not ideas. Not truth. Just narrative control. The 4AM talking points. The gaslighting machine. The slow-drip poison that convinced half the country black was white and men could get pregnant.

    They, in other words, proclaim that their unanimous opinion
    is proof that what they say is always true; this is caused
    by a lack of oppositional media.



    The exorcism has begun.

    One of the comments I saw on the exTwitters to a BSNOW talking head bemoaning the loss of their cultural hegemony was as hilarious as it was crude:

    "Karma isn't just a whore. SherCOs a blood-soaked hellbitch with a 12-inch strap-on and zero lube, and she's balls-deep in the collective asshole of every blue-check leftist propagandist who thought they'd own the culture forever."

    That sounds like Jews and their rape threats. Be real,
    Jewish politics consists of Jews attacking non-Jews.











    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Ubiquitous@weberm@polaris.net to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Sun Mar 8 01:59:00 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    In article <10nvlrn$3m304$2@dont-email.me>, atropos@mac.com wrote:
    On Feb 27, 2026 at 4:36:42 PM PST, "Your Name" <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:

    Everything Larry and David Ellison Will Control
    if Paramount Buys Warner Bros.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Paramount Skydance's sprawling media empire will get a major
    boost if the deal gets approved.

    Conservative Oracle founder Larry Ellison dropped $110 billion to have >Paramount-Skydance devour Warner Bros. Discovery whole.

    He's conservative? Didn't he buy the 007 franchise from the Brocolli
    widow, only to remove the gun from all Bond posterwork and announce
    the next Bond movie will have a "Bond They/Them"?
    --
    Democrats and the liberal media hate President Trump more than they
    love this country.

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Ubiquitous@weberm@polaris.net to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Sun Mar 8 03:01:39 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    plutedpup@outlook.com wrote:

    It's rumored Musk also used Arab money for buying twitter
    rather than just his own money for massive financial
    rewards to the crooked former management of Twitter.

    Oh, you tricked me into saying "Arab", when I'm assuming
    you mean Saudi Arabia, run by a family who are puppets
    of Israel.

    Racism noted.
    --
    Democrats and the liberal media hate President Trump more than they
    love this country.

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Ubiquitous@weberm@polaris.net to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Sun Mar 8 03:04:41 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    plutedpup@outlook.com wrote:
    On 2/28/26 1:14 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    "Your Name" <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:

    Everything Larry and David Ellison Will Control
    if Paramount Buys Warner Bros.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Paramount Skydance's sprawling media empire will get a major
    boost if the deal gets approved.

    Conservative Oracle founder Larry Ellison

    Who care's if he's a Conservative? All Jews are on the same side.

    OK, antisemite.
    --
    Democrats and the liberal media hate President Trump more than they
    love this country.

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Dimensional Traveler@dtravel@sonic.net to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Sun Mar 8 11:20:49 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On 3/7/2026 10:59 PM, Ubiquitous wrote:
    In article <10nvlrn$3m304$2@dont-email.me>, atropos@mac.com wrote:
    On Feb 27, 2026 at 4:36:42 PM PST, "Your Name" <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote: >>
    Everything Larry and David Ellison Will Control
    if Paramount Buys Warner Bros.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Paramount Skydance's sprawling media empire will get a major
    boost if the deal gets approved.

    Conservative Oracle founder Larry Ellison dropped $110 billion to have
    Paramount-Skydance devour Warner Bros. Discovery whole.

    He's conservative? Didn't he buy the 007 franchise from the Brocolli
    widow, only to remove the gun from all Bond posterwork and announce
    the next Bond movie will have a "Bond They/Them"?

    All the discussion that I've seen about who the next Bond will be have
    been about male actors.
    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From BTR1701@atropos@mac.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Sun Mar 8 19:43:15 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On Mar 7, 2026 at 11:59:00 PM PST, "Ubiquitous" <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:

    In article <10nvlrn$3m304$2@dont-email.me>, atropos@mac.com wrote:
    On Feb 27, 2026 at 4:36:42 PM PST, "Your Name" <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote: >>
    Everything Larry and David Ellison Will Control
    if Paramount Buys Warner Bros.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Paramount Skydance's sprawling media empire will get a major
    boost if the deal gets approved.

    Conservative Oracle founder Larry Ellison dropped $110 billion to have
    Paramount-Skydance devour Warner Bros. Discovery whole.

    He's conservative? Didn't he buy the 007 franchise from the Brocolli
    widow, only to remove the gun from all Bond posterwork and announce
    the next Bond movie will have a "Bond They/Them"?

    That was Bezos (Amazon).


    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Ubiquitous@weberm@polaris.net to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Sun Mar 8 20:00:44 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    In article <10okem0$2j96d$1@dont-email.me>, dtravel@sonic.net wrote:
    On 3/7/2026 10:59 PM, Ubiquitous wrote:
    In article <10nvlrn$3m304$2@dont-email.me>, atropos@mac.com wrote:
    "Your Name" <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:

    Everything Larry and David Ellison Will Control
    if Paramount Buys Warner Bros.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Paramount Skydance's sprawling media empire will get a major
    boost if the deal gets approved.

    Conservative Oracle founder Larry Ellison dropped $110 billion to have
    Paramount-Skydance devour Warner Bros. Discovery whole.

    He's conservative? Didn't he buy the 007 franchise from the Brocolli
    widow, only to remove the gun from all Bond posterwork and announce
    the next Bond movie will have a "Bond They/Them"?

    All the discussion that I've seen about who the next Bond will be have
    been about male actors.

    I remember them floating the idea of Bond being a black guy but
    I thought someone tried to float the idea of a Jane Bond.
    --
    Democrats and the liberal media hate President Trump more than they
    love this country.

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Dimensional Traveler@dtravel@sonic.net to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Sun Mar 8 21:20:53 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On 3/8/2026 5:00 PM, Ubiquitous wrote:
    In article <10okem0$2j96d$1@dont-email.me>, dtravel@sonic.net wrote:
    On 3/7/2026 10:59 PM, Ubiquitous wrote:
    In article <10nvlrn$3m304$2@dont-email.me>, atropos@mac.com wrote:
    "Your Name" <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:

    Everything Larry and David Ellison Will Control
    if Paramount Buys Warner Bros.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Paramount Skydance's sprawling media empire will get a major
    boost if the deal gets approved.

    Conservative Oracle founder Larry Ellison dropped $110 billion to have >>>> Paramount-Skydance devour Warner Bros. Discovery whole.

    He's conservative? Didn't he buy the 007 franchise from the Brocolli
    widow, only to remove the gun from all Bond posterwork and announce
    the next Bond movie will have a "Bond They/Them"?

    All the discussion that I've seen about who the next Bond will be have
    been about male actors.

    I remember them floating the idea of Bond being a black guy but
    I thought someone tried to float the idea of a Jane Bond.

    I honestly don't see a problem with a Black Bond.
    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From BTR1701@atropos@mac.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Mon Mar 9 04:34:38 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On Mar 8, 2026 at 9:20:53 PM PDT, "Dimensional Traveler" <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

    On 3/8/2026 5:00 PM, Ubiquitous wrote:
    In article <10okem0$2j96d$1@dont-email.me>, dtravel@sonic.net wrote:
    On 3/7/2026 10:59 PM, Ubiquitous wrote:
    In article <10nvlrn$3m304$2@dont-email.me>, atropos@mac.com wrote:
    "Your Name" <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:

    Everything Larry and David Ellison Will Control
    if Paramount Buys Warner Bros.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Paramount Skydance's sprawling media empire will get a major >>>>>> boost if the deal gets approved.

    Conservative Oracle founder Larry Ellison dropped $110 billion to have >>>>> Paramount-Skydance devour Warner Bros. Discovery whole.

    He's conservative? Didn't he buy the 007 franchise from the Brocolli
    widow, only to remove the gun from all Bond posterwork and announce
    the next Bond movie will have a "Bond They/Them"?

    All the discussion that I've seen about who the next Bond will be have
    been about male actors.

    I remember them floating the idea of Bond being a black guy but
    I thought someone tried to float the idea of a Jane Bond.

    I honestly don't see a problem with a Black Bond.

    The 'problem' is why the Hollywoods feel the need to constantly race-swap popular white characters and put them in blackface.

    If you want a black super-spy hero, create a new character and tell that
    story. There's no reason-- other than a political/social agenda-- to
    constantly take historically white characters and make them black. And there's even less reason to do it when the characters are actual real people from history-- like Netflix's black Anne Boleyn. Or all the black Vikings on the show of the same name.

    Why don't we make a biopic about MLK and cast Mel Gibson in the lead role? I think we all know the reason why.


    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Your Name@YourName@YourISP.com to rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.movies.current-films on Mon Mar 9 17:36:07 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On 2026-03-09 04:20:53 +0000, Dimensional Traveler said:
    On 3/8/2026 5:00 PM, Ubiquitous wrote:
    In article <10okem0$2j96d$1@dont-email.me>, dtravel@sonic.net wrote:
    On 3/7/2026 10:59 PM, Ubiquitous wrote:
    In article <10nvlrn$3m304$2@dont-email.me>, atropos@mac.com wrote:
    "Your Name" <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:

    Everything Larry and David Ellison Will Control
    if Paramount Buys Warner Bros.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Paramount Skydance's sprawling media empire will get a major
    boost if the deal gets approved.

    Conservative Oracle founder Larry Ellison dropped $110 billion to have >>>>> Paramount-Skydance devour Warner Bros. Discovery whole.

    He's conservative? Didn't he buy the 007 franchise from the Brocolli
    widow, only to remove the gun from all Bond posterwork and announce
    the next Bond movie will have a "Bond They/Them"?

    All the discussion that I've seen about who the next Bond will be have
    been about male actors.

    I remember them floating the idea of Bond being a black guy but
    I thought someone tried to float the idea of a Jane Bond.

    I honestly don't see a problem with a Black Bond.

    It depends on whether you see "James Bond" as a character's real name
    or simply as a codename (i.e. any agent can be given the "007" and
    "James Bond" codenames)

    Plus, it depends whether they are making the movie from an original
    book or making up their own (usually illfitting) story. In the books,
    the character is described as being:

    "In the novels (notably From Russia, with Love), Bond's physical
    description has generally been consistent: slim build; a three-inch
    long, thin vertical scar on his right cheek; blue-grey eyes; a "cruel"
    mouth; short, black hair, a comma of which falls on his forehead.
    Physically he is described as 183 centimeters (6 feet) in height and
    76 kilograms (167 lb) in weight."
    <https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/James_Bond_(Literary)#Looks>

    The wikipedia pages say Bond is:

    "a white man with Scottish heritage, dark hair, and blue-grey eyes".
    <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bond_(literary_character)>

    Some websites also say he is described as being "tanned", which would
    be rather impossible for a black person.


    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Adam H. Kerman@ahk@chinet.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Mon Mar 9 05:40:37 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
    On 3/8/2026 5:00 PM, Ubiquitous wrote:
    In article <10okem0$2j96d$1@dont-email.me>, dtravel@sonic.net wrote:
    On 3/7/2026 10:59 PM, Ubiquitous wrote:
    In article <10nvlrn$3m304$2@dont-email.me>, atropos@mac.com wrote:
    "Your Name" <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:

    Everything Larry and David Ellison Will Control
    if Paramount Buys Warner Bros.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Paramount Skydance's sprawling media empire will get a major >>>>>> boost if the deal gets approved.

    Conservative Oracle founder Larry Ellison dropped $110 billion to have >>>>> Paramount-Skydance devour Warner Bros. Discovery whole.

    He's conservative? Didn't he buy the 007 franchise from the Brocolli
    widow, only to remove the gun from all Bond posterwork and announce
    the next Bond movie will have a "Bond They/Them"?

    All the discussion that I've seen about who the next Bond will be have
    been about male actors.

    I remember them floating the idea of Bond being a black guy but
    I thought someone tried to float the idea of a Jane Bond.

    I honestly don't see a problem with a Black Bond.

    Then you must not have a problem with a white Shaft or a white Black
    Panther.

    Ian Fleming was the consumate English snob. The character was a
    gentleman with Fleming's prejudices and refined tastes who was also a
    thug. He imagined David Niven, who was too old when the movies finally
    went into production more than a decade later. He was horrified with the
    cast of Sean Connery in Dr. No but extremely please with the movie's box office. Suddenly, in one of the late novels, Bond got retconned with a
    Scottish ancestry.

    Fleming was prejudice as hell. You saw what he'd written about blacks in
    Live and Let Die.

    However, if Idris Elba had been cast, I'm sure I'd have enjoyed the
    movie as he's a fantastic actor, but now he's too old. Bond is
    perpetually in his mid 30s.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From The True Melissa@thetruemelissa@gmail.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Mon Mar 9 07:36:06 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    Verily, in article <10olmgl$314op$1@dont-email.me>, did ahk@chinet.com
    deliver unto us this message:
    Then you must not have a problem with a white Shaft or a white Black
    Panther.


    There's a theory that "James Bond" is not a person but a code name for whoever's the top agent at the time. Among other things, this explains
    how Sean Connery was able to return to the role after Roger Moore had
    taken it, with Moore then taking over again. They weren't playing the
    same character; they were two different agents using the name at
    different times.

    For those who believe that theory, a black Bond wouldn't be a problem.
    --
    The True Melissa - Canal Winchester - Ohio
    United States of America - North America - Earth
    Solar System - Milky Way - Local Group
    Virgo Cluster - Laniakea Supercluster - Cosmos
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Adam H. Kerman@ahk@chinet.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Mon Mar 9 12:32:25 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    The True Melissa <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:
    did ahk@chinet.com deliver unto us this message:

    Then you must not have a problem with a white Shaft or a white Black >>Panther.

    There's a theory that "James Bond" is not a person but a code name for >whoever's the top agent at the time. Among other things, this explains
    how Sean Connery was able to return to the role after Roger Moore had
    taken it, with Moore then taking over again. They weren't playing the
    same character; they were two different agents using the name at
    different times.

    For those who believe that theory, a black Bond wouldn't be a problem.

    Those people cannot handwave away that

    1) Sean Connery fails to notice that the plot is awfully familiar as
    it's a remake

    2) Roger Moore, in For Your Eyes Only, returns the same Maguffin stolen
    by the girl then given to Sean Connery in From Russia With Love

    3) George Lazenby, Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Timothy Dalton were
    all married to the same Tracy. I cannot recall if any of the four
    Remington Steele movies referenced Tracy. Daniel Craig had later
    references to Vesper.

    4) Were Blofeld and Leiter also different characters using the same
    name, given that they were repeatedly recast, with the exception for the
    same Leiter being used in two different movies? M also got recast, which
    was supposed to be the same M. Judy Dench is a different character.
    Moneypenny got recast.

    Blofeld's cat, not a character in the novels, was also recast.

    5) Given that a dozen or so actors had prominent supporting roles playing different characters in various movies, are those somehow supposed to be
    the same character using different aliases?

    6) The theory accomplishes nothing for MI-6. Also, Bond is a ridiculous
    spy given that every casino and fine hotel in Europe knows who he is.

    The only support for that theory is the self-deprecating joke Lazenby
    makes when Diana Rigg doesn't immediately get dissuaded from her suicide attempt upon encountering Bond. "That never happened to the other
    fellow." Also, it's the plot of Casino Royale (1967).

    I would also argue that Connery's Bond is almost a new character in
    Goldfinger. He wore pastels! But Dalton returned to the way Connery
    played Bond in Dr No.

    Those people aren't true Bond fans. We accept that Bond movies lack
    explanation and continuity, what little there was in the novels, gets
    destroyed when the movies were out of sequence. Somehow Bond and
    Blofeld, both recast, hadn't met in On Her Majesty's Secret
    Service. Bond is supposed to be perpetually in his mid 30s. The later
    novels dropped his WWII navy service. We accept that Craig's Bond is
    earlier in "continuity" than the rest of them, despite each movie being
    set contemporarily.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From The True Melissa@thetruemelissa@gmail.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Mon Mar 9 09:43:18 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    Verily, in article <10omekp$3am6i$1@dont-email.me>, did ahk@chinet.com
    deliver unto us this message:
    1) Sean Connery fails to notice that the plot is awfully familiar as
    it's a remake

    Enh, that's just fiction.

    2) Roger Moore, in For Your Eyes Only, returns the same Maguffin stolen
    by the girl then given to Sean Connery in From Russia With Love

    Yeah, I guess the two agents would have had to hand it off.

    3) George Lazenby, Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Timothy Dalton were
    all married to the same Tracy. I cannot recall if any of the four
    Remington Steele movies referenced Tracy. Daniel Craig had later
    references to Vesper.

    Hmm, that one's difficult. I suppose one could argue that "Tracy Bond"
    is the code name for the top agent's wife, if any.


    4) Were Blofeld and Leiter also different characters using the same
    name, given that they were repeatedly recast, with the exception for the
    same Leiter being used in two different movies? M also got recast, which
    was supposed to be the same M. Judy Dench is a different character. Moneypenny got recast.

    There are definitely some issues to be addressed. :-)

    I'm not even sure it's a serious theory. I take it more as a bit of fun
    the fans have with some of the recasting and consistency errors.

    Maybe I should apply this reasoning to Doctor Who. Is "the Doctor"
    merely a code name for Gallifrey's undercover agent in the field? It
    would explain a few things, while also raising many new questions.
    --
    The True Melissa - Canal Winchester - Ohio
    United States of America - North America - Earth
    Solar System - Milky Way - Local Group
    Virgo Cluster - Laniakea Supercluster - Cosmos
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Paul S Person@psperson@old.netcom.invalid to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Mon Mar 9 08:29:14 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On Sun, 08 Mar 2026 20:00:44 -0400, Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net>
    wrote:
    In article <10okem0$2j96d$1@dont-email.me>, dtravel@sonic.net wrote:
    On 3/7/2026 10:59 PM, Ubiquitous wrote:
    In article <10nvlrn$3m304$2@dont-email.me>, atropos@mac.com wrote:
    "Your Name" <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:

    Everything Larry and David Ellison Will Control
    if Paramount Buys Warner Bros.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Paramount Skydance's sprawling media empire will get a major
    boost if the deal gets approved.

    Conservative Oracle founder Larry Ellison dropped $110 billion to have >>>> Paramount-Skydance devour Warner Bros. Discovery whole.

    He's conservative? Didn't he buy the 007 franchise from the Brocolli
    widow, only to remove the gun from all Bond posterwork and announce
    the next Bond movie will have a "Bond They/Them"?

    All the discussion that I've seen about who the next Bond will be have >>been about male actors.

    I remember them floating the idea of Bond being a black guy but
    I thought someone tried to float the idea of a Jane Bond.
    My vote would be to retitle the series "007" and keep the 007 from the
    last film. She seems to be quite capable.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Paul S Person@psperson@old.netcom.invalid to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Mon Mar 9 09:00:12 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On Mon, 9 Mar 2026 12:32:25 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
    <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
    The True Melissa <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:
    did ahk@chinet.com deliver unto us this message:

    Then you must not have a problem with a white Shaft or a white Black >>>Panther.

    There's a theory that "James Bond" is not a person but a code name for >>whoever's the top agent at the time. Among other things, this explains
    how Sean Connery was able to return to the role after Roger Moore had >>taken it, with Moore then taking over again. They weren't playing the
    same character; they were two different agents using the name at
    different times.

    For those who believe that theory, a black Bond wouldn't be a problem.

    Those people cannot handwave away that

    1) Sean Connery fails to notice that the plot is awfully familiar as
    it's a remake
    Now there you've got me.
    But it was a very good remake!
    2) Roger Moore, in For Your Eyes Only, returns the same Maguffin stolen
    by the girl then given to Sean Connery in From Russia With Love
    The same /sort/ of maguffin but not the same one.
    One was a Russian Lektor, the other a British ATAC
    3) George Lazenby, Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Timothy Dalton were
    all married to the same Tracy. I cannot recall if any of the four
    Remington Steele movies referenced Tracy. Daniel Craig had later
    references to Vesper.
    Another excellent point: they cannot be different people under the
    same code name. They really /are/ different actors playing the same
    character (well, more or less).
    4) Were Blofeld and Leiter also different characters using the same
    name, given that they were repeatedly recast, with the exception for the
    same Leiter being used in two different movies? M also got recast, which
    was supposed to be the same M. Judy Dench is a different character. >Moneypenny got recast.
    Whoever played Blofeld was deliberately kept secret in the end titles
    for the first several movies. IIRC, Blofeld has plastic surgery at
    least once, although that is hardly going to explain all the changes.
    The first Leiter went on to star in "Hawaii 5-0". From then it was, as
    you say, a mish-mash.
    When I saw the first Reboot Bond (which was named /Casino Royale/,
    although frankly the earlier comedy version was much closer to the
    book -- note that "closer" is /comparative/; I am not saying it was particularly close in itself) I was amazed at how easily I accepted
    the new "M" played by Judi Dench, who had indeed been playing the old
    "M" for several films. Great actors can pull this stuff off.
    Moneypenny aged out -- unless leaving was the actress' own idea, this
    is an example of preferring young actresses to older ones. Of course,
    the new Bond was younger than the old Bond, so it made a sort of
    sense. IIRC, one of the reasons /Hush ... Hush Sweet Charlotte/ was so
    popular is precisely because it featured actors of the feminine
    persuasion who had not been seen on screen in a long long time due to
    their age. Of course, being a very scary film helped as well.
    Blofeld's cat, not a character in the novels, was also recast.
    Cats also age out..
    5) Given that a dozen or so actors had prominent supporting roles playing >different characters in various movies, are those somehow supposed to be
    the same character using different aliases?
    Another good point. And not just supporting roles: the British
    resident agent Bond consults at the start of /You Only Live Twice/ is
    played by the same actor who plays Blofeld in another film. Then he
    changes again, at least once.
    Of course, the same could be said of several directors, who had
    favorite supporting actors and used them in film after film. (OK, the
    only example I can think of is Ron Howard, who indulges in inverse
    nepotism. )
    6) The theory accomplishes nothing for MI-6. Also, Bond is a ridiculous
    spy given that every casino and fine hotel in Europe knows who he is.
    This is because, as the newspapers once were in the habit of saying
    when each and every James Bond film came out, he is not a spy. He is a
    cleaner. And he cleans down to the very nap, if not beyond.
    Alternate answer: his reputation as a playboy is useful cover.
    The only support for that theory is the self-deprecating joke Lazenby
    makes when Diana Rigg doesn't immediately get dissuaded from her suicide >attempt upon encountering Bond. "That never happened to the other
    fellow." Also, it's the plot of Casino Royale (1967).
    And that was understood (at least by me) to be the actor's comment on
    replacing Connery.
    I would also argue that Connery's Bond is almost a new character in >Goldfinger. He wore pastels! But Dalton returned to the way Connery
    played Bond in Dr No.
    I'm not sure pastels make a character "new".
    But not caring whether his martinis are shaken or stirred.
    Those people aren't true Bond fans. We accept that Bond movies lack >explanation and continuity, what little there was in the novels, gets >destroyed when the movies were out of sequence. Somehow Bond and
    Blofeld, both recast, hadn't met in On Her Majesty's Secret
    Service. Bond is supposed to be perpetually in his mid 30s. The later
    novels dropped his WWII navy service. We accept that Craig's Bond is
    earlier in "continuity" than the rest of them, despite each movie being
    set contemporarily.
    Quite right. Even to accepting the Craig Bond. I'm not sure I want to
    see the Reboot Bonds again but, since I am working my way through the
    James Bond series at the putative rate of one every six days, and
    /Goldfinger/ is next, it will be a while before I make a final
    decision about those.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Adam H. Kerman@ahk@chinet.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Mon Mar 9 22:20:54 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
    On Mon, 9 Mar 2026 12:32:25 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com>: >>The True Melissa <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:

    There's a theory that "James Bond" is not a person but a code name for=20 >>>whoever's the top agent at the time. Among other things, this explains=20 >>>how Sean Connery was able to return to the role after Roger Moore had=20 >>>taken it, with Moore then taking over again. They weren't playing the=20 >>>same character; they were two different agents using the name at=20 >>>different times.

    For those who believe that theory, a black Bond wouldn't be a problem.

    Those people cannot handwave away that

    1) Sean Connery fails to notice that the plot is awfully familiar as
    it's a remake

    Now there you've got me.

    But it was a very good remake!

    2) Roger Moore, in For Your Eyes Only, returns the same Maguffin stolen
    by the girl then given to Sean Connery in From Russia With Love

    The same /sort/ of maguffin but not the same one.

    One was a Russian Lektor, the other a British ATAC

    Technically, that's correct, but For Your Eyes Only was a deliberate
    call back to From Russia With Love, the novel which was literally Cold
    War and the Russians were the enemies. In the movie, Blofeld and SPECTRE
    were added. Yet again, the studio didn't have the cash to make a movie
    as hideously expensive as Moonraker and they wanted to get away from all
    the excesses. Except for the parrot, it's a great movie. The director
    forced Roger Moore to ACT, which he did too little of in his career.

    The point is that FRWL was a Cold War skirmish which the British won,
    but FYEO ends with a peaceful solution as spies are smarter than
    diplomats. They are supposed to be bookends.

    Both devices are truly contemporary versions of the Enigma from WWII.

    FRWL is a call back to pre-WWI espionage stories.

    . . .

    The first Leiter went on to star in "Hawaii 5-0". From then it was, as
    you say, a mish-mash.

    If you hadn't heard the story, Leiter is an important supporting
    character in the novels set in the US and Carribean. Lord thought he
    could get away with a casting guarantee and a huge pay rise to a star's
    salary. Producers thought otherwise. Recast with Cec Linder for
    Goldfinger, it was a deliberate choice to cast an actor who looked
    different.

    David Hedison was Leiter in two movies, Live and Let Die and Licence to
    Kill. Filming Dr. No before LALD tossed continuity out the window. The
    shark attack from the LALD novel got moved to LTK. There's continuity
    between those two movies but later movies have no reference to the shark attack.

    Moneypenny aged out -- unless leaving was the actress' own idea, this
    is an example of preferring young actresses to older ones.

    Lois Maxwell wanted to retire from playing the character. She and Roger
    Moore had been acting students together and long-time friends. She used
    Moore's retirement from the role -- The Living Daylights had originally
    been written assuming Moore would return but then got rewritten for a
    more serious Timothy Dalton -- to retire herself.

    Of course,
    the new Bond was younger than the old Bond, so it made a sort of
    sense. IIRC, one of the reasons /Hush ... Hush Sweet Charlotte/ was so >popular is precisely because it featured actors of the feminine
    persuasion who had not been seen on screen in a long long time due to
    their age. Of course, being a very scary film helped as well.

    I'll agree.

    Blofeld's cat, not a character in the novels, was also recast.

    Cats also age out..

    Nah. Like Jack Lord, the cat demanded too much money.

    6) The theory accomplishes nothing for MI-6. Also, Bond is a ridiculous
    spy given that every casino and fine hotel in Europe knows who he is.

    This is because, as the newspapers once were in the habit of saying
    when each and every James Bond film came out, he is not a spy. He is a >cleaner. And he cleans down to the very nap, if not beyond.

    The character is meant to be cinematic, not realistic.

    Alternate answer: his reputation as a playboy is useful cover.

    Planting his Playboy Club membership card on the henchman (with whom he
    had one of the best cinematic fight scenes of all times) he had just
    killed was a plot point in Diamonds Are Forever!

    The only support for that theory is the self-deprecating joke Lazenby
    makes when Diana Rigg doesn't immediately get dissuaded from her suicide >>attempt upon encountering Bond. "That never happened to the other
    fellow." Also, it's the plot of Casino Royale (1967).

    And that was understood (at least by me) to be the actor's comment on >replacing Connery.

    . . . and whether the audience would accept recasting. Exactly right.

    I would also argue that Connery's Bond is almost a new character in >>Goldfinger. He wore pastels! But Dalton returned to the way Connery
    played Bond in Dr No.

    I'm not sure pastels make a character "new".

    As the consumate English snob, Ian Fleming looked down upon Sean
    Connery, who was not only working class but (horrors) Scottish. James
    Bond, in the novels, exemplified Fleming's refined opinions (if Fleming
    said so himself) and fine taste in clothes, food, and elegant living, to
    the extent Bond could afford it on a civil servant's wage.

    Connery simply did not look like Bond. Preparing for Dr. No, the
    director Terence Young sent Connery to his tailor and created the look
    for Bond in at least the first two movies.

    The costume -- the very well-tailored evening clothes -- established the character.

    For Goldfinger, the new director Guy Hamilton took Bond in a different direction. The movie is not a straight adaptation, a good thing as so
    much of Fleming's plot concerning the crime had to be thrown out; the
    novel is quite weak.

    While the attache case in FRWL is an important prop, in Goldfinger, you
    got the immortal Aston Martin DB5 and future Bond movies' overreliance
    on gadgets. And the black humor in the puns are more frequent and less
    subtle. Goldfinger sets up the Roger Moore era.

    That Hamilton changed Bond's costume was part of the change.

    I'm particularly fond of the Bond movies that are somewhat straighter adaptations of the novels, but Goldfinger is fabulously entertaining. We
    can enjoy both.

    But not caring whether his martinis are shaken or stirred.

    Hehehehehehehe

    Those people aren't true Bond fans. We accept that Bond movies lack >>explanation and continuity, what little there was in the novels, gets >>destroyed when the movies were out of sequence. Somehow Bond and
    Blofeld, both recast, hadn't met in On Her Majesty's Secret
    Service. Bond is supposed to be perpetually in his mid 30s. The later >>novels dropped his WWII navy service. We accept that Craig's Bond is >>earlier in "continuity" than the rest of them, despite each movie being
    set contemporarily.

    Quite right. Even to accepting the Craig Bond. I'm not sure I want to
    see the Reboot Bonds again but, since I am working my way through the
    James Bond series at the putative rate of one every six days, and >/Goldfinger/ is next, it will be a while before I make a final
    decision about those.

    Casino Royale (1967) is quite entertaining despite its many flaws, with
    437 different directors and an overblown mismanaged production that
    almost rivals Cleopatra. The David Niven/Deborah Kerr scenes are the
    worst portion of the movie. Orson Welles was fantastic casting for Le
    Chiffre but because he and Peter Sellers did not get along, those scenes
    were ruined as well.

    But the women -- Joanna Petet, Daliah Lavu, Barbara Bouchet -- plus
    Jacqueline Bisset in a small role, were glorious. The Burt Bacharach
    score performed by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Dusty Springfield performing The Look of Love.

    Did I mention the women?

    Sure, watch it when you are in the mood. It doesn't have to be watched
    with the rest of the movies.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From BTR1701@atropos@mac.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Mon Mar 9 22:49:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On Mar 9, 2026 at 3:20:54 PM PDT, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

    Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
    On Mon, 9 Mar 2026 12:32:25 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com>:

    Blofeld's cat, not a character in the novels, was also recast.

    Cats also age out..

    Nah. Like Jack Lord, the cat demanded too much money.

    In my experience, all you have to is distract them with a wet slurry paste
    made of liquefied fish guts and chicken parts and in their ecstasy they forget about everything else.


    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Adam H. Kerman@ahk@chinet.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Wed Mar 11 05:14:57 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
    Mon, 9 Mar 2026 22:20:54 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com>:
    Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
    Mon, 9 Mar 2026 12:32:25 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com>: >>>>The True Melissa <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:

    There's a theory that "James Bond" is not a person but a code name for >>>>>whoever's the top agent at the time. Among other things, this explains >>>>>how Sean Connery was able to return to the role after Roger Moore had >>>>>taken it, with Moore then taking over again. They weren't playing the >>>>>same character; they were two different agents using the name at >>>>>different times.

    For those who believe that theory, a black Bond wouldn't be a problem.

    Those people cannot handwave away that

    1) Sean Connery fails to notice that the plot is awfully familiar as >>>>it's a remake

    Now there you've got me.

    But it was a very good remake!

    2) Roger Moore, in For Your Eyes Only, returns the same Maguffin stolen >>>>by the girl then given to Sean Connery in From Russia With Love

    The same /sort/ of maguffin but not the same one.

    One was a Russian Lektor, the other a British ATAC

    Technically, that's correct, but For Your Eyes Only was a deliberate
    call back to From Russia With Love, the novel which was literally Cold
    War and the Russians were the enemies. In the movie, Blofeld and SPECTRE >>were added. Yet again, the studio didn't have the cash to make a movie
    as hideously expensive as Moonraker and they wanted to get away from all >>the excesses. Except for the parrot, it's a great movie. The director >>forced Roger Moore to ACT, which he did too little of in his career.

    Yes, SPECTRE and so Blofeld were introduced in the film /Dr. No/.

    That needs an explanation.

    Dr. No in both the novel and movie is an independent supervillain. There
    is a line of dialogue in the script of From Russia With Love stating that
    Dr. No was a SPECTRE agent. That's a retcon.

    Thunderball began as a project in which producer Kevin McClory asked Ian Fleming to write a James Bond script for him to produce, but McClory
    couldn't raise any cash. In a disastrous decision for Fleming, when he
    turned the unproduced script into a novel, he didn't buy out McClory's
    interest in the project. This led to Fleming spending the last two years
    of his life in legal depositions as he was sued by McClory for control
    of the James Bond character and Thunderball property. Fleming lost a
    fortune in legal expenses and the property and it definitely shortened
    his life.

    SPECTRE and Blofeld are behind the scenes; Bond does not meet Blofeld.

    SPECTRE is not used in the other two novels in which Blofeld appears, On
    Her Majesty's Secret Service and You Only Live Twice.

    When the Thunderball movie was produced, McClory and not Fleming got
    paid, and McClory retained the rights to do a remake, hence Never Say
    Never Again. McClory hired Len Deighton to write a script, Warhead, but Saltzman and Broccoli sued successfully to prevent McClory from
    producing anything he doesn't own, limiting him to remakes of
    Thunderball. I've always argued that the unnamed villain in the wheelchair dumped into the smokestack at the beginning of For Your Eyes Only is
    McClory, not Blofeld, 'cuz they were so fed up with all of McClory's
    lawsuits.

    Given how damn litigous McClory was, it might have been argued in court successfully that Saltzman and Broccoli owned no rights to
    SPECTRE at all, and could use Blofeld as a character in adaptations of
    the two later novels only. It was a curious business decision to expand
    SPECTRE into a continuing enemy of Bond's beyond Thunderball.

    In the books, Bond is still a target of SMERSH and SPECTRE lies in his >future. But otherwise the film of /For Your Eyes Only/ is quite close
    to the book.

    You mean the adaptation of From Russia With Love. For Your Eyes Only was
    a short story, about Judy, seeking revenge for the assasination of her
    parents, the Havelocks. The movie's Bond girl is Judy and the revenge
    story remains and includes an adaptation of another short story as you
    note below, but otherwise it's an original script.

    SMERSH, representing the Russians, is the behing-the-scenes organization
    Bond fights in most of the early novels. It should be noted that when
    the Roger Moore movies brought back conflict with Russia, they dropped
    SMERSH entirely. I think Fleming just got a kick out of the punny name.

    I saw /For Your Eyes Only/ in German when it came out. They dubbed the >parrot. In this case, there was no "book". Instead, they used two
    short stories ("For Your Eyes Only", Bond taking revenge for M, and
    "Risico", about two smugglers, one of which is working for the
    Russians). As I am sure you know. I consider this to be arguably the
    best adaptation of two short stories, at least among the James Bond
    films.

    I agree with you.

    Octopussy includes an adaptation of Property of a Lady in one well-done
    scene, of course.

    . . .

    6) The theory accomplishes nothing for MI-6. Also, Bond is a ridiculous >>>>spy given that every casino and fine hotel in Europe knows who he is.

    This is because, as the newspapers once were in the habit of saying
    when each and every James Bond film came out, he is not a spy. He is a >>>cleaner. And he cleans down to the very nap, if not beyond.

    The character is meant to be cinematic, not realistic.

    Hey, you're the one that called him "ridiculous". I'm just pointing
    out that this isn't necessarily so.

    Hehehe. Some aspects of "cinematic" are ridiculous, but we love the
    movies just the same.

    Alternate answer: his reputation as a playboy is useful cover.

    Planting his Playboy Club membership card on the henchman (with whom he
    had one of the best cinematic fight scenes of all times) he had just
    killed was a plot point in Diamonds Are Forever!

    I really missed the gang connection in the book. Particularly the line >(referring to the mob back East): "tell them they are suffering from >delusions of adequacy" (approximate, from memory).

    I think you are correct.

    . . .

    I would also argue that Connery's Bond is almost a new character in >>>>Goldfinger. He wore pastels! But Dalton returned to the way Connery >>>>played Bond in Dr No.

    I'm not sure pastels make a character "new".

    As the consumate English snob, Ian Fleming looked down upon Sean
    Connery, who was not only working class but (horrors) Scottish. James
    Bond, in the novels, exemplified Fleming's refined opinions (if Fleming >>said so himself) and fine taste in clothes, food, and elegant living, to >>the extent Bond could afford it on a civil servant's wage.

    Connery simply did not look like Bond. Preparing for Dr. No, the
    director Terence Young sent Connery to his tailor and created the look
    for Bond in at least the first two movies.

    The costume -- the very well-tailored evening clothes -- established the >>character.

    For Goldfinger, the new director Guy Hamilton took Bond in a different >>direction. The movie is not a straight adaptation, a good thing as so
    much of Fleming's plot concerning the crime had to be thrown out; the
    novel is quite weak.

    I always liked the line in the book: "once is chance, twice in
    coincidence, three times is enemy action" (approximate, from memory).

    They killed the second Masterson girl off way to early.

    Excellent criticism

    And the
    inevitable trend toward more massive endings than the books (starting
    with /Dr. No/, although /From Russia With Love/ confined it to a boat
    chase) was disappointing. Where the book had an improbably massive
    getaway with the gold, the film has -- an atomic device. Giving the
    film a plot point eventually used in the third Die Hard movie.

    The device counts down to 007!

    While the attache case in FRWL is an important prop, in Goldfinger, you
    got the immortal Aston Martin DB5 and future Bond movies' overreliance
    on gadgets. And the black humor in the puns are more frequent and less >>subtle. Goldfinger sets up the Roger Moore era.

    That car -- said to be the very one used in the film, although I
    suspect that it was, at best, only one of those used -- actually
    toured the USA so fans could pay money to look at it.

    That Hamilton changed Bond's costume was part of the change.

    I'm particularly fond of the Bond movies that are somewhat straighter >>adaptations of the novels, but Goldfinger is fabulously entertaining. We >>can enjoy both.

    But not caring whether his martinis are shaken or stirred.

    Hehehehehehehe

    That was actually intended to be a response to the claim that Dalton's
    Bond was a return to Connery's. Although Dalton did a fine job, I was
    glad with the end of the last one because it pretty much guaranteed it
    was the /last/ one. I never really got into the Reboot Bonds.

    Dalton spent more time in evening clothes in The Living Daylights than
    Sean Connery had in the first two films!

    Those people aren't true Bond fans. We accept that Bond movies lack >>>>explanation and continuity, what little there was in the novels, gets >>>>destroyed when the movies were out of sequence. Somehow Bond and >>>>Blofeld, both recast, hadn't met in On Her Majesty's Secret
    Service. Bond is supposed to be perpetually in his mid 30s. The later >>>>novels dropped his WWII navy service. We accept that Craig's Bond is >>>>earlier in "continuity" than the rest of them, despite each movie being >>>>set contemporarily.

    Quite right. Even to accepting the Craig Bond. I'm not sure I want to
    see the Reboot Bonds again but, since I am working my way through the >>>James Bond series at the putative rate of one every six days, and >>>/Goldfinger/ is next, it will be a while before I make a final
    decision about those.

    Casino Royale (1967) is quite entertaining despite its many flaws, with
    437 different directors and an overblown mismanaged production that
    almost rivals Cleopatra. The David Niven/Deborah Kerr scenes are the
    worst portion of the movie. Orson Welles was fantastic casting for Le >>Chiffre but because he and Peter Sellers did not get along, those scenes >>were ruined as well.

    The one we saw in the Army was longer than the current DVD version
    (the one I have includes an earlier version done on USA TV, with Jimmy
    Bond, CIA Agent, being helped by Felix Leiter, MI6 agent -- all I can
    say is "thank God the films were done by Brits!").

    It has Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre! Excellent casting choice.

    Note that one of Fleming's earliest adaptation attempts was for there to
    be James Bond episodes, either in a stand-alone tv series or in an
    anthology or wheel series. Some of the short stories began as unproduced
    tv scripts.

    Let me note that the best of the early novels was Moonraker. The only
    way to give it a proper adaptation is to set it in the 1950s, but no one
    will ever do it right.

    . . .
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Paul S Person@psperson@old.netcom.invalid to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Wed Mar 11 08:18:27 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On Tue, 10 Mar 2026 16:53:43 -0000 (UTC), BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com>
    wrote:
    On Mar 10, 2026 at 8:49:21 AM PDT, "Paul S Person" ><psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

    On Mon, 9 Mar 2026 22:20:54 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
    <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

    For Goldfinger, the new director Guy Hamilton took Bond in a different
    direction. The movie is not a straight adaptation, a good thing as so
    much of Fleming's plot concerning the crime had to be thrown out; the
    novel is quite weak.

    I always liked the line in the book: "once is chance, twice in
    coincidence, three times is enemy action" (approximate, from memory).

    Aren't chance and coincidence the same thing?
    Bing research suggests that, in this case, the shared meaning is
    appropriate. So, in this case, they do.
    It is possible that "happenstance" was in the original in place of
    "chance".
    Not that, as further Bing research shows, that would change anything.
    Well, in American English anyway. British English might, I suppose, be different.
    The point is that repetition raises flags: three times implies
    deliberate intent ("enemy action") and so the event (Bond v
    Goldfinger) cannot be dismissed as innocuous.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Paul S Person@psperson@old.netcom.invalid to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Wed Mar 11 08:52:27 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On Wed, 11 Mar 2026 05:14:57 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
    <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
    Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
    <snippo >
    In the books, Bond is still a target of SMERSH and SPECTRE lies in his >>future. But otherwise the film of /For Your Eyes Only/ is quite close
    to the book.

    You mean the adaptation of From Russia With Love. For Your Eyes Only was
    a short story, about Judy, seeking revenge for the assasination of her >parents, the Havelocks. The movie's Bond girl is Judy and the revenge
    story remains and includes an adaptation of another short story as you
    note below, but otherwise it's an original script.
    Thanks for catching that. Speaking of senior moments ... that's a
    doozie.
    <more snippo>
    Octopussy includes an adaptation of Property of a Lady in one well-done >scene, of course.
    I missed that entirely. Even though the title was mentioned in the
    film.
    But I did notice Maud Adams apparently having a hard time believing
    she was required to recite a precis of "Octopussy".
    The best actual adaptation of a short story was, IMHO, the start of
    /The Living Daylights/ -- from the end of the titles to when Dalton
    says the line.
    <snippo to /Goldfinger/>
    They killed the second Masterson girl off way to early.

    Excellent criticism

    And the
    inevitable trend toward more massive endings than the books (starting
    with /Dr. No/, although /From Russia With Love/ confined it to a boat >>chase) was disappointing. Where the book had an improbably massive
    getaway with the gold, the film has -- an atomic device. Giving the
    film a plot point eventually used in the third Die Hard movie.

    The device counts down to 007!
    Yes it does! I saw the film last night, and it is still as exciting as
    it was the first time. Despite still killing Tilly off too early.
    That reminded me that /Goldfinger/ started another trend: the use of a
    title song that doesn't appear anywhere else in the film. Some of
    these don't make sense: what does "like Thunderball" /mean/, given
    that "Thunderball" is a code name for the operation to recover the
    nukes before Blofeld can use them?
    OTOH, the theme song for /Live and Let Die/ became so famous that the
    third Shrek film used it as music for a funeral. Apparently, the
    people choosing the music really really believe that nobody listens to
    the words.
    <snippo more-o, now we are on the comedic /Casino Royale/>
    The one we saw in the Army was longer than the current DVD version
    (the one I have includes an earlier version done on USA TV, with Jimmy >>Bond, CIA Agent, being helped by Felix Leiter, MI6 agent -- all I can
    say is "thank God the films were done by Brits!").

    It has Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre! Excellent casting choice.

    Note that one of Fleming's earliest adaptation attempts was for there to
    be James Bond episodes, either in a stand-alone tv series or in an
    anthology or wheel series. Some of the short stories began as unproduced
    tv scripts.
    Yes, and it might have worked -- but, please God, not with "Jimmy
    Bond, CIA Agent" and "Felix Leiter, MI6 Agent". Talk about
    abominations ...
    Let me note that the best of the early novels was Moonraker. The only
    way to give it a proper adaptation is to set it in the 1950s, but no one
    will ever do it right.
    That was strange novel the first time I read it.
    You go along reading it and ... nothing happens. Nothing continues to
    until about half-way through, when somebody drops half the White
    Cliffs of Dover onto Bond and the girl. /Then/ things start happening.
    I have to admit, though, that I found it enjoyable to read, even when
    nothing was happening.
    The movie, considered as part of a pair with /The Spy Who Loved Me/
    featuring Jaws, is, however, well worth watching. Jaws is a bad guy
    unrivaled until Mayday shows up in /View to a Kill/.
    Not as strange as /The Spy Who Loved Me/, however. I regard it as
    basically three short stories, only the third of which involves James
    Bond (although he shows up at the end of the second).
    Now /there/ is a novel which was "adapted" by using the title and
    James Bond and then ignoring the rest of it entirely that got what it
    deserved, IMHO.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Adam H. Kerman@ahk@chinet.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Wed Mar 11 20:20:57 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
    On Wed, 11 Mar 2026 05:14:57 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com>: >>Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

    <snippo >

    But I did notice Maud Adams apparently having a hard time believing
    she was required to recite a precis of "Octopussy".

    Hehehehe

    I loved Sean Connery's "Poooosy Galore"; no one took Ian Fleming's
    double entendres in names seriously.

    The best actual adaptation of a short story was, IMHO, the start of
    /The Living Daylights/ -- from the end of the titles to when Dalton
    says the line.

    I agree. The more original parts of the script aren't as good.

    <snippo to /Goldfinger/>

    That reminded me that /Goldfinger/ started another trend: the use of a
    title song that doesn't appear anywhere else in the film. Some of
    these don't make sense: what does "like Thunderball" /mean/, given
    that "Thunderball" is a code name for the operation to recover the
    nukes before Blofeld can use them?

    The producers were idiots, demanding that the title be sung as a lyric. Thunderball's lyrics are stupid for that reason.

    A better theme song, rejected, was Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. You can find
    covers by both Shirley Bassey and Dionne Warwick, plus there's a cover
    of Goldfinger's theme by Anthony Newley, likely as a demonstration as
    those lyrics are not intended to be sung by a male singer.

    . . .

    Not as strange as /The Spy Who Loved Me/, however. I regard it as
    basically three short stories, only the third of which involves James
    Bond (although he shows up at the end of the second).

    Now /there/ is a novel which was "adapted" by using the title and
    James Bond and then ignoring the rest of it entirely that got what it >deserved, IMHO.

    Contractually, Fleming prevented its adaptation because he thought the
    story was a failure as both a revenge story and with Bond being forced
    into it.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Pluted Pup@plutedpup@outlook.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Wed Mar 11 15:20:58 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On 3/7/26 11:04 PM, Ubiquitous wrote:
    plutedpup@outlook.com wrote:
    On 2/28/26 1:14 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    "Your Name" <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:

    Everything Larry and David Ellison Will Control
    if Paramount Buys Warner Bros.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Paramount Skydance's sprawling media empire will get a major
    boost if the deal gets approved.

    Conservative Oracle founder Larry Ellison

    Who care's if he's a Conservative? All Jews are on the same side.

    OK, antisemite.

    I couldn't be an antisemite, because that's been outlawed,
    but can come to the defense of the underdog, like Westerners
    tend to do. All Jews say that Jews are always good and
    antisemites are always bad, that meaning not that it
    is true, but logically indicates that all Jews are the same,
    while antisemites are all different.








    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Pluted Pup@plutedpup@outlook.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Wed Mar 11 16:57:10 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On 3/7/26 11:01 PM, Ubiquitous wrote:
    plutedpup@outlook.com wrote:

    It's rumored Musk also used Arab money for buying twitter
    rather than just his own money for massive financial
    rewards to the crooked former management of Twitter.

    Oh, you tricked me into saying "Arab", when I'm assuming
    you mean Saudi Arabia, run by a family who are puppets
    of Israel.

    Racism noted.

    I don't know what context you stripped from this post,
    but apparently you said all Arabs are the same, and
    that you referred to "Arab" funding for something, as
    if Saudi Arabia referred to all Arabs.

    The Saudi Arabia dictating family has done many pro-Israel
    acts, like outlawing antisemitism, killing dissidents
    like the Washington Post reporter with the aid of
    Israeli intelligence, cancelling the Mecca pilgrimage a
    few years ago, ostensibly for Covid, but perhaps to send
    a good will gesture in their effort to strengthen the
    Israel-Saudi Arabia partnership, training terrorists to
    attack the West, etc. Clearly, the suffering Saudi
    Arabians themselves should not be identified as the criminal
    monarchy which rules it, nor does the monarchy represent
    all Arabs.




    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Paul S Person@psperson@old.netcom.invalid to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Thu Mar 12 09:06:48 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On Wed, 11 Mar 2026 20:20:57 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
    <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
    Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
    On Wed, 11 Mar 2026 05:14:57 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com>: >>>Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

    <snippo >

    But I did notice Maud Adams apparently having a hard time believing
    she was required to recite a precis of "Octopussy".

    Hehehehe

    I loved Sean Connery's "Poooosy Galore"; no one took Ian Fleming's
    double entendres in names seriously.
    Network TV did in the USA.
    When /Goldfinger/ was shown on TV, the audience heard "Miss Galore"
    and they heard "Pussy", but they /never/ heard "Pussy Galore".
    The best actual adaptation of a short story was, IMHO, the start of
    /The Living Daylights/ -- from the end of the titles to when Dalton
    says the line.

    I agree. The more original parts of the script aren't as good.
    I am still affected here by my experience with this film: the first
    VHS tape had a very bad burble towards the start of the film
    (involving the helicopter abduction). I traded it in for another copy.
    It had /the very same burble in the very same place/. The first one (I
    don't recall if I checked the second), when examined physically, shows
    that the tape had a large dimple in it. IOW, a manufacturing defect.
    And the fact that two samples from the same production run suggests
    that somebody had failed to do any quality control at all -- not only
    on the product, but also on the blanks.
    I turned the second one in for an equally-expensive tape of another
    film. I few months later, I tried again. The burble was gone! There
    was, however, a much less disruptive (and not physically caused by the
    tape) problem while the diamonds were being evaluated.
    The DVD, of course, has no such problem.
    <snippo to /Goldfinger/>

    That reminded me that /Goldfinger/ started another trend: the use of a >>title song that doesn't appear anywhere else in the film. Some of
    these don't make sense: what does "like Thunderball" /mean/, given
    that "Thunderball" is a code name for the operation to recover the
    nukes before Blofeld can use them?

    The producers were idiots, demanding that the title be sung as a lyric. >Thunderball's lyrics are stupid for that reason.

    A better theme song, rejected, was Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. You can find >covers by both Shirley Bassey and Dionne Warwick, plus there's a cover
    of Goldfinger's theme by Anthony Newley, likely as a demonstration as
    those lyrics are not intended to be sung by a male singer.

    . . .

    Not as strange as /The Spy Who Loved Me/, however. I regard it as
    basically three short stories, only the third of which involves James
    Bond (although he shows up at the end of the second).

    Now /there/ is a novel which was "adapted" by using the title and
    James Bond and then ignoring the rest of it entirely that got what it >>deserved, IMHO.

    Contractually, Fleming prevented its adaptation because he thought the
    story was a failure as both a revenge story and with Bond being forced
    into it.
    So the studio owned (had the rights to) the title and the character,
    but not the story?
    It was a failure, at least as a James Bond novel.
    As a female "coming of age" story -- well, I don't know if it is any
    better when considered that way, but it might be.
    Or, rather, might have been at the time, since that is long ago and
    things have changed.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From The True Melissa@thetruemelissa@gmail.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Thu Mar 12 12:29:23 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    Verily, in article <vjo5rkpn4h30qtmo3vnlqt715ou2sj7fc0@4ax.com>, did psperson@old.netcom.invalid deliver unto us this message:
    When /Goldfinger/ was shown on TV, the audience heard "Miss Galore"
    and they heard "Pussy", but they /never/ heard "Pussy Galore".


    That doesn't make any sense. If you're going to say "pussy," what's
    wrong with adding the perfectly acceptable "galore"?
    --
    The True Melissa - Canal Winchester - Ohio
    United States of America - North America - Earth
    Solar System - Milky Way - Local Group
    Virgo Cluster - Laniakea Supercluster - Cosmos
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From moviePig@nobody@nowhere.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Thu Mar 12 13:20:47 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On 3/12/2026 12:29 PM, The True Melissa wrote:
    Verily, in article <vjo5rkpn4h30qtmo3vnlqt715ou2sj7fc0@4ax.com>, did psperson@old.netcom.invalid deliver unto us this message:
    When /Goldfinger/ was shown on TV, the audience heard "Miss Galore"
    and they heard "Pussy", but they /never/ heard "Pussy Galore".


    That doesn't make any sense. If you're going to say "pussy," what's
    wrong with adding the perfectly acceptable "galore"?

    'Pussy' can be a cat. But then it'd be "pussies galore"...


    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Paul S Person@psperson@old.netcom.invalid to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Tue Mar 10 08:49:21 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On Mon, 9 Mar 2026 22:20:54 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
    <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
    Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
    On Mon, 9 Mar 2026 12:32:25 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com>: >>>The True Melissa <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:

    There's a theory that "James Bond" is not a person but a code name for=20 >>>>whoever's the top agent at the time. Among other things, this explains=20 >>>>how Sean Connery was able to return to the role after Roger Moore had=20 >>>>taken it, with Moore then taking over again. They weren't playing the=20 >>>>same character; they were two different agents using the name at=20 >>>>different times.

    For those who believe that theory, a black Bond wouldn't be a problem.

    Those people cannot handwave away that

    1) Sean Connery fails to notice that the plot is awfully familiar as
    it's a remake

    Now there you've got me.

    But it was a very good remake!

    2) Roger Moore, in For Your Eyes Only, returns the same Maguffin stolen >>>by the girl then given to Sean Connery in From Russia With Love

    The same /sort/ of maguffin but not the same one.

    One was a Russian Lektor, the other a British ATAC

    Technically, that's correct, but For Your Eyes Only was a deliberate
    call back to From Russia With Love, the novel which was literally Cold
    War and the Russians were the enemies. In the movie, Blofeld and SPECTRE
    were added. Yet again, the studio didn't have the cash to make a movie
    as hideously expensive as Moonraker and they wanted to get away from all
    the excesses. Except for the parrot, it's a great movie. The director
    forced Roger Moore to ACT, which he did too little of in his career.
    Yes, SPECTRE and so Blofeld were introduced in the film /Dr. No/. In
    the books, Bond is still a target of SMERSH and SPECTRE lies in his
    future. But otherwise the film of /For Your Eyes Only/ is quite close
    to the book.
    I saw /For Your Eyes Only/ in German when it came out. They dubbed the
    parrot. In this case, there was no "book". Instead, they used two
    short stories ("For Your Eyes Only", Bond taking revenge for M, and
    "Risico", about two smugglers, one of which is working for the
    Russians). As I am sure you know. I consider this to be arguably the
    best adaptation of two short stories, at least among the James Bond
    films.
    . . .

    The first Leiter went on to star in "Hawaii 5-0". From then it was, as
    you say, a mish-mash.

    If you hadn't heard the story, Leiter is an important supporting
    character in the novels set in the US and Carribean. Lord thought he
    could get away with a casting guarantee and a huge pay rise to a star's >salary. Producers thought otherwise. Recast with Cec Linder for
    Goldfinger, it was a deliberate choice to cast an actor who looked
    different.

    David Hedison was Leiter in two movies, Live and Let Die and Licence to
    Kill. Filming Dr. No before LALD tossed continuity out the window. The
    shark attack from the LALD novel got moved to LTK. There's continuity
    between those two movies but later movies have no reference to the shark >attack.
    I was very happy when I saw it in /License to Kill/.
    Not because I disliked Leiter. I was just glad that that bit had
    finally been filmed.
    Moneypenny aged out -- unless leaving was the actress' own idea, this
    is an example of preferring young actresses to older ones.

    Lois Maxwell wanted to retire from playing the character. She and Roger
    Moore had been acting students together and long-time friends. She used >Moore's retirement from the role -- The Living Daylights had originally
    been written assuming Moore would return but then got rewritten for a
    more serious Timothy Dalton -- to retire herself.
    Thanks for the info.
    Of course,
    the new Bond was younger than the old Bond, so it made a sort of
    sense. IIRC, one of the reasons /Hush ... Hush Sweet Charlotte/ was so >>popular is precisely because it featured actors of the feminine
    persuasion who had not been seen on screen in a long long time due to
    their age. Of course, being a very scary film helped as well.

    I'll agree.

    Blofeld's cat, not a character in the novels, was also recast.

    Cats also age out..

    Nah. Like Jack Lord, the cat demanded too much money.

    6) The theory accomplishes nothing for MI-6. Also, Bond is a ridiculous >>>spy given that every casino and fine hotel in Europe knows who he is.

    This is because, as the newspapers once were in the habit of saying
    when each and every James Bond film came out, he is not a spy. He is a >>cleaner. And he cleans down to the very nap, if not beyond.

    The character is meant to be cinematic, not realistic.
    Hey, you're the one that called him "ridiculous". I'm just pointing
    out that this isn't necessarily so.
    Alternate answer: his reputation as a playboy is useful cover.

    Planting his Playboy Club membership card on the henchman (with whom he
    had one of the best cinematic fight scenes of all times) he had just
    killed was a plot point in Diamonds Are Forever!
    I really missed the gang connection in the book. Particularly the line (referring to the mob back East): "tell them they are suffering from
    delusions of adequacy" (approximate, from memory).
    The only support for that theory is the self-deprecating joke Lazenby >>>makes when Diana Rigg doesn't immediately get dissuaded from her suicide >>>attempt upon encountering Bond. "That never happened to the other >>>fellow." Also, it's the plot of Casino Royale (1967).

    And that was understood (at least by me) to be the actor's comment on >>replacing Connery.

    . . . and whether the audience would accept recasting. Exactly right.

    I would also argue that Connery's Bond is almost a new character in >>>Goldfinger. He wore pastels! But Dalton returned to the way Connery >>>played Bond in Dr No.

    I'm not sure pastels make a character "new".

    As the consumate English snob, Ian Fleming looked down upon Sean
    Connery, who was not only working class but (horrors) Scottish. James
    Bond, in the novels, exemplified Fleming's refined opinions (if Fleming
    said so himself) and fine taste in clothes, food, and elegant living, to
    the extent Bond could afford it on a civil servant's wage.

    Connery simply did not look like Bond. Preparing for Dr. No, the
    director Terence Young sent Connery to his tailor and created the look
    for Bond in at least the first two movies.

    The costume -- the very well-tailored evening clothes -- established the >character.

    For Goldfinger, the new director Guy Hamilton took Bond in a different >direction. The movie is not a straight adaptation, a good thing as so
    much of Fleming's plot concerning the crime had to be thrown out; the
    novel is quite weak.
    I always liked the line in the book: "once is chance, twice in
    coincidence, three times is enemy action" (approximate, from memory).
    They killed the second Masterson girl off way to early. And the
    inevitable trend toward more massive endings than the books (starting
    with /Dr. No/, although /From Russia With Love/ confined it to a boat
    chase) was disappointing. Where the book had an improbably massive
    getaway with the gold, the film has -- an atomic device. Giving the
    film a plot point eventually used in the third Die Hard movie.
    While the attache case in FRWL is an important prop, in Goldfinger, you
    got the immortal Aston Martin DB5 and future Bond movies' overreliance
    on gadgets. And the black humor in the puns are more frequent and less >subtle. Goldfinger sets up the Roger Moore era.
    That car -- said to be the very one used in the film, although I
    suspect that it was, at best, only one of those used -- actually
    toured the USA so fans could pay money to look at it.
    That Hamilton changed Bond's costume was part of the change.

    I'm particularly fond of the Bond movies that are somewhat straighter >adaptations of the novels, but Goldfinger is fabulously entertaining. We
    can enjoy both.

    But not caring whether his martinis are shaken or stirred.

    Hehehehehehehe
    That was actually intended to be a response to the claim that Dalton's
    Bond was a return to Connery's. Although Dalton did a fine job, I was
    glad with the end of the last one because it pretty much guaranteed it
    was the /last/ one. I never really got into the Reboot Bonds.
    Those people aren't true Bond fans. We accept that Bond movies lack >>>explanation and continuity, what little there was in the novels, gets >>>destroyed when the movies were out of sequence. Somehow Bond and
    Blofeld, both recast, hadn't met in On Her Majesty's Secret
    Service. Bond is supposed to be perpetually in his mid 30s. The later >>>novels dropped his WWII navy service. We accept that Craig's Bond is >>>earlier in "continuity" than the rest of them, despite each movie being >>>set contemporarily.

    Quite right. Even to accepting the Craig Bond. I'm not sure I want to
    see the Reboot Bonds again but, since I am working my way through the
    James Bond series at the putative rate of one every six days, and >>/Goldfinger/ is next, it will be a while before I make a final
    decision about those.

    Casino Royale (1967) is quite entertaining despite its many flaws, with
    437 different directors and an overblown mismanaged production that
    almost rivals Cleopatra. The David Niven/Deborah Kerr scenes are the
    worst portion of the movie. Orson Welles was fantastic casting for Le
    Chiffre but because he and Peter Sellers did not get along, those scenes
    were ruined as well.
    The one we saw in the Army was longer than the current DVD version
    (the one I have includes an earlier version done on USA TV, with Jimmy
    Bond, CIA Agent, being helped by Felix Leiter, MI6 agent -- all I can
    say is "thank God the films were done by Brits!").
    But the women -- Joanna Petet, Daliah Lavu, Barbara Bouchet -- plus >Jacqueline Bisset in a small role, were glorious. The Burt Bacharach
    score performed by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Dusty Springfield >performing The Look of Love.

    Did I mention the women?

    Sure, watch it when you are in the mood. It doesn't have to be watched
    with the rest of the movies.
    Actually, I watch it first, before /Dr. No/. This despite it's
    references to both /Dr. No/ and /From Russia With Love/.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"
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  • From BTR1701@atropos@mac.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Tue Mar 10 16:53:43 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On Mar 10, 2026 at 8:49:21 AM PDT, "Paul S Person" <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

    On Mon, 9 Mar 2026 22:20:54 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
    <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

    For Goldfinger, the new director Guy Hamilton took Bond in a different
    direction. The movie is not a straight adaptation, a good thing as so
    much of Fleming's plot concerning the crime had to be thrown out; the
    novel is quite weak.

    I always liked the line in the book: "once is chance, twice in
    coincidence, three times is enemy action" (approximate, from memory).

    Aren't chance and coincidence the same thing?


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  • From BTR1701@atropos@mac.com to rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.tv on Wed Mar 18 05:34:42 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.movies

    On Mar 8, 2026 at 5:00:44 PM PDT, "Ubiquitous" <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:

    In article <10okem0$2j96d$1@dont-email.me>, dtravel@sonic.net wrote:
    On 3/7/2026 10:59 PM, Ubiquitous wrote:
    In article <10nvlrn$3m304$2@dont-email.me>, atropos@mac.com wrote:
    "Your Name" <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:

    Everything Larry and David Ellison Will Control
    if Paramount Buys Warner Bros.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Paramount Skydance's sprawling media empire will get a major
    boost if the deal gets approved.

    Conservative Oracle founder Larry Ellison dropped $110 billion to have >>>> Paramount-Skydance devour Warner Bros. Discovery whole.

    He's conservative? Didn't he buy the 007 franchise from the Brocolli
    widow, only to remove the gun from all Bond posterwork and announce
    the next Bond movie will have a "Bond They/Them"?

    All the discussion that I've seen about who the next Bond will be have
    been about male actors.

    I remember them floating the idea of Bond being a black guy but
    I thought someone tried to float the idea of a Jane Bond.

    Here's a clip from the upcoming Bond film:


    https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2030035566218113024/vid/avc1/1102x848/2heYFMs0bc96SnVs.mp4


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