![]() ![]() Paired with the giant brass riff from the theme tune, it is the signature sound that will tip off audiences to all future Bond megastunts.Īlan Tyers Columnist The name is Bond, James Bond. Secondly, the film-ending Skyhook, in which Bond and Domino are hauled into the air from the sea by a passing jet. First, the underwater jet-pack, equipped with spears and the basis of a rich tradition of submersible spy-scrap. Two advances, however, blaze a trail for many wonderful future Bond tech-sploits and keep the show dazzling rather than laughable. "I think he gets the point." Indeed, so central are the gadgets that we soon understand that if Q dishes out a device, even as specific as a miniature four-minute scuba tank, it will end up being used. Here too is the irresistible temptation to twin gadget with one-liner, as when Bond dispatches a villain with a spear-gun. The opening sequence in which Bond escapes (though not very far) using a jetpack (AN ACTUAL JETPACK!!!), before jumping into the DB5 and flooring his pursuers with exhaust-cum-hose pipes, is almost too much. But unlike Moonraker, it stays just the right side of absurd. In Bond, as in life, it is the devils who have the most fun. It is they, with their submarine-catching megaships, their hunter-killer space stations, their golden guns, their volcano lairs, their monorails, their slides-into-shark pits, who have vision. For it is they, the baddies, who really have ambition. But we must admit it is bested by his adversaries and their far grander dreams. Gadgets maketh Bond, then, a secret agent to suit all tastes: pioneer, technological trailblazer, man on a mission, but one prepared to embrace both a utilitarian and hedonistic approach to whizzy toys. Three decades later, in Spectre, big tech surveillance and the end of privacy is the enemy. In 1985's A View To A Kill, Bond is trying to save Silicon Valley. Such swings echo too our own relationship with technology. Both instincts - the comic and the killer - co-exist in Bond, and the gadgets never find a middle ground, lurching too far then correcting, admitting the triviality of cello-case toboggans, the fantasy of invisible cars, but also the pared back, square-jawed man, alone with only a hangover and a Walther PPK. But the toys, at least, are more than just window dressing - they are telling, not just about contemporary fashions (rocket-launcher ghettoblaster in 1987, digital watch in 1973) but also about the film franchise itself - how it lurches from camp self-mockery, larded with gadgets-cum-excuses for desperate gags, to gritty Bourne-style action movies, almost toy-free. Fleming's child-man spy psycho wants women and toys and boy does he get them. Harry De Quetteville Special Correspondent James Bond is synonymous with gadgets. With all of these factors in mind, and after plenty of debate and research, we've ranked every Bond film in order of its appeal for car lovers. In short, how 'right' it feels, and how much it entertains us. Of course, Bond's car itself matters just as much, if not more so - whether it suits the mythos of Bond whether its gadgets are any good and even how much screen time it gets. We'll need to consider how good the 'car casting' has been - how appropriate each of these cars is to the role it's been asked to play and how well they suit the characters behind the wheel. To fully answer it, we must consider not only the cars driven by Bond himself, but also those of his sidekicks and supporting characters - not to mention those of the baddies, too. But which Bond film has the best cars in it? Ah, now that's a trickier question. Alex Robbins Contributing Editor, Cars Which is the best James Bond car ever? No doubt you'll have your favourite - be it the Aston Martin DB5 with which he's inextricably linked, the Lotus Esprit Turbo that doubled as a submarine, or something a little left-field - a certain bright yellow Citroen 2CV, for example. ![]()
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