Fleming Bond as a 'Granada Holmes' type tv series
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Posts: 128MI6 Agent
I have been watching the Sherlock Holmes TV series, starring Jeremy Brett, and I am enjoying it immensely. I have read a few of Doyle's stories and I am impressed with the quality of the Granada TV series and how similar and loyal it is to the tone, ambience and story of the source material.
Consequently, I think it would be a great idea for EON to produce an analogous Fleming Bond TV series. By Fleming Bond, I mean that they'd have to do period pieces; they ought to keep all the characters, plot points, equipment, technology, politics, ethics (screw PC-ness) etc from the Fleming books intact.
To do so, they'd need a very capable production team and a 'new Jeremy Brett' to play (become - if you will) Bond. The first wouldn't be a problem, since it's EON. They have several decades of experience in producing films and probably near-infinite budget. They could perhaps co-produce it with BBC to ensure its high quality, but it wouldn't be necessary. As for the protagonist, they could go with Christian Bale (who is 33 y.o - Don't we first encounter Bond in CR in his middle 30s?) or they could find a charismatic and talented but relatively unknown British actor with theatrical background, who should be in his early 30s.
The series itself should start with CR and cover as close as possible all the Fleming novels and short stories. Of course, in the order the books were released. I'd include Colonel Sun as the series' conclusion. (according to what I've read about it, I haven't been able to get a copy yet) There aren't that many and they'd probably covered in 10-15 years and the actor would age accordingly to the character. Perhaps by then, they would also add Devil May Care.
By all means, the protagonist and the basic cast and crew would have to carry on throughout the adaptation of all the stories -to ensure a cohesive, natural tone for this endeavour (something which isn't an issue when a single writer continues to write a series of books for a similar period of time).
The budget could easily be handled by EON, or maybe it could be a co-production between them and BBC. Whoever did it though, I'd have them study the aforementioned Holmes tv series and to religiously adhere to the Fleming books.
The special effects (VFX) shouldn't be difficult to do with EON's budget and the fact that we're in the 21st century. CGI should be minimal and used when absolutely necessary, e.x. the squid in DN.
I don't see any downside to it. By now, Joe Q. Public shouldn't have much difficulty discerning the filmic Bond and the literary Bond; and if he did, proper marketing would resolve any misunderstandings. It could easily be this generation's Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and prove a worthy antagonist to 24, Lost etc. But it would need to have good writers, a solid production team and an exceptional lead.
As a fan of Fleming's books, I would definitely watch it and then buy it when it came to dvd. I believe it could really work (artistically, critically and commercially) as something seperate and independent from the film version and its canon (if such a canon exists) and that fellow Bond geeks would enjoy it too, along with the average tv audience. Hell, it might even promote reading among the latter group.
What do you say?
Consequently, I think it would be a great idea for EON to produce an analogous Fleming Bond TV series. By Fleming Bond, I mean that they'd have to do period pieces; they ought to keep all the characters, plot points, equipment, technology, politics, ethics (screw PC-ness) etc from the Fleming books intact.
To do so, they'd need a very capable production team and a 'new Jeremy Brett' to play (become - if you will) Bond. The first wouldn't be a problem, since it's EON. They have several decades of experience in producing films and probably near-infinite budget. They could perhaps co-produce it with BBC to ensure its high quality, but it wouldn't be necessary. As for the protagonist, they could go with Christian Bale (who is 33 y.o - Don't we first encounter Bond in CR in his middle 30s?) or they could find a charismatic and talented but relatively unknown British actor with theatrical background, who should be in his early 30s.
The series itself should start with CR and cover as close as possible all the Fleming novels and short stories. Of course, in the order the books were released. I'd include Colonel Sun as the series' conclusion. (according to what I've read about it, I haven't been able to get a copy yet) There aren't that many and they'd probably covered in 10-15 years and the actor would age accordingly to the character. Perhaps by then, they would also add Devil May Care.
By all means, the protagonist and the basic cast and crew would have to carry on throughout the adaptation of all the stories -to ensure a cohesive, natural tone for this endeavour (something which isn't an issue when a single writer continues to write a series of books for a similar period of time).
The budget could easily be handled by EON, or maybe it could be a co-production between them and BBC. Whoever did it though, I'd have them study the aforementioned Holmes tv series and to religiously adhere to the Fleming books.
The special effects (VFX) shouldn't be difficult to do with EON's budget and the fact that we're in the 21st century. CGI should be minimal and used when absolutely necessary, e.x. the squid in DN.
I don't see any downside to it. By now, Joe Q. Public shouldn't have much difficulty discerning the filmic Bond and the literary Bond; and if he did, proper marketing would resolve any misunderstandings. It could easily be this generation's Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and prove a worthy antagonist to 24, Lost etc. But it would need to have good writers, a solid production team and an exceptional lead.
As a fan of Fleming's books, I would definitely watch it and then buy it when it came to dvd. I believe it could really work (artistically, critically and commercially) as something seperate and independent from the film version and its canon (if such a canon exists) and that fellow Bond geeks would enjoy it too, along with the average tv audience. Hell, it might even promote reading among the latter group.
What do you say?
Comments
I also am a fan of the Granada Holmes series, which as you say was made with great care and fidelity. The period detail was superb and the casting thoughtful.
One thought: one can't "religiously adhere to the Fleming books" and yet "include Colonel Sun". Either it's Fleming all the way or Markham, Gardner, etc are there too.
But, CGI aside - I'll wager that doing a 1950's period piece might be more difficult than the 1890's of Mr. Holmes. Especially so in this case as Fleming's work plays out in so many locations worldwide.
This is really too good an idea to die, but it think the time will be right only after the films are played out, and we may all be long off to our rewards before that happens.
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
I'm afraid that is true.
Yeah, fidelity; that's a key word of what I would like from this, but as a word it eluded me when I made the original post.
Hmm, I see your point, but I still think it could be done well and the tv series should be considered something totally seperate and independent of the other. Different plots, different actors... Kind of how the film and the book versions are different. Or how different the comic book, film (Nolan) and animated versions of Batman are. There's also the Superman comics, the movies and a TV-series; however I think the recent movies and Smallville prove, well, your point actually. But the thing is, books getting adapted into (several) other media has been done in the past and in many cases successfully -when the cast and crew were talented people and especially when they were provided with the budget they required.
The only way to dilute the strengths of upcoming films would be if they planned to remake the other Fleming books; of which the titles, characters and plots have already been used (or, if I may, cannibalized to some extent) in the films up to the reboot of CR. If more Fleming adaptations (and thus, essentially remakes of previous Bond films) are in order, then indeed there is a problem.
The only competition I'd see is with the existing films, which I consider would have nothing to fear, since they were more or less set in different time eras and their plots varied quite a lot. (but not always)
I haven't read it, but judging from what I've read about it in this board and by comparing the stature (as a writer) of Amis vs. all the other continuation writers, this is by far the best non-Fleming bond, it follows Fleming's plots closely, it is well written and could easily be used as the epilogue to such a series. (But I haven't read it, so I am just guessing here)
Besides, post-Colonel Sun we have the 14 John Gardner and 6 by Raymond Benson (thank you wikipedia), which is close to the 12+9(short stories)+1(Colonel Sun) of what I've just suggested - which would mean that if the series proceeded at a normal pace (to ensure its quality), it would be completed in twice the time as that of only the Fleming books (plus Colonel Sun :P) and therefore end with the protagonist in his late 50s, which wouldn't be that nice, I suppose.
But yes, I have to acknowledge that all this is unlikely to happen.
Absolutely. CS is all the things you say, but I've never seen it as an epilogue. If Fleming hadn't written TMWTGG then doubtless Amis would have written his book to round off the series rather than leaving it on the unresolved ending of YOLT- but by the end of TMWTGG Bond is back working for the Secret Service as per normal, receiving a congratulatory message from M and looking forward to some R & R (no, not Rock & Roll; well, you never know...:))) with Mary Goodnight.
One of the main reasons for the timing of the Granada Sherlock Homes series was the lapse of copyright over Conan Doyle's work (not a total lapse, but that's a complicated issue) which also accounts for other Holmes-related adaptations springing up around that time. Without payments having to be made to the copyright holders, more money can be spent on getting things right- period detail, more expensive actors, and so on- which makes production more attractive to the money men.
The situation with 007 is not the same, of course; the rights are closely held by IFP and EON. This is similar to the situation of, say, Batman but the key difference is that this character has always crossed back and forward from radio, TV, and films (this is well known by EON, since Michael G. Wilson's father Lewis played Batman in the early forties) and probably always will. Bond has always been mainly a cinematic character, apart from a couple of one-offs.
The lure of the almighty buck is the deciding factor- once James Bond 007 stops being a movie gold mine then perhaps TV will be his next stop.
Once again, I'd love to see a TV series faithfully recreating the novels as Fleming wrote them with careful casting and period detail but if that was to happen in any way IMO it'd be the Young Bond novels that would most likely be adapted.