Timeline
alucard971
Posts: 1MI6 Agent
Does anyone know the exact timeline of James Bond's career? I don't want to know the order the movies were produced, I don't want to know about the books or anything else. I am strictly talking about the movies. I have looked all over the internet and cannot find a sole trace of the order his "missions" happened. Plus, I need to know because I just bought the collectors case DVD's......
Comments
In FRWL, Sylvia trench tells Bond she hadn't seen him for months because he left for Jamaica (an obvious reference to Dr No).
In GF, Leiter comments to 007 that the enemy got very close to killing him in Jamaica, again a reference to Dr No.
In OHMSS M talks to Draco about the "1964, the bullion job", a reference to GF.
YOLT, OHMSS and DAF are often referred to as the Blofeld trilogy, and so this infers continuity here.
The post Moore era is harder to pin down. My feeling is that there is still a sort of continuity. I am so looking forward to the continuity of CR and QOS.
Any other thoughts, or references to previous movies I have missed......?
In OHMSS Bond clears out his desk drawer, finding souvenirs from DN, FRWL and TB.
In TSWLM Anya refers to Tracy being killed, and Bond cuts her off abruptly-
"You're sensitive, Mr Bond."
"About some things, yes". (Moore is excellent here, as he is in the later scene where Bond admits to having killed Anya's previous lover.)
FYEO opens with Bond visiting Tracy's grave, the date of her death being given as 1969 (OHMSS). This is immediately followed by an unnamed bald man (with a neckbrace and a white cat; now who could that be...?) trying to kill 007.
In LTK Leiter tells his wife that Bond was married once, a long time ago.
In TWINE, Elektra asks Bond if he's ever lost someone. He pauses before changing the subject. Also Valentin re-appears, putting this film after GE.
In DAD there's the scene in the Quartermaster's stores referencing a lot of "old relics", some of which Bond clearly remembers- "Does this still work?"
I am sure I would have remembered those if I had not been at work and thinking more!!!
To conclude - the Bond films take place in sequence; are we agreed on that?
Dates aren't common in the Bond films, but they are there from time to time; the file in TB shows contemporary dates, as does the legal correspondence in OHMSS, Stacy's cheque in AVTAK and so on. Incidentally, check out Bond's passport in DAF- it gives his birth year as 1932. OK, so he's impersonating Peter Franks at this point but the year given has to be believable to carry off the masquerade and it's only a little later than Connery's.
Edit: that year of birth could be believable for Connery or Moore but not Dalton, Brosnan or Craig. It's also a shade early for Lazenby, who'd played Bond just one film earlier. Still, Fleming himself wasn't consistent with dates- the Bond who bought his Bentley in 1933 had to lie about his age to join the MoD in 1941.
I just ignore the thing about dates and try not to think about what goes where. I remain blissfully unaware. Im happy that way.
Agreed !
When I have thought about this subject (and i find it kinda sad that I do! ) I always look at the first 8 Bond movies as chronological and assume that Bond is approx 32 at the start and 40 by the end. I try not to take into account actual year dates as this makes it confusing. I do however see the time line as being roughly 7 to 8 years.
Once I reach Roger Moore it gets more complicated. LALD and TMWTGG probably need to follow chronologically too (Sherriff Pepper and Felix Leither) and TSWLM and FYEO if only because of the references to Tracy's death.
The Dalton Years fit neatly after FYEO as they are Cold War based and feature Leither again, and of course Gen Gogol.
Those further 6 adventures would make Bond approx 50 at the close of play - about the right time for NSNA!! (bit problematical tho' given the reoccurrance of all those names and characters)
The remaining 3 films I tend to view as separate entities, while Brosnan's Years follow a loose order as a quartet. The sticky point here is that ridiculous scene in DAD in the Quatermaster's Store with the gadgets from previous Bond films.
CR I also see as the start of a loose sequence of movies, given the premise of QOS that looks to be so.
I guess therefore I am am suggesting three timelines:
1. 18 years following an original James Bond as follows:
DN, FRWL, GF, TB, YOLT, OHMSS, DAF, LALD, TMWTGG, TSWLM, FYEO, TLD, LTK, NSNA
2. 4 - 6 years following a second "James Bond" :
GE, TND, TWINE, DAD
3. 2 years, so far, following a new 007, a third "James Bond" by name:
CR, QOS
Gen Gogol raises the most issues with the remaining 3 films, but given that M changes face 3 times, there is nothing to suppose the Head of the Russian Secret Service cant also. Because of its fantastical elemants MR always drops in last for me, while the other two can be placed at will amongst the other adventures. They can even be separate adventures by other "composite" 007s.
I guess Im not really blissfully unaware! What I was trying to say was that ultimately, despite a clear sequence to some adventures, Bond is agent number 007, and its the agents number that counts, not his name...
p.s. Have I been thinking too much about this?
P.S. Check your PM's.
And that's pretty much as Ian Fleming saw things as well; he was usually vague with dates but there are quotes from both the novels (eg MR, TB) and interviews showing his feeling that Bond is always in that age bracket.