Why Was Colthorpe In TMWTGG

Thunderpussy

Having Watched TMWTGG Many Times,I've Always Wondered About The Colthorpe Character. Was D Llewelyn At First Not Free To Do The Film, So They Wrote Colthorpe In, And Then Desmond Was Available So Could Do It.( If That Makes Sence).
As In The Movie He Seems To Be Q's Equal( I realise There Must Be More Than One Q In a Service As Big As MI6). Interested If Anyone Has Any Ideas.

thesecretagent

I always wondered about that - whether he was a balistics expert, or Q's equal. But the scene talking about the solex means he's more than a balistics expert. It does seem a strange character, seeing as the characters are so established by this stage.

jetsetwilly

Colthorpe is actually interesting, in that he was originally intended to be, not Q, but Major Boothroyd! Desmond Llewellyn said that in the original script, the two men meeting M were the Chief of Staff and "Boothroyd". He indignantly pointed out that he was Boothroyd, and so the character was renamed. It seems that the producers and writers, at that point, considered Q (Llewellyn) and Boothroyd (Peter Burton) to be two separate people, while Llewellyn felt he was the same character (note that in FRWL, M refers to Q as the "Armourer", not Boothroyd). It wasn't until Anya spoke to him on the dock in Sardinia that we finally got confirmation that Q & Boothroyd were the same person.

Obviously this is pure conjecture, but since Desmond was written out of LALD entirely and, as you say, an "alternative" Q was presented in the following film, I wonder if there were contract negotiations going on somewhere we didn't know about...

Thunderpussy

With The Re-boot Of The Series Perhaps If They Didn't Want To Bring Back Q They Could Use The Colthorpe Character, As For The Moment They Don't Seem To Want To Saddle D Craigs Bond With A lot Of "The Old Firm" Q and Moneypenny.

Mister White

Very interesting indeed, Jetsetwilly!

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Mailfist

jetsetwilly wrote:

Obviously this is pure conjecture, but since Desmond was written out of LALD entirely and, as you say, an "alternative" Q was presented in the following film, I wonder if there were contract negotiations going on somewhere we didn't know about...

Q wasn't actually writen out of LALD. Desmond LLewellyn was unavailable at the time and rather than get another actor they didn't include the character.

Mailfist

I quite liked seeing additional characters like Colthorpe even if they did not fulfill any particuliar function. For a number of movies you got the impression that the entire headquarters staff of MI6 consisted of Bond, M, Moneypenny and Q.

That was one of the few things I did like about QOS was there you saw that there was a large organisation working under M.

Thunderpussy

Really liked Colin Salmon and Michael Kitchen as Charles Robinson & Bill Tanner in the Brosnan Films.Hope they at least bring back Bill Tanner as a character, After all he was in plenty of the books.

Hardyboy

Thunderpussy wrote:

Really liked Colin Salmon and Michael Kitchen as Charles Robinson & Bill Tanner in the Brosnan Films.Hope they at least bring back Bill Tanner as a character, After all he was in plenty of the books.

Well, Tanner was in QoS--though he was played by Rory Kinnear, not Michael Kitchen.

Mailfist

Robinson was only added as a character as Michael Kitchen was not available to reprise his role as Tanner in TND.

Thunderpussy

Didn't take much in from QOS when i first saw it(stunned at the editing etc) so I'll admit I missed Tanner,I suppose he was in the M's office sceen.I've only seen it the once so will catch up with it on DVD.Initaly I hated QOS but have been persuaded to give it a second chance.
Sure Robinson was added to replace M Kitchen, But Colin Salmon did a fine job.

Thunderpussy

You know you seem to be right Hardyboy,Tanner is in QOS Feel pretty stupid for missing Him,But in my defence the first time watching QOS I was stunned and didn't take much in. Now I've watched it (only the 2nd Time) on DVD I enjoyed it alot more as nothing was unexpected and sure enough Tanner's name is all over the place.Although He seemed more of a grey faceless character than when M Kitchen played him.