Goldeneye PTS timeline--why '86?
antiamadeus
Posts: 16MI6 Agent
It is curious that the filmmakers chose 1986 for the pre-titles sequence setting of GE. This would be a year before Timothy Dalton took over as Bond.
Why didn't they choose 1990, a time setting after Dalton was done? Choosing 1986 could be seen as a rebuke to Dalton, like he should not have been Bond and Brosnan was always their first choice.
Additionally, 1990 would have been better in that Brosnan's age wouldn't work against him. Looking the same in '90 and '95 sequences wouldn't be too much to accept, but he looks too old for the '86 sequences. In '90 the Soviet Union was still plugging along, so that would work, and there would still be plenty of time between '90 and '95 for Orumov to become a general. Plus, '90 is early enough for Janus Syndicate to emerge as a major arms dealer during the '91 Gulf War (as referenced in the briefing scene with M).
The only reason I can see to choose 1986 is Sean Bean. He's just too young to play a role that, in the '95 scenes, demands that we accept him as being over 50 years old. Remember, he lived through the British betrayal and Stalin's retribution at the end of WWII.
However, he looks the right age for the '86 sequences, and by the '95 parts he's got scars that help obscure the actor's youth.
The PTS is exciting, but I would have found a way during rewrites to jettison the '86 scenes. No other Bond film covers more than a few months of time passing during the story, and most just span a few days. GE tries to do too much.
Why didn't they choose 1990, a time setting after Dalton was done? Choosing 1986 could be seen as a rebuke to Dalton, like he should not have been Bond and Brosnan was always their first choice.
Additionally, 1990 would have been better in that Brosnan's age wouldn't work against him. Looking the same in '90 and '95 sequences wouldn't be too much to accept, but he looks too old for the '86 sequences. In '90 the Soviet Union was still plugging along, so that would work, and there would still be plenty of time between '90 and '95 for Orumov to become a general. Plus, '90 is early enough for Janus Syndicate to emerge as a major arms dealer during the '91 Gulf War (as referenced in the briefing scene with M).
The only reason I can see to choose 1986 is Sean Bean. He's just too young to play a role that, in the '95 scenes, demands that we accept him as being over 50 years old. Remember, he lived through the British betrayal and Stalin's retribution at the end of WWII.
However, he looks the right age for the '86 sequences, and by the '95 parts he's got scars that help obscure the actor's youth.
The PTS is exciting, but I would have found a way during rewrites to jettison the '86 scenes. No other Bond film covers more than a few months of time passing during the story, and most just span a few days. GE tries to do too much.
Comments
Being in 1986 means that it occurs as a mission that just wasn't covered in another film - like Bond telling the story about M in Japan from FRWL. I think it would be more of a problem if they chose a year that was one where a film was released.
"Better make that two."
Yes...that was their little 'inside gag'...
All they had to do was not include the subtitle that said "nine years later" and I'm sure the movie would have been just fine…actually better without it! I doubt many Bond fans would even wonder how much time had elapsed between the PTS and the rest of the movie.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
Well spotted! I can't recall now if I'd ever considered that before.
Well written and thoughtful piece, Antiamadeus.
However it's not explicitly stated that he lived through the British betrayal. When Trevelyan says "MI6 figured I was too young to remember", he's referring to his knowledge of the real reason his fathermurdered his mother and committed suicide. So I don't think we're supposed to accept he's over fifty.
My take is also the whole Dalton/Brosnan gag too - they just couldn't resist, much like the Hildebrand gag in SPECTRE. And I wonder if the driver of the Fiat 500 in Rome will turn up again in the next film...
Besides the inside joke thing, if they didn't include something to show years have passed, it might of looked like to the audience that Janus sprang up overnight. I think it works better to have Janus become a crime syndicate overtime. It also give Bond and MI6 time to forget about Alex.
I'd hope that Eon Productions weren't that incompetent!
Good point. In short of having to put in the video, the "9 years later" was shown after PTS, right? If so and if there was no indication at the beginning of when the PTS was set, a viewer would wonder why Soviet were being featured unless of course they're post-Soviet Union forces...until you see "9 years later."
I probably did a double take when I saw 'USSR' on-screen.
"Better make that two."
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
Oh, and enough time for Janus to build up his crime organization.
I think it was from Michael France...a sly wink as it were...
to the Russians, I say the cold war " Never went away "
At the risk of overthinking this (which, btw, is what keeps AJB interesting
An earlier discussion on this: http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/45693/strangest-fan-theories-youve-heard/page/2/
And a mind-warping one: http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/45515/an-exploration-of-timeline-theories/
Yes, I've seen that suggestion before either on AJB or MI6. I think it was said on here, though.
Noooo! Not the code name theory...what have I done?!?! I just got rickrolled by Barbel
In 1986, Bond lost his best friend, Alec.
That's why, during TLD and LTK, the movies are darker than the previous ones; he's lost another person he cares for, and then he nearly loses Felix as well.
So, although GE starts off dark like a Dalton film, by the time the film ends, Bond is back to his normal self; he's found out Alec not onky betrayed him, but never died. This makes him less guilty and less depressed, therefore the following Brosnan films are much more light hearted.
Going with that theory, a week before the Arkangel mission when the world of Bond was still okay, I can imagine Bond and Trevelyan were kicking back at a outdoor karaoke bar and Bond says, "Alec, wanna bet I can make that pigeon do a double-take?"
Ha! Go to Hardyboy's post, no 31, and you'll see what I was linking to. In the second link, the GE stuff comes up on page 2.
If that were true, couldn't they have waited until Cubby passed on before doing that, considering how much he loved TD!