Which Science Fiction Films and TV Shows etc. inspired Moonraker '79?

Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,845MI6 Agent
in The James Bond Films
I created this thread as I was interested to know which Science Fiction films or TV shows (and I suppose even novels and short stories too) in particular would members here consider to have influenced the outer space content in Moonraker (1979)?

We know that Cubby Broccoli famously called Moonraker "science fact" but the truth is that it was influenced by science fiction films.

Two of these such influences that I'm aware of are the Mothership theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) being played as the code to Drax's Venetian laboratory and the fact that the Space Station in the film is like the Death Star being revealed in Star Wars: A New Hope (1977).

Obviously very little (shamefully!) came from the original Bond novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, apart from the villain name and rocket name and the scene where Bond and Dr Holly Goodhead are trapped below the thruster rockets of the Moonraker 5 Space Shuttle.

However I'm sure that there are many more that members here can come up with besides those! :)
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).

Comments

  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    As you point out Star Wars was the big film, hence why FYEO was dropped
    In favour of MR. The space station ( For me at least) is very 2001. -{
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  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,217MI6 Agent
    I could never understand why such a good name for the Bond Girl, Gala Brand, was dropped for the schoolboy humour name Holly Goodhead.
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  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Agreed, I don't know why that character name has never been used. I know
    It has been penciled in from time to time ( DAD, for example)
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • moneyofpropremoneyofpropre Posts: 38MI6 Agent
    Kiss The Girls and Make Them Die, I supose.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Yes, similar story line.
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Thunderbird 2Thunderbird 2 East of Cardiff, Wales.Posts: 2,817MI6 Agent
    If we are including physical asthetics, the look of some of the set pieces and equipment echo Space 1999.

    This true of the visual style of the Space Station, Globes and set pieces inside them. The Black Hole may have been a partial inspiration with some of the set design, and the laser bkast (pew-pew) battle too.
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  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Wasn't The Black hole being filmed at the same time as Moonraker ?
    Also, compared to some special effects movies of the time, I think
    Moonraker stands up very well. -{
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Matt SMatt S Oh Cult Voodoo ShopPosts: 6,610MI6 Agent
    Thunderpussy wrote:
    Wasn't The Black hole being filmed at the same time as Moonraker ?
    Also, compared to some special effects movies of the time, I think
    Moonraker stands up very well. -{

    Yes. The Black Hole came out 6 months after Moonraker, so Moonraker possibly influenced it. I agree that Moonraker stands up very well. Real sci-fi films like Star Trek TMP from the same year don't even look as good.
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  • Gassy ManGassy Man USAPosts: 2,972MI6 Agent
    Thunderpussy wrote:
    Yes, similar story line.
    Extremely similar.

    Moonraker was also an obvious retread of You Only Live Twice and The Spy Who Loved Me, in much the same way that Howard Hawks remade Rio Bravo twice more as El Dorado and Rio Lobo.

    It also bears some resemblance to In Like Flint and The Ambushers. The "hovercraft" sequence is reminiscent of one in Murderer's Row, too.
  • Shady TreeShady Tree London, UKPosts: 2,998MI6 Agent
    Derek Meddings' excellent model work in this and other Bond movies gives it something of the flavour of the TV shows of Gerry Anderson. 'Space 1999' has been mentioned but I also think of Meddings' space-scenes model work on Anderson's sci-fi/fantasy puppet shows like 'Thunderbirds', too.
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  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,863Chief of Staff
    The Black Hole, plotwise rather than techwise, is basically a retread of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea.... in space.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    I always think of it as Edgar Allan Poe in space, as it's very gothic. :))
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Gassy ManGassy Man USAPosts: 2,972MI6 Agent
    Barbel wrote:
    The Black Hole, plotwise rather than techwise, is basically a retread of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea.... in space.
    That gets written a lot, but I always thought it was closer to Forbidden Planet, though neither Nemo nor Morbius are really villainous, as Rinehart is.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,863Chief of Staff
    Touches of that great film, sure - must watch it again soon! :)
  • The Wicker ManThe Wicker Man EnglandPosts: 434MI6 Agent
    Button Moon? Only my little joke. :))
    1.ohmss 2.cr 3.frwl 4.ltk 5.gf 6.tswlm 7.sf 8.op 9.tld 10.dn 11.lald 12.tb 13.fyeo 14.ge 15.mr 16.yolt 17.tnd 18.avtak 19.sp 20.twine 21.qos 22.tmwtgg 23.daf 24.dad
  • heartbroken_mr_draxheartbroken_mr_drax New Zealand Posts: 2,073MI6 Agent
    I'm not as familiar as others are with some of the sci-fi films and TV shows leading up to MR - but I for one see plenty of 2001 throughout the space scenes.

    Considering that 2001 was a British film, and Ken Adam was good mates with Kubrick - the connection here seems greater. I've not seen any other space films which replicate 2001 (barring elements of Interstellar and Gravity) around that time period as MR does.

    The special effects in MR are not as amazing as 2001 - but they're pretty damn incredible.
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  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,467MI6 Agent
    I think the MR poster, which misleadingly posits the idea that all of it takes place in space, is very Buck Rogers, but I dunno, maybe that came after.

    Didn't Christopher Wood get accused at one point of nicking the whole orchid plot from some other low budget spy thriller?

    I suppose the sci-fi element in the film owes something to 2001: Space Odyssey but then again Kubrick advised on the lighting for TSWLM set, so maybe he influenced that more. But the classy look of MR and the music owes a fair bit to the Kubrick film.

    Guess as the whole space shuttle thing was new it didn't crib from too many others. Had shuttles ever featured in a movie before that? Or ever much since?
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  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    I think the idea was to have MR premier at the same time as NASA launched the first shuttle.
    Sadly NASA let the film crew down. :D
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,845MI6 Agent
    Thunderpussy wrote:
    I think the idea was to have MR premier at the same time as NASA launched the first shuttle.
    Sadly NASA let the film crew down. :D

    Correct, in the end up the first space shuttle wasn't in fact launched until 1981, some three years after Moonraker was released.
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    :)) They should have got the Bond special effects team to help them.
    ( As they did with the Moon landings ) ;)
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,845MI6 Agent
    Thunderpussy wrote:
    :)) They should have got the Bond special effects team to help them.
    ( As they did with the Moon landings ) ;)

    Yes, indeed! Rank amateurs! :)) -{
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • chrisisallchrisisall Western Mass, USAPosts: 9,062MI6 Agent
    Thunderpussy wrote:
    :)) They should have got the Bond special effects team to help them.
    ( As they did with the Moon landings ) ;)
    Since Meddings has passed, no good space stuff from NASA.
    Coincidence?
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    #1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,863Chief of Staff
    Napoleon Plural wrote:

    Didn't Christopher Wood get accused at one point of nicking the whole orchid plot from some other low budget spy thriller?

    As mentioned in post 5 above, it's the 1966 "Kiss The Girls And Make Them Die" (English title) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060592/ which does have some fairly specific resemblances to MR (and a whole lot of dissimilarities, too!). Here's an article by The Cat discussing that very subject: http://jamesbond.ajb007.co.uk/mr66/
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,845MI6 Agent
    chrisisall wrote:
    Thunderpussy wrote:
    :)) They should have got the Bond special effects team to help them.
    ( As they did with the Moon landings ) ;)
    Since Meddings has passed, no good space stuff from NASA.
    Coincidence?

    I THINK NOT! :))
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
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