Q is over-worked!
nobody
Posts: 110MI6 Agent
It has always bothered me how many different responsibilities Q has in the films. In the books, he is the quartermaster, responsible for weapons and other equipment. In the films, he's the resident Jack of All Trades. He does IT, is responsible for medical clearance, assists Bond in the field, etc. I guess looking for plausibility in a James Bond film is a bit unreasonable, but still..
Comments
The character "Q" belongs to Eon, and in the continuation novels Gardner and Benson can only call him "Q" in the books adapted from the films. The rest of the time he has to be called Major Boothroyd. Fleming never names Boothroyd as "Q" or as head of Q Branch, although Gardner and Benson do the latter.
So there's no Q character in Fleming, although the roots are there.
But what about Q being called Major Boothroyd in The Spy Who Loved Me film? Does that not mean they are intended to be one and the same?
Edit- Would go into more detail but I have to go out now, so short on time. Apologies for brief replies!
Well, there could very well be one person in charge of all that. The person who is the head of my department at work is also in charge of some very different things. But people see me if they need my specialty, not her. But if someone very important came in and needed something, she would take care to showing them around and bring that person to me personally. Bond must be that important person that Q needs to handle it all himself. Perhaps it would be disrespectful for anyone but the boss to personally take care of Bond's needs (but not really).
When Fleming sold the film rights to his books (well, most of them- but that’s another story) to Cubby Broccoli & Harry Saltzman, this gave their company Eon the rights to not only film the stories but to use the characters and incidents in them. This is why characters from one book can turn up in the film of another (Felix isn’t in the novel of DN but he is in the film; conversely, he IS in the novel of TMWTGG but not in the film), sequences from a particular book appear in the film of another (parts of the LALD novel are in FYEO and LTK), characters from a book are dropped for a film while others are created, etc etc. They can also change the name of characters (Sender from TLD becomes Saunders in the film, for example) as well as their role (Shady Tree isn’t a stand-up comedian in the novel DAF).
Now, I won’t keep you for more than an hour or so if you give me your undivided attention. Fleming used the character of Major Boothroyd in DN, and he appears in the film referred to, as in the book, as the Armourer (as well as by name). The character isn’t in the book of FRWL but turns up in the film to give Bond his attaché case and explain (to the audience as well as 007) its tricks. The case is in the book, and we’re told it was supplied by Q Branch. It’s simple for an author to tell the reader about the gadgets, as Fleming does, but for a film someone has to tell the hero (and therefore the audience) about them, and Major Boothroyd was the natural choice having done a parallel job in DN. He still isn’t called “Q”, though he is from Q Branch (M says so) so we have a progression from the first movie.
By GF, the character is referred to as “Q”. Whether this was the idea of scriptwriters Richard Maibaum & Paul Dehn, director Guy Hamilton, Desmond Llewelyn or someone else doesn’t matter- they were all working for Eon so the title “Q” belongs to Eon. Ian Fleming’s literary rights belong to a company which at the time was called Glidrose but is now Ian Fleming Publications (IFP) and these rights were sold before the film of GF was made. This company negotiates with the continuation authors and lays down guidelines within which they must work (and they have been known to grouse about it).
One of these guidelines is that James Bond receives his gadgets from Major Boothroyd, not Q, since IFP do not have the rights to call the character that. It is only when a film is being novelised that this character can be referred to as Q. So if one reads, say, Gardner in sequence then the character is called Major Boothroyd in one novel, Q in the next, then back to Major Boothroyd. Similarly, the authors cannot use characters created solely for the films.
They are allowed to use Fleming’s characters. John Gardner barely used Fleming’s characters (beyond M & co, of course) while Raymond Benson made a point of using them as much as possible- whether major ones such as Mathis or Marc-Ange Draco, or minor ones such as the Governor from QoS- and they didn’t use the film characters since they weren’t allowed to.... well, mostly, anyway. One or two did creep in.
The upshot of this is that in a film, the gadget wizard can be called Q or Major Boothroyd, while in a book he can only be Major Boothroyd unless the book is a film adaptation.
I don't know if Q's abilities/role are logical, but neither is his original/main role anyway. At least in the old films. Some dude with a novelty weapon (or jetpack/invisible car) workshop who always happens to arm Bond with exactly the gadgets he'll need. Of course in real life all the different things he does would be compartmentalized and run by different people and departments and would be less cartoonish, but this is James Bond and not a procedural drama about the bureaucracy of an intelligence service. Over the years the secondary characters like Felix, Q, Moneypenny and M have been pressed into service to aid Bond many times, as its always more fun for the fans when one of them drops by. And Q, being a very intelligent man, sort of became the Spock of the James Bond universe, so that if there was anything vaguely sciency, technological or whatever he's the go-to guy. Much the way Bond jokingly knew a little bit about everything from Fabergé eggs to Scaramanga's third nipple, old Q seems to have a vast library of knowledge about anything with moving parts from machines to humans.
I was hoping you wouldn't finish! The inevitability of time, don't you think? Superb explanation, Barbel -{
One more point I should have mentioned above: remember this character from TMWTGG?
Well, he was originally to be called "Boothroyd" until Desmond Llewelyn objected ("I'm Boothroyd!") so his name was changed to "Calthorpe". I've wondered if James Cossins was cast because of his passing resemblance to the real Geoffrey Boothroyd, for whom Fleming named the character...?
Boy, I am drawing a total blank on this thread. I don't remember Q ever giving Bond medical clearance, doing computer IT work, or meeting Bond in Switzerland. (I'm thinking Piz Gloria?)
I know Brosnan had to sleep with the nurse to get medical clearance in TWINE.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
Well in the Craig movies he's portrayed as a sort of hacker or computer expert but I'm pretty sure it's not fixing Brenda's computer in accounting. As for Switzerland, I'm guessing that's a reference to Spectre when Q met up with Bond. I think it was really Austria, but since it was clearly meant to remind us of Piz Gloria I get calling it Switzerland.
"Better make that two."
I'm guessing the medical clearance could be a reference to the smart-blood in Spectre, with which Q can monitor Bond's vitals from anywhere in the world.
Ah, I was only thinking of Desmond as Q. Thanks for cleaning up the Austria/Switzerland thing. That had me confused.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
so logically he was the one who had to go to talk to him.
does he actually say he's supposed to be the armourer in his two films?
the original Q's responsibilities expanded film by film as his part became more popular. Everybody liked "the gadgets" in the 60s spy movies, so that part had to be in every film and became more elaborate each time, and Llewelyn developed a good comic rapport, especially with Moore. As other recurring characters died off or retired his part grew even bigger, being the last of the originals left. In Octopussy he teams up with Moore in the final scenes, after the original M had passed away. In Licence to Kill he again teams up with Bond when even Moneypenny has retired and theres this strange new actor playing Bond. He is now literally the last remnant of the classic 60s spy films, otherwise people'd be complaining this is a Bondfilm in name only. So he gets a big part. By this point anything resembling an original job description has long since been forgotten, he's there because the audience wants to see him, we want to see some new gadgets and we want to hear the funny banter.
as for "do bring it back in one piece, 007" what does he expect to happen to a car with a bulletproof shield or an exploding pen? if other agents are bringing their gadgets back in one piece, I assume they're not actually succeeding in the missions M has assigned them.
Well Q does give him his gun in Skyfall and he's working on another in SPECTRE...Q is definitely not a programmer in IT... -{