The Alternate Bond Timeline
Italus_NT
Posts: 67MI6 Agent
This is an alternate timeline of durations of Bond Actors, movie plots, reception, and in a few cases, orders of release. Some movies are cut, some withheld movies are released.
1961 , Thunderball Lawsuit:
Fleming counter sues for an exorbitant amount of money, and the lawsuit falls through, ending with Kevin McClory bankrupted at the age of 37, erasing Never Say Never Again from the timeline. Ian Fleming goes on to overlook all the films until retirement in 1980 and will die in 1990.
1969:
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is released, and Bond fans have warmed up to George Lazenby. George has renewed passion and is able to compromise for two more movies instead of the original six.
May 14, 1971:
Diamonds Are Forever is released, and it is a followup OHMSS that is the least bit campy, and is like a less dark version of Licence to Kill. The film ends in Bond breaking up Spectre and leaving Blofeld to die in his oil rig fire.
December 22, 1972:
The Man With The Golden Gun is released. George Lazenby once again takes his role very seriously and much more professionally. Christopher Lee makes a much more perfect counterpart to Lazenby than Moore, and there's a switch in Bond Girls. Goodnight is killed off and Andrea wins her freedom. Live and Let Die is being worked on in the background, featuring an all new actor.
June 27, 1973:
Live and Let Die is released. Nothing changes here, not even the plot, it's still a success.
July 9, 1976:
The Spy Who Loved Me is released, nothing changes, it's just the same movie released a year earlier.
May 12, 1978:
Moonraker is released. Instead of the 1979 "Bond In Space" cash cop we saw, It is a movie about missiles and bombs that follows the book's plot very carefully. Roger Moore, feeling that his age is starting to show, steps down from the role once the movie is released.
Part II coming soon.
1961 , Thunderball Lawsuit:
Fleming counter sues for an exorbitant amount of money, and the lawsuit falls through, ending with Kevin McClory bankrupted at the age of 37, erasing Never Say Never Again from the timeline. Ian Fleming goes on to overlook all the films until retirement in 1980 and will die in 1990.
1969:
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is released, and Bond fans have warmed up to George Lazenby. George has renewed passion and is able to compromise for two more movies instead of the original six.
May 14, 1971:
Diamonds Are Forever is released, and it is a followup OHMSS that is the least bit campy, and is like a less dark version of Licence to Kill. The film ends in Bond breaking up Spectre and leaving Blofeld to die in his oil rig fire.
December 22, 1972:
The Man With The Golden Gun is released. George Lazenby once again takes his role very seriously and much more professionally. Christopher Lee makes a much more perfect counterpart to Lazenby than Moore, and there's a switch in Bond Girls. Goodnight is killed off and Andrea wins her freedom. Live and Let Die is being worked on in the background, featuring an all new actor.
June 27, 1973:
Live and Let Die is released. Nothing changes here, not even the plot, it's still a success.
July 9, 1976:
The Spy Who Loved Me is released, nothing changes, it's just the same movie released a year earlier.
May 12, 1978:
Moonraker is released. Instead of the 1979 "Bond In Space" cash cop we saw, It is a movie about missiles and bombs that follows the book's plot very carefully. Roger Moore, feeling that his age is starting to show, steps down from the role once the movie is released.
Part II coming soon.
Movie: From Russia With Love | Novel: On Her Majesty's Secret Service | Actor: Sean Connery | Girl: Melina Havelock | Car: Aston Martin V8
Comments
but having recently read his biography, I think that he was not long for this world, even if he had won the lawsuit. That nonsense literally killed him. He already had weakened his body through poor habits, he actually had his first heart attack in the middle of a board meeting at the newspaper he worked at. He sold those filmrights to Saltzman just in the nick of time, and its a tragedy he didn't live to see the how successful those films became.
But we know he was concerned about minor plot deviations in Dr No, even if they were technically necessary. I think if he had lived, OHMSS and YOLT would have been filmed in the correct order.
Don't know what he would have thought about tSWLM. He did sell the title only, with explicit instruction none of the actual contents were to be adapted, so he had to expect something all-new would be filmed. Maybe he would have even veto'd Jaws, due to the metal teeth!
For Your Eyes Only is released, starring a 34 year old Timothy Dalton and Carole Bouqet, selected by none other than Ian Fleming. This is the last film he will overlook, and he retires. The film takes a darker tone than the 1981 version we have.
June 4, 1982:
A View To A Kill is released, starring Timothy Dalton and Christopher Walken, as you guess, it's a similar movie but it takes the famous Dalton tone
June 1, 1984:
Octopussy is released. It's the same plot without the Roger Moore stupidity in it
June 27, 1986:
The Living Daylights is released. It's the same movie.
July 14, 1989:
Licence To Kill is released. It's practically the same movie, but thanks to Moonraker not overspending on crappy Sci-Fi gimmicks, it has a high enough budget to have proper marketing, and the movie is a smash hit of 1989.
November 30, 1990:
It was a competition between Property of a Lady and Nobody Lives Forever. It is chosen to make a direct sequel for Licence To Kill out of Nobody Lives Forever, with Professor Joe Butcher putting a price on Bond's head. This is the last Dalton film
November 13, 1995:
Pierce Brosnan's first film, Goldeneye is released. Nothing has changed
December 19, 1997:
Tomorrow Never Dies is released. Yet Again, nothing has changed.
December 17, 1999:
The World is Not Enough is released. Nothing has changed yet.
May 30, 2003: Die Another Day is released. In this timeline, Bond spends his entire time in North Korea, Hong Kong, and Beijing tracking down the controls to the Icarus satellite, in hopes of destroying it to prevent a North Korean defector from starting WW3 with the superweapon. No terrible CGI involved, and Madonna doesn't sing her god awful song.
2004:
It is decided to reboot the series just the same.
November 17, 2006:
Daniel Craig's debut, Casino Royale is released. Nothing changes.
November 14, 2008:
Quantum of Solace is released with Forever - I Am Yours as it's theme. Because in this timeline, the Writer's Guild of America Strike never happened, The movie has a Skyfall-esque vibe, and we actually learn about the Quantum. It goes down as a sequel better than Casino Royale
At this point, our alternate timeline falls back into our current one.
That does sound like a good point. I guess I overestimated by alot for argument's sake, let's say Fleming gives up smoking after his 1964 heart attack, not being lethal, I'll say that it gives him until 1972 or maybe even 1978. as for his opinions on Spy Who Loved Me, I'd say he'd be happy in general that his work did not make the cut, as it was workshopped alot. Since this is not the campiest Moore film, I guess Fleming would be alright.
Well, there's an improvement right there!
DN to YOLT: Sean Connery, everything stays the same.
OHMSS to TMWTGG: George Lazenby.
The films stay the same with DAF still being dark humour neo-noir like but more violent with a very gruesome end for Blofeld and Lazenby visiting Tracy's grave in the end-scene. In TMWTGG Bond finally decides to give it a go with Mary Goodnight and he follows her to the Blue Mountains in a wonderful happy-end like scene.
TSWLM to OP: Sir Rog, everything stays the same.
AVTAK to LTK, and The Property Of A Lady in 1991: Timothy Dalton, everything stays the same but there is the 1991 Bond that sadly never happened in our timeline.
GE to QOS: Pierce Brosnan. Everything stays the same but obviously CR is not a reboot and features Samantha Bond's MP for a last time, same for Cleese's R. Besides that CR stays the same because it will work with Brosnan perfectly, the torture scene doesn't feature the unnecessary in your face nudity. QOS is a revenge film with a Brosnan on fire, the film is obviously quite different in style and Mr. White gets killed and Quantum is defeated.
SF and SP: Actor No 7, let's say for the fun of it Fassbender or someone in that quality range.
Obviously SF will not feature any of the horrid plot holes and there is no OTT Silva, but a really menacing, dangerous adversary that is crazy and wants to kill M. It doesn't work though, M retires, gets her well earned goodbye and Mallory takes over. MP and Q are introduced like it's done in SF as we know it but Q doesn't act like an imbecile, there is no idiotic computer hack nonsense and of course everything concerning Silva's escape is written differently in a believable manner.
SP stays the same as it is, but no Blofeld. Oberhauser is Oberhauser and still linked to FassbenderBond's past. Of course no retcon idiocy concerning Silva, Vesper and so on.
Bond 25 happens in 2017, Bond 26 in 2019 and Bond 27 in 2022 for the 60th and is Fassbender's last film.
Now where did l leave that ban button? :v
Thanks...I mean, I like your stuff
:v
FYEO is clearly written for Dalton. The whole "Revenge" plot was in the script when they initally tried to ask Dalton to take over shortly after Moonraker. As for Property of A Lady, if that were to happen, Goldeneye would not have existed. The mere reason Goldeneye you know exists is because they recycled about a good third of the material from Property Of A Lady's draft.
True, everything you say.
But it's my alternate timeline
This is interesting. Are you saying that Casino Royale would be in place of Die Another Day? I think that might actually work out.
Yes I do. Sorry I wasn't clear enough on it.
Oh, hardly... We do this all the time!
Anyway
SEAN CONNERY 1962-1967
.Dr. No 1962
.From Russia With Love 1963
.Goldfinger 1964
.Thunderball 1965
.You Only Live Twice 1967
GEORGE LAZENBY 1969-1971
.On Her Majesty's Secret Service 1969
.Diamonds Are Forever 1971
-As Jason said, just include more violence, the deleted scenes, the original ending at the salt mine, and the original, more gruesome demise of Wint and Kidd.
ROGER MOORE 1973-1985
.Live And Let Die 1973
.The Man With The Golden Gun 1975
-An extra year to work on the script.
.The Spy Who Loved Me 1977
.Moonraker 1979
.For Your Eyes Only 1981
.Octopussy 1983
.A View To A Kill 1985
TIMOTHY DALTON 1987-1993
.The Living Daylights 1987
.Licence To Kill 1989
-Keep the original posters and up the promotion.
.The Hildebrand Rarity 1991
-As described in another thread. Dalton's TSWLM.
.Death To Spies 1993
-Darker film. More like LTK.
PIERCE BROSNAN 1995-2004
.GoldenEye 1995
.Tomorrow Never Dies 1997
.The World Is Not Enough 1999
.Die Another Day 2002
-Get rid of the ice dragster/surfing sequence.
-Improve the CGI during the finale. Fixed.
.Everything Or Nothing 2004
DANIEL CRAIG 2006-2016
.Casino Royale 2006
.Quantum Of Solace 2008
-White is killed at the end.
.Blood From A Stone 2010
-Based on Blood Stone.
.Skyfall 2012
-Better action, score, and no Bond is old crap.
.Risico 2014
-Return of Quantum. Similar style to CR and QOS.
.The Property Of A Lady 2016
-The head of Quantum, Maria Freudenstein, is revealed. Similar film to SP. Ends with a huge battle between MI6 and Quantum.
-{
You are obviously living in another universe, but you should not state things like that they've really happened....
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
when you expand Lazenby and Dalton's tenures at the expense of Moore, are you suggesting this is because of the still-living-Fleming's influence? would he have approved of Moore at all?
also you have an adaptation of a Gardner novel after the Fleming material is exhausted
if Fleming lived would he have not written more books himself (of course we can only imagine these)? or would he be so satisfied to finally have sold the filmrights he felt he could quit? and would he have allowed other writers to continue the books in his place? would Gardner have been his choice?
Thank you!
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
but if I understood you right, then the other half of your sentence is what I was asking Italus to clarify in the bit above my half-quote. I don't know anything about these two abandoned scripts he's mentioned and am hoping to find out more, if it's true
I have made a small footnote that Ian Fleming now passes away in 1978. I am starting to make a revamp of the list so please hold on.
Before we begin, yes Gunbarrels still exist in this timeline, we wouldn't give those up.
Part I- Sean Connery, "Timeline A"
1956:
Fleming sells film rights to Harry Saltzman and Robert Broccoli, maintaining the right to overlook some of the films. Sean Connery is approached and is asked to play bond at 26. Connery Agrees. Filming on Moonraker (The Fleming version)
July 25, 1958:
Moonraker (Fleming Version) is released in theaters, and is met with great reception. Connery is signed on to do 4 more films. Hugo Drax is the first SPECTRE agent of the films. Desmond Llewellyn is also signed on as Major Boothroyd.
March 11, 1960:
A similar version of From Russia With Love is released in theaters, the only difference is that SPECTRE's motive is to avenge Hugo Drax instead of Dr No. Other than that, the movie is the same.
October 20, 1961:
Goldfinger is released in Theaters. Nothing changes except for the release date.
March 15, 1963:
Dr No is released in theaters. However, due to the Cuban Missile Crisis, Crab Key is now a Cuban island, and Dr No is still a German-Asian man, BUT he was a former Nazi scientist, angry at Germany's loss in WW2, is now trying to hijack American missiles to destroy Havana. In other terms, he's an independent terrorist.
May 8, 1964:
Thunderball is released. Nothing changes.
December 5, 1965:
You Only Live Twice is released, all filler with Bond's wives is removed, and the film is more about tracking down Blofeld's operation in Japan.
The George Lazenby and Roger Moore era will be posted tommorrow
Wouldn't it just be easier to say, since this is alternate history, that Kevin McClory decided to open a roadside shop selling flowers or something, and just have Fleming magically come up with all the ideas for Thunderball himself as a novel?
I wonder if they would do it Ray Harryhausen style (which was the best special effects of the day)? modern day fans would probably not like that, same as I reacted seeing Clash of the Titans after STAR WARS had already come out. (and I think there was a scene in Clash of the Titans similar to the giant squid fight)
September 1965:
Harry Saltzman, Ian Fleming, and Albert Broccoli hold casting calls for a new Bond actor. A 19 year old Timothy Dalton auditions, knowing that he would be too young for the role, but hoping to make a wait list.
October 1965:
George Lazenby is decided to be Bond
December 15, 1967:
George Lazenby's first Bond, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is released. Although the movie is the same, Lazenby is now contracted for two more movies.
December 20, 1968:
George Lazenby stars in Diamonds are Forever. The movie is focused on Bond's revenge. Tracy is still the Bond Girl, even though she's dead. The movie shows a very savage side of Bond, who in the climax, breaks Blofeld's arms and legs, mentally tortures him, sets his base on fire, and leaves him to die. The movie narrowly avoids an R rating and the film, even though a success, leaves a neutral response.
September 1969:
Roger Moore, on the Bond wait list, is asked to be James Bond. To this, he agrees, and he is signed on for four films, the first to be released in 1971.
December 5, 1969:
George Lazenby stars against Christopher Lee in the thrilling "Man With The Golden Gun." In this edition, all camp is removed from chase sequences, and Goodnight does not exist. Bond still has not gotten over Tracy's passing. In this edition, Andrea is the one and only bond girl, and she wins her freedom. Nic-Nac still exists, however, he does not follow Bond into the ship as in this edition he was a slave to Scaramanga.
June 25, 1971:
Live and Let Die is released. No changes are made to the movie.
May 24, 1974:
The Spy Who Loved Me comes out in theaters. No changes are made to the movie.
July 9, 1976:
Octopussy is released in Theaters. It's very similar, however, it is more fitting as Russia was still a great fear in '76.
June 24, 1977:
The Property Of A Lady is released in theaters. In this film, Bond must track down the location of a stolen American missile in Vietnam - belonging to the first female Bond villain, Ms. Goodnight, an ex CIA agent, hellbent on destroying A nuclear weapons facility in New Mexico to "avenge" her husband, who was killed horribly during the Vietnam war.
September 1977: Timothy Dalton, now 34, is asked if he's up to play Bond now. He is signed on for five films.
1978: Ian Fleming passes away.
December 5, 1980:
"For Your Eyes Only", Timothy Dalton's breakout, is released in theaters, this film takes on a much darker tone than the Moore edition, camp is removed from all sequences.
December 14, 1984:
"A View To A Kill" is released in theaters. Timothy Dalton takes his role seriously, he doesn't look like a grandpa, he isn't lazy and actually does quite a bit of stunts, and critics say he and Christopher Walken make "The best rivals of the 90's. However, critics have no idea what's in store soon.
December 5, 1986:
"The Living Daylights" is released in theaters. No changes are made.
July 14, 1989:
"Licence To Kill" is released in theaters. Because Moonraker did not screw up the budget, The posters and trailers are very high budget. In fact, this is the highest budget Bond film at this point. The publicity makes this film a success. In this edition, Dario is left to deal with Bond by putting him in the grinder. However, Bond escapes, and the two have a battle royale, ending in Bond breaking off part of a safety rail, striking Dario in the face, and then picking him up by the ankles and flipping him backfirst into the grinder. We still get the juicy bit of meat bits being ground up underneath. The MPAA has to create the PG-15 rating (Parents strongly Advised for under 15) now because of this movie.
November 30, 1990:
"Nobody Lives Forever" is released.
Professor Joe Butcher, the last non-incarcerated/living insider of Sanchez's operation, now on the brink of poverty, hires a hitman on Bond for revenge. The hitman, American Joseph Johnson, known as "Jinx" tracks down Bond on vacation in Maine. Joseph Johnson is killed once Bond has been kidnapped and disarmed. Johnson is killed on his private beach, where Bond knocks Johnson's girlfriend unconscious with a punch to the trachea, and in a moment of adrenaline, strangles Johnson to death with the bikini top of his girlfriend.