Is this a possible Octopussy goof/plothole?

kincade · February 2014

I re-watched Octopussy the other day and I noticed something about the PTS (one of the highlights of the entire franchise). When Bond flies into the hangar, the soldiers at the other end attempt to close the exit. Were these soldiers on a suicide mission? If they managed to close it, wouldn't have the aircraft exploded killing them and many of their comrades instantly? I know it is overthinking but when I considered it, I had a whiskey-tango-foxtrot moment. ?:)

Thunderpussy · February 2014

) I'd say as they had been ordered to close them by a senior officer
they were just obeying orders.

Firemass · February 2014

that one doesn't bother me as much as Orlov smashing the real egg while thinking it's a fake.

Did the filmakers lose track of which egg was which?

Golrush007 · February 2014

Maybe the soldiers expected Bond's jet to do a U-turn or something!!

) Pretty stupid! But it's one of those things that has never occured to me before.

Sir Miles · February 2014

I don't think the aircraft would have necessarily blown up....although the missile a second or two behind certainly did

)

Peppermill · February 2014

Firemass wrote:

that one doesn't bother me as much as Orlov smashing the real egg while thinking it's a fake.

Did the filmakers lose track of which egg was which?

I've always thought about it like this: Orlov thinks this is the fake egg. Kahn knows it is not but can't stop him from smashing it because he'd have to admit that he lost the egg for a while because Bond switched it at the auction making Kahn look unreliable.

Charmed & Dangerous · February 2014

Peppermill wrote:

Firemass wrote:

that one doesn't bother me as much as Orlov smashing the real egg while thinking it's a fake.

Did the filmakers lose track of which egg was which?

I've always thought about it like this: Orlov thinks this is the fake egg. Kahn knows it is not but can't stop him from smashing it because he'd have to admit that he lost the egg for a while because Bond switched it at the auction making Kahn look unreliable.

+1 exactly my take in it too.

Firemass · February 2014

Peppermill wrote:

Firemass wrote:

that one doesn't bother me as much as Orlov smashing the real egg while thinking it's a fake.

Did the filmakers lose track of which egg was which?

I've always thought about it like this: Orlov thinks this is the fake egg. Kahn knows it is not but can't stop him from smashing it because he'd have to admit that he lost the egg for a while because Bond switched it at the auction making Kahn look unreliable.

I'm almost ready to buy that theory, but why was Orlov so positive it was a fake?

Timeline:

The smugglers lose the fake egg when 009 escapes with it.
Fanning and Bond bring the fake egg to the auction.
Bond switches the fake egg with the real one at the auction.
Now Bond has the real egg and Kamal has the fake.
Bond takes the real egg to India and flaunts it in Backgammon game.
Q plants homing device in real egg.
Magda steals real egg and returns it to Kamal.
Now Kamal has both real egg and fake egg.
Orlov smashes real egg and Kamal notices the homing chip.

As you point out, Orlov might not have been made aware of all these flubs by Kamal to retrieve the egg. If that's the case, wouldn't he still think the fake had been lost in the river and therfore Kamal had to buy the real one back at the auction?

The fake egg must have survived, but we never see it again? After all that ordeal, I would have liked to have a better resolution for the egg. Rather than General Gogol praising Bond for returning the Romanof Star, it should have been the original egg. That would have been more appropriate.

Barbel · February 2014

More on this here-

http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/41908/octopussy-why-did-orlov-destroy-the-real-egg/

and here

http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/27779/octopussy-question/

Thunderbird 2 · February 2014

I refer my honourable colleagues (and Bendytoys) to the comments posted in the previous thread many months ago! First link Barbel listed, post 7.

Higgins · February 2014

Thunderbird 2 wrote:

I refer my honourable colleagues (and Bendytoys)

Cheeky fooker ...

Firemass · February 2014

Barbel wrote:

More on this here-

http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/41908/octopussy-why-did-orlov-destroy-the-real-egg/

and here

http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/27779/octopussy-question/

Ah..thanks for digging those up Barbel. Good stuff. I think I get it...I'll have to rewatch the film again just to make sure. The main point that I missed was Kamal never realized that he paid 500,000 GBP for a fake.

When Orlov smashes the egg, he is referring to the fake egg being lost in the river and then resurfacing. He doesn't know the full story and they are both still unaware of the switch.

If that's the case, what good did it do to switch the eggs in the first place? Bond had the same kind of leverage with the fake one.

After reading those other threads I also learned that Gobdina kills the two men that helped carry the jewelry to the helicopter. Those are the two guys in the cold storage. Another mystery cleared up!

"their silence can be assured"

Ok..so back to the hanger doors in the PTS. Toro and his men probably didn't know Bond was being closely following by a missile. Maybe they were hoping to sustain only minor injuries by the plane crashing thru the door.

Firemass · February 2014

Ever seen Howard Hawks "The Big Sleep" ? Good example of a classic film with a convoluted plot, loose ends, and general confusion. In the end, it doesn't seem to matter as long as you have a fun time watching it.

Thunderpussy · February 2014

-{ agreed, just sit back and enjoy the ride

Barbel · February 2014

Firemass wrote:

Ever seen Howard Hawks "The Big Sleep" ? Good example of a classic film with a convoluted plot, loose ends, and general confusion. In the end, it doesn't seem to matter as long as you have a fun time watching it.

One of my favourite movies, but then I'm a Chandler nut. Part of the reason it's so confusing is that key elements of the plot (drugs, pornography) couldn't be shown at the time. Even with them included, as in the novel and the remake (about which the best thing is Robert Mitchum) it's still confusing!

Napoleon Plural · August 2016

Back to the pts, I have to say it seems to riff on the recent Argentina Falklands conflict, it's a surprise the Acrojet doesn't have number plate saying H982 FLK! Military personnel are all Latin American looking, yet when it cuts to the horsey audience, they are all white and straight out of Ascot. Maybe the are all former Nazis.

The location seems to be Surrey, but then when the jet takes flight and is being pursued by a heat-seeking missile, it relocated to the Grand Canyon or thereabouts. Then, for the final scene, he seems to have relocated to the Deep South, judging by the old boy manning the service station. No wonder he runs out of gas, he's covered a lot of mileage.

That said, would more realism have helped? Had all the 'natives' been dark skinned, there'd have been more of the vibe of the middle aged white man swanning in to shoot up the place and stick it to Johnny Foreigner, it might have jarred more. In fact, that takes us back to Jeremy Clarkson again.

Again, it has taken a while (two decades) for me to think about this.

Is this a possible Octopussy goof/plothole?

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