SAS or SBS

avekev · April 2007

Just a quick one.
During the train scene, Vesper says something along the lines of, 'You know, former SAS types with easy smiles and expensive watches...... Rolex?' At which point Bond corrects her, 'Omega'.
So I assume that as he only corrected her observation regarding his watch, she was correct about his military service.
I have also read in another post, that the original credits had photo's showing Bond during his SAS days and then finaly the words '007 status confirmed' (the later part still existing).
But as all of us Bond fanatics know, Bond came from a naval background and if it was necessay for the 'rebooted' Bond to come from a Special Forces unit he would of more likely to have been a member of the SBS (Special Boat Squadron) rather than the SAS.
Does anyone else have any views on this?

emtiem · April 2007

Well I think the dossier regarding his militay background on the CR website does have him down as an ex-SBS man.

It's a good point, though- if he was feeling petty enough to correct her on the watch it's funny he didn't correct this, but then she did ask 'Omega?' as a direct question and the 'SAS-type' was just an observation in a sentence- perhaps he just chose to let it go. And, after all, an SBS man is an SAS-type; it's close enough!

s96024 · April 2007

I think she was saying it in a general way as an example. But she did indeed ask about the watch in a questionative way. So maybe that's the reason he responded to the question and not the statement.

Gassy Man · April 2007

I may be wrong, but I thought I'd read elsewhere on this board that naval officers can be SAS personnel.

IanT007 · April 2007

Isn't it obvious? Omega threw the producers a massive wad of cash to make Bond correct Vesper's mistake, the Royal Navy didn't.

In my eyes he is still Royal Navy and likely has had some dealings with the SBS.

Solaris · April 2007

The SAS and the SBS can be joined by people from any area of the armed forces, it is more likely however for men from the navy to join the SBS and the army the SAS. both work very closely together however and I don't think Vesper talking about "former SAS types" is too wrong.

Officially, according to the Dossier on the CR site Bond joined the SBS.

avekev · April 2007

Thanks for clearing that up for me, I must admit I never read all the dossier information on the CR website, I was too busy getting heavily beat at poker:D.

double0 · April 2007

I think the scriptwriters threw in the line about the SAS because it is mentioned more in the news than the SBS. There are even a lot of books on the market about the SAS. They probably figured more people would recognized SAS. Personally, I don't like the fact that they changed his background. Just because they were rebooting the series, didn't mean they had to go that far. Vesper could have said he was "You know, like the SAS-commando types with easy smiles...". Then Bond could have replied "Yes" to her Rolex querie if the producers would quit trading in Fleming's original template for Bond's brand names in exchange for free publicity from companies like Omega). He then could have said "..but wrong on the SAS. It was Naval Intelligence."

SAS or SBS

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