Voting ends September 7
- Vesper
- Tracy
0 voters
- Pussy
- Anya
0 voters
Vesper vs. Tracy seems like it could be, for many fans, a Bond version of a sports example of the semifinals feeling like itās the real finals.
Regardless, my votes are:
Vesper over Tracy
and Anya over Pussy
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My votes are:
Tracy over Vesper for me: Tracy could do so many things that Vesper couldnāt do. Weāre very much explored to her character, sheās adventurous and could be with Bond into his adventures, she could drive a car, ride a horse, ski and even knows how to gamble, she even knows how to hold a gun and her fight with Gunther also proves that, she knows how to defend herself without needing Bond, sheās also witty (the way she spokes Poetry at Blofeld and how she easily tricked him), sheās a perfect partner for Bond, Vesper was also a great Bond Girl, but we didnāt got to know what she can do, what she could do, does she have some skills? Her abilities, weāre not that explored much into her character as an individual, sure her chemistry worked with Craigās Bond, but as an individual character, we didnāt got to know more about this character.
Pussy over Anya for me: Not a fan of these both, but Pussy at least wasnāt a damsel, she showed her toughness and is competent, sheās not just an eye candy or a window dresser, sheās a real femme fatale, she had a lot of skills (one of that was her piloting a plane and led a group of female pilots), sheās a tough woman in her own right, Anya on the other hand was more of a damsel, sheās just there to look beautiful, her absence in the climax also brought her character down for me, sheās good in the egyptian scenes, but the rest of the film sheās doing nothing, had she been in the climax, maybe I would pick her over Pussy, because I think thereās a potential in Anya.
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Including act.
Might be an all Avengers final.
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On a technicality, if they swapped their opponents, Pussy would be gone and weād be having Vesper vs Tracy final because, despite your assertion, those are the two best actresses. Their non-Bond work is proof of that.
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True for Dame Diana, not sure about Eva Green. She is a fine performerāphotogenic and stylishāalways hitting her marks. But I have yet to be convinced she is a great actress. Tim Burton used her effectively, but I have not experienced in her that extra dimension that Diana Rigg brought to her roles.
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Dreamers, Franklyn and Penny Dreadful are the roles that leap to mind. Camelot she is clearly ahead of the pack in a huge ensemble (that ensemble was the series downfall, they got commissioned for a second series but it was going to be at least 5 years before even 2 of them were available at the same time again and Starz decided it wasnāt worth it)
Of course she doesnāt have the huge list of credits and acclaim Diana Rigg did at her passing, but a 42 year age gap will do that.
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Vesper vs Tracy is very hard to pick. They are easily the 2 best Bond women in the franchise (movies and books). I go with Vesper only slightly. I rank Casino Royale just over On Her Majestyās Secret Service, though they are both in my top 3. Anya is in my other top 3 film, but I voted Pussy over her. If only the books were taken into account, Iād go with Tracy.
I have only seen THE DREAMERS (with Bertolucci present, and he stayed around afterwards and spoke to all comers. He was most charming. The only other director I had that experience with was David Cronenberg, who after a screening at the Museum of the Moving Image, sat in the cafƩ and anyone could approach and speak with him).
I will look for FRANKLYN, and ask my husband about PENNY DREADFULāhe is the television aficionado in the family.
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Iāve been talking on a Doctor Who forum intermittently, the attitude between discussions is so differentā¦
Penny Dreadful is the one Iād prioritise. It has many Bond alumni in it.
Iām an old fart so Tracy got my vote over Vesper largely by virtue of her being from the āClassic Bondā era. That said, Vesper is easily the stand-out of the post-Tracy years, which is impressive when you consider there were only 7 years of movie Bond before Tracy came along and there have been 53 of them since she left. So Iām already second-guessing my vote; is the more impressive woman the one who was unmatched for so long, or the only one in 5 decades who could compete?
One of my regrets is that Tracy didnāt get the legacy Vesper has enjoyed as āthe one who broke his heart.ā Except for the occasional nod in less than a handful of films (TWSLM, FYEO and LTK), Tracyās death left hardly a ripple, while Vesper has continued to influence the events of the Craig era long past her demise. Indeed, sheās such a powerful presence (even in her absence) that when Bond is finally able to āmove onā and fall in love again, no one really believes it, at least no one in the audience and on some level I suspect not even Bond himself. Iād be tempted to say Eonās overdone the fixation on Vesper, except I recall Flemingās Bond was still brooding over her now and again years into the novels, and there is that drinkā¦
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Tracyās Bond didnāt get any legacy either. Craig Bond got to mope through two more movies before becoming Robot Bond in SPECTRE, and then was retconned back into mope mode in NTTD.
Tracy is mourned with āWe have all the time in the world,ā and then she and her Bond disappear from the continuity.
Vesper gets āAnd the bitch is dead,ā followed by the valedictory revelation of her sacrificeāa sacrifice designed to increase her appeal. Tracy is just flat-out sacrificed.
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Itās Ianās retcon - heās trying to fix what he thinks is his mistakes. He made Bond different as he changed.
Our partners will hate us if he we meet and we go full Bondā¦
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Our partners are going to hate us
If books, Iād go with Vesper (her death was handled much better in the book, and I liked that sheās a bit naive in the book that the plot twist was unpredictable and unexpected because itās not obvious to her personality, in the film the way she outwitted Bond like sheās being too āon the noseā, made me smelled the plot twist coming miles away, I also liked that Bond referenced Vesper many times in the books like in Goldfinger when his nearly at his death then he remembered how we would introduce Tilly to Vesper when theyāre get to heaven for example, then him visiting her grave in OHMSS).
If films, Iād go with Tracy (Rigg improved the character upon the book, the film version is better, sheās given much more to do and made her relevant to the plot, making her deserving of Bondās marital, and at least the films made more references to Tracy and the marriage than in the books, the problem was in YOLT Bond was sure grieving at the beginning, but once he went to Japan, itās all gone, heās back to his old and joyful self, he even had sex with Mariko Ichiban (a masseuse), then towards the end heās even reluctant at going to the Castle of Death to kill Blofeld, because he enjoyed staying in Japan with Kissy, he enjoyed her company. Then he suffered Amnesia, and got brainwashed, Tracy was already forgotten, sheās forgotten by the time that Bond arrived in Japan).
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One could argue, Tracy was forgotten even faster in the films. There is a very fleeting anger in Bond at the beginning of DAF, but weāre never told why. Then she gets the briefest of mentions in TSWLM and is only name dropped once following OHMSS (the PTS of FYEO). Vesper casts a shadow over the next 4 films just like she does in the books. The reason Iād go with book Tracy, is that her backstory is much more fleshed out and, in turn, far more tragic. Having just lost her child, her severe depression is much more understandable.
LTK and TWINE do make vague references to her (the latter being particularly so) but, yeah, the shadow of Vesper looming over the era at times seems like they regretted that the films didnāt make more use of Tracy.
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I think itās a bit OTT as a backstory, itās already fine in the film that she already lost her husband that in effect, sheās finding love, sheās longing for love that she didnāt found in her former Husband (A Count) that she found in Bond, a man who could guarantee the love that she need, a man who could truly love her unlike her Count Husband.
She attempt to suicide because of that, sheās fooled by this man whom she thought would love her, plus the thing that she also lost her mother at the young age made her a bit rebellious, she didnāt experienced the guidance of a mother, the love of a mother that sheās felt incomplete because of that.
Her losing a child I think was too much.
Every backstory doesnāt need to be overly dramatic, think of Tiffany Caseās backstory in DAF novel, itās simple, yet it worked, because itās a lot more realistic that itās not trying hard to be dramatic, or the backstory of Camille Montes in QoS.
Iāll repeat again, in the books, Tracy was forgotten more faster in the books, and very quick by the time Bond went to Japan, heās been amnesiac and brainwashed, that Tracyās memories are already gone so easily, unlike in the films where at least heād still remembered her, so I definitely prefer the films, thereās a lot of references to her that the books didnāt have.
Bondās reaction to the Hotel Receptionist in San Monique when he told him that Mrs. Bond is waiting for him in LALD, Bondās reaction in TSWLM, him visiting her grave in FYEO, Bondās reaction in LTK and when even Elektra asked him if he ever lost a loved one in TWINE, heck even in GE when Trevelyan told Bond about those women he failed to protect line, thereās a lot of references.
Vesperās death might overshadowed Craig Bondās era, but Tracy overshadowed an era of three Bond actors (Moore, Dalton and Brosnan).
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