Yes, I mean it. 
I agree. Any of these three are good selections. I very nearly voted Skyfall, but went with Spy simply for the nostalgia I have for it.
3 Likes
One is likely to ponder whether he steeled more of his body.
1 Like
I would argue that a “new beginning” contains an implicit good-bye in its expression.
Also, Bond on the cruise ship looking at the satellite in the sky strikes me as a good-bye (and we will not even speak of the pink tie).
1 Like
Now, I know why, nostalgia is the advantage of TSWLM over the other Bond films, well, I couldn’t blame it for winning. 
I now understand.
3 Likes
It also is the quintessential Bond film, throwing everything at the screen and working like a charme.
4 Likes
Personally, that for me is Goldfinger.
We should always speak of the pink tie (lest we forget).
1 Like
So correct. Thank you for reminding me.
1 Like
Skyfall makes little sense to me, really. The previous two films feature 007 as an utter newbie in the early stages of “becoming” Bond and SF starts off with him already over the hill and past his prime, meaning his best years have somehow occurred when we weren’t looking. He’s unfit for duty but M gives him a greenlight anyway, then for the first time in the series he fails his mission; keep M alive. But that’s okay, now we have a male M, a Moneypenny and a Q so we fade out with 007 finally having completed his evolution into the Bond we know and ready to start his adventures…with no further mention made of how he was considered a washed-up has-been only a few days earlier in the week, and how he’s just confirmed that diagnosis by crafting a plan that resulted in the death of the one person who went out on a limb to give him another chance. It’s a technically well-crafted film but I don’t know how its held up as any kind of triumph for the character or the franchise (except in terms of profit, which I guess is ultimately Job 1). I didn’t get it then and I still don’t get it.
GF will always be the most important film in the franchise, but SWLM is the most satisfying, for me.
3 Likes
And also, we should always show a picture when we speak of it.
I chose this one in order to demonstrate that the problem with the pink tie is not the “pink”, it’s the tie itself. 
4 Likes
Q looks at it as if he gave it Bond as a gadget.
An exploding tie? A confusing one to make villains underestimate Bond?
1 Like
It’s actually Trump-length but Connery’s so monumentally fat it looks short.
2 Likes
I think Skyfall still holds up, and it definitely did the job at the time. I think of it as new but then remember it’s 11 years old. Which is absolutely insane to me.
Skyfall wouldn’t be the immediate mission after QoS. I’m going with four years worth of other adventures we didn’t see beforehand, and a big reference to the 50th anniversary with the ‘played out’ commentary. His shoulder recovered and his grudge against Dench subsided, which I buy as being enough to transition him back to normalcy.
I also like Dench giving an unfit Bond a pass mark to resume active duty. It’s no different to what happens in YOLT, and I’d say he was in a much worse condition there. I think M trusts Bond’s ability to rise to the occasion, and I also like this can be viewed as villainous sabotage, which Silva latches on to. The premise seems quintessential Bond to me.
3 Likes
September 13
Right, another one of the “oi, you there, do my admin” ones.
The last category of Deathmatch for September is Victim and again, some chivying and squirrelling last year about who is the proper “Victim” for each film (unless already a choice eg Tracy in “Women” and Bond (No Time to Die) in… well, “Bond”).
Some choices already made, but do vote and make my mind up for me, because I live in the 21st century and this is how I avoid any accountability. Seeds can’t change.
Dr No - Quarrel (8th seed)
FRWL - Kerim (1st seed)
Goldfinger - Jill (2nd seed)
Thunderball - Paula (10th seed)
YOLT - Aki - (4th seed)
OHMSS - vote
DAF - Plenty. Not a seed, but can’t think of any other Victim. Unless it’s “good taste and coherence”.
LALD - vote
TMwtGG - Andrea (9th seed)
TSWLM - vote
Moonraker - Corrine (5th seed) (5th seed - wow).
FYEO - vote
Octopussy - Vijay (7th seed)
AVTAK - vote
TLD - Saunders. Not a seed but other than a few 00 agents here and there, no-one else.
LTK - Della (3rd seed)
GoldenEye - vote
TND - Paris. Again, can’t really think of anyone else except moist sailors. I think about moist sailors semi-regularly.
TWINE - vote
DAD - vote
Casino Royale - Solange
QoS - vote
Skyfall - Severine (6th seed)
Spectre - vote
No Time to Die - Felix Leiter
Therefore
OHMSS
- Campbell
- Draco
0 voters
Live and Let Die
- Rosie Carver
- Strutter
- The three British agents in the pre-credits
0 voters
The Spy who Loved Me
- Naomi
- Dr Bechmann and Professor Markowitz
- Fekkesh
- Kalba
- Commander Talbot
0 voters
For Your Eyes Only
- Ferrara
- Countess Lisl
0 voters
A View to a Kill
- Tibbett
- Chuck Lee
0 voters
GoldenEye
- Ourumov
- Dmitri Mishkin
- Severnaya technicians
0 voters
TWINE - although obviously Elektra is the victim 'cos it’s really deep and not a dementedly poorly-acted soap opera, yeah?
- Sir Robert King
- Zukovsky
- Cigar Girl
- Colonel Thingyface at the decommissioned power plant and I can’t be bothered to look his name up
0 voters
Die Another Day
- General Moon
- Miranda Frost
0 voters
Quantum of Solace
- Mathis
- Fields
0 voters
Spectre
- Mr White
- C
- The various tech geeks at Blofeld’s lair who are shown once and then Bond blows them all up in an act of mass murder
0 voters
Craig’s Bond remembers he did used to do that all the time in the 20th century and realised how much he missed having an mi6 intern search out the next of kin for each to let them know.
I appreciate I forgot Fekkesh’s girlfriend for The Spy who Loved Me - Feliccia? - but she is a bit forgettable. Quite whether she dies from Sandor’s bullet or from an Uncle Rog Dementor’s Kiss is possibly up for debate.
Severnaya technicians, if they make it through, will be represented by “Anna”, I think her name was. Anna Severnaya. They are probably heavily unionised anyway, so she can be shop steward.
Yeah - Moonraker, Drax’s gas kills a couple of scientists but Bond is largely culpable for the extinction of what is intended to be the human race thereafter. He’s a mass murderer.
2 Likes
I feel more sympathy for those technicians opposed to those inside Waltz Blofeld’s lair. Even if they were true believers they nonetheless were working for SPECTRE and would’ve known what their ambitions were.
My choices:
-
In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, I don’t think Draco is a victim, neither was Campbell, if anything, other than Tracy, the other victims in there were the Angels of Death, because they’re lured into Blofeld’s lair, promised that they could be cured of their allergies, and out of their innocence setting them up to do a maniacal job of spreading viruses to contaminate World Agriculture via hypnosis (how pity are they?), Then, when Bond foiled Blofeld’s plans, stopped the operation of Piz Gloria, and they’re brought back to their respective countries, what would happen to them? What they’ve got? We’re not even sure if they’re really cured of their allergies (as in for real), and if the news of them being involved in Blofeld’s plan is to be revealed, it would brought them to shame, and would probably be a traumatic moment in their lives.
-
In Live And Let Die, it’s the Three British Agents in the start of the film, because it’s the main reason why Bond went to investigate Mr. Big, right? So, in that alone, they’re considered as victims, they’re the first victims of Mr. Big’s evil plans.
-
In The Spy Who Loved Me, it’s going to be Max Kalba for me, Naomi (yes, I know she’s beautiful, and Bond’s quite right that she’s sexier than Anya herself, no doubt poor Anya got jealous), but she worked for the villain, a femme fatale, so if she’s killed, then she’s not a victim, Dr. Bechman and Professor Markowitz, same, they’re both acquired by Stromberg, and they’re intended to be a help for Stromberg, are they victims? In some point, because they’re just doing their jobs, Fekkesh, he’s supposed to be Bond’s contact, but it’s uncertain of whether where he’s working for, morally speaking, he’s quite questionable, Max Kalba, on the other hand was basically innocent and there’s no other suspicions than him being just a contact about the microfilm, Commander Talbot? I don’t remember him being a victim at all.
-
In For Your Eyes Only, both of these characters (Countess Lisl and Ferrara), are both victims, but Ferrara would be my vote, again, innocence, his death hits harder than Countess Lisl (well, it’s safe to say that what led to Countess Lisl’s death was actually herself, because she’s a part of Columbo’s plan of luring Bond into her house and get some information), meanwhile, Ferrara, he’s an ally to Bond, quite a friend of Bond at some point, and innocent.
-
In A View To A Kill, I’m going with Tibbett, his death hits harder than Chuck Lee, really (a role that should be for Felix Leiter), Tibbett built a memorable relationship with Bond and when Bond saw him dead, it hits more harder, meanwhile Chuck Lee, I’ve felt that he’s just there for some sacrificial lamb (that the Producers thought at the time was he’s no Felix Leiter, so just kill him off kind of thing), a throwaway character with no impact or whatsoever.
-
In Goldeneye, It the Severnaya technicians, they’re the most innocent of the choices, they’re just doing their job and suddenly got killed, actually when I’ve watched Goldeneye, seeing them got killed by Xenia Onatopp brought a shiver to me, and it affected me emotionally, that they’re innocently doing their job, then suddenly seeing them got killed by a maniacal woman, it’s haunting.
-
In The World Is Not Enough, Sir Robert King is my choice because of how he’s set up, he’s meant to be a friend of M, and he’s got killed by an explosion, something that he had no knowledge of, or no connection of, but what’s the more tragic is the one who killed him was his own daughter, Elektra, imagine? He had no idea over those plans, thinking that his daughter was innocent, but what he thought was very far from Elektra’s real personality (I’ve felt that this idea was somehow picked up from For Your Eyes Only, with M asking Bond a personal favor to avenge a killed friend of his).
-
In Die Another Day, again, I don’t consider either of them a victim, Miranda Frost? She’s a femme fatale, she worked for the villain, General Moon? The same, he’s still a villain, I don’t know who’s to consider a victim in Die Another Day, as for me, there are no victims in that film.
-
In Quantum Of Solace, no doubt, it’s Fields, Strawberry Fields, a literal victim, a sacrificial lamb for that matter, she’s an agent sent by the MI6, then Bond took her in sex, then she’s killed by the villain, kinda like a Jill Masterson scenario, right? But instead of gold, it’s a crude oil, Mathis was revealed to be a villain in that film, so at some point, I don’t think he’s meant to be a victim, although the way Bond dumped him was unjustifiable (it’s a shame as he’s not a bad guy in the novel, a wrong way to tickle Bond’s trust issues).
-
In SPECTRE, none of them are worthy of being victims, Mr. White (but he’s meant to be a villain?), The other two, full out villains! So for me, neither of Mr. White, C or yes, any people who worked for Blofeld and SPECTRE are considered victims for me, if there are, for me, it’s Lucia Sciarra, sure she never ended up dead, but think of this: his husband was killed by Bond, then SPECTRE (the organization where his husband worked for) wanted her dead, then Bond (the killer of her husband) used her for information by seducing her, ended up having sex with her, then he abandoned her, what in the life happened to Lucia Sciarra, such an unfortunate lady who suffered grief and loss, manipulation, and abandonment, and she’s also tricked in a bad way in that way that makes her an ultimate victim of SPECTRE (and Bond).