I voted “he isn’t” because I hope so much he wil not be. Please create great new villains, I don’t need remakes and other interpretations of well known villains.
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Just say YES to No.
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Blofeld getting rebooted makes sense because he appeared multiple times in the series with different actors playing him, so one more won’t make a difference.
This is a genuine curiosity: why do people WANT the old school villains rebooted and/or Dr. No redone?
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For me it’s because Fleming’s novel’s - which are great - have been raped and repurposed ad infinitum by Eon without ever really being done justice.
With the closest Fleming adaptations being arguably the best of the movies (FRWL and CR) it seems a no brainer to redo a few more with greater respect to the source material… Maybe the chap knew a thing or two about it.
Don’t forget OHMSS. I wouldn’t say those were the only times they did the books justice. Often, EON adapt select scenes and they turn out fantastic. Possibly the best adaptation they’ve done is of The Living Daylights which was filmed nearly verbatim. Additionally, the shark attack on Felix Leiter carries more emotional weight in the film as we’ve had much more build up over the course of 16 movies and we actually see it happen before Bond finds Leiter on the couch. It was also a nice nod to have the Octopussy story be the backstory for Octopussy’s father’s and Bond’s history in the film.
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It’s not that I’m clamoring for it, I just would be fine with it if that’s the route they went down. There’s something to be said for having an interest in seeing how something written in the 50’s/60’s would translate to modern sensibilities.
Look at a character like Moneypenny. The way she is written in 2020 is much different than she was in 1962, and I enjoy both. I’m glad they didn’t leave her in the past and brought her along. I wouldn’t mind seeing the same thing happen with a Goldfinger or a Red Grant.
Or look at Casino Royale. Let’s pretend that book had been filmed as a movie in 1960 as Connery’s 1st. It’s a very simple book and probably would have been a simple movie, much like Dr. No turned out.
Now look at what a modern telling of that turned into in 2006. The plot was expanded and updated and fans loved it.
If CR ‘06 had been a reboot, wouldn’t you have enjoyed the new telling of it?
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Indeed, when they’ve been adapted, such as in the scenes you mention the results are great. So why not do that more and with not just a select scene or two.
I get the impression that this was the thinking behind Craig’s CR (perhaps inspired by Tarantino’s pitch).
Their problem may seem to be that there’s no Fleming’s left to adapt. My argument would be that they’ve in the main only appropriated titles, characters and select scenes. But serious adaptations of the books, rather than their parts, there are only three (as you corrected me there’s OHMSS).
These three movies vs the rest seem the best reason possible to have another go at Dr No, deadly assault corses, giant squids and all.
I know this has been discussed ad nauseum both here and on the old boards, but after re-reading the entire Fleming canon, these are the unfilmed scenes I’d like to see:
A proper Dr No obstacle course (more than Bond just Bond crawling through the vent) including the giant squid,
The cliffs of dover scene from Moonraker,
The train derailment from Diamonds are Forever,
Maybe the castle of death (I don’t know though, after rereading You Only Live Twice, it wasn’t as exciting as I remember),
The entirety of From a View to a Kill,
The train fight from The Man with the Golden Gun (complete with a potentially maimed Leiter),
Use Vivien Michel and Gala Brand at some point
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I just finished reading TMWTGG last night and, having read your post and others like it, I was looking for the connections between Silva and Scaramanga but couldn’t find them.
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Cannibalized, absolutely. Bastardized? Maybe. “Raped”, I think, is a bit strong.
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I am starting to lean toward he will (but still hope he won’t) for the reasons stated plus two more:
- the title including the word “no” and how punctuation could change its meaning to “(Dr.) No, time to die.”
- apparently in the book, the character survived a bullet aimed at his heart because his heart was on the other side of his chest, and the masked gunman in the snow has what looks like a bullet hole in his parka over where his heart would normally be
Of course, it doesn’t prove that they’re not just incorporating unused elements of the character. The title and masks could be coincidence, the board could be misdirection. Or it could all be tongue in cheek.
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In particular, Silva’s entrance, where he flirts with Bond to, potentially, unsettle him coupled with Bond has been sent on what is probably a death sentence, just so M could demonstrate the brilliant agent who’s in there.
He also quotes Scaramanga (book version) at one point, but having not watched Skyfall, or read TMWTGG in quite some time, I cant recall exactly what, unlike Blofeld in Spectre quoting Bond’s narration from the start of Goldfinger, but that’s purely because I ADORE that opening.
Stand by it, whilst the film wont state it, NTTD will adapt the elements of the book the film didn’t.
Excellent observation, rubixcub. I did not pick up on the possible bullet hole on the masked gunman even after (I’m ashamed to say how many) all my viewings. Interesting…
Well spotted! With these mounting clues it will almost be embarrassing for them if he’s not DN!
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Embarrassing…cause Soooooo many people have read the books…
I did say almost and was just a bit of jest. But for those in the know it’ll be a little frustrating
So…3 people on here? 
Nah… don’t do Dr No (film AND character) such a disservice by putting him in Bond#25. Joseph Wiseman and my first Bond film deserve to be left with their own reputations unmarred and revised.
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It appears that lots of the votes saying he is NOT Dr. No are not because people don’t believe it but because they don’t WANT to believe it, including my own vote.
This comes out a week earlier in the UK than the US, correct? If so, the answer to this is the sole spoiler I want to know beforehand.
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