Great answers there, thank you guys…
Anyway, here’s the next one:
August 17: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service: What if Tracy hadn’t arrived at the skating rink?
Bonus question: What if it’s Bond who got killed at the end of the wedding day instead of Tracy?
Your questions here point to a plot device not just typical for Bond. Because the hero has to be in jeopardy he may not die, at least not until the end.
If Tracy had not arrived he therefore would have needed to escape with somebody else’s help. Maybe he would have hitchhiked with a group of Austrian hippies. Lazenby‘s agent probably suggested that anyway.
Just like Bond dying instead of Tracy. Oh, and no internet at that time would then have gone crazy asking whether Tracy would be the next 007.
Thank you @secretagentfan
I think we need to move on to the next what if…
I know it’s early, but the next one is a lot more interesting, because for me, this one was a bit lazy, I know Bond’s in danger, but could his wits somehow save him from this situation? I’m interested to know from you guys about what might he could have done? Are there any ways that he could get out of that situation?
August 18: Moonraker: What if Bond had failed to use his dart watch while in the centrifuge?
He would have passed out or suffered a stroke. Only Holly could have come in again to stop the centrifuge.
So, no other possibility.
Except the maintenance crew coming in because the damned thing is always malfunctioning.
I rather like it, since Bond has to remember he has this new gadget, how it works, and how he can use it in this situation.
This is what occurred to me as well. Chang turns the centrifuge all the way up and splits, allowing Holly to return to the empty control room, see the problem/danger, and fix things. Could lead to some interesting dialogue later in her hotel room about how maybe she shouldn’t have saved Bond’s life, or, alternately, it was a matter of professional courtesy–agent-to-agent (and would echo nicely with Bond’s later saving of Holly).
On the downside, the film would then have to deal with the investigation into who turned up the centrifuge. So overall, Bond using his new gadget, and there being a scintilla of possibility that it was a machine malfunction works best, as it keeps the story moving, while also setting Bond against Drax very early in the film.
Realistically, if Bond doesn’t have passing-out flashbacks to a horse’s ass, then the only alternative is to be saved by Holly Goodhead.
But in doing so, the faux-mystery of “is she working for Drax?” would immediately have been undermined. And it’s this latter point that EON always get wrong (if it’s even possible to get right). We know going in that she’s the “Bond girl” so is it even worth trying to pass her off as a Fiona Volpe type? When she’s first introduced with Lippe, it’s clear that she’s up to no good. In MR, Bond meets Goodhead and pretty much all we get is the “a woman?” line, which frankly becomes a much better line of dialogue (and I know we’re opining from the vantage of 40 years later) if less than 10 mins after it’s come out of Bond’s mouth, that he’s saved by “a woman?”
Goodhead is never really given her due as the CIA agent she is ultimately “revealed” to be…frankly I don’t remember a moment where she does anything that, instead existing just to be saved. If she saves Bond early on, it might have made the “2 agents on separate paths” thing more interesting, and definitely of more interest than the “is she working for the villain” misdirection which we know when we meet her is just not the case ,and other than passing Chang in the control room, she’s does nothing at all for us to question her motives.
It’s tough - they tried it in TWINE with the “is-she-or-isnt-she” thing but that didn’t work either. Brozza holds up his end, but Marceaux not so.
Then again, it’s MR. Is underlying motive even a thing in that film… 
Holly pilots the space shuttle, fights alongside Bond in the radar jamming room, and then disarms the radar jamming system, while Bond pulls some wires to tie up the crew members that he and Holly just bested (I have always enjoyed the fact that Bond has a supporting role in this scene).
Gloriously and triumphantly, no.
Additional thought: Holly could have been written in the mold of Pussy Galore, who is turned to the good side by Bond, and I think MR is for the better in that they eschewed that narrative path.
I stand corrected! But then I’ll make the goalposts and make another “stand” and say that Holly’s skills are not utilized until the end of the film!
Well, when Bond arrives her undercover work is totally undermined. I bet she would have been quite effective.
Still about the previous OHMSS question:
Bond could have just swapped suits with the dude in the bear suit.
Bond then just walks out of the village disguised as a bear, takes the first train and, still sitting in bear suit, waves at the camera in front of the train window.
August 19: You Only Live Twice: What if Kissy Suzuki was shot by the men in the helicopter while swimming back to alert Tiger Tanaka and his men for an attack in the film’s climax, what if she didn’t make it?
Of Tiger Tanaka would not know, then Bond would need to fight SPECTRE by just himself? Could he handle it just alone? I’ll admit YOLT had a lot of plot contrivances, but I’m interested to know from you here about what might happened.
I guess Tanaka would have been brought back anyway, and Bond needed backup.
These questions actually reveal how tightly constructed these scripts are.
Another possibility is that Tiger already had 100 men on the island and some would have been watching for any activity. When they did arrive, the rocket had just launched but in the event that Kissy didn’t make it, they would have seen the launch and moved out. Granted, their arrival wouldn’t have been as timely, but, with no word from Bond, they might have already taken position nearby.
Just a theory.
…and these are ninja’s: they aren known from legend and folklore and have legendary abilities such as invisibility. So they were probabely already in the volcano, we just didn’t see them!
I agree. The one shot Bond has in a moment to survive is usually the only option possible, such as the wrist dart gun stopping the centrifuge, or the explosive watch stopping Waltz’s Blofeld drilling Bond’s eyes out - obviously because the script allows for it. If it wasn’t for Q, Bond would have been killed in combat many times. It’s similar to Bond laying down a straight flush to beat Le Chiffre. He delivers a perfect storm of preparation and luck when he has to.
Fun idea. Holly investigating in Brazil, Bond noodling somewhere else and achieving nothing…
Naw, at least he would have followed Holly to Brazil to see what she is up to. And how he can get on that.
Bond would have at least seen where Drax was headed after Venice.
August 21: Goldeneye: What if Natalya failed to held the Helicopter pilot hostage near the end?
A shorter Brosnan tenure.
Kaboom goes Connery, shame because that’s a nice velvet tux jacket