What an amazing past couple of months. For a young Bond fan like myself, these days are the most significant Bond happenings in my lifetime.

Regardless, if you are a Daniel Craig fan or not, the fact that the appointment of a new actor to portray James Bond has only occurred four other times in history is an awesome idea to contemplate. Sure, I was alive when Brosnan took the helm, but there was no where near the amount of media hype that there is today with Craig.

Yes, there was a six year hiatus of the franchise between Dalton and Brosnan, so surely there was some drama. But Craig's 'takeover' and Brosnan's 'firing' have made this rollercoaster ride of a movie franchise seems like a movie script in and of itself. Picture it: the main character is one of the 'powers that be' in the franchise (take your pick: Wilson, Broccoli, Campbell) and his job is to reinvigorate one of the most lucrative movie franchises the world has ever seen. What an enormous hill to climb...

So how do you do it? Go back to the basics, as the 'powers' have decided, and in my opinion, correctly.

After the headaches caused by watching the 'splosions in The World Is Not Enough and the CGI effects in Die Another Day, Bond fans are ready for a focus on the Bond character. What better way to do that than to bring the franchise back to the days of its inception?

Fleming's 1953 novel is an interesting one. For those who have read it, surely you are as interested as I am as to how Campbell and Craig will deal with certain scenes in the novel. For those who have not read it, I highly recommend it, even if you are not a Bond fan. It's a good action adventure novel and a quick read.

Anyways, I hope this throwback will allow fans to flash back to a 1960's Bond movie - where the complete Bond theme was played at least once in a film and Bond's witticisms were at least semi-subtle.

As I look back on the highlights of the past months, I can only commend the franchise for at least keeping things interesting 40 years after its establishment. It's up to them now to capitalize on the Royale hype to ensure the survival of the series.

In the meantime, the nagging questions still remain in many Bond fans' minds: can Craig pull it off? Can Campbell's second outing as director be as good as his first?

I don't have the answers to these questions yet, but I know I am excited as hell to find them out.