q

Ben Whishaw as Q in Spectre (2015)

Ohhhhhhhh sh*t…

Ben Whishaw as Q in Spectre (2015)At least he left a bottle of champagne for you, Q! ๐Ÿ™‚

There’s just one thing I need

I mean…I don’t want to hype up the end of Spectre (2015) too much, but is there *really* a better end to a James Bond movie?

I just love everything about it – starting with a quiet, unassuming, empty downtown London – the shot of the flying, steadfast Union Jack after the madness of the toppling of Blofeld. Bond can take a deep breath.

What will he do next? Where will he go?

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Desmond Llewelyn as Q and John Cleese as R in The World Is Not Enough (1999)

Now watch closely please, 007…

“The right arm goes in the right sleeve, thus, and the left arm in the left sleeve, thus. Now…note closely please – pockets, poppers and zipper. Take the lower part of the zipper, and insert it into the appropriate…”

Desmond Llewelyn as Q and John Cleese as R in The World Is Not Enough (1999)

Oh, pull the tag!

BAM!

This BAM! moment from Diamonds Are Forever (1971) always reminded me of the old onomatopoeia words from fights in the live-action Batman television show from the 1960s.

It doesn’t involve a fight with Sean Connery’s Bond, but only serves to convey Bond’s quick departure from his phone call with Q when Bond realizes he has to cover his tracks with a newly escaped Peter Franks. While Bond congratulates Q on his successful fingerprint scam gadget, it’s kind of neat to check out what’s going on in the background at Q Branch. It looks like one of the few instances where we see a Q Branch Bond car – in this case some sort of an Aston Martin – getting serviced (they’re installing its stinger missiles).

And it’s funny because in the next scene, Bond *does* fistfight Peter Franks ithat could get away with using some BAMs! POWs! or THWACKs! Oh well…

Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - BAM!

James Bond and Q look up Emile Locque's info in For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Terrible FYEO Computer

James Bond and Q look up Emile Locque's info in For Your Eyes Only (1981)

In For Your Eyes Only (1981), Bond and Q look up baddie Emile Locque’s information in Q Branch’s database and get a gist of his criminal history. Alongside that, they get poor grammar, some bizarre and unnecessary abbreviations and a misspelling (“biblography” – which I guess should be “bibliography” as it is spelled at the bottom, but Locque’s profile has nothing to do with books…).

I guess it can be chalked up to the primitive nature of computers at the time (1981), but the look on Q’s face right after they read the information may indicate that Q realizes it “hasn’t been perfected yet.” ๐Ÿ™‚

James Bond and Q look up Emile Locque's info in For Your Eyes Only (1981)

That's not a gadget, 007!

Don’t touch that! That’s my lunch!

The Q Branch scene from GoldenEye (1995) is one of my favorites of the series. It has it all: physical humor, great chemistry between Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and Q (Desmond Llewelyn), funny one-liners and quips and…the only time another movie’s theme is mentioned in a previous movie? Although it’s great, it does have its flaws.

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Keeping the British end up, sir…

This all=time one-liner at the end of The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) gets me every time. As Bond (Roger Moore) and Triple X (Barbara Bach) are caught in the act in an escape pod, a stunned General Gogol (Triple X’s boss), M (Bond’s boss) and Sir Frederick Gray (Bond’s boss’s boss) can’t believe their eyes.

The exchange is legendary: “Bond!” “Tri-PULL X!” “Bond! What do you think you’re doing?” make the men sound more like disappointed parental figures rather than government intelligence. A speechless Q can only watch in awe, almost jaw-dropped.

And then 007 quickly quips a legendary James Bond line of lore. It ends with a celebratory-sounding chorus line version of the movie’s theme, declaring “nobody does it better” in a hilarious double entendre. HA! So awesome!

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) - Keeping the British end up, sir...

Daniel Craig as James Bond and Ben Whishaw as Q in Skyfall

Spectre > Skyfall

There, I said it. ๐Ÿ™‚

Daniel Craig as James Bond and Ben Whishaw as Q in Skyfall