Fact and Fiction Behind Bond's Gadgets

bubblegoose writes "With the new 007 movie coming out soon MSNBC is running a story about some of the fact and fiction behind the Bond gadgets."

Comments

Art Imitating Life

[pennsol]

"In that sense, the problem facing Bond filmmakers is similar to the problem faced by software companies, cell phone carriers, and other high-tech firms, who seem to only offer barely noticeable incremental improvements to technologies their consumers already have, rather than radical new products. In this sense, art is imitating life -- or at least the Nasdaq." At This point, And it's been said here on /. many times.. What is left for the younger generations to invent.. it seems that the more the tech sector grows..the less the "real" or "radical" inventions come to be a reality.. or it could just be me...

Re:Screw James Bonde's Gadgets

[PD]

Where was the bomb detonated? At ground level? I would expect a lot of things to keep working in that case.

EMP pulses are generated by high altitude bursts that send a shitload of charged particles into the ionosphere. That gob of electrons in the upper atmosphere is what generates the EMP pulse.

A little more story wouldn't hurt

[Sabalon]

I don't mind the gadgets getting a bit out of hand, but the crash/fx stuff is getting ridiculous.

They need to have a little more of Bond using his wits and physical skills to survive a situation, not some gadget and car.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service and For Your Eyes Only stand out in my mind as some good examples - as does much of The Living Daylights.

Yeah...the stories are a bit over the top - so what...that's the idea...an over the top agent for an over the top situation...but give us at least some espionage, etc...

Hell...even A View To A Kill had a) bond undercover, b) surviving by sucking the air out of the tire on the Rolls, c) making a getaway on a fire truck (this I would call part of the using his wits).

Now adays he'd walk into the horse stables shouting "I'm James Bond...try to stop me...I work for MI6", have a minisub in the trunk of the rolls, and make a getaway in a Harrier while blowing up 30 cars.

BTW - can't wait for Die Another Day to open :)

Re:A little more story wouldn't hurt

[Myco]

Are you kidding? If you're seriously asking this, then you've missed a pivotal aspect of Bond's character. He's all about the bluster and confidence to just march right in and announce himself. James Bond does not skulk -- it's not nearly suave enough. It's a macho thing -- Bond has to look his enemy in the eye, man to man etc.

On a related note, many people protest that you do not shake a martini unless you want to "bruise the gin." Bond knows this -- he asks for it shaken because he's an iconoclast.

Re:Product Placement

[Strange Ranger]

Just 2 points:

1 - I'm happy to see marketing departments that are actually trying to entertain me. Seems for a long time they were simply bent on insulting me... like that ad where the company tries to fix all it's web problems with a song. I can imagine an Ericsson ad where some soccer mom is desperately searching for her lost child (The Beatles "Help" plays in the background) when AHA, she remembers her little munchkin carries a CELL PHONE!
I'll take Bond over that any day.

2 - If the movie does entertain me, I don't care how many product placements are in it. As long as their irrelevant to the enjoyment of the movie. Silly example comes to mind... Superman II wouldn't have been any better or worse had Superman crashed into a Cola sign instead of a Coke sign.