Alternative titles

Blackleiter · January 2015

Just musing the other day - suppose the Bond films we know and love had not used any of Fleming's original titles. Would the filmmakers have created titles as good as or better than the Bond creator? I doubt it. I tried to put myself in the place of those would have been responsible for assigning titles to the Bond films based on the plots, characters, locales, etc., and I failed miserably, as you will see the titles I came up with below. Come on kids, play this game at home and take a crack at it! Here's my admittedly lame attempt:

The Dragon's Lair (Dr. No)
Soviet Seduction (From Russia With Love)
Operation Grand Slam (Goldfinger)
Mission: Warhead (Thunderball)
Raid On The Rising Sun (You Only Live Twice)
For Love or Country (On Her Majesty's Secret Service)
Deadly Gems (Diamonds Are Forever)
Solitaire's Curse (Live and Let Die)
Target: Bond (The Man With The Golden Gun)
The Atlantis Delusion (The Spy Who Loved Me)
The Space Objective (Moonraker)
Enemy of My Enemy (For Your Eyes Only)
The Fabrege Connection (Octopussy)
The Silicon Plot (A View To A Kill)
The Defection Deception (The Living Daylights)
Loyalty Above All (License To Kill)
The Two Faces of Janus (Goldeneye)
Countdown To World War III (Tomorrow Never Dies)
Electra (The World Is Not Enough)
Ice Fire (Die Another Day)
007 (Casino Royale)
Blood For Water (Quantum of Solace)
Revenge and Resurrection (Skyfall)

Absolutely_Cart · January 2015

Most of your titles sound like Thrillers rather than Bond movies.

Edit: Oh, I see, this thread is about what your average filmmaker would have called them.

Absolutely_Cart · January 2015

Here's what they'd be called if Sean Connery had more steak in the company

Dr no-carb
From taco bell with love
Chickenfinger
Meatball
You only exercised twice
On her majestys secret banquet
Rind chips are forever
Live and lets eat
The man with the golden twinkie
The spy who ate me
Moonpies
For your fries only
Fatpussy
A view to a taco stand
The thanksgiving delights
License to eat
Golden fry
Junk food never dies
The buffet is not enough
Diet another day
Pizza royale
Quantum of calories
Insulin-fall
Food inspectre

Blackleiter · January 2015

Absolutely_Cart wrote:

Most of your titles sound like Thrillers rather than Bond movies.

I don't disagree, but remember I'm adopting the mindset of movie studio types, not creative, literary minds such as Ian Fleming. So it's not my fault!

)

Blackleiter · January 2015

Absolutely_Cart wrote:

Here's what they'd be called if Sean Connery had more steak in the company

Dr no-carb
From taco bell with love
Chickenfinger
Meatball
You only exercised twice
On her majestys secret banquet
Rind chips are forever
Live and lets eat
The man with the golden twinkie
The spy who ate me
Moonpies
For your fries only
Fatpussy
A view to a taco stand
The thanksgiving delights
License to eat
Golden fry
Junk food never dies
The buffet is not enough
Diet another day
Pizza royale
Quantum of calories
Insulin-fall
Food inspectre

Oh no! Not that again! X-(

Absolutely_Cart · January 2015

Okay, I'll do it for real.

Dragon's Lair for Dr. No sounds good.
Soviet Seduction for FRWL is too stoic.
Operation Grand Slam for Goldfinger is great.
Mission: Warhead for Thunderball is too generic, even for Hollywood standards.
Raid on the Rising Sun for YOLT is too artsy.
For Love or Country for OHMSS is good.
Deadly Gems for DAF isn't bad.
Solitaire's Curse for LALD is very good.
Target: Bond for MWGG kinda lame.
The Atlantis Delusion for TSWLM is pretty good. Maybe another word instead of Delusion but pretty good.
Enemy of My Enemy for FYEO is kinda generic.
The Space Objective for MR is bland.
The Faberge Connection for OP isn't bad. Maybe not the word connection, but including the Egg itself in the title is a good choice.
The Silicon Plot for AVTAK could work.
For TLD, just "The Defection" would be fine.
With GE, Two Faces of Janus is good but shorten it a bit.
For TND, Countdown to WWIII is generic and too long.
Electra, for TWINE, might spoil it.
Ice Fire... Actually Die Another Day sounds about right.
007 for Casino Royale. Not bad - not original either.
Blood for Water on QoS. Right track but not unique enough even for Hollywood standards.
On Skyfall, purely "007: Resurrection" could work.

Barbel · January 2015

"Blood For Water", now that I like. It has the right air of intrigue about it, makes you want to know more.

"Warhead" was one of the possible titles for Kevin McClory's TB remake/spin-off/ripoff/whatever that eventually became NSNA.

I've sometimes thought that Fleming's rejected titles ("The Undertaker's Wind", "The Belles Of Hell", "The Richest Man In The World", "The Rough With The Smooth", etc) could be used for continuation novels or films.

Jarvio · January 2015

Die Another Day should have been called "Icarus"

Charmed & Dangerous · January 2015

BL, you have done a great job. {[] I especially like For Love or Country, The Two Faces of Janus and Ice Fire. These are exactly how a studio at the time would have titled them. :007)

AlphaOmegaSin · January 2015

Mondays Are Hell for Moonraker (Which was in fact, one of the original Titles for the Novel)

Absolutely_Cart · January 2015

stag wrote:

TMWTGG = A Bullet For Bond.

nice!

Thunderpussy · January 2015

This was fun, mine came out more like 1940s Thrillers.

) using plenty of " Death and kill"
they always sound good.

) Imagine the words " Tonights episode ..." before them.

DN, The diplomacy of Death
FRWL, The Istanbul Gambit
GF, To want it All
TB, Danger lies Beneath
YOLT, The price of Pleasure
OHMSS, Summit of Excitement
DAF, Dice with Death
LALD, The undertakers Wraith
TMWTGG, The honour of the Kill
TSWLM, love lies Bleeding
MR, The master of Mankind
FYEO, The Havelock inheritance
OP, Midnight Deadlock
AVTAK, The Hunters eye
TLD, Trust and other Lies
LTK, Best served Cold
GE, Cold war, Hot Blood
TND, Publish and be Damned
TWINE, No pleasure in Dying
DAD, Death is but a heartbeat away
CR, A Deadman's Game
QOS, Comfort in a Kill
SF, The Fortitude of Fear.

Blackleiter · January 2015

Charmed & Dangerous wrote:

BL, you have done a great job. {[] I especially like For Love or Country, The Two Faces of Janus and Ice Fire. These are exactly how a studio at the time would have titled them. :007)

Thank you sir! -{

Blackleiter · January 2015

Thunderpussy wrote:

This was fun, mine came out more like 1940s Thrillers. ) using plenty of " Death and kill"
they always sound good. ) Imagine the words " Tonights episode ..." before them.

DN, The diplomacy of Death
FRWL, The Istanbul Gambit
GF, To want it All
TB, Danger lies Beneath
YOLT, The price of Pleasure
OHMSS, Summit of Excitement
DAF, Dice with Death
LALD, The undertakers Wraith
TMWTGG, The honour of the Kill
TSWLM, love lies Bleeding
MR, The master of Mankind
FYEO, The Havelock inheritance
OP, Midnight Deadlock
AVTAK, The Hunters eye
TLD, Trust and other Lies
LTK, Best served Cold
GE, Cold war, Hot Blood
TND, Publish and be Damned
TWINE, No pleasure in Dying
DAD, Death is but a heartbeat away
CR, A Deadman's Game
QOS, Comfort in a Kill
SF, The Fortitude of Fear.

Nice job, TP. I especially like The Undertaker's Wrath, The Havelok Inheritance and No Pleasure in Dying. And believe it or not, I intially chose Best Served Cold for LTK, but changed my mind at the last minute. -{

Thunderpussy · January 2015

It was Fun.

thegreatgalling · January 2015

Blackleiter wrote:

Just musing the other day - suppose the Bond films we know and love had not used any of Fleming's original titles. Would the filmmakers have created titles as good as or better than the Bond creator? I doubt it. I tried to put myself in the place of those would have been responsible for assigning titles to the Bond films based on the plots, characters, locales, etc., and I failed miserably, as you will see the titles I came up with below. Come on kids, play this game at home and take a crack at it! Here's my admittedly lame attempt:

The Dragon's Lair (Dr. No)
Soviet Seduction (From Russia With Love)
Operation Grand Slam (Goldfinger)
Mission: Warhead (Thunderball)
Raid On The Rising Sun (You Only Live Twice)
For Love or Country (On Her Majesty's Secret Service)
Deadly Gems (Diamonds Are Forever)
Solitaire's Curse (Live and Let Die)
Target: Bond (The Man With The Golden Gun)
The Atlantis Delusion (The Spy Who Loved Me)
The Space Objective (Moonraker)
Enemy of My Enemy (For Your Eyes Only)
The Fabrege Connection (Octopussy)
The Silicon Plot (A View To A Kill)
The Defection Deception (The Living Daylights)
Loyalty Above All (License To Kill)
The Two Faces of Janus (Goldeneye)
Countdown To World War III (Tomorrow Never Dies)
Electra (The World Is Not Enough)
Ice Fire (Die Another Day)
007 (Casino Royale)
Blood For Water (Quantum of Solace)
Revenge and Resurrection (Skyfall)

Awesome thread! I liked yours a lot, some of them I would actually have preferred to the chosen titles.

I left a few out, but here are mine:

The Mysterious Dr. No (Dr. No)
The Agent and the Lady (From Russia With Love)
The Midas Touch (Goldfinger)
The World is Not Enough (On Her Majesty's Secret Service)
The Lovers and The Fool (Live and Let Die)
The Jaws of Fate (The Spy Who Loved Me)
The Space New World (Moonraker)
The Revenge of a Lady (For Your Eyes Only)
The Greatest Eggspectations (Octopussy) (Ok, that one was a joke)

)
The Sky Shall Fall (Skyfall)

AlphaOmegaSin · January 2015

The Harlem Affair for Live And Let Die

Blackleiter · January 2015

thegreatgalling wrote:

Blackleiter wrote:

Just musing the other day - suppose the Bond films we know and love had not used any of Fleming's original titles. Would the filmmakers have created titles as good as or better than the Bond creator? I doubt it. I tried to put myself in the place of those would have been responsible for assigning titles to the Bond films based on the plots, characters, locales, etc., and I failed miserably, as you will see the titles I came up with below. Come on kids, play this game at home and take a crack at it! Here's my admittedly lame attempt:

The Dragon's Lair (Dr. No)
Soviet Seduction (From Russia With Love)
Operation Grand Slam (Goldfinger)
Mission: Warhead (Thunderball)
Raid On The Rising Sun (You Only Live Twice)
For Love or Country (On Her Majesty's Secret Service)
Deadly Gems (Diamonds Are Forever)
Solitaire's Curse (Live and Let Die)
Target: Bond (The Man With The Golden Gun)
The Atlantis Delusion (The Spy Who Loved Me)
The Space Objective (Moonraker)
Enemy of My Enemy (For Your Eyes Only)
The Fabrege Connection (Octopussy)
The Silicon Plot (A View To A Kill)
The Defection Deception (The Living Daylights)
Loyalty Above All (License To Kill)
The Two Faces of Janus (Goldeneye)
Countdown To World War III (Tomorrow Never Dies)
Electra (The World Is Not Enough)
Ice Fire (Die Another Day)
007 (Casino Royale)
Blood For Water (Quantum of Solace)
Revenge and Resurrection (Skyfall)

Awesome thread! I liked yours a lot, some of them I would actually have preferred to the chosen titles.

I left a few out, but here are mine:

The Mysterious Dr. No (Dr. No)
The Agent and the Lady (From Russia With Love)
The Midas Touch (Goldfinger)
The World is Not Enough (On Her Majesty's Secret Service)
The Lovers and The Fool (Live and Let Die)
The Jaws of Fate (The Spy Who Loved Me)
The Space New World (Moonraker)
The Revenge of a Lady (For Your Eyes Only)
The Greatest Eggspectations (Octopussy) (Ok, that one was a joke) )
The Sky Shall Fall (Skyfall)

I'm glad you enjoyed the thread and thanks for participating. You've come up with some pretty interesting titles, too, and I really like The Lovers and The Fool and The Revenge of a Lady. -{

BunsenPPK · January 2015

No Secrets in Kingston (Dr. No)
Love, Lies and Lektors (From Russia With Love)
Fancy Seeing You Here (On Her Majesty's Secret Service)

)
The Voodoo that You Do (Live and Let Die)
Only One Shot (The Man With The Golden Gun)
Property of a Lady (Octopussy)
Silicone Valley Villainy (A View To A Kill)
Making the News (Tomorrow Never Dies)
Pipeline Peril (The World Is Not Enough)
Too Close to the Sun (Die Another Day)

Charmed & Dangerous · January 2015

BL, this is a brilliant thread - has really got me thinking! -{

QOS: Best Serve Cold
Skyfall: The Resurrection Game
Casino Royale: Licence Renewed (yes, I know that's Gardner, but it fits)
OHMSS: Virus Omega
YOLT: The World to Ransom

AlphaOmegaSin · January 2015

Thanks for the Link -{

chrisisall · January 2015

DN- Enter The Dragon

FRWL- Murder On The Orient Express

Okay, I'll stop... ;%

Barbel · January 2015

No, those were good!

AlphaOmegaSin · January 2015

The Mystery of Jamaica - Dr No

Number24 · January 2015

Licence to Kill - The Devil's Due (from Miguel de Cervantes: "Give the devil his due")

Or: "Kiss of an Enemy" (Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful (Proverbs 27:6).

CmdrAtticus · February 2015

I almost tremble when it comes to titles. In fact, when most authors are asked (including Fleming) about what is most difficult in writing a novel, coming up with the title is near the top.
Not only can it become a wrestling match with the marketing people in publishing houses, it can become another painful obstacle when it's given over to the film industry. This doesn't just apply to literature and film either. I'm a graphic designer and I can say that even coming up with any product name is a daunting task. Just look at the auto industry. Right there is a history of great names as well as those which should have never left the idea stage.

Fleming in his own way was adept at coming up with unique titles that were succinct (MR, CR, GF, DN, TMWTGG, OHMSS) or very evocative (DAF, FRWL, FYEO, TSwLM, LALD, TLD). His chapter titles were not always as inventive, but then, I never though they needed to be for any piece of fiction.

The other thing that plagues authors and scriptwriters is inventing titles that are original. Everything under the sun has been used in film, TV and literature and it can become mind numbing. One just has too look back at the thousands of titles of TV episodes to see how repetitious and unimaginative it gets.

I will always doff my bowler to anyone who can come up with a good title or product name, because IMO it is a singularly daunting task. My Bond titles - THE GHOSTS OF NECROSIS, TORMENTOR, ONCE AGAIN FOR THE REALM, MANACLE are to me mere amateur doodles.

Blackleiter · February 2015

CmdrAtticus wrote:

I almost tremble when it comes to titles. In fact, when most authors are asked (including Fleming) about what is most difficult in writing a novel, coming up with the title is near the top.
Not only can it become a wrestling match with the marketing people in publishing houses, it can become another painful obstacle when it's given over to the film industry. This doesn't just apply to literature and film either. I'm a graphic designer and I can say that even coming up with any product name is a daunting task. Just look at the auto industry. Right there is a history of great names as well as those which should have never left the idea stage.

Fleming in his own way was adept at coming up with unique titles that were succinct (MR, CR, GF, DN, TMWTGG, OHMSS) or very evocative (DAF, FRWL, FYEO, TSwLM, LALD, TLD). His chapter titles were not always as inventive, but then, I never though they needed to be for any piece of fiction.

The other thing that plagues authors and scriptwriters is inventing titles that are original. Everything under the sun has been used in film, TV and literature and it can become mind numbing. One just has too look back at the thousands of titles of TV episodes to see how repetitious and unimaginative it gets.

I will always doff my bowler to anyone who can come up with a good title or product name, because IMO it is a singularly daunting task. My Bond titles - THE GHOSTS OF NECROSIS, TORMENTOR, ONCE AGAIN FOR THE REALM, MANACLE are to me mere amateur doodles.

Even though I realize my titles are mostly trite and I only did it for entertainment purposes, it was surpringly hard to do. So I certainly understand the difficulty facing legitimate authors. And by the way, I really like Once Again For The Realm as a Bond title. -{

minigeff · February 2015

'Double flush'

The Red Kind · February 2015

CmdrAtticus wrote:

I almost tremble when it comes to titles. In fact, when most authors are asked (including Fleming) about what is most difficult in writing a novel, coming up with the title is near the top.
Not only can it become a wrestling match with the marketing people in publishing houses, it can become another painful obstacle when it's given over to the film industry. This doesn't just apply to literature and film either. I'm a graphic designer and I can say that even coming up with any product name is a daunting task. Just look at the auto industry. Right there is a history of great names as well as those which should have never left the idea stage.

Fleming in his own way was adept at coming up with unique titles that were succinct (MR, CR, GF, DN, TMWTGG, OHMSS) or very evocative (DAF, FRWL, FYEO, TSwLM, LALD, TLD). His chapter titles were not always as inventive, but then, I never though they needed to be for any piece of fiction.

The other thing that plagues authors and scriptwriters is inventing titles that are original. Everything under the sun has been used in film, TV and literature and it can become mind numbing. One just has too look back at the thousands of titles of TV episodes to see how repetitious and unimaginative it gets.

I will always doff my bowler to anyone who can come up with a good title or product name, because IMO it is a singularly daunting task. My Bond titles - THE GHOSTS OF NECROSIS, TORMENTOR, ONCE AGAIN FOR THE REALM, MANACLE are to me mere amateur doodles.

Everything Under the Sun {[]

Oakvale · January 2017

Any other ideas, especially for The Man with the Golden Gun?

Alternative titles

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