How would you feel about James Bond 'Special Editions'?

Grazmeister · August 2015

What got me thinking about this was a comment recently about how the slide whistle in TMWTGG ruined one of cinemas greatest car stunts. Wouldn't it be great to see it again accompanied by something more appropriate like a blast of the Bond theme?

I know the Star Wars Special Editions caused alot of argument and George Lucas' tinkering went too far at times but I quite like the idea of revisiting some of the older films and adding sensible changes. How about redoing the lazer fight at the end of Moonraker with CGI?

Thunderbird 2 · August 2015

To (aledgedly) quote Noel Coward, "No, no, no, no NO!" Maybe the cat clip from Russel Howard's good news is more appropriate.

I loved Star Wars as a kid. It had the glorious space trappings of Big budget Sci Fi, with the right mix of the limitless "what if?" of fantasy and folklore. Then George Lucas and his CGI army started tinkering, granted with the best of intentions, prior to the convoluted mess that was the prequels.
The remastered edition, the collectors remastered edition, the comemerative remastered edition All on video tape, then DVD, then the nonsense all over again on Blueray! I settled for the bog standard six disc DVDs three the originally remastered classic films, alongside the three ORIGiNAL films. Retaining all the rubber muppet, dark lined multiple exposure, faint focus classic glory. The films I grew up with. The films Lucasfilm only released due to heavy audience protest.
Such mucking about only added to my disgust at the CGI glut and crap writing and characterisation of the prequels, and means I intend to wait till DVD for the new upcoming films. Disney has worked well with Marvel, but I distrust Abrahms due to the current phase of Star Trek.

My point? The Bond films are classics as they are, just like the original Star Wars films. I hate the whistle gag on the car stunt in TMWTGG, I hate Sergant Pepper's dialogue, (racist, brash, crude, rude) in both his appearances. The use of Calafornia Girls in AVTAK makes me cringe. The poor CGI in DAD and QoS (as well as the latter's chop shop editing) annoys me too. But these bad choices are as much a part of Bond's history as Shirley Eaton painted Gold, the Q vehicles, Blofeld being nasty and M (any of them) putting Bond in his place.

It's a classic therefore not perfect, but not broken! Don't try to "fix it."

Maybe I should have linked this to The Rant Box. Scouse me. ;%

Thunderpussy · August 2015

+1 {[]

Sir Miles · August 2015

I'm (mostly) with Thunderbird 2 on this - except QoS is a masterpiece of Bond Cinema -{

There are certain 'things' I don't particularly like - or annoy me really - about some parts of the Bond films...but they are my Bond films...and they all illicit memories...some good, some...well...less so

) And what I don't like, someone else will...and that's fine by me too -{

Napoleon Plural · August 2015

There could be a market for this, but it would have to be bootlegging... the nearest you got was the NSNA Special Edition, which rescored the film, and rejigged the order of some scenes. Still a bit of a dog's breakfast imo (the film I mean, not the effort behind it). I'd like to see a rescored and reedited FYEO, though the theme song could be intact.

Yeah, I see the point of it after all folk go ape over the Blu Ray editions, and all that is is a tarting up of the main print. For some the fly in the ointment detracts from the ointment overall but for me the films where this happen, generally I find quite rubbish anyway.

Grazmeister · August 2015

Obviously I realised I was opening a bit of a can of worms here. Believe me..I watched the later edition of Return of the Jedi recently and felt a bit ill when Haydn Christensen appeared at the end..changes like that are jarring and entirely pointless.

Just some bits in the older Bond movies are so cringeworthy (be honest

) and could be easily adjusted. I can honestly understand why many would see this as a sacrilegious idea though so feel free to shoot me

) .

Thunderpussy · August 2015

Although I guess with two editions of the films, there's all the more
For us to buy ?

)

chrisisall · August 2015

Just make a line of special editions available with slight changes approved by Barbel- I'd be okay with that.

Thunderbird 2 · August 2015

Grazmeister wrote:

Obviously I realised I was opening a bit of a can of worms here. Believe me..I watched the later edition of Return of the Jedi recently and felt a bit ill when Haydn Christensen appeared at the end..changes like that are jarring and entirely pointless.

Just some bits in the older Bond movies are so cringeworthy (be honest ) and could be easily adjusted. I can honestly understand why many would see this as a sacrilegious idea though so feel free to shoot me ) .

1) I had to ask the shop assistant to promise me I was NOT getting that version of Jedi! (Its not.)

2) Where is Father Q (ie Ed) with his patented Pew-pew laser when you need one?! :v

Barbel · August 2015

chrisisall wrote:

Just make a line of special editions available with slight changes approved by Barbel- I'd be okay with that.

) Thank you, chrisisall, I would be surprised but delighted to have that honour.

chrisisall · August 2015

Curious Barbel, would you approve of changing some bits of the Norman score for bits more of Barry in DN?

Thunderpussy · August 2015

Just please don't interfere with the classic " Another way to die "

chrisisall · August 2015

Thunderpussy wrote:

Just please don't interfere with the classic " Another way to die "

Whoah oh A oh oh OH!

Barbel · August 2015

There aren't any more bits of Barry to use, since he only worked on one piece of music for the DN score and Peter Hunt used it often.
I'd not be in favour of using other Barry pieces which he wrote (or arranged

) for different films, albums, etc.

chrisisall · August 2015

Barbel wrote:

I'd not be in favour of using other Barry pieces which he wrote (or arranged ) for different films, albums, etc.

Hmmm... integrity... I can agree.

Matt S · August 2015

chrisisall wrote:

Curious Barbel, would you approve of changing some bits of the Norman score for bits more of Barry in DN?

Not much of DN was scored by Norman. It was mostly the Jamaican songs, which add an interesting local flavour to the film. I wouldn't replace those. The Barry-arranged Bond theme is great. The actual scored parts of the film were done by Eric Rogers, which sounds either old-fashioned sound or like a television score. It makes the film sound a little cheap, but that's also part of the charm. It's hard to imagine the film with other music. I just wish they didn't bring back the Rogers music for FRWL. I wonder if Barry scored something else for those scenes.

Barbel · August 2015

Are you meaning the short extracts from "Death of Dr No" heard during the helicopter scene and boat chase? That was added by Peter Hunt, since Barry was unavailable at that point.

Eric Rogers* didn't write any of the score, he conducted it. And Norman does receive the credit for "Underneath The Mango Tree" etc as well

(* aka Rodgers aka Gaukroger. It's a bit of a carry on.)

Matt S · August 2015

Barbel wrote:

Are you meaning the short extracts from "Death of Dr No" heard during the helicopter scene and boat chase? That was added by Peter Hunt, since Barry was unavailable at that point.

Eric Rogers* didn't write any of the score, he conducted it. And Norman does receive the credit for "Underneath The Mango Tree" etc as well

(* aka Rodgers aka Gaukroger. It's a bit of a carry on.)

So Norman wrote the orchestral parts of the score?

Barry scored FRWL before it was complete?

Barbel · August 2015

Yes, verbally for his friend Burt Rhodes to transcribe (since Norman couldn't write it down) & arrange before the music was given to Eric Rogers.

Re FRWL- the shooting ran over schedule, and Barry completed his agreed time on the movie before being obliged to move on to his next assignment (IIRC, Zulu) so wasn't available to score the scenes mentioned above, which were done at the end of the shoot. Peter Hunt therefore put in some bars from "Death Of Dr No".

Matt S · August 2015

Barbel wrote:

Yes, verbally for his friend Burt Rhodes to transcribe (since Norman couldn't write it down) & arrange before the music was given to Eric Rogers.

Re FRWL- the shooting ran over schedule, and Barry completed his agreed time on the movie before being obliged to move on to his next assignment (IIRC, Zulu) so wasn't available to score the scenes mentioned above, which were done at the end of the shoot. Peter Hunt therefore put in some bars from "Death Of Dr No".

I see. Thanks for the information. So Monty Norman couldn't read music? i know he was originally a singer and lyricist. Rock musicians can get away with no reading music, but a composer?

Barbel · August 2015

Yes that's right, though it isn't unprecedented. He would hum his tunes to an associate (Rhodes in this instance) for transcription and arranging.
Barry of course would do all of those jobs himself plus conducting and often producing, although in his later years he'd use an orchestrator (usually Nic Raine) to lighten the workload.

Charmed & Dangerous · August 2015

Barbel wrote:

Eric Rogers* ... (* aka Rodgers aka Gaukroger. It's a bit of a carry on.)

Lol

) yes 22 carry ons to be exact...

Barbel · August 2015

Glad you liked that, C&D!

Napoleon Plural · August 2015

Back on topic, and going by the trailer for SPECTRE, there's already one scene I would delete, the snippet of the fight in the supermarket where the thug, looking a bit like Big Ron from AVTAK, gets deposited near the self-service cashier and the automated voice goes 'Unexpected item in the bagging area'... it just doesn't fit Craig's Bond.

Bleuville · August 2015

Thunderbird 2 wrote:

To (aledgedly) quote Noel Coward, "No, no, no, no NO!" Maybe the cat clip from Russel Howard's good news is more appropriate.

I loved Star Wars as a kid. It had the glorious space trappings of Big budget Sci Fi, with the right mix of the limitless "what if?" of fantasy and folklore. Then George Lucas and his CGI army started tinkering, granted with the best of intentions, prior to the convoluted mess that was the prequels.
The remastered edition, the collectors remastered edition, the comemerative remastered edition All on video tape, then DVD, then the nonsense all over again on Blueray! I settled for the bog standard six disc DVDs three the originally remastered classic films, alongside the three ORIGiNAL films. Retaining all the rubber muppet, dark lined multiple exposure, faint focus classic glory. The films I grew up with. The films Lucasfilm only released due to heavy audience protest.
Such mucking about only added to my disgust at the CGI glut and crap writing and characterisation of the prequels, and means I intend to wait till DVD for the new upcoming films. Disney has worked well with Marvel, but I distrust Abrahms due to the current phase of Star Trek.

My point? The Bond films are classics as they are, just like the original Star Wars films. I hate the whistle gag on the car stunt in TMWTGG, I hate Sergant Pepper's dialogue, (racist, brash, crude, rude) in both his appearances. The use of Calafornia Girls in AVTAK makes me cringe. The poor CGI in DAD and QoS (as well as the latter's chop shop editing) annoys me too. But these bad choices are as much a part of Bond's history as Shirley Eaton painted Gold, the Q vehicles, Blofeld being nasty and M (any of them) putting Bond in his place.

It's a classic therefore not perfect, but not broken! Don't try to "fix it."

Maybe I should have linked this to The Rant Box. Scouse me. ;%

By the way it's SHERIFF Pepper not Sergeant Pepper -that's a Beatles album !

Bleuville.

Barbel · August 2015

Well, even in this ever changing world in which we're living, say live and let live. Don't give the other fella hell.

blame_thatcher · September 2015

There are hundreds of cuts in QOS, but altering the timing of just 20-30 of them would appease many of the film's detractors.

Grazmeister · October 2015

blame_thatcher wrote:

There are hundreds of cuts in QOS, but altering the timing of just 20-30 of them would appease many of the film's detractors.

You know what..I hadn't even considered QOS when I started this thread but you are so right. I bet if you re-edited a lot of the action sequences and extended them adding in missing footage and cutting out the 'choppiness' you'd have a much better film.

chrisisall · October 2015

Grazmeister wrote:

blame_thatcher wrote:

There are hundreds of cuts in QOS, but altering the timing of just 20-30 of them would appease many of the film's detractors.

You know what..I hadn't even considered QOS when I started this thread but you are so right. I bet if you re-edited a lot of the action sequences and extended them adding in missing footage and cutting out the 'choppiness' you'd have a much better film.

I find myself liking that QOS is what it is... different than any other Bond movie. B-)

hehadlotsofguts · October 2015

I'd make the DVD menus more streamlined. The rolling die and the naked girls were a novel idea at first, but it became tedious and repetitive after a while.

i like how they used the film's score though.

Loeffelholz · October 2015

chrisisall wrote:

Grazmeister wrote:

blame_thatcher wrote:

There are hundreds of cuts in QOS, but altering the timing of just 20-30 of them would appease many of the film's detractors.

You know what..I hadn't even considered QOS when I started this thread but you are so right. I bet if you re-edited a lot of the action sequences and extended them adding in missing footage and cutting out the 'choppiness' you'd have a much better film.

I find myself liking that QOS is what it is... different than any other Bond movie. B-)

Well, it is what it is -{ I'm a bit of a purist also, in that I think that we should allow the director's (and in Eon's case, the producers'!) visions be left intact, warts and all. But it would be nice to have a menu option to delete the slide whistle in TMWTGG

...but alas, it's not practical really.

I'd certainly enjoy seeing QoS edited differently, to be sure. I'd add a good ten minutes to the running time---and not just the action edits. I think entire beats of quiet drama in many scenes are missing...granted, they probably weren't in the script

) but...

How would you feel about James Bond 'Special Editions'?

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