The M's Office Theory

jetsetwilly

This debate seems to have once again been stirred up by QoS, and additionally by the news that Judi Dench may be leaving the series. There is an argument that Judi Dench's M is too active, and is seen in the field far too much, and she should stay behind her desk, give 007 his assignment, and then not be seen for the rest of the film. Which made me think: how often does this happen? In the name of scientific research, I turned my attention to the films, and there are some interesting results.

- M actually remains in his/her office, without moving from behind the desk, in just two films: Dr No and Octopussy.

- In FRWL and GE, M ventures out of the office, but remains within MI6: to Moneypenny's office in the former, and to the operations room down the hall in GE.

- In TB, M ventures out to the conference room in MI6, and also to the "Thunderball" war room: this is implied to be within the Ministry of Defence, but it's never actually confirmed onscreen, so it's possible this may also be within MI6.

- M makes an office appearance, followed by a trip to somewhere else in the UK, in GF (the Bank of England).

- M does not visit his/her office, but none the less remains in the UK in DAF (Sir Donald Munger's office), LALD (Bond's flat), and TND (the MOD war room, and in her limo round the streets of London).

- M has scenes both in his/her office, and also travels abroad, in TMWTGG (Hong Kong), TSWLM (travels to Egypt, and also turns up on a frigate in the Med), MR (Venice, Brazil and NASA Mission Control) and LTK (Key West). It should also be noted that until Bernard Lee's death, the script of FYEO featured M in his office, and also dressed as the Orthodox priest in Greece instead of Q.

- M travels between his/her office, other areas in the UK, and also abroad in OHMSS (Quarterdeck and Bond's wedding in Portugal), AVTAK (Ascot and Paris), TLD (the Blayden safe house, above Gibraltar, and at the Viennese opera house), TWINE (King's funeral, the Scottish MI6 HQ, Azerbaijan and Istanbul), DAD (Vauxhall Cross tube station, the frigate in Hong Kong, and Korea), CR (her apartment, Parliament to meet the minister, and the Bahamas) and QoS (her apartment, the Foreign Office, the Barbican, Siena, Bolivia, Russia).

- M does not visit the UK at all in YOLT (his submarine remains in Asia throughout).

Other points to note:

- Bond doesn't visit MI6 at all in YOLT, DAF, LALD, TSWLM, LTK, TND, DAD, CR and QOS.

- Moneypenny gets a trip out of the office in TB (if the war room is in the MoD), YOLT, OHMSS, DAF, LALD, TSWLM, MR, AVTAK, TND, and TWINE. She visits other areas of MI6 in TLD (Q Branch) and GE (the operations room).

- Q gets trips away from MI6 in TB, YOLT, OHMSS, DAF, TMWTGG, TSWLM, MR, FYEO, OP, AVTAK, TLD, LTK, TND and TWINE. Q2 (Cleese) is based at Vauxhall Cross underground station, rather than Q Branch in MI6.

- In TSWLM, M and Bond do not have a scene where 007 is given his assignment in his boss' office at the Secret Service. Gogol and Anya, however, do!

From this, we can conclude that M leaving the office to gallavant around is actually the norm, rather than the exception. Judi Dench's M in QOS actually ties with Bernard Lee's M in Moonraker for number of foreign countries visited in one film (3), though she gets more scenes in the UK.

M's screentime has increased in her last three appearances, but it should also be noted in all these films the plot dictates that 007 doesn't travel to MI6 (in DAD he doesn't visit the UK until almost an hour in). I'm basically posting this to try and dispel the myth that M should be seen in his/her office, and that's all: this is another of those little myths around Bond (like he ALWAYS says "Bond James Bond" at some point, or he only ever drinks Martinis) which actually fall down when you look a little closer.

Yes, I should be working right now

Napoleon Plural

A nice bit of thought has gone into this essay, jsw.

I would add a caveat however. In many films such as YOLT and TMWTGG, M may be 'in the field' but is still at some HQ such as a submarine or fake ship wreck. Whereas Judi Dench's M, in QoS, does seem to put herself in harm's way, where one wrong move could see the head of MI6 offed by Mr White or some other villain making his violent escape, and where she is right in the operation, not just behind a desk issuing orders.

Moonraker 5

jetsetwilly wrote:

M actually remains in his/her office, without moving from behind the desk, in just two films: Dr No and Octopussy.

For shame, jetset!! FOR SHAME!!!

Unless that was a decoy M that we see escorting Bond to Checkpoint Charlie in West Berlin, and saying "Remember 007, you're on your own", then he roams just a little farther from his desk chair in Octopussy!

Moonraker 5

Oh, and a couple of minor quibbles with DAD. {:)

Where was the VR training suite? If it was in the MI6 building, then Bond visited MI6 during that film. If not, then Moneypenny got a trip out of the office then (or visits another area of MI6).

I'll go back to sitting quietly and eating my lunch now, rather than nitpick

jetsetwilly

In my defence, I am sat in work doing this, so I couldn't devote my entire mind to it. But you're right; M is right there in Berlin. This also means that Robert Brown's M appeared in four Bond films, and managed to get a foreign trip every time (unlike Lee and Dench). Nice work if you can get it.

I agree that both YOLT and TMWTGG featured "office like" environments, but the principle remains that even though M had the whole of MI6 to run back in London, he found it necessary to nip across to the other side of the planet. YOLT I can just about forgive, especially as the M1 seems to be a home from home; but is his presence in Hong Kong necessary at all?

The VR training suite's at Vauxhall Cross tube - 007 walks out of the facility to Q's lab. You're right; this means that Moneypenny gets a trip out in the film as a result. I was confused in my head by Q's AMAZING VR facility actually allowing Moneypenny to close Miranda Frost's file...

A7ce

jetsetwilly wrote:

M is too active, and is seen in the field far too much, and she should stay behind her desk, give 007 his assignment, and then not be seen for the rest of the film.

Yeah, i'd actually enjoy that, can't stand J-Dench's M, too interefering, as least the others, spoke to him once even tersely - and then let him with it. She is such a moaning old crone, croaking 'where is Bond now', 'put a tag on him, stop his passport, time for you to go... blah blah blha. put a sock in it woman and take up knitting or making cakes or something.

yodboy007

I have never had a problem with M leaving the office to go into the field or other places, but I do feel that lately like someone pointed out earlier M has put herself into harm's way quite a bit lately. Another thing that occurs way too much with Dench's M these days are scenes where she is at home. I do not want to see M take a bath, ok? I know she has a tough job and is up late a lot, but let us see some more stuff like that in the office. All of these trips out of MI6 into the field or other places need to be balanced. We have had three films in a row now where M has barely been seen at MI6 if at all. I am all for the secret offices that MI6 (and Q Branch) have set up around the globe, but I do feel that M should never be in harm's way. Of all the M's that are active the old lady M is the one they choose?

One thing I miss a lot is the traditional way Bond enters MI6 early in the films. He flirts with Moneypenny, goes into M's office for a briefing, maybe visits Q for a bit and then heads off into the field. I am not saying that this must happen in EVERY film, but it should happen in at least three out of four films. This has not happened since TWINE. I also miss the old fashioned look that M's office had. I am not against MI6 updating their equipment to keep up with the best technology and things like that, but the office M had in QOS with those huge computer screens and white walls and floors was too postmodern for me. The offices of Lee and Brown's M characters respectively always had a great old fashioned look and feel. I loved the way Dench's office looked in GE and TWINE. It looked more contemporary than the others while still maintaining a classic look. A big brown desk, a few chairs for visitors, bookshelves and maybe one high-tech computer that is not too big works fine for me.

Colonel Shatner

In QoS M didn't put herself in no obvious risk when she was always accompanied by a contingent of MI6 agents who looked bigger and younger than James Bond, and fer Christ sake's she was double crossed in an enclosed secret MI6 base by a close aide who she had been working with for years.

I actually liked the new MI6 operations centre, that set should return, but in the next movie Judi's M (and her replacement) should imprint more of a personality into the new, pristine office, so that it would more vaguely resemble the old office introduced way back in GoldenEye.