Should Safin have been named Dr Julius No ?
John from Cork
Posts: 111MI6 Agent
Iirc, most people expected that. I'm indifferent but then I never understand the obsession many fans had for decades with bringing back Blofeld, as far as I'm concerned Eon ruined Blofeld back in 71 when ignored OHMSS and put him in drag.
Comments
In my view there was more of a case for bringing back Bond's arch-nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld (a returning main villain equivalent to Professor Moriarty in the Sherlock Holmes stories) than in bringing back any other Bond villain, say Dr No, Goldfinger or Scaramanga. They never quite got Blofeld right (apart from in OHMSS which was a much more faithful presentation of the character as played by Telly Savalas) and so there was a case to be made for getting it right "this time" which as we know didn't really happen. The only other villain I'd love to see redone is Mr Big as he was merely a cover identity in the film version of LALD with Dr Kananga taking his place. I think he could come back as Buonaparte Ignace Gallia (Mr BIG) and they could use some of the richer themes in that novel as a way to keep him original (yet still Flemingesque) and have him wax lyrical about accidie and the great pains he takes to be the greatest criminal in his field. There was a rumour that Safin would be Dr No but I never really bought into that, thinking it best to stay away from rumours and spoilers and to judge the finished film (NTTD) on its own merits and what was in it, not on what ultimately wasn't in it.
As an aside, I've personally never really understood the obsession some film Bond fans have with raking over every morsel of information, rumour and speculation so that by the time the new film comes out in the cinema there are no real surprises left. Though I find the history of the writing of the Bond films in particular to be very interesting I see little point in wasting one's energy on trying to sort the wheat from the chaff prior to the release of a Bond film.
Yes, they had 45 years to get Blofeld right and still blew it.
It's just baffling to me that somebody, when planning SPECTRE and the Blofeld character, didn't raise their hand and say 'hey, you realize that we're copying AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER, right? Are you sure that this is the route that we want to go with Bond and Blofeld?'
Aside from the cat (which was a Blofeld signature), how does Christoph Waltz's Blofeld in SP resemble Meyers's Dr Evil?
How would audiences have responded if Eon had made Blofeld an African warlord, as was rumored at one point? I'm guessing they'd have said, "That's not Blofeld."
I'm not sure what the winning move here would have been.
Well, two ways - Dr Evil is obviously a Blofeld homage, albeit that of the baldy in YOLT, OHMSS and the pre-credits of FYEO. Secondly, the big reveal of Goldmember is that Austin Powers and Dr Evil are brothers, so in that case the big reveal is the same in Spectre.
I don't think people mind that Waltz doesn't look much like Blofeld but it wasn't thought through. Anyway, the earlier model didn't look like Fleming's take, which wasn't bald and didn't have a cat, and admittedly changed physically a lot from TB to YOLT.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Oh and the whole No thing may have been to get round the idea that Blofeld wasn't coming back much (as fans didn't care for him in SP) so just give No the same stuff they were gonna give Blofeld to do perhaps.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
As NP stated above, I was referring to the brother angle.
Safin's nebulous motivations and plot are already regarded by many Bond fans as one of the more negative aspects of NTTD, and I'm quite glad that they didn't muddy the waters even further by trying to make Safin a reinvention of Dr No. Already in the film they've given him bits from Fleming's YOLT with the poisonous garden, so he would end up being a hybrid of No and Blofeld, with a new backstory and vague motives. I think the combination of all of those things would just make it even less satisfying. I have no problem with the fact that Craig's Bond sacrifices himself at the end of NTTD, but what makes it disappointing is that he did it to take down a confusing villain who doesn't seem worthy of such a dramatic end for Bond.
One bit I do like in NTTD is that Bond kills Safin without even looking: he has become an irritant who Bond just disposes of, not worth any more of his remaining time.
And he sacrificed himself to save his loved ones, not to take down a villain.
The Dr. No thing never made any sense. Fans just like things to be tidy and decided Craig should end where Connery started.
One of the best moments in the entire Craig run of films.
Yes, it was like he was putting down a dog or other sick animal. It was clinical and emotionless.