Something of Boris

[pyat]

From the CNN review of the new James Bond movie:

Intriguingly, the new-look Bond seems to be developing a skeptical political outlook that would come as a shock to Ian Fleming.

Uh… maybe they’re thinking about a different Ian Fleming? One that didn’t write a series of novels about a government hitman?

This puts me in mind of my high-school James Bond campaign. (Me? Thinking of an old RPG game? Never!) The game started with the players as ordinary agents assigned to investigate a smuggling ring in London. After sinking a cargo ship full of contraband jeans, crashing cars, throwing people out of other cars and stealing those cars, setting off explosives, firing submachine guns, and generally… well… acting like James Bond… they were demoted to “Double-Oh” status.

The reason being that the “Double-Oh” department was stocked with dangerous (but loyal) thugs who could only be relied on to cause mayhem. In short, that’s where they sent all the player characters. Their first assignment involved blowing up a hotel in Monrovia. Actually, it didn’t. But they blew it up anyway.

Comments

[koogrr.livejournal.com]

Amusingly enough, that was the basis for Bond's double-O status, presented in the books but not emphasized in the movies. He was a SAS commando whose father had political connections and got him status as a spy, except actual spy work was boring and he wasn't competent enough to even keep a cover identity, so he got assigned to the only division which didn't need a cover.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

*Nods* Discussions about that were sort of the inspiration for my decision to run it that way.

[neosis.livejournal.com]

The History Channel just had a sort of biography show on Ian Flemming and his career as the author of James Bond.