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Stuff You Should Know - Episode Summary
Episode Title
SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: What's the deal with Bond, James Bond?
Podcast Overview In this episode of Stuff You Should Know, hosts Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant explore the iconic character of James Bond, from his literary origins to the silver screen adaptations. They delve into trivia, character development, and the impact of Bond on popular culture.
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Key Themes and Topics
Introduction
- Hosts: Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant welcome listeners to the summer movie playlist.
- Focus: Discussing James Bond as a quintessential summer movie character.
Ian Fleming and the Creation of James Bond
- Background: James Bond was created by British author Ian Fleming, who had a background in journalism and stock brokering, and served in naval intelligence during WWII.
- Inspiration: Fleming modeled Bond on aspects of his own life and experiences.
- Bond's Name: Chosen to be unremarkable to contrast with his extraordinary actions.
The Literary Foundation
- Novels: Fleming wrote a total of 14 works (12 novels and 2 short story collections).
- Film Adaptations: The first Bond film, Dr. No, was based on the sixth Bond novel, demonstrating a non-chronological adaptation of Fleming's work.
Evolution of James Bond
- Character Traits: Bond is depicted as a suave, skilled assassin rather than a conventional spy (secretive, relies on gadgets, has a license to kill).
- Cultural Impact: Bond's traits, like his preference for shaken martinis, have become pop culture staples.
Notable Films and Villains
- Villains: Notable antagonists include Dr. No, Goldfinger, and Blofeld. The hosts discuss their unique traits and the evolution of villains in the series.
- Bond Girls: The episode touches on the recurring theme of Bond girls, their roles, and how they often possess names reflecting innuendo.
Bond Actors and Legacy
- Actors: The hosts discuss various actors who portrayed Bond, from Sean Connery to Timothy Dalton and Daniel Craig, emphasizing each actor's unique interpretation of the character.
- Codename Theory: A fan theory suggests that every actor portrays a different character using the codename "James Bond," explaining personality shifts across films.
Trivia and Fun Facts
- Gadgets and Cars: Discussion of the iconic gadgets and cars associated with Bond, including the Aston Martin and the Lotus.
- Theme Songs: The hosts debate the best Bond theme songs, noting the trend of integrating popular artists into the film's music.
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Key Takeaways
- Cultural Significance: James Bond remains an enduring figure in film history, representing a blend of adventure, sophistication, and action.
- Franchise Evolution: The series has evolved significantly, adapting to contemporary cultural contexts while retaining core character traits.
- Engagement with Fandom: Listeners are encouraged to engage with Bond fandom and share any corrections or additional insights regarding the Bond universe.
Conclusion The episode emphasizes the multifaceted nature of James Bond, exploring both the literary and cinematic legacies of the character. The hosts reflect on their personal experiences with Bond films while inviting audience participation for future discussions.
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Transcript
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1:01John Polk story on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everybody, it's me, Josh, and I'd like to welcome you to the Stuff You Should Know summer movie playlist. It's summertime, and we thought what better way to kick off one of the four greatest seasons of the year with a focus on movies, because what screams summer more than a nice, darkened, cool, air-conditioned theater, and a great movie playing right in front of you. So we're going to start the whole thing off with our July 2010 episode on What's the Deal with Bond? James Bond. Hope you enjoy.
1:43Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com.
1:53Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. Hi, with me is Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Bryant. Charles Bryant. How is it going, Chuck? It's an odd way to introduce yourself, don't you think? Not if you're a super spy. Are you a super spy? Actually, I wouldn't say James Bond was even a spy. Secret Service? Is that a spy, really? No, he was an assassin and just general plot disruptor, I would say. He was a blunt instrument of the crown. Yeah, if you wanted the job done and you couldn't, if you didn't have time to worry about the politics or diplomacy, that kind of thing, you sent James Bond. Yeah, get JB on the phone, 007.
2:43Yeah. He'll take care of business like Elvis. You could call him on his car phone long before any car had a phone. Yeah. All right? Oh, yeah. He was always predating technology. Yeah. As a matter of fact, there's a James Bond theory of entrepreneurial innovation. I believe that. From Russia with Love, 1963. He talked. I can't remember who he talked to, but he was in his car using the phone. Yeah. That was in his car, and audiences went nuts for it. Oh, yeah. They were like, oh my God, he's on the telephone. Right. In a car. But that's what they sounded like in England, though. Oh yeah, well sure.
3:23Possibly Ghana. Right. So, Josh, where do we start here? We can't not start with Ian Fleming. Ian Fleming. That's where we've got to start. Let's do it. No, there was a colon after that. Oh, Ian Fleming colon was, as everyone knows, and if you didn't, you need to get out from under your rock that you reside in right now, the creator of James Bond in novel form. He was also originally a journalist and a stockbroker. And World War II starts to come around, and he joins the naval volunteer. Royal Navy. Royal Navy. And he was actually, Chuck, did you know, assigned as a spy himself in Washington, D.C.?
4:13Yeah, sort of a spy, you could call it. He was in intelligence, and he would occasionally, he was an administrative guy, but sometimes they would send him out to do field work where he would take secret pictures of documents, just like in the movies. Do you know who was assigned to his spy unit? James Bond. Yeah? No. Well, the guy who was the inspiration for James Bond, his name was William Stevenson, a.k.a. Intrepid, right? Yeah, one of many inspirations. Right, but in an interview in the Times in 1962, Fleming said, you know, James Bond is this romanticized version of a spy. Bill Stevenson is the real thing.
4:57Right, well, romanticized version of himself. To an extent, sure. Another member of that spy ring was a guy named Roald Dahl, who wrote James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Yeah, and a bunch of bawdy books. Right. He also had the non-children's books that were a little racier. Yes. Not many people know that. So Chuck, let's talk a little bit more about Ian Fleming. Give it to us, buddy. Yeah, I mean, like I said, he sort of based James Bond on kind of, I think, who he wanted to be. He was a playboy. He was an island hopper. An adventurer. an adventurer, a skier. He dove with Jacques Cousteau and snow skied from the tops of mountains in Switzerland and had a place in Jamaica where he actually wrote all these books.
5:47Right. He named the place Goldeneye, and every year he would go to Jamaica and write a book. And I just want to dig him up and throttle him for that because, I mean, what a life. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Oh, it's time for me to go to my estate in Jamaica and write a book that's going to just make me millions more. Yeah, which he did. And he reportedly picked the name James Bond because he wanted the most boring name he could find for his super secret agent. I think he didn't want the name to compete with the actual character. Like, why bother giving him some fancy name? Just name him James Bond and have him kick butt.
6:29Right. You know what the opposite of that is? Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Yeah. He should have named him that. Yeah. Well, then it would have competed with the character. Duggan. Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Right. I could hear that. So, yeah. He wrote... See, the article says 13 novels. Well, he wrote 13 books. I got 14. What's the 14th? Well, I've got 12 novels plus two short story collections. Right. For Your Eyes Only. Uh-huh. And Octopussy in the Living Daylights was another collection. Right. So it seems like it'd be easier to find this out, but I literally saw two different sets of information. Huh, so are we gonna go with 14?
7:08Because you are quite the sniffer. Let's go with 14 total. Okay. 12 novels. Alright. But he wrote, I think he wrote the novels first, maybe? Or did he write the short story books like in between? Yeah, they were in between. They were toward the end. Okay. When he was getting fat and lazy in Jamaica. Yeah, interestingly though, or maybe it's not that interesting, they made the movies way out of order. Yeah, they did. Dr. No was the first film, but that was the sixth novel. Right, but did you know that they originally, the people who made the official Bond movies, originally wanted to make Thunderball?
7:47Thunderball was a story that Ian Fleming came up with with another guy who wanted the rights to make a movie out of it. Oh, really? That fell through, but Ian Fleming went ahead and wrote the story anyway that they came up with as Thunderball. The guy sued his pants off and actually gained custody, gained the rights to the book Thunderball, which tied it up and made them opt for Dr. No to go first instead. There was a lot of litigation over the years in the Bond franchise. Yes, there was. I guess when you have a franchise that long and that vast, there's going to be people suing people over something.
8:22Plus, it's legendary. He's a legendary character, and he's made a lot of money for a lot of people. Absolutely. The other interesting thing I thought just before we move on was that Moonraker was written in 1955. That was the third novel. That is insightful. And, of course, there wasn't a space shuttle. They changed the setting and all that stuff, but it did involve a nuclear weapon. So, you know, kind of odd. And Man with a Golden Gun, which was Roger Moore's second film, was the final novel, and it was released after his death. Huh. So it was way out of order. And in that one, he predicted Hervé Villaché, which nobody saw coming except Ian Fleming.
9:07Yeah. You're right, yeah. It's weird. Let's talk about James Bond a little bit. Okay, the character James Bond. So it turns out James Bond had a Scottish father, which he didn't originally. No, that came about because of Sean Connery. Yeah, Ian Fleming was not a big fan of Sean Connery at first. And then Sean Connery was like, check this out. And he made one peck go up while the other went down a bunch of times. And Ian Fleming just like clapped and squealed and that was that, right? He was a big fan and he said, you know what, you are James Bond. and he actually went back and changed James Bond's history to kind of match Sean Connery a little bit because he came to see, like, this guy is Bond, right?
9:53Yeah. So he gave James Bond a Scottish father. Andrew. And a Swiss mother. Monique Delacroix. Nice. Yeah. And they both died mountain climbing, right? Yes, when little James was 11 years old. And he went to the orphanage. And he went to an orphanage. He was supposedly born on November 11, 1920. but there are different accounts of his birthday and when he was born. Clearly, when you have a franchise with Daniel Craig playing him in 2008, he can't be born in 1920. Yeah, because bodies of the exhibition wasn't showing in Miami in 1958 or anything. So, yeah, there's a sliding scale there, obviously, to make it viable.
10:34But James, much like his author namesake, Ian Fleming, not namesake, that would make him change fond. Much like the author Ian Fleming was, went to the Royal Navy in World War II, rose to the rank of commander. Yes. After the war, that's when he entered the SIS, known as MI6. Right, which is the sixth branch of the Military Intelligence Directorate. You got that, buddy. Right, and his first two assignments, Chuck, were two taps, weren't they? Assassinations, right off the bat. So apparently you have to kill two people to get a double O status, which is the license to kill, and he got him, like you say, right off the bat.
11:12Yeah, and he was the seventh dude to get him, so that's where 007 comes from. Right. The seventh agent. I shouldn't say dude. Were there female agents? Yeah, there were female agents. Okay. I'm pretty sure. Oh, and we should probably take the time here to explain. I like James Bond. I know that you like James Bond movies too. Is this the disclaimer? Yeah. We're going to get killed here. we are not members of James Bond fandom I would say right? I mean I've seen all the movies but no I haven't studied the books. I've never read any of the books I don't think I've seen all the movies but I do like them in a very recreational manner so that being said we are not going to get every single thing right here we are going to walk right past information that we just don't know exists So, in a very friendly manner, if there is anything that you have to say that can round this podcast out even further, we love knowing new things.
12:18So please let us know, I guess is what we're saying, right? Oh, they'll let us know. They will. Except for the three dudes that just turned it off and went, well, they have no business even attempting this thing. Right. And then they go give us a one-star rating on iTunes. So, back to Bond. He, as we all know, is a sharp dresser, and he loves fast cars. He loves his martini, shaken, not stirred. He loves women. Yeah, and do you know if you shake a martini instead of stirring it, you pretty much ruin it? I disagree. I shake all my martinis. Dude. How does it ruin it? It feathers it, I think. What does that mean?
12:53It means it's screwed up. What does that mean? I like a good dirty martini myself. Oh, you like them dirty? Oh, yeah. Gross. Jared just said word. I like my martinis so light, it's basically just a vodka rock. So you just like the vermouth bottle just waved near the glass? Pretty much. I like just a little vermouth, a little olive juice, but no olive. No olive juice. I'll put three olives in usually. Really? Yeah. All right. But then I eat them so fast that they have no time to taint the martini. Well, that's why you're not a super spy. No. So, Josh, James Bond, a couple of the other traits we should just mention.
13:30He is a martial artist. He's a gifted man with his fist and feet. Or if you're Roger Moore, a karate chop. Yeah. He loved the karate chop. Oh, yeah, yeah. That was a big deal in the 70s. And he famously carried a Walter PPK handgun, 32 caliber. Yeah. And that's a little guy. Have you ever seen him? Oh, yeah. They're small. And I've played GoldenEye. I've played. Best game ever. I guess I just played GoldenEye. It is a great game. Yeah, and you know they're bringing that back for Wii. I've heard. Matt Frederick of Coolest Stuff on the Planet told us that they are bringing that back because it's still sort of the standard for first-person shooters, like 15 years on.
14:13Yeah. It's still a great game. So they're bringing it back as is, like completely as it was, but with better graphics. That's going to be fantastic. For the Wii. Yeah. Pretty exciting. Back to the real life. Yes. Of the fake life of James Bond. That's what we should have titled this podcast The Real Life of the Fake Life Yeah New Year, new goals And in this economy, a better money plan Is more necessary than ever I am Matt And I'm Joel We are from the How to Money podcast And every week we help you to spend smarter, save more And make sense of what's going on out there If you want 2026 to be the year You finally feel in control of your money We're here to give you the tools and advice To help you make it happen Listen to How to Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
15:01Hi, I'm Dr. Priyanka Wally. And I'm Hari Kondabolu. It's a new year, and on the podcast Health Stuff, we're resetting the way we talk about our health. Which means being honest about what we know, what we don't know, and how messy it can all be. I like to sleep in late and sleep early. Is there a chronotype for that, or am I just depressed? We talk to experts who share real experiences and insight. You just really need to find where it is that you can have an impact in your own life and just start doing that. We break down the topics you want to know more about. Sleep, stress, mental health, and how the world around us affects our overall health.
15:40We talk about all the ways to keep your body and mind, inside and out, healthy. We human beings, all we want is connection. We just want to connect with each other. Health stuff is about learning, laughing, and feeling a little less alone. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey there, this is Dr. Jesse Mills, director of the Men's Clinic at UCLA Health and host of the Mailroom Podcast. Each January, guys everywhere make the same resolutions. Get stronger, work harder, fix what's broken. But what if the real work isn't physical at all? To kick off the new year, I sat down with Dr.
16:18Steve Poulter, a psychologist with over 30 years experience helping men unpack shame, anxiety, and emotional pain they were never taught to name. In a powerful two-part conversation, we discuss why men aren't emotionally bulletproof, why shame hides in plain sight, and how real strength comes from listening to yourself and to others. Guys who are toxic, they're immature, or they've got something they just haven't resolved. Once that gets resolved, then there comes empathy, as in compassion. If you want this to be the year you stop powering through pain and start understanding what's underneath, listen to The Mailroom on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows.
17:00How about, let's talk about some of the enemies. Dr. No, he was the first one to appear in the films. Dr. Julius No. Right. He's an atomic scientist. Yeah, he was clearly, Joseph Wiseman played him, and he was a great, great villain. Goldfinger, you can't talk about Bond without talking about Goldfinger. Yeah. He was, eh, you don't like him? No, not really. I was a big Goldfinger guy. Were you? He tried to laser the crotch of James Bond. Oh, yeah, that's right. That's pretty hardcore. Yeah. It's like Max Scorpio. Right. What's that? In that Simpsons where Homer ends up going to work for the supervillain.
17:37Right. Yeah. He's like, no, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die and be a very cheap funeral. Oddjob was one of my favorite. He was one of Goldman's henchmen. I loved him, too. The big Asian guy with the bowler hat that he could cut the head off a statue. Yeah, he was huge. Yeah, very big dude. Jaws, we grew up with Roger Moore. So you can't not talk about Jaws. No, he was great, too. He was in two of them, right? He was in Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me. I thought he might have been more than that, but he definitely. I looked it up. He was only in two. Two, really? God, he made quite an impression.
18:10Yeah, he did. He found the girlfriend in Moonraker, I think, right? Yeah, he falls in love or something. Yeah, the little nerdy girl. And then he pops up again in Happy Gilmore. Was he in that? Yeah. I didn't see that. Yeah, he was Happy Gilmore's boss on the construction site, and he ends up becoming a fan. Wow. Did he have the teeth? No, he didn't have the teeth. That was just for the movie. But he was a big guy. Yes. Lately, we've had more recent villains that I don't think the new villains compare. personally. They kind of come and go. Like in Casino Royale. I can't even tell you who the villain was.
18:48They're all decent, but they're not iconic characters like they used to be. Right, like Blofeld. Well, Blofeld was the sort of legendary, I don't know how many movies he was in, but he was played by Telly Savalas, Donald Pleasence. Yeah, Donald Pleasence was my favorite version. He was good. And Max Van Seedow played him I think in Never Say Never Again maybe. Max Van C. Dahl, he's a class act. Yeah, what did I watch the other day? Oh, Shutter Island. He's in that. And I leaned over to Emily and I was like, you know, I want to see Max Van C. Dahl play like a kindly grandfather in a movie. I don't think he can pull it off.
19:24Anytime that dude pops up in the movie, you're like, oh, well, he's the evildoer. Right. He's the villain. Or so you think until Shutter Island falls apart at the end. Don't ruin it. Yeah. It ruined itself. Yes, that was Blofeld. He was the bald guy and he was the head of Spectre, which was the special executive for counterintelligence, terrorism, revenge and extortion. Right. Great villainous title there. That's not only like a great name. Yeah. It's your mission statement. Yeah. You know? All wrapped up into one. One of my favorites, Max Zorin, played by the great Christopher Walken. He was the, dude, View to Kill is one of the best bomb movies ever.
20:05But that had the worst Bond woman ever. Grace Jones? No, Tanya Roberts. I don't remember her. She was the Bond girl. I don't remember. She was the lady from the 70s show that was like one of the late Charlie's Angels replacements. Tanya Roberts, yeah. Yeah, who cares? It was the 80s. Nobody was paying that much attention. But it was a good song. It was, and Christopher Walken was in it. Grace Jones was in it. She was pretty scary in that. Yeah, she was excellent. Talk about a martial artist. But Max Zorin is, did you know he was the product of genetic experiments by Nazis? Walken was? Well, not Walken, Max Zorin.
20:45Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I don't remember that. Yeah, and one of the unintended side effects was he was a complete psychopath. I thought you were going to say one of the side effects was his use of punctuation. You are good, man. Everybody does Walken. I can't do a Walken. Let's hear it. No. It's really just an altered John Travolta. Why are you so weird? Dude, that's great. Thanks. Of course, Chuck, there's 006, Alec Trevelyn. Yeah. What was he in? That was one of the Pierce Brosnan ones, wasn't it? Yeah. I think. Yeah, which I don't remember those. I love Pierce Brosnan. Oh, he was good. The fact that he wasn't James Bond earlier, he's like, oh, yeah, you're going to cast Timothy Dalton, are you?
21:33Well, I'll go be Remington Steele. jerks. Yeah. And I'll just wait my time. Then they tried to get him again, right? I think so. And he was committed to Remington Steele, which was sort of like James Bond for TV. Oh, so did he do Remington Steele first? Oh, yeah. He did Remington Steele. Well, it goes back and forth. There was like, Timothy Dalton was offered the role before Roger Moore. Did you know that? No, I didn't. When he was 21 years old. Really? He was going to replace Sean Connery. Wow. And Dalton said, I'm too young to play James Bond. And then he comes around years later. Wow. Just like Brosnan did.
22:04Okay. But I am glad that Pierce Brosnan went in. I just happen to think that his period of movies were unfortunate. I thought they were pretty good. I didn't like them. I'm really happy with Daniel Craig's stuff so far. Well, you know, my statement on that is that was the only direction they could take that franchise. After the Jason Bourne movies, you couldn't have a guy winking at the camera like Roger Moore and slapstick sounds and sound effects. you had to take him in a real bad, bad direction. Yes. And you mean like Seemohaya bad. Yeah. So 006, Alec Trevelin, he is, I think, he informs the character Alex Krychek from X-Files.
22:49You think so, huh? Very nice, Josh. Thanks. All right, so those are some of the villains. Clearly not all, but we should also talk about some of the people that James Bond had working on his side. at MI6. Right, which we will call from here on out the superfluous characters. No, dude, they're great. M, Q. Yeah. M was the head of MI6, and there were several M's. M was just a title, and M was the one that's always frustrated with Bond, yet he knows that he's the blunt instrument of choice pretty much in every movie. Right. Q. You should say he or she for M. True. Dame Judi Dench took over. Yeah.
23:32Oh man, she's doing a great job too. Q is the head of the Q branch. Judy Dench, did you hear that? Chuck just said you were doing a great job, so keep it up. Keep it up, Dane Judy Dench. Dame? Dane? Dame. Dame. Yeah, she's a dame. Q is the head of the Q branch, MI6's research and development branch, and Q, as you might know, is the guy who in all the films gives James his gadgets. There's always that great scene where James goes into the laboratory and starts messing around with the gadgets and exasperates Q because he's burning something or he's firing a missile inside and he shouldn't be. That's Q.
24:10Right. And he's now been replaced by his former assistant, R. Right. Now, is R John Cleese? Yeah. Yeah, he's doing a good job. But he's the new Q. He just used to be R. Well, because Q died. Right. Llewellyn? Yes, Chuck. That was the actor that played the original Q. Is that right? Or the Roger Moore Q that I loved. Right. Who else we got? Felix Leiter, who I like. Jack Lord, Jeffrey Wright, both played him. Oh, yeah? CIA agent. Uh-huh. And then there's another guy named Hayward Wade. Well, is he CIA? Yeah. I thought they said they didn't know if he was DEA or CIA. He was around before the DEA was.
24:50Was he? Yeah. All right. And then you've got, I think Jack Wade is his name. And he was actually played by a couple people, including Joe Don Baker. Oh, yeah. Pierce Brosnan ones. Yeah, yeah. He had a couple of American counterparts. That's a good point. And, little known fact, Joe Don Baker was in, oh, I can't remember the name of the movie, but it was one of the greatest Mystery Science Theater 3000s. Oh, really? Yeah. Bad movie? Come on. And then, of course, we have to mention Moneypenny, who was M's personal assistant. And Moneypenny, you always knew Moneypenny because James would come in and flirt very much with her.
25:26And I always got the sense that if James were to ever settle down with anyone, which he clearly won't, it would have been Moneypenny. Sure. Or at least he made her think that. Right. Every day was Secretary's Day when James Bond was around. He was always just so nice to her in bringing her things from his travels. Shot glasses and stuff. Right, spoons. She had an extensive spoon collection. Refrigerator magnets. Chuck. Josh. Let's talk about the movie, shall we? Yeah, sure. Well, let's talk about James Bond on screen because it wasn't necessarily just relegated to the movies. Oh, yeah. Good point.
26:00So James Bond first appears on screen, on the small screen, on a CBS TV series called Climax with an exclamation point. Really? Yeah. Wow. And he was first played by a guy named Barry Nelson. Barry Nelson you may recognize as Mr. Ullman, the manager of the Overlook in Kubrick's The Shining, who tells Jack Torrance the ropes. That's the first guy to ever play James Bond. Wow. Was he English? No. American? Yeah, CBS TV series. So we've had a Scotsman, quite a few Englishmen, an American, and an Australian. And what? What do you mean Australian? I mean someone from Australia. That was George Lazenby.
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26:43He was Australian. Was it? You know what happened to him? Well, he wasn't much of an actor. Well, it wasn't just that. But he, after the success of his Bond movie, I mean, he played James Bond, and it was filmed and produced and released. On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Right. It was a movie. He was like, holy cow, I'm James Bond, and I'm going to buy a boat and sail around the world for a while. And he came back, and his star had already faded because he did one thing, and that was that. Oh, really? Yeah. He kind of blew it. He wasn't much of an actor either. But it wasn't just that. It was a combination of those two things.
27:18He was a bad dude, though. He got the role, apparently, because he impressed Ian Fleming because he had a faux fight scene with a wrestler for his audition, and he actually punched the guy. Wow. Like, got mad and punched him, and Fleming's like, this is our dude. Wow. Yeah, because Fleming wrote the Bond character as much darker. Yeah, the novel character, for sure. Like, Roger Moore took it in a very specific direction that was not the least bit like how Ian Fleming had written him. You're the ultimate Roger Moore apologist. I love Roger Moore. He's good in The Saint, and that's why he got the role, I think.
27:54Okay. The TV show The Saint. Sure. All right, so Chuck, let's get back to the beginning again. So we talked about Barry Nelson, and on the big screen, the first Bond ever was Sean Connery, right? Yeah, well, they did a pilot, though, on TV as well. That's the Barry Nelson one. Oh, it was called Casino Royale, though, no? Right, it was based on Casino Royale for Climax. Okay, I understand that. You know how they used to do, like, they would have the name of the series, but then there'd be, like, different, like, Wonderful World of Disney? Yeah. It was, like, the name of the series, but then there were different, like, documentaries or cartoons or whatever?
28:29Okay. I think it was like that. And that flopped, and it got canceled. They didn't know what they were doing with TV back in the day. They had no idea. Yeah. So, yeah, you're right. Dr. No was the first film in 1962, and there's been 22 in total. No? Yes. And we're waiting. And that's official Bond films because they parodied him and other things. Woody Allen played him, for heaven's sake. Yeah. Yeah. In the parody he did of Casino Royale. Yeah. There's also an unofficial Bond film with an official Bond. Right? Let's hear it. Never Say Never Again. Yeah. That was Connery's. That was also fraught with lawsuits as well.
29:12That was based on the Thunderball lawsuit. Yeah. They remade Thunderball. Right, and they named it Never Say Never Again because Connery had said after 1971 that he'd never play Bond again. Yeah. Because he played Bond, what, for the first six movies? Something like that? One, two, three, four, five, and then George Lazenby, then he came back and did Diamonds Are Forever. And then after that came Roger Moore. Yes. And then Roger Moore had a pretty good run. He did. So Sean Connery stops playing Bond, George Lazenby comes along, does it once, Sean Connery leaves. Sean Connery has to come back another time.
29:49After Sean Connery, they get Roger Moore. In the midst of Roger Moore's run, Sean Connery makes another Bond film. That's when we were kids, too. 12 years after the last one he'd made. Right? And, yeah. Kim Basinger was the Bond chick in that one. Yes, she was. And they called it Never Say Never Again because he'd said that he would never play Bond again. Never. Trebek. New year, new goals, and in this economy, a better money plan is more necessary than ever. I am Matt. And I'm Joel. We are from the How to Money podcast. And every week we help you to spend smarter, save more, and make sense of what's going on out there.
30:25If you want 2026 to be the year you finally feel in control of your money, we're here to give you the tools and advice to help you make it happen. Listen to How to Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Dr. Priyanka Wally. And I'm Hurricane DeBolu. It's a new year. And on the podcast Health Stuff, we're resetting the way we talk about our health. Which means being honest about what we know, what we don't know, and how messy it can all be. I like to sleep in late and sleep early. Is there a chronotype for that or am I just depressed? We talk to experts who share real experiences and insight.
31:03You just really need to find where it is that you can have an impact in your own life and just start doing that. We break down the topics you want to know more about. Sleep, stress, mental health, and how the world around us affects our overall health. We talk about all the ways to keep your body and mind, inside and out, healthy. We human beings, all we want is connection. We just want to connect with each other. Health stuff is about learning, laughing, and feeling a little less alone. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey there, this is Dr. Jesse Mills, director of the men's clinic at UCLA Health and host of the Mailroom podcast.
31:44Each January, guys everywhere make the same resolutions. Get stronger, work harder, fix what's broken. But what if the real work isn't physical at all? To kick off the new year, I sat down with Dr. Steve Poulter, a psychologist with over 30 years experience helping men unpack shame, anxiety, and emotional pain they were never taught to name. In a powerful two-part conversation, we discuss why men aren't emotionally bulletproof, why shame hides in plain sight, and how real strength comes from listening to yourself and to others. Guys who are toxic, they're immature, or they've got something they just haven't resolved.
32:19Once that gets resolved, then there comes empathy and some compassion. If you want this to be the year you stop powering through pain and start understanding what's underneath, listen to The Mailroom on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. That's what he said. Timothy Dalton. I guess we might as well venture into his years. Yeah, I saw those when they first came out in the theaters, and I didn't think anything of them. I don't know if they were over my head or whatever, but I didn't like them. They were pretty good. Living Daylights and License to Kill.
32:53They were both... Are they good, really? Yeah, I mean, it was definitely a more novelistic bond. He was a darker and a little more bad dude. And that, I mean, it might have had something to do with those coming off the heels of Roger Moore and his vaudeville act that he brought to Bond. And Dalton had a two-picture run and then was replaced by who everyone thought should have been Bond before Dalton Pierce Brosnan for one, two, three, four films. Right. And then they went the inevitable direction with a blonde Bond with Daniel Craig. Is that inevitable, you think? Well, I meant the inevitable way of making him a tough dude.
33:30But yeah, his blindness was not inevitable. You know, you make fun of Roger Moore, but he had a seven-picture stint as James Bond. Yeah, and that was our childhood. Trust me, dude, at the time, I loved it. But then when I got older, I revisited all of the Sean Connerys, and then I saw the butt-kickingness of Timothy Dalton, and now Daniel Craig, and now I'm kind of like, Roger Moore was kind of a joke to me. No? You still stand by it? I do. All right. I like Roger Moore. Sam Neill was considered at one point. I could see him as James Bond. Yeah, he would have been mad. He was great in Dead Calm.
34:04Yeah, that was a good movie. You know, I don't know that this even qualifies as a podcast. People are going to be like, you guys are just kind of chit-chatting. Chuck, there's also theories, tons of them. Best one, actually the only one I could find really, is the Codename Theory. Have you heard this? I have not. Cracked got a lot of publicity for it. It's a fan theory. It basically says James Bond is a name that goes along with 007, and each actor was playing an actual different person who had assumed this undercover name, James Bond. Really? Which explains the changes in personality. Yeah. It explains why Sean Connery was so suave and Roger Moore was so goofy.
34:56It explains why Daniel Craig and Timothy Dalton were so violent. It explains a lot of stuff. It explains George Lazenby's departure because his wife, the only time James Bond has ever been married, died in that one on Her Majesty's Secret Service. Yeah, he had a wife. Most people don't know that. And she was killed by Blofeld. So he leaves after that. That explains that, right? Absolutely. There's actually holes in that theory. Do you know them? I know a couple. Like, for example, George Lazenby recognized gadgets that were debuted during Sean Connery's tenure. If he was a new person, it would be new to him.
35:36He'd be like, what's this dart gun? Right, exactly. And I think The Spy Who Loved Me, Roger Moore is recognized from his college days at Cambridge as James Bond, which would mean that he was using the name before then. But it's still a pretty cool theory. If you want any cool theory shot down, I recommend you go to commanderbond.net, mi6.co.uk, or jamesbondwiki.com. Those are some good sites. I'm going to retract my Roger Moore bashing a little bit. Okay. I actually liked like four out of seven of his films. Okay. See? So you're right. Sometimes I forget about the awesomeness of Live and Let Die and Man with a Golden Gun, For Your Eyes Only.
36:22Those were all pretty good. It was like Octopussy. Moonraker was really silly. Does not age well at all. And View to a Kill. I just can't get behind that one. View to a Kill is awesome. What about The Spy Who Loved Me? That's the one with the underwater lotus son. Yeah, yeah. Great movie. And I have one last fact. Are you ready? Oh, yeah. The legendary Bond producer, co-producer, Albert Cubby Broccoli. Yeah. His family invented broccoli. They crossed cauliflower with rabe and invented broccoli, and he actually left the family farm to go to Hollywood to pursue his fortune when he was, like, 18.
36:58Are you making this up? I am not. He invented broccoli? His family did. It's like parents, grandparents. That's a pretty good fact. Broccoli. Very cool. Good for him. They're in trouble now, though, because MGM is in trouble. Yeah, but they're saying, like, it's just a blip on the radar. If you listen to anybody who's attached to the Bond 23 project. Oh, it'll happen at some point, but it's being... It's fine. Yeah, it's being delayed big time, though, because MGM's over their heads financially. If you know anything about MGM, if you're an insider at MGM, we want to hear from you. Let us know.
37:30What's going on with Bond? That's funny. We've got to talk about Bond girls. That's one of the hallmarks of Bond films. Usually there's two Bond girls, at least. There's a hot villain and an aide that helps him out in some way. Sometimes she turns out to be a villain. But there's usually two Bond girls, and he's equally attracted to both. Like Grace Jones? Yeah, he's attracted to her for some reason. They are femme fatales. Like I said, Bond cannot help but fall for them, even though it might mean he has to eventually kill them after he makes sweet love to them. Right. And I'm going to go ahead and ask you what your favorite Bond girl is.
38:15I just recently realized that Carrie Lowell was a Bond girl. And I used to have the biggest crush on her when I would watch. Wild Orchid? No, Law and Order reruns on A &E. They used to show Law and Order for eight hour blocks on A &E. And I'd be like, I'm not going to class today. I'm just going to watch Law and Order. And she was on a lot of them. And she would be my favorite Bond girl. I'm going with Ursula Andrus. Yeah. She was hot, dude. Back in the day, she played Honey Rider. And that's another hallmark of the Bond women is they usually had really awful names that hinted at sexual innuendo.
38:58Yeah, plenty O'Toole. Honey Rider, Pussy Galore. Actually, Solitaire, Jane Seymour, she was pretty good in Live and Let Die. She was actually a really good actor. Okay. Moonraker, of course, had a Holly Goodhead. A View to a Kill had Tanya Roberts as Stacey Sutton. They didn't even give her a cool name. So, Chuck, what's the best Bond theme song? Well... Let me take a wild guess. I'm gonna say Live and Let Die is probably my favorite. I would have put$1 ,000 on that. Or, what's her name? Carly Simon, Spy Who Loved Me, Nobody Does It Better. Love that song. Dude, best Bond theme song, if it's not Duran Duran's View to a Kill.
39:49Oh, okay. If it's not that, it is Nancy Sinatra singing You Only Live Twice. Yeah, that was awesome. Yes, it was. Shirley Bassey, just another little factoid. She did two. No, she did more than that. She did Goldfinger, she did Diamonds Are Forever. She did Moonraker. Moonraker. That's three total. I was also a big fan of Sheena Easton's For Your Eyes Only. Yeah, she did a good one. And Rita Coolidge, all-time high for Mock the Pussy. Didn't Tom Jones do Thunderball or something? He did. Yeah. He did Thunderball. Quote again. And since we're talking about the songs that have really gotten lame in recent years, like the Chris Cornell one and Garbage, you probably didn't even remember they did songs.
40:32Garbage did the one for... World is Not Enough. Oh, okay. Pierce Brosnan. Yeah. And Sheryl Crow did one. Did she really? Yeah. Wow, it is lame. And Madonna did one. And now it's gotten to the point where they're just like, like the last one, they put Jack White with Alicia Keys. Up next is Miley Cyrus. Oh, God. Say it ain't so. Bond 23. What else do we have here? This is the podcast that won't die. No, I do have that. It's like James Bond. It just goes on. I do have a couple of more facts. Okay. Well, first of all, before we move on, if we're going to talk about the songs, we need to talk about the opening sequences, the title sequences.
41:10when you're a young Baptist boy and there are naked silhouetted women jumping on trampolines. It's very titillating. And arousing. And arousing for a young boy named Chuck. I'm titillated and aroused. And then the opening sequence of the films typically is some awesome action scene and then the title sequence comes up. There'll be like a seven minute action scene. They call that a cold opening, buddy. A cold opening? Uh-huh. That's very nice. And I just got a couple more facts for you, Josh, and then I'll let you put this to bed. All right. What would you say is the highest grossing Bond film of all time, Adjusted Gross?
41:46Adjusted Gross, I would say Casino Royale. No. Top two all time, Thunderball and Goldfinger. You're a liar. Adjusted Gross. You know, Casino Royale worldwide netted like almost$600 million so far. Bunch of money. Thunderball and Goldfinger did more. Did they really? Yeah, Thunderball in 1965, dude, grossed$141 million. What? Wait, is that worldwide or US? That's worldwide. Okay. And that is close to what License to Kill grossed in 1989. That grossed like 150-something. And Thunderball, you know, 30 years more, grossed$141 million. Right, but what I'm saying is Casino Royale grossed$600 million.
42:37Well, I mean, yeah. That's not an adjusted gross, though. You can't compare$1965. Oh, I see. You're figuring inflation in. Yeah, that's why it's called an adjusted gross. And that's about it. I mean, we could say the cars he used real quickly, the Aston Martin, obviously. My favorite is the Lotus. The Lotus, the Alfa Romeo, and then that new Audi that's pretty cool. Do you like the Audi? Yeah, I mean, it looks awesome. Okay. But I do miss the Lotus and the fact that it could also be a submarine. Right. And lastly, Chuck, I would like to say to all the kids of our generation, if you ever noticed a similarity between Inspector Gadget and James Bond, you are dead on.
43:16Yeah. You think so? Yeah. All right. So that's about it. If you want to know more about James Bond, like I said, there are three, at least three really good websites for all things Bond fandom. them. You can check out our website by typing James Bond. Brings up a bunch of stuff in the handy search bar. And now, if you can believe it, it is time for listener mail. Yes, Josh. I'm going to call this Samurai Stuff from Thomas. Guys, I'm a total samurai geek. I practice Japanese sword-based martial arts kendo and ayado. I read all this material about samurai and your podcast was a very good introduction and I thank you for it.
44:00However, I'm kind of surprised you did not mention the greatest samurai of all time, Miyamoto Musashi. This guy was the epitome of everything samurai were supposed to be. A dedicated soivant, a poet, a painter, a calligrapher, a philosopher, a general, and an all-round butt-kicking killer. Not only did he write the Book of Five Rings, he also killed 60 men in single combat before age 40. Not to mention all the guys he killed in warfare. At one point in your podcast, you talked about the wooden katana called bokung in Japanese. Yes, it was a practice sword, Josh, but it was also a weapon in its own right.
44:36Because Japan is such a wet climate, swords were sometimes destroyed by rust. Bokun were cheap and easy to replace, and Musashi was famous for winning some of his greatest battles with the wooden sword. Ow. I know. Can you imagine, dude? Ow. God. Getting smacked to death. Well, he says instead of cutting someone's heads off, he would brain them, which I guess means... Like you crack their skull open. Yeah, until their brains come out. Also, he was a big fan of using two swords at one time, sometimes two katana, sometimes the short and the long, whatever it took to do the job. You guys rock. I love your show.
45:11I'm grateful for the Samurai Show from Thomas. Well, thank you, Thomas, for the extra information. As I said, we are always interested in knowing everything we possibly can about a subject. So, if you have anything to tell us about James Bond that we missed, that we got wrong, that we need to know, we want to hear it. Wrap it up and send it in an email. Don't forget to spank it on the bottom and maybe serve it a dry martini, shaken, not stirred. Address it to StuffPodcast at HowStuffWorks.com.
45:47For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit HowStuffWorks.com. Want more HowStuffWorks? Check out our blogs on the HowStuffWorks.com homepage. Hey, it's Joel. And Matt. From HowToMoney. If your New Year's resolution is to finally get your finances in shape, we've got your back. Prices, they're still high, and the economy is all over the place. But 2026 is the year for you to get intentional and make real progress. That's right. Each week we break down what's happening with your money, the most important issues to focus on, and the small moves that make a big difference. Kick off the year with confidence.
46:24Listen to How to Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm John Polk. For years, I was the poster boy of the conversion therapy movement, the ex-gay who married an ex-lesbian and traveled the world telling my story of how I changed my sexuality from gay to straight. You might have heard my story, but you've never heard the real story. John has never been anything but gay, but he really tried hard not to be. Listen to Atonement, the John Palk story on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Dr. Priyanka Wally. And I'm Hari Kondabolu.
47:07It's a new year, and on the podcast Health Stuff, we're resetting the way we talk about our health. Which means being honest about what we know, what we don't know, and how messy it can all be. I like to sleep in late and sleep early. Is there a chronotype for that or am I just depressed? Health stuff is about learning, laughing and feeling a little less alone. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.
From the publisher
James Bond, the most infamous secret agent ever to grace the silver screen, originated in the pages of British author Ian Fleming's novels. Amateur agents Josh and Chuck uncover all sorts of Bond trivia in this action-packed episode.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
