The World of Bond Gadgets
James Bond has become synonymous with gadgetry over the years and with each new entry in his growing film library there are new additions to the spy gadget range. The funny thing is the original Bond books as written by Fleming made little mention of gadgets. There were occasional hidden weapons but nothing as complex as the devices Q Branch would end up constructing for the films.
The idea of a secret agent with a clever device or gadget to help him in his covert work is an attractive one. From miniature cameras to garrotte watches and underwater cars the Bond films developed a reputation for coming up with new gadgets and audiences began to anticipate these clever devices with each new film. Sadly the film makers seemed to get carried away with the idea and what had started out as practical and realistic sounding aids to subterfuge became increasingly unlikely and ridiculous inventions.
The whole thing began with the simple briefcase Bond was given in his second celluloid outing, From Russia With Love. It had concealed weaponry and ammunition, some hidden emergency cash and a bottle of talcum powder which was actually tear gas. Bond was given his gadgets by Q who worked in a special branch of MI6 building equipment for spies. The films began to include a set piece scene where Q would explain his latest developments to a bored looking Bond. This was all well and good when the gadgets made sense but during the Roger Moore era they went beyond silly.
In Goldfinger the gadgets began to ramp up and Connery’s Bond had an Aston Martin DB5 with revolving license plates, a bullet proof shield, forward machine guns, and rear oil slick and smoke sprayers. You can imagine all of these being useful, although admittedly I neglected to mention the passenger side ejector seat which does seem pretty daft now I think of it.
In Thunderball there were homing pills, miniature air supplies and even jet packs and in You Only Live Twice there was the stunningly daft rocket firing cigarette and a mini-gyroplane called “Little Nellie”. In Diamonds are Forever Bond uses a fake fingerprint, an electro magnetic ring which allows him to cheat at slot machines and the comical pocket snap trap designed to give anyone searching him a nasty surprise. In Connery’s last outing, Never Say Never Again there was a pen gun and a laser Rolex wrist watch.
Nothing compares to the stunning array of gadgets that Roger Moore’s Bond used. The Rolex Submariner in Live and Let Die had an electromagnet capable of deflecting bullets and a rotating saw. In the same film there are all sorts of disguised communicators including a clothing brush, car lighter, and even a flute. In The Man with the Golden Gun the villain Scaramanga has a flying car, as well as his eponymous gun which is constructed from a cigarette case. Bond doesn’t use many gadgets in this outing but he does utilise a fake nipple as part of his disguise.
The Spy Who Loved Me took the gadgetry to new heights with all sorts of patently absurd inventions like a submarine car that can squirt ink and a ski pole which doubled up as a machine gun. There was also a stun gas cigarette, a tea tray for beheading people and a wrist watch which printed out miniature messages from MI6.
Moonraker managed to pack in the fairly sensible wrist mounted dart gun, explosive watch and mini-camera along with the downright idiotic exploding bolas, a machine gun concealed in a mannequin of a Mexican having a siesta (seriously) and a Gondola hovercraft. The worst was yet to come and it was Octopussy that saw the Bond films reach their stupid gadget climax. There was a fountain pen which could be used as a bug with Bond’s watch as the receiver; the pen also contained Nitric and Hydrochloric acid. There was a TV watch, a yo-yo saw and an Indian rope trick but the worst was still to come. The most ridiculous gadget ever used by Bond has to be the miniature motorboat disguised as a crocodile. What a great idea, who pays attention to crocodiles?
More Bond gadget highlights from the Dalton films include the electronic lock picking credit card, the stun gas activated by whistling Rule Britannia, a revolving couch and a ski car. Not to mention plastic explosive toothpaste, an exploding alarm clock and a Manta Ray disguise.
Pierce Brosnan was no better on his debut in Goldeneye with an exploding pen, a laser watch, a missile firing leg cast, an airbag phone booth trap and worst of all an x-ray tea tray. The tea tray was later rendered obsolete by the x-ray glasses (had to happen eventually). In Tomorrow Never Dies there’s a fire breathing dragon ornament and a remote control car with rockets and high voltage security. In Die Another Day he had a surfboard with weapons hidden in it, a high frequency glass shattering ring and an exploding laser watch. Brosnan’s worst gadget moment came with the invisible car which used high tech imaging to cloak itself.
It seems Bond’s latest incarnation played by Daniel Craig is mercifully gadget free or at least uses them sparingly. Although he does have a portable defibrillator in his car in Casino Royale so perhaps we haven’t seen the last of Bond’s gadgetry nonsense yet.
