Food, Casino Royale, and some speculation about M

[vilakins]

Despite the cold and wet, yesterday was a very good day. We found a small Mexican shop on the street we used to live in, run by a Mexican family who make amazingly good lunches. I'm going back next Saturday for more; I want to try everything, and mole sauce dishes are the month's special. I also bought my sister some earrings there, and later found the rest of the gifts I had to buy at the Trade Aid shop: handmade paper for an artistic niece, two beautiful silk Chinese photo albums for my brother who takes lovely pictures, and various small things like ocarinas for others.

Then we saw Casino Royale. The friends we went with were a bit disappointed that it wasn't the usual smooth Bond with all the OTT campness, but I loved it. Daniel Craig has the same slightly cruel look Sean Connery had, but I do agree with jaxomsride that he seems a bit old for the first Bond adventure. There were excellent and almost believable chase scenes without the fantasy, good and credible characters, and I have to say how much I love M.

A tiny spoiler and some speculation about M. At one point, Bond lets on that he knows her real name and says that he'd always assumed the letter M was randomly assigned. She says, "Utter one more syllable and I'll have you killed." My first thought was that she might be a Mavis or a Muriel, but think about the use of the word 'syllable'. She's something like Emily or Emmeline - or Emma. I rather like Emma because it is just one more syllable and I think the timing's right for her to be Emma Peel, and the fellow we see in her bed to be the husband she goes off with at the end of her stint with Steed. :-)

Down, plot tribbles, down!

Comments

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a lovely idea!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I like it. It's going to be my personal canon.

[mraltariel.livejournal.com]

That's just brilliant.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :-D

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Oh, sweet.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

And she's one of your favourites!

[kerr-avon.livejournal.com]

Perfect! All I could think was that she was Moneypenny, worked her way up. (Which didn't fit in with Casino Royale's timeline, but then, they obviously didn't set the movie back then.)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Also I'm pretty sure I've seen Moneypenny in one of the films Judi Dench played M in. A Pierce Brosnahan one perhaps? [goes to check] Yep, Moneypenny's been in every Bond film but this one (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Moneypenny), so M can't be her. :-)

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

Except that this M is clearly not the same as the M in the Brosnan films, who had never met Bond before - it really was a total reboot, they just, um, kept Judi Dench. (Because, really, who wouldn't?) :)

I don't think it's likely Moneypenny could work up to be a letter, though - from secretary to spymaster is a bit of a jump, and I think there was only a narrow period of time where companies did that sort of thing, between when they started thinking women were capable of it, and when women started actually getting the credentials to do it.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

this M is clearly not the same as the M in the Brosnan films

True. So we may get to see Moneypenny - and Q I hope - in the next film. :-)

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

Q would be nifty, although I think they're trying to stay away from the excesses of the gadgets, which was Q's main role. It would be awesome if they would redefine that for their new style, though. And Moneypenny should be a guy. :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yes! And Q a younger geek rather than a boffin (much as I love the old Q).

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

Although not hacker-style; eek, Hollywood doesn't do that well. You know, Q as technical support in the field could be awesome. Not a gadget-producer, but a knowledge-worker, a gadget-user - the actual explosives expert or serious-industrial-lockpicker or whatever. So Q becomes a liability to Bond as much as a help.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

The British might do better with a geek, but I like that idea.

BTW the Doctor Who advent calendar (http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/) has a Sarah Jane clip for day 9. :-)

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

The problem is that being a geek is truthfully not that cinematic, if you're not a tinkerer on large sculpture-sized things, which is rare these days, so you're required to invent something far from the truth to show it in movies. Which I think is why I lean towards the guy you take to the large installations, rather than the guy who gives you small gadgets.

I heard that! Awesome. Man, I hope that show's good. :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Me too. At least they won't have gratuitous content just to say "look how adult we can be". I also believe that she's K9less.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the guys with the rights to K9 had another show in the works with him already.

And, yeah on the gratuitous adult content, but kids shows also have their gratuitous cliches, too, so we just need to be lucky...

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

She's a foot too short to be Emma Peel, but it would be neat if she were "the real-life inspiration for" - heh! (I think she was given a name in some non-canonical associated media, like a video game, but it's not a name I like much, so I shall ignore it.)

I do agree with jaxomsride that he seems a bit old for the first Bond adventure.

My understanding is that 00 status is supposedly a high-level promotion, for someone who's worked up through the ranks; someone in his mid-to-late 30s doesn't necessarily seem old to me, especially if he had a naval career first, as Bond did.

almost believable chase scenes

As I understand it, they had one of the world's two or three parkour experts as one of the guys he was chasing, which would make for some pretty freakin' exciting chase scenes, done without wires of any sort - I saw another one of the founders of the style in District B19, and it's kind of hard to believe they're for real.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

She is a bit short, yes. :-( The Wikipedia entry for M says that a novelist called her Barbara Mawdsley, which I shall also ignore. (Damnit, how do these people get paid for fanfic?) They also say that her name is revealed to begin with the letter M and I'm trying to decide if I should correct that to say it begins with the syllable 'Em'.

I thought every part of the chase scenes was believable, just not that anyone could keep up that level of exertion for that long, especially in the spectacular first one.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

Hee! Correct it! You may have a fight on your hands with people who interpreted that scene more conventionally, but I think it's worth it. :)

I'll keep an eye out when I see it. You're probably right; I wonder how many days of filming it took to get some of those scenes. But I'm a bit generous with movies; unless the action's performed by someone the text points out as being actually unfit, so long as it comes in under 26.2 miles, they've got a pass from me, because the average marathoner can keep up an amazing pace for hours.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I've done it. I'm sure the word 'syllable' has significance or they wouldn't have used it, but I did put it in parentheses and say 'possibly'.

Ah, right. Let me know what you think about the chase scenes, because they really are good and free of gimmicks and gadgets.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

I think the real question is whether or not they meant the word "more", because "not one syllable" is sort of an expression. (And, indeed, whether that word is even in the script, or was accidentally added when Dench said the line, because it's a bizarre thing to say.)

I'm sure they'll be pretty awesome. :) Parkour's a lot of fun to watch.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

The actual quote (thank you, IMDB) is:

James Bond: I always thought M was a randomly assigned initial, I had no idea it stood for--
M: Utter one more syllable and I'll have you killed.

Yeah, it could be taken either way.

There is not one dull moment in the film. I look forward to your comments.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

Hee! They're so cute together! :)

(You probably shouldn't look forward to them that much, they may just be loads and loads of Bond/M squee.) :)

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

She's a foot too short to be Emma Peel

Well, there was that episode where Mrs Peel shrank.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

He wasn't just "an expert" the "bomber" was one of the pair that invented it!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I'm adding my vote to the "M as Emma Peel" tribble.*g* That's brilliant!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :-D

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh splendid idea!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

:-D As redstarrobot points out, M's a little short, but I do really like it.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

And ooh, Emma Peel icon!

M redux

[trixieleitz]

I've only just seen the film, so I've come back to this thread a little late. I do like your theory, and get this: "Emma Peel"="M appeal". Catchy, no? I think that might have to be an icon :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Go for it! I believe Emma Peel was named that to evoke 'man appeal' and of course the idea of peeling her out of her jumpsuits. I'm glad her characterisation transcended that.

I just got in from a Christmas dinner (Greg's work do) and it's bloody freezing. I hear it's snowing down there. Eep. I never did make a winter icon; I think I need one. At least the kitsch factor of fake snow is diluted when it's real.

[looks at own icon] Yep, pretty accurate. I'm full of wine and typing round Tessa.