James Bond Jr. arrived on television
in 1991 and vanished just as quick as it arrived; this animated series only
lasted for one season with sixty-five episodes before it faded quickly away!
The storyline sees James Bond Jr., the nephew of the famous international spy, who
is determined to follow in the footsteps of his famous uncle and so enrols in
Warfield, a prep school based on the grounds of an old counter intelligence
training base in the UK
The series revolved around the nephew of
James Bond. In the books, James Bond was an only child and no other surviving
relatives are mentioned in Fleming’s novels, even though he unknowingly
conceives a child with former Japanese movie star Kissy Suzuki in You Only Live
Twice. This son makes an appearance in a later short story by Raymond Benson
titled ‘Blast From The Past’. The name ‘James Bond Junior’ was first used in
1967 for an unsuccessful spinoff novel entitled The Adventures Of James Bond
Junior 003½ written by R. D. Mascott. Although not considered part of the
continuity of the James Bond novels and films, nonetheless some characters from
both franchises appeared on this series, such as Dr. No and Jaws. The animated
series having only lasted for one season still managed to spawn six episode
novelisations by John Peel, writing as John Vincent, a 12-issue comic book
series by Marvel Comics, a toy range and a video game for the SNES!
As with the Bond films, the characters can be split into
separate groups. The heroes featured were James Bond Jr. (007’s nephew), Horace
‘I.Q.’ Boothroyd III (scientific genius, gadgets-man and grandson of Q), Tracy
Milbanks (the headmaster’s daughter; bossy and quick-tempered but also in love
with James), Gordon ‘Gordo’ Leiter (the ‘strong fist’, tanned, blonde athletic and
son of Felix Leiter) and Phoebe Farragut (Tracy’s best friend and with a crush
on James, very much the Moneypenny of the group).
There were numerous villains in the series, most working for
SCUM, who made recurring appearances throughout the episodes. Many
characters-although named after characters in the movies- looked nothing like
them; for example, Dr. No looks more like Ming The Merciless from Flash Gordon
with green skin and long hair. Other Bond villains seen in the show are Nick
Nack, Auric Goldfinger (who appeared with his daughter Goldie), Oddjob and Jaws
who was turned into a dim-witted villain who could talk, complete with
ridiculous clothing. The main villain, however, was known as Scumlord- often
relaying commands to other SCUM villains via telescreen. He was never seen
outside the shadows and had a pet dog named Scuzzball.
Even though Bond Jr. is a teenager, there’s still a lot of
Bond girls in the episodes, all with suitably punning names such as Lotta
Dinaro (an archaeologist’s daughter who was kidnapped by Goldfinger), Shelley
Kaysing (a US army lieutenant under threat of assassination), Marcie Beaucoup
(a French spy who encounters Bond on a hovercraft), Terri Firma (the daughter
of a seismologist), Hayley Comet (a Warfield student whose father is kidnapped
by SCUM agents dressed as aliens from outer space) and Wendy Day (a weather
forecaster).
If
all this info has made you cringe, no fear, the show flopped and you can’t get
the show on DVD as of yet! But if it has
made you want to see it, you don’t need to visit various car boot sales looking
for it on VHS – the show is on YouTube, for example here's a link to the first
episode.
Happy
viewing
Rhys
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