From The Files Of Q Branch: The Gadgets Of James Bond

Tez has written about the legend that was Desmond Llewelyn and his alter ego Q, the MI6 Quartermaster and the head of Q Branch (the section of MI6 that creates and makes equipment for field agents). It takes a special person to work in Q Branch- you need technical skills and an amount of superhuman powers; the ability to see the future, in fact. Q always has just the gadgets that Bond will need on his next mission. It’s uncanny!

I could fill this blog and write for a few weeks if I was going to try and inform you of every gadget that there ever was- instead, I thought I would highlight the most memorable and some of my favourites.

Agent: Sean Connery

Active Service: 1962 - 1967 and 1971

Missions: From Russia With Love and Goldfinger

Gadget: Attaché Case

A black leather attaché case that contains: .25 calibre ammunition hidden beneath the feet studs; a throwing knife can be detached after pressing the right top latch; the case contains a folding AR-7 sniper rifle, with inferred telescopic sight; a tear gas cartridge disguised as a tin of talcum powder (if you don’t open the case in a precise manner, the tear gas explodes) and in the base of the case are fifty gold sovereigns, for emergencies.

Mission: Goldfinger (first appearance)

Gadget: Aston Martin DB5

Probably the best known Bond gadget. The first video sees Q briefing Bond on the car:

The second video shows the DB5 in action:



Mission: Thunderball

Gadget: Jet Pack

Bond uses this high tech gadget to great effect- a quick get away, in style!

Mission: Thunderball

Gadget: Mini-Rebreather

A mini scuba tank which gives the user four minutes of air under water. Very handy when trying to escape from sharks!

Mission: You Only Live Twice

Gadget: Little Nellie

Q’s masterpiece – a small combat-ready helicopter. Click here to see her in action.

Agent: George Lazenby

Active Service: 1969

‘Casino Royale started a new era for Bond…’ No, no, it didn’t. During the franchise’s fifty year history, the films have included gadgets and removed the use of gadgets on every occasion to ‘re-establish the character’ or to ‘get away from camp theatrics’. This was done in some respects in the 1980's with Dalton and also with Craig. But On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was the first time they made it about Bond taking on the villains as an agent, not relying heavily on gadgets or cheap tricks. So with only one film to his name, I fail to bring a highlight for him. Anyone?

Agent: Roger Moore

Active Service: 1972 – 1985

Mission: Live and Let Die

Gadget: Rolex Watch

The coolest 007 watch comes from the most gadget-heavy of the Bond films, back when he still sported the Rolex Submariner. Equipped with an electromagnet and a rotating saw, this gift from Moneypenny saved our hero from a pool of sharks.

Mission: The Man With The Golden Gun

Gadget: Fake Third Nipple

Just needed to remind you all of this one!

Mission: The Spy Who Loved Me

Gadget: Lotus Esprit

This version comes with an extra – submarine mode!

Mission: Octopussy

Gadget: Folding Jet

Just what you need for a quick get away, especially when it’s hidden behind a horse’s rear end!

Agent: Timothy Dalton

Active Service: 1987 - 1989

Mission: The Living Daylights

Gadget: Aston Martin V8

Mission: Licence To Kill

Gadget: Dentonite Toothpaste

Bond uses this harmless looking toothpaste, which is actually a strong plastic explosive.

Agent: Pierce Brosnan

Active Service: 1995 - 2002

Mission: Goldeneye

Gadget: Parker Pen Grenade

Handy when it ends up in the hands of your enemies!

Mission: Tomorrow Never Dies

Gadget: Ericsson Mobile Phone

It can make phone calls, it also comes with a handy attachment that can pick any lock in the world, has two metal prongs that slide out and fire electric shocks from them. But, the best part – the phone can be used to remote control Bonds BMW 750iL.

Mission: The World Is Not Enough

Gadget: Ski Suit Escape Pod

You never know when an avalanche will happen, do you, Mr Bond?

Agent: Daniel Craig

Active Service: 2006 - present day

Mission: Casino Royale

Gadget: Medipac

This new age of realism still brings gadgets with it– but more technological aids. This one came in very useful when Bond was poisoned and had to re-start his heart!

So there we are, a few highlights of some of the gadgets from fifty years of Bond. Have I missed any you love? Let me know.

Rhys

'Now, Pay Attention, 007...': A Tribute To Desmond Llewelyn

For the first time since Daniel Craig has donned the legendary tux, the character Q is to appear in a Bond film. In Skyfall, Q will be played by Ben Whishaw.

Whilst there have been several actors to take the role of Q but, to me, there is only one man worthy of that initial: the late, great Desmond Llewelyn.

Llewelyn played Q, MI6's gadget-master, in no less than seventeen Bond films (starting with From Russia With Love and ending with The World Is Not Enough; Q is only absent from Live And Let Die as producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman felt the films were getting too reliant on the gadgets and decided to play them down). Very little is known about Q beyond his work for MI6 although he is referred to as ‘Major Boothroyd’ by Anya in The Spy Who Loved Me.

The gadgets are as integral a part to a Bond film as the villains and the Bond girls. Each film has a scene where Q equips Bond with whatever he may need for that particular mission. Rhys has written a brilliantpiece about the gadgets, so I won't mention too many, but some of my favourites include Bond's attaché case in From Russia With Love, the tooled-up Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger and the gyrocopter Little Nellie in You Only Live Twice.

The relationship between Bond and Q is an interesting one. Q seems to view Bond as an eternal adolescent, unable to take things seriously or appreciate the tech he's being given. Q frequently has to ask Bond to 'pay attention' whilst he explains how the gadgets work. Q seems to be generally exasperated with Bond's playboy lifestyle- in Octopussy, he jokes ‘007 on an island populated exclusively by women? We won't see him till dawn!' Q can often be irascible and a bit grouchy but he always takes pride in his gadgets, frequently pointing out a feature he's particularly proud of, and- as he says in Goldfinger- 'I never joke about my work'.

Despite this seeming antagonism, there are hints that Bond and Q have a depth of mutual respect. When Bond gets married at the end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, he offers Bond a helping hand should he need it outside of MI6 and he poses as Bond's uncle in License To Kill to get some needed kit to him once he's had his 00 status rescinded. Bond tries to dismiss him, but Q rightly states: ‘Oh, don't be an idiot, 007. I know exactly what you're up to, and quite frankly, you're going to need my help. Remember, if it hadn't been for Q Branch, you'd have been dead long ago’

Perhaps the best example of their mutual respect is in The World Is Not Enough. Bond seems genuinely moved at the news of Q's retirement and Q gives him a last piece of advice:

As final exits go, that's a pretty good one. This was Llewelyn’s last Bond film, with John Cleese taking over the role of Q for Die Another Day.

What about the man behind the role?

Llewelyn was born in Newport, South Wales on 12 September 1914. He originally wanted to become a minister but caught the acting bug during his time at Radley College. He has accepted to RADA in the mid 1930s but his acting ambitions were put on hold due to the start of the Second World War. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers but was captured by the German army in France in 1940 and was held as a prisoner-of-war in Colditz for five years. After the war, he resumed his acting career, working with longtime Bond director Terence Young on war movie They Were Not Divided (1950) and was eventually cast as Q. Ironically, despite playing a gadget master on film, Llewelyn was ‘hopeless’ with them in real life.

Outside the Bond franchise, he appeared in uncredited roles in Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet (1948) and Ealing comedy The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), as well as playing George Coggins in Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang (1968) and The Colonel in television series Follyfoot.

Llewelyn sadly passed away in December 1999, at the age of eighty-five, in a car accident, a few weeks after the premiere of The World Is Not Enough. His contribution to the Bond franchise is immeasurable and he is sadly missed.

Ben Whishaw's got some pretty big shoes to fill.

Tez