How 'Star Wars' Influenced James Bond | + ‘A New Hope’ Review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- Includes a review of the most SCIENCE FACT film in the history of cinema.
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Star Trek: Science Fiction
Star Wars: Science Fantasy
James Bond: S C I E N C E F A C T
Drax would have been annoyed if Stromberg had succeeded and flooded the world before he could get onto space. The fact that both Stromberg and Drax were working on world destroying plans at the same time shows that, story wise, MR was just a remake of SWLM.
Bar dropping the 'start world war 3' part they are very similar in terms of plot [hence why there is initial reluctance for Bond and Goodhead to team up even though UK-USA team up is far more usual for Bond than with USSR]. 'You only live twice' is also an influence [especially the massive battle at the end].
@@jamesatkinsonja The fact all three are directed by Lewis Gilbert can't be a coincidence.
Repaired R2, appearing in the end of A New Hope, is always the happiest moment of my life, anytime I see it. The relief I feel is overwhelming.
I first saw Star Wars in 1998, I was 6, I was over at my older cousin house while he was babysitting me and my sister, and we were trying to figure out something to watch, and he has the trilogy on VHS. He told us he grew up loving this and we would like it too, and we saw it… and then I borrowed the box set and watched the heck out of it, I loved it.
Hearing Moonraker is inspired by Star Wars, because the producers thought the appeal of Star Wars was that it was set in space, is bisarre. It is like if they came out and admitted that GoldenEye was set in Russia because they wanted to copy the appeal of "War and Peace".
Russia was picked though as an asset because post the fall of the USSR is was a very interesting place, and ripe for spy intrigue. It was also unique to have Bond actually fighting Russians as the main villains, which was always an uneasy thing for EON to do during The Cold War. And that they could actually film there as well. So there was an element of cashing in on something current or headline grabbing.
While I don't think Moonraker copied Star Wars that much, the use of a giant space station, Bond going into space, and laser guns battles definitely was aimed at an interest among the general public at the time.
Moonraker? One of my favourite films. I never understood, how people could not like it. And I have the audiobook and imagine my surprise, when it was so completely different from the movie. But the book is quite cool, too.
However, I gotta say, with the knowledge, that the shuttle could've been called "Enterprise", instead of "Moonraker", the old trekkie in me is a bit disappointed. James Bond aboard an Enterprise? That could've been cool. ^^ And as an old crossover-fan, I gotta ask: Do you think, Uhura would've fallen for James? Or Beverly? or Deanna? Kira would've knocked him out, as she did with Lancelot. ^^ Same with B'elanna. Seven would've pointed out, that he is "irrelevant" and Janeway might've had some fun with him.
Concerning Star Wars: What was your reaction, when you saw C3PO being blasted to pieces in Star Wars V - The Empire strikes back-? I remember, sitting there, going: "EH? What's happening now?"
Live long and prosper and may the force be with you.
We’re about to hear some science fact
Lol, love this!
You beat me to this!
Well, we're not Science Fiction.
AND IT WAS..AS HAS BEEN PROVEN. For christ sakes this was filmed BEFORE the shuttle even took off!!
Some Kind Of Hero gives a really good telling of the making of Moonraker. Cubby actually approached ILM to do the effects on Moonraker, thinking they can give us what they gave SW. But after being affronted by their quote (several millions, PLUS a percentage of the Box Office) Cubby went to his technicians from the previous Bond films and said you guys will have to figure out how they did it! The work those guys achieved can't be overestimated, as they as traditional British special effects guys with no experience of doing what the kids at ILM were doing, just figured it out, and without computers, leading to the Oscar nominated effects in the movie. It was brilliant graft, as Calvin says literally rewinding the camera to do up to 40 Exposures on one piece of film!
Wild coincidence that I watched Moonraker for the first time in 4K last night. Brilliant transfer and fun to revisit with a few martinis.
If you don't mind me asking, where did you see it in 4K. 4K BR, TV, Streaming, Cinema?
I unironically love Moonraker. It is just so much fun to watch.
Its a fun romp. Ignore the haters.
me too man, mee too :)
It's absolutely fantastic. The US army getting in a space shuttle to have a lasergun fight with bad guys in the vacuum of space?! How can you say no to that?! It's both viscerally awesome and absolutely brain-dead stupid and I can't possibly love it enough.
Same. Sometimes you need the whacky adventures. Just pure fun spectacle
@@mike91mdk45 yeah man. i sometimes with freinds watch episode 1. say what you want about it, its a big part of our childhoods :)
John Stears, who brought the world of Star Wars to live, was sought out by George Lucas in particular because Lucas admired his work on the Bond films. He's one of the few people who won an Oscar from the Bond films and the Star Wars films (for Thunderball and A New Hope).
It's a shame that a lot of his groundbreaking work has since been lost to all of the special edition's CGI - I guess Lucas didn't admire him _that_ much.
His thing was he wanted the shots to be more dynamic and, given that they were working with new technology, it was as good as it could be at the time. Having said all that, I wish Lucas would have made the original versions more available along with the special editions instead of just pretending that they no longer existed. He would’ve had a lot more goodwill from fans if he did that.
Fun Fact:
John Stears who did Special Effects
in some of the early James Bond films worked in *"STAR WARS"* (1977) as
the Special Production & Mechanical Effects Supervisor.
Plus, Rick Baker, the acclaimed award-winning practical FX guru who worked
in *"STAR WARS"* for 2nd Unit Make Up, did uncredited special effects in Roger Moore's debut 007 film: *"Live and Let Die".*
Here's another (possibly) Bond-related trivia:
It's quite likely that the name Han Solo (played by Harrison Ford) was inspired by Napoleon Solo from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. series. The latter Mr. Solo was, of course, known to possess charm, sophistication, efficiency, and weakness for beautiful women comparable to James Bond.
Interestingly, the name Solo was first introduced as Mr Solo who's a minor antagonist of the 1959 James Bond novel Goldfinger and its 1964 film adaptation. In the film version, he's the lone gangster who refuses to take part in Operation Grand Slam and is later killed by Oddjob. The surname Solo was then re-used by Ian Fleming when he was briefly involved in creating the character Napoleon Solo for the American TV series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which led to a threatened lawsuit by Bond producers Broccoli and Saltzman, forcing Fleming to back out of the series.
Most Bond fans are into
Star Wars original trilogy especially
Indiana Jones
Star Trek TOS and TNG especially
Christopher Reeve Superman
ITC Action series and Gerry Anderson
I have to point out as well man about the whole Cubby Broccoli using the 5 notes from Close encounters from the IMDB trivia below.
'Several years later, Spielberg called Broccoli requesting permission to use the 007 theme music for The Goonies. Broccoli pointed out that there were more than five notes in the 007 theme music. Spielberg suspected the producer's tongue was firmly planted in his cheek, as he continued to banter"
Notice also the 007 written on Data's belt too!! Spielberg really had a great appreciation for all things Bond :)
Heck even Robert Davi is in The Goonies too and I was so excited when I saw him in License To Kill at the beginning back during ITV's 'Double 0 heaven season' in summer 1999 .......... then i got scared after what he was going to do to Lupi's boy friend! OH dear :(
For all the laughs had at Cubby Broccoli claiming Moonraker to be "Science Fact", I do kinda understand where he's coming from. For all of Moonraker pushing the boundaries of what was actually scientifically feasible in 1979, they didn't go so far as to include aliens or robots. Look at the big sci-fi films at the time: Star Wars, Close Encounters, Alien. Three of those had aliens and two of those had robots. For all my gripes with Moonraker stretching suspension of disbelief to breaking point, at least we don't have any of that - Drax isn't an alien from the planet Draxon sent to Earth to alter its atmosphere to make it suitable for the Draxonians to colonise, and Holly Goodhead isn't secretly a NASA-built android with the primary directive to destroy Drax and his armada of Draxonian battle cruisers.
I mean, yes, NASA having a whole team of Space Marines ready to go in a minute is straight out of a sci-fi matinee serial but at least their craft is based on the Space Shuttle, which was cutting edge technology at the time, and not a flying saucer. Or, to use the Italian term, a Disco Volante.
Wait...
Hang on...
Was Thunderball actually the sci-fi Bond film this entire time?!
yeah i'll aree with you there. dont forget 'Star Trek: The motion picture' too :)
True-He was trying to set it apparat from other Sci Fi Properties and say it's within Bond's world-no robots or aliens are present and the technology is within the bounds of what Q has provided Bond with before [to an extent] or in the real world-no beaming down to the surface like in Star Trek. But I'll never get tired of the 'Science fact' clip!
I think the 'City in Space' might have been a push too far, along with Laser Guns. But I think Cubby once said that tech wise the Bond films are set about 5 minutes into the future.
Another Bond connection; the director of the most popular 'Star Wars' film (arguably), 'The Empire Strikes Back', was also the director of one of the most disliked Bond films, 'Never Say Never Again', Irvin Kershner.
I still say that Moonraker is a great bond movie
As someone who's been a Star Wars fan for years, to watch Moonraker soon after getting into Bond... It was an interesting experience. Personally, I'm not a huge Moore fan, but I can appreciate it.
9:10 I was a little distracted trying to place where I knew that music, because it isn't the main Star Wars theme. It was bugging me, and then it hit me that it was the menu music from Rogue Squadron II for the GameCube.
Damn that was a cracking game. Hard as nails in some places though, but one of the GC's finest titles.
woooow Brilliant ears man
Bond has always been a trend hopper even from it's earliest days. As people have noted, 'North By North West' was an influence on Bond and 'From Russia With Love' was mainly chosen as the second Bond due to JFK stating it was one of his favourite books. But honestly I don't see this as a bad thing as it's allowed Bond to stay fresh and relevant over the 60 year run of the films.
Even with Die Another Day. I know in hindsight its bad, but at the time, it was a post-9/11 world and I think audiences just wanted escapism and their man coming out on top, and that's what they got.
Roger's era definitely leaned on the trends lol. Blaxploitation, martial arts, the star wars/space craze. His other entries felt grounded by comparison. Maybe not octopussy. Some interestingly fun and whacky installments
@@dj71162 Good point. Casino Royale was the first true post 9/11 Bond movie. To date it's the only Bond film that even mentions 9/11. Die Another Day was still very much rooted in the more fun action movies of the late 90s/very early 00s. Although in the early stages of the script, the satellite attack by Graves was supposed to be on Manhattan but after 9/11 the producers changed it to the Korean DMZ. They definitely made the right call.
@@spencerkindra8822 Die Another Day does kinda mention 9/11. When Bond is with M in the Tube Station she says "while you were away the world changed". Considering Bond was in captivity for 14 months and the film is supposedly set in the then-present of 2002, I think that's what she's talking about. People did refer to 9/11 (and still do) in such terms.
Of course it doesn't really amount to much, and does feel like a token reference for the sake of it. Though I can understand that, so soon after such a seismic event, the filmmakers felt they couldn't not address it.
🎬 The Hitchcock films arguably were influential on the entries of the '80s, notably TLD, Octopussy, and FYEO.
The special effects are remarkable for the time and a lot of them still hold up today nearly forty five years later.
yep, TOO much greenscreen re other scenes..but space is great, and i love the space battle.
It's worth noting that after Richard Maibaum's revenge OHMSS sequel script was rejected for being sub-par, Eon did flirt with adapting Moonraker as the next film, mostly to cash in on the Apollo 11 moon landing. Thunderbird's creator Gerry Anderson was brought in and worked on an 'in name only' adaption which apparently involved hijacked submarines. This was rejected for Diamond's Are Forever but did result in legal action when 'Spy Who Loved Me' involved the submarine element [which was settled out of court]. One of the rejected scripts for 'Spy' also had Hugo Drax as the villain so maybe Eon had Moonraker on the 'never adapt' pile due to the Anderson issue until Star Wars came along.
great points as usual man :)
Star Wars and Superman The Movie were basically the first two movies I ever saw and I am so grateful for it. Between that and my grandpa getting me comics off the spinner rack my appreciation for imagination began really early on. That eventually led me to discover James Bond. Calvin I’ve watched so many of your Bond reviews and I gotta say it was really fun getting to hear your thoughts on Star Wars! Thanks for this vid it was a joy and that is in fact science fact.
At some point you have to make a video about The Empire Strikes Back's connections to James Bond, since the director also made your favorite Bond film Never Say Never Again 😁
The Bond franchise doesn't just have connections to The Empire Strikes Back but to the Star Wars films in general: Christopher Lee was Count Dooku, Mads Mikkelsen was Galen Erso, Daniel Craig had that quick cameo as the stormtrooper Rey does the jedi mind trick on in The Force Awakens, Dermot Crowley who played General Madine in Return Of The Jedi played Lt. Kamp, the Soviet officer who instructs Gobinda, Mischka, and Grischka how to arm the nuke in Octopussy, and Richard LaParmentier who played Admiral Motti (the asshole admiral Vader forces chokes in A New Hope), played Lt. Col. Stuart, the US Air Force officer who thanks Bond for defusing said nuke.
@@spencerkindra8822 The connections are unsurprising, given that both series had been filmed in the London area for years.
@@bonghunezhou5051 Exactly. Calvin should do a video on all the connections between James Bond, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones.
oming in last place...SPECTRE...yep! why? cost ridiclous ( not on screen ), female lead, moody with Bond from the off ( no reason for it -he is a..customer ), length of time took to make, muted tones in opening, dreadful, lacklustre story and Blofeld my god! who signed off on this! EON!!!!! retire them!!, then Diamonds, nice idea, lacking so many ways, Casino '60's, WorldNotEnough ( so boring, major mistake having boat at beginning )
Great video as ever Calvin. Growing up in the 90’s was truly a spectacular time to be both a bond fan and a Star Wars fan imo. Only thing about this video which surprises me was that I don’t recall a reference to special effects guru John Stears: Oscar winner for both a new hope and Thunderball.
Imagine a Bond movie with John Williams score. We've had many of the best composers make some amazing soundtracks to these films, most recently the magnificient Hans Zimmer! But the one I've always wanted to do a Bond score has been Williams. He has done music for basically every possible type of a movie during his long career, one Bond movie in that career would have been a perfect extra detail! Sadly he is over 90 now and apparently retiring this year so the likelyhood of this happening in the future is very low. Also he is not in his "prime" anymore, maybe during the 70's or 80's that would have been a dream deal! But definitely if I had to pick a Bond score that reminds me of Williams the most, yes, it would be Moonraker. John Barry, a legend himself, did amazingly in that score, probably my favorite Bond score!
John Barry scored The Black Hole the same year. Another epic space soundtrack, and the first to be released in digital stereo.
The original Star Wars trilogy still stands as the pinnacle of space fantasy (rather than science fact, eh Cubby?). Love them with all my heart. ill always defend Moonraker. It's the excitable puppy of James Bond films: a slobbering dum-dum that just wants to lick your face and make you smile. It's obviously not for everyone (Quentin Tarantino savaged it on a recent podcast) but it is an iconic Bond film.
Btw: John Barry was clearly on a sci-fi kick through 1979 given he scored Moonraker, The Black Hole (A very good score, i.m.o) and Starcrash that same year.
Btw
Tarantino hasn't even watched it. He said the idea (and presumably the trailer) put him off.
Well, what can I say... Thank you, "Star Wars"(Episode IV: A New Hope, 1977)!!! Thanks to this movie, we got another great movie: "Moonraker"(1979)!!! And I don't care what 75%? of Bond fans think. They don't like Moonraker and AVTAK... I love these movies. Moonraker is so great and unique. Gorgeous-looking movie, thanks to Lewis Gilbert and DP Jean Tournier. WHERE ALL THE OTHER BONDS END... THIS ONE BEGINS!!!
James Bond, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones are the Holy Trinity of film franchises.
Star Wars is my favourite film of all time. That doesn’t mean it’s the best written, best directed or even best acted, but it’s an amazing achievement and probably the most important film of the last 50 years, for my money. After all, how many major blockbusters have been influenced by Star Wars (for better or for worse). I blame Lego. Lego had everything. Probably why I also love Batman. Also helps that I was also introduced to Indiana Jones really young as well.
It's hard to describe the impact "Star Wars" had on the culture if you weren't actually there at the time. I'm sure some people thought of it as "Moneyraker". But it was seen as a one-off, flash-in-the-pan until "Close Encounters" came out later that year and had its own share of success. Suddenly, Hollywood smelled a trend! When it first came out, "Moonraker" was much derided as just another rip-off - James Bond goes "Battlestar Galactica" - and an inferior one, at that. It was all too easy to point to the use of the musical motif from "Close Encounters" as the symbol of everything that was allegedly cheesy about it. Some 44 years later, nobody remembers any of that. The "Close Encounters" reference goes right over their heads. "Moonraker" stands on its own now, free of all that pop-cultural baggage - and people either like it on its own terms or they don't.
This is a wonderful episode, Calvin. Works with the timing given the current Star Wars celebration going on. Happy Easter everyone!
4:51 Not just his daughter, Kubrick himself lent a hand on TSWLM.
did he not want anyone knowing that he worked on the film???
Ken Adams had worked with him on 'Dr Strangelove' and he asked Kubrick to help with lighting when water was present. Kubrick agreed but only if he could come first thing without the rest of the crew there [and without fuss, credit or payment].
@@jamesatkinsonja yeah thats it :). why would he do that though? everyone would think he's really cool to work on a Bond movie. dont know if he wanted to be seen as working on something juvenile maybe
@@jamesatkinsonja Claude Renoir, the film's cinematographer's eyes started deteriorating, and he couldn't see far enough to properly light the inside of the Supertanker on the new 007 Stage. Ken Adam knew the best person he knew to advise on that was Kubrick as he knew more about cinematography than any DP, and had been a professional stills photographer. Kubrick agreed to help out his old friend, but didn't want his name overshadowing TSWLM and agreed on the condition they do it on a Sunday when the only people at Pinewood were security. Cubby incidentally paid for the world's best Eye Doctor to fly to London and examine Renoir. Sadly he couldn't save his eyesight, and while he was intended to shoot the next Bond film (he was Lewis Gilbert's DP) he sadly had to be replaced.
The Spy Who Loved Me has the unique distinction of being the only film Anthony Burgess, John Landis, and Stanley Kubrick all worked on.
@@jamesatkinsonja Ken Adam also worked on Kubrick's Barry Lyndon - the film in which Kubrick and Adam had to figure out how to shoot a movie by candlelight without any other light sources. So Kubrick definitely knew how to light a film so would've been an invaluable source of lighting advice.
Would you consider reviewing the 3rd Johnny English film? I think its as good if not better than the second
Given the reviews of the first two are quite old now, maybe even a new review/retrospective on those films along with reviewing the 3rd one would be cool, especially as the first is now 20 years old!
In terms of the Close Encounters influence, I think that can be explained by what was happening with Star Trek at the same time.
Trek was being developed into a new TV series after a film was abandoned, and Star Wars coming out had everyone going "Fuck, we missed our chance. We could have been *the* space film". It took the success of Close Encounters for them to go "oh, it's not a one off. It's a phenomenon" and turn Trek into a film again. So can see CE solidified it for Bond as well.
Of course, even if "Enterprise shuttle" was just down to the first real shuttle being called Enterprise (thanks to Star Trek fans), presumably the reason to change the name of the shuttle and thus the film is because the first Star Trek film was also coming out in 1979 and Paramount would never let another film with a starship Enterprise come out... well, probably ever.
On a similar note, would love to see you talk about the Star Trek Deep Space Nine episode "Our Man Bashir" Bond spoof episode at some point. Especially as it involved another EON lawsuit over "Dr Noah".
Another Eon lawsuit?? Christ when will those people stop suing everyone? LOL.
It didn't get as far as a lawsuit but MGM did complain to Paramount over the episode [via letter] due to the high number of Bond references, scuppering a planned sequel episode.
There's an alternative universe where Calvin created a Star Wars TH-cam channel instead
Moonraker is excitement fun bond movies 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 greatness of amazing fun video Calvin Dyson greatness 😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇
Moonraker certainly is excitement fun bond movies 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 greatness of amazing Lorenzo comment greatness 😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇 Love from The Daily Moonraker!
Thanks for the amazing video ❤
Irony is, STAR WARS features the man who brought to life the ultimate antithesis to Bond: Alec Guinness, whose George Smiley remains the symbol of what a spy should be like. (One thing to think back about Smiley in TINKER TAILOR: none of the subjects of his investigation even knows he's investigating them until Smiley already has them pinned, very much the opposite of what happens in pretty much every Bond movie.)
That story about young Calvin, the C-3PO figure and finally seeing the films thanks to Uncle Graham is the cutest thing.
The timing for this video couldn’t be more perfect given how Star Wars Celebration is this weekend in London. Would love to hear your thoughts on the rest of the original trilogy.
Great video as usual. I had heard that Tom Mankiewicz was still working on Bond at the time [having only not been credited on 'Spy Who Loved Me' due needing to have a certain % of UK cast members credited for the Eady Levy'] and that he worked on the story for Moonraker [as did Lewis Gilbert with Michael G. Wilson doing some re-writers] but not that it was still called 'For Your Eyes Only'. You learn something every day! Great to hear your Star Wars memories too.
He wrote a 3-4 page treatment which is essentially the whole plot as filmed. It includes scenes that were used in later bonds, Paris restaurant from AVTAK, mini jets from Octopussy and the keel hauling from FYEO
Speaking of which, now that the Indiana Jones 5 official trailer came out, are you gonna do a "react" video for the teasers and trailers? I especially love the Last Crusade teaser.
You only live twice is inspired in some ways Star Wars too, some of the soundtrack elements, the space capsule destroyed 1 second before it blow up the american space capsule, the main villan escapes right before his base destroyed and will return too.
I agree with you Cal, I prefer to have Star Wars by titles rather than episodic numbers. 👍🏻
Really loved hearing the anecdotes about your childhood memories, and the impact these movies had on you and what they mean to you.
Moonraker was a gateway drug to the world of James Bond for kids like me obsessed with Star Wars.
Interestingly when moonraker was released the space shuttles were not even known to the public at that point!
I am also a '90s kid and got into Star Wars when a friend bought me some Star Wars Micro Machines for my birthday including Jabba's palace. I had no idea what they all were but I wanted to find out more.
I love both Bond and Star Wars and I have built models of vehicles from both series on my channel.
As much as I love the James Bond series I prefer Star Wars that bit more, though I love both film franchises. I loved Moonraker and I loved A New Hope. 👍🏻
Great video Calvin. Really interesting to hear how your Star Wars and James Bond passions dovetails together.
Star Wars and Doctor Who are those franchises I grew up with. Bond following later in life. Perfect franchises for escapism and adventure. Still a big fan of these three to this day.
This may come as a big shock, but being one of the kids who found educational programs more engaging than science fiction and of course growing up to become an astrophysicist, it wasn't until the prequels came out that I first got into _Star Wars._ My mother rented the first one _(A New Hope)_ when I was maybe six, because I was a huge fan of space travel and astronomy and my older cousin who she used to babysit couldn't get enough of it. I just couldn't gravitate to it, no pun intended. Even back then I could name all the planets and moons in the solar system and in a sentence or two tell you all their unique characteristics. And _Star Wars_ just didn't seen to have anything that I associated with space travel and astronomy. There was no zero gravity in any of the space scenes, none of the planets I learned about were there, all the planets they visited seemed to be equal in gravity to Earth with not much in the way of variation. Of course, watching them with older eyes made me appreciate it better and see what all the fuss was about.
Same as you. Star Wars was my first trip to the cinema in 1977 with my dad and brother. Couldn't get the first showing, so stayed in queue for 3 hours for the next one. Great childhood memory.
Really loved the use of the star wars disco theme in the review :)
Thank you Calvin , it's so nice to hear your connection from Star Wars to James Bond. You make some very interesting point and I will surely have a different look on either or those two fantastic franchise the next time I will see them :)
I always gravitated towards Luke over Han. It’s the fact that I like the goody two shoes over the bad boy characters.
Calvin makes the best bond content
lol Your funny. and wrong.
It had been established that laser guns exist in the Bond universe….so why shouldn’t Bond or other agents be armed with one post Moonraker?
Obi Q Kenobi: Oh, grow up, Skywalker!
"Look after Mr. Dyson. See that some harm comes to him."
4:52 Didn't Stanley Kubrick himself secretly do the lighting for the submarine hanger scenes in TSWLM? It was under the condition that no one who worked on the movie ever told the public about it. It makes perfect sense since Kubrick lived in England and shot all of his later films there including at Pinewood. Great video! My personal favorite Star Wars movie is Return Of The Jedi. As far as I'm concerned the final shot of our heroes celebrating with the Ewoks on Endor is the end of the franchise. For all the awfulness of the prequels, at the very least they didn't ruin the original trilogy's ending.
Yes that's true. He did it to help out Ken Adam who'd worked with him on Doctor Strangelove + Barry Lyndon.
Nice to see a fellow ROTJ fan in the comments! Best Star Wars film for sure!
@@SFisher1993 Too bad that movie gets no love these days. I've heard people say that Rogue One and even Revenge Of The Sith are better. Come again??
@@spencerkindra8822 ROTS and R1 are both brilliant movies in their own ways, but I can’t put them above Jedi, haha.
@@SFisher1993 Especially since while it's overall a good movie, ROTS has some truly awful moments haha. Rogue One has faults but it has none of the cheesiness and bad lines of the prequels.
moonraker was when bond may have gone too far in a few places
Are you going to do a Tommorow Never Dies review?
I think the same could be said about Gerry Anderson (creator of Thunderbirds, Stingray, Captain Scarlet, Space 1999 etc) as there are many Bond connections. The biggest one being Derek Meddings who originally got his start doing model visual effects from Torchy the Battery Boy in 1957 all the way up to the live action series UFO in 1970. He also designed many of the iconic vehicles featured in those shows including all five Thunderbirds and FAB1, Stingray, the SPV, the Angel aircraft and the SHADO Interceptors. I think some of his best work at least in the realm of space is featured in Moonraker and this was just hot off the heels him winning best visual effects for the original Superman the year prior. Another one is Shane Rimmer who played Commander Carter in The Spy Who Loved Me. He was the voice of Scott Tracy in Thunderbirds and also made many appearances in the later Anderson shows as well. He even showed up in A New Hope as well, he's the guy that says "This R2 unit of yours seems a bit beat up. You want a new one?". Moneypenny AKA Lois Maxwell voiced Lieutenant Atlanta Shore in Stingray and also played Miss Holland in UFO along side Ed Bishop as Ed Straker who also played one of the Hawaiian CapCom guys in You Only Live Twice. The Thunderbirds episode "The Man From MI5" seems to have been very heavily inspired by Thunderball which came out around the time that the series was being made. The original two Thunderbirds movies from the 60s were produced/distributed by United Artists and MGM who also distribute the bond franchise.
I genuinely think You Only Live Twice is influenced by Thunderbirds. The huge spacecraft base hidden inside a rocky tropical island is Tracy Island. Even the moving launch tower looks like the one for Thunderbird One. You have the piece of nature moving back to allow a craft to leave. And the whole world in crisis as military watch on, and only an outside party (Bond) can intervene to save the day is very Thunderbirds. Gerry Anderson always wanted to make big budget live action versions of his Puppet Shows so he must have seen YOLT as that.
You can see why EON hired Gerry Anderson to write a treatment for Moonraker in 1969, to cash in on 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Moon Landing. Meddings work on the Anderson shows directly led to him being hired to do Bond.
Incidentally the director of The Man From MI5 said he was having trouble with realising how he wanted to do the episode. He broke for the weekend, watched a new film at the cinema called The Ipcress File, and on Monday knew how to finish the episode. He notably introduced Off-Kilter Camera Angles as seen in the above mentioned Harry Saltzman produced, Ken Adam designed, Peter Hunt edited spy film. Of course the spy in the Thunderbirds episode is called Bondson. Two years before Bond-San in YOLT.
Shane Rimmer also played a NASA Control Room Operator in YOLT, and Tom, an employee of Whyte Techtronics in Diamonds Are Forever.
Ed Bishop also played Klaus Hergersheimer.........from G Section......testing Radiation Shields in DAF.
An unexpected surprise but a welcome one
Starwars is science fantasy and Bond is Science fact
Best comment on the entire internet today!
@@tcaudiobooks737 what happened to your twitter
@@SPECTRE_Madman I got banned around September time for telling Zelensky to get a proper job.
I enjoy both Star Wars and James Bond. My dad introduced both franchises to me. I watch the first Star Wars movie when I was 7 and I like it a lot. I already like Star Wars before though, I watched one of the cartoons. I didn’t watch the second movie until a year later because spoilers I knew Luke’s hand would get chopped off and it scared when I was that age thinking about but once I actually watch episode 5 I have been a major Star Wars fan ever since. I watch my first James Bond movie when I was 10, the movie was dr no and I liked it. So we watched every other bond film and Now I’m a fan
I love the mental image of youngling Calvin, clutching his trusty C-3PO figure, going into his first viewing of Star Wars lol. I got into Star Wars about that same time and I think we lucked out, the 90's rocked for Star Wars. My first figure was Boba Fett which I also got not knowing anything about it. I think 3PO was my third. Great video as always!!!
cool stuff! even though I loved all the 'power of the force' line of action figures, they really havent aged well. what with their beefed up muscles and weired faces :)
Suggestion: You really should examine the similarities between Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1966) and Moonraker (1979). 😀
So Calvin mentions that in the 1978 early versions of "For Your Eyes Only" (in space) the shuttle was going to be called "ENTERPRISE"....!! - Oh, Hello ? -No references to the OTHER space franchise I take it ... ?? I'm sure SPOCK would find this ...Fascinating !! LOL Hey, I love Star Wars too but any other STAR TREK fans here who noticed this as well ?? (FYI: Star Trek The Motion Picture was also released in 1979, same as Moonraker)
The name Enterprise was actually a reference to the prototype shuttle Enterprise rather than the Star Trek one. The shuttle Enterprise was itself named after the Star Trek one after a letter writing campaign. The stars saw the unveiling infact. Interestingly Ken Adam worked on what ended up being ST TMP but his designs were not used although the USS Discovery does use the same design as the Adam drawings.
I always preferred the original version of Star Wars because for me, it really showcased the ingenuity of the production team. With a relatively low budget and no CGI, they created a world that was immersive in a way that few science fiction or fantasy movies truly manage. They throw so much at you in terms of creatures, locations and technology, yet it never feels overwhelming.
My Star Wars love overpowers my 007 love, but I still enjoy the Bond series.
A New Hope and The Empire Strikes back are my favourites of the original trilogy, but I also enjoy the others afterwards, chiefly The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, The Force Awakens and Rise of Skywalker. Call me a madman if you will, but I enjoy Star Wars as a whole series.
The firts 3 Star Wars movies are my favorite movies of all time!
And obviously I love the James Bond franchise as well!
fool. Muppet movies.
Moonraker is a cinematic masterpiece cutesy, camp and decadent.
Although as noted the Bond films certainly since Live And Let Die had directly reflected Movie Trends (expanding on the Bond films picking up new cool stuff, such as a Laser or a Gyrocopter), the Lawrence Of Arabia music in The Spy Who Loved Me originated as a just a joke the Sound Editor played over the footage to ease work tensions. But Lewis Gilbert loved it so much he got Cubby to secure the rights and kept it in. The same joke also occurs with the theme to Dr Zhivago playing as Triple X's ringtone. This continues in Moonraker with the Theme to The Magnificent Seven, or Magnificent 007 if you will. So I think that plus the 2001 music, Close Encounters chime, and Star Wars references (laser guns, Death Star like base and reveal, the planet it's orbiting shot at to cause annihilation, Bond having no targeting computer, a secret spaceship launch base built into a South American Temple before going to the space station) fits that nudge nudge thing that Lewis Gilbert seemed to like. It would continue after he left, with the Tarzan Call and Barbara Woodhouse's Sit! in Octopussy, and California Girls over water snowboarding in A View To A Kill.
It's also worth noting that 3/4 of Moonraker takes place on Earth.
As you are in the U.K., the full-length original cuts of all three STAR WARS films were issued in anamorphic, widescreen Super 8 film prints with optical sound, so if you can find and afford them, you can have the original cuts. A complete copy of JEDI just sold a few years ago for only $650.00, but be careful of some other old prints, as they may be fading and/or be pan & scan prints that ruin the widescreen scope compositions, et al.
It's interesting how many post Star Wars movies did not fully embrace it as a template. Even the makers of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" claim they were more inspired by 2001 and Close Encounters. I saw a documentary that said studios were largely responsible for this because, in spite of Star Wars' success, executives still didn't see pulpy sci-fi as a safe bet. That also explains the ending of Disney's "The Black Hole," which went all philosophical and 'high brow' too. They didn't seem to have faith in the Star Wars mold yet. They just knew the public had an appetite for space and special effects.
I was born in December of 1996. As such, my childhood nostalgia rests in the prequels. As a kid I hated all the original trilogy for being slow and boring. As I grew up I saw the technical aspects and everything, but I still don't put them on if I want to watch a Star Wars, but I also don't go towards the prequels much nowadays either since there's only one good film among them and it's stuck in the middle of the worst and the most average Star Wars film. Plus if you asked me to name the best Star Wars film of the 70's and 80's I'd say E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.
"Moonraker" was one of two space movies scored by John Barry around this time - the other being "The Black Hole". It too, was accused of attempting to cash in on the "Star Wars" craze. Barry's music, though, has some strikingly original passages which certainly owe nothing to "Star Wars".
Adore this vid Calvin, nice one. If you can, I highly recommend you check out one of the following; despecialized edition, theatrical reconstruction and the wonderful 35mm 4K77 print of the first SW movie. Plus also consider some of the same people who worked on Bond and SW such as the legendary John Stears, Garrick Hagon or even Jeremy Bulloch. Amazing that these two franchises plus the original two Superman movies were so reliant on British ingenuity of the technical crews involved. An idea: a 6 degrees of separation video between Bond, SW and Superman!
I too was around during the re release of the original Star Wars trilogy, picking up toys from the fast food restaurant here in the USA called Taco Bell. I remember the build up to Episode 1, collecting the toys from wherever I could find them. And playing out my own stories with them, jumping from my bed to the floor and all around the room. Sorry to say, Jar Jar Binks was usually my main protagonist. I didn't see my first Star Wars movie until Episode 1 was released on Vhs tape. I was just 6 or 7 years old at the time. So my introduction to Star Wars was not the movies but the toys and merchandise. And other promotional material or references on tv. Star Wars has always just been ingrained into pop culture. And I think we are able to pick up on what it is just from seeing its image. When I finally saw the original Star Wars trilogy, I loved Luke. Now, I find him supremely boring. I actually now find the original trilogy boring on the whole. But when I did like them, A New Hope was my favorite. And Luke Skywalker was my guy.
I got into Star Wars when they put out the Special Editions. I wasn't blown away by Star Wars in 1977 the year before they had shown the Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon series on the BBC during the School Holidays. Star Wars felt like a ripoff and nothing special the most annoying thing was how little they used 'the force' what a weak superpower it was and why is it used so rarely it would have saved a lot of sword fights. Now I totally love the original trilogy I did enjoy the prequels when they came out but Ive watched those twice but the original trilogy I've had on VHS DVD and seen countless times my fave is The Empire Strikes Back and The Ewok film. The Ewok film has more critics than Moonraker does but both films are an absolute blast.
Anyone who noticed what Calvin said about the score for Moonraker by John Barry possibly being inspired by Star Wars or 2001: A Space Odyssey, take the time to watch Moonraker and then watch Dances With Wolves and pay attention to the score. John Barry scored both, and won an Academy Award for the latter.
10:50 - Do you still have this figure?
I’d have bet money you would have mentioned John Barry’s score for The Black Hole, also this isn’t a joke but I was watching Moonraker on ITV4 yesterday and when it got the ending it made me cry 😢
Sadly Star Wars was such a force (no pun intended) after it's release it influenced pretty much everything in Hollywood, even stuff it shouldn't have. Ironically, while it made sci-fi a profitable genre, it probably set mature science fiction on the big screen back by maybe 30 years, because hardly anybody was willing to take gambles on mature Sf about ideas for at least that long, which is pretty evident when you look at what Hollywood was doing in the genre before SW and what you began seeing after.
Moonraker is like the schizophrenic epitome of this, and I've always looked at Moonraker at two separate movies welded together. The first half being a very superior Bond picture and the second half an attempt to ride a trend.
My thoughts?
The Death Star battle at the end of _Star Wars_ is the best 15-minute sequence ever recorded on film. Period.
Look. ..Moonraker is one of my favourite Bond Movies. I don't care what anyone says
I am all for 007 going back to space with the next Bond or so. I look at films like Ad Astra and say this could work. A grittier and more grounded Bond in space could work.
Why dose this get stick for jumping on a trend? Licence to Kill jumps on 80s action films
Totally agree with you Calvin. Saw the 1st 3 Star Wars films at the cinema, and to me, can't be beaten.
I was born the same month in 1977 Star Wars was released. I also am into robots, Transformers. I do like special edition versions, but if I could only have one version I’ll always choose the original theatrical cut.
Moonraker .. bank holiday classic 😅
I'm some kind of jealous to those who got to see the opening star destroyer scene of Star Wars in a cinema for the first time, that must have been something phenomenal. And yeah I have been Bond, Star Wars and Indiana Jones fan from my childhood and still are.
Note: Whatever happened to all that advanced technology (i.e. laser guns) in Moonraker? Surely, the knowledge could not have been lost *just because United Artists had gone into insolvency* between the releases of MR and FYEO?
Funny enough as i type this, Moonraker is on ITV 4 right now, they always put it on when its a Bank Holiday
I'm 47, so Star Wars has always been part of my life. I am more of a Bond fan though.
15:37-16:01 I agree about having the option to watch both original version or Special Edition of Star Wars, which would've made an awesome Blu-ray/4K boxset release. While I've had my issues with some Special Edition changes in the past, I've honestly gotten used to them over the years and enjoy them now as much as the originals. So I wouldn't want the originals released just so I can ditch the Special Editions as I'd love to have the freedom to watch either version of the films from an official Blu-ray/4K set. But anyways, I'm glad I have my 2006 DVD copies of the original versions (even though they're non-anamorphic low quality laserdisc transfers) as I too am not really that keen on trying to download fan made edits.
My brief opinion of Star Wars:
Original Trilogy: Classics although I'm not a huge fan of ewoks.
Prequels: Great ideas, often terrible execution. Some great action though.
Sequels: A very messy trilogy due to inconsistent and sometimes lazy writing among the three films. I love The Force Awakens though
Star Wars is so thoroughly blended into my childhood that I have no idea which movie I watched first or when. I have been familiar with all three of them for as long as I can remember.
The connection to James Bond is pure escapism, I would say. The original trilogy and Bond films of the 60's and 70's (maybe 90's too) are just such pure escapist entertainment.