James Bond Gadgets 157
whencanistop writes "Given that the new James Bond film is just about to be released, this is quite a nice summary of James Bond gadgets from past films. Tomorrow Never Dies was on telly last night and I was commenting on how the mobile phone that controlled the BMW was awesome, why they haven't done it in real life is beyond me (although there would probably be a few accidents if they ever did). Ridiculous to think that in 1963 the gadget of choice for Bond was a pager though." Of course, the best gadget in the Bond universe wasn't even 007's ... Jaws' teeth were the envy of every kid with braces.
If you're interested... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Villains have the best toys (Score:4, Informative)
What about it? It's #9. [computerweekly.com]
The Bensen Gyrocopter (Score:4, Informative)
They didn't mention the Bensen Gyrocopter [msgyro.com] from "You Only Live Twice". That was a real, flyable aircraft, although the version that came in four big suitcases (a scene stolen from "Thief of Baghdad") was a dummy.
Re:Pictures (Score:3, Informative)
Image Properties:
Location: http://www.computerweekly.com/PhotoGalleries/232923/19_20_Jet-pack-Thunderball-1965-Sean-Connery.jpg [computerweekly.com]
Location: http://www.computerweekly.com/PhotoGalleries/232923/34_20_Mini-speedboat-The-World-is-Not-Enough-1999-Pierce-Brosnan.jpg [computerweekly.com]
etc...
Re:how is a pager ridiculous? (Score:4, Informative)
It was a different world of communications back then. Most homes didn't even have answering machines until the late 70's/early 80's. Businesses paid for answering services with live operators. If you weren't home to answer the phone, you didn't get the message.
Sure you can .... (Score:3, Informative)
Andy
Re:The Bensen Gyrocopter (Score:2, Informative)
The Wallis Autogyro you mean surely? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Wallis [wikipedia.org] Bit of a local hero round these parts.
Re:The modern bond films (Score:2, Informative)
In the first Bond book, Casino Royal, the only high tech is that J Bond has oversized headlights on his car. He is more a international detective, smoking two packs a day, and drinking hard liquor.
Because I hate multi-paged lists... (Score:2, Informative)
Jet pack - Thunderball (1965) Sean Connery
Not really a gadget but one of the more memorable personal devices that Bond has possessed. After killing Colonel Jacques Bouvar at a chateau, Bond uses the jet pack to return to his car, an Aston Martin DB5. The pack used was developed by Bell Aerosystems as the Bell Rocket Belt which only had a 20 second flying time using a hydrogen peroxide fuel. The scenes in Thunderball were shot using two stuntmen and the shrill sound of the jets was overdubbed with the sound of a fire extinguisher. In 1984, a Rocket Belt was used in the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Jet packs may not have taken over the world but a mild solution of hydrogen peroxide on cotton wool can be used to disinfect and clean keyboards.
Lotus Esprit - The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) Roger Moore
A deviation for Bond cars as it wasn't an Aston Martin, but it doubled as a submarine, so Bond could track down Karl STromberg's underwater lair.
BMW 750 IL - Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) Pierce Brosnan
Another great Bond car and again not an Aston Martin. This car was armed with an impressive array of gadgets - it's bullet proof, laden with sunroof fired mini-missiles, metal spike dispensers, grenades and a cutter hidden behind the BMW badge. The best thing was though that it was remote controlled by a mobile phone - how cool is that!
Mobile phone - Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) Pierce Brosnan
Brosnan was the first Bond to have a truly mobile phone, a concept design from Ericsson. A few years later the R380 production model appeared which had many of the features of the Bond original â" except for the stun gun, fingerprint scanner, lock pick and remote control for a BMW 750iL. In Quantum of Solace (2008), Daniel Craigâ(TM)s gadget-free Bond does possess a mobile and itâ(TM)s still a Sony Ericsson phone. This time its a titanium C902 which also lacks the first phoneâ(TM)s finer accessories â" itâ(TM)s not even a front-running smartphone. However, it does have a useful 5Mpixel camera to assist Bondâ(TM)s surveillance activities.
Aston Martin DB5 - Goldfinger (1964) Sean Connery
The most iconic car used by 007 is a silver Aston Martin which has appeared in Goldfinger, Thunderball (1965), GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Casino Royale (2006) and is due to make a return appearance in Quantum of Solace (2008). Admittedly, it has not always been the same vehicle but it has always been a non-standard production model. The first car had revolving licence plates, tyre slashers, a bulletproof shield, machine guns behind the headlights and smoke and oil sprayers at the back. Most famous of all was the ejector seat on the passenger side. IT and sports cars have always been intertwined with many bosses of manufacturing firms favouring Porsche models. Maybe the return of the Aston Martin will spawn a new craze â" if anyone can afford anything larger than a bicycle during the recession.
Fingerprint identification device - Diamonds Are Forever (1971) Sean Connery
This projector-based system was not one of 007â(TM)s tools but was used by diamond smuggler Tiffany Case (Jill St. John). Compared to modern fingerprint identification systems, Tiffanyâ(TM)s device was extremely crude and immovable. To discover Bondâ(TM)s identity, she dusts a glass he has used, runs it through the device and compares it with a known example of his real fingerprint. Fingerprint identification is a much simpler operation these days with the proliferation computer-based fingerprint analysers that can skim through thousands of possible matches in seconds.
Aston Martin DBS - Casino Royale (2006) Daniel Craig It's hard to find a true gadget in the gritty Casino Royale, but Daniel Craig's sumptous Aston Martin DBS possibly qualifies. Daniel Craig nearly dies inside his car, but is brought back to life thanks to a mini portable defibrillator and some antidote.
TV wristwatch - Octopussy (1983) Roger Moore Watc