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Gallery: 5 James Bond Tech Threats With Real-World Origins

From nuclear-powered missile jammers to anonymous computer hackers, five technological threats in 007's world and their twisted ties to real history

Posted 11.8.12 at 1:49 pm 3 Comments

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Dr. No

Eon Productions

Real-world threat: Wily test missiles
Bond version: Nuclear-powered missile jammer

Spy fiction has an endless love affair with nuclear weapons technologies, and James Bond’s universe, created in 1952, is no exception. No fewer than six films (more than a quarter of the franchise) rely on nuclear plot devices for Bond to foil and save the world.

Arguably one of the best threats is from Dr. No, based on author Ian Fleming’s book published in 1958. Producers released the film in 1962 and took advantage of real-world events to twist the script. Fleming’s Dr. No ran an underground (and very corny) evil lair on a fictitious Caribbean Island. Inside: a nuclear reactor-powered radio beam that could sabotage missiles launched from the nearby (and very real) Turks Island.

Because military missile testing at Cape Canaveral wasn’t going well during the movie’s writing -- the rockets kept veering off-course -- producers leaped at the chance to relocate Dr. No’s lair near U.S. soil, where he sabotaged real-life missile tests from Bond’s fictitious world.

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Read the article: How The Evil Tech In James Bond Films Evolved Alongside Real-World Fears

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3 Comments

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KrimTheRed

11/08/12 at 5:31 pm

Correction: On Her Majesty's Secret Service starred George Lazenby, not Sean Connery.

Addendum: That still from the movie clearly shows that it is not Sean Connery.

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davemosher

11/08/12 at 6:35 pm

Oof, thanks @KrimTheRed. (Addendum: When you're bleary-eyed from staring at a computer all day, George Lazenbys can sometimes morph into Sean Connerys.)

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drcarter44

11/15/12 at 11:47 am

Ian fleming also write about the end of USSR, in 1964.

For the french version of the book :
"Il en résultera plus tard une coéxistence pacifique avec les Etats-Unis. Stop. Les intentions pacifiques de l'URSS seront soulignées par numéro un ainsi que par toutes les stations gouvernementales. Stop."

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