Bought: James Bond and Moonraker

That's right, not Moonraker, a novel by Ian Fleming. James Bond and Moonraker, a novel by Christopher Wood.

You know your movie has strayed pretty far from its source material when you decide you need to commission a whole new book instead of just slapping movie art on the original.

I recently saw Francis Coppola's Dracula again and was reminded that when it was first released (almost two decades ago!) they had it both ways. You could buy the tie-in edition of Bram Stoker's novel, or a novelization by screenwriter James V. Hart and sf author Fred Saberhagen. Or both, I suppose. The cover of the novelization emphasized the romance/reincarnation element, totally absent from Stoker's book. I wonder which sold better? I also wonder if the novelization was, like the original, an epistolary novel. Saberhagen must have been tempted, at least. His own The Dracula Tape (1975) takes the form of a transcription of a taped statement by Dracula himself, retelling Stoker's story from his viewpoint. Coincidentally, Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, in which a man tapes a vampire's life story, was published the next year.

Back to the matter at hand. Christopher Wood was the credited screenwriter of Moonraker and co-writer of The Spy Who Loved Me, which also got a novelization, also by Wood. Someday I'll find a nice copy of it. There are recent(ish) and slightly overlapping interviews with Wood here and here. He is still writing and seems like a nice guy.

The art is uncredited (of course) but according to this magnificent blog the artist is Robert McGinnis, and the longer I look at it the more that seems right. McGinnis is not usually associated with spacesuits or ray guns, but of course he used to be all over adventure, spy and (especially) crime paperbacks. He's best known for his scantily clad women, so I'm surprised our hero is alone here. I like it, but if I commissioned a McGinnis and didn't get at least one pretty girl with bedroom eyes I think I would feel ripped off.

It took me a while to realize that Bond is wearing a tux under his vacuum suit. I don't remember that from the movie, but I confess I don't remember much of anything from the movie. Didn't he pull the same gag with a wetsuit in another flick?

I'm happy to know that McGinnis did the cover, because theft is an ugly thing and the above image is clearly based on this one, which is unmistakably his work.

This is also a much better portrait of Roger Moore. On the Moonraker cover he looks softer, somehow. He almost has puppy-dog eyes, and his mouth looks pouty rather than sardonic.

And am I crazy or does Space-Bond look just a little... ethnic? Maybe it's the big brown eyes (Moore's are blue) or his excellent tan. Does the starlight on his hair make it look a little curly?

Okay, so I'm crazy, but it reminds me of talk a while back that the next actor to play Bond should be black. My own vote is for Adrian Lester, who has serious dramatic chops and is long overdue for a breakout movie. In a better world his role in Primary Colors (the lead, though Travolta was top-billed) would have done the trick. He doesn't really have the cruel and craggy thing going on, at least in anything I've seen, but that's what acting is for, duh.

By ancient tradition I am required at this point to reveal my favorite Bond (Moore), Bond actress (I will not call Dame Diana Rigg a Bond girl) and Bond movie (For Your Eyes Only). The pre-title sequence of Eyes can be seen here after a short commercial (sorry). Sap that I am, I'm touched to see Bond leaving flowers on his wife's grave. As far as I remember it is the last time the series acknowledged the passing of time, or that Bond was a widower. In 1981 it was still believable (just barely) that a man born in 1924 was still globe-trotting, bed-hopping and world-saving. After this Bond would, of necessity, become untethered from his post-war origins.

Some fans hate the way the venerable Blofeld is subsequently (and rather humorously) dispatched before the movie proper begins, but the filmmakers didn't do it thoughtlessly. His death was intended to signal the end of the Dr. Evil-type supervillains bent on world domination, and a return to slightly more realistic spy adventures rooted in the Cold War. Eyes delivers that admirably, with a few lapses. It also includes my favorite Bond kill, the death of the assassin Locque. It really should be seen in context, but if you don't have time or desire to seek out the movie the trailer gives it away. Skip to 2:26 if you don't even have time to watch a lousy four minute trailer for crying out loud.