ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Roger Moore hits his stride in this hi-tech, sci-fi rich story about a megalomaniac named Drax who wants to use a nerve gas to wipe out the world's population so he can re-populate the globe with his hand-picked group of Arian super-people.

The Big Bond Climax Scene takes place aboard a beautifully designed space station (great special effects). Sets and props are extremely well designed, and they give the production a slick look that ages well.

The big battle scene is followed by a high-orbit chase in which Bond and heroine Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles) have to catch several satellites containing the nerve gas and destroy them with a laser beam.

The Bond girls are especially lovely in this one, and John Barry's music has never been better.

Good direction by Lewis Gilbert gives the action sequences the energy we expect from a Bond film. Michael Longsdale does a fine job as the totally conscience-free villain who plots to wipe out the "inferior" races of mankind.

Richard Kiel returns as "Jaws", the villain's henchman with stainless steel teeth, which he uses to break the necks of his victims. And yet, in the end the film deals kindly with this humorous villain.

An enjoyable Bond film which is not well liked by many Bond fans, for reasons which are hard to understand.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

[Bud Brewster]

[Pow]

I'm a 007 fan who did enjoy Moonraker.

As usual for a Bond film it had action, stunts, terrific FX, beautiful women (Corrine Cleary, Lois Chiles) a nasty villain & the return of Jaws. What's not to like.

Always got a kick out of that conference table & chairs that lowered into the floor in the shuttle blast chamber.

[ralfy]

Saw this in the theater. It looked like a very expensive movie, and reminded me a lot of those classy watch commercials shot in Venice. The memorable things for me included the fantastic free-fall fight, the laboratory and works made of glass in Venice, the scenes in Rio, and the poor, beautiful lady chased by dogs.

[Bud Brewster]

Plot wise it's certainly one of the most ambitious Bond movies from a sci-fi point of view -- a plot to whip out the world's population and create a super race in an orbiting space station.

I can't even remember the villains' goals in most of the other movies, even though I've seen them all multiple times!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Maurice]

[Pow]

[Rocky Jones]

[Bud Brewster]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but is this the one that goes way overboard with the silly insertion of popular music at all wrong moments? Surf music during the ski chase, etc.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

Something about that poster just caught my eye.



What is it now...? Wait... It's coming...


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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bud Brewster]

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Good one, Wayne! Is it a coincidence? Hmmm . . . Not if the same artist did both!

But no, that's not the case. I looked it up. The Venetian Affair was painted by Frank McCarthy —

— and Moonraker was panting by Dan Goozee.

But I'm sure that Bond poster artists traded ideas quite often.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

Plus, those Venetian canals and gondolas all look alike.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Krel]

To be fair, if you are going to have a Venice themed poster, there is going to be a canal with a gondola on it.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has 158 trivia items for this movie. Here’s a few of the ones I found the most interesting, in the blue text.
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~ The scene in which the gondola converts into a hovercraft, and elevates out of the water, succeeded with the fifth attempt. During the first four takes, the vehicle was so unstable, that Sir Roger Moore fell into the water, and needed to have his silk suit replaced for each take. It was fortunate that the stunt worked during the fifth take, because was wearing the last available silk suit.

Note from me: I'd forgotten that the movie actually had a scene with a hovercraft-gondola in it when we were discussing the poster art above. I guess the artist thought that trying to paint the hovercraft version would look too wacky.

~ During the cable car stunt, high above Rio de Janeiro, a real cliffhanger moment occurred when Stuntman Richard Graydon slipped, and was hanging on for dear life. The recce crew, including Ken Adam, were petrified while the camera was rolling, and they were watching from a vantage point.

Note from me: Two thoughts: Does the footage of the incident still exist, and how did they get poor Mr. Graydon down?

~ Barbara Bach was originally scheduled to make a brief appearance as Anya, the character she played in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), but the idea was dropped only a few weeks before filming began. According to the book, "The Bond Files", her character was going to be the woman shown in bed with General Gogol, in the scene where he moans to his British counterpart that he's having trouble sleeping.

Note from me: I think the uncredited busty blond they used instead made the joke funnier. (If I'm remembering the scene correctly).

~ In addition to being offered the chance to perform the title song, Frank Sinatra was offered the role of Hugo Drax.

Note from me: Raise your hand if you agree with me that both of those offers to Frank were really bad ideas. His singing style just ain't right for a Bond movie (even though I'm a big fan of his music), and I really don't think Frank would be taken seriously in the villain's role, despite the fact that he was a fine actor.

~ When Frank Sinatra was approached to sing the theme song, it was called "Think Of Me", and had music composed by John Barry, and lyrics written by Paul Williams. After he turned it down, Barry and Hal David wrote "Moonraker", and Johnny Mathis was chosen to sing it. When it was decided that it wasn't working, Barry had a chance meeting with Dame Shirley Bassey, and with the approval of Producer Albert R. Broccoli, she recorded the song.

Note from me: Well heck, as much as I love the smooth and mellow Mr. Mathis, I can't quite imagine HIM delivering an effective Bond title song either! My two favorite Bond songs are Goldfinger (naturally) and the Tomorrow Never Dies closing theme, "Surrender".

"Surrender" starts off with a brassy blast of trumpets very reminiscent of "Goldfinger", which is part of why I like it.

I've never understood why the less appealing of the two songs written for that movie was used for the opening credits, and "Surrender" used at the end. Heck, why did they even HAVE two themes? Weird . . .

Somebody agrees with me and they dubbed "Surrender" over the opening credits. The amazing graphics (just about the best of any Bond film, with their slow and sexy cadence), fits the song like Pussy Galore's legs fit into nylon stockings . . .

____Tomorrow Never Dies (Surrender - K.D Lang)


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~ Beat the world record by having the biggest amount of "zero-g" wires used in one scene.

Note from me: The space station set is extremely well designed. It still impresses the heck out of me. I love the glass-tube corridors and the suspended glass-tube conveyor system which moves the poison gas pods into launch position.

____________ Moonraker clip The space station


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~ Since N.A.S.A.'s Space Shuttle program had not been launched, Derek Meddings and his miniatures team had to create the rocket launch footage without any reference. Shuttle models attached to bottle rockets and signal flares were used for take-off, and the smoke trail was created with salt that fell from the models.

Note from me: The FX for the shuttle launches were well done, especially considering the above trivia item. But I'm not sure I believe the statement about about how they were done. Bottle rockets?

~ The space scenes were done by rewinding the camera after an element was shot, enabling other elements to be superimposed in the film stock, with the space battle needing up to forty rewinds to incorporate everything.

Note from me: Another amazing example of the lengths which Hollywood FX people went to prior to the CGI revolution.

~ Cameo by Melinda Maxwell: The daughter of Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny) as one of Drax' Master Race specimens.

Note from me: Hey, that was a nice touch.

~ In order to create the final shot in which the space station is destroyed, the visual effects crew locked themselves in the studio and shot the model of the space station to pieces using shotguns.

Note from me: I'll be thinking of this the next time I watch this movie.

~ The final scene with Bond and Holly making love in zero-g was the hardest shot of all according to Sir Roger Moore, where he actually felt the blood running up to his nose and eyes.

Note from me: This is clearly bogus. First of all, Roger Moore and Lois Chiles where just laying on a wire-suspended platform, hidden by a sheet that was draped over them as the supposedly floated in zero-G. And second of all, when a man is having sex, the blood does not run UP to his nose and eyes!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)