Burning Question...

Hi all,

Something's been bugging me for a long time. Remember the start of for your eyes only, with the villain in the wheelchair that tries to kill James Bond by manipulating his helicopter? Well, in all the "official" James Bond tie in books he is simply referred to as "Villain In Wheelchair". Why? Isn't it bleeding obvious that this is Blofeld? I mean c'mon! Who else has a white cat? And it would make sense that he would be in a wheelchair after Bond toyed around with his battle sub in diamonds are forever, his last "official" appearance...

Is this some sort of legal issue? Is it because Blofeld was soon to appear in never say never again, the "rival" bond film? I'd love to know...

ah, I can solve this one...

yes, it IS a legal issue, but others know more of it ..

it's that the rights of this all were to someone who disagreed with the brocolli's and denied them the right to use Blofeld (and therefore spectre) so to show that they could do bond without them, they took a bold guy, clearly making it that it was blofeld without literally saying it, and got rid of him once and for all

Um, I kinda get you, though your response is worded in sort of a confusing way...

I think you mean Kevin McClory. He claimed that Ian Fleming stole his idea when he wrote thunderball, and that's how he was able to make never say never again years later. Shame it was so rubbish though...

that's what I'm known for...being confused 😉

well, you seem to know more about it than me, so why did you ask in the first place 😛
yeah, thunderball has spectre too, so that's why they couldn't use that party anymore

Though I know about the back story with McClory, I didn't realise that this precluded the producers from even mentioning Blofeld's name...

And I was beginning to wonder whether that really was Blofeld or not...

well, like ya know now... yes and no... and to me it's a clear yes...
I mean... Bond goes to the grace of Tracy (OHMSS also with blofeld) and then gets attacked by a bold guy (did he had a cat in the chair too?)

Erm, don't you mean BALD? Though I suppose he's bold too... 😛

he attacked a helicopter and he isn't bold in that view? 😛

*tries to go and edit stupid spellingmistake*

Originally posted by Ahnold
Hi all,

Something's been bugging me for a long time. Remember the start of for your eyes only, with the villain in the wheelchair that tries to kill James Bond by manipulating his helicopter? Well, in all the "official" James Bond tie in books he is simply referred to as "Villain In Wheelchair". Why? Isn't it bleeding obvious that this is Blofeld? I mean c'mon! Who else has a white cat? And it would make sense that he would be in a wheelchair after Bond toyed around with his battle sub in diamonds are forever, his last "official" appearance...

Is this some sort of legal issue? Is it because Blofeld was soon to appear in never say never again, the "rival" bond film? I'd love to know...

I've ran the rule through the whole legal issue on another tread here...suffice to say Blofeld's AWOL for the forseeable future...

TR... can you provide a link to that post?

Jeez...I don't have the time, old boy...but we definately did do a bit of shooting the breeze on it here and there...EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS is starting soon and I just love giant spider films...

it's just that for future reference it's very useful

Btw people . . . you spell it B-A-L-D. Not bold.

And in FYEO, you can clearly see that is Blofeld in the wheelchair with the white cat. And second, Blofeld indicates that "I've been waiting a long time for this moment, Mr. Bond. I intend to enjoy to the full." So he's been Bond's adversary for quite some time.

This has to be one of the more definitive Bond scenes ever. Never has a death scene been so dramatic and entertaining and exciting!

Dramatic?! Death by chimney stack?! Well to each his own...

I've done some more research into this question, and, interestingly enough, an early draft referred to this being the 10th anniversary of Bond's last encounter with the wheelchair villain. Funnily enough, 10 years before this film was made {in 1981}, Diamonds Are Forever was released which featured {gasp!} Blofeld's last cinematic appearance...

well, the first point is good, but the second... you dont' know how many years there is between this and the previous movie, so in the meantime he could have found another adversary that fell in a vulcano or something and lost his hair

But, c'mon! Just how unlikely is it that in the 10 year period between the films {which, granted, may not equal 10 years in "Bond Time"} Bond found another villain with a white cat and crippled him? I'm pretty sure the 10 year reference was included to make it clear to everyone that this IS Blofeld, even if he can't be mentioned by name...

it could be a double, that tried to use his appearance for his own benefit

I'm not sure as to why... I'm almost certain it was really Blofeld.

of course, everyone is, but it's not said, so you can't be 100% sure

Oh fine, then. So who ELSE could it be then?