Bond By Numbers

More Bond-inspired games, trivia and nonsense as you've come to expect from us at this festive time of year. So spike your punch and cozy up by the yule log - our third Holiday Special is reporting for duty!

The curtain closes on this year's "3 Non Bonds" series with 00-Taylor's choice of Carol Reed's "The Third Man". This influential British noir, set and filmed on location in post-war Austria, stars Joseph Cotten, Trevor Howard, Alida Valli and Orson Welles. Penned by ex-MI6 agent Graham Greene and boasting inspired involvements from Bernard Lee and Guy Hamilton, Reed's thriller is by no means short of Bond pedigree. Grab your galoshes and flashlights, friends, it's time to hit the Viennese sewers with us in search of The Third Man!

In celebration of Bond's 60th Anniversary on film, we sat down recently to share some of our favourite moments from 007's six decades of franchise life. The challenge seemed painless enough but the selection process was punishing: three hosts, twenty highlights each and a sixty-second clock limiting presentation. So, come join us for some fun as we negotiate then commemorate the threescore peaks of Mount Bond... BBN style!

All aboard! "3 Non-Bonds" Season continues on the show as Scott delivers tickets for a return journey on "John Frankenheimer's The Train", his choice for the annual film festival. This fastidiously rich WW2 film offers cinephiles and history-buffs much to chew on while Burt Lancaster and Paul Scofield battle wits on and around the French railways in the dying days of Nazi Occupation. So, take a seat in our first-class coach and relax; in this episode we stoke the fires and do the locomotion over an engaging tale of a patriotic nation and the desperate foes who sought to pillage its cultural treasure.

Our survey of John Gardner's continuation novels carries on with a chat over his third effort. If, like many, you buy into the belief that a Bond's third outing is his best ("Goldfinger", "The Spy Who Loved Me", "Skyfall".... Fleming, too, wrote "Moonraker" third) then Gardner should be stretching comfortably by now. "Icebreaker" sees 007 join an inter-agency operation in Finland to thwart a fascist terrorist group. So, come join us in a world of snowmobiles, double agents and smoked salmon fireside chats. We're off to infiltrate an Ice Palace! It's time to look down the literary gun barrel once again!

Just six weeks before "Die Another Day" hit theatres, a lesser-known commodity was getting its own release. Starring Matt Damon as Robert Ludlum's amnesia-stricken assassin, "The Bourne Identity" would knock the socks off audiences with a new style of action that shifted sands and set a fresh standard for spy thrillers. Well, it's "3 Non Bonds" season again on the show and, what's more, our very own 00-Chapman has selected this modern classic to start festivities! So, grab your winter coats (don't leave them in the park!) and join us at your ex's farmhouse for a cozy discussion of Doug Liman's influential crowd-pleaser.

In July of 1943, as Allied forces planned desperately for Mediterranean access into Europe, Britain's Naval Intelligence were spearheading an intrepid operation, a bait-and-switch of colossal consequence. Commander Ian Fleming, serving as personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence, helped to encourage the intricate planning for what would soon become Operation Mincemeat. In this episode, 00-Chapman, our resident military expert, cracks cover and leads us through a tour of this incredible story. We also offer our thoughts on the recent film adaption, directed by John Madden and starring Colin Firth, Kelly Macdonald, Matthew MacFadyen and Jason Isaacs.

In his second continuation novel, John Gardner returns Bond to the USA and reunites readers with some canonical staples. Motivated by a recent spate of airline hijackings with potential SPECTRE links, Bond is sent by M to investigate an ice-cream magnate from Texas whose guarded compound and general milieu reeks of suspicion. But the decision to resurrect Fleming's narrative ghosts comes with hefty responsibilities and there's a thin line between successful fan-service and ephemeral tokenism. Join us as we go down the literary gunbarrel to discuss the many features of Gardner's sophomore effort!

In recognition of Bond's 60th Anniversary on the big screen we brew up and sit down for a casual chat about "Dr. No", reflecting on the enduring features and legacy of the film that started it all.

So it's time we finally put things right... nearly four years of 007 podcasting have come and gone without a proper ranking of the EON songs and that's just not good enough! Upon discovering this egregious oversight, we recently set about remedying things for the whole darn world. So here it is - the BBN Bond Song Rank-a-thon! Predictably (...ridiculously?), science and scoring govern our contest here so you're invited to play along with us! When the dust settles in our own three-figured thunderdome, what songs will rise to champion status? Join in the fun and find out as we reveal the unequivocal champions of the Bond Song universe!

So yeah, we know... months have passed since the final chapter in Daniel Craig's 007 sweep premiered worldwide. But, like succulent lamb left to stew in its own juices before being glazed, skewered and coupled with caviar, our impressions are finally ready for serving! The long-awaited (...at least by us) follow-up to our NTTD impressions episode has arrived. It feels good to be back behind the wheel of a full-scale Bond review once more!

Inspired by Ian Fleming's 14 books and textured further by dozens of collaborators, the 25-film franchise we know and love possesses a wealth of spin-off material for the ambitious story developer. Now that Amazon holds the reins of the MGM Bond wagon, it's not unlikely that we could soon see expansion into television and short series projects. In our first "What If?" of Season 4, we brush the dust off our trusty roulette and pitch our own original treatments for 007 spin-offs!

An ousted nuclear scientist with a Braveheart complex looks for revenge in John Gardner's "Licence Renewed", the first Bond novel of the 1980s and the focus of our first episode this new season! From fixed horse races to holographic bedrooms, we portion out the narrative goods and take a fruitful look down the "literary gun barrel" at the start of Gardner's tenure with this wild whirlwind adventure. Warning, spoilers ahead!

For our final episode of the series, we combine (and recline) our forces in real-time camaraderie over 1981's "For Your Eyes Only", Sir Roger's fifth outing as 007 and 00-Chapman's selection for Watch Party #3. Together, we negotiate some of the franchise's most opulent locales and nifty scenes. Don't like biathlon or figure skating? That's alright, FYEO also offers car chases, keel-hauling, submarine conflict, rock climbing and even the pitfalls of awkward relationships! So welcome aboard the good ship BBN! Grab your cocktails and head to the cinema room where our friendly stewards will assist in synchronizing your MGM lions to ours (08:08 in). Yia mas! It's time to finish this series in style!

Happy Holidays, Bond fans! In this episode, our second seasonal soiree, we serve up more games, discussion and trivia with a festive Bond flavour. Flick on the tree lights and switch off your brains, grab some grog and come join us for fatuous fun: Christmas may only come once a year but you can replay our foolish Holiday special as much as you like!

With the release and revelations of "No Time to Die" finally in the world's rear-view mirror, talk is properly heating up about how and with whom "James Bond Will Return". Here, we prognosticate together and add our eager voices to the discussion, issuing favourites, follies and some dark-horses contenders!

At long last, the wait for Bond 25 is over! Now that they've all seen "No Time to Die", Josh, Scott and Jeff bridge the Atlantic gap with conversation and first impressions of Daniel Craig's final outing as 007. SPOILER ALERT: chat on the film's plot and features starts at 8:20.

In our second watch party of the season, we invite you to synchronize your MGM lions (@21:09) and groove casually with us through the waves and rhythms of 1977's "The Spy Who Loved Me". Upheld by many as his best and most stylish outing as 007, Sir Roger's third Bond adventure was directed by YOLT helmsman, Lewis Gilbert, and contains a dynamic mix of action, humour and megalomaniacal pageantry that's bound to keep you entertained when our own commentary grows dull! No need for social distancing here so grab your refreshments from the lobby and meet us inside! For our full review of the movie, check out S1:E34 from January 2020.

The wonderful Chris Wood (@bondonvinyl) returns in this special episode to discuss the music of "The World is Not Enough", arguably David Arnold's most ambitious effort as 007 composer. So come join us as we leisurely inspect the beats and braces of this varied score. From the boisterous Thames boat chase to the burning oil fields of Baku, we've got it covered like an inflatable ski jacket!

In this episode we look down the literary gunbarrel at "Colonel Sun", written by Robert Markham (Kingsley Amis) and published four years after Ian Fleming's death. Amis's compelling adventure comes on the heels of his successful non-fiction character-piece, "The James Bond Dossier" and marks the first "official" 007 fiction of a new era. So, hop aboard the good ship BBN and brandish your shades and parasols - we're setting sail right now, straight for the Sun... Colonel Sun!