RW361 - James Bond Rewatch - Die Another Day

In this episode of the James Bond 007 Rewatch, Cory and Nathan bring out all the guns as they discuss "Die Another Day."

Trailer:

The Music of Die Another Day:

The title song for Die Another Day was co-written and co-produced by Mirwais Ahmadzai and performed by Madonna, who also had a cameo in the film as Verity, a fencing instructor. Critics' opinions of the song were sharply divided—it was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording, but also for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song of 2002 (while Madonna herself won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress for her cameo).

In a poll for the Channel 4 programme "James Bond's Greatest Hits", the song was voted 9th out of 22, and also came in as an "overwhelming number one" favourite among those under the age of 24.

The soundtrack was composed by David Arnold and released on Warner Bros. Records. He again made use of electronic rhythm elements in his score, and included two of the new themes created for The World Is Not Enough.

Our Favourite Trivia:

Die Another Day marked the James Bond franchise's 40th anniversary; consequently, the film includes references to each of the preceding films. It was decided to delay production of this movie in order to have a 2002 release date, to coincide with the anniversary and the 50th anniversary of the writing of the first Bond novel (Casino Royale).

Gadgets and other props from every previous Bond film and stored in Eon Productions' archives appear in Q's warehouse in the London Underground. Examples include the jetpack in Thunderball and Rosa Klebb's poison-tipped shoe in From Russia with Love. Q mentions that the watch he issues Bond is "your 20th, I believe", a reference to Die Another Day being the 20th Eon-produced Bond film.

For the first time, the famous gun barrel sequence now includes a bullet zooming by after Bond fires. This idea was suggested by director Lee Tamahori.

Wai Lin, played by Michelle Yeoh in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), was originally supposed to make her return, aiding James Bond in Hong Kong, but no arrangement could be worked out with her, and she was replaced by Chinese Intelligence Agent Chang.

Speculation arose in 2003 of a spin-off film concentrating on Jinx. It was originally reported that MGM was keen to set up a film series that would be a "winter olympics" alternative to the main series. In the late 1990s, MGM had originally considered developing a spin-off film based on Michelle Yeoh's character, Wai Lin, in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies. 

The book that 007 picks up from the Cuban sleeper, along with a revolver, is "A Field Guide to Birds of the West Indies", written by James Bond. Ian Fleming, an avid birdwatcher, named Bond after the author.

Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, and screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have admitted that they completely misjudged what the fans wanted from the franchise, and accept the blame for the outlandish tone of this movie.

After the release of this movie, Pierce Brosnan was approached by a man in a Dublin bar who asked to shake his hand. Brosnan complied and then cracked up when the man quipped, "That's the closest my hand will ever get to Halle Berry's arse."

What's Up Next?

Cory and Nathan will be rewatching The Shining

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Send us an email! TheRewatchPodcast@gmail.com

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RW360 - Firefly Rewatch - Serenity (film)

In this weeks episode of The Firefly Rewatch, Cory and Tom seek every answer as they discuss the follow feature film "Serenity."

Serenity:

As a childhood River listens to her teacher in class, a moment of tension between the two reveals that it’s actually a memory that a 17 year old River is experiencing while she undergoes a treatment at the Alliance academy facility where she was held before her brother Simon had come to break her out.  A man dressed in Alliance garb watches over the procedure as the doctor in charge explains the procedures they’re using, leaving the Alliance officer to mention that River always did love dancing. When the doctor looks confused, the man, revealed as being Simon in disguise, uses a piece of technology to knock everyone in the room out, and he and River manage to escape up a shaft where a ship awaits them. 

Everything in the scene suddenly pauses, as an Alliance agent named the Operative pushes a button a viewing device, revealing the security footage from when the incident happened. The Operative then questions the doctor about what happened, and after learning that River had met members of the Alliance Parliament and possibly gained access to their deep secrets, he kills the Doctor’s staff with his sword, and uses a pressure point to paralyze the Doctor himself before allowing his frozen body to fall upon the blade, killing himself, as he heads off to begin his search for the Tam’s.

Meanwhile on Serenity, tensions flare up between Mal and Simon as it’s revealed River has been chosen to accompany the crew on their next job, a bank robbery in a small town on a planet in the outskirts of the galaxy. Mal’s reasoning is that they’ve been on the ship long enough for her to start earning her keep. The plan goes well at first but then River senses reavers approaching, leading to a quick escape and high speed chase which ends with Zoe piloting their mule escape ship into Serenity while both are still moving. Simon punches Mal for endangering his sister and the two have words, eventually mutually deciding that they will go their separate ways on the next planet. 

As Mal meets with his clients regarding the bank job, River wanders into the bar and becomes transfixed by a commercial playing before suddenly attacking everyone in the bar. Chaos ensues and only stops when Simon appears and utters a safe word that causes River to fall asleep instantly, enabling Mal and company to get her back to the ship, where Simon explains that River was trained to be an assassin. 

They seek out the help of a computer genius named Mr Universe who hacks into the security footage, noting that River said one word before stating the fight: Miranda. He also lets them know that no official report was filed about it and that the footage was hard to obtain as well, both odd occurrences. Fearing Alliance pursuit, Serenity heads to Haven, a safe planet of sorts where Shepard Book has taken refuge, and welcomes them in with open arms, albeit wondering why Mal saved the Tams yet again. 

Inara contacts Serenity, asking them for their help, which they immediately recognize as having the tell tale signs of a trap, yet still go. Mal finds Inara and is immediately attacked by the Operative, only managing to get away from him when Inara’s incense actually turns out to be a weapon that causes a distraction and provides cover for their escape.

As the crew heads back to Haven, a locked up River escapes and begins knocking out members of the ship, including her own brother, fearing he will use the safe word again. Eventually she gets to the cockpit and reveals what Miranda means: a reference to a planet far out in the outer reaches of the galaxy, near Reaver territory, a forgotten planet shrouded in mystery where the normal terraforming practices had apparently failed and was left abandoned. 

Serenity returns to Haven only to find that the entire community has been attacked and slaughtered by the Operative who contacts Mal, informing that all of his safe havens have been similarly attacked. Mal makes the decision to disguise Serenity as a reaver ship, using red paint, left over weapons, and the dead bodies around them to fulfill the illusion. Luckily, wash manages to get them through Reaver space unscathed and they touch down on the planet. 

As they witness dead bodies everywhere they realize a key difference: all of the bodies show no signs of distress or violent death or pain, instead they just seem to have stopped living, laying down to just die. An old recording is unearthed which reveals that after the planet was successfully terraformed, the Alliance conducted experiments on the population to see if they could control them and remove all aggression, using airborne drugs that caused 90% of the population to become extremely apathetic, eventually not caring about anything, including their own survival, which in turn caused their deaths. The remaining 10% responded inversely to the drug, becoming enraged and cannibalistic, eventually transforming into the race known as Reavers.

Armed with this evidence, Mal plans to head back to Mr Universe and use his broadcasting tools to get this information out to the entire Verse so they can see the truth behind the Alliance’s past. As they begin their return flight through Reaver space however, they end up being attacked by a Reaver ship but luckily Mal had prepared for that and they manage to get away. 

Upon arrival at Mr Universe’s station, they are greeted by the Operative and a huge armada of Alliance ships. The Operative’s gloating is short lived however as Serenity is followed by all of the Reaver ships that were in the area and a huge battle ensues which enables Mal and crew to slip through and land, despite losing control of the ship due to an EMP from the Reavers. That victory does not last long however as a harpoon from a Reaver ship punctures the cockpit, killing Wash instantly. 

The rest of the crew escape and enter Mr Universe’s complex, and set up in an area where they can easily defend against the Reavers to allow enough time for Mal to get the information sent out. Mal enters and finds Mr Universe dead in the arms of his robot wife who has a prerecorded message he left for Mal that tells him there’s a backup broadcasting station below. Mal makes it there and begins to set up the broadcast but is attacked by the Operative who also managed to escape from the space battle. They fight, with Mal holding his own until the Operative uses the paralyzing move he used on the doctor. As the Operative relaxes, Mal recovers and manages to overpower him with a throat punch and secures him to the railing with his own sword, explaining that that particular nerve cluster was removed after the war, rendering him immune to the attack the Operative had used. Mal sends the broadcast out to the universe while the Operative comes to realize the magnitude of the atrocities he committed while fighting for the Alliance’s lie of a perfect universe. 

Meanwhile, the Serenity crew, pushed back further by the Reavers, are dealing with Zoe, Kaylee and Simon all being injured badly. River runs out to the main passage, tosses back Simon’s med kit and locks the door behind her and begins attacking all the Reavers herself. As she defeats them all easily, Alliance troops rush in and surround her but the Operative tells them to stand down.

The crew hold a funeral for Wash and Book and return to their repaired ship, courtesy of help from the Operative who promises he won’t ever see them again, and River takes her place as Wash’s replacement pilot, with Mal nicknaming her little albatross, a symbol of good luck, while Serenity flies off through space as a piece of the ship falls off prompting a nervous exclamation from Mal.

Shiny Trivia:

The operative was played by Chiwetel Ejiofor. He’s best known for 12 Years A Slave, Dirty Pretty Things and 2012. He’s had many other starring roles such as Mordo in Doctor Strange, Scar in the live action Lion King, Maleficent and The Martian to name just a few. 

David Krumholtz played Mr. Universe. He also played Martin Walters in the TV movie Justice League of America. He was the lead actor in the show Numbers, but recently he’s been a recurring guest star in shows such as The Deuce and The Good Wife. 

Sarah Paulson was the holographic doctor. Most recently she’s been a fixture on American Horror Story and American Crime Story, as well as the show Mrs. America in the last few months. Previously she’s been in Bird Box, The Post, Deadwood, Jack & Jill and she also had a lead role in Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. She did have a part in 12 Years A Slave as well. 

The teacher was played by Tamara Taylor. She starred in Bones as Camille Saroyan, and voiced Wonder Woman in a few of the DC animated movies. She was in Agents of Shield a few times and was the lead in the Netflix series October Faction (about monster hunters). She had some guest roles in the 90’s on shows like Party of Five and Dawson’s Creek, as well as two episodes of Lost playing Walt’s mother.

One of the Reavers was played by David Sobolov, best known for recently playing Gorilla Grodd on CW’s The Flash. He also starred in Bumblebee as Blitzwing, Transformers as Brawl, Guardians of the Galaxy cartoon as Drax, and Young Justice as Lobo.  He’s done a lot of other voice work in LEGO movies, Justice League animated films (as Grodd) and Hearthstone doing the voice of Prince Malchezaar. 

Wash and Book were killed off in this film due to not wanting to sign contracts for sequels at the same pay. 

The sets were entirely rebuilt on the Universal backlot. In some cases, they used Nathan Fillion’s photos of the original blueprints. 

There’s an Easter Egg on DVD. To find it, press left until a triangle appears  on the right. On the Blu-ray, go to “extended scenes” and keep pressing down past the last option until the symbol appears. 

Fruity oaty bars

Make a man out of a mouse

Fruity oaty bars

Make you bust out of your blouse

Eat them all the time

Let them blow your mind

Wǒ hěn jiāo nián diūliǎn wǒ méiyǒu chī Fruity Oaty Bar!ˆ

Fruity oaty bars

Fruity oaty bars

ˆThis translates to roughly, "I am/feel so ashamed, I haven't eaten fruity oaty bars"

The Fruity Oaty Bars commercial is based on a Japanese commercial from The Simpsons, for a product called “Mr. Sparkle.” 

The Trade Agent was overdubbed by joss. 

Albatross was from “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

The one car on Miranda lists a registration number C57D which is a reference to the UFO ship in the movie Forbidden Planet. 

According to a Q&A with Joss Whedon and the cast after the premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, there were at least 20 separate takes of Simon and Kaylee's final make-out scene in the engine room. Take #20 was used in the final cut.

After Mr. Universe betrays the crew to the Alliance, he turns to the Operative and demands his "thirty coin," a reference to Judas betraying Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.

Book’s past was detailed in a comic book called Shepherd’s Tale. Part one shows how Book was shot on Haven. part Two is on board Serenity as a typical day on board. Part three is at the Abbey when he decides to leave and explore after years of finding himself, leaving the destination to God. Part four is a drunk Book thrown out of a bar, getting beaten up by someone whose brother died as a result of something Book did years earlier. Part five shows Book as an alliance officer who ordered a special military operation that ended up killing a bunch of alliance soldiers and he finds himself stripped of his command. The operation should have ended the war instantly. Part six is Book interrogating a subject while other officers talk about how Book climbed the ranks quickly and is driven for the war to end quickly. Part seven is Book fighting the alliance in the streets before the war and is part of secret operatives who are worried about a possible war and want to put a mole into the alliance ranks. He gets an eye implant to transmit secret data and steals the identity of a man. Part eight is about Henry Evans, Book’s real name, running from police after he mugs someone and gets caught by a cop who tells him about the independence movement. Part nine is about young Henry who has a bad home life with an abusive father, and eventually leaves after being beat up again. 

The hands of blue die in a Firefly comic called Serenity: Those Left Behind. The blue gloves actually extend to their entire upper body, and are killed by Serenity’s engines flare during a plan put together by them and Dobson. The job is then passed onto the Operative.

The R. Tam Sessions

Tom is a big fan of this blog. Take a look if you're interested-

https://musingsofamiddleagedgeek.blog/2020/07/12/serenity-2015-the-film-that-briefly-resurrected-firefly-for-the-big-screen/

Whats Next?

Cory and Tom will be starting a new series rewatch. We hope you'll join us for Dawson's Creek.

Thanks:

For more information, head over to the Firefly-Serenity Fan Wiki. We thank them for compiling information on the show.

Contact Us:

Send us an email! TheRewatchPodcast@gmail.com

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and discuss Seaquest with the fans on Reddit

Support the Show:

Head over to our TeePublic store today and buy some merch! Every item sold sees a small return to us to cover our hosting costs and we appreciate every purchase.

RW359 - James Bond Rewatch - The World is Not Enough

In this episode of the James Bond 007 Rewatch, Cory and Nathan flip the script as they discuss "The World is Not Enough."

Trailer:

The Music of The World is Not Enough:

The title song, "The World Is Not Enough", was written by David Arnold with Don Black and performed by Garbage. It is the fifth Bond theme co-written by Black, preceded by "Thunderball", "Diamonds Are Forever", "The Man with the Golden Gun", and "Tomorrow Never Dies". IGN chose "The World Is Not Enough" as the ninth-best James Bond theme of all time. In 2012 Grantland ranked the song as the second-best Bond song of all-time, behind only "Goldfinger." The song also appeared in two "best of 1999" polls: #87 in 89X's "Top 89 Songs of 1999" and No. 100 in Q101's "Top 101 of 1999".

The soundtrack to The World Is Not Enough is the second Bond soundtrack to be composed by David Arnold. Arnold broke tradition by not ending the film with a reprise of the opening theme or, as with the previous three films, a new song. Originally, Arnold intended to use the song "Only Myself to Blame" at the end of the film; however, Apted discarded this and the song was replaced by a remix of the "James Bond Theme". "Only Myself to Blame" was written by Arnold and Don Black and sung by Scott Walker.

Our Favourite Trivia:

In November 1997, a month prior to the release of Tomorrow Never Dies, Barbara Broccoli watched a news report on Nightline detailing how the world's major oil companies were vying for control of the untapped oil reserves in the Caspian Sea in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse, and suggested that controlling the only pipeline from the Caspian to the West would be an appropriate motivation for a potential Bond villain.

Joe Dante, and later Peter Jackson, were initially offered the opportunity to direct the film. Barbara Broccoli enjoyed Jackson's Heavenly Creatures, and a screening of The Frighteners was arranged for her. She disliked the latter film, however, and showed no further interest in Jackson.

Roger Spottiswoode was asked to direct, but he turned it down, feeling tired after the chaotic production of Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).

Hoping to find a director capable of eliciting strong performances from women, the producers eventually hired Michael Apted, as his work with Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner's Daughter, Sigourney Weaver in Gorillas in the Mist and Jodie Foster in Nell has earned all three actresses Oscar nominations (with Spacek winning).

The pre-title sequence begins in Bilbao, Spain, featuring the Guggenheim Museum. After the opening scene, the film moves to London, showcasing the SIS Building and the Millennium Dome on the Thames. The sequence lasts for about 14 minutes, the longest pre-title sequence in the Bond series to date.

The scene in which James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) grabs the cables on the Millennium Dome required extraordinarily difficult stunt work. Director Michael Apted intentionally left a shot of one of the stuntmen missing a cable he was attempting to grab in the final cut. Apted included the miscue in order to highlight how difficult the scene had been to film, and as an honor to the stunt performers who worked on the movie.

When the real MI6 learned that this movie would shoot a scene around their Headquarters, they moved to prohibit it, citing a security risk. However, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, at the urging of Member of Parliament Janet Anderson, moved to overrule them and allow the shoot, stating, "After all Bond has done for Britain, it was the least we could do for Bond."

Denise Richards was attracted to the role of Dr. Christmas Jones, as she found the part to be "brainy", "athletic", and had "depth of character", a change in direction from previous Bond Girls. Audiences did not agree, and often consider Christmas to be the worst Bond Girl ever. This was the first Bond movie to win a Razzie (in the category of Worst Supporting Actress), for the same reason.

Desmond Llewelyn (Q) died in a car accident soon after this movie was released. Llewellyn said just before his death that he was planning to appear in the next Bond movie. The video release was dedicated to Llewelyn, and featured a tribute montage of his appearances in seventeen Bond movies over thirty-six years.

What's Up Next?

We're heading into Brosnan's final Bond effort "Die Another Day."

Contact Us:

Send us an email! TheRewatchPodcast@gmail.com

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and discuss Seaquest with the fans on Reddit

Support the Show:

Head over to our TeePublic store today and buy some merch! Every item sold sees a small return to us to cover our hosting costs and we appreciate every purchase.

RW358 - Firefly S01E14 - Objects in Space

In this weeks episode of The Firefly Rewatch, Cory and Tom become one with the podcast as they discuss episode 14, "Objects in Space."

Objects in Space:

Episode Title: Objects in Space

Written by: Joss Whedon

Directed by: Joss Whedon

Original airdate: December 13, 2002 as episode 10

As River walks through Serenity, she begins picking up people’s inner thoughts, at times in direct contrast to what they are actually saying out loud at that moment. As she makes her way to the cargo hold she picks up a twig from the floor which is covered in leaves, but is suddenly woken by Simon and the crew who are shocked to see her holding a loaded gun. Mal manages to get the gun away safely as River runs off saying it’s crowded. 

The crew has a sit down discussion about the problems associated with River but Mal ultimately decides to let it rest till he’s had some time to think about it and they all retire to their quarters for the night, not realizing River had been listening in the whole time. 

With the crew down, a bounty hunter named Early manages to break into Serenity, quickly overcoming Mal when he is discovered and locking him and everyone else inside their quarters. Early finds Kaylee working on the engine and under threat of rape, has her submit to being tied up, lest he return and make good on his threat. He manages to also get the jump on Book, knocking him out, before finding Simon and coercing him to search the ship for River. 

After finding no trace of River, Early yells a demand out loud that he will kill Simon unless River gives herself up right away. River responds as a disembodied voice, explaining that since the crew didn’t want her there, she melted away and merged with the ship, a revelation that shakes Early. River communicates with Mal and Kaylee to help set off her plan, while telling Zoe to not go out with guns blazing. 

The bounty hunter eventually realizes that River actually has just managed to make her way to his ship and is using his communications system to speak to them all. However River tells Early that she is as dangerous as he is and will go with him, so that her shipmates can move on with their lives without having to worry about her issues. As Early turns to leave, Simon takes the moment to attack him but is shot in the leg as a result.

Early starts to leave the ship but is ambushed by Mal outside who knocks him away. As the crew later recovers, chatting about the experience, Serenity flies off in the distance, revealing Early, still alive but floating through space.

Shiny Trivia:

It is interesting to note that Nathan Fillion is a descendant of Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal Anderson Early, which may be where the name came from.

Jubal Early was played by Richard Brooks. He’s had a number of roles in shows and movies produced by OWN, UMC and BET, such as The Haves and Have Nots, The Rich and the Ruthless and Being Mary Jane. He also starred in Law and Order as ADA Paul Robinette for 69 episodes, and had a minor role in Teen Wolf as Lemonade.

Dead or Alive is the script for an episode that was never made. It was incorporated into other episodes, including “Jaynestown”, “Shindig”, “Ariel” and “The Message.”

Whats Next?

Cory and Tom will be discussing Serenity.

Thanks:

For more information, head over to the Firefly-Serenity Fan Wiki. We thank them for compiling information on the show.

Contact Us:

Send us an email! TheRewatchPodcast@gmail.com

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and discuss Seaquest with the fans on Reddit

Support the Show:

Head over to our TeePublic store today and buy some merch! Every item sold sees a small return to us to cover our hosting costs and we appreciate every purchase.