Every once in a while, a loophole in time, space, and copyright law opens and spits out an object straight out of bizarro world. The summer of ’83 gave us an “official” James Bond film starring the well past-his-prime Roger Moore, and the fall of ’83 answered with NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN - an apostate remake of THUNDERBALL directed by the man who gave us THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and starring none other than Roger Moore’s also well past-his-prime predecessor Sean Connery! What could possibly go wrong? Uh… a lot. Thrill to spine-tingling scenes of an aging superspy taking herbal treatments at a health spa! Marvel at the cringy romantic subplot with a way-too-youthful Kim Basinger! Gasp at the gravity defying athleticism of Sean Connery’s toupee! Of course, it’s not all bad news… turns out our old man Bond still has plenty of fuel left in the tank, and he is joined by the amazingly unhinged femme fatale Fatima Blush as played by the scenery-devouring Barbara Carrera, the Swedish sensation Max Von Sydow as the kitty-stroking supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and Bernie Casey as the Felix Leiter we all wish had gotten his own spinoff! It’s James Bond as you have never seen him before! Actually, it’s pretty much exactly as you have seen him before - but Paul, Javi, and their spymaster, Producer Brad love this franchise for all of its flaws, so dim the lights and chill the Geritol, because the Multiplex Overthruster crew will never… ever… say never again!

Show Notes:

Theatrical release date: October 7, 1983

Janet Maslin NYT review

Roger Ebert's review

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

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