The James Bond Complex

Welcome to the world of "Social distancing". Don't worry loyal listeners. Not only do we have a ton of material already recorded and being edited. The show will go on. This started as a debriefing with fellow Podcaster of the excellent "Intrepid 007 podcast"; Emery Cormier, it qucikly became something of a "Shrubland session" as we discuss the recent changes in our society. 

Hello dear listeners!

This is a critical moment for the entire James Bond fan community. As you download this episode on Wednesday March 11th we are exactly 1 week removed from…you know what. Just as we were all so terribly excited about No Time to Die, circumstances beyond almost anybody’s control had the film temporarily pulled away from under our feet, at least until November. Suddenly, Bond is nowhere to be found on the April cinema calendar.

Fitting, therefore, that Bond is nowhere to be found this week on the show either, although his spirit and that of Ian Fleming cast a long shadow over this week’s topic: The Man From U.N.C.L.E., both the 2015 film directed by Guy Ritchie and the television series that exploded onto tv sets in the 1960s.

Heaven forbid hosts Mathieu and Edgar pretend they know U.N.C.L.E. as well as they do Bond. Nay, the lads bring in reinforcements this week to lay the groundwork of what The Man From U.N.C.L.E. franchise is and how it got started.  We welcome Bill Koenig, also as the The Spy Command (or, we as like to say, simply the Spy Commander), who runs a fantastic blog about the espionage pop culture phenomenon in all its shapes forms.

Effortless pop and U.N.C.L.E. scholar, Bill regales Matt and Edgar in the history of the entire series before diving into a mini-review of the 2015 motion picture adaptation. The usual hosts, frankly, just bask in the glory that is Bill’s knowledge and insight.

So sit back and enjoy a different spin on the spy pop culture phenomenon, albeit with obvious 007 echoes. Cry U.N.C.L.E.? Bob’s your U.N.C.L.E.? Forget about it. We have you covered this week!

Check out Bill Koenig on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheSpyCommand

Check out his blog, The Spy Command, at https://hmssweblog.wordpress.com

WARNING: This episode contains audio material that could cause emotional distress, permanent brain damage and high levels of anxiety.

Yes. Matt "Sings".

We talk about Operation Snowfall, The Title song and other bits of info as "No Time To Die" is almost upon us!

Hello dear listeners!

Or rather, listener!

Yes you, the one person apart from the hosts of The James Bond Complex that went to see The Rhythm Section in theatres. It’s hard sometimes rooting for EON Productions, especially when they release Bond films so infrequently these days and when they throw their hat in the ring for projects of a different variety…no one pays attention.

Nevertheless, the hosts are back this week, all three of them in fact what with the international man of mystery himself Jason Kim joining the fray to dissect the film’s psychology, spychology, look, and feel. From the slums of London, the side cafés of Madrid, and the vibrant streets of Marseilles (with plenty of other stops in between), Mathieu, Edgar and Jason complete their training as assassins and venture forth on the journey alongside the spy thriller genre’s new anti-hero: Stephanie Patrick.

Does the film feature one of the best action scenes we might see in 2020 at the movies? What are the risks incurred when a novelist translates their own work to the silver screen? How impressive is the EON Productions studio logo when it appears on screen in front of a film? How bad of a sign is it when the theatre room in which a film plays is in that one room you must walk past the bathrooms to get to?

Sit back, relax, dye your hair black and take a dip in frozen water as we leave no stone unturned. Will we be as ruthless as the box office receipts were? Listen to find out!*

This is a spoiler episode but, like, whatever.

Disclaimer: Good news! At the 12 minute mark of this week's episode, the buzzing sound is gone. Stay tuned until the very end of the episode to find out what happened. What that out of the way, here we go!

Hello dear listeners!

Root root root for the home team! When it comes to our interests, that means the James Bond franchise and its parent companies. Last week you heard part 1 of the 2nd James Bond Expansion Volume. Jason and Rodrigo left no stone unturned in their offerings of ideas to help this legendary property sore to new heights.

Lego sets featuring iconic lairs, a race track where drivers can feel like Bond behind the steering wheel of Astons, Lotus, and tanks, B-side title song albums. Killing James Bond!...Yeah, that part was a little outside the box, shall we say. BUT there was the idea of reinventing 007 for a new generation, quite literally, by sending a 00-DNA enhanced human into the future to fight the criminals James Bond can’t!

Whether it was gender-bending or playing with car gadgets, Jason and Rodrigo left us breathless for all sorts of reasons. Now, it’s time for the regular hosts Mathieu and Edgar to enter the ring and regale the listeners with some of their own ideas. Volume was a cake walk compared to what they have in store this time!

Sit back, relax, and get ready to imagine the world of James Bond reinvigorated, rejiggered, recalibrated, and maybe even re-skinned. Ooh! But we can say no more. You’ll just have to listen!

Brought to you by UNIVEX. When they're THIS intrepid, no shipment is too complex!

Check out Rodrigo Gonzalez at Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/rodrigoandres1/

Check the international man of mystery Jason Kim on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/jasxon88/

*Full disclosure, as mentioned on Twitter and Facebook already, while the overall audio quality of this episode is fine, listeners will certainly detect a distinct static noise in the background. We had some technical difficulties that were only fixed in the second hour of our discussion. Part 2 will sound much better!

Hello dear listeners!

(breathes in intensely through nostrils)

Can you smell it? That’s the smell of excitement that comes when we are at the dawn of a new James Bond film. It stands to reason the film will make a lot of money. Further adding to the studios coffers will be tie-in products such as ‘’making of books’’, Orlebar Brown and N. Peal clothing collections, specialty bottles of various alcoholic beverages, etc. But how else can an intellectual property such as 007 earn more bounty? How could one EXPAND the franchise and seduce more fans?

Listeners may remember in the spring of 2018 we released The Bond Expansion Volume 1 in which Mathieu and Edgar offered ideas as to how the franchise can break new ground. Well, out of the ashes of Edgar’s decrepit amusement park and in the aftermath of Mathieu’s cancelled pilot episode of Agents of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. comes another attempt at helping EON, Danjaq and co. reach new heights of glory. Welcome to The Bond Expansion Volume 2!

But this time, they’re not alone!

Our man in the field, the international man of mystery himself Jason Kim joins in on the fun, as does a voice that should be familiar to those that listened to the French version of our “Demain de meurt jamais” episode (that’s TND for those that aren’t fluent in Molière speak), Rodrigo Gonzalez.

In Part 1 of this epic 2-part bonanza, Jason and Rodrigo each take their turn at exploring the infinite possibilities. Creativity, edge of your seat excitement…controversy? The ideas are so clever and at times hilarious, we won’t even bother to spoil them with inside jokes in this synopsis. You’ll just have to listen to the episode!

Sit back, relax, and open your mind to how the James Bond phenomenon can take on even greater shapes and forms!

Find Jason Kim on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jasxon88/

Find Rodrigo Gonzalez on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/rodrigoandres1/

Hello dear listeners!

What do the best spy stories involve? Intrigue, of course. A decent plot as well, that goes without saying. Engaging characters certainly, what would a spy story be without that? Surprising twists and turns seem reasonable to expect as well. After all, spies are often engaged in mysterious missions from which the outcome can unravel in unexpected ways. Now imagine all of these elements coming together in a John Gardner Bond novel.

‘’Ridiculous!’’ we hear you say. ‘’Preposterous!’’ you shout. ‘’Unbelievable!’’ thunders from your mouths.

And yet it’s true.

Co-hosts Mathieu and Edgar return to the Gardner literary 007 this week with an in-depth discussion of the author’s third venture, Icebreaker. Whereas Licence Renewed had us mildly intrigued and entertained and For Special Services left us and friend Emery Cormier flabbergasted and confused, Icebreaker arrives like a fresh new start. Featuring one of the more complicated plots of any of the Bond novels, Fleming or otherwise, the boys have a lot of material to wade through.

In fact, there are so many intricate plot details and twists that Matt and Edgar’s heads might start spinning. Be that as it may, it nevertheless makes for a wonderfully different 00 reading experience. Even Fleming never pulled off what Gardner does here with Icebreaker.

So sit back and grab a hot cup of cocoa. It’s fitting that this episode should be released during a stretch of Montreal January when the temperature has dropped considerably. Rest assured however, for just as the weather outside is frightful, this Bond novel is so delightful!