Would they have even worked? (James Bond Plots)

[FalloutJack]

Would Dr. No's jamming installation have succeeded according to plan? Could Goldfinger really irradiate and render useless Fort Knox? Can Scaramanga really live the way he does without being caught? It occurred to me one day that some of the old James Bond plots - or even some of the more recent ones - might not be even possible. I'm not actually sure, but I thought I'd ask about it and see what other people thought.

(This is by movie, by the way. I haven't read the books and it seems they are different.)​

Pick a Bond plot, any Bond plot, and tell me if it works, like if they would have ever succeeded if not for Bond. This DOES mean that other normal measures still apply, like soldiers and the laws of physics.

 

[Queen Michael]

Obviously Fort Knox can be irradiated. But not by Goldfinger, since Bond was there to stop him.

 

[FalloutJack]

Obviously Fort Knox can be irradiated. But not by Goldfinger, since Bond was there to stop him.

I did adjust it slightly, since the idea here was to ask if any of these could be pulled off realistically, like in the real world.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

I mean, Ft Knox could be irradiated, but I'm not sure how that would make the gold any more useless than it already is.

Though, back in the day...*googles*

Guys, wait. Holy Shit. Goldfinger's plan would've worked, through not for the reason he had thought.
It would've worked better

Goldfinger claimed this radiation would keep the US gold reserve untouchable for 58 years. However, the radioactive form of gold is very unstable and would turn to liquid mercury within days. So instead of making the gold reserve untouchable, Goldfinger would completely destroy it. Although his prediction on what would happen to the gold was wildly inaccurate, his expected stock value might still go up by 10 times, like he claimed in the film.

 

[09philj]

The plot in Live and Let Die would certainly work, and is surprisingly grim and gritty for an Bond plot of the time. Dr Kananga's plan is simply to flood the US with cheap heroin through his fast food distribution network, then jack the price up when everyone is addicted.

 

[KaraFang]

Dr No - it was working, only thing Dr No has to do is ensure that nobody can track the jammer. If that can be done, then space ability would be Eastern Bloc only by them jamming every USA attempt. Pretty solid.

From Russia - They almost got the Lecter and almost killed Bond. If it hadn't been Bond, would have worked.

Goldfinger - Yes. As explained above. Even if it didn't turn to mercuary and remained just "dirty" gold, the world back then ran on the gold standard heavily. It's a pretty solid plan.

Thunderball - worked perfectly. would have been paid without James.

You only live twice - worked VERY well with the last scenes being "if this one is taken, we're at war!". Blofelds plan to incite war between western and eastern powers for an asian power was working VERY well.

On her Majesty's - Solid idea. Intense brainwashing and indoctrination leads to people willing to spread bacterial war agents? Pretty good analogy for some of the feared terror attacks now.

I'll check the others... may update

 

[Imre Csete]

I'm a heretic who loves Timothy Dalton the most, those movies are pretty down-to-earth, defecting soviet agents and killing dudes because he is pissed.

The Living Daylights is a standard Cold War spy movie plot, so it works imo.

In Licence to Kill, Bond is the plot, so no Bond no plot.

 

[Catnip1024]

Die Another Day - If you could get that sort of impact from a space-mounted laser, do you not think there'd be dozens up there by now? Space-mounted death ray trumps international law.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I have watched almost all of them, and yet I forgot all of their plots.

That's what you get for binging I guess.

 

[TheVampwizimp_v1legacy]

Funny how no one has even mentioned the most recent, i.e., Daniel Craig films. Probably because the plots in those movies are so convoluted that no one can tell if they would have worked. Like what was the guy in Quantum of Solace actually after? A water reservoir in whatever South American country? So he could gouge people on the price of water? What a weird plan. Might have worked though.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Goldfinger...you can muck up the market by any attack on Fort Knox, just gassing people outside would cause panic. Getting inside and initiating any sort of atomic device, yeah.

You Only Live Twice...you have a secret space project, and you can launch rockets and have them make conventional landings intact at their launch site without anyone seeing them? No.

The Spy Who Loved Me...launching missiles at both sides during the Cold War could very well trigger WW3, you only need one side to make the wrong move.

Moonraker...you have a secret space project, and you can launch space shuttle and have an invisible space station in orbit? Nevermind radar, you should be able to see that thing visually, and you;d not necessarily need a telescope.

For Your Eyes Only...yeah.

The Living Daylights...yeah.
Licence to Kill...yeah.

Goldeneye...EMP does not work like that, but close enough. You don't need a massive hidden satellite dish, though.
Tomorrow Never Dies...stealth boat no, everything else yeah.

Die Another Day...no. Nooooooo.

 

[Silvanus]

The Spy Who Loved Me...launching missiles at both sides during the Cold War could very well trigger WW3, you only need one side to make the wrong move.

Well, Stromberg might succeed in causing the war, but the next stage of his plan-- populating the Earth with his chosen people, consisting of a tiny number arbitrarily chosen and kept safe from nuclear war in a big metal spider underwater-- might have hit one or two logistical snags.

 

[Worgen]

I mean, Ft Knox could be irradiated, but I'm not sure how that would make the gold any more useless than it already is.

Though, back in the day...*googles*

Guys, wait. Holy Shit. Goldfinger's plan would've worked, through not for the reason he had thought.
It would've worked better

Goldfinger claimed this radiation would keep the US gold reserve untouchable for 58 years. However, the radioactive form of gold is very unstable and would turn to liquid mercury within days. So instead of making the gold reserve untouchable, Goldfinger would completely destroy it. Although his prediction on what would happen to the gold was wildly inaccurate, his expected stock value might still go up by 10 times, like he claimed in the film.

Well that would have gotten rid of the gold but him actually doing the plan would be pretty much impossible. See, fort knox the base where the 1st, 13th and 7th Cavalry Brigade are housed, so he wouldn't just have solders to deal with, but tanks, lots of them.

 

[FalloutJack]

I have to agree with both 'Repopulating The Earth' parts of schemes in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, the high-visibility of the station in Moonraker, and the impossibility of holding such an advanced and undetectable rocket launching area (that is reusable) in You Only Live Twice.

I will add to it another problem from The Spy Who Loved Me. You can't expect to confuse a sub and swallow it up with an oil tanker, AND NOBODY FIRES A TORPEDO. Stromburg could have been defeated by one self-sacrificing patriotic navelman who skuttles the lot (and the sub could probably still get away intact, so not much of a sacrifice either).

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

I mean, Ft Knox could be irradiated, but I'm not sure how that would make the gold any more useless than it already is.

Though, back in the day...*googles*

Guys, wait. Holy Shit. Goldfinger's plan would've worked, through not for the reason he had thought.
It would've worked better

Goldfinger claimed this radiation would keep the US gold reserve untouchable for 58 years. However, the radioactive form of gold is very unstable and would turn to liquid mercury within days. So instead of making the gold reserve untouchable, Goldfinger would completely destroy it. Although his prediction on what would happen to the gold was wildly inaccurate, his expected stock value might still go up by 10 times, like he claimed in the film.

Well that would have gotten rid of the gold but him actually doing the plan would be pretty much impossible. See, fort knox the base where the 1st, 13th and 7th Cavalry Brigade are housed, so he wouldn't just have solders to deal with, but tanks, lots of them.

Thought he knocked everybody out with sleeping gas.

Difficult, but not impossible

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Funny how no one has even mentioned the most recent, i.e., Daniel Craig films. Probably because the plots in those movies are so convoluted that no one can tell if they would have worked. Like what was the guy in Quantum of Solace actually after? A water reservoir in whatever South American country? So he could gouge people on the price of water? What a weird plan. Might have worked though.

That's basically just an evil(er) Nestle.

 

[Worgen]

I mean, Ft Knox could be irradiated, but I'm not sure how that would make the gold any more useless than it already is.

Though, back in the day...*googles*

Guys, wait. Holy Shit. Goldfinger's plan would've worked, through not for the reason he had thought.
It would've worked better

Goldfinger claimed this radiation would keep the US gold reserve untouchable for 58 years. However, the radioactive form of gold is very unstable and would turn to liquid mercury within days. So instead of making the gold reserve untouchable, Goldfinger would completely destroy it. Although his prediction on what would happen to the gold was wildly inaccurate, his expected stock value might still go up by 10 times, like he claimed in the film.

Well that would have gotten rid of the gold but him actually doing the plan would be pretty much impossible. See, fort knox the base where the 1st, 13th and 7th Cavalry Brigade are housed, so he wouldn't just have solders to deal with, but tanks, lots of them.

Thought he knocked everybody out with sleeping gas.

Difficult, but not impossible

He only knocked out the people at fort nox, not the surrounding base. And statistically there would be at least a few tank crews out on maneuvers so they would be able to come quick.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Live and Let Die, Licence to Kill...

Funnily enough both of them about drugs...

The former merely aping religiosity to push forward another type of opiate on people that they ultimately profit from as well, brutally cowing local drug producers and distributors?

I feel like if L&LD were made today people would call it a deceptively clever critique on modern capitalism and the overtly materialistic nature of Protestantism. Yeah... anyways, totally could possibly see that happening in a country run by Protestants, performing a vicious drug war, yet gets given massive hand outs from Big Pharma who profits from a 1 in 3 addiction rate to painkillers.

L&LD happened. It happened and is currently happening. Bond was merely murdering the wrong people.