CommanderBond.net

Now on the CBn main page...

The Disbanding of the 00 Section First Mentioned in Ian Fleming's 'Goldfinger'

'Changing world; changing times, James...'

I kind of liked how Gardner tried to make things more in line with real life. The only thing that bothered me was Bond cutting right back on the smoking and drinking. I wouldn't have minded if he had have cut back just a little but that was not the case. The other thing that disappointed me was the dull stories in the latter half of the series. Aside for the first two or three books they weren't particularly Flemingsque.

And, for that, matter, isn't some form of significant reorganisation of SIS/007 section mentioned in the very small salavaged part of Geoffrey Jenkins "Per Fine Ounce", quoted in KKBB2?

I always liked that brief bit in Goldfinger where the possible disbanding of the 00 Section is mooted. I like the "office politics" of it, and also the lack of security and permanence about Bond's job. You can just imagine what Bond must think of the prospect of change in the air.

I have to confess, I haven't read many of the Gardner or Benson books...maybe one or two by each. I stopped for a lot of reasons--one of which was the "updating" factor. A Saab, fer Chrissakes? No 'OO' section? Blechh. The writing, too, I found pretty bad.

What I found was that each of the continuation authors had one book in them that was pretty good. I enjoyed License Renewed and Zero Minus Ten. But each subsequent book got worse. Also, I hadn't read Fleming recently when I read them. The contrast if you compare side by side is striking. Ian really could write! Someday, I'll probably re-read Colonel Sun which I read when it came out and not since, but it's hard for me to work up much enthusiasm. I ordered the Titan Comic version and that may suffice.

An excellent article by SILHOUETTE MAN. While the 00 section is definitely one of the key things in Gardner's Licence Renewed, this small bit in Fleming's Goldfinger is easy to forget about. Love this bit:

‘Matter of fact, 007, I had the Treasury on to me the other day. Their liaison man thinks that the double-O section is redundant. Says that kind of thing is out of date. I couldn’t bother to argue’ - M’s voice was mild. ‘Just told him he was mistaken.’ (Bond could visualize the scene.)

Yes, David, there is! I thought there was another thread about this, and I mentioned this fact there, but it's a little too hot for me to navigate the board to find it right now (I'm in a cybercafe in Nicosia, Cyprus (republic side, of course), and it's about 38 degrees C.). But yes, Jenkins' draft pages mention that the Double O Section is due to be closed down, or may have been already - my impression/memory is that the Treasury have asked for help from M for an incident, but Bond expresses doubts that this will lead to the section being reinstated. It sounds to me like Geoffrey Jenkins spotted this bit in GOLDFINGER as well. I wonder if PER FINE OUNCE's plot might have other links to GOLDFINGER. All the rumours were that it was about diamonds, but of course the pages themselves suggest it involves gold smuggling in South Africa - at least on the periphery or as a plot trigger. And, of course, not only is the 007 Section disbanded, but Bond quits MI6 entirely - in the draft pages, at any rate.

Where was he supposed to work in the SIS then? The 'Diplomatic Section' as '7777' as Fleming mentioned in YOLT? And when/if he quit the Service altoghether? Freelance?

God, PFO makes me really curious!

What is/was Geoffrey Jenkins Per Fine Ounce?

Read about it here
http://commanderbond.net/article/3144

A writer called Jeremy Duns has dun some superb work.

Check out this excellent article here.