Merry Xmas 2022

Queen Elizabeth II has died

Team and members of Commanderbond.net wish to express their sincerest condolences.

To Russia, Without Love

Merry Xmas 2021

The 007th Minute: No Time to Die

In a year that has seen more spectacle than some decades…

At a time when we all can do with some witty entertainment – while times are neither witty nor entertaining…

Commanderbond.net is proud to announce its third e-book ‘The 007th Minute: No Time to Die’ by Jacques Stewart, also containing ‘Casino Royale Vol. 1 – The Tarantino / Brosnan version’.

As with the first two CBn ebooks ‘The 007th Minute’ and ‘The 007th Chapter’, Heiko Baumann again provided cover design, illustrations and typesetting of the tome.

It can be downloaded for free here. If you want to give something in return please consider to donate a sum to UNICEF.

This time it’s punctual – promise!

Aren’t you a little early, Mr Bond? Had we expected you so soon the ’69 Bollinger would be on ice by now…

Alas, we simply didn’t know when to expect you. We kept on being told you were on your way in April 2020. Then it was teatime November 2020, then dinner April 2021, and it was only half an hour ago we heard you would only be here in time for a double premiere on September 28, – in London and Zurich for the Zurich Film Festival. 

You must be as famished as we are by now. 

Anyway, welcome back, Mr Bond. 

NO TIME TO DIE World Premiere at Royal Albert Hall 28. September 2021

NO TIME TO DIE Swiss Premiere at Zurich Film Festival 28. September 2021

No time for No Time to Die

On January 22nd 2021, Eon Productions Ltd. announced that the premiere of the 25th James Bond movie NO TIME TO DIE would once again be postponed due to the global Corona pandemic. The new date for the premiere is now October 8th 2021. This is CBn’s take on it:

No time for No Time to Die

Alternate lyrics written by the team of Commanderbond.net

We should have known
It would be postponed.
Just goes to show
That the things don’t always
Go the way we hope.

We were aware:
A pandemic isn’t fair.
We’ll have to bear
Another few months for
This movie to premiere

Were we stupid to believe
That we’d see it this spring?
Oh, this virus is just one horrid thing.

Hope the franchise will survive,
Hope we all will stay alive.
Pushed back once, twice and thrice,
All this waiting isn’t nice.
But before this has gone by:
No time for No Time To Die.

Just let it burn,
It should be our least concern.
These are lessons that we’ve learned:
That James Bond will … return.

That tomorrow never dies,
That we all only live twice.
Live and let live, not live and let die,
We’ll be there when it arrives.
But in these pandemic times:
No time for No Time To Die.

No time for No Time To Die
No time for No Time To Die

Push again, once or twice,
It may help to save some lives.

First this has to pass, and then
We’ll see No Time To Die.

Download the special screen design here:

Merry Xmas 2020

Peter Lamont dies aged 91

Throughout the day various sources report that production designer and art director Peter Lamont has died. Confirmation finally came from the official 007 Twitter account.

Peter Lamont’s career spanned an impressive 56 years, during which he worked his way up from draughtsman to set decorator and further to art director and production designer. He often worked closely with fellow production designer Sir Ken Adam and was involved on every Bond film from GOLDFINGER through CASINO ROYALE, just skipping TOMORROW NEVER DIES.

That year he won the Oscar as TITANIC’s art director. His work on FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and ALIENS earned him three more Academy Award nominations.

The community of Bond fans suffers another bad loss this year. In an Eon statement Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli call Lamont “a much beloved member of the Bond family and a giant in the industry,” who was “inextricably linked with the design and aesthetic of James Bond since GOLDFINGER.”

Sean Connery has died

Connery. Sean Connery.
What can you say about a man whose work already had achieved a legendary status during his lifetime? A man who was one of the last true movie stars. A versatile actor who got the chance at big time stardom early in his career by taking on a part which nobody knew would still generate blockbuster movies almost 60 years later.
Countless obituaries will give you all the details about Connery´s long and productive career, about the many awards he was given, the big range of films he starred in. In fact, I had already written one such obituary, as it is always done for newspapers so one can react immediately at the sad news which inevitably come. But when I learned about Connery´s death today and reread what I had written I did not think it did justice to what I actually thought and felt. So I threw it away and started again.
Because we´re here on a James Bond fan site. And people come and discuss all things related to this character for one reason.
Sean Connery.
If he had not starred in “Dr. No” we would not have gotten the series of films which built on that surprise success. If Connery had not embodied Ian Fleming´s creation so charismatically, giving the character his own spin, audiences would not have wanted more of it.
Sure, every generation gets its own Bond actor to celebrate, and some here would consider Connery not even their favourite. I was born in 1969, ironically the year of George Lazenby´s only turn as Bond, but I grew up with Roger Moore, the one actor who was able to carry the torch Connery had left behind and cemented the immortal status of the film series for all future incarnations. When I saw Connery as Bond for the first time I was even taken aback at how different he was from Moore. I was admittedly a bit scared of him because he was so much more forceful and sardonic and at times even cruel. But I discovered very soon that he was a perfect Bond. I saw a man who entered a room and commanded it. A man who was really a man, possessing strength and wit and skills, employing brute force but only when it was needed, showing fear without giving in to it, standing his ground even in the face of insurmountable problems or bad guys trying to start World War III from a hollowed out volcano. A man whose toughness was never mean-spirited but an asset to rely on.

Of course, as we all know, the proudly Scottish actor born in Edinburgh as Thomas Sean Connery, was eager to move on from Bond, establishing himself not only as a popular star actor but also as someone who did not play along with the idiocy of the film industry. He always fought for what he felt was right, he carved out his space and delivered performances which proved that he could do anything as an actor. His wry humour lifted every film he starred in, his appearance even seemed to become more powerful the older he got. The camera loved him, and so did world wide audiences. When he decided to retire and not make any movie anymore, cinema was all the poorer for it.

Yes, I never knew Sean Connery personally. And I would never claim that I at least felt as if I knew him, just from watching his movies. Still, there is a certain (pardon the pun) bond between a performer and his audience. Something that immediately pulls us into a story when the actor is skilled and charming and compelling enough to do so. Sean Connery was one of those rare actors, and to think that he, even after a long life of 90 years, has left us, is hard to accept.  Because this reminds us that this part of the past is really gone. His absence is a huge loss. There are not many actors of such iconic stature around anymore, and there are not many who reach that point in today´s cinema. And in a year which already saw the deaths of Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg and Michael Lonsdale, the passing of Sean Connery is another gutpunch for us Bond fans. A year which did not allow us to watch the last Bond film of Daniel Craig´s tenure now even takes away the first and greatest and best Bond of them all.

But as Sean Connery as Bond has taught us: never give up. Fight for what is right. Keep up the good work. And stay in the game until the evil geniuses are taken care of.

Photo: © 1962 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. and Danjaq, LLC.