Bond & Beyond

As Amazon-MGM continue to drip feed us details of the next Bond film, Alex and James discuss what we could expect now that Dune and Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve has been given the helm for 007's 26th adventure.

If you want to email us your thoughts on Villeneuve and what he'll bring to the series, you can do so via bondandbeyondpod@gmail.com. You can find us on Facebook (just search 'Bond & Beyond'), Twitter (@bondbe...

Alex and James are back to discuss the next 007 outing - not a film, but a video game.

Hitman developer IO Interactive has finally revealed 007 First Light, an action stealth adventure game that reimagines the story of how James Bond became a Double-O agent. We discuss how the studio's success with Hitman and the agent fantasy it portrays sets them up perfectly for this game, as well as our hopes and initial reactions to the traile...

Alex and James emerge from semi-retirement to discuss the latest big Bond news (and first major development in the series since No Time To Die released). 

With Amazon taking both ownership and full creative control of the 007 franchise, what does this mean for the future of James Bond? We discuss our hopes, our concerns, our best guesses and our worst fears as the series enters a whole new chapter - the first Broccoli-less era and ...

James and Alex return with something a little different.

In this episode, we compete to see who can draft the Ultimate James Bond film by drawing from elements of all the previous films.

We each choose our favourite Bond actor, villain, girl, henchman, vehicle, gadgets, locations, actions scenes and more in the hopes of creating a new Bond adventure that would be a worthy addition to the series.

And here's the crucial bit: You deci...

Alex and James review Anthony Horowitz's third and final Bond novel, With A Mind To Kill. Set after the events of The Man With The Golden Gun (the original Ian Fleming novel, not the slide-whistle stunt film), the story sees Bond sent back into the heart of Russia to face the people who brainwashed him to kill M - while pretending that mission was successful. The stakes are raised as they evaluate him for another mission with dire ...

Alex and James are back after a shamefully long absence, and the topic of this episode is all things Bond.

We catch up on what we've been up to Bond-wise (and non-Bond-wise) for the past almost-year, including revisiting classic 007 video games, introducing the next generation of Bond fan to the original films, reading various Bond books, and weighing up the ongoing rumours as to who will be donning that tuxedo for Bond 26.

It's go...

Alex and James are joined by long-time friend of the show Rick Van Beem to discuss the Sound of 007 concert at the Royal Albert Hall, part of the 60th anniversary celebrations for James Bond's cinematic outings.

James and Rick were able to go and see the concert live, and you can watch highlights on Amazon Prime Video (or via this sneaky YouTube playlist. The trio discuss their favourite moments, the quality of performances by an ...

Continuing our celebration of James Bond's 60th Anniversary in cinemas, we gather another 20 facts from the history of the franchise and attempt to out-fact each other with the trivia we have uncovered.

(Why not play along, see how many you already know? And if you haven't done so, be sure to go back and listen to the first episode. Oh, and here's that Diet Coke ad you absolutely need to watch)

Challenge us by sending in your own f...

Earlier this year (actually, the same week we recorded this episode - so sorry for the delay), Bond overseers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson hinted that the next 007 film would be something of a reinvention.

Which leaves us with a LOT of questions.

On this episode, we discuss the various implications of reinventing Bond - especially in light of how dramatically Daniel Craig modernised the character - and the delicate balanc...

Alex and James are joined by Drew Roller, director of Goldenera - a documentary that extensively tells the story of Goldeneye 64.

Drew shares with us more about how he become interested in the development of the most iconic James Bond video game of all time, his own experiences with the franchise, and the discoveries he made during this project.

If you have any memory of Goldeneye 64, this is the episode for you - and the documenta...

Alex and James have had nine months to let the initial impressions of Craig's final 007 outing settle and are now ready to share their full opinions on No Time To Die.

We work through the film in our standard review format, weighing up the highs and lows, while trying really hard not to get caught up in speculation as to what comes next. 

If you want to email us, you can do so via bondandbeyondpod@gmail.com. You can find us on Face...

Alex and James are back. In the first of a three-part episode, we'll be celebrating 60 Years of the James Bond with 60 facts - and here's the first 20.

Your two hosts have each found 10 pieces of trivia about the films, actors, and more, and test each other's knowledge: for every fact the other co-host did not already know, the fact giver receives one point. (Why not play along yourself? How many do you know?)

Challenge us by sendi...

Alex and James are joined by composer and friend of the show Richey Rynkowski to discuss the best of Bond soundtracks.

We speak to Richey about his experiences as a composer (including some brushes with Bond), and his thoughts on the highs and lows of the soundtracks found throughout the series.

We also discuss the declining use of theme tunes, including in the Daniel Craig films - a topic that takes us on quite the tangent, and de...

The long wait is finally over. After six years, more than half a decade, 72 full months... you can finally find out what we think of No Time To Die.

This is not our full review, which will save for a much later viewing, but our initial impressions of the long-awaited 25th James Bond film and Daniel Craig's final outing. Needless to say, there are spoilers abound!

We discuss the highs and lows of No Time To Die, speculate about the ...

Alex and James are joined by special guest Matt for the first out a new series of episodes in which we look back at the tenure of each James Bond actor.

We start with Timothy Dalton, divisive in his own way but beloved by many fans. Dalton took over the role at perhaps the most interesting moment in the series, and had just two films to demonstrate his Bondness.

What was Dalton's legacy and how does he compare to his fellow Bonds?

...

Something special for you this time, and the perfect follow-up to our Ranking The Bond Cars episode.

Alex and James are joined by Alan Porter, author of The James Bond Lexicon and member of the Ian Fleming Foundation - the group that tracks down, restores and exhibits all the vehicles used in the Bond movies.

We speak to Porter about his work chronicling the world of 007 in the lexicon and the surprising stories behind the Bond In ...

Alex and James are rejoined by friend of the show Sam for our third ranking episode. This time, we're talking Bond cars.

Listen in as we debate which is the greatest Bond car, taking one from each of the 24 films and judging them based on appearance, gadgetry, use in action sequences, whether or not 007 drives it, and a ton of other criteria we may or may not have been making up as we went.

You can find our final rankings here.

Wa...