James Bond and Continuity

From Dr. No up until On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the James Bond films existed in the same universe and there was somewhat of an attempt to keep a loose continuity (no so much as actors like Blofeld and Felix Lieter, who generally changed from film to film). But after Sean Connery returned for one more Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever, you sense that film and the ones that would come after existed in a completely different universe. Also gone, due to various legal issues that haunted the franchise for decades (which also includes studio bankruptcy and what not), the Bond films became almost stand-alone, with very little connection to previous adventures or ones that would come after. Only one time after On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (perhaps the best Bond film of the 1960s era), was there a direct reference to Bond’s wife Tracy –that being the sort of comic pre-credit opening to For Your Eyes Only.

Then, I believe, on one occasion, in Licensed to Kill, the second Timothy Dalton Bond film was there another throwaway line about Bond being married before. But basically from Diamonds Are Forever through Die Another Day, these films were separate from the 1960s films.

When the franchise was rebooted in 2006, there was a planned attempt to bring back some of the continuity of the Connery era, but the long gestating legal issues with characters, plots, and organizational names, was still going on. So Producers Barbara Broccolli and Michael G. Wilson had to do a few work a rounds that hinted they wanted to bring back Blofeld, SMERSH and SPECTRE, but licensing issues prevented them, so the idea of Quantum was created.

Then in 2013, the legal battle between all parties (most who were now dead) was settled and with the acquisition rights to SPECTRE and its associated characters were folded into future films and there was a minor retcon to the films continuity, especially with the three previous films, were the Quantum organization that was alluded to in Casino Royale and fully introduced in Quantum of Solace, being now reimagined as division within the Spectre organization rather than any type independent outliers. It’s also implied in the film Spectre, they are no longer active. Furthermore, the writers and producers also tied the events of Skyfall to Craig's first two Bond films by revealing Raoul Silva was also associated with Spectre, making Skyfall less of a solo story now.

Whatever happens when Bond returns to the screen, I hope there is some attempt to keep continuity. Not saying they don’t have to continuations, that I’m fine with standalone films, but we do need to prevent things like Bond being tagged with a tracker three times (Licensed to Kill, Casino Royale, and Spectre) so MI6 can keep an eye on him.

It would also be nice to see Blofled return along with Spectre in some ways. While the idea that Russian run SMERSH is great as well, I don’t see that organization being run by the Soviets in the 21^st Century.