With the Saint, if that's the Ian Ogilvy series, just checked Wiki and it is, then I think most of the programmes were shot on location, so the lack of the studios might not make a big difference. If I remember rightly many of them were set in Italy for cost purposes, despite a rumour I heard that they had to pay protection money to the Mafia to get them made!:mad:

There's one episode (a quick google tells me that it was called "The Poppy Chain") where Simon Templar helps a friend track down an organised crime gang based in France who supplied the drugs that killed his daughter. At the end of the episode, after disposing of the gang, the friend suggests to the Saint that they should go after the Mafia next :D

Cheers,
Nigel.
 

Thande

Donor
Obviously changes to The Saint may have consequences for James Bond (did Brainbin do an update about Bond, I think he mentioned it but I don't think I ever read that one).
 
Ah, so Roger Moore as Bond has been butterflied away anyway, so the question is moot. Pity, he's my favourite Bond, but you can't have everything.
Oh boy, would it have been nice if you were here when we were all comparing Bonds! I was Moore's sole defender (though I did rank him behind Connery) and everyone else was ranking him dead last :( (I really felt I had to cast Billington in the part ITTL, considering how close he came, and indeed how many times he came so close).

Thande said:
Can I do my anecdote about where "The World Is Not Enough" comes from, or are you already aware?
No, I wasn't aware, but even if I was, I would welcome the anecdote anyway :)
 

Thande

Donor
Oh boy, would it have been nice if you were here when we were all comparing Bonds! I was Moore's sole defender (though I did rank him behind Connery) and everyone else was ranking him dead last :( (I really felt I had to cast Billington in the part ITTL, considering how close he came, and indeed how many times he came so close).
Partly because Moore stars in several of my favourite Bond films, and partly because I think the slightly campy Sixties feel is an integral part of the Bond character: no it's not like the Ian Fleming novels, but Bond is not defined solely by those. Bond is much like Batman: if you try and do an adaptation that tries to be overly serious and tries to act like the camp side of the character does not exist, though it can be technically impressive it will eventually leave a bitter taste in the mouth from over-exposure of one aspect of the character at the expense of the whole.

No, I wasn't aware, but even if I was, I would welcome the anecdote anyway :)
Okay. Well although James Bond is fictional, he is a member of the real Bond family, an important part of the British Establishment: Bond Street in London is named after the family's seventeenth-century member Sir Thomas Bond, for instance, who is also mentioned in Samuel Pepys' diary. The origin of the motto is in an earlier member of the family (possibly Thomas Bond's father, I can't remember) who was a privateer (i.e. pirate with excellent PR) in the mould of Sir Francis Drake and at the same time. This earlier Bond raided Spanish treasure ships in the Caribbean, as one does, and at one point he captured a Spanish outpost in somewhere like Cuba or Hispaniola. He temporarily took possession of the Spanish Governor's mansion, and above its doorway was a sculpture showing the figure of Columbus leaping over the globe of the world, with the motto "ORBIS NON SUFFICIT" -- "The World Is Not Enough". Bond the privateer liked the motto enough to adopt it for his family, and thence to the scene in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" when the man from the Royal College of Arms mentions that this is the motto of the Bond family: it really is, in real life.

Ultimately the origins of the motto can be considered a variation on Spain's national motto (originally from Charles V): in classical times, the Greeks warned of the Pillars of Heracles (Gibraltar) "Non plus ultra" (Nothing Further Beyond, i.e. westward), and when Columbus discovered the New World, Charles V adopted the opposing motto "Plus Ultra" ([There is something] Further Beyond"). You get the idea.
 

Thande

Donor
Thande, why do you say he was a member of that family. Fleming picked up the name from a bird book!! Birds of the Caribbean, to be precise.

It's debated about whether that's actually true or not. In any case, regardless of where he got the name originally, he decided to connect him with the real Bond family in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". Picking names out of books can be a perilous business. Bernard Cornwell needed the name of a cowardly turncoat Royal Navy captain for a Sharpe book and liked the sound of "Bampfylde" which he found in the phone book...then when the book was published he was inundated with angry letters from members of the Bampfylde family, which it turns out has a long heroic record as members of the Royal Navy. He had to issue an apology in his next book.
 

Glen

Moderator
Oh boy, would it have been nice if you were here when we were all comparing Bonds! I was Moore's sole defender (though I did rank him behind Connery) and everyone else was ranking him dead last :( (I really felt I had to cast Billington in the part ITTL, considering how close he came, and indeed how many times he came so close).

I actually liked Roger Moore, and did not push for Billington, but Billington was a cool change.

No, I wasn't aware, but even if I was, I would welcome the anecdote anyway :)

Please do share.
 

Glen

Moderator
BTW, Brainbin, since you have freed Roger Moore from the Bond franchise, I fully expect a series of Saint movies with Moore as Templar. Make it so!;)
 

Falkenburg

Monthly Donor
It's true that Life of Brian used the same sets as Jesus of Nazereth, but I thought those sets were in Tunisia rather than Elstree.

Granted they were. My point was more that Grade without Elstree might dissuade him from pursuing Film interests.
That might completely alter the production of Jesus of Nazareth (perhaps it is shot entirely in Italy?), or butterfly it altogether with obvious knock-on effects for Brian (assuming it, in turn, comes about at all ITTL :eek:).

~RE. Miss Piggy & The King (Or "The King and Moi!")~
I like that idea so much that I'm willing to call it canon. Elvis Presley will be a guest star in the second season (1975-76).

:D Now all that remains is to figure out a song. :D
Would Elvis want a standard or would he rather 'boost' something off his current release?
The comedic potential of "Suspicious Minds" or "Big Hunk of Love" would seem to trump "Moody Blue".
I'm guessing "Love Me (Pork) Tenderloin" would be pushing it. :p

Falkenburg
 

Glen

Moderator
Granted they were. My point was more that Grade without Elstree might dissuade him from pursuing Film interests.
That might completely alter the production of Jesus of Nazareth (perhaps it is shot entirely in Italy?), or butterfly it altogether with obvious knock-on effects for Brian (assuming it, in turn, comes about at all ITTL :eek:).

~RE. Miss Piggy & The King (Or "The King and Moi!")~


:D Now all that remains is to figure out a song. :D
Would Elvis want a standard or would he rather 'boost' something off his current release?
The comedic potential of "Suspicious Minds" or "Big Hunk of Love" would seem to trump "Moody Blue".
I'm guessing "Love Me (Pork) Tenderloin" would be pushing it. :p

Falkenburg

Fozie and Elvis do a duet of "Teddy Bear" - always liked that song!
 

Falkenburg

Monthly Donor
Ah but would Piggy allow anyone to steal the limelight from her? Or would Elvis play along and appear in a fair number of skits?

Falkenburg
 
It seems that, IOTL, the lone ventures where his creativity was not met with commensurate success were his non-Muppet-Show-movies in the 1980s. The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth are the shining examples here. I obviously can't say what his career will look like when The Muppet Show finally comes to an end, but we'll see.

Maybe his work on Star Trek will allow his non-muppet show ideas to be taken more seriously.

Let's not get carried away, now - the "death" of the variety show is usually pinned to 1980 (with the series Pink Lady and Jeff), with In Living Color airing a scant decade later - and other variety revivals being attempted prior to that; some meeting with marginal success, such as Dolly and The Tracey Ullman Show (though you probably remember that one better for the weird cartoon about those yellow people that spun off from it). Also, syndicated variety shows like Hee-Haw endured into the 1990s.

In the UK, The Good Old Days ran until 1983. It was produced as a Victorian music hall, including having the audience dress up in period costume.

British Muppet aside, these are all intriguing possibilities.

Whenever you say something is intriguing, I get the feeling that you're planning something.

Cheers,
Nigel.
 
Speaking of Dallas, I have one request (if Dallas goes ahead like OTL):

Keep Larry Hagman as J.R. It is his best role.

A housecat named Bobby McGee? Was this before or after Janis Joplin's hit?
 
I actually liked Roger Moore, and did not push for Billington, but Billington was a cool change."

Roger Moore was the first Bond I saw. Spy who love Me. Since then I seen all the films and read the books and seen Moore in other films. I like Moore as a Actor but not in the Bond Films other Than Spy and For your Eyes Only. The rest of his Bond film with Moore have problems.

I like Billington as Bond. Influence by this timeline I pick him over Moore for My James Bond Challange
https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=245144

If I ever post my Unit 1970's timeline, Billington and the James Bond films are one of the reason that the BBC goes ahead with Unit tv show.
I have Billington picked as Bond after On her Majesty Secret Service. Connery than debates over comming back and Garry Anderson find himself tieup with season two of UFO and rather Billington will be avaible.
Connery cames back for Diamonds are Forever and so Season two of UFO can go ahead.
Garry Anderson decides to make use of Billington as a posible James Bond and instead of sticking with just Moonbase stories as plan for season two, does Bond like stories on earth with Billington taking the lead and the Moonbase stories with Ed Bishop in the lead.

UFO become more successful and even make Sale to CBS as a summer replacement.
Seeing the success that Anderson is having with UFO, the BBC decided to do the UNIT TV show.
 
:eek::eek::eek:

Tho I did like him marginally better as Templar than Bond. (His Watson was good, but I really liked him best as ffolkes.:cool:)

Love Moore as ffolkes. I wish he played Bond as the hard guy he plays in Wild Geese.
If Moore does not play Bond, could he return a Templar for the Saint Returns?
 
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