Q (James Bond) Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Q is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and movies. Q, like M, is a job title rather than a name. He is the head of Q branch, the fictional research and development division of the British Secret Service. The Q character actually appears only fleetingly in Ian Fleming's novels, but comes into his own in the successful Bond movie series.
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2 John Cleese Q 3 Gadgets 4 Other Q's 5 See also 6 External links |
In the James Bond movies, the relationship between Bond and Q is one of seeming antipathy. The gadgets supplied by Q are almost invariably destroyed as a result of Bond's use of them, and Q is constantly exhorting Bond to take better care of them and to occasionally read the instruction manual. Bond usually responds by displaying an instant mastery of whatever device Q hands to him. In Licence to Kill Q sides with Bond, supplying him with gadgetry and even helping him operationally despite his resignation from MI6.
The ancestry of the Q character is rather complicated. In the Fleming novels there are frequent references to 'Q branch' and in Dr. No, the service armourer Major Quentin Boothroyd (played by Peter Burton only in Dr. No) replaces Bond's Beretta pistol with a Walther PPK. In the second movie, From Russia With Love, it is Desmond Llewelyn who plays the role of Boothroyd. From then on Llewelyn's character is most oftenly referred to as Q, but, nevertheless, he is credited as 'Boothroyd' in From Russia With Love and also referred to as Major Boothroyd in dialogue in The Spy Who Loved Me.
In The World Is Not Enough an assistant to Q was introduced, known as R and played by John Cleese. His name was never revealed, but he is credited as R from a joke in The World is Not Enough which Bond asks to the elder Q: "If you're Q does that make him R?" (Cleese's character responds, "Ah yes, the legendary 007 wit. Half of it, anyways.") Due to Llewelyn's death in 1999, John Cleese's character took over the job of the former Q, and so from then on was known as Q.
Cleese's Q is almost a radical departure from Major Boothroyd. From the start, Cleese's Q never liked Bond based simply from Bond's reputation of not returning items in prestine order. When Bond tries to joke with Q, Cleese's Q is a lot quicker at comebacks than Boothroyd ever was making him more of a match for Bond in terms of wit.
Though Boothroyd and Cleese's Q are different from one another they both share the same attitude towards their professional work. In almost every film one or the other have have said the words "I never joke about my work" to Bond.
As of 2004, Cleese is still the current Q and is rumored to be returning in the as yet unnamed James Bond 21.
In the 1983 non-EON production Never Say Never Again, Q branch is headed by a man known as both "Algernon" and "Q". It is unclear whether he is intended to be a successor to the EON Q (like the film's M).
Another version of Q appears in the non-official spoof, Casino Royale, played by Geoffrey Bayldon.
This is an Article on Q (James Bond). Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Q (James Bond) Desmond Llewelyn as Q (a.k.a Major Boothroyd)
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John Cleese Q
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Gadgets
Some of the more memorable gadgets supplied by Q include:Other Q's
John Gardner, in his James Bond novels, introduced the character of Ann Reilly, a young female assistant to Q who Bond nicknamed Q'ute and subsequently had a brief romantic relationship. Q'ute had taken over the running of Q Branch by the time Gardner left the book series, but when Raymond Benson took over, he ignored the character of Q'ute and gave Q Branch back to Major Boothroyd with no explanation.See also
External links