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James
Bond Is ... An Alien?
It's true, Uncle Geoff, our esteemed editor has definitive proof.
The British secret service's most deadly human weapon turns out not
to be so human after all.
An
interesting title, isn’t it? James Bond is an alien. How preposterous.
I mean what have I got to prove it? Other than the fact that the
secret agent has been around for over 50 years.
He’s in top physical condition, surviving against
all opposition during that time, excessively smoking and drinking
that would give anyone else lung cancer or cirrhosis of the liver
and womanising with a vengeance with no sexual diseases or maternity
lawsuits? Oh, and the interesting fact that he’s had at least five
different faces over the years.

All right, the last bit
could be put down to plastic surgery. I mean, how could you remain
a secret agent when your face is shoved in the public arena every
couple years. Saying that doesn’t help when this self-same spy uses
the same name when he’s out in the field. I had heard the idea that
the name ‘James Bond’ is generic and the replacement agent is given
the same cover identity each time.
It would be a lot easier
to just pin a target to the unfortunate agent and let him get killed
on his first inexperienced outing. The only saving grace for that
option is when he gets promoted, retires or resigns, can resume
a safe identity...assuming, of course, he can come down from the
adrenaline rush of each adventure.
I mean, every time there
was a news report that would have required his attention, you can
see the phone ringing in M’s office asking to come back into active
service cos he can do better than the latest whippersnapper. With
at least four previous ‘Bonds’ out there, that phone is going to
get mighty hot.
James Bond is reputed
to be an extraordinary man. I’ve listed most of these qualities
in the opening paragraph without repeating them here. He’s also
given a lot of latitude in his habits and attitude with his superiors.
In normal circumstances,
with even a fraction of the success rate, Bond had shown would have
got him promoted and even teaching the next generation. Strangely
enough, he stays out in the field and isn’t even considered for
such honours. It can’t all be adrenaline rush over the years and
age would still have caught up with him. He might well be a sadomasochist
and perverted enough to want to get his kicks that way but no one
man is that lucky.
Is there anything else
we can dismiss before going onto Bond’s extraterrestrial origin?
Bond has been wounded enough times to ignore the possibility that
he’s either a cyborg or android. Q might be clever but I don’t think
he’d let his creations out of their box if they weren’t returned
after a mission. Besides, I think he’d have made a better job of
it.
Cloning is only a modern
development and would take far too long to mature each body. I doubt
if that American SHIELD director Nick Fury would give Bond access
to the Infinity Formula he takes when he doesn’t let his former
‘Howlin’ Commandos’ and current SHIELD agents knowingly have any.
Could Bond be a mutant
of some sort? There’s been enough of them around. It could even
fit in with the change of his physical appearance. The only problem
with this particular detail is that anyone having such an ability
would surely have used it to avoid being spotted during any surveillance
duty.
Equally, the same could
be said if Bond was an alien. It would be too easy to use such an
ability to get out of any jam. Granted the use of Earth-based technology
could be used to disguise what was really used but there was never
any sign of reliance n anything beyond equipment and whatever was
to hand. Besides, there would have been too many people with him
not to mention something to someone somewhere down the line.
A lot of the above tends
to go back to Bond being extraordinary than anything special except
for one very important detail: his longevity and change in appearance.
How many alien species can you think of that have something comparable?
I can think of one off the top of my head. The only difference to
other examples is that we haven’t seen a regeneration on screen
yet or a TARDIS.
What we have seen is the
results of a regeneration over the years. Same physical shape just
a younger body each time. With the potential for injuries over the
years, a Gallifreyan regeneration is one of the few things that
can be used to keep a body going and get a basic change of appearance
with minimal personality changes.
Such an event would be
hushed up and in the world of espionage would be easy to conceal.
Hell, people would even think it’s just a different person over
the years rather than the same one. As I pointed out above, that
becomes patentingly ridiculous when you start thinking about it.
Most of the time, people wouldn’t have to think about it.
Most of Bond’s enemies
end up dead and anyone else involved either get reassigned or, dare
I suggest, discretely vanish than to stay too close to the secret
agent for long.
As typified by other Gallifreyans
who’ve visited Earth, they do have an affinity to this planet. Until
his first regeneration on Earth, there would have been no way of
knowing that Bond was from Gallifrey unless one did a full medical
scan. The fact that he wanted to hang around and wasn’t attracting
any alien menaces must have seemed like a bonus.
Besides, that more eccentric
Doctor chappie who kept popping up at UNIT seemed to have that problem
solved. There wasn’t even an issue to bring Bond in to sort out
that other Gallifreyan commonly called ‘The Master’ either. MI6
had ‘James Bond’ all to themselves and even had Ian Fleming as a
writer to complete the mythology.
There are other interesting
comparisons to the UNIT chap. Bond seems to attract a female companion
whenever he’s on assignment. He also has an instant grasp of technology
after a very brief briefing by Q. All right, so he doesn’t carry
a sonic screwdriver but no one says he has to be a scientist any
more than it’s a requirement to wear flamboyant clothes. Certainly
his flamboyant life-style more than makes up for it.
James Bond is both a special
and secret agent but MI6 aren’t going to say which. I doubt if even
George Smiley can access the vault where Bond’s real file is kept.
As to the whereabouts of his TARDIS? Who’s to say he wasn’t dropped
off by one of his colleagues? It’s not every Time Lord who has this
great desire to travel the cosmos even if they want some life-fulfilling
action from time to time.
Of all the aliens Bond
could be, I think we should be grateful that he’s not a Mekon, been
mysteronised or one of those squiggley-things found in the Antarctic
a few winters back. Certainly, the temperate climate agrees with
him so he can’t be a Predator and his tongue isn’t long enough to
be either Gene Simmons or a xenomorph.
The truth is out there
but will never make an X-File. MI6 aren’t going to admit it to their
agent’s origins either. James Bond, alien. You can see Disney wanting
to buy his outer space and time adventures. I don’t think the BBC
will buy it though, especially as ITV has the broadcast film rights.
GF Willmetts
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