James Bond: The Ultimate Dossier

Distributed by
Eidos Interactive Limited

Price: £29.99

Software required : Windows 95 or Windows 3.11

A s Pierce Brosnan says in the trailers currently doing the rounds in UK cinemas for the 18th James Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies, due out in the UK on December 12th 1997, "The name's Bond. You know the rest..."

1997 marks the 35th anniversary of Bond in the cinema, and what better way to celebrate than to investigate the James Bond: The Ultimate Dossier, which will tell you just about everything you need to know about the master-spy, his friends, his enemies, the cars, the weapons, the gadgets, and of course... the women.

Installing the Dossier

Installation is simple. After inserting CD1, run the Setup program which sets up a desktop group named MGM Interactive. From here, click on the James Bond Dossier which brings up the background graphics for the dossier and highlights a single red button at the top-right of the screen asking you to click on that.

Once done, the dossier unfolds piece by piece before your eyes in quite a stylish way, aping the sophisticated style of the Bond series. Pictures relating to the various sections are shown on the screen to aid ease of selection, with the pictures in each section diffusing into others to show more of what that area has to offer. For example, the "The Women" section shows different portraits of the women in Bond's career.

Contents

The Missions

There are 17 Missions - one for each of the films in the Bond series from Dr. No to Goldeneye. Accessing the mission plays an extended trailer for that film.

Taking Goldeneye as an example, first the trailer is shown, this one beginning with the leap off the top of the damn down to where Bond is to meet agent 006, Alec Trevelyan. Then you can choose one of the following while the classic theme tune plays on in the background.

Mission Profile

The mission profile for Goldeneye is eight pages long. You can read each page in turn or click on any one of the pages at any time. This profile informs you that Alec Trevelyan, a one-time ally of James Bond when he was active agent 006, along with renegade Soviet officers General Ourumov and Xenia Onatopp are attempting to take control of the Goldenye weapons system, and Bond has to stop it.

Each mission profile gives a full description of the film with photo-quality pics and the related Bond theme running along in the background. Beware though that the ending is revealed, so if there's an entry in the series which you've not yet seen, then you may prefer to see that film first before reading the conclusion.

Database

The database for each film allows you access to information on a number of key features in the following classes...

• Allies including Natalya Siminova (newcomer Izabella Scorupco), Jack Wade (played by Cape Fear's Joe Don Baker) and Miss Moneypenny (Goldeneye featuring Samantha Bond as the third Miss Moneypenny in the series)
• Q-Branch detailing various gadgets used by Bond. A profile, use and specification for each is given...and did you know that a number of the gadgets in Bond films being actual prototypes of real-developed items ?
• Vehicles include the obligatory Aston Martin, a Tiger Helicopter and Jack Wade's car which needs a kick-start from a sledgehammer to get it going!
• Villains include Alan Cumming's Boris, and a classic still-frame shot of his fate along with a sound file proclaiming his catch-phrase "I am invincible!"
• Women including the aforementioned Natalya, plus bad-babe Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen, also seen in Clive Barker's Lord of Illusions) along with a clip of the sex-in-the-sauna scene... ;)

  NB. These can all be viewed by class or alphabetical order.

  Location

  A click on this icon brings up a detailed map with sweeping arrows to indicate Bond's movements. Then, by clicking on any city name brings up the opportunity to access Bond's exact actions at that location, including the Arkangel Weapons facility where the film begins, and the beauty of St. Petersberg in Russia.

  NB. In each of the above sections (Profile, Database, or Location), you can click through each simple < and > buttons onscreen, rather than having to go back to the list which aides ease of use.

  Release

  This section gives details of the original US cinema release date, box-office details around the world, reviews of the film, plus details of what current events were happening at the time, to bring the mood of the film into perspective - something to take note of especially in the case of Goldeneye as the Cold War ended between the release of that and the previous Bond action-adventure, Licence To Kill.

  Backlot

  The backlot provides a selection of behind-the-scenes photos showing general snapshots of cast and crew, and how certain shots were created. All of these can also be viewed in close-up.

  Credits

  As the title of this section suggests, full film credits for each Bond story are given with links to a number of the main cast and crew.

The Women

Back in the main menu, this part of the dossier is indicated by the face of a member of the female persuasion who has caught Bond's eye by fair means or foul.

The entire female cast of good girls and femme fatales can be selected either by order of mission, class (ie. Allies, Villains, Turncoats, and Lovers) or alpha order.

There are plenty of pictures to be viewed along with some choice sound clips.

The Allies

Like "The Women", this section shows all of the men and women that Bond can rely upon within the films. These can be selected by order of mission, class (ie. British, Foreign, Independent, Turncoat, and Organisation), or alpha order.

The Villains

Yes I think you've got the jist of it. The entire range of Bond's adversaries can be investigated in order of mission, class (ie. Mastermind, Political, Henchmen, Associates, Turncoats, and Organisation), or alpha order.

Q-Branch

For all the techno-buffs among you prepare to salivate beyond your wildest dreams as this section features all the gadgets featured in the films. As above, these can be selected in order of mission, class (6 categories: Weapon or Special for Bond, Allies or Villains), or alpha order.

Vehicles

Whether on four wheels, two wheels, none, or plain old-fashioned Sherman tank (great for those three-point turns), take a look through the entire range of vehicles in order of misssion, class (ie. Sea, Land, Air and Space) or alpha order.

Q

Major Boothroyd, better known as just one letter plain and simple, although his gadgets are anything but.

At any time during the use of the product, you can click on the "Q" at the top of the screen for program assistance. There's a number of different clips of Desmond Llewelyn pointing out the menus to help you find your way around the game engine that the dossier uses.

007 Declassified

007 Profile

The 007 Profile provides essential information on the man including details about his mannerisms, the sort of drinks he likes (shaken, not stirred, naturally), his proficiencies in land, in sea, and in marksmanship; his wardrobe, and how he likes to gamble.

007 AKA

007 AKA displays between six to eight pages of background information on each of the five actors who have officially played James Bond, namely Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and the latest, Pierce Brosnan, including how Brosnan very nearly got the part in 1986, but American TV station NBC kept him on as "Remington Steele", and the part went to Timothy Dalton at the time.

007 By Design

007 By Design produces background information on the five main people behind the scenes, namely writer Ian Fleming, executive producers Harry Saltzman and Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli who died shortly after "Goldeneye" was completed, and producers Barbara Broccoli, daughter of Albert, and Michael Wilson.

007 Chronicles

007 Chronicles shows a month-by-month account of the life history of the Bond enterprise from its inception in January 15th, 1952, when Ian Fleming began writing "Casino Royale" which later starred David Niven, via October 5th, 1962, when "Dr. No" received its premiere at the London Palladium, through to the end of 1996 when the James Bond Interactive Dossier was released in the US.

Additional

As if all of the above wasn't enough, at any time, the three buttons at the bottom of the screen will help you find your way around the Dossier.