Moonraker (film): Difference between revisions
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The 11th ''[[James Bond (film)|James Bond]]'' film, starring Roger Moore. Bond is sent to investigate Drax industries after one of their shuttles is hijacked in mid-transit, which turns out to be part of an [[Evil Plan]] to exterminate the world population and replace it with "ideal" specimens.
The movie was blatantly made to cash in on the science fiction craze that ''[[Star Wars]]'' had started.<ref> How blatantly? The end credits of the older Bond movies always announced the title of the next one in the series. The previous movie, ''[[The Spy Who Loved Me]]'' said "James Bond will return in ''[[For Your Eyes Only (film)|For Your Eyes Only]]''." ''Moonraker'' was made instead.</ref>
Still, that laser and its [[Infinite Ammo]] can come in handy when you unlock it as a cheat in the N64 game ''[[GoldenEye 007 (1997 video game)|GoldenEye]]''.
{{tropelist}}
* [[Adaptation Expansion]]
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* [[Animal Reaction Shot]]: A pigeon has a double take while Bond is driving his gondola on the street of Venice.
* [[Apocalypse How]]: Class 3a (Engineered Human Extinction): lethal spores that will eliminate all human beings on Earth.
* [[Artistic License Engineering]]: Drax's goons steal a Space Shuttle from its carrier aircraft by stowing away, turning on its engines mid-air, and flying it to his secret lair. One minor obstacle: the Shuttle's main engines have no onboard fuel supplies (that's what the orange External Tank is for), and even though the orbiter itself has some fuel storage for its maneuvering thrusters, it's not enough to fly transatlantic, and the Shuttle would never be flown with fuel on board for safety reasons.
* [[Artistic Title]]: The title opens up with Shirley Bassey's "Moonraker" song, James Bond parachuting, a moonlit sky, fool moon, silhouettes, including flying silhouettes, and smoke.
* [[Balls of Steel]]: [[James Bond]] knees Jaws in the groin while fighting him in the space station. There's a "clang" sound when Bond does so, indicating that Jaws has [[Balls of Steel]], just like his teeth.
* [[Beard of Evil]]: Hugo Drax.
* [[The Beautiful Elite]]: Drax' whole plan is to destroy all human life on Earth so it can be repopulated it with only genetically perfect specimens that he selected.
* [[But What About the Astronauts?]]: The whole point of Drax's plot.
* [[Cable Car Action Sequence]]: A fight between Jaws and Bond happens aboard the gondola leading to Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro.
* [[California Doubling]]: Weird inversion - Bond is flown to Drax's base in California (aerial plates shot in the US) and lands on a castle which "Drax ordered to be brought from France" (shot in an actual French castle, of course).
* [[The Capital of Brazil Is Buenos Aires]]: Just for starters, making the Amazon river end in a waterfall (not only it ends straight in the ocean, [[wikipedia:Iguazu Falls|the location of said falls]] is really far).
* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: The people shown working out at Drax's estate at the beginning of the film are later revealed to be the same people intended by Drax to seed his "master race".
* [[City of Canals]]: Venice.
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* [[Just Between You and Me]]: Hugo Drax lampshades this trope, and then says he's not going to follow it. But when Bond and the [[Bond Girl]] follow Drax up to his space station and see [[Story-Boarding the Apocalypse|most of what's happening anyway]], Drax helpfully provides the remaining details before ordering them [[Thrown Out the Airlock]].
* [[Just Hit Him]]: Jaws and Bond.
* [[Just Plane Wrong]]: The entire sequence in which the Space Shuttle blasts off from the carrier aircraft; it's never carried with fuel or live batteries, and needs the external tank and
* [[Kill Sat]]
* [[Made of Iron]]: Jaws.
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** While true, there are a few differences, and he's arguably a lot more sinister and dangerous. Stromberg is more or less an [[Orcus on His Throne]], mostly just sitting around Atlantis all day, pressing buttons when he wants something done (or someone killed), and leaving Bond's fate mostly up to his minions. Drax does a lot more globetrotting, comes up with [[It Amused Me|amusing]] deaths for Bond and others who have displeased him. Plus his plan is more evil, since at least Stromberg didn't try and select which members of the human race he was going to spare. Drax is far more egomaniacal, ruthless and controlling, a much more evil bastard.
* [[Meganekko]]: Dolly.
* [[Milkman Conspiracy]]: Drax Industries' space shuttle program that wants to make humanity extinct and replaces them with a new race: [[Ubermensch]] astronauts.
* [[Minion Shipping]]: Jaws and Dolly.
* [[Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot]]: Disappearance of a space shuttle -> a plot to kill all humans on Earth.
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* [[Product Placement]]: Yes, we all know that all James Bond movies have it, but [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1It-YC92MQ this chase scene] is a blatant example. (See it in the second half of the clip!)
* [[Reality Is Unrealistic]]: One of the most criticized aspects of the movie was how easy it was for the United States to launch a space shuttle with only a few hours notice. Except that this was during the height of the space race, and NASA was expected to have at least one orbital space mission a month. Thus, depending on how close they were to the next launch, it's quite possible that a shuttle was indeed prepped enough to pull this off.
* [[Recycled in Space]]: ''Literally''. [[The Spy Who Loved Me|In the previous movie]], James Bond works with a female foreign secret agent to stop a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] from destroying the world and creating a new empire in the ocean. In this movie, James Bond works with a female foreign secret agent to stop a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] from destroying the world and creating a new empire in space. Yes, ''Moonraker'' in plot is blatantly copied from ''[[The Spy Who Loved Me]]''.
** Yet the latter film is considered one of the best in the series and of the Moore era, while this one is mostly reviled.
** And annoyingly enough, both steal from ''[[You Only Live Twice]]'', where James Bond works with a female foreign secret agent (Japan, this time) to stop Ernst Stavro Blofeld from causing World War III (i.e. destroying the world) so that another global power can take over. All three plots involve stealing exotic government vehicles of some kind. All three were directed by the same dude, Lewis Gilbert<ref>Though ''You Only Live Twice'' had a different screenwriter, namely [[Roald Dahl]], whereas this and the previous film were written by Christopher Wood.</ref>. All three end with Bond and the girl being "interrupted" by their superiors as well.
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* [[Safecracking]]: Bond opens the safe in Drax's headquarters with an X-ray device.
* [[Scenery Porn]]: In addition to natural beauties/cities, there's the space station.
* [[Sequel Escalation]]: How can you top a [[Big Bad|madman]] stealing SSBNs to start [[World War Three]]? A genocidal madman <small>IN SPACE!</small>
** To date, the films never escalate to this scale again.
* [[Sexy Stewardess]]
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* [[Sic Em]]: "Look after Mr Bond. See that some harm comes to him."
** Not to mention poor [[Women in Refrigerators|Corrine]]...
* [[Songs in the Key of Lock]]: The famous ''[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]'' theme, nevertheless.
* [[Space Is Noisy]]
* [[Space Marines]]: Apparently, NASA keeps a shuttle load of U.S. Marines on standby [[Crazy Prepared|just in case.]]
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* [[Take the Wheel]]: Jaws and some mooks are chasing Bond in a speedboat when Jaws takes the wheel a little too literally.
* [[Tap on the Head]]: Multiple examples.
* [[Technology Marches On]]: ''Moonraker'' came out 2 years before the first Space Shuttle flight, so some particulars changed between the concept depicted in ''Moonraker'' and reality.
** Drax's shuttles were depicted with external tanks painted white. The first two Shuttle flights did have white tanks (many rockets are painted white to help keep their cryogenic fuels cold), but afterward they were left unpainted to save weight, resulting in the iconic orange color (the natural color of the insulation).
** The finale kicks off with six simultaneous Shuttle launches by Drax, and after Bond deactivates the station's cloaking device, NASA sends up a couple shuttles of Space Marines within minutes. In reality, each shuttle launch cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $450 million to $1.5 billion dollars (depending on how you count it) and required months of preparation time. Theoretically, a Shuttle could be stacked up and held at T-9 minutes, but that would mean leaving a fully-fueled and fully-crewed Shuttle on the pad for an indefinite period of time, which would strain safety limits, not to mention the sanity of the crew (they board at T-3 hours, no bathroom breaks or snacks allowed). NASA came up with a plan for "Launch On Need" rescue missions, but almost all of them revolved around sending the crew needing rescue to the ISS, where they would stay for 40 days while another Shuttle was prepared with extra seats to rescue them. Even the comparatively urgent "STS-400" plan (prepared in case STS-134, the final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, ran into trouble -- they would not be able to reach the ISS because of their orbit), with ''Endeavor'' standing by on the launchpad while ''Atlantis'' took off, could not have launched less than seven days after ''Atlantis''.
* [[Thrown Out the Airlock]]: Bond does this to {{spoiler|Drax after shooting him with a wrist-dart}}.
* [[Trapped in Containment]]: Happens to two of Drax's scientists.
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* [[Why Won't You Die?]]: "Mr. Bond, you ''persist'' in defying my efforts to provide an amusing death for you."
** There's a very good chance that Bond himself is thinking this about Jaws, who seems unkillable.
* [[You Have Failed Me...]]: Corrine is fed to Drax's dobermanns.
* [[Zero-G Spot]]: Bond and Dr. Holly Goodhead after defeating Drax's plans.
{{reflist}}
{{James Bond Films}}
[[Category:Science Fiction Films]]
[[Category:Films of the 1970s]]
[[Category:Moonraker]]▼
[[Category:Film]]
[[Category:James Bond (film)]]
[[Category:Films Based on Novels]]
[[Category:British Films]]
[[Category:French Cinema]]
[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]
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