Topic: James Bond Ultimate Edition sets - I'm puzzled

[RossRoy]

Ok, there's was thing I don't "get" about those Ultimate Edition boxset. They release 4 boxset, of 5 movies each. You'd think they would put them in order in the boxset, to facilitate viewing.... but noooo! It's like they made the sets for non collector, making sure there was a movie from each "Bond" in each volumes. To try and garner interest. The thing is, as far as I know, nobody in their right mind would buy a whole boxset of Bond, if they are not already sold to Bond or plan to buy it all. This is really puzzling me. I'm wondering if when I get around to watching them (I have yet to see ANY Bond movie. I know, I know ). So I was wondering in what order I should watch them.

Just for kicks, I went online and checked the watching order. Here's what it would look like (<Volume>x<Movie#>). That's according to Wikipedia (and assuming I didn't make a mistake in the numbering)

4x1, 3x1, 1x1, 2x1, 4x2, 3x2, 1x2, 3x3, 1x3, 2x2, 4x3, 3x4, 4x4, 2x3, 1x4, 2x4, 3x5, 4x5, 1x5, 2x5, Casino Royale.

As you can see, seeing them in order of theatrical release is not exactly easy to follow. Any help?

[TheMovieman]

I don't know what order to watch (personally, I'd start from the beginning Dr. No through Die Another Day), but why they put them in the packaging I believe was to fascilitate (sp?) sales more. Here's how they would've been released in if it were in order:

SC = Sean Connery
GL = George Lazenby
RM = Roger Moore
TD = Timothy Dalton
PB = Pierce Brosnan

Volume 1:
Dr. No (SC)
From Russia With Love (SC)
Goldfinger (SC)
Thunderball (SC)
You Only Live Twice (SC)

Volume 2:
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (GL)
Diamonds Are Forever (SC)
Live Free and Let Die (RM)
The Man with the Golden Gun (RM)
The Spy Who Loved Me (RM)

Volume 3:
Moonraker (RM)
For Your Eyes Only (RM)
Octopussy (RM)
A View to a Kill (RM)
The Living Daylights (TD)

Volume 4:
License to Kill (TD)
GoldenEye (PB)
Tomorrow Never Dies (PB)
The World is Not Enough (PB)
Die Another Day (PB)


Now, looking at that, you assume a vast majority of casual viewers will go for volume 1, skip 2 and 3 since Bond went too goofy and/or they just want the Connery era and might even skip 4 since they might already own the Pierce Brosnan era (which covers 4 out of the 5 movies).

Now, maybe another reason was indeed to give the casual viewer each Bond within each set so I think for the true fans, they could've left the titles off the sides (for the story display, just use removable paper) so that we could put them in order...

[Halo2]

And, if you are a completist, don't forget Never Say Never Again (SC) that came out the same year (1983) as Octopussy (RM). It's not included with these since it was released by Orion Pictures rather than United Artists. It does not have Bernard Lee as M, Desmond Llewelyn as Q or Lois Maxwell and Miss Moneypenny. Instead, those parts are played by Edward Fox, Alec McCowen and Pamela Salem.

I would also watch them in the order released. While they are all self-contained and stand-alone movies, there are some subtle references to prior events.

You might also want to include the 1967 spoof, Casino Royale.