YOLT is through to the next round after soundly beating TMWTGG.
So up next...
Octopussy vs Thunderball
Both good opening sequences these. OP features the spectacular Acrostar jet scene. Thunderball the Jet Pack. Also the fight between Bond and Bouvard is short, sharp and impressive.
One could argue that neither really connect to the main films, but are nice mini-movies of their own.
My Pick: Thunderball
Octopussy because of the jet.
Now, this is a signature gun, and that is an optical palm reader.
I like the jet pack and the fight in the château (in spite of the latter being a continuity mess). But other than that, the THUNDERBALL PTS feels pieced-together ("Oh, wait! We have to include the DB5 showing some of its gadgets again."). Colonel Bouvar in drag looks nothing like the lady getting in the car, who is undoubtedly really a woman. Why would he be at his fake funeral dressed as his "widow" anyhow, if SPECTRE intended to pass him off as dead? They are usually more competent than this.
The OCTOPUSSY PTS, on the other hand, is the best thing about the entire film, with good fun like the Acrostar coming out of the horse trailer, "You're a Toro, too" and the gas station stop at the end. Funnier and less campy than the rest of the movie.
So it's one of those rare occurrences when I vote for OCTOPUSSY.
--
Ceterum censeo OCTOPUSSY esse delendam.
Octopussy is my least favorite Bond film, and the unrelated ramdom PTS is no stranger to that.
The chick is not sexy, and we still don't know why all the undercover Bond is going through was necessary.
The fake horse is cartoonish, and only the Acrostar jet scene is Worth viewing.
Thunderball, on the other hand, is a classic piece of Bond : we have a quiet and Professional agent spying on a funeral, before fighting the bad guy and running for his life.
I vote for THunderball.
Thunderball
shareTHUNDERBALL.
ant-mac
I adore the Thunderball PTS fight scene (and the build up to it), as well as the fact Bouvar is in drag, but I don't care too much for the jetpack bit. It's not the fact it's unnecessary that bothers me, but that it's not very interesting, at least nowadays. If Bond wasn't going to run into any obstacles while using that thing, I'd have preferred to see him escaping the chateau by foot.
Compare with Octopussy and the jet scene. Bond has to work to evade the missile, and he winds up using it to blow up those who fired it in the first place. Funny, crazy, witty, interesting, despite Roger Moore having a basically decorative role (in that part). The rest of the PTS is like that, too.
Octopussy for me.
Thunderball should not win because James had to wear a helmet, which might be by-the-book for the air force or whomever loaned them the jet pack pilot, but simply cannot be conside the right attire for James. And as we all know, the headgear makes or breaks the PTS.
Now, this is a signature gun, and that is an optical palm reader.
"Thunderball should not win because James had to wear a helmet, which might be by-the-book for the air force or whomever loaned them the jet pack pilot, but simply cannot be conside the right attire for James. And as we all know, the headgear makes or breaks the PTS."
Sorry, but I'm calling BS on that.
ant-mac