Bond Cult Curiosities: Nephews and Brothers

Just a question? Were any Bond fans brought into the mythology from the minor popularity of James Bond Jr. in the early 90s:



James Bond Jr. was the nephew (a nephew named 'Jr?') of Ian Fleming's masterspy. According to that "great" resource Wikipedia:

"The name 'James Bond Junior' was first used in 1967 for an unsuccessful spinoff novel entitled 003½: The Adventures of James Bond Junior written under the pseudonym R. D. Mascott. The idea of Bond having a nephew was used again in 1991 as an American animated series for television in which the title character defeats threats to the safety of the free world. The series was mildly successful and spawned six episode novelisations by John Peel writing as John Vincent, a 12 issue comic book series by Marvel Comics published in 1992, as well as a video game developed by Eurocom for the NES and the SNES in 1991."

To be truthful, this is not my favorite Bond curiosity. That sell-out text is actually something I originally saw on one of my favortite TV shows of all time, Mystery Science Theater 3000 - the Italian pop freakshow that is Operation Double 007(1967) - also with the release titles Operation Kid Brother, Secret Agent 00, and my personal favorite OK Connery.

This film stars Sean's actual younger brother Neil Connery as Dr. Neil Connery! The reallife Neil Connery was broke and needed cash and is refered to in the film as the brother of the world's greatest secrect agent - called Dr. Neil Connery. So, it is never clear if he is the brother of Bond or Sean Connery or some other agent. Oddly, making things weirder, Neil's Scottish accent was deemed too thick for US audiences and dubbed in by an American.

Oh ... it gets odder!

The film is filled with Bond regulars getting easy paychecks for playing familiar parts: Adolf Celi in a similar role to Thunder ball; Daniela Bianchi, from From Russia With Love; Anthony Dawson from Dr.No and even Bernard Lee (aka M) and Lois Maxwell (aka Ms.Moneypenny)! While essentially playing their same characters, they never use the proper names, probably in fear of lawsuits. So it somewhat feels like the world of 60s era movie Bond. Needless to say, the whole thing is what might be defined as a pop freakshow upon viewing it today.

Anyway, if you have time to waste this weekend, do yourself a favor Bond fans and watch the bizarro weirdness that is Operation Double OO7 the only way tolerable- via my vote for the greatest cult TV show of all time - MST3K. Google has the entire 90 minute episode posted.

An extra bonus for those fellow MSTies who discovered the program in its early 90s prime like me, this is a "Joel" episode:



Of course, this all brings up the real question.

Is James Bond Jr. the son of Dr. Neil Connery, the brother of the world's greatest secret agent? I suppose if so inclined, you could create an alternative family narrative - though I am still unclear what the hell Neil is supposed to BE in relation to Bond his film! He is called "Connery" - yet is placed in the fictional world of Bond!

Perhaps this is a family lineage only 'real' in the dirty residue of popular culture - where paycheck trumps everything, even basic narrative logic. It is kind of interesting that in that messy world, "meta" narratives just sort of happen by mistake.

Of course, I haven't even touched upon the all-star mess of 1967's "comedy" version of Casino Royale. But, oddly, being a clearer "spoof" - it almost feels unrelated to this sub-history.