MI6 takes a retrospective look at what could have been the 17th James Bond film and Timothy Dalton's third outing as 007, with a summary of the third act...

Bond 17 - Act III
20th August 2006

MI6 takes a retrospective look at what could have been the 17th James Bond film and Timothy Dalton's third outing as 007, a very different concept to what fans of today are familiar with. The world now knows "GoldenEye" starring Pierce Brosnan as Bond 17, however at the time of original planning, 007's seventeenth outing would have looked very different.  

Hong Kong

Universal Exports "Far East" Offices
Bond is dropped off in down town Hong Kong, where MI6's Far East offices reside. He asks to see Yupland, and is ushered into his office. Yupland informs him of a third letter received that day. They demand that British Intelligence leave Hong Kong immediately.

When Bond explains his findings Yupland gets angry, refusing to believe that Sir Henry has anything to do with terrorism. Yupland orders Bond to return to London, but Bond storms from the office as marines pursue him.

Ching's Penthouse
Ching admires the view from the tallest building in Hong Kong with his beautiful yet lethal Nan by his side. Sir Henry watches a video monitor as Bond storms out of the Universal Exports offices. Ching makes a call and Rodin dons his motorcycle gear and speeds off into the night.

 
Above: Timothy Dalton, ultimately, played Bond only twice.

Streets of Hong Kong
Bond is picked up by Mi Wai outside the offices, but Rodin is on their tails again. Bond convinces Mi Wai to help him penetrate Ching's stronghold. Sirens sound and a security detachment is sent after Bond and corners them. At the request of the officer, Bond steps from the car - but across the street Rodin aims a missile launcher. The car explodes and, with Mi Wai still inside, the car is flipped from the road-side into the sea. With the force of explosion Bond is knocked into the water as well… he gathers himself quickly and escapes unseen.

Ching's Penthouse
Sir Henry is informed that Bond is dead, and reports the news to his girlfriend, Nan, and Connie. He assures her he has plans for such a beautiful girl as Connie, and that her fate would be much different to that of 007's. He is summoned away, leaving Nan to guard Connie.


Above: The busy streets of Hong Kong
 

Universal Exports "Far East" Offices
Yupland, Q and Crisp watch a video monitor as the Aston Martin DB5 is dragged from the water. Yupland announces that nobody could have survived that explosion!

Q and Crisp make themselves scarce and return Crisp's apartment, where they discover Bond. Bond announces that now that he is "dead" he can get on with the mission. As usual, Q is able to acquire the necessary tools to infiltrate Ching's offices.

Hong Kong Sewers
In the sewer system underneath the city, Bond and Crisp are searching for the pipe that leads to Ching's office. They are dressed in overalls and have donned gas masks. Bond finds the tunnel and shimmies up the pipe. Crisp follows, after passing up a bag of gear. Bond fetches an acetylene torch from his bag of tricks and begins to work on cutting through the tunnel door.

Ching's Offices
Once through the door, they find themselves in a maintenance room. There, Bond adjusts the pressure on the fire hose system and then makes his way into the corridor. In the lobby, Bond rides the elevator to the top floor and cracks open a nearby air conditioning duct.

Ching's Penthouse
Bond crawls through the air ducts of the penthouse until he finds the room in which Connie is held. To Connie's surprise, Bond drops from the grate in the roof. They are reunited but only temporarily, as Nan appears, ready for a fight.

Bond is confidant he can take Nan on, but she quickly delivers a powerful blow to his chest and 007 flies to the floor. Next, Connie tries to take Nan on, but she flings her across the room with one arm. With this maneuver, Nan's outfit is torn to reveal the complicated workings of a robot. The struggle continues until Bond dodges a particularly lethal dive from Nan, and she dives through the penthouse window and falls to her 'death'.

 
Above: Hong Kong skyline at night

Bond and Connie make a quick escape back through the air duct and then down the elevator shaft heading for the basement. By now, alarms are sounding, and in the security centre, Rodin sees no sign of Connie on the monitors. He dons his helmet and searches for her on foot. Rodin finds the pair in the elevator shaft so he boards the elevator and sends it thundering down after them. Bond and Connie hug the wall, and are barely missed by the elevator. Suddenly, the elevator stops and Rodin climbs out from the emergency hatch and pursues Bond and Connie up the shaft.

In the maintenance room, the fire hose system is clogged and the pressure is steadily building. Connie and 007 cannot out-climb Rodin and they are captured.

Ching's Offices
Rodin brings them to Ching's underground control centre. Bond confronts Sir Henry, saying it is only a matter of time until his plans are revealed. Ching laughs and boasts that he can cripple any military defense system from inside his control centre. As a demonstration, he sets a British submarine to fire its warheads at Shanghai.

Meanwhile, the water pressure is building to a climax. Throughout the building, fire sprinklers and hoses explode, flooding rooms throughout Ching's underground complex. The countdown to launch-time continues and Ching is mildly amused by Bond's attempt to thwart his plans. Technicians fight to shut off the water supply, but in their haste they break the manual override. The water continues to flood in.

When the news reaches Sir Henry, he instructs the control operator to speed up the count down. Still the water is flooding in, and when it reaches the roof on one of the top floors, a technician opens the door, and the waters force powers through the building. In a mad panic, control room operators fight to escape the torrent of water and Connie and Bond too, take the chance to escape.

Rodin fights on, and chases after Bond and Connie, pursued of course by the torrent of water. The couple dodge the rush of water just in time, but Rodin is caught in its midst.

The control room is flooded, thus ending the countdown. But Sir Henry is still at large. He dons Rodin's helmet and switches to night-vision. Surrounded by water, Bond grabs the nearest thing, the acetylene torch. Lighting it, he blinds Sir Henry and quickly and gruesomely finishes him off.

Connie and Bond fight their way through the torrent of water and back to the sewer pipe, just in time!


While many details of this abandoned production are vague, MI6 puts the pieces together to take a look at what could have been the 17th James Bond picture based on the available materials.
Stay tuned to MI6 for a series of features on the ill-fated 3rd Dalton film.

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