For its fifth season, the documentary series Icons Unearthed takes a look cinema’s original blockbuster franchise, James Bond. With 6 actors taking on the iconic titular role, the action spy thriller has been keeping audiences entertained for over 60 years! Icons Unearthed: James Bond looks at the origins of Bond, how the character made his way to the big screen, the behind the scenes dramas involving movie rights, studio financial woes, and casting dilemmas. And how this character has managed to stay relevant despite changes in politics, society and the world landscape.
The series use of clips, photos, archival footage, and new interviews with the cast/crew of the films and other pop culture experts/
Here’s a rundown of the season’s 6 episodes:
- A Spy is Born
A look at the origins of James Bond creator Ian Fleming, his novels, and some of the controversy surrounding the initial rights to adapt them. Ultimately the films end up in the hands of Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli, who decide to adapt “Dr. No” for the first film. However, they are now faced with the challenges of a low $10M budget, finding the right writer and director, and casting Sean Connery and the other main characters. Also, a look at the mayhem on the set while filming in Jamaica. - The Man Who Wouldn’t Be King
Cracks start to form in the partnership between Broccoli and Saltzman, but for the fourth film, they bring in producer Kevin McClory who holds the rights to “Thunderball”. The film turns out to be a massive success which has star Sean Connery demanding a bigger cut, but when the producers refuse, he says You Only Live Twice will be his final Bond film. Meanwhile Charles K. Feldman, who holds the rights to “Casino Royale”, decides to make his own Bond spoof. Broccoli and Saltzman decide to replace Connery with unknown Australian model George Lazenby, and bring in a more seasoned supporting cast to help the first-time lead. But there are tensions between Lazenby and the director and Lazenby refuses to sign on for more films. - Changing Times
Sean Connery agrees to return for one more film, Diamonds Are Forever, for a whopping (at the time) $1.2M deal, but afterwards the producers are once again on the hunt for a new Bond, this time signing Roger Moore for a 3 picture deal, starting with Live and Let Die. However, they must update the story from the novel to reflect current politics, and also hire a much more diverse cast. For Moore’s fourth Bond film, the producers decide to ride the popularity of Star Wars, reshaping the “Moonraker” story to send Bond into sapce. - Over a Cliff
After the wildness of space, For Your Eyes Only is a more grounded tale, but with loads of amazing stunts. Moore once again returns as Bond, but the producers are worried he may be getting too old for the role. However, those fears take a back seat when producer Kevin McClory announces he’s going to remake Thunderball as Never Say Never Again with Sean Connery back as Bond. This causes confusion with audiences as to which is the official Bond film, but both do quite well. After A View To a Kill, the producers know it is time for a younger bond after 7 films with Moore, and ultimate settle on Timothy Dalton for the role. - A Dinosaur Reborn
The Cold War has ended, so who is Bond’s enemy now? It’s been 6 years since the last film, and the producers decide to relaunch the franchise for the 90s with a new actor, Pierce Brosnan, in GoldenEye, the franchise’s first completely original story. They add more humor, and try to modernize Bond, bringing in more strong female characters like Judi Dench as M, Michelle Yeoh as the first Chinese Bond girl, and a female villain played by Famke Janssen. - The Blonde
Once the producers finally regain the rights to “Casino Royale”, they decide to go back to look at Bond before he became Bond. This being a prequel means they’ll once again need to find a new lead, and ultimately settle on another somewhat unknown actor, Daniel Craig. He doesn’t have the typical Bond looks, and the character is far more vulnerable than past iterations. However, despite the different tone, director Martin Campbell continues to make the franchise a massive success.
Like the previous seasons, I found this fifth season of Icons Unearthed to be quite entertaining and informative. It comes from The Nacelle Company, who has this wonderful ability to get some great stories out of the participants while also keeping things humorous and light. There is so much fun and clever wordplay throughout, and so many Bond-style puns throughout! The series has a nice mix of actors, crew members, executives, and pop culture experts on hand to delve into the history and behind-the-scenes of the Bond franchise. For some of the films they really go in-depth into the behind-the-scenes of the shoots, look at how various stunts were done, and more, while other films are just briefly mentioned. The series also goes into the various financial woes United Artists/MGM go through over these 60 years and the various legal battles the producers undergo over the film rights to the novels, and how this ultimately affects the movies.
The only Bond actor who is interviewed is George Lazenby, who is quite hilarious. He is very frank and honest (sometimes too honest) about his experience, even going into his bizarre audition process, his sexual exploits during the shoot, and more. I was happy to see that his full interview was included in the bonus material, as I certainly wanted to see what actually got cut! I always find it amazing how much raw footage gets edited down into these small sound-bites that ultimately provide an interesting narrative that flows nicely across the season’s episodes!
This fifth season of Icons Unearthed is narrated by actress Gloria Hendry (“Rosie Carver”, Live and Let Die), and over the course of the 6 episodes, those interviewed include authors/Bond experts Lisa Funnel, Ajax Chowdhury,, Lee Pfeiffer, Matthew Field & James Chapman, Bond expert/collector Matt Sherman, authors/pop culture experts Steven Jay Rubin & Mark Edlitz, official Bond documentarian John Cork, entertainment journalist Angelique Jackson, director Martin Campbell, second unit direct/editor/director John Glen, first assistant directors Nicolas Hippisley-Coxe, Bruce Moriarty, dubbing editor Norman Wanstall, stuntmen Paul Weston, Dominique Julienne, sfx technician/supervisor John Richardson, vfx/model unit supervisor Steve Begg, production accountant Paul Tucker, former UA executive Mike Medavoy, former MGM Executive Jeff Kleeman, writer Jeffrey Caine, opening title designer Daniel Kleinman, orchestrator John Altman, and actors Serena Scott Thomas (“Dr. Molly Warmflash”), Catherine Scheel (“Nancy”, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service), Andreas Wisniewski (“Necros”), Caroline Munro (“Guard Girl”, “Naomi”), George Lazenby (“James Bond”), Terrence Mountain (“Raphael”), Trina Parks (“Thumper”), Gloria Hendry (“Rosie Carver”) & Serena Scott Thomas (“Molly Warmflash”). There is also some archival footage of creator Ian Fleming, producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, actors Roger Moore, Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton & Daniel Craig, and behind-the-scenes footage of Price Charles and Princes Diana visiting the set.
Mill Creek’s Blu-ray release provides a clean picture and clear stereo sound that is more than sufficient for the interviews. It’s quite impressive to see the raw footage they started with compared with how the final product looks in the series. The release includes 3 Blu-ray discs, placed on either side of a standard HD keepcase (two discs were stacked on the right side). Our copy did not include any slipcover. The first disc contains the first 3 episodes plus 2 of the bonus interviews, the second disc contains the final 3 episodes plus 2 of the bonus interviews, and the third disc contains three more bonus interviews. The bonus material consists of almost 14 hours of raw interview footage with actors Caroline Munro, George Lazenby & Gloria Hendry, writer Jeffery Caine, directors John Glen & Martin Campbell, and studio exec Jeff Kleeman.
I hope that Mill Creek continues to release additional seasons of Icons Unearthed on Blu-ray as I’ve been really enjoying this series!
What’s Included:
Episodes: (4:24:24)
- All 6 episodes of the fifth season:
Disc 1 (2:12:12): “A Spy is Born”, “The Man Who Wouldn’t Be King”, “Changing Times”
Disc 2 (2:12:12): “Over a Cliff”, “A Dinosaur Reborn”, “The Blonde” - 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
- Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
- Subtitles: English
Extras:
- Bonus Interviews (13:45:29)
The bonus material consists of the full-length interviews with several of the participants, provided in raw form, without any additional color-timing or picture enhancements. Interviews are split across all there discs. Play All, or select from:- Caroline Munro (Actor, The Spy Who Loved Me): (1:03:30)
- Jeffery Caine (Writer, GoldenEye): (1:28:54)
- George Lazenby (Actor, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service): (1:35:23)
- Jeff Kleeman (Former MGM Executive): (2:27:26)
- Gloria Hendry (Actor, Live and Let Die): (1:34:37)
- John Glen (Director/Editor/2nd Unit Director, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights, License to Kill) (3:07:26)
- Martin Campbell (Director, GoldenEye, Casino Royale (2006)): (2:28:13)
Final Thoughts:
Icons Unearthed: James Bond provides an interesting and entertaining look at the original blockbuster film franchise that started it all, spanning over 60 years. It gives both a high-level look at the various films in the James Bond library and the actors who took on this iconic role, while also delving into some of the behind-the-scenes drama with the studios and on the sets of specific movies. Like every season of this show, the writing is witty and clever, making a lot of puns throughout to keep things fun. I quite enjoyed this fifth season of Icons Unearthed, and hope that Mill Creek continues to releases additional seasons on Blu-ray.
