History Main / Moonraker

* ''The Moonraker'', 1958 British drama film.

* ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'', the 11th ''JamesBond'' film.

[[redirect:Film/{{Moonraker}}]]

[[quoteright:270:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Moonraker.jpg]]

->''James Bond. You appear with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season.''
-->-- '''Hugo Drax'''

The 11th JamesBond film, starring Roger Moore. Bond is sent to investigate Drax industries after one of their shuttles is hijacked in mid-transit, which turns out to be part of an evil plot to exterminate the world population and replace it with "ideal" specimens.

The movie was blatantly made to cash in on the science fiction craze that StarWars had started[[hottip:*: How blatant? The end credits of the older Bond movies always announced the title of the next one in the series. The previous movie, ''TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' said "James Bond will return in ''ForYourEyesOnly''." ''Moonraker'' was made instead.]]. Jaws returns as the only henchman to make a second appearance in the series, but [[VillainDecay his role was changed from "vicious killer" to "Wile E. Coyote"]].

Still, that laser and its InfiniteAmmo can come in handy when you unlock it as a cheat in the N64 game ''Game/GoldenEye''.
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!!This film contains examples of:

* TheAmazon: Bond finds Drax's headquarters near the river Tapirapé, which has a waterfall.
* AdaptationExpansion
* AirVentEscape
* AnimalReactionShot: A pigeon has a double take while Bond is driving his gondola on the street of Venice.
* ApocalypseHow: Class 3a (Engineered Human Extinction): lethal spores that will eliminate all human beings on Earth.
* BallsOfSteel: JamesBond knees Jaws in the groin while fighting him in the space station. There's a "clang" sound when Bond does so, indicating that Jaws has BallsOfSteel, just like his teeth.
* BeardOfEvil: Hugo Drax
* TheBeautifulPeople: Drax' whole plan is to destroy all human life on Earth so it can be repopulated it with only genetically perfect specimens that he selected.
* ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts: The whole point of Drax's plot.
* CableCarActionSequence: A fight between Jaws and Bond happens aboard the gondola leading to Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro.
* TheCapitalOfBrazilIsBuenosAires: Just for starters, making the Amazon river end in a waterfall (not only it ends straight in the ocean, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iguazu_Falls the location of said falls]] is really far).
* CityOfCanals: Venice
* CollapsingLair: Drax's space station, due to battle damage.
* TheDanza: Corrine Clery as Corrine Dufour.
* DepopulationBomb: The devices that will release the spores above.
* DirtyCommunists: General Gogol
* DisneyVillainDeath: Chang, by falling into and impaling a piano.
* TheDragon: Chang, then Jaws
* DressingAsTheEnemy: Bond and Dr. Goodhead in yellow jumpsuits.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: Drax's launch facility in the Amazon jungle.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes
* EvilutionaryBiologist: Hugo Drax, who altered spores that caused sterility to make them lethal.
* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: Bond on the quail hunt.
* FailsafeFailure: the "chicken switch" on the centrifuge.
* FauxActionGirl: For a CIA agent with proper spy equipment, Dr. Goodhead sure doesn't get a lot of action (pun not quite intended) until the finale. Justified trope, as Lois Chiles was pregnant during shooting.
* FrickinLaserBeams
* GadgetWatches: With explosives.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: "I think he's attempting re-entry, sir!"
** As well as naming a character '''[[PunnyName Holly Goodhead]]'''. Somewhere between [[{{Goldfinger}} Pussy Galore]] and [[TheManWithTheGoldenGun Mary Goodnight]] in the [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar perverted name]] category.
* GiantMook: Jaws
* GonnaNeedABiggerWarrant: Disappearance of a space shuttle -> a plot to kill all humans on Earth.
* GoodHairEvilHair: Hugo Drax's goatee
* GoryDiscretionShot: Corrine's death, in which the camera pulls away and pans upward to the sky as Drax's vicious dogs pounce on her.
* GroinAttack: Bond does one to Jaws in the space station. [[spoiler:He has [[BeyondTheImpossible balls of STEEL!]]. Which is a little worrying, seeing as he gets hitched.]]
** [[CrazyPrepared Or perhaps he anticipated that might happen...]]
* HeelFaceTurn: Jaws
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Bond kills a knife-throwing assassin with one of his own knives.
* HotScientist: Dr. Holly Goodhead, who gets bonus points for being close to Bond's age.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Jaws and Dolly
* IShallTauntYou: Bond does this to Hugo Drax in the novel in a desperate attempt to make him leave behind a blowtorch (intended for torture) that can be used to burn through Bond's ropes. It works.
* ImprovisedZipLine: Bond and Holly Goodhead use a chain to slide down a cable car cable.
* InevitableWaterfall
* {{Irony}}: While Bond is driving a gondola in Venice, a hearse ship with a laid-out coffin floats by. Suddenly, an assassin rises from the coffin, and tries to hit Bond with a couple of throwing knifes. But Bond swiftly manages to kill the assassin on the spot, causing his body to sink back into his coffin. The only time a minor Bond-villain [[BlackHumor gets a real proper funeral]].
* ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans: Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.
* ItsRainingMen: Bond, Jaws and a mook parachute from a plane and fight in mid-air.
* ItWasHereISwear: Hugo Drax's biowarfare lab.
* JustBetweenYouAndMe: Hugo Drax lampshades this trope, and then says he's not going to follow it. But when Bond and the BondGirl follow Drax up to his space station and see [[StoryboardingTheApocalypse most of what's happening anyway]], Drax helpfully provides the remaining details before ordering them ThrownOutTheAirlock.
* JustHitHim: Jaws and Bond.
* JustPlaneWrong: The entire sequence in which the Space Shuttle blasts off from the carrier aircraft; it's never carried with fuel or live batteries, and needs the external tank and {{SRBs}} to achieve orbit.
* KillSat
* MadeOfIron: Jaws
* {{Mayincatec}}: Drax's base... in TheAmazon, [[YouFailHistoryForever where said civilizations never stepped foot.]]
* MeetTheNewBoss: Drax is very similar to Stromberg from ''TheSpyWhoLovedMe''.
** While true, there are a few differences, and he's arguably a lot more sinister and dangerous. Stromberg is more or less an OrcusOnHisThrone, mostly just sitting around Atlantis all day, pressing buttons when he wants something done (or someone killed), and leaving Bond's fate mostly up to his minions. Drax does a lot more globetrotting, comes up with [[ItAmusedMe amusing]] deaths for Bond and others who have displeased him. Plus his plan is more evil, since at least Stromberg didn't try and select which members of the human race he was going to spare. Drax is far more egomaniacal, ruthless and controlling, a much more evil bastard.
* {{Meganekko}}: Dolly
* MinionShipping: Jaws and Dolly
* MookFaceTurn: Jaws
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Drax
* NewEraSpeech: Hugo Drax, to his assembled minions on the space station.
* NoGravityForYou: How Bond and his allies escape the space station.
* NoMoreForMe: while Bond is driving his gondola on the street of Venice.
* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: Before Drax is revealed as a villain, he invites Bond to tea.
* OhCrap: Bond's usual reaction upon seeing that Jaws is after him ''again''.
* [[OutrunTheFireball Out]][[strike: [[OutrunTheFireball run]]]][[OutrunTheFireball crawl the Fireball]]: through an [[AirVentEscape air vent]].
* PricelessMingVase: The glass art objects in the fight between Bond and Chang in the museum.
* ProductPlacement: Yes, we all know that all James Bond movies have it, but [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1It-YC92MQ this chase scene]] is a blatant example. (See it in the second half of the clip!)
* RecursiveAdaptation: It's [[InNameOnly so unrelated]] to the novel it received a {{Novelization}}.
* RecycledInSpace: ''Literally''. [[TheSpyWhoLovedMe In the previous movie]], James Bond works with a female foreign secret agent to stop a CorruptCorporateExecutive from destroying the world and creating a new empire in the ocean. In this movie, James Bond works with a female foreign secret agent to stop a CorruptCorporateExecutive from destroying the world and creating a new empire in space. Yes, Moonraker in plot is blatantly copied from ''TheSpyWhoLovedMe''.
** Yet the latter film is considered one of the best in the series and of the Moore era, while this one is mostly reviled.
** And annoyingly enough, both steal from ''YouOnlyLiveTwice'', where James Bond works with a female foreign secret agent (Japan, this time) to stop Ernst Stavro Blofeld from causing World War III (i.e. destroying the world) so that another global power can take over. All three plots involve stealing exotic government vehicles of some kind. All three were directed by the same dude, Lewis Gilbert[[hottip:*:Though ''You Only Live Twice'' had a different screenwriter, namely RoaldDahl, whereas this and the previous film were written by Christopher Wood]]. All three end with Bond and the girl being "[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean interrupted]]" by their superiors as well.
*** Gilbert admits this in the "Spy Who Loved Me" DVD "making of" featurette.
* {{Safecracking}}: Bond opens the safe in Drax's headquarters with an X-ray device.
* SequelEscalation: How can you top a [[BigBad madman]] stealing [=SSBNs=] to start WorldWarThree? A genocidal madman [-IN SPACE!-]
** To date, the films never escalate to this scale again.
* SexyStewardess
* SharkPool: only this one contains an anaconda.
* SicEm: "Look after Mr Bond. See that some harm comes to him."
** Not to mention poor [[WomenInRefrigerators Corrine]]...
* SongsInTheKeyOfLock: The famous ''CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' theme, nevertheless.
* SpaceIsNoisy
* SpaceMarines: Apparently, NASA keeps a shuttle load of U.S. Marines on standby [[CrazyPrepared just in case.]]
* StormingTheCastle: U.S. Marine astronauts with lasers vs. Drax's space station.
* StoryboardingTheApocalypse: Provides the page quote. See also NewEraSpeech above.
* TakeTheWheel: Jaws and some mooks are chasing Bond in a speedboat when Jaws takes the wheel a little too literally.
* TapOnTheHead: Multiple examples.
* ThrownOutTheAirlock: Bond and Drax
* TrappedInContainment: Happens to two of Drax's scientists.
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Drax
* VariableTerminalVelocity
* TheVoiceless: Jaws...[[spoiler:until the end: "Well, here's to us."]]
* WeNeedADistraction: Dr. Goodhead pulls this on one of the henchmen in the ambulance.
* WhyWontYouDie: "Mr. Bond, you ''persist'' in defying my efforts to provide an amusing death for you."
** There's a very good chance that Bond himself is thinking this about Jaws, who seems unkillable.
* ZeroGSpot: Bond and Dr. Holly Goodhead after defeating Drax's plans.
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The original novel is more down to earth (pun intended) involving Drax developing a ballistic missile for the British Government, with the intention of nuking London [[MnogoNukes with Soviet help]]. [[BellisariosMaxim Try not to think]] [[CommieNazis about that too much]] and note the brilliant NewEraSpeech instead.

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!!The 1955 novel contains examples of:
* BottleEpisode: This is the only novel to be set entirely inside the United Kingdom; in fact the action never leaves London and Kent.
* CommieNazis: Drax turns out to be in league with the Soviets, more out of convenience than ideology however.
* CoolCar: Drax drives a Mercedes 300 S, which Bond describes as "ruthless and majestic". 007 himself owns a 1930 Bentley Coupé, in which he chases Drax towards the end of the book.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Drax chooses to dispose of Bond and Gala Brand by leaving them to be incinerated by the Moonraker's exhaust on lift-off. Incidentally, this is one of the few bits that made it into the 1979 film.
* DamselInDistress: Gala Brand is a notable aversion; she proves to be as important to foiling Drax's plot as Bond ([[spoiler:it's actually her that discovers that the rocket is to be fired at London]]) and while she does get captured, Bond also does shortly afterwards.
* DidNotGetTheGirl: Because as it turns out, [[spoiler: she's engaged to another man]]. This results in a BittersweetEnding.
* TheDragon: Willy Krebs.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Drax is killed when the Russian submarine he and his cohorts are escaping in is blown out of the water by the Moonraker, which Bond and Gala have redirected back onto its original North Sea target.]]
* MadScientist: Dr. Walter.
* MotiveRant: Drax gives Bond an epic one when he has him tied up and defenceless. Bond responds by taunting Drax into a VillainousBreakdown, which gives him the opportunity he needs to free himself and Gala.
* NewEraSpeech
* ThoseWackyNazis
* TortureTechnician: Krebs and possibly Dr. Walter, as described by Drax. Fortunately, we never get to see them exercising their talents.
* UltimateDefenceOfTheRealm
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Drax is revered by the British public as a great patriot, who is using his enormous wealth to gift Britain her own nuclear defence system. In fact, he is a Nazi in the guise of a British citizen who plans to use the missile to destroy London.
* WackyWaysideTribe: The Blades sequence has no impact on the main rocket missile plot, although it does serve as an extended intro for Sir Hugo Drax, as well as giving M some much-needed characterisation.
* WorldWarII: The background for many of the novel's events.

** And annoyingly enough, both steal from ''YouOnlyLiveTwice'', where James Bond works with a female foreign secret agent (Japan, this time) to stop Ernst Stavro Blofeld from causing World War III (i.e. destroying the world) so that another global power can take over. All three plots involve stealing exotic government vehicles of some kind. All three were directed by the same dude, Lewis Gilbert. All three end with Bond and the girl being "[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean interrupted]]" by their superiors as well.

* JustPlaneWrong: The entire sequence in which the Space Shuttle blasts off from the carrier aircraft; it's never carried with fuel or live batteries, and needs the external tank and SRBs to achieve orbit.

** [[CrazyPrepared Or perhaps he anticipated that...]]

* [[spoiler:DidNotGetTheGirl]]: Because as it turns out, [[spoiler: she's engaged to another man]]. This results in a BittersweetEnding.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Drax is revered by the British public as a great patriot, who is using his enormous wealth to gift Britain her own nuclear defence system. [[spoiler: In fact, he is a Nazi in the guise of a British citizen who plans to use the missile to destroy London.]]

* TortureTechnician: Krebs and possibly Dr. Walter, as described by Drax. Fortunately, we never get to see them exercising their talents.

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The movie was blatantly made to cash in on the science fiction craze that StarWars had started [[hottip:*: How blatant? The end credits of the older Bond movies always announced the title of the next one in the series. The previous movie, ''TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' said "James Bond will return in ''ForYourEyesOnly''." ''Moonraker'' was made instead.]] Jaws returns as the only henchman to make a second appearance in the series, but [[VillainDecay his role was changed from "vicious killer" to "Wile E. Coyote"]].

The movie was blatantly made to cash in on the science fiction craze that StarWars had started. Jaws returns as the only henchman to make a second appearance in the series, but [[VillainDecay his role was changed from "vicious killer" to "Wile E. Coyote"]].

* AnimalReactionShot: a pigeon, while Bond is driving his gondola on the street of Venice.

* DepopulationBomb: the devices that will release the spores above.

* FollowTheLeader: Moonraker was made when it was because of the success of StarWars.

* ShoutOut: opening an electronic lock creates musical tones from ''CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind''.

* SongsInTheKeyOfLock: The famous ''CloseEncountersOfThe3rdKind'' theme, nevertheless.

* StoryboardingTheApocalypse: provides the page quote. See also NewEraSpeech above.

-->-'''Hugo Drax'''

Still, that laser and its InfiniteAmmo can come in handy when you unlock it as a cheat in the [[{{Game/Ptitlelpt9xvh0}} N64 game "GoldenEye"]].

Perhaps the most harshly viewed JamesBond film, it is barely recognizable as one. The movie was blatantly made to cash in on the science fiction craze that StarWars had started [[hottip:*:Indeed, the end of ''TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' said "James Bond will return in ''ForYourEyesOnly''," but ''Moonraker'' was made instead. A couple films later, they scrapped the practice of revealing the next entry at the end of the current one altogether]] . Jaws returns as the only henchman to make a second appearance in the series, but [[VillainDecay his role was changed from "vicious killer" to "Wile E. Coyote"]]. Contains so many moments, it's absurd. Still, many view it as another case of SoBadItsGood, noting that even at the series worst, it never quite becomes unwatchable (as the AgonyBooth [[http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Moonraker_1979.aspx put it]], "Unlike ''TheManWithTheGoldenGun'', this film is not boring. But then, neither is getting hit in the face with a sledgehammer.").

Perhaps the most harshly viewed JamesBond film, it is barely recognizable as one. The movie was blatantly made to cash in on the science fiction craze that StarWars had started [[hottip:*:Indeed, the end of ''TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' said "James Bond will return in ''ForYourEyesOnly''," but ''Moonraker'' was made instead. A couple films later, they scrapped the practice of revealing the next entry at the end of the current one altogether]] . Jaws returns as the only henchman to make a second appearance in the series, but his role was changed from "vicious killer" to "Wile E. Coyote". Contains so many moments, it's absurd. Still, many view it as another case of SoBadItsGood, noting that even at the series worst, it never quite becomes unwatchable.

* AdaptationDisplacement (bordering on InNameOnly) this movie is far more famous than the novel and--even compared to other 007 films--is nothing like it.

* BetterThanItSoundsFilm
* {{Bridge}}

* RecycledInSpace: [[TheSpyWhoLovedMe In the previous movie]], James Bond works with a female foreign secret agent to stop a CorruptCorporateExecutive from destroying the world and creating a new empire in the ocean. In this movie, James Bond works with a female foreign secret agent to stop a CorruptCorporateExecutive from destroying the world and creating a new empire in space. Yes, Moonraker in plot is blatantly copied from ''TheSpyWhoLovedMe''.

* SongsInTheKeyOfLock

* SpaceMarines: Apparently, NASA keeps a shuttle load of U.S. Marines on standby just in case.

* GroinAttack: Bond does one to Jaws in the space station. [[spoiler: He has [[BeyondTheImpossible balls of STEEL!]]. Whih is a little worrying, seeing as he gets hitched.]]

* DullSurprise: Doctor. Holly. Goodhead. ''Really'', my dear, if you're facing the end of humanity by ''toxic freaking nerve gas'', would it ''kill'' you to at least sound kind of interested?!

* FridgeLogic: Who the hell is Drax talking to on the phone who arranges for him to get Jaws as a replacement for his first henchman? Is there some company that provides henchmen to supervillains?

* ShirleyBassey: sings the title tune.

* TheyJustDidntCare: Space stations don't work like that! Space ''shuttles'' don't work like that! Laser weapons like that don't even EXIST - [[MST3KMantra ah, heck]]. And Bond/Goodnight being under the Rocket Ignition? From a trip to Cape Canaveral, I learned that they start the pre-ignition at t-7, B/G got out at t-3. Now, the preignition gets really hot, so by all accounts, Bond and Goodnhead should have been fried.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The role of Drax was originally offered to OrsonWelles.
** And Carole Bouquet, later cast as {{For Your Eyes Only}}'s Melina Havelock, was slated to play Holly Goodhead.
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: This is one of the many Bond films featuring the trope. Some of the people Drax sends after Bond ''do'' use guns, but he also tries to kill Bond by having him crushed by 20 G's of force in a space flight simulator, by having a snake crush him to death, by having Chang attack him with a wooden sword when a gun probably would have worked better, by having Jaws trap him in a cable car and then head on up to fight him, and by leaving him under the jets of one of the space shuttles.
** Drax lampshades and tries to justify it later by claiming he wanted Bond's death to be "[[ForTheEvulz amusing]]". In the earlier attempts, in Drax's home, he was probably trying to make it look like an accident.
** Bond's wrist dart launcher counts as well. It was mentioned by Q that it has 10 spare darts: 5 armor-breaking and 5 with cyanide. Now, instead of ''wrestling'' a man seemingly [[MadeOfIron made of literal iron]] on top of a cable card high in the sky, wouldn't it be better to just shoot him with whichever dart was loaded? Keep in mind Bond had no idea [[spoiler:Jaws would later [[HeelFaceTurn switch sides]]]], so there was no reason for him not to shoot the man who has repeatedly tried (and almost succeeded in) killing him.
*** Well, Bond might not have been wearing it at the time.

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* GroinAttack: Bond does one to Jaws in the space station. [[spoiler: He has [[BeyondTheImpossbile balls of STEEL!]]. Whih is a little worrying, seeing as he gets hitched.]]

* RecycledInSpace: [[TheSpyWhoLovedMe In the previous movie]], James Bond works with a female foreign secret agent to stop a CorruptCorporateExecutive from destroying the world and creating a new empire in the ocean. In this movie, James Bond works with a female foreign secret agent to stop a CorruptCorporateExecutive from destroying the world and creating a new empire in space. Yes, Moonraker in plot is blatantly copied from ''TheSpyWhoLovedMe''.

** And annoyingly enough, both steal from ''YouOnlyLiveTwice'', where James Bond works with a female foreign secret agent (Japan, this time) to stop Ernst Stavro Blofeld from causing World War III (i.e. destroying the world) so that another global power can take over. All three plots involve stealing exotic government vehicles of some kind. All three were directed by the same dude, Lewis Gilbert.

* SequelEscalation: How can you top a [[BigBad madman]] stealing [=SSBNs=] to start WorldWarThree? A genocidal madman [-IN SPACE!-]