Episode 58 of Film Reroll. Based on the 1989 Bond movie, and nothing else!
Felix Leiter, James Bond's frequent partner, is getting married, and he has chosen Bond to be his best man. However, on their way to the wedding, they (and their friend and fellow wedding guest Sharkey) are intercepted by a pair of DEA agents in a helicopter, who inform Leiter that his old enemy, the drug lord Franz Sanchez, has been spotted in the area. Realizing that crime and terrorism never takes a holiday, the trio sets out to take down Sanchez and his gang, but will all of them survive the mission?
An epic shootout commences... and then the real twist happens. This isn't a Licence to Kill campaign at all!
What this actually is is an Anthology episode of sorts, with Licence to Kill merely being the first segment. The idea came about when Paulo Quiros watched some James Bond movies and was bothered by how much Plot Armor the title character had, and wondered if he would have any realistic chances of surviving. Being the main DM of Film Reroll, he decided to test it out. Each Reroller gets to play through their own Bond Cold Open as Agent 007 himself. If they survive, they get a chance to play through the rest of the film in a later episode. If not, then they're out, and their Bond is Killed Off for Real.
Also, the episode features a Bonus Scene based on The Mummy, making it by far the campaign to adapt the most movies, four in total, as well as the only episode thus far to contain more than one finished story.
This page contains information about the first segment, based on Licence to Kill, starring Timothy Dalton's Bond (played here by Andy Hoover.)
Starring Andy Hoover as James Bond, Carolyn Faye Kramer as Pam Bouvier, Kara Straitnote as Felix Leiter, and Paulo Quiros as the Dungeon Master, supposedly.note
Followed by Aladdin. James Bond will return in "For Your Eyes Only".
Tropes:
- Bittersweet Ending: Felix and Della survive and get to have their wedding, (albeit a bit later than planned,) while Sanchez and his gang have been defeated, but James Bond, Sharkey and Shannon are all dead.
- Captain Obvious: Kara points out to Carolyn that things further away are harder to shoot. While this is an actual game mechanic, it reeks enough of this trope that similar Captain Obvious statements become a Running Gag throughout the episode.
- Clothing Damage: Sharkey's pants burst open during the struggle, revealing that he's wearing Tony the Tiger underpants, (as are both Lieter and Bond.)
- Convenient Replacement Character: Once Sharkey bites the dust, Carolyn goes on to play DEA agent Joaquin for the rest of the segment.
- Dead Foot Lead Foot: Becomes an issue when Sanchez gets shot, still seated behind the controls of his plane in the middle of a shootout.
- Death by Adaptation:
- Sharkey and Sanchez died in the real film too, but here, it happens already during the Bond Cold Open.
- Both of the DEA agents lived in the film. Here, Shannon gets shot dead.
- Finally, despite holding out for an incredible length of time, Bond himself gets fatally wounded, meaning that Andy Hoover failed his secret test.
- Disposable Pilot: Bond shoots "the pilot of the jeep," causing it to tip over... with Sharkey and a female hostage still inside.
- Foreshadowing: Note how the episode description, uncharacteristically for a Film Reroll campaign, only mentions the James Bond series they're rerolling, not the specific installment. In fact, the player actions mentioned in it are all things they do as their specific Bonds, but a first-time listener has no way of knowing this.
- Insult Backfire: After Sharkey dies, Carolyn lets out a petulant "Goodbye cruel world, and [Kara]." However, as Paulo points out, Carolyn indirectly said Kara was the least cruel part of the world, something Kara takes as a win.
- Look, a Distraction!: Sharkey tries to distract the villains by taking off his shirt and lighting it on fire, leading to a Shirtless Scene where his pectoral muscles move in tune to the James Bond theme.
- Named by the Adaptation: The two DEA agents, who went unnamed in film, are called Joaquin and Shannon here.
- Shout-Out: An unintentional example, Kara accidentally sings the intro to Mission: Impossible instead of the Bond theme.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Felix's bride-to-be, Della Churchill survives here, as Sanchez now gets blown up before getting the chance to kill her.
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Spoiled by the Format: Averted. It seems like our protagonists are certain to survive the shooting, as there are two more hours left of the campaign, and Carolyn is credited as playing a character who has yet to appear. Then Paulo reveals the real format of the campaign, by extension revealing the casting list to be an outright lie, and making Carolyn's "temporary" casting as Sharkey last through almost the entire segment. - Sweet Seal: Once it becomes clear that they’re not going to make it to the wedding in time, Felix sends a sealed envelope to his bride. After some banter, this somehow turns into her being sent a seal wearing Felix’s top hat.
- The Watson: Sharkey is a Naïve Newcomer civilian who doesn't know what the DEA is, creating the need for some exposition.
- Wham Line: Paulo declares the end of the run once James Bond dies... an hour and 6 minutes in. And then he explains the true intent of the campaign.Paulo: For the listeners, that's... that's... uh, License to Kill. That was a good movie-Carolyn: Wait...
- Why Won't You Die?: "License to Kill"!Bond somehow manages to survive being shot five or six times over the course of the opening scene, before dying from one final bullet after jumping out of a low flying plane.
