The Wendighost!
I’ve seen this cliche in stories many times before (and again recently on watching She-Ra). I’ve even seen it parodied before, but it’s usually chalked up to an overconfident bad guy. But I’ve worked with enough unmotivated employees that this seems more plausible to me.
And while I’m complaining about tropes, let me note how lame Goldfinger is. He has a group of mob guys together and asks them if they want to be a part of his evil plan. One guy rejects, leaves — and is killed by Goldfinger’s goon! The other guys listen to his plan, like it — and are killed by Goldfinger’s gas! What was the point of that? Well, to give James Bond the opportunity to overhear his plans of course.
And to really keep going… What’s up with Dr. No? He asks super spy James Bond to work for him and Bond’s answer is No Way. What the heck? You’d think a spy would jump at that opportunity to pretend to switch sides and gather information or sabotage his enemy’s operations. But nope, James Bond won’t have any of that pretending not to be serving Queen & Country. That kind of fake-treason is for sissies!
Don’t get me wrong, James Bond movies are fun, but they are pretty dumb.
August 24th, 2008 at 2:28 am
There’s also the way he always introduces himself: “Bond. James Bond.” Fake names are also for sissies! Even when your real name must be famous among the enemy by now!
August 24th, 2008 at 5:38 am
Let’s not forget the gadgets: Q gives him trinkets that might only be useful for one, very particulare thing, and he always manages to use them all.
Camouflage and staying low are also for sissies. “I’ll just scale the side of this evil lair in broad daylight, wearing a white tux.”
August 24th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Tenocitcatl, my own suspension of disbelief for Q’s gadgets was always satisfied by the old adage, “When you have a hammer all you see is nails”. So, it didn’t matter if Bond had a laser pen or smoke bomb necktie, he’d make use of whichever one he had at the right moment. But I’m also being naive just to get through to the rest of the movie. 🙂
April 26th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
I like the other guy’s “Dude, what the hell?” look in the penultimate panel.
April 26th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
Emma – I made that face to so many Conan comics.
May 20th, 2011 at 11:19 am
Why? Are they bad comics?
May 21st, 2011 at 10:50 pm
Emma – Some of them are great, but a lot of them had guys who would rather the sands, snows, marshes etc kill Conan and let him go rather than chase after him.
August 15th, 2011 at 7:06 pm
But can you blame them, really? Chasing after Conan in person seems rather hazardous.
August 16th, 2011 at 11:35 am
Das – I don’t blame them for not chasing Conan, just for not being honest enough to admit why they’re not. 😛
March 1st, 2012 at 12:42 am
James Bond is categorically the worst spy in all of history (real and fiction.) I believe there is a comic website out there that did a great job of pointing it out. Use your favorite search engine =D