We may not learn who the new James Bond is for some time, but one thing’s for sure: he will have some very cool gadgets to play with. Throughout the franchise’s more than 60 years, the gadgets have left as much of a mark as whoever plays 007, from the most ordinary-looking everyday appliance with a deadly twist to the most outlandish and unique devices, each of them the brainchild of the creative, innovative, and tech-savvy geniuses at MI6’s Q Branch.
With 007: First Light having recently brought back some of them, fans are getting a taste of what it’s like to play with these gadgets, but the question inevitably arises: what really is the best ever? To answer this, let’s look solely at the gadgets used by Bond in the movies, since that’s where they usually originate (besides the original Ian Fleming novels, of course) and determine the ones we’d like in our arsenal, shall we?
10
The Palm Print Pistol
‘Skyfall’ (2012)
A twist on the character’s traditional Walther PPK pistol, Q (Ben Whishaw) issues this variant to Bond (Daniel Craig) in Skyfall, when they meet at the National Gallery. The weapon is coded to 007’s palm print alone, meaning only he can fire it. As Q tells 007, it’s “Less of a killing machine, more of a personal statement.” For someone as full of himself as Bond, that’s perfect.
Funnily enough, the pistol is never fired throughout the movie; Bond himself never finds an opportunity for it, as his action sequences are mostly hand-to-hand combat. During the fight scene at the Macau casino, one of Raoul Silva‘s (Javier Bardem) henchmen gets the pistol, but, although he pulls the trigger, it obviously doesn’t fire — it’s a statement only Bond can make.
9
Little Nellie
‘You Only Live Twice’ (1967)
The 007 franchise is filled with cool, yet somewhat quirky gadgets, with Little Nellie being one of the best. She is an autogyro, a single-person tiny helicopter that makes quite a show in You Only Live Twice, and is deployed as Bond (Sean Connery) investigates SPECTRE‘s presence in southern Japan. Q (Desmond Llewelyn) equips it with quite an arsenal, which proves useful later on.
What most viewers don’t know is that Little Nellie is a real vehicle designed by former RAF Wing Commander Ken Wallis. In fact, it’s Wallis himself who flies Little Nellie during the action sequence in the movie. Her name comes from a World War II tradition of nicknaming people named Wallis or Wallace “Nellie,” after British music hall star Nellie Wallace.
8
Dentonite Explosive Toothpaste
Licence to Kill (1989)
Image via MGM/UA Distribution Co.
As serious and complex as some of Q Branch’s gadgets may be, others are straight up silly, but no less awesome. In Licence to Kill, Bond (Timothy Dalton) has a mission of his own and is found by Q, who is worried and wants to help. Among other trinkets, he hands 007 a tube of Dentonite toothpaste, which “is to be used sparingly,” as “it’s the latest in plastic explosives.”
Bond does use it later on when trying to assassinate Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi). The detonator itself is disguised as a pack, and the explosion removes the bulletproof glass in the villain’s room, allowing Bond a long-distance shot. Ultimately, the attempt fails, as he is approached by enemies who knock him unconscious. Still, explosive toothpaste is as quirky as it is effective.
7
Bell Rocket Belt
‘Thunderball’ (1965)
A jetpack is always among anyone’s most desired gadgets — who wouldn’t want to simply fly away sometimes? In Thunderball, Bond gets to do just that. In the pre-credits sequence, he attends the funeral of SPECTRE agent Jacques Bouvar (Bob Simmons), who was posing as his grieving widow. When Bond kills Bouvar for real, he blasts off in his jetpack back to his signature Aston Martin DB5.
The jetpack is a real appliance made by Bell-Textron in the late 1950s, and the filmmakers considered it something the Q Branch might assign MI6 agents in their missions. Indeed, the Bell Rocket Belt proved so popular, it made a cameo in 2002‘s Die Another Day, when Q (John Cleese) takes Bond (Pierce Brosnan) to an old underground warehouse.
6
Wet Nellie
‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ (1977)
The concept of a car turning into a submarine will never not be incredible, but The Spy Who Loved Me takes it to the next level. During a car chase in Sardinia, Bond (Roger Moore) drives his Lotus Esprit S1 into the water for cover, turning it into a compact submarine for him and Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) to escape. Later, he casually drives it out of the water, much to the locals’ astonishment.
Besides the obvious modifications (it’s literally a submarine), the car also features heavy weaponry, including the missile launcher used by Bond to destroy the helicopter searching for them underwater. The Esprit is also fondly referred to as Wet Nellie, a nod to the original Little Nellie. Only two Esprits were used in filming the chase, with empty shells being produced for the underwater scenes.
5
Ericsson JB988
‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ (1997)
The 1990s saw a significant leap in mobile technology, and the Q Branch certainly took advantage of it. In Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond (Brosnan) uses a cellphone onscreen for the first time, an Ericsson JB988. It hides many useful features, like a fingerprint scanner, a taser, and even a remote control with a built-in camera for his BMW 750iL. Bet your smartphone can’t do all that.
Around that same time, product placement became much more evident in 007 films, with most of his signature branded gadgets being chosen around that time. Ericsson isn’t in the mobile phone business anymore, but, for a long time, it supplied Bond with his cellphones, until other brands came along. The JB988 is purely fictional, however, and was never officially sold.
4
Attaché Briefcase
‘From Russia with Love’ (1963)
Before cellphones could conceal most useful gadgets into a single device, Bond had his trusty Attaché Case. A “smart-looking bag,” as M (Bernard Lee) describes it, it’s a Swaine and Adeney black leather briefcase put together by the Q Branch for Bond on his mission to the Orient Express in From Russia with Love. It proves to be incredibly useful, as it helps him take down multiple SPECTRE agents.
As Q explains it to Bond, the briefcase has many secret features: 20 rounds of ammunition, a flat-throwing knife, a foldable AR-7 sniper rifle with infrared, 50 gold coins, and an anti-tampering mechanism with a hidden tear-gas cannister. There isn’t much more a field operative like Bond would need, but it can also function as, well, a briefcase should Bond need to carry anything else.
3
Omega Wristwatch
The Pierce Brosnan Era
Back to brands immediately associated with 007, the Omega watches have become a constant on Bond’s wrists since 1995’s GoldenEye. Before that, he wore many different brands, including Rolex, Seiko, Breitling, and TAG Heuer, but it was from Pierce Brosnan onward that the Omega Seamaster became Bond’s signature wristwatch, and, on many occasions, his lifesaver, too.
In GoldenEye, Bond’s watch features a laser cutter, but was changed for the following three movies for a different Seamaster model. In The World Is Not Enough, its most celebrated feature, a miniature grappling hook, was introduced. Bond goes on to wear other models until Daniel Craig‘s final Bond outing, No Time to Die. Whoever comes next, there’ll definitely be wearing one, too.
2
Explosive Pen
‘GoldenEye’ (1995)
Back to more “traditional” spyware gadgets, GoldenEye‘s explosive pen is an undeniable fan-favorite. This time, there are no fancy brands or product placement, just a plain clicking pen that’s actually a class IV grenade. Three clicks arm it, and another three clicks disarm it, with a four-second fuse in between. It may not be particularly powerful, but it’s still deadly and dangerous.
The pen grenade provides GoldenEye with one of its tensest scenes. It eventually finds its way into the hands of short-fused Russian hacker Boris Grishenko (Alan Cumming), who nervously clicks it while trying to program the GoldenEye satellite to target London. Bond is the only person aware of the danger, as Grishenko’s clicking builds tension towards an unpredictable, yet inevitable explosion.
1
Aston Martin DB5
“Goldfinger”
The absolute and undeniable best. The Silver Birch Aston Martin DB5 is synonymous with James Bond, having appeared in eight franchise films. Curiously, though, only three Bond actors have driven it onscreen: Sean Connery in Goldfinger and Thunderball, Pierce Brosnan in GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies, and Daniel Craig in all his movies but Quantum of Solace.
Bond’s DB5 is almost like a mini tank, given how many gadgets and modifications it conceals. It features bulletproof windows and chassis, the iconic ejector seat, battering rams, machine guns, rear smokescreen, mine dispensers, radars, communications systems, and certainly much more we never see. With so many added features, the DB5 never ceases to surprise us, a Q Branch masterpiece.
Goldfinger
- Release Date
-
September 20, 1964
- Runtime
-
110 minutes
- Director
-
Guy Hamilton
- Writers
-
Paul Dehn, Ian Fleming, Richard Maibaum, Berkely Mather