Written by Mr. Mouseburger 6th Mar 2006
Kindly submitted by Mr Briggs Inc.
After Morzeny (q.v.) fails to kill James Bond and retrieve the LEKTOR decoder, Rosa Klebb, a haggard woman and former KGB colonel with lesbian overtones, is placed in charge of the current evil plot by SPECTRE. Knowing that failure of the overall mission will lead to her sharing Morzeny's fate, Klebb is forced to carry out the rest of the mission herself.
Meanwhile, James Bond and his latest bit of fluff, Tatiana Romanova, are enjoying a mini-break at a Venetian hotel, having narrowly escaped from several SPECTRE agents. As Bond's back is turned, Klebb silently paces into the hotel room, disguised as a cleaner and takes the LEKTOR machine. Bond turns and notices Klebb, who draws a gun and it appears there is a standoff.
Romanova until this point has been an unwitting double agent for SPECTRE, falsely believing that her employer, Klebb, works for the KGB. However, seeing her lover being held at gunpoint by her employer leaves Tatiana in a dilemma.
This is resolved when Tatiana is ordered by Klebb to open the door, and the audience sees that one night in bed with Bond is enough of a life changing experience for Tatiana that she is prepared to betray the motherland. Therefore, choosing love over orders, Tatiana stops Klebb's escape and forces her to drop her gun and the LEKTOR machine.
Klebb is not finished yet though, and she engages Bond with the poisoned spike on her shoe. As she slowly advances on the British agent, Bond, without a gun, grabs a nearby chair and pins Rosa to the wall with it, keeping just out of reach of that deadly shoe. Meanwhile, Romanova picks up the gun Klebb used earlier, nervously aims it at the pair of them, finally firing on Klebb, killing her.
I thought I had something with dilemma or betrayal, Tatiana wasn't exactly torn between Klebb and Bond, it certainly wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision to betray Klebb. Also, I put grab bag since Bond grabbed a chair to fight Klebb, pretty self-explanatory.
Sorry, I didn't notice you already had dilemma, I guess I'm going through early senility, Grab-bag argument stays.
Yes, it is a dilemma of sorts (i have added this category in, i thought i ticked the box on the form, but must have missed it), but it is not a grab bag. A grab bag is quite specific. When the protagonist is being heavily defeated in a fight and is about to die - their last efforts are to reach for something, anything and hit the opponent with it. I think a good example of this is Cathy Bates in Misery - doesn't James Caan hit her over the head with a typewriter while struggle to get free of her?
With regards to my writing style, that is the way i see Bond films - people like Pussy Galore are converted to the side of good after one night in the sack with Bond. Tatiana is no exception in my eyes. Dont get me wrong, i do love Bond films dearly, but noone can say they are not formulaic.
Mouseburger
"Snatching an improvised weapon from the surrounding area whilst fighting" Eh, I guess you're the founder of this online organization, and yes Bond films are formulaic, not even I can provide a whiny, nitpicking argument to that seeing as Fiona Volpe was the only physically attractive female henchwoman who Bond has bedded who didn't eventually turn.
heh, hoist by my own petard - i know what you are saying, but i think the category was meant more for situations where the killer has no choice but to grab the first thing that comes to hand. it is usually reserved for people being slowly throttled to death, and they are reaching for the pair of scissors on the dressing table.....
In contrast Bond has the time and freedom to grab a chair, or any other inanimate object he desired to fight Klebb with. so he is not desperately grabbing the nearest thing to hand. I admit that the category description is a little ambiguous in explaining this point, and we will try and tighten it up a bit.
Of course, i have no real issues adding categories to it if people feel strongly enough about it, and can make a good case, as i love adding those icons to deaths - old bluffer has the record for the death with the most icons, and we all need to find a film death with more categories than this
I think the Bond films success is based around that formula - it gives me everything i want to see in a film, nice looking women, peril, action, stunts, gadgets, heroism and over the top villains.
Mouseburger
Regarding Grab Bag, the intention for that category was always that the person is desperately reaching for anything to hand, and has no real choice on the weapon.
Examples that *wouldn't* qualify would be someone who was disarmed and is trying to get their weapon back, or someone in a fight who can move to a part of the room where there is chair, which they then use to whack somebody.
The name for the category was carefully chosen by the way, as a "grab bag" is essentially random - the person employing it has no way of guaranteeing what they will draw from it.
I'll update the definition to make this clearer.
OB
I hate to start another debate, but Romanova used the same weapon that Rosa was using to hold Bond at gunpoint earlier, would this count as "own weapon"?