Welcome to 2025 and our celebrations of GOLDENEYE's 30th anniversary!
Despite the irreversibly damaged state of the James Bond franchise, nobody can take away the pleasure of enjoying the most important Bond adventure of all. All right, we can't deny that GOLDFINGER and THUNDERBALL turned 007 into a worldwide phenomenon. But three decades ago, when the return of Ian Fleming's secret agent after a long hiatus was still deemed a huge risk for film industry executives, GOLDENEYE confirmed that Bond was far from being a relic of the Cold War—despite what Judi Dench's M told him right to his face.
Computer analysts were consulted before an operative was sent out to the field, accountants and psychologists had a place inside the structure of the British Intelligence, spies were ditched by their governments and found a niche in illicit activities like the arms trade, modern technologies could provoke a financial meltdown in a whole continent, patriotism seemed like a quaint and outdated idea... the world didn't seem to be apt for a secret agent reporting to an Admiral in a wartime Whitehall office, yet James Bond proved us why he could be bigger and better than ever, and why the world could still depend on him.
Pierce Brosnan's debut in the franchise was the starting point of a whole new era where a 1950s spy traversed new platforms like the internet and next-generation video games, reaching younger generations every day. Those who doubted if Bond had a place in the 1990s were soon excited about the road he would take in the millennium. GOLDENEYE proved that many things could be modernized as long as tradition wasn't betrayed, and the two-year gap between this film and the following, TOMORROW NEVER DIES, allowed many young fans to discover the Bond films our parents and grandparents grew up with and the many Ian Fleming novels they have read in their teens. Far from redefining the character, GOLDENEYE reaffirmed the character on its roots and foundations, with a slight modern twist.
Stay tuned to THE GOLDENEYE DOSSIER and our social media channels for different features and articles to celebrate the greatness of the seventeenth James Bond adventure on its 30th anniversary. So far, we can confirm that after several technical difficulties, Trevelyan's Mainframe has been recovered, and good old Alec is ready to declassify his files on the film that guaranteed the rising popularity of his enemy. There'll be more, which you should learn in due time.
As usual, thanks for joining in and celebrating the Bond whose return was a promise we could always count on.
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