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FREQUENTLY ASKED
QUESTIONS
Got a question to ask about the show? Or maybe more
information for one of our answers? Let us know.
Why is he called James Bond Junior if he's 007's
nephew, not his son?
It's difficult to find any article about James Bond Jr
that doesn't comprehensively nitpick at the fact that the 'Jr' suffix
is only supposed to apply to sons, not nephews - but this argument is
so tiresomely pedantic it barely merits discussion. The simple fact is
that to have made James 007's son would have opened up all sorts of
conflicts with the films that would have enraged purists even further
than the cartoon did anyway, as well as demanding more direct
references to 007 (which are few and far between in JBJ).
As the younger Bond's uncle, 007 is once removed from proceedings, sidestepping
any significant continuity or rights problems. Having accepted that, we must either simply call
him 'James Bond', which would be pointless and confusing, or give him
another forename altogether - 'Wayne Bond', for example. Or, we can put
pedantry aside and call him 'James Bond Junior'. As far as we're aware,
there's no law against it.
Who are James's parents?
They're never mentioned in the show or elsewhere,
so we simply don't know - nor are we supposed to. According to The
Bond Files (by Andy Lane and Paul Simpson), John Peel, who
wrote the novelisations, was told abruptly that he would not be allowed
to refer to them. Again, this could raise issues of continuity with
respect to the films, so was evidently given a wide berth. The only
possible clue occurs in the first episode, in which Coach Mitchell says
Warfield is home to the sons and daughters of some very important
people, 'including yourself'. This may simply be a reference to 007,
but the 'sons and daughters' comment could suggest that one or more of
James's parents may also be very important.
Does James Bond Sr ever appear in the cartoon? What
about Q, or Felix Leiter, or Miss Moneypenny?
No. Never. This could be due to rights issues, or
simply because they wanted to keep the two franchises relatively
distant from one another. Having 007 appear would raise all sorts of
issues about 'which Bond' it would be, and could create a continuity
minefield. Moreover, it would be fairly gratuitous, and a distraction
from the story at hand, largely only of interest to fans of the film
rather than those that enjoyed the TV show in its own right.
Certain mentions of these film characters crop up
in a handful of episodes, however. James Bond Sr is mentioned in the
opening theme tune ('He learned the game from his uncle
James, now he's heir to the name'), but in the show it's
normally simply '007' or 'my uncle'. He is directly involved in the
plot of The Beginning
when he loans James his Aston Martin - and is known personally to Coach
Mitchell. He is indirectly referenced in Earthcracker,
and also speaks at a 'Save the Python' conference in James's dream in Location: Danger. In
Never Lose Hope
we learn that 007 was responsible for destroying the S.C.U.M.
laboratory on the Pacific island; Miss Eternal thinks he killed her
father in the process and wreaks revenge on James Jr as a result, but
she turns out to be mistaken.
Q is normally referred to as Major Boothroyd in the TV show, but
occasionally simply as 'Q'. Notable episodes include No Time to Lose,
in which Spoiler erroneously captures I.Q., thinking he's Q, who was
due to attend the Warfield Science Club banquet but never made it. In There But For Ms. Fortune,
I.Q. intends to deliver his room temperature ice formula to his
grandfather at MI6 (although the episode also refers to Q, erroneously,
as I.Q.'s father). The closest we get to an appearance is when James
and I.Q. fake Q's voice in order to gain permission to leave Warfield in
Dance of the Toreadors.
When he's caught out at the end of the episode, Mitchell tells him and
I.Q. that Q is in their room, awaiting an explanation.
Felix Leiter is not mentioned by name in the TV episodes (it's
established simply that Gordo's father worked with James' uncle in The Beginning).
But in the comics, he grants Gordo the use of a CIA 'safe island' (Wave Goodbye to the U.S.A.)
and a hydrofoil (Homeward
Bound).
In Earthcracker,
meanwhile, James nicknames his mule 'Moneypenny', which is perhaps more
likely to be an insult than a compliment. One wonders why a niece of
Miss Moneypenny's was not worked into the original Warfield crew.
So were any characters
carried over from the Bond films to the cartoon?
Yes, five were - all of them villains. These are
Goldfinger, Odd Job, Dr No, Jaws and Nick Nack.
I thought Goldfinger / Odd Job / Doctor No died in
the films? How have they come back to life?
Yes, they did die - and for the record, no
explanation is given as to how they are resurrected for the animated
series. But film purists needn't bother tying themselves in knots
looking for continuity in James Bond Jr, which is
rather like looking for a salad in a fish and chip shop. To put it
mildly, the show was never intended as a canonical follow-up to any of
the events in the films. Using deceased villains from the film series
is simply a way of forging familiar links between the two series and
attracting young fans of James Bond Jr to the
film franchise.
But if you must have canonical explanations:
- Goldfinger was wearing a parachute in the lining of his clothes when
he was sucked out of the plane.
- Odd Job fakes his electrocution - as well as a metal rim, his hat has
an insulating lining that protects him from shocks.
- Doctor No survived his dip in the nuclear cooling vat, but the
radiation caused his skin to turn green, his arms to drop off (hence
the cybernetic claws) and his taste in facial hair to alter
considerably.
At the end of Moonraker,
Jaws helps James Bond and turns to the good side. What on Earth caused
him to start working for S.C.U.M.?
As with the previous question, there is no
explanation given in the show for Jaws' return to the dark side, nor
should it be an issue of particular concern. Jaws was chosen as a
prominent villain for the cartoon series purely on account of his
menacing appearance and notoriety from the films. If it suits you to
believe that his girlfriend left him, making him bitter and twisted
again, believe away.
Who is Goldie Finger? What is her relationship with
Goldfinger?
This can be particularly confusing as it's simply
not explained in most of the episodes in which she appears - in fact,
it's only mentioned in Goldie's
Gold Scam. Goldie Finger is Goldfinger's daughter.
What happened to Tracy's mother?
She is not mentioned on screen, and we are led to
believe that Mr Milbanks raised Tracy alone. It's possible her mother
has died. But then, mothers are seldom mentioned in the show anyway
(see the question on 'daddy issues' below).
Whereabouts is Warfield Academy?
No
explicit mention is made of the location in the TV show, although it's
clearly intended to be in the south of England, and somewhere coastal.
Numerous episodes suggest London is within fairly short travelling
distance. However, the novelisation of The Sword of Power
is much more precise, putting the school just over five miles north of
Dover - and therefore within the county of Kent, probably south of
Kingsdown and north of St Margaret's Bay.
What does S.C.U.M. stand for?
S.C.U.M. stands for Saboteurs
and Criminals United
in Mayhem. While this is not actually
revealed on-screen in The Beginning or any of the
other TV episodes, the acronym is spelled out in most of the comic
stories and nearly all the tie-in material. Whether this was arrived
upon as an afterthought, post-production, is unclear - but it certainly
seems possible.
In the episode Barbella's
Big Attraction, S.C.U.M. uses an acronym alias to
allow it to book space for their conference in Rio: the Society
of Classical Ukelele
Manufacturers.
Why do most S.C.U.M. agents wear conspicuous
uniforms featuring the organisation's logo? Isn't this detrimental when
committing crimes?
One would have thought so. Presumably S.C.U.M. is
just incredibly brand-conscious. However, there are less conspicuous
'plain-clothes' S.C.U.M. operatives, several of whom recur in a number
of episodes, yet remain tantalisingly nameless.
Presuming he wasn't thus christened, what is
Scumlord's true identity?
Nobody knows. One interesting theory is that he
was intended to be James's father, which would have made for a great
reveal and would certainly explain why he's always shrouded in shadow.
But there's no evidence for this given in the show, so it's pure
speculation. Another theory is that Scumlord is a senior figure in the
British government and therefore a national traitor, which would also
make sense given the sheer size and breadth of his operations.
What's with the daddy issues in James
Bond Jr?
Good question. Whenever there's a junior Bond girl in danger, chances
are it's in some way linked to her father and his
profession/status/activities. More often than not, he's an eminent
scientist. Tracy Milbanks was apparently raised solely by her father,
and Phoebe Farragut only ever talks about her dear dad. Goldie Finger,
meanwhile, has perhaps the most serious daddy issues of the lot. But why are mothers hardly ever mentioned in James
Bond Jr? Of the recurring characters, to our knowledge only
Trevor Noseworthy and Leftbrain have mothers worth a mention (of whom,
the latter's is compared to a hideous monster) - and no mummy has ever
been seen on-screen (save the one in Shifting Sands,
which doesn't really count). Yet fathers abound throughout.
One likely explanation is that the show was deliberately kept
male-heavy because it was aimed at boys - indeed, the only prominent
female characters aside from the guest girls are Tracy, Phoebe,
Barbella, Goldie Finger and Ms Fortune, all of whom are either in love
with James or trying to kill him (with Tiara Hotstones, it's possibly a
bit of both). And yet surely, it wouldn't have hurt to have some female
wacky professors, foreign dignitaries and police officers whose
daughters needed rescuing?
Where does Dr Derange buy his clothes?
He flits between H&M and Topman.
Why is the episode running order so messed up?
If you've noticed, then you've really been paying
attention. This isn't particularly unusual for cartoon series or indeed
series in general. Aside from The Beginning which
charts James' arrival at Warfield, the only episodes in which the
running order really seems to matter is those in which James Bond Jr
meets particular villains for the first time: these include the
episodes The Beginning, Earthcracker and There
But For Ms. Fortune.
Which voice actor played [insert character here] in the show?
Details of which actors played which characters is
fairly scant, and the Internet is full of inaccurate information as
regards this. We are fairly certain that Corey Burton
played James and that Jeff Bennett was
I.Q. The other main voices (playing the Warfield regulars) were Julian
Holloway, Mona Marshall,
Brian Mitchell, Jan Rabson,
Susan Silo and Simon Templeman,
although the show's closing credits list dozens of other 'additional'
voices.
The threadbare list below has been compiled from various web sources,
but we cannot vouch for its accuracy. We have only listed here those
for whom we have been able to identify character names. We have
excluded any actors for whom we have determined that cited character
names are probably inaccurate - e.g. where a source lists a character
who does not appear in the series.
If anyone is able to provide accurate information as regards which
characters are played by which voices, please do get in touch.
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