Goldeneye

Question: If the opening scene was staged to get 007 to surrender, then it seems it was a terrible plan. Look how many Russians got killed by Bond and 006. It seems very awkward that the whole thing was staged. Why did Bond need to surrender? Why couldn't 006 just shoot him (besides the usual reason that 007 must be executed through an overly involved and escape-riddled plan) What would they do with him once he was captured? Too many questions and a weird scenario.

Answer: The plan was not to capture 007, it was to stage 006's death. Trevelyan's long-term goal was to steal money from the Bank of England and cover it up using the GoldenEye satellite - he presumably did not have time to run the Janus Syndicate and implement this very elaborate plan whilst serving as a full-time MI6 officer. In fact, it was probably the intention that Bond should escape and tell the British government that 006 had died a hero's death.

Sierra1

Question: What is the translation of 006's words when he holds the gun to Bond's head in the dark toward the beginning of the movie?

Answer: "Don't even breathe. Where are the others?"

Question: How did Alec survive being shot at the start only to return later in the film. It's something that I can't figure out, as James saw him get shot.

Ssiscool

Chosen answer: The real answer, which I believe was explained better in the game or in special features. Regardless, I did hear, is that Ourumov wasn't aiming directly at Alec's head, but to the side and shot the ground behind him. But made it look like he shot him in the head. Alec would have felt the bullet whiz by him.

Quantom X

That makes more sense.

Ssiscool

It has been a while since I watched the movie, and my copy is a VHS... but I believe if you watch very closely you can actually see the bullet hit the ground behind him with a tile breaking. I don't remember for sure if you can, but I seem to remember they did add that little effect.

Quantom X

Answer: But what about the Russian soldier who was nervous and fired at the gas tanks, only to be shot by Ourumov? Did he fake his death too?

That's a valid point. Ourumov never reloaded.

Ssiscool

Answer: He was shot with a blank cartridge. What that means is that the casing in the gun chamber didn't contain a live bullet; instead of killing him, the gun simply gave off a realistic flash that tricked Bond into thinking Alec had been shot. As explained later in the film, Alec's death was staged between himself and Ourumov.

Cubs Fan

Wouldn't James know it was a blank round? Lack of blood for example?

Ssiscool

Ourumov shot Alec and the Russian soldier with the same gun but, only the soldier was actually killed.

But that doesn't work, because even blanks can be deadly at close range.

MrMovieBuff

Question: Was any reason ever given as to why Bond's gadget-filled car was barely used in this film? It seems odd to give the series a fresh start in many ways, make a big deal about his car with missiles inside the lights, and then he drives it for 30 seconds and gives it away. Why bother giving him a car at all?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: There hadn't been a Bond film for seven years, and it was a new Bond. They wanted to get away from the gadgets and show him at his best. It was a way to let people accept Pierce Bronsan, watching what he can do. He put a lot of Sean Connery into it.

I can see that, but it just seems weird to highlight the features the car has and then not use them. Would have been simpler to omit it entirely, but presumably BMW wanted some product placement.

Jon Sandys

According to Wikipedia, the deal with BMW came at the last stage in production, so they were only able to put the car in the movie but not make scenes where the gadgets are actually used. I can imagine they'd have to rewrite parts of the script and take more time filming to do that.

lionhead

Question: Is there any particular reason why Jack Wade asks Bond if he likes gardening, or is it just random filler dialogue?

Phaneron

Answer: It's a reference to the rose tattoo he showed Bond moments prior.

Question: In the Control scene in Cuba, where Bond notices Boris clicking and twirling the pen in his fingers, how does the grenade pen get into Boris' possession?

Answer: All of Bond's possesions were taken from him and put on the desk. Boris had his own pen at that point. Then there is a small ruckus, and Boris bangs into the table if I recall correctly. He picks up Bond's pen then.

Soylent Purple

Question: When Bond is confronting Trevelyan for the first time since the opening, the scene ends with Bond getting shot in the neck by a dart. But who shot it? Trevelyan had his hands in his pockets the whole time, and even if he had a dart gun, Bond was shot too quickly for him to have drawn, aimed and fired it. And Bond looked like he was shot in the side of the neck, so it doesn't seem possible he could have been shot by the figure from behind.

Answer: After Bond collapses, another person, I suppose one of Trevelyan's henchmen, emerges from the shadows after having fired the dart...apparently Trevelyan wasn't so sure of his ability to foresee Bond's every move that he didn't bring along some insurance. Maybe this third man is only visible in the widescreen version.

Question: What exactly happens between Trevelyan and Ourumov in the pre-title sequence? Is this just a staged hostage situation to get Bond's guard down? Or, if Ourumov really shot Trevelyan, how did he come back to life?

Answer: Yep it's a staged hostage situation. Trevelyan and Ourumov are in on it together and the gun was filled with blanks. The purpose of it was to get Bond to surrender, but it backfires and Bond sets the timers to 3 minutes instead of the planned 6 minutes - so Trevelyan and Ourumov have less time than they realise - hence the bad scarring on Trevelyan's face later in the film because presumably he got caught in the blast.

Sam Johnson

Question: Can somebody please explain to me HOW on earth Bond disengages the bungee cord wrapped around him after jumping off the dam without it flying back up the dam? Or could he have just secured it to something to stop it doing this very thing? I know it is possible that all this happens off-camera.

Answer: There's no indication or implication that the cord didn't bounce back up once Bond disengaged it from the loop on his ankle. As he reaches the bottom he fires a grappling hook into the concrete to stop himself from bouncing back up, then presumably would have disconnected the cord (which would have bounced up) and he would have dropped down to the concrete structure.

Sierra1

Question: At the beginning of the film, Trevelyan and Ourumov stage a hostage situation in front of Bond. Do we ever find out when they decided to set one up in the first place?

Heather Benton

Chosen answer: No. It could have been at any time before he showed up in the film.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: This might sound stupid, but I'm just interested. When Ourumov hits Alec with the blank cartridge at the beginning, wouldn't the fact that it was shot at him from point blank cause at least some injury to Alec, like a bruise or something?

Heather Benton

Chosen answer: It was established in the lore and the game of this movie that he didn't actually shoot Alec in the head, nor did he use a blank. He simply aimed his gun to the right of Alec's head and shot the floor out of sight of Bond. He didn't use a blank.

Quantom X

Answer: 002 and 004 are both seen in the opening sequence to The Living Daylights. There are also numerous other 00 agents who appear in briefing scenes during both Thunderball and The World Is Not Enough, although their actual numbers are not revealed.

Tailkinker

Question: In the James Bond universe, are 00 numbers unique, as in only one person can ever have them? For example, Sean Bean's character was 006. So after he died, would his designation be given to someone else, or is the number considered "retired"?

Answer: The numbers appear to be passed on to other agents: it is mentioned that Scaramanga killed 002, and another 002 is killed in "The Living Daylights".

Sierra1

Question: On the "Fellowship of the Ring" trivia page it says that Sean Bean always makes a reference to his old character Richard Sharpe in his films (in FotR he says about the blade he cuts himself on "Still sharp"). Is there any such reference in this film?

Answer: The trivia about him making references to the TB series 'Sharp' is incorrect. Yes Sean Does like to make references to the TV series, but he does not do it in all films. He does not make any such references in Goldeneye.

Scrappy

Continuity mistake: James Bond does his bungee jump down a dam that looks like it's in the beginning of spring, but when he emerges from the factory, it is dead winter with no dam in sight, since they are on a mountain top. (00:01:00)

More mistakes in Goldeneye

Natalya Simonova: How can you be so cold?
James Bond: It's what keeps me alive.
Natalya Simonova: No. It's what keeps you alone.

More quotes from Goldeneye
Goldeneye trivia picture

Trivia: This flub needs slow-mo to catch, but is worth listing as trivia. When Bond jumps off the dam, they do a shot following him along his descent down the ledge of the wall. In a shot only visible during three or four frames, but they catch a shot of the ledge before panning down in which you can see the film crew watching on top together with a van or two. (00:01:50)

More trivia for Goldeneye

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.