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The Dominator reviews
Eidos Interactive Limited
As Pierce Brosnan says in the trailers currently doing the rounds in UKcinemas for the 18th James Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies, due out inthe UK on December 12th 1997, “The name’s Bond. You know the rest…”
1997 marks the 35th anniversary of Bond in the cinema, and what better way tocelebrate than to investigate the James Bond: The Ultimate Dossier,which will tell you just about everything you need to know about the master-spy,his friends, his enemies, the cars, the weapons, the gadgets, and of course…the women.
Installing the Dossier
Installation is simple. After inserting CD1, run the Setup program which setsup a desktop group named MGM Interactive. From here, click onthe James Bond Dossier which brings up the background graphics for thedossier and highlights a single red button at the top-right of the screen askingyou to click on that.
Once done, the dossier unfolds piece by piece before your eyes in quite astylish way, aping the sophisticated style of the Bond series. Pictures relatingto the various sections are shown on the screen to aid ease of selection, withthe pictures in each section diffusing into others to show more of what thatarea has to offer. For example, the “The Women” section showsdifferent portraits of the women in Bond’s career.
Contents
The Missions
There are 17 Missions – one for each of the films in the Bond series fromDr. No to Goldeneye. Accessing the mission plays an extendedtrailer for that film.
Taking Goldeneye as an example, first the trailer is shown, this onebeginning with the leap off the top of the damn down to where Bond is to meetagent 006, Alec Trevelyan. Then you can choose one of the following while theclassic theme tune plays on in the background.
- Allies including Natalya Siminova (newcomer Izabella Scorupco), Jack Wade (played by Cape Fear’s Joe Don Baker) and Miss Moneypenny (Goldeneye featuring Samantha Bond as the third Miss Moneypenny in the series)
- Q-Branch detailing various gadgets used by Bond. A profile, use and specification for each is given…and did you know that a number of the gadgets in Bond films being actual prototypes of real-developed items ?
- Vehicles include the obligatory Aston Martin, a Tiger Helicopter and Jack Wade’s car which needs a kick-start from a sledgehammer to get it going!
- Villains include Alan Cumming’s Boris, and a classic still-frame shot of his fate along with a sound file proclaiming his catch-phrase “I am invincible!”
- Women including the aforementioned Natalya, plus bad-babe Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen, also seen in Clive Barker’s Lord of Illusions) along with a clip of the sex-in-the-sauna scene… 😉
NB. These can all be viewed by class or alphabetical order.
Location
A click on this icon brings up a detailed map with sweeping arrows to indicateBond’s movements. Then, by clicking on any city name brings up the opportunityto access Bond’s exact actions at that location, including the Arkangel Weaponsfacility where the film begins, and the beauty of St. Petersberg in Russia.
NB. In each of the above sections (Profile, Database, or Location), you canclick through each simple and > buttons onscreen, rather thanhaving to go back to the list which aides ease of use.
Release
This section gives details of the original US cinema release date, box-officedetails around the world, reviews of the film, plus details of what currentevents were happening at the time, to bring the mood of the film intoperspective – something to take note of especially in the case ofGoldeneye as the Cold War ended between the release of that and theprevious Bond action-adventure, Licence To Kill.
Backlot
The backlot provides a selection of behind-the-scenes photos showing generalsnapshots of cast and crew, and how certain shots were created. All of thesecan also be viewed in close-up.
Credits
As the title of this section suggests, full film credits for each Bond storyare given with links to a number of the main cast and crew.
Mission Profile
The mission profile for Goldeneye is eight pages long. You can read each pagein turn or click on any one of the pages at any time. This profile informs youthat Alec Trevelyan, a one-time ally of James Bond when he was active agent 006,along with renegade Soviet officers General Ourumov and Xenia Onatopp areattempting to take control of the Goldenye weapons system, and Bond has to stopit.
Each mission profile gives a full description of the film with photo-qualitypics and the related Bond theme running along in the background. Beware thoughthat the ending is revealed, so if there’s an entry in the series which you’venot yet seen, then you may prefer to see that film first before reading theconclusion.
Database
The database for each film allows you access to information on a number ofkey features in the following classes…
The Women
Back in the main menu, this part of the dossier is indicated by the face of amember of the female persuasion who has caught Bond’s eye by fair means or foul.
The entire female cast of good girls and femme fatales can be selected either byorder of mission, class (ie. Allies, Villains, Turncoats, and Lovers) or alphaorder.
There are plenty of pictures to be viewed along with some choice sound clips.
The Allies
Like “The Women”, this section shows all of the men and women that Bondcan rely upon within the films. These can be selected by order of mission,class (ie. British, Foreign, Independent, Turncoat, and Organisation), oralpha order.
The Villains
Yes I think you’ve got the jist of it. The entire range of Bond’s adversariescan be investigated in order of mission, class (ie. Mastermind, Political,Henchmen, Associates, Turncoats, and Organisation), or alpha order.
Q-Branch
For all the techno-buffs among you prepare to salivate beyond your wildestdreams as this section features all the gadgets featured in the films. As above,these can be selected in order of mission, class (6 categories: Weapon orSpecial for Bond, Allies or Villains), or alpha order.
Vehicles
Whether on four wheels, two wheels, none, or plain old-fashioned Sherman tank(great for those three-point turns), take a look through the entire range ofvehicles in order of misssion, class (ie. Sea, Land, Air and Space) or alphaorder.
Q
Major Boothroyd, better known as just one letter plain and simple, althoughhis gadgets are anything but.
At any time during the use of the product, you can click on the “Q” at thetop of the screen for program assistance. There’s a number of different clipsof Desmond Llewelyn pointing out the menus to help you find your way around thegame engine that the dossier uses.
007 Declassified
- 007 Profile
The 007 Profile provides essential information on the man including detailsabout his mannerisms, the sort of drinks he likes (shaken, not stirred,naturally), his proficiencies in land, in sea, and in marksmanship; hiswardrobe, and how he likes to gamble.
007 AKA
007 AKA displays between six to eight pages of background information on eachof the five actors who have officially played James Bond, namely Sean Connery,George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and the latest, Pierce Brosnan,including how Brosnan very nearly got the part in 1986, but American TV stationNBC kept him on as “Remington Steele”, and the part went to Timothy Dalton atthe time.
007 By Design
007 By Design produces background information on the five main people behind thescenes, namely writer Ian Fleming, executive producers Harry Saltzman and Albert’Cubby’ Broccoli who died shortly after “Goldeneye” was completed, and producersBarbara Broccoli, daughter of Albert, and Michael Wilson.
007 Chronicles
007 Chronicles shows a month-by-month account of the life history of the Bondenterprise from its inception in January 15th, 1952, when Ian Fleming beganwriting “Casino Royale” which later starred David Niven, via October 5th,1962, when “Dr. No” received its premiere at the London Palladium,through to the end of 1996 when the James Bond Interactive Dossier was releasedin the US.
Additional
As if all of the above wasn’t enough, at any time, the three buttons at thebottom of the screen will help you find your way around the Dossier.
Web Link
Information junkies need look no further for more Bond as this link willconnect your PC directly to the dossier’s Website at :http://www.mgmua.com/bond/dossier
HMSS Trivia Challenge
After extensive viewing of the entire dossier, it’s time to pit your wits andsee how much you know off by heart, or have learned from the dossier, in thistrivia game.
Parts of the game involve identifying voices, and certain characters favouritedishes, drinks and the things which give the bad guys away.
However, while the theme tunes play without a hitch on my Pentium 90 PC on allother parts of the dossier, in this section, the sound effects, background musicand guess-the-voice sections have a tendancy to ‘stutter’ for some unexplainedreason, making it more difficult than it should be. Hence, the sound factorloses a point because of this.
Power Down
When you’re done, click on “Power” with the red dot to terminate thissession of the Dossier. Your PC won’t really meltdown after 15 seconds, but theprogram will try to convince you it has, with even Q having a go at you forexecuting a shutdown.
Overall
This excellent package is only marred by two things, bar the sound problemmentioned in the HMSS Trivia Challenge.
Firstly, none of the clips are in widescreen format. Given that the video clipsare played in small sections of the screen, usually taking up no more than aquarter of the monitor’s area, the horizontal aspect of the clip could havebeen extended to provide that cinematic look.
Secondly, the package doesn’t feature information on the Sean Connery starrer,“Never Say Never Again”. While this title was made by another filmcompany, so wasn’t an official Bond film, it has recently been bought by Warnerand added to the current collection of James Bond videos available for salein shops.
Overall, however, this is definitely the essential add-on in life to any bigJames Bond fan, and is also well worth checking out for anyone who simply wantsto find out more about the super sleuth.
Content : 5/5
Picture quality : 5/5
Sound quality : 4/5
Ease of Use : 5/5
Overall : 5/5
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1997.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.