Q (James Bond)
Q is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and movies. He is the head of Q branch for the British Secret Service that makes spycraft devices ranging from pens with built-in radios to cars that transformed into submarines. The character actually appeared only fleetingly in Ian Fleming's novels, but came into his own in the successful Bond movie series. The character first appeared in Dr. No as Major Boothroyd played by Peter Burton, however, he was never refered to as Q until From Russia With Love when he was played by Desmond Llewelyn although in the credits he was listed as "Major Boothroyd". From there on Llewelyn would play Q in every official James Bond film except for Live and Let Die till his death in 1999, mere months after the release of The World is Not Enough, the nineteenth Bond film. In The World Is Not Enough Bond was introduced to Q's assistant nicknamed R, who takes over the rank and title 'Q' from 2002's Die Another Day.
Major Boothroyd
| Desmond Llewelyn as Q in Tomorrow Never Dies
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| Q
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| Actor | Desmond Llewelyn
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| Gender | Male
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| Age | 50s - 80s
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| Affiliation | MI6
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| Status | Retired
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In the movies the relationship between Bond and Q has been one of seeming antipathy. The gadgets supplied by Q are almost invariably destroyed as a result of Bond's use of them, and Q is constantly exhorting Bond to take better care of them and occasionally read the instruction manual (which Bond never does). Bond usually responds by displaying an instant mastery of whatever device Q hands to him. In Licence to Kill Q sides with Bond, supplying him with gadgetry and even helping him operationally despite his resignation from MI6.
The ancestry of the Q character is rather complicated. In the Fleming novels there are frequent references to 'Q branch', and in Dr. No the service armourer, Major Quentin Boothroyd, replaces Bond's Beretta pistol with a Walther PPK. In the first movie, Dr. No, the character of Major Boothroyd, the armourer, appears; but in the second, From Russia With Love, it is Desmond Llewelyn who hands out the gadgets. From then on Llewelyn's character is referred to as Q, but he is credited as 'Boothroyd' in From Russia With Love and also named 'Major Boothroyd' in dialogue in The Spy Who Loved Me.
Featured in:
- From Russia With Love
- Goldfinger
- Thunderball
- You Only Live Twice
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service
- Diamonds are Forever
- The Man With the Golden Gun
- The Spy Who Loved Me
- Moonraker
- For Your Eyes Only
- Octopussy
- A View To A Kill
- The Living Daylights
- Licence to Kill
- GoldenEye
- Tomorrow Never Dies
- The World is Not Enough
John Cleese as Q
| The current Q, John Cleese, in Die Another Day
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| Q
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| Actor | John Cleese
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| Gender | Male
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| Age | 60
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| Affiliation | MI6
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| Status | Active
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Q (like M) is a job title rather than a name. In The World Is Not Enough an assistant to Q was introduced, known as R and played by John Cleese. His name was never revealed, but he's credited as R from a joke in which Bond asks "If you're Q does that make him R". Due to Llewelyns death in 1999, John Cleese's character took over the job of the former Q, and so from then on was known as Q.
Cleese's Q is almost a radical departure from Major Boothroyd. From the start, Cleese's Q never liked Bond based simply from Bond's reputation of not returning items in prestine order. When Bond tries to joke with Q, Cleese's Q is a lot quicker at comebacks than Boothroyd ever was making him more of a match for Bond in terms of wit.
Though Boothroyd and Cleese's Q are different from one another they both share the same attitude towards their professional work. In almost every film one or the other have have said the words "I never joke about my work" to Bond.
As of 2004, Cleese is still the current Q and is rumored to be returning in James Bond 21.
Featured in:
- The World is Not Enough — as R
- Die Another Day
Gadgets
Some of the more memorable gadgets supplied by Q include:
Other Q's
John Gardner, in his James Bond novels, introduced the character of Ann Reilly, a young female assistant to Q who Bond nicknamed Q'ute and subsequently had a brief romantic relationship. Q'ute had taken over the running of Q Branch by the time Gardner left the book series, but when Raymond Benson took over, he ignored the character of Q'ute and gave Q Branch back to Major Boothroyd with no explanation.
In the 1983 non-EON production Never Say Never Again, Q branch is headed by a man known as both "Algernon" and "Q". It is unclear whether he is intended to be a successor to the EON Q (like the film's M).
