Synopsis:

This edit of Moonraker tries to eliminate a lot of the silliness that was prominent in what is considered one of the cheesiest Bond films of all. A few quick cuts has now made Jaws seem more threatening, Bond a little more clever since now he isn’t saying something stupid every 30 seconds (“Play it again, Sam!”), and some of the eye rolling scenes have been scrapped. I have also completely rescored the cable car fight and the speed boat chase as well as added additional sound effects to those scenes.

Intentions:

I was never really a fan of Moonraker. I always thought it was so terrible and cheesy and borderline unwatchable, especially after watching some Connery Bond films and recently seeing Skyfall (this was almost a year ago). Finally, with the tools in front of me, I decided to tackle editing this while interest in Bond was high. Unfortunately it took me a little bit longer than expected to finish this, but I am happy that it is done and ready for people to see.

Change List:

-The outer space battle outside of the space station has been cut -Jaws biting through the cable car wire is now gone. I moved the thug knocking out the control room worker to right as Bond and Goodhead get on the cable car so it looks like the reason the cable car stops is because the thug stopped it. Jaws appears as his cable car is approaching Bond's now. -Some of the real chessy Bond lines have been taken out (“Play it again, Sam” – “He was a real pain in the neck”) -The gondola chase is now gone. It was way way too silly, even for a Roger Moore Bond. -Sorry Jaws, but no girlfriend for you. -Jaws will still help Bond at the end, but he will meet his demise on the space station) -Close Encounters 5 note motif has been replaced with a standard beeping sound for the keypad -No Magnificent Seven theme. -The laser gun that melts the mannequin's head is gone -I forget her name now, but the first girl that helps Bond in Drax's office dies offscreen, but her screams are heard -You won't be able to see Bond's camera saying 007 on it when he is taking pictures of Drax's blueprints. -Completely rescored the cable car fight -Rescored the speed boat chase as well as removed Jaws from the chase completely -Jaws will not be going through a metal detector at the airport -Less time in between Bond shooting Drax at the end and throwing him out into space -Bond doesn’t knee Jaws in his groin (which meant removing the metallic impact sound) -Jaws doesn’t flap his arms as he falls during the opening freefall There are probably more that I’m not thinking of at the moment.

Additional Notes:

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Other Sources:

David Arnold’s amazing work from the Tomorrow Never Dies score.

Special Thanks:

Dwight Fry