GoldenEye

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see GoldenEye (disambiguation).

GoldenEye
Promotional poster for GoldenEye
James Bond	Pierce Brosnan
Directed by	Martin Campbell
Produced by	Barbara Broccoli Tom Pevsner Anthony Waye Michael G. Wilson
Written by	Michael France
Screenplay	Jeffrey Caine Bruce Feirstein
Music by	Eric Serra
Main theme
Composer	Bono The Edge
Performer	Tina Turner
Distributed by	MGM/UA Distribution Co.
Released	November 17, 1995
Running time	130 min.
Budget	$60,000,000
Worldwide gross	$353,400,000
Admissions (world)	81.2 million
Preceded by	Licence to Kill
Followed by	Tomorrow Never Dies
IMDb profile

GoldenEye is the 17th James Bond film and the first to star Pierce Brosnan in the leading role. The film follows Bond as he battles to prevent former friend Alec Trevelyan using the GoldenEye satellite weapon against London for revenge and personal gain. It is an original screenplay, not based on a work by Ian Fleming, and was made by Albert R. Broccoli's EON Productions. GoldenEye was directed by Martin Campbell and produced by Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, due to Albert Broccoli's failing health.

Released in 1995, after legal troubles forced a 6-year hiatus in the series, many saw GoldenEye as a return to form. The first Bond film made after the demise of the Soviet Union, GoldenEye was praised by most critics and performed well at the box office. Brosnan took over from Timothy Dalton and went on to star in three more films; this was also the first film to star Judi Dench as M. The film was the basis for GoldenEye 007, a flagship game for the Nintendo 64 and revolutionary first-person shooter developed by Rareware.

1 Plot
2 Development
3 Production
4 Cast
5 Release and critical reaction
6 Music
7 Vehicles & gadgets
8 Firearms
9 Censorship
10 Other media
- 10.1 Novelisation and comic
- 10.2 Video games
11 References
12 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story begins with James Bond (Pierce Brosnan), 007, infiltrating the Soviet Army guarded Arkangel chemical weapons facility in the Soviet Union, along with his friend and colleague Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean), 006. Trevelyan is captured and shot by Colonel Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov (Gottfried John), but Bond escapes and blows up the facility, completing the mission.

Nine years later (after the collapse of the Soviet Union), Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen) and an accomplice steal the prototype attack helicopter Eurocopter Tiger from the French frigate La Fayette during a flight demonstration. Onatopp is identified by MI6 as a member of the Janus Syndicate, a Russian crime ring. The stolen helicopter is flown to a supposedly abandoned satellite control centre in Severnaya, Russia (depicted as a fictional village in central Siberia), being used to develop the GoldenEye satellite weapon; this is traced by MI6 satellite and watched by Bond and M in London. Onatopp and Ourumov, now a General, enter Severnaya, steal the GoldenEye disk and kill the programmers working there. They fire Petya, one of the two GoldenEye satellites, which detonates in a nuclear explosion, causes an electromagnetic pulse and destroys the control centre; this covers their theft and allows them to escape in the unaffected Tiger helicopter. They leave with Boris Grishenko (Alan Cumming), a programmer at Severnaya who also secretly works for the Janus Syndicate. Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco), a female programmer, is the only other survivor; however she arranges via computer to meet up with Grishenko in St. Petersburg, who gives her over to Onatopp.

MI6 deduce what has happened and Bond is tasked with finding GoldenEye and stopping its use. He travels to St. Petersburg and uses his CIA contact Jack Wade (Joe Don Baker) to get access to Valentin Zukovsky (Robbie Coltrane), a Russian Mafia head. Zukovsky, in exchange for a profitable arms deal, arranges for Bond to meet up with the head of Janus at an isolated graveyard of soviet communist statues. Janus turns out to be Trevelyan, who had faked his death at Arkangel. He wants revenge for his Lienz Cossack parents, who were betrayed by the British and returned to the Soviets at the end of World War II. His plan involves detonating the second GoldenEye satellite, Mischa, over London. The terrorist act will hide his own theft of money from the Bank of England and possibly cause a worldwide financial meltdown, as well as killing millions of people in the city of London. Trevelyan captures Bond and leaves him with Simonova to die, but they escape.

They are then immediately arrested by the Russian government and interrogated by Minister of Defence, Dmitri Mishkin (Tchéky Karyo) at a Russian Defense Archive back in the city of St. Petersburg. During the interrogation, Ourumov enters and is implicated in the Severnaya attack by Simonova, who Mishkin appears to believe. He kills Mishkin and captures Simonova, escaping in a car; Bond pursues him in a tank to an armoured train, where he meets Trevelyan and Onatopp again. After a tense stand-off, Bond kills Ourumov, saving Simonova but allowing Trevelyan and Onatopp to escape. They are again left to die, but escape, and Simonova traces Grishenko to Cuba using a computer on the train.

Image:Gold9.jpg

Bond and Simonova go to Cuba to find the satellite dish needed to utilise the second satellite. They are searching in a light aircraft, when it is shot down and crashes in the jungle. Onatopp ziplines from an arriving helicopter to finish them off, but Bond fights back, killing her. Bond and Simonova make their way onto the radio telescope cradle, which had been hidden from view in a lake. Before she is caught, Simonova programs the satellite to initiate re-entry (so it would burn up in the atmosphere). Grishenko manages to gain control of the satellite, but Bond jams the moving gears of the cradle, preventing it from repositioning and explode. Trevelyan and Bond fight hand-to-hand, with Bond the eventual winner; Trevelyan dangles hundreds of feet above the basin, with Bond holding him by the boot. Trevelyan asks "For England, James?"; Bond replies "No, for me", and lets go. Trevelyan crashes to the bottom of the dish, although is still alive. Bond escapes the cradle by jumping to a helicopter that Simonova has commandeered, seconds before the antenna explodes (due to the jammed gears) and falls, directly on Trevelyan.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Development

Since Licence to Kill had performed disappointingly at the box office (taking inflation into account, it had the lowest worldwide gross of any Bond film <ref name="box office">bondmovies.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-11.</ref>) Albert R. Broccoli parted ways with John Glen (director of the previous five Bond movies) and Richard Maibaum (long-time writer for the series).<ref>"Hollywood mogul puts $200m price on James Bond's head;Albert "Cubby" Broccoli", The Sunday Times, 1990-08-12.</ref> Danjaq sued MGM/UA, the distributor of the movies, because the Bond back catalogue was being licensed to Pathé in a deal that they alleged was unfavourable. These legal battles delayed the film for several years.

Image:PierceBrosnan(CannesPhotoCall).jpg

During this time, Timothy Dalton was still expected to play Bond in the new movie as he had originally signed up for a 3-film contract (albeit one that expired in 1993). In an interview in 1993, Dalton said that Michael France was writing the story for the film, due to begin production in January or February 1994.<ref>"Interview with Dalton", The Daily Mail, 1993-08-06.</ref> However, the deadline was not met and in April 1994, Dalton officially resigned the role.<ref>Biography for Timothy Dalton. IMDB. Retrieved on 2006-11-11.</ref> The producers cast Pierce Brosnan (whom they had tried to get after Roger Moore retired, but he was contract-bound to Remington Steele<ref>Last, Kimberly. "Pierce Brosnan's Long and Winding Road To Bond", GoldenEye (magazine), 1995. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.</ref>) as Dalton's replacement.<ref>Fox, Maggie. "Pierce Brosnan Is New James Bond", Reuters, 1994-06-08. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.</ref>

France penned the original story, then Jeffrey Caine was brought in to rewrite it,<ref>Birren, Nick (2005-09-30). The Spirit of the Story: The Constant Gardener's Jeffrey Caine. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.</ref> maintaining many of France's ideas but adding the prologue prior to the credits. Kevin Wade polished the script and finally Bruce Feirstein added the finishing touches.<ref>Dye, Kerry Douglas (1999-11-15). His Word is Bond: An Interview With 007 Screenwriter Bruce Feirstein. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.</ref> The screenplay credit was shared by Caine and Feirstein while France was credited with only the story, an arrangement he felt was unfair<ref>Reg Seeton and Dayna Van Buskirk. Screenwriting Punishment with Michael France. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.</ref> particularly as he believed the additions made were not an improvement on his original version.<ref>Stax (2003-06-19). 10 Questions: Mike France. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.</ref> Wade did not receive an official credit, but was acknowledged in the naming of Jack Wade, the CIA character he created. While the story was not based on a work by Ian Fleming, the title GoldenEye comes from Fleming's Jamaican estate where he wrote the Bond novels. He named it after Operation Goldeneye, a contingency plan he developed during World War II in case of a Nazi invasion of Spain.<ref>The Real James Bond. Channel 4. Retrieved on 2006-11-19.</ref><ref>Lycett, Andrew. "Adultery, Cambridge spies, a Jamaican idyll — Ian Fleming's biographer Andrew Lycett traces the origins of James Bond", The Times, 2006-11-05. Retrieved on 2006-11-19.</ref>

[edit] Production

With Albert Broccoli's health deteriorating (he died in 1996), he was described by his daughter Barbara as taking "a bit of a back seat" in the production of GoldenEye, but still as having "a lot of influence".<ref name="ashton">Ashton, Richard (1995). Richard Ashton Interview Michael G. Wilson. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.</ref> In his stead, Barbara and Michael G. Wilson (Albert Broccoli's step-son) took the lead roles in production, and selected New Zealander Martin Campbell as director, who would also direct Casino Royale in 2006. Brosnan later described Campbell as "warrior-like in his take on the piece" and said "there was a huge passion there on both our parts".<ref>Jobson, Richard (2003-03-18). 'My heavens, I haven't been found out yet'. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.</ref>

They were unable to film at Pinewood Studios, the usual location for Bond films, because it had already been booked. Instead they had to convert an old Rolls Royce factory at Leavesdon Aerodrome in Hertfordshire, into a new studio; this worked out well as the producers later said Pinewood would have been too small.<ref name="ashton"/> A mixture of other locations were used: the casino scenes were shot in Monaco; reference footage for the tank chase was shot on location in Saint Petersburg and matched to the studio at Leavesden; the final scenes on the radio telescope were shot at Arecibo Observatory.

Title credits from GoldenEye representing the fall of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War.

GoldenEye opens with a 220 m bungee jump, shot at the Verzasca Dam in Switzerland. This stunt, performed by Wayne Michaels, was voted the best movie stunt of all time and set a record for the highest bungee jump off a fixed structure.<ref>"007's bungee jump tops best movie stunt poll", 2002-11-17. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.</ref> The largest stunt sequence in the film was the tank chase, shot partly on location in Saint Petersburg and partly at Leavesden, and taking about six weeks to film.<ref>Interview - Steve Street (Part 1) (2003-08-26). Retrieved on 2006-12-11.</ref> Daniel Kleinman took over from Maurice Binder (who had died in 1991) in designing the opening credits. He says they are meant to be "a kind of story telling sequence" showing that "what was happening in Communist countries was Communism was falling down".<ref>Opening Sequence W/ Daniel Kleinman. Retrieved on 2006-11-18.</ref>

[edit] Cast

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Pierce Brosnan as James Bond (007): In interviews, Barbara Broccoli seemed pleased to have Brosnan playing Bond, saying "I think we've hit it absolutely on the button with him".<ref name="ashton"/> It has been alleged that his contract included a clause forbidding him to appear wearing a tuxedo in any other film, and that he avoided breaking this in The Thomas Crown Affair by keeping his tie undone.<ref>Drees, Rich (2005-10-14). Craig, Daniel Craig:Speculation Ends As New James Bond Named. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.</ref>
Sean Bean as Alec Trevelyan (006): This was the first Bond film where another of the 00-agents took a major role, although minor roles and verbal references have occurred throughout the films and books.<ref>The Other 00-Agents (2002-09-09). Retrieved on 2006-11-13.</ref> Before being cast as Trevelyan, Bean had auditioned for the role of Bond and said of the matter, "It would have been nice to have played him, but it was just exciting to be involved with a Bond film."<ref>Matloff, Jason (2006). Scene Stealer: Silent Hill's Sean Bean. Retrieved on 2006-11-14.</ref>
Izabella Scorupco as Natalya Simonova: Simonova is the leading Bond girl in the film, and was actor Scorupco's first major role. She would work again with director Campbell in Vertical Limit.
Famke Janssen as Xenia Onatopp: Onatopp was the other main Bond girl and a sidekick to Trevelyan. She was voted second-best Bond girl in an Empire magazine poll, behind Honey Ryder.<ref>"Bond girl", The Guardian, 2006-07-25. Retrieved on 2006-11-13.</ref> She would work again with co-star Alan Cumming on X-Men 2.
Joe Don Baker as Jack Wade: Wade is the CIA contact for Bond, and a replacement for Felix Leiter who was injured in Licence to Kill; Wade would appear again in Tomorrow Never Dies. Baker had previously appeared in Bond film The Living Daylights as villain Brad Whitaker. He had also played a similar character, another CIA agent, for director Campbell in the 1985 BBC television drama Edge of Darkness.
Judi Dench as M: This was the first film featuring a female M, and the decision is widely believed to be inspired by Stella Rimington becoming head of MI5 in 1992.<ref>MacDonald, Jay. Her majesty's not-so-secret service. Retrieved on 2006-11-14.</ref><ref>Morris, Nigel. "Woman tipped to head MI5 in footsteps of Stella Rimington", Independent, The (London), 2002-04-30. Retrieved on 2006-11-14.</ref> Dench would reprise her role as M in the next 4 films.
Gottfried John as General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov: Ourumov was another sidekick to Trevelyan (along with Onatopp), and the insider who had access to GoldenEye.
Robbie Coltrane as Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky: Zukovsky is a Russian gangster and ex-KGB agent whom Bond uses to arrange a meeting with Janus (Trevelyan), despite previously having shot him in the leg. Coltrane had previously worked with Minnie Driver, who appears briefly with him in GoldenEye, on Circle of Friends. He went on to appear with Alan Cumming in Buddy.
Alan Cumming as Boris Grishenko: Grishenko was a programmer at Severnaya who secretly worked for Trevelyan. He survived the telescope cradle destruction and fall, but died when a vat of liquid nitrogen exploded and froze him.
Tchéky Karyo as Defense Minister Dmitri Mishkin: Mishkin was the Defense Minister and the person to whom Ourumov had to report. Ourumov shot and killed Mishkin after Simonova revealed the true events at Severnaya.
Desmond Llewelyn as Q: Llewelyn was the only character to reprise a role from a previous Bond film.
Samantha Bond as Miss Moneypenny: Samantha Bond made her first of four appearances as Moneypenny in the Bond films.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Release and critical reaction

GoldenEye premiered on 13 November, 1995, at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City, and went on general release in the USA on November 17; the UK premiere followed on the 22 November, with general release two days later.<ref>GoldenEye - Première & Press (2003-11-13). Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref> Brosnan boycotted the French premiere to support Greenpeace's protest against the French nuclear testing program (led by Jacques Chirac), causing the première to be cancelled.<ref>"Pierce Brosnan boycotts French premiere of GoldenEye to support Greenpeace protests", PRNewswire, 1995-12-01. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.</ref> It made over $26 million during its opening weekend in the USA, and during its release made around $350 million worldwide.<ref>GoldenEye. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref> It had the 4th highest worldwide gross of any film in 1995<ref>1995 Worldwide Grosses. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2006-11-24.</ref> and, taking inflation into account, was the most successful Bond film since Moonraker.<ref name="box office"/>

The critical reception of the film was mostly positive with the film review collection website Rotten Tomatoes giving it an 84% Fresh approval,<ref name="rt">GoldenEye (1995). rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.</ref> although similar site Metacritic gave it only 65%.<ref name="rt">GoldenEye. metacritic.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-24.</ref> In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4-stars, and said Brosnan's Bond was "somehow more sensitive, more vulnerable, more psychologically complete" than the previous ones, also commenting on Bond's "loss of innocence" over previous films.<ref>Ebert, Roger (1995-11-17). GoldenEye. Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.</ref> James Berardinelli described Brosnan as "a decided improvement over his immediate predecessor" with a "flair for wit to go along with his natural charm", but added that "fully one-quarter of Goldeneye is momentum-killing padding."<ref>GoldenEye. www.reelviews.net (1995). Retrieved on 2006-11-16.</ref> Several reviews praised the new M's appraisal of Bond as a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur",<ref>Hinson, Hal (1995-11-17). 14-Karat ‘GoldenEye’: A Polished New Bond. Washington Post. Retrieved on 2006-11-18.</ref><ref name="variety">McCarthy, Todd (1995-11-15). GoldenEye. Variety. Retrieved on 2006-11-18.</ref><ref>Stack, Peter (1995-11-17). New Bond More Action Than Style. sfgate.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-18.</ref> with Todd McCarthy in Variety saying GoldenEye "breathes fresh creative and commercial life" into the series.<ref name="variety"/> However, Richard Schickel in Time wrote that after "a third of a century's hard use", Bond's conventions survived on "wobbly knees",<ref>Schickel, Richard (1995-11-27). Shaky, Not Stirring. Time. Retrieved on 2006-11-18.</ref> while in Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman thought the series had "entered a near-terminal state of exhaustion."<ref>Gleiberman, Owen (1995-11-18). GoldenEye. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2006-11-18.</ref>

GoldenEye was nominated for two BAFTAs: for "Best Achievement in Special Effects" and "Best Sound", as well as two Saturn Awards for "Best Action/Adventure Film" and "Best Actor" (for Brosnan). It did not win any of the categories.<ref>[www.imdb.com/title/tt0113189/awards Awards for GoldenEye]. IMDB (1995-11-18). Retrieved on 2006-11-24.</ref>

[edit] Music

Main article: GoldenEye (soundtrack)

Original cover for the GoldenEye soundtrack.

The soundtrack to GoldenEye was composed by Eric Serra (prolific Bond composer John Barry says he was offered it by Barbara Broccoli, but turned it down<ref>John Barry The Gstaad Memorandum. Film Score (November 1996). Retrieved on 2006-11-18.</ref>). Serra's score has been heavily criticised: Richard von Busack, in Metro, writes it is "more appropriate for a ride on an elevator than a ride on a roller coaster",<ref>Bond for Glory. Metro (1995-11-22). Retrieved on 2006-11-19.</ref> and Filmtracks says Serra "failed completely in his attempt to tie Goldeneye to the franchise's past."<ref>Filmtracks Editorial Review. filmtracks.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-19.</ref> The producers later hired John Altman to provide the music for the tank chase in St. Petersburg. Serra's original track for that sequence can still be found on the soundtrack as "A Pleasant Drive In St. Petersburg". Serra composed and performed a number of synthesizer tracks, including the version of the James Bond Theme that plays during the gun barrel sequence, while John Altman and David Arch provided the more traditional symphonic music. The theme song, "GoldenEye", was written by Bono and The Edge, and was performed by Tina Turner.<ref>"Tina Turner performs theme song to new James Bond movie, 'GoldenEye.'", Jet, 1995-11-20. Retrieved on 2006-11-20.</ref>

[edit] Vehicles & gadgets

Main articles: List of James Bond vehicles and List of James Bond gadgets

BMW Z3: A convertible, which comes fully loaded with the usual Q refinements, including a self-destruct system and Stinger missiles behind the headlights. The car barely features in the film and Bond ends up trading it for Jack Wade's plane.
Cessna 172: Jack Wade's aeroplane, which is shot down while searching for the satellite dish in Cuba.
Grappling Belt: Q gives Bond a size-34 belt containing a 23 m rappelling cord and a piton-shooting buckle. When fired, it shoots a grapple attached to high-tensile-strength wire designed to support Bond's weight. Bond uses this to escape from Ourumov and his troops.
Aston Martin DB5: The car Bond is seen driving at the start of the film, registration BMT214A. This is not the same car as seen in Goldfinger and Thunderball (that car was registered BMT216A); it appears to be Bond's personal car and re-appears in the next film Tomorrow Never Dies (its appearance at Castle Thane in The World Is Not Enough did not make it into the final film). The car is equipped with a refrigerator in the centre armrest to hold champagne and two glasses, and a communications system including voice commands and a fax machine, which prints out of the in-dash CD player.

Image:Omega-Seamaster-2531.jpg

Armoured train: The armoured locomotive pulling the train in which Trevelyan escapes St. Petersburg is a British Rail Class 20 No. D8188, with the addition of some plating to give the impression of a Russian armour (in the film, Trevelyan mentions that the trains were used to haul mobile ICBMs around the country).
Explosive Pen: Q gives Bond a Parker Jotter pen that doubles as a "class-four" (C4) grenade. Three consecutive clicks arms the four-second fuse; another three disarms it. Boris Grishenko unwittingly sets this off at one point, allowing Bond and Simonova to escape.
Omega Watch: Bond's watch, standard issue of MI6, can remotely detonate mines and has a built-in laser that can cut through metal.
Grapple and Laser Gun: At the start of the film, Bond bungee jumps off a dam, and uses the grapple gun to lock on to the building below. He then uses the gun's built-in motor to pull him down. Once on the building, he uses the laser function to infiltrate the ventilation system.
Tank: Bond steals this from a Russian military building. An older T-55 tank was made up to resemble a T-80BV in the film.

[edit] Firearms

Main article: List of James Bond guns

Walther PPK: Bond's standard issue pistol. Shown in the promotional poster with a silencer. Chambered for the 7.65 x 17mm Browning (or .32 ACP) cartridge.

Makarov PM pistol: Standard-issue pistol of the Soviet/Russian armed forces. The pistol was used prominently by Ourumov in a number of scenes.

Browning DA (double action) pistol: Trevelyan uses this pistol. During the opening infiltration, he uses a Browning Hi-Power Standard, but on the cradle at the end of the film, he is seen with a Browning DA. Both guns are chambered for the 9 x 19mm Parabellum cartridge.

Kalashnikov AK-74 automatic rifle: The standard-issue assault rifle of the Soviet/Russian armed forces and used in their military service since 1974/1975. Chambered for the 5.45 x 39mm Soviet M74 cartridge. A number of the AK-74 rifles that were used were not real AK-74s but non-Russian made Kalashnikov rifles that were made to look like the AK-74 rifle. The folding-stock variant AK-74 rifles that were seen in GoldenEye were Chinese-made Norinco Type 56/AKM rifles that were fitted with AK-74-style muzzle brakes and Russian-made red bakelite plastic magazines that were made for the AKM rifle in the 1970s. The rifles that were fitted with fixed buttstocks were real, Russian-made AK-74 rifles.

Kalashnikov AKSU-74 carbine: The standard-issue carbine of the Soviet/Russian vehicle crews and certain internal security forces. The AKSU-74 is the shortened version of the AK-74 for issue to vehicle crews and people operating in confined spaces, it uses the same ammunition as the AK-74. It's also chambered for the 5.45 x 39mm Soviet M74 cartridge.

[edit] Censorship

GoldenEye had a few things trimmed in order to be guaranteed a PG-13 rating from the MPAA and a 12 rating from the BBFC.<ref name="imdb ratings">[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113189/alternateversions Alternate Versions for GoldenEye]. IMDB. Retrieved on 2006-11-20.</ref> The cuts include:

The visible bullet impact to 006's head when he is shot at the beginning of the film.
Several additional deaths during the sequence in which Xenia guns down the workers at the Severnya station.
A few extra seconds of footage of Xenia's death.
James giving Xenia a rabbit punch while they are riding in the car together. This change was only requested by the BBFC, however, Martin Campbell felt that making two versions of one scene was ridiculous, so he cut the punch in both versions of the film.

In 2006, the film was remastered and re-edited for the James Bond Ultimate Edition DVD in which a number of headbutts were restored and some violent sound effects were restored to their original levels. The BBFC rating was changed to a '15'.<ref name="imdb ratings"/>

[edit] Other media

[edit] Novelisation and comic

Image:Goldeneye comic cover.jpg

GoldenEye was the second and last Bond film to be adapted as a novel by then-current Bond novelist John Gardner. The book follows the film's storyline quite closely, however Gardner adds a violent sequence prior to the opening bungee jump in which Bond wipes out a group of Russian guards (the video game, GoldenEye 007, features a similar section). This was also Gardner's penultimate Bond novel: after one more entry in the series (COLD), Gardner retired and Raymond Benson took over.

In late 1995, Topps Comics began publishing a three-issue adaptation of GoldenEye in comic book format. The film script was adapted by Don McGregor with art by Rick Magyar. The first issue carried a January 1996 cover date.<ref>Martinez, Mark. The James Bond 007 Comics Checklist. Retrieved on 2006-11-20.</ref> For reasons unknown, Topps cancelled the adaptation after only the first issue had been published, and to date the adaptation has never been released in its entirety.<ref>Cox, John (2005-05-19). When Bond Battled Dinosaurs. commanderbond.net. Retrieved on 2006-11-20.</ref>

[edit] Video games

Main articles: GoldenEye 007 and GoldenEye: Rogue Agent

GoldenEye was adapted into a highly-regarded video game for the Nintendo 64 by Rareware. It was considered a flagship game for the console, and viewed as revolutionary in its development of the first-person shooter format. In a January 2000 poll, readers of the British video game magazine Computer and Video Games voted GoldenEye 007 into first place in a list of "the hundred greatest video games",<ref name="cvgpoll"> (January 2000) "100 Greatest Games Of All Time". Computer and Video Games (218): 53–67.</ref> and in 2005, a "Best Games of All-Time" poll at GameFAQs placed it at 7th.<ref name="gamefaqspoll">The 10 Best Games Ever. GameFAQs. Retrieved on 2006-09-29.</ref> It is based upon the film and novel, but, game designer Martin Hollis explained how many of the missions were extended or modified.<ref name="hollis-speech">Hollis, Martin (2004-09-02). The Making of GoldenEye 007. Zoonami. Retrieved on 2006-05-13.</ref>