Continuity
According to Raymond Benson, as far as character continuity was concerned, he had been given free lease by Ian Fleming Publications (then Glidrose Publications) to follow or ignore other continuation authors as he saw fit. Benson took a middle of the road approach to this. While Ian Fleming's novels are strictly canon, Gardner's novels are not strictly followed, though there are some aspects that are carried over. For instance, in Gardner's Win, Lose or Die Bond is promoted to Captain. This aspect does not carry over and in Benson's novels Bond is a Commander once again with no explanation. Some of Gardner's original recurring characters are also not present including Ann Reilly (aka Q'ute) who by the end of Gardner's era had taken over Q Branch from Major Boothroyd. Once again Benson ignores this and features Major Boothroyd with no explanation. Some of Gardner's changes do remain, however. Benson's Bond continues to smoke cigarettes from H. Simmons of Burlington Arcade, which was first introduced in Gardner's For Special Services (1982). Additionally, the Bond girls, Fredericka von Grüsse (Never Send Flowers / SeaFire), Harriet Horner (Scorpius), and Easy St. John (Death Is Forever) are all mentioned. Further novels by Benson also retain some aspects of Gardner's series though there is equally just as much that he ignores.
Some aspects of the films also carry over into Benson's continuation. M, for instance, is not Sir Miles Messervy, but the female M that was first introduced in the film GoldenEye (1995), although Gardner also introduced this character in his novelisation of that film and retained the character through his final novel COLD (1996). Bond also reverts back to using his trusty Walther PPK, claiming he had switched to other guns (notably the ASP in Gardner's later novels), but felt that it was time he used it again. The follow-up to Zero Minus Ten, the novelization to Tomorrow Never Dies has Bond switching to the Walther P99. This remains Bond's main weapon throughout Benson's novels. Later novels by Benson also attempt to insert some of the characters from the films into his story. In The Facts of Death, for instance, Admiral Hargreaves is present at a party.
Read more about this topic: Zero Minus Ten
Famous quotes containing the word continuity:
“There is never a beginning, there is never an end, to the inexplicable continuity of this web of God, but always circular power returning into itself.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The dialectic between change and continuity is a painful but deeply instructive one, in personal life as in the life of a people. To “see the light” too often has meant rejecting the treasures found in darkness.”
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“Continuous eloquence wearies.... Grandeur must be abandoned to be appreciated. Continuity in everything is unpleasant. Cold is agreeable, that we may get warm.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)