10 Great Gigantic Gadgets

As played by Desmond Llewellyn, Q specialised in creating handy pocket-sized gadgets that could aid Bond on any mission, be it a magnetic watch (Live And Let Die), radioactive lint (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) or exploding pens (GoldenEye). But sometimes, bigger is better. Here is a survey of the outsized creations of Llewellyn’s quartermaster, proving larger than life in more ways than one.

ASTON MARTIN DB5

As seen in: Goldfinger (1965) 

On-screen: In the first visit to Q’s lab, we meet arguably his most famous creation. Upgrading Bond’s (Sean Connery) Bentley, Q talks the secret agent through his new ride, an Aston Martin DB5, fitted with all new gizmos and gadgets; front-mounted machine guns hidden behind the indicator lights; revolving licence plates valid for England, France and Switzerland; a high-powered oil jet, rear smoke screen, revolving tyre slasher, onboard radar display, a weapons panel in the centre armrest and, of course, an ejector seat operated by a button hidden in the gear stick. “Ejector seat? You’re joking!” suggests Bond. “I never joke about my work,” comes the classic reply.

Off-screen: The idea for the revolving licence plates came from director Guy Hamilton, who fantasised about escaping parking tickets.

BELL-TEXTRON JET PACK

As seen in: Thunderball (1966)

On-Screen: After a brutal fight with SPECTRE operative Jacques Bouvar (Bob Simmons), Bond (Sean Connery) looks trapped inside the magnificent French château. As the colonel’s security team move in, 007 puts on the Bell-Textron jet pack and makes a short flight from the château’s roof to his Aston Martin DB5 parked nearby. The jet pack fits nicely into the DB5’s boot. 

Off-screen: The rocket belt makes a cameo appearance in Q’s lab in Die Another Day.

LITTLE NELLIE 

As seen in: You Only Live Twice (1967)

On-screen: Needing to fly a reconnaissance mission over remote Japanese volcanoes in search of missing US and Soviet spaceships, Bond (Sean Connery) orders ‘Little Nellie’ from Q. Arriving in four large suitcases, ‘Little Nellie” turns out to be a nifty autogyro in striking yellow cowling decked out with a range of armaments: two forward-facing machine guns, two rocket launchers, heat-seeking missiles and aerial mines floated down on mini parachutes. When Bond is attacked by four SPECTRE helicopters, Bond confirms Little Nellie “defended her honour with great success.”

Off-screen: ‘Little Nellie’ was built and flown in the film by Wing Commander Ken Wallis. The name derives from a WWII tradition of people named Wallis or Wallace being given the nickname Nellie after the famous music hall star Nellie Wallace. The machine was given the nickname by Wallis’ Group Captain Hamish Mahaddie.

LOTUS ESPRIT

As seen in: The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

On-screen: Introduced in a chase around the Sardinian coast, the Lotus Esprit is impressive on land and under the water. During the road chase, Bond (Roger Moore) deploys cannons hidden behind the rear number plate used to spray cement on chasing vehicles. But the Lotus really comes into its own when it drives off a jetty and transforms into a submarine, as the wheel arches turn into fins, propellers extend from the rear of the vehicle, and a small periscope emerges from the roof to help 007 navigate. Its underwater arsenal is equally impressive, boasting front-mounted rockets, a smoke screen, a limpet mine dispenser and a radar-guided surface-to-air missile. No wonder agent Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) stole the blueprints of the vehicle two years earlier. 

Off-screen: Lotus supplied the production with seven car shells for use as the submarine. One was motorised, the others represented the car in various stages of transformation.

GONDOLA HOVERCRAFT

As seen in: Moonraker (1979)

On-screen: Bond (Roger Moore) drifts down the canals in a seemingly ordinary gondola. But when he is attacked by Drax’s assassins, he turns the gondola into a speedboat via a hidden steering column and a propeller-driven motor. The high-speed pursuit takes another unforeseen twist when the vehicle converts into a hovercraft and starts gliding across St. Mark’s Square. Even the pigeons can’t believe it.

Off-screen: “There were thousands of tourists who didn’t know there was a film going on,” recalled Roger Moore. “I didn’t have that much control over it, so they eventually gave me a little klaxon to warn people.”

THE ACROSTAR “BEDE” JET

As seen in: Octopussy 1983

On-screen: Bond is on a mission to sabotage a spy plane. Escaping capture, he jumps into the Range Rover of ally Bianca (Tina Hudson). Bond detaches the horse box, and, from a mechanical horse’s derriere, emerges in an Acrostar Jet, a one-man aircraft with folding wings capable of speeds up to 300mph. Weaponised by Q Branch, the nifty jet deftly dodges a heat-seeking missile, 007 slipping through a gap in a large hangar before the missile smashes into the closing doors, blowing the huge shelter to smithereens.

Off-screen: To shoot the aerial action, stunt pilot J.W. “Corkey” Fornof flew his jet over Southern Utah.  

ICEBERG SUBMARINE

As seen in: A View To A Kill (1985)

On-screen: On assignment to retrieve a microchip from the body of murdered agent 003, Bond (Roger Moore) comes under attack from Soviet troops. After evading his pursuers by snowboarding on the runner of a broken snowmobile, Bond enters a watercraft cunningly disguised as an iceberg. Decked out with luxury facilities including a couch that converts into a bed, it is piloted by field agent Kimberley Jones (Mary Stävin) using monitors showing images from exterior cameras to navigate the way. In a typically patriotic touch, the interior of the hatch is decorated with a Union Jack.

Off-screen: The pre-credit sequence was shot around Lake Jökulsárlón in Iceland, doubling for Siberia.

MANTA RAY COVER

As seen in: Licence To Kill (1989) 

On-screen: Q has a rich tradition of creating animal-assisted gadgets, from a fake seagull snorkel (Goldfinger) to a crocodile submersible (Octopussy). Here, 007 (Timothy Dalton) dons this unique outfit to blend in with marine life and swim undetected past the underwater surveillance cameras of the Wavekrest. While Milton Krest’s (Anthony Zerbe) men register a presence (“It’s just a manta ray”), his disguise allows Bond to travel undetected. Simple but highly effective. 

Off-screen: Juan Dario Corona doubled as Bond for the underwater scenes filmed around Isla Mujeres, Cancún.

BMW 750IL

As seen in: Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

On-screen: Used by Bond (Pierce Brosnan) to escape from Elliot Carver’s (Jonathan Pryce) men in a Hamburg car park, the BMW 750IL is packed with gadgets, some deadly, some just useful; rockets concealed in the sunroof, re-inflatable tyres, a retractable chain cutter hidden in the bonnet, an electric shock device to ward off car-jackers, metal spike dispenser, flash grenades and a tear gas mechanism. But, perhaps, most ingeniously, the car can be driven by remote control via a cell phone closed-circuit monitor that allows 007 to steer from the back seat. 

Off-screen: The unit used 17 BMW 750ILs in Aspen Silver. Four were adapted to accommodate a hidden driver for when 007 is using remote control. 

Q BOAT

As seen in: The World Is Not Enough (1999)

On-screen: First seen in Q’s workshop, Bond commandeers the hi-tech craft to chase the killer known as Cigar Girl (Maria Grazia Cucinotta) along the Thames to the Millennium Dome, via a detour through Tobacco Wharf, a fish market and a busy restaurant. It is fitted with front-mounted torpedoes (which wreak havoc in the Docklands), jet engines and a submersible mode which allows the craft to briefly go underwater. Of course, Bond uses the sub-aqua moment to straighten his tie.

Off-screen: When the Q Boat does a mid-air barrel roll, performed by stunt performer Gary Powell, the impossible manoeuvre was achieved by attaching Vickers air mortars to the side of the boat. Six cameras captured the action.