“Moonraker” by Ian Fleming – Bond’s Space Adventure

It seems that given enough time, virtually every character from every franchise will make it into space sooner or later. Case in point, it has already happened on numerous occasions to various movie franchises, including Leprechaun, Friday the 13th and Hellraiser (seems mostly horror franchises are affected by this). 

In any case, it seems that James Bond himself could not escape the trend many years earlier, as he was sent off to space in Moonraker in order to foil the plans of the malicious Sir Hugo Drax, who intends to use his secret space rocket program to wreak havoc on Earth. And this is all because M suspected Hugo Drax of cheating at cards and sent James Bond over to expose him, a situation which ended up revealing Drax’s more dangerous plan.

Fleming doesn’t really bother to explain how or why space travel became possible (remember, the novel was published in 1955, four years before the famous Moon Landing), but instead he focuses on imagining what it would like if it was commonplace. Yes, sci-fi clichés considered standard today, such as laser guns and fabulous silver clothing, all made their appearance here.

Despite being a bit less serious in tone than his earlier novels, Moonraker nevertheless manages to deliver a captivating story, and much of it is thanks to two characters: the villain, Hugo Drax, and Gala Brand, an undercover policewoman. Drax is really what makes the novel move forward, with nearly every step having been planned in advance.

Basically, he is the quintessential Bond villain, complete with a physical deformity, delusions of grandeur, a desire to destroy the Earth, and enough money to make that happen… not to mention that his monologue in the end is perhaps one of the most interesting speeches to ever be delivered by any Bond villains (or heroes for that matter). 

However, contrary to other villains, he always manages to remain calculated, down-to-Earth, and dare I say, believable. As for Gala Brand, she is written better than most of Bond’s female counterparts, being strong-willed, capable and independent in her own right, not to mention James ends up rejecting her advances (yes, I know, it’s very shocking).

All in all, I find it somewhat disappointing that Moonraker is such an overlooked novel by Bond fans. Though it may have been Fleming’s third Bond novel and is somewhat different from his other material (not to mention that the 1972 movie adaption was quite disappointing in its own right), it nevertheless remains an important part of the James Bond canon story and is definitely worth a read for anyone who likes their spy thrillers to be just a bit over-the-top. 

---

Ian Fleming (May 28, 1908 – August 12, 1964) Personal site Ian Fleming is best known for gifting the world with the great agent 007, known as James Bond. His more popular novels include Casino Royale and From Russia with Love, and what’s more, the inspiration from the character came from none other than the author himself who has had a life just as, if not more exciting, than his most revered creation.