James Bond Jr. is an American animated television series based on Ian Fleming's James Bond franchise. It follows the adventures of James Bond's nephew, James Bond Jr. The series debuted in September 1991 and ran for 65 episodes before ending in December of that year. It was the first television series ever produced based on the Bond franchise, and is the only animated adaptation.

Background

This was the second attempt to create an animated series based on the Bond franchise. Bond screenwriter Kevin McClory announced in a February 1988 issue of Variety that he was working to produce an animated James Bond series called James Bond vs. S.P.E.C.T.R.E., to be produced by an unnamed Dutch company. The series never came to fruition. Eon Productions later began developing what would become James Bond Jr. The show was produced by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson and MGM Television, and debuted on September 16, 1991, with a total of 65 half-hour episodes produced. James Bond Jr. was fully sanctioned by, and produced in association with, Danjaq and United Artists, who held the rights to the James Bond property. It was the first attempt to bring the Bond franchise to television since the 1954 live adaptation of Casino Royale. Only one season was produced.

Plot

While attending prep school at Warfield Academy, James Bond Jr, with the help of his friends IQ (the grandson of Q), Gordo Leiter (the son of Felix Leiter) and Tracy Milbanks, fight against the evil terrorist organization S.C.U.M. (Saboteurs and Criminals United in Mayhem), a SPECTRE-like organization. Expanding on his uncle's famous line, James Bond Jr's catchphrase was "Bond, James Bond... Junior." The show regularly surpasses the Bond movies in terms of fantastical gadgets, while the violence of the Bond series is nowhere in evidence. Jaws, a recurring villain from the films The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, made regular appearances, usually partnered with Nick Nack, a villain from The Man with the Golden Gun, forming a bickering comical duo. Auric Goldfinger also appears, alongside his assistant, Oddjob, from the Goldfinger film. It is revealed Goldfinger has a teenage daughter named Goldie Finger with equally expensive tastes. The only other villain from the films to appear in the show, though one that is very loosely based on his film counterpart is Dr. No, who is depicted as being Asian and having green skin, a common practice at the time in children's media whenever Asian villains are showcased such as Ming the Merciless in Defenders of the Earth and The Mandarin in the 90's Iron Man TV series. Several episode titles parodied the titles of Bond films such as Live and Let’s Dance and Rubies Aren't Forever.

Characters

The main characters consist of James Bond Jr., his friends, several featured members of the Warfield Academy staff, and Trevor Noseworthy IV. They appear in almost every episode of the series. Sometimes only two or three of Jr.'s friends will accompany him on an adventure, leaving the others behind at Warfield to create a B-plot. These plots normally revolve around Trevor's misguided attempts to get James into trouble.

Main characters

Villains

There were numerous villains in the series, most of whom worked for S.C.U.M. and made recurring appearances throughout the 65-episode run. Many characters looked nothing like their movie counterparts. All recurring villains in the show are listed here:

Bond girls

In most episodes James Bond Jr. encounters guest women, whom he is often forced to rescue. Following in the 007 tradition, many of their names are based on puns or double entendres, although they are less salacious than the parent series. Some of the more notable include:

Episodes

Merchandise

Board game

A board game, James Bond Jr. The Game, was released by Crown and Andrews, the plot of which was to try to prevent the launch of nuclear missile. Players collected computer disks, in order to deactivate the missile, while watching out for SCUM agents.

Diecast vehicles

Three diecast toy vehicles was produced by ERTL in 1992: James' Sports Car, Warfield Van and the SCUM Helicopter.

Toy line

The James Bond Jr. toy line was manufactured by Hasbro.

Voice actors

Principal voice actors

Additional voices

Crew

Home media releases

As with most animated series, a large number of episodes were only broadcast and never commercially released. Some episodes were only commercially released in the US, and some episodes were only commercially released in the UK.

UK VHS

US VHS

Books

Novelisations by John Peel

In 1992, Puffin Books published six novels based on the James Bond Jr. animated television show. The books were written by John Peel under the pseudonym John Vincent, and were based on episodes from the television run.

Buzz Books adaptations by Caryn Jenner

In the UK, four of the TV episodes were adapted into a young children's series by Buzz Books. Although the plots were basically the same, the books were much shorter and sometimes featured different characters from the TV show. The only villains never to appear in these books were Dr. No and Walker D. Plank.

Other books

These books are not part of a series.

Marvel Comics books

James Bond Jr. had a limited 12 issue run with Marvel Comics spanning from January 1992 to December 1992. The first five stories were lifted directly from the TV series, but the other seven were original stories. The writers were Cal Hamilton and Dan Abnett, and the artists were Mario Capaldi, Colin Fawcett, Adolfo Buylla, and Bambos Georgioli.

Video game

James Bond Jr. had two video games based on the series, published by THQ in 1992 for the NES and the Super NES (the former developed by Eurocom and the latter developed by Gray Matter).