Strap on the latest underwater jet pack from Q Branch and pull down your scuba mask, because this next book from Mark Edlitz is a deep dive into the forgotten world of 007 in The Lost Adventures of James Bond!

The Many Lives of Bond

When last we met Mark Edlitz, he was interviewing a host of people who co-created the world famous and well traveled super spy James Bond in The Many Lives of James Bond. This time, Edlitz is exploring many of Bond’s unseen adventures.

All secret agent fans are mourning Sean Connery, the first James Bond, who passed away this October. Connery portrayed Bond seven times, including the unofficial 007 adventure Never Say Never Again. But while Connery may have been, arguably, the most famous Bond, it was actor Timothy Dalton in the 1980s who only lived as the spy twice. But did you know there was a third and even a fourth Bond film planned for Dalton?

The Lost Adventures of Bond

Edlitz, who may not be a spy but is a super sleuth, tracked down script treatments for these un-produced Bond pictures which would have starred Dalton. In captivating fashion he runs through the treatments, giving an overview of the movies that weren’t, and then provides interviews with the people involved in creating them.

What results is a fascinating look into what could have been. I really like Timothy Dalton as James Bond and was disappointed that he only brought him to the silver screen twice. In the 1990s there was a legal battle over who owned what rights to James Bond, and it effectively killed Dalton’s run as Bond, who was recast with Pierce Brosnan. However, it is fun to see Dalton’s particular brand of Bond re-surface in these treatments.

From there, Edlitz, our intrepid Bond enthusiast, is off and running with more unmade 007 pictures which include an alternate The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker for Roger Moore, and an alternate Tomorrow Never Dies for Pierce Brosnan. For various reasons, the production teams went in different directions resulting in the Bond movies that ultimately hit theaters, but again, it is interesting to see the Bond that wasn’t.

James Bond, Jr.

Mark Edlitz continues with a large foray into an animated television show, James Bond Jr., that was created but which cannot be found or viewed in any official capacity. According to Edlitz, the fact that “the animated series is not commercially available on DVD, Blu-ray, or via any streaming service,” leads one to “safely conclude that the Bond producers do not hold James Bond Jr. in high esteem.”

The show was not about Bond’s offspring, as it may seem, but about a nephew who carries his name. According to Edlitz’s research, the show wasn’t the greatest production, being not famous but infamous. His interviews of the creators of the show bear that out.

The junior Bond continued beyond the tv show into novelizations and comic books. But there was another young Bond creation, a novel entitled 003 1/2: The Adventures of James Bond Junior which perpetrated a mystery for Bond aficionados. I won’t spoil the reveal, but Edlitz solves that mystery once and for all.

Beyond Bond

Finally, Edlitz takes his fellow Bond enthusiasts into a world of novels, comics, graphic novels, and commercials, and even a James Bond theme park ride and play! Edlitz’s deep dive concludes with the most prolific James Bond actor of all time, and it isn’t Roger Moore! It is Toby Stevens who has played James Bond in nine dramatic adaptations of the 007 stories for BBC radio. All of these revelations by Edlitz are accompanied by interviews with the creators and those that helped make all of these Bond adventures, lost or not, a reality.

Final Thoughts

I found Mark Edlitz’s second Bond book to be a fascinating picture into the universe of the international super spy. It is a wealth of information for super fans, or even those who love behind the scenes material. Edlitz’s research and attention to detail is comprehensive and exhaustive.

How Edlitz managed all of the interviews is beyond me, but I am glad he did. They are perhaps my favorite part. Behind any James Bond, are many, many people who made 007 possible. Their stories are the real stories of crafting the spy.

The Lost Adventures of James Bond is an excellent companion to Mark Edlitz’s first book, The Many Lives of James Bond. Together they represent a great body of 007 research. The first is a look at many of the principal creators of James Bond, and the second is an exploration into the broader James Bond. Both are worth your time if you love Bond or the history of one of the greatest cultural phenomenons in the world today.

I have come to view James Bond, and his license to kill, in a whole new way after reading both of Edlitz’s books (which he provided to me, but which did not influence my thoughts in the least). The Lost Adventures of James Bond launched this December, and The Many Lives of James Bond was published in 2019. Go find yourself copies of both and take your appreciation of Bond to a whole new level!