The Bond Collection

Happy 4th, everyone. Today isn't a big deal for us, which is fine. We aren't the sort to fight crowds on the Esplanade; I'm perfectly happy spending today at home reading a book, or watching movies.

Speaking of which, the cable channel Encore is doing a month-long James Bond retrospective on its HD channel. Sure, other channels do this from time to time, but the nice thing about Encore is that all the movies they show are completely unedited, as they were originally shown in theaters, and without commercials. Encore is a sibling channel to Starz, but it isn't a premium channel. Some cable packages have it, others don't, so you'll have to check your guide or hunt around. (On our Comcast it's channel 785.)

The movies are not being shown in exact order, which bothers someone of my nature, but they are showing the complete series (except for the two most recent Daniel Craig movies). When's the last time you saw Never Say Never Again? For me, it was 1983, when it came out in theaters (I remember going to see it at the old Sack 57 near the Park Plaza with some friends from school). That will be on at 8 pm on Tuesday July 17th. Likewise, I have not seen 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service since probably some time in the mid-1970s, when it would have aired as an ABC Sunday Night Movie. That's coming up on July 10th.

There's a Bond movie on each night this month at 8 pm (nightly schedule here). They've been doing a marathon of sorts since this past Sunday, and I've already recorded most of the movies (so yes, I kind of missed the chance to mention this when I should have), but Encore tends to show movies multiple times over the course of a month, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are other opportunities to see or record them. Their online schedule is not the most useful thing I've seen, but between it and your DVR you should be able to scope out whichever movies you want to watch.

It's also worth noting that the versions being shown appear to have gone through a restoration process, making them look and sound great.

Correction: after looking over the movies Encore is planning to show, I realized that the last two Pierce Brosnan movies are missing: 1999's The World Is Not Enough and 2002's Die Another Day. Don't know why, probably has something to do with rights.