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Q is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and movies. Q (standing for Quartermaster), like M, is a job title rather than a name. He is the head of Q branch, the fictional research and development division of the British Secret Service. The Q character actually appears only fleetingly in Ian Fleming's novels, but comes into his own in the successful Bond movie series. The character of Q has appeared in each of the 007 films except for Live and Let Die
Desmond Llewelyn as Q (a.k.a. Major Boothroyd)
| Desmond Llewelyn as Q in Tomorrow Never Dies
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| Q (a.k.a. Major Boothroyd)
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| Actor: | Desmond Llewelyn
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| Gender: | Male
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| Age: | 50s - 80s
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| Affiliation: | MI6
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| Status: | Retired
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In the James Bond movies, the relationship between Bond and Q is one of seeming antipathy. The gadgets supplied by Q are almost invariably destroyed as a result of Bond's use of them, and Q is constantly exhorting Bond to take better care of them and to occasionally read the instruction manual. Bond usually responds by displaying an instant mastery of whatever device Q hands to him.
In addition to the tech laboratories, Q occasionally meets Bond in the field to deliver some equipment or to personally handle some specialized devices to assist Bond. This goes so far as in Licence to Kill where Q sides with Bond, supplying him with gadgetry and even helping him operationally despite his resignation from MI6.
The Origins of Q
The ancestry of the Q character is rather complicated. In the Fleming novels there are frequent references to 'Q branch' and in Dr. No, the service armourer Major Quentin Boothroyd (played by Peter Burton only in Dr. No) replaces Bond's Beretta pistol with a Walther PPK. In the second movie, From Russia With Love, it is Desmond Llewelyn who plays the role of Boothroyd. From then on Llewelyn's character is most oftenly referred to as Q, but, nevertheless, he is credited as 'Boothroyd' in From Russia With Love and also referred to as Major Boothroyd in dialogue in The Spy Who Loved Me. Some sources, most notably the 1980s James Bond 007 role-playing game suggested that Boothroyd's first name was Geoffrey, although this contradicts Fleming.
Boothroyd has clearly retired by the time of Die Another Day, but it has not yet been confirmed on screen whether the character is now deceased.
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John Cleese Q (a.k.a. R)
| The current Q, John Cleese, in Die Another Day
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| Q (a.k.a. R)
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| Actor: | John Cleese
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| Gender: | Male
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| Age: | 60
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| Affiliation: | MI6
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| Status: | Active
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In The World Is Not Enough an assistant to Q was introduced, teasingly called "R" by Bond and played by John Cleese. His name has yet to be revealed, but he is initially credited as R in The World is Not Enough stemming from a joke in which Bond asks the elder Q: "If you're Q does that make him R?" (Cleese's character responds, "Ah yes, the legendary 007 wit. Or at least, half of it"). The character continued to be referred to as "R" in videogames produced between 1999 and the release of Die Another Day in 2002.
Following actor Llewelyn's death in 1999, John Cleese's character took over the job of the former Q beginning with Die Another Day, and so from then on was known as Q, although Bond initially refers to him as "Quartermaster", the first on-screen reference to what Q stands for.
Cleese's Q is almost a radical departure from Major Boothroyd. From the start, Cleese's Q never liked Bond based simply from Bond's reputation of not returning items in pristine condition. When Bond tries to joke with Q, Cleese's Q is a lot quicker at comebacks than Boothroyd ever was, making him more of a match for Bond in terms of wit.
Though Boothroyd and Cleese's Q are different from one another they both share the same attitude towards their professional work. In almost every film one or the other have said the words "I never joke about my work" to Bond.
Initially portrayed as rather clumsy and obtuse (i.e. referring to a vehicle as "fully stocked" rather than as "fully loaded"), once R was "promoted" to Q he has become more self-assured and more in the style of his predecessor.
As of February 2005, Cleese is still the current Q, although there are rumors the character may not appear in the next Bond film, Casino Royale.
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Gadgets
For a more complete list see: List of James Bond gadgets
Some of the more memorable gadgets supplied by Q include:
Other Q's
John Gardner, in his James Bond novels, introduced the character of Ann Reilly, a young female assistant to Q who Bond nicknamed Q'ute and subsequently had a brief romantic relationship. Q'ute had taken over the running of Q Branch by the time Gardner left the book series, but when Raymond Benson took over, he ignored the character of Q'ute and gave Q Branch back to Major Boothroyd with no explanation.
In the 1983 non-EON production Never Say Never Again, Q branch is headed by a man referred to as both "Algernon" and "Q". It is unclear whether he is intended to be a successor to the EON Q (like the film's M).
Another version of Q appears in the non-official spoof, Casino Royale, played by Geoffrey Bayldon.
See also
External links
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