 Cinema in the 1980s. Blockbusters like The Terminator, Die Hard, Rambo, Back to the Future, Leafle Weapon, Indiana Jones and Top Gun were running the show. The bomb movies with the leading man switching from Roger Moore to Timothy Dalton by 1987 weren't necessarily the trendsetters of cinema anymore as had been the case in the 1960s. Though in retrospect the two Timothy Dalton films are beloved, Timothy Dalton himself wasn't the most popular James Bond at the time. The poor marketing of one of the most criminally underrated and arguably my favorite Bond film, License to Kill, didn't help the film either. By the time Daniel Craig was James Bond, two decades later, audiences finally grew to like Timothy Dalton's Bond a lot more, the man who did the dark, serious and gritty before it was cool. Casual movie fans probably still assume that Dalton's low popularity as Bond is the reason he only got to do two Bond films. But as Bond fans would know, it were the legal problems that Eon Productions were going through in the early 90s that resulted in the longest hiatus between Bond films to date, where a Bond film couldn't be made for six years, causing Dalton to bow down from the role himself because of the long wait, and the rest is history. It's a real shame Timothy Dalton never got to do more than his two Bond films, but did you know there were lots of plans for Dalton's third Bond movie to be released originally in 1991? Had it not been for the legal problems? This is what we're looking at today, and unlike the What If video on Connery as Bond in Majesty's that I did recently, we don't have to speculate all that much because a lot is known about the third Timothy Dalton Bond film that never got made. If you are new here, please subscribe and take a look at the channel after this video for a lot more weekly content on Bond and related. Before we start, I have to give a shout out to Mark Adlitz, the author of the book The Lost Adventures of James Bond, where lots of details on the third Dalton film along with many other unmade Bond adventures can be read in great detail, and I have to credit him for a large portion of the content I'm about to discuss. Let's just assume for a second that the studios never had to go through the legal problems in the early 90s and that Dalton would have returned for his third outing as 007. What would this movie have been like? Well, two drafts were written for the film. The first draft would have been a serious action thriller written by producer Michael G. Wilson and Alfonso Ruggero Jr., who worked as a screenwriter for the TV series for Miami Vice and Wise Guy. This draft would later be revamped and turned into a more lighthearted action comedy approach written by William Osburn and William Davies. The former would continue screenwriting work on what was to become the actual Bond 17, GoldenEye and Davies would eventually be a screenwriter for Johnny English. Unlike popular belief that the film was to have been titled The Property of a Lady, named after one of Fleming's short stories, this was never confirmed and is likely a fan theory in the same way we often use that title or risico in our speculations for the next Bond film. Another rumor would have been a whisper from hell, which sounds pretty cool, but again, these are just fan theories and as a matter of fact, writer Ruggero remembers they considered the title GoldenEye. Taking a look at both drafts of the film, the film likely would have entered more of a sci-fi feel than the previous two Dalton films as the movie would have featured the inclusion of robotics, microchips and advanced electronic apparatus. The writer stressed that the robots used in the film wouldn't be humanoid but were to have been designed for specific tasks. It's hard to picture what exactly these things would have looked like, like would it have been the early 90s drones or turrets or an R2D2-like machine? It's not really that clear, but it's hard to picture them in place for a Bond film. Bond would be taking on a high-tech villain called Sir Henry Lee Ching, a highly intelligent British-Chinese entrepreneur who wanted Britain to redraw from Hong Kong before that actually happened in real life, of course. Along the way, Bond would cross paths with the Chinese Secret Service and team up with a dual smuggler slash cat burglar slash American secret agent to try and prevent a global pandemonium that could spark World War 3. I'll be taking a look at the second draft by Osborn and Davias mostly, since that is likely closer to the eventual product we would have ended up with. What's interesting about this draft is that the film would have addressed Bond's age. The series never made an effort to do that up until that point and the later Roger Moore movies definitely would have benefited with some of that, I always felt. Ironically enough, the only Bond film to do so was the unofficial Never Say Never Again that Eon didn't produce. It wasn't until 2012's Skyfall where that would become a thing. In any case, Dalton wouldn't have been particularly old looking by his third film, but it still would have been a fresh new theme. So, the movie would open up with Bond being crumbled and almost hungover in a hotel room. He would be taking tablets and would look himself into the mirror disheartened and moaned to himself, you're getting too old for this. He would be called back to the bed by a beautiful woman and Bond would figure, on the other hand, maybe you're not. The opening would continue up in Tunisia where Bond would have to infiltrate a chemical plant. He would have trouble picking the lock of the door of the plant and become frustrated with himself. Bond would immediately be greeted by an armed guard and state, oh good morning, the name is Bond, James Bond. I'm here to blow up the plant. When the guard would threaten Bond with his gun, he would say it's obviously not a good time now. I'll come back tomorrow. He would engage in a gunfight and find containers of deadly nerve gas. He would set up a bomb and time the detonator to destroy the power plant. The bomb wouldn't go off as planned and Bond would assume his mission has failed. The guards would force him to the edge of a cliff and Bond would look down at how steep it is and tell to himself he's definitely too old to jump that. But when the guards start to fire at Bond, he is left with no choice and has to jump into the water 200 feet below. He would be picked up by his Arabian ally in a boat, who it's called Bond for failing to blow up the plant and Bond would say everybody has off days, okay? The plant would then suddenly explode and Bond would go, fortunately this wasn't one of them. I would imagine this would ensue the opening titles of the film. Now of course it's hard to know which singer would have featured in the opening titles but since Tina Turner went on to sing the title for the actual 17 Bond film, I can imagine her doing it. The property of a lady, it belongs only to her. Other men aren't allowed to touch it unless someone comes along to win her over. Who knows? So anyway, after the titles, Bond would arrive at MI6 in an Aston Martin virage. Not the cool modern one, though, but the ugly early 90s one. Yikes. Bond would encounter Moneypenny looking gorgeous and actually ask her out. Moneypenny would decline his offer and state he's too late and she is engaged. This is an aspect I was really surprised to read about. It's actually quite a cool concept which would again show Bond's age and his charm wearing off, as well as Moneypenny moving on from her usual crush. Bond would meet up with M and the junior minister of defense, Nigel Jopland, who would find the 00 program to be redundant and wants to make severe budget cuts he would call new department guidelines about how money is to be spent in the field. This immediately reminded me of Max Demby from Spectre. So apparently a high-tech experimental fighter jet has been stolen from a US aircraft carrier and M would suggest that an American mob is somehow connected to the death. And Jopland states that the finale crime family has a warehousing operation in Vancouver, about 30 minutes from where the plane disappeared. So this film would have actually had Bond go to Canada, something that still hasn't happened to this very day. That's very cool. Bond wouldn't be the only one affected by Jopland's budget cuts as apparently Q Brands was to have been decommissioned in this movie and would feature Q being forced into retirement because of this. Bond's DB5 would feature in a closed down lab and would be set out for destruction. Bond would deliberately ignore Jopland's budget guidelines and rent a Ferrari in Canada, investigating the warehouse he would run into a skilled burglar who turns out to be a woman. This is where he would have met the Bond girl, Connie Webb, a cap burglar who is also an undercover American agent. Elizabeth Hurley and Catherine Sita Jones were apparently considered for the part and especially the latter I can really imagine in the role. She looked great in the early 90s and can easily be pictured in a role like that. She's definitely among the list of missed opportunities for me in the Bond series. Speaking of missed opportunities, Anthony Hopkins was a favorite to play the main villain Sir Henry in the film. He would be introduced in a fencing match and he would later end up in a sword fight with Bond 2, another thing they shelved and later used for Diana Arte. The other Bond girl that would have featured in the film was to have been a Chinese secret agent, which probably was the precursor to what they later used for Wei Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies. Lucy Liu was reported to have landed the role and she would have been called My Way and her name would be a reference to my favorite song of all time, My Way from Frank Sinatra and I think that would have been a fantastic name for a Bond girl. She would have been a secondary Bond girl type, which in the first draft was set out to be a sacrificial lamp, but in the second one she would survive. Her superior, head of the Chinese intelligence, would be called Queen Luo. The henchmen of the film was to have been called Rodin and reportedly Ken Watanabe read for the part. The henchmen would have been wearing a futuristic high-tech helmet and would drive a car described as a fighter jet on wheels. It would have had stealth capabilities too. This totally reminds me of what they later went on to do with Bond's car in Diana Arte. I don't know if it would have been that type of stealth, but it sounds really overtop. A car chase between Rodin and Bond was planned, where by the way the DB5 was planned to be brought back for the first time since Fundable, so it wouldn't be destroyed after all. In the first draft, this car would be so high-tech that it would mimic Bond's car every move. So in order to shake off Rodin, Bond would deliberately drive off a cliff, causing Rodin's automatic car to fall to his doom doing the same. And Bond would use his ejector seat and parachute down saying, I hate to think what this does to its insurance. Another thing they later translated to Spectre with Daniel Craig. The scenes in Canada near the beginning of the film would lead to Las Vegas, where Bond gets on a trail with the mobsters selling the stolen plane to Sir Henry. This would also feature Bond going in disguise on a rodeo, where Bond would look like a cowboy and have a standoff in a spaghetti western style with some goons. I don't know how I feel about that whole part. Bond would be suspended back to London by jubilant for a while, while Sir Henry in Hong Kong would try to convince the mobsters to work together. After they reviewed, he uses a window washer platform that would descend into the conference room and Rodin would unleash a row of flamethrowers killing the mobsters. And Sir Henry would have the one liner if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. This sounds like a typical Bond villain-esque moment to raise the stakes and show the true evil in things and I really like this idea. The movie would also feature Bond jumping from a plane straight into a pool on the top of a skyscraper, which sounds really outlandish. A moment I do really like is when Bond retrieves the plane, he would crash land into the streets of Hong Kong, skid several blocks, and crash through a government building before finally surging into Joplin's office and Bond would remark good morning sir. The good news is I found your plane. The plane would also mark the end of Sir Henry as the nose rock would ram straight through Sir Henry's chest, where admittedly I like the depth they went for in the first draft by Wilson and Ruggiero a lot more where Bond would eliminate Sir Henry with a welding machine. It sounds very cool and like a typical Dalton Bond type of thing to do. The movie would end with Bond and Connie laying in a forest clearing and Bond would tell her about past villains like Goldfinger, Arjab and Blofeld, which would be a nice tie-in to the continuity and they would make out and have sex. Taking a look at a Bond film that almost got made is always interesting and I can immediately state much more can be found and again would like to point you to Mark Adlitz's book, who not only described much more of this stuff, but also interviewed the writers working on these drafts. What do I think? I like a lot of stuff they came up with. Maybe the more lighthearted approach would have worked with audiences coming after the darkest Bond adventure yet, Lysus the Kill. I don't know how to feel about the whole robotic thing though and the futuristic car that Rodin would drive. It sounds a bit like the Robocop suit that Gustav Graves would end up wearing in Dain Arde and I feel like it would definitely ace the film fast in the early 90s style. I do like that they wanted to explore Bond dealing with his age in this film, though he would also struggle with his confidence and be insecure in situations which I'm not sure I would necessarily be a fan of, but I do feel Dalton would nail the deeper character stuff they were thinking of. I love the idea of a cat burglar type of Bond girl and would have loved to see Catherine Sita Jones shine in this role myself. Lucy Liu would probably also be a good choice for my way. Of course they did end up fleshing out the idea of a Chinese intelligence agent anyway, so I guess we did get to see that in greater detail later down the line. I'm really not sure what to think of the main villain and the robotic side of the movie. It doesn't sound like something I'd be that interested in for the most part, but it's really hard to say. I'm also surprised they did not reference the end of the Cold War like they ended up doing in Golanon. This would have been the actual first movie after the fall of the wall, and I'm surprised they did not reference any of that in their ideas that they had for this film. Would GoldenEye have been totally different as well had this film been released? Because GoldenEye wouldn't be the first post-Cold War Bond movie anymore. It's really hard to say what would have happened. What I also found curious to read in Mark Atlas' book is that they apparently were also planning a Ford Timothy Dalton movie already, and that is also described in great detail. This is something that blew my mind. They were really ahead of the game in those times. An attitude that seems completely opposite to E.R. nowadays. During times where they are actually going for continuity, you would think that planning them out more would have really benefited them. Yet those hiatuses between Bond movies now happen even more without the legal problems and they barely seem to think far ahead, at least seemingly. In any case, this was a look at the third Timothy Dalton Bond movie that almost got made. There was definitely stuff left to mention, so leave your own thoughts on this video and your own stuff you know about this. Take a look at my Patreon page if you want to support the channel, leave a like and see you guys in the next video.