STACK March 2016 Issue 71

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Nefarious criminal organisation SPECTRE and its megalomaniac mastermind
Ernst Stavro Blofeld have been periodically haunting James Bond and MI6 since
1963. Having recently resurfaced in the 24th Bond film, out on DVD this month,
what better time to take a look back at 007’s previous encounters.
SPECTRE –
Special Executive for
Counter-Intelligence,
Terrorism, Revenge
and Extortion – made
its first appearance in
Ian Fleming’s 1959 novel
Thunderball.
The author, who had
worked in the Naval
Intelligence Division
during World War II,
invented SPECTRE after
genuinely believing that
the Cold War would
be over by the time
Thunderball hit cinemas
in 1962, immediately
dating the film.
SPECTRE consists
of an amalgamation of
criminal organisations
including the Soviet
SMERSH, the Gestapo
and the Mafia.
Fleming based the
name of Ernst Stavro
Blofeld on a friend with
whom he attended Eton.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963)
SPECTRE is first mentioned in Dr. No, as the employer
of the title character, but we don’t actually see them
in action until the second Bond movie, when 007 is
duped into acquiring a Russian decoding device that
they intend to sell back to the Soviets. SPECTRE’s
chief planner and chess master Von Kronsteen does
the dirty work, while boss Blofeld (Anthony Dawson)
appears from the neck down, stroking a white cat.
THUNDERBALL (1965)
In possession of a couple of
nuclear weapons, SPECTRE
demands £100 million in
diamonds in exchange for not
blowing up Miami. The enigmatic
Blofeld is once again pulling the strings
from the shadows, leaving things to
SPECTRE’s second in command and
head of extortion, Emilio Largo.
YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967)
At last Bond meets Blofeld, who’s been hijacking US
and Soviet spacecraft in an attempt to trigger a not-so-
Cold war between the superpowers. Ensconced in his
volcano lair with his favourite cat, the scar-faced criminal
mastermind negotiates with the Japanese and rewards
failure by dunking a female agent in a pool of piranha.
“Kill Bond. Now!”
ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE (1969)
From a lair in the Swiss Alps, Blofeld holds the
world to ransom again. Threatening to wipe
out agriculture with toxic bacteria deployed
by brainwashed women, he demands
a pardon for his past crimes. A
side scheme involves him being
recognised as the true heir to
the title ‘Comte Balthazar de
Bleuchamp’.
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER
(1971)
In his final confrontation with
SPECTRE (until 2015), Bond
goes undercover to investigate
a diamond smuggling ring
and discovers that Blofeld
requires the gems to power a
giant orbital laser, aimed at the
world’s nuclear weapons and
giving him the upper hand in
the arms race.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (1981)
A wheelchair-bound Blofeld finally meets his
end in the opening
sequence, when
Bond hooks him with
a helicopter skid and
drops him into an
industrial smokestack.
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (1983)
Blofeld gets some screen time in this
“unofficial” Bond
film, which is an
offstage remake of
Thunderball.
SPECTRE (2015)
The title reveals who Bond is up against,
but who’s in charge
of SPECTRE these
days? Is the sinister
Franz Oberhauser
actually… Ernst
Stavro Blofeld?
SPECTRE #2
Emilio Largo
First sighting of
Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Donald Pleasance
as Blofeld
Telly Savalas as
Blofeld
Charles Gray
as Blofeld
visit DVD&BD FEATURE
14 MARCH 2016
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