Austin Powers may have the hot summer movie, but he doesn't have his own museum--yet. That singular honor in cinematic spydom belongs to Bond... James Bond, whose onscreen exploits over the past 37 years are enshrined in The World of 007, a 17,000-sq.-ft. (1,600 sq. m) complex that has left guests shaken and stirred since its recent opening in Hildesheim, Germany.
Visitors pass through seven (natch) themed zones that divvy up what is said to be the biggest collection of Bond memorabilia housed under one roof. Some 350 props, posters, costumes, and other collector's items, including inventions from Q, can all be seen and experienced in this exhibit royale.
In the spotlight--or, perhaps more accurately, the gun sight--at the museum is the work of Maurice Binder, who designed the classic Bond title sequences until his death in 1991 (the new, computer-generated ones since Pierce Brosnan settled into the role just aren't the same, somehow). At the museum, these collages and concepts have been revived with the help of M--no, not Judi Dench, but Martin Professional.
The German company Stempel Kroul created special gobos from sequences in Bond movies for use in Martin MAC 500s for the exhibit space. The images are projected onto the walls of the museum and integrated into the variety of displays (pictured, alongside the current wearer of the tuxedo). The lighting sequences were programmed using a Martin 3032 controller and downloaded onto a Martin 2510 for the show. Nova Konzertservice of Hildesheim executed the design, and all equipment came from Martin Germany GmbH.
If you can't make it to Bond's world in Germany, you can make it to your multiplex this Thanksgiving, when The World is Not Enough, the 19th Bond adventure, is unspooled. DP Adrian Biddle, having tackled The Mummy and Aliens earlier in his career, slugs it out with the superspy in his debut as a Bond cinematographer. Or, to see everybody's favorite Bond girls up close and personal, visit Broadway this season, where Amy's View--co-starring the delightful Dench and the current Miss Moneypenny, Samantha Bond (no apparent relation)--is on view.