What makes a James Bond? The missing elements of Dr. No

Image courtesy of http://meansheets.com/tag/dr-no/

We are exposing my 17-year old daughter to the legend that is James Bond, starting from the beginning with Sean Connery in Dr. No.

I will admit that the experience did not match the expectations of nostalgia. With Dr. No, we were introduced to:

• the martini, shaken not stirred
• the opening theme song and psychedelic dancing people
• the introduction of “Bond, James Bond”
• The minder M and the secretary Money Penny
• The wooing of the women, including both the evil informant and the love interest
• The evil bad guy who shares his dastardly plans before dying a really bad death

Two things missing were the opening chase scene before the credits and Q with the gadgets which later became trademarks of the series.  I found that these in themselves were enough to make this not quite a Bond show, and a slight let down as a first introduction to what later became a cinema classic.

This has me asking: what are the definitive aspects that make us who we are?  What are the elements that if you took them away, would make you no longer you?

Something to think about as we approach each week as a new episode in the move series that is our life.