“The Eye That Never Sleeps” is more than a chapter designation in Ian Fleming’s novel, “Diamonds Are Forever”. It is an expression we coin at 007Forever to refer to the watchful eyes of line producers, directors, script editors, etc. who are vigilant to check on their films in progress for “bad matches,” moments when movie continuity or logic goes awry.

It stands as a great testimony to the staff of EON Productions these last 35-plus years that the Bond films are as outstanding as they are, with few goofs, though fanatics who have seen the movie 97 times always manage to catch something…

If you see bugaboos not reported here send them along to us online.

Cheers and happy viewing!

LIVE AND LET DIE
-it takes place the year after *Casino Royale*, yet in Chapter 2, Bond wonders, “Who controlled it [SMERSH] now that Beria was gone?”, suggesting that the story is set in 1954.

MOONRAKER
-Chapters 22 and 25 imply that it`s set in 1954, even though it occurs shortly after “Live And Let Die”, which took place in 1952 (the chapters mention, respectively, the Coronation, and Malenkov being none-too-firmly in the saddle over in Russia). (See the similar note under “From Russia, With Love”. The dating in the early novels is extremely poor).

CASINO ROYALE
… says that Bond`s Bentley was purchased almost new in 1933 (Live And Let Die says that it`s a 1933 model), yet “Moonraker” claims that it`s from 1930 (Chapter 1).

FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE
-Chapter 19: “But Bond had never killed in cold blood[.]” This seemingly contradicts how Bond got his double-0 number.
-The novel seems to take place in 1955, yet Chapter 11 gives the date Thursday August 12th. Thursday August 12th occurred in 1954. Bonus points for those who want to sound smart: Fleming might have looked at the 1956 calendar – the year he wrote the book – saw that August 12th was a Friday and accordingly backdated it by one day, forgetting that 1956 was a leap year (leap years are also always US Presidential election years). If you subtract the same amount of days that separate two years – go double days for leap years – you`ll know when in the week a particular date occurred (i.e. Friday August 12th, 1955; Thursday August 12th, 1954; Wednesday August 12th, 1953, etc; since 1956 is a leap year, August 12th falls on Sunday, not Saturday).
-Chapter 6 claims that Moonraker took place in 1952, when in fact it took place in 1954 (however, see similar note under “Moonraker”).

THE SPY WHO LOVED ME
-Bond`s facial scar is on the right side, not the left side as Vivienne Michel notes (Chapter 10).

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
-Tiger Tanaka claims in Chapter 11 that Sumo wrestlers can make their testicles re-enter the inguinal canal in order to avoid injury. Other sources dispute this. The only organisms known to do this are shrews, and hedgehogs.
-“Moonraker” suggests that Bond was born in 1916, yet “You Only Live Twice” says 1924 (Chapter 21).
-Chapter 21 claims that Bond won his CMG in 1954, when “From Russia, With Love” (Chapter 6) says 1953. Mind you, both these dates are wrong if “Moonraker” occurred in 1952.

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN
-Though this story was officially published before the short story “The Property Of A Lady”, we`ll count this book as carrying the error. The double agent was Maria Freudenstein, not Freudenstadt (Chapter 1).
-Mary Goodnight had blue-black hair in “On Her Majesty`s Secret Service”. Now she`s blonde.
-From Chapter 16: “The two men had never shaken hands in their lives.” Not true. Bond and Leiter shake hands in “Live And Let Die”, Chapter 1: “The tall, thin young man came forward with a wise grin, his hand outstretched, to where Bond stood rooted with astonishment. “Felix Leiter! What the hell are you doing here?” Bond grasped the hard hand and shook it warmly.”

JAMES BOND – THE AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY
-Chapter 15 claims that Vivienne Michel (from Fleming`s “The Spy Who Loved Me” ran a motel outside of Toronto. Not only did she not “run” a motel, but the motel itself was in the Adirondacks in upstate New York.
-Pearson gets the Moonraker plot synopsis wrong. It was not about “holding London to ransom – either the British Government would give in, or the Moonraker, complete with atomic warhead, would be fired directly at the heart of London.” (Chapter 11)
-Chapter 2 contradicts birth dates implied in Fleming`s “Moonraker” (1916) and given in “You Only Live Twice” (1924). Pearson claims 1920 (Chapter 22).
-Pearson gives him an older brother (Chapter 2), even though Fleming`s “You Only Live Twice” claims that Bond had no known surviving family (Chapter 21).
-Moreover he claims that Bond`s older brother`s name is Henry (Chapter 2). RD Mascott`s “The Adventures Of James Bond Junior – 003 1/” claims it`s David.
-Pearson says that there are only “13” Bond books, though by this time there had been 12 Fleming novels, two collections of short stories and the Amis novel (Chapter 1)
-“From Russia, With Love” was 9th on John F Kennedy`s list, after “Byron in Italy” by Ann Fleming`s friend Peter Quennell, and just beating out Stendhal`s “Scarlet and Black”. Not 6th after “Charterhouse of Parma” (Chapter 14). (I`d like to think for Pearson`s sake that he made this error on purpose.)
-Blofeld shot Tracy, not Bunt (Chapter 15).

The Bond he met is not the Bond that Fleming wrote about. Flemings Bond is described more than once as being six feet tall with blue eyes, with a scar down the right cheek. The person Pearson “met” is described as being six foot two inches tall, grey blue eyes, and a scar down the left cheek. ( If you think about it – this person sounds more like Lord Greystoke than James Bond.)
– It is mentioned that Bond went to Geneva University, which he did not. The year is all wrong and not in keeping with what Fleming wrote in You Only Live Twice`s obituary. The reference to the University comes from a passage in From Russia With Love .when Bond remembers mountain climbing at age seventeen “with friends from the Univeristy of Geneva”. That doesn`t mean he went to the University, only that his friends did. Also note that this same reference implies that Bond did not have his scar at age seventeen;something that Pearson has Bond getting at sixteen in an auto accident.
– Pearson really screws up on when the action occurs in some of the books. Including: Casino Royale. Happened in May to June of 1951 (chapter 2); Pearson has it occurring in July of 1951. Live and Let Die: Happens in January, 1952 (chapter 1) Pearson has it happening in November, 1951. Moonraker – happens in May, 1952 ( click here for my reasoning on this date ) which means the 1952 reference in FRWL IS NOT a continuity error! According to Pearson, this was a fictional story dreamed up by Fleming, (Sorry, you buy one story, you buy them all.)
– TSWLM is moved from upstate New York in mid October by Pearson to “that Christmas” and “a motel she ran outside Toronto”. Another geographic switch is OHMSS, where Blofeld is holed up in Piz Gloria above Pontresina, in south eastern Switzerland. Pearson places Blofelds` “mountain hideaway above Geneva” which is about as far southwestern Switzerland as you can get. In YOLT, Pearson has Blofelds` Castle near Kyoto. Fleming has it “in Kyushu, our southern island”.
– A minor note – Pearson states that Bonds` son is “ten,now”. This was written in 1973, which meant that Bonds` son was born in 1963. He must have been born very late in the year, then, since Kissy did not even know she was expecting until April of that year. And if he was born late in the year, then he would still only be nine when the interview with Bond takes place ……..

Mis – “namers”:
In chapter six, Pearson is introduced to “Mrs Schultz” the former “Honeychile Ryder” . Two things: If we take what Fleming wrote in “The Man With The Golden Gun” as true, Honeychiles` married name is “Wilder”, not Schultz, and the Honeychile that Bond adventured with in Dr. No was Honeychile RIDER, not Ryder. Also in chapter eight, Pearson mentions that Bonds weapon of choice in the early days was a .38 Beretta. It was a .25 Beretta until Dr. No.

It`s Auric Goldfinger that is the man who loves gold, not ARNO. (chapt. 14 ). Pearson also states in chapt 10., after the events of “LALD” but before the events of “Dr. No.” that M., angry at Bond and considering taking off the Double O list, tells Bond that “Strangeways needs to be replaced”. Why? The man is alive and well in Jamacia at the time! He also confuses which Station belongs where. I shall not go into detail. But Station C. is the Carribean, not Station K.—Walter VonTagen

JAMES BOND, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (novelization)
-Chapter 19 ends when Sigmund Stromberg says “I want to destroy the world.” and Chapter 20 begins with Anya saying, “Create a new world?”. Text might have been removed or it may have just been written this way, but regardless, it`s a clumsy transition and essentially a continuity error.

FOR SPECIAL SERVICES
-In Chapter 5, Cedar says that Bismaquer`s estate is 15,000 square miles, then, two paragraphs later, says it`s 150 square miles (UK edition only).

NEVER SEND FLOWERS
-In Chapter 8, when Flicka stays over for the night, “For the first time, a woman slept in the apartment[.]” Not true. Tiffany Case from “Diamonds Are Forever” lived with him. This is mentioned in both “From Russia, With Love”, and “James Bond – The Authorized Biography”.

SEAFIRE
In chapter 3 the villain is introduced as `Maxwell Tarn`. By chapter 13, his name`s changed to Maximilian. (John Gardner also calls The Man From Barbarossa`s Pete Natkowitz `Steve` and has Honey Rider`s surname as `Ryder`.) Getting names from other books wrong is careless, but getting the name wrong in the same book…? R. Dobson contributed to this report.

COLD FALL
-In Chapter 13, Bond remembers a girl covered from head to toe in gold paint, but I don`t believe that he saw this in the book “Goldfinger”, just the film. Bond didn`t see the bullets ripping into Tracy in the book “OHMSS” either. (How did Glidrose let these errors through?)
-Gardner also contradicts himself: in Chapter 5, Luigi threatens divorce or something worse, yet in Chapter 10, Eddie Rhabb says that Luigi could care less about Guilliana`s infidelities.
-M supposedly has a thing about bad language, after Bond says “bloody”, yet in “Never Send Flowers”, Bond says “balls” to M.

BLAST FROM THE PAST
-it contradicts information given in “James Bond – The Authorized Biography” about Irma Bunt. “A report claiming that the woman had been seen in Australia received some attention shortly after the Japanese affair, but this information proved to have been false.” Bunt had already given the Australian government an ultimatum otherwise her genetically advanced rats would wreak havoc. Moreover “shortly” seems to be an understatement since a decade has passed (mind you, trying to reconcile time in the series is a no-win situation).

ZERO MINUS TEN
-Moneypenny`s eyes are brown, not blue (Chapter 3).

TOMORROW NEVER DIES (novelization)
-In Chapter 10, “He [Bond] imagined that he would feel the same way about space-walking.” Since the novelization reconciles Bond`s Cambridge claim from the film “You Only Live Twice” (yet ignores the one in the film “The Spy Who Loved Me”), this counts as a genuine continuity error: Bond has walked in space (in both the film “Moonraker” and Christopher Wood`s novelization.)

THE FACTS OF DEATH
-When discussing May (Chapter 2): “The way she pronounced the word “Sir” came out as “Suh”. Apart from Bond she would never call anyone else “Sir” except for royalty and men of the cloth.” Actually, according to “From Russia, With Love”: “To Bond, one of May`s endearing qualities was that she would call no man “sir” except – Bond had teased her about it years before – English kings and Winston Churchill. As a mark of exceptional regard, she accorded Bond an occasional hint of an “s” at the end of a word.”

Benson makes a minor error – he brought a character back from the dead! It is mentioned that Station G. was stillrun by Stuart Thomas – who, in the last chapter of “Colonel Sun” was given up for dead by M.! (I asked Benson about this and he said “Well, that`s what I get for not re-reading “Colonel Sun” all the way through and not just part-way! I knew about Stuart Thomas being head of the station there, but didn`t know he met his demise… or forgot, rather. Oh well.” ) Of course, the argument could be made that being an ex – 00 agent gave him the training to survive almost anything! : )–Walter Von Tagen