Thunderball

:There is also a game in the UK National Lottery called Thunderball

The novel

The novel features the first and technically the last appearance of the criminal organization S.P.E.C.T.R.E. in its full form in Ian Fleming's novels. After Thunderball, S.P.E.C.T.R.E. attempts to re-form; however, it is prevented from doing so by 007. The book also features the first appearance of Bond's greatest enemy, S.P.E.C.T.R.E. leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld, although 007 does not actually meet the man in this book. This differs from the films, which introduced S.P.E.C.T.R.E. in Dr. No and Blofeld in From Russia With Love.

Related Topics:
S.P.E.C.T.R.E. - Ernst Stavro Blofeld - Dr. No - From Russia With Love

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Thunderball is the first book in what is known as the "Blofeld Trilogy", which, after the interlude novel The Spy Who Loved Me, resumes with On Her Majesty's Secret Service and concludes with You Only Live Twice.

Related Topics:
The Spy Who Loved Me - On Her Majesty's Secret Service - You Only Live Twice

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Plot summary

Thunderball begins with a meeting between M and Bond, during which 007 is informed that his latest physical delivered terrible results due to his drinking and habit of smoking sixty cigarettes a day. As a result, M sends Bond on a vacation to a health farm in the country so that he can rest and get away from the office and work off some of these bad habits. Upon his return Bond is a new man, having a new diet and smoking considerably less. This "new" Bond is ready for action when MI6 receives a communiqué from a new terrorist organization, S.P.E.C.T.R.E. (SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion).

Related Topics:
M - S.P.E.C.T.R.E.

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S.P.E.C.T.R.E. has hijacked a new military aircraft, the Vindicator (a fictional V bomber), by paying the NATO observer on board to kill the pilots and redirect the plane to the Bahamas. Once there, Emilio Largo and the crew of the cruiser Disco Volante kill the NATO traitor and steal the two nuclear warheads aboard the jet. S.P.E.C.T.R.E. afterwards announces its existence to the world by threatening to destroy a major city unless a ransom of £100,000,000 is paid. This plan is dubbed "Plan Omega" by Blofeld and is overseen by Largo, who at this point has the S.P.E.C.T.R.E. designation "Number 1"..

Related Topics:
V bomber - NATO - Bahamas - Emilio Largo

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To the Americans and the British, the task of foiling S.P.E.C.T.R.E. and recovering the two warheads is dubbed "Operation Thunderball".

Related Topics:
Americans - British

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James Bond is sent to the Bahamas to investigate. Once there, 007 meets up with his friend Felix Leiter, who is once again working for the CIA as a result of the current crisis (in his previous appearance, Leiter had been working as a private detective after losing an arm and a leg while assisting Bond in Live and Let Die). Bond also meets Dominetta "Domino" Vitali, Largo's mistress and the sister of the NATO observer who Largo had killed after successfully delivering the warheads to him. Once she learns of this, Domino turns against Largo and agrees to aid Bond.

Related Topics:
Felix Leiter - CIA - Private detective - Live and Let Die

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After alerting the "Thunderball war room" of their suspicion of Largo, Bond and Leiter team up with the crew of the Manta, an American nuclear submarine, and pursue the hydrofoil Disco Volante, hoping to capture and seize the warheads while they are being transported to the first target. After a large undersea battle between the crews of the Manta and the Disco Volante, Largo squares off in battle against Bond, but is shot in the back by Domino.

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Comic strip adaptation

As with all previous Bond books, a comic strip adaptation of Fleming's original novel was published as a daily comic strip in the British Daily Express newspaper and syndicated around the world. The adaptation began on December 11, 1961; however, the Daily Express suddenly cancelled the strip (on the orders of Lord Beaverbrook) on February 10, 1962, when a dispute between Beaverbrook and Fleming occurred over the rights to the short story of The Living Daylights. Fleming had sold the rights to the Sunday Times, a rival newspaper, which upset Beaverbrook to the point of terminating his relationship with Fleming. Writer Henry Gammidge and illustrator John McLusky were given only a few days notice and were forced to wrap up the story in only two daily strips.

Related Topics:
Comic strip - Daily Express - December 11 - 1961 - Lord Beaverbrook - February 10 - 1962 - The Living Daylights - Sunday Times - Henry Gammidge - John McLusky

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The original strip seen in the Daily Express only got to the point in the story where Giuseppe Petacchi hijacked the plane and the two nuclear warheads for S.P.E.C.T.R.E.. The strip ended in the next panel (#1117), stating that afterwards S.P.E.C.T.R.E. sent their demands to the Western governments and that all agents, including Bond, were sent out in search for the hijacked plane. The final line reads, "Bond finds them and the world is safe." Six more panels for the Daily Express version were originally completed by artist John McLusky detailing the hijacking of the plane; however, they were never printed. A further six panels were also created to expand and conclude the story. These additions are included in a number of syndicated versions of the strip.

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Beaverbrook and Fleming would later work out their differences, and the James Bond comic strip would resume in the Daily Express in 1964 with an adaptation of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, but the adaptation of Thunderball was never completed. The abbreviated Thunderball strip was reprinted by Titan Books in 2005 and is a part of the Goldfinger anthology that also includes Goldfinger, Risico, From A View To A Kill, and For Your Eyes Only.

Related Topics:
1964 - On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Titan Books - Goldfinger - Risico - From A View To A Kill - For Your Eyes Only

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