Talk:Thunderball (novel)

Peer review

Thunderball (novel)

The final Bond novel for FAC (although one more Bond book to go). Thunderball was a controversial one for Fleming, but still a strong entry. This has been through a rewrite recently and it a lot stronger than it was previously. A run at FAC is envisioned after this PR. Cheers - SchroCat (talk) 09:44, 27 January 2025 (UTC)

Comments from MS

• I will like to take a look. Comments to follow soon. MSincccc (talk) 17:12, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

  Lead

  • Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, Ivar Bryce and Ernest Cuneo Could these people be described in short?

• No. There are four of them and by the time people have read through the names and descriptions they will have lost the will to read further. - SchroCat (talk) 19:13, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

• Background and writing history

  • In 1954 the American television network CBS Would you consider using this version in the article?

• I'm not sure it's an improvement - SchroCat (talk) 19:20, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

• • You could link to 20th Venice International Film Festival in this sentence:Much of the attraction Fleming felt working alongside McClory was based The Boy and the Bridge,[15] which was the official British entry to the 1959 Venice Film Festival.
  • Typo-the novel on he screenplay written by himself, Whittingham, McClory and Cuneo "the screenplay" instead of "he screenplay".

  This concludes my first round of comments. It has been an interesting read, upto now SchroCat. Regards. MSincccc (talk) 17:27, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

  Publication history

  • Fleming's regular cover artist Richard Chopping once again provided the cover art for the novel. Since it is mentioned that Chopping was his regular cover artist, "once again" can be dropped here.
  • Anthony Boucher—described by Fleming's biographer, John Pearson Either drop the comma or introduce another after "Boucher".

  MSincccc (talk) 18:30, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

  SchroCat This is all I have for the time being. On to FAC then. Regards. MSincccc (talk) 00:49, 29 January 2025 (UTC)

  Additional commments

  • Alt text could be introduced for each of the images. It is recommended at at most FACs.
  • Adaptations section-The owner of the Daily Express, Lord Beaverbrook, cancelled the strip on 10 February 1962 after Fleming signed an agreement with The Sunday Times for them to publish the short story "The Living Daylights" The sentence requires a full stop.

  I suppose my comments above have been constructive.

  This wraps up my comments for the time being. I hope they have been constructive to you. Looking forward to your response @SchroCat. Regards. MSincccc (talk) 09:59, 29 January 2025 (UTC)

Comments from TR

Not much from me. The text reads very nicely. A few minor carps:

• "in December 1959, Fleming met with McClory and Whittingham for a script conference and shortly afterwards McClory and Whittingham sent Fleming a script" two things here: "met with" seems a bit strange: one meets with doom, triumph etc but just meets people without any preposition, and the second "Fleming" could with advantage be just "him".

• 'met with'? How very American of me. - SchroCat (talk) 19:13, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

• "Both McClory and Fleming claim to have come up" – I think perhaps past tense would be appropriate here
• "with the objective of then blackmailing the Western powers for £100 million" – do we want the "then"?
• "Blofeld's name comes from Tom Blofeld, a Norfolk farmer and a fellow member of Fleming's gentlemen's club Boodle's; Tom who was a contemporary of Fleming's at Eton" – two things here, too. First, the words after the semicolon trail off into nothing and secondly surely Blowers deserves a livelier footnote than the solemn one you have given him?
• "Bond was joined in his mission by his friend, the CIA agent Felix Leiter, who had his largest role" – I think you want the present tense instead of was and has. And I'd lose the first comma unless Bond had no other friends.
• "Dominetta, which translates to "little dominator"" – not pressing the point but I'd write "translates as" rather than "translates to".
• "Benson considers that it is he Bond battles, not Largo" – perfectly grammatical, but I think a "whom" after "it is he" would make for smoother reading. In my more pedantic moods I'd insist on an "and" before "not", but I'll let you off this time.

• I've added it anyway as part of a bob-a-job scheme I'm rekindling. - SchroCat (talk) 19:13, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

• "headquarters on the Boulevard Haussmann and the working's of Fraternité Internationale" – intrusive possessive apostrophe, and why "on" rather than "in" the Boulevard Haussmann?
• "The Shrublands section of the story are a revenge fantasy, according to the Anglicist Robert Druce" – two points here: first "the section ... are" has a singular noun with a plural verb, and secondly we've been introduced to "the Anglicist Robert Druce" once already.
• "The introduction of SPECTRE and its use over several books gives a measure of continuity" – two nouns but a singular verb
• "by publishers Jonathan Cape" – false title.
• "Cape sent out 130 review copies to critics and others" – do we care?
• "the book has been re-issued" – neither the OED nor Chambers hyphenates "reissued"
• "Peter Duval Smith, writing in Financial Times" – lacking a definite article.
• "Julian Symons, the critic for The Times ... Julian Symons at The Sunday Times" – did Symons really review the book for both papers? Not part of the same company at the time.
• "Harold Kneeland noted that Thunderball was "Not top Fleming ..." – not sure about "noted": sounds as though it's an established fact rather than one man's opinion
• "Anthony Boucher—described by Fleming's biographer, John Pearson as ..." – I'd lose the comma, as there are many more biographers of Fleming than one.
• "those for who crime is a method" – "those for whom", please.

That's my lot. Looking very good. On to FAC and kindly ping me when you're going there. – Tim riley talk 17:45, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

Thanks as always, these are all very much to the point, thank you. - SchroCat (talk) 19:20, 28 January 2025 (UTC)