BOND 50 TOMORROW NEVER DIES

2012 marks the 50th anniversary of James Bond on the big screen. To celebrate, SFX's Nick Setchfield revisits each and every 007 adventure in a week by week countdown to Skyfall ...

THE BIKE CHASE It’s the most knuckle-tightening action sequence in Tomorrow Never Dies – handcuffed together, Bond and Wai Lin gun a motorcycle through the bustling slums of Saigon, strafed by the whip-blur blades of a pursuing helicopter. The bickering agents rocket the bike between two buildings, vaulting the chopper itself, a piece of daredevil showmanship performed by Jean Pierre Goy, who would go on to ride the Bat-pod in The Dark Knight . “A lot of things could have gone wrong,” recalled Goy, who refused a safety wire for the feat after a punishing 200 practice jumps. “I could have miscalculated the speed, the angle, the deviation from wind factors… the heat of the engine and exhausts could have set the cartons where I was landing in flames.” True to Bond tradition, Goy executed the stunt in one immaculately heart-stopping take.

TRIV AND LET DIE

Any British act with a record contract appeared to be in competition for the coveted title song, from Pulp to Saint Etienne to Dot Allison . Click on the links to hear the rejected tracks.

JAMES BOND WILL RETURN IN THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH

Nick Setchfield is the Editor-at-Large for SFX Magazine, writing features, reviews, interviews, and more for the monthly issues. However, he is also a freelance journalist and author with Titan Books. His original novels are called The War in the Dark, and The Spider Dance. He's also written a book on James Bond called Mission Statements.