You Only Live Twice is the twelfth book in Ian Fleming's original series, published in 1964. It was also the last entry to be published in his lifetime. It would become the fifth entry in the film series, released in 1967. This was one with significant changes, due to the fact that the book takes place after On Her Majesty's Secret Service but the film takes place before it.
In the novel, Bond has let his life slide after his wife's murder and is on the brink of being dismissed from MI6. M instead gives him a last chance with a "promotion", re-assigning him from the 00 Section to the Diplomatic Branch. His mission is to meet with "Tiger" Tanaka, the head of the Japanese Secret Service, to offer access to a British intelligence source in exchange for access to Russian radio transmissions intercepted by the Japanese. Unfortunately, Tanaka has already infiltrated the source being offered. He asks Bond to assassinate Dr Guntram Shatterhand, a Swiss botanist who has occupied a castle in Kyushu and set up a garden full of poisonous plants which many people have broken into with the intention of committing suicide. Bond later discovers that Shatterhand is actually Blofeld, and sees an opportunity to pursue personal revenge.
In the film, Bond is sent to investigate the disappearance of an American spacecraft, for which the Russians are being held responsible. After faking his death in Hong Kong, he is sent to Japan to follow a potential lead. With the help of Tanaka and one of his agents, Aki, he soon implicates a chemical company owned by Mr Osato. It then transpires that the company is a SPECTRE front, and that they seek to trigger a nuclear between the United States and Soviet Union at the behest of another power (presumably China, as the film came out after the Sino-Soviet split).
As stated above, one of the main reasons for the changes was due to the different running orders between the book and the film (something similar happened with From Russia With Love and Dr No). There was also the fact that Roald Dahl, who wrote the screenplay, considered the novel to be unfilmable. The plot is minimal, and most of the book seems to be dedicated to being a travelogue of Japan.
The film retains the presence of Blofeld, the Japanese setting, and the characters of Tanaka and Kissy Suzuki (a pearl diver and former movie star). A couple of elements from the book were utilised, but changed:
- In the book, Bond is introduced to Tanaka through Richard 'Dikko' Henderson, an uncouth and vulgar Australian intelligence officer. He seems to have a lot of respect for Japanese culture, but is jaw-droppingly racist with regards to aborigines. In the film, Henderson is a British agent operating in Japan, who is a lot more reserved.
- In the book, Blofeld's headquarters was a coastal castle in Kyushu. In the film he uses an elaborate underground base built into a volcano. This was simply because there weren't any castles built by the coast.
Furthermore, there are some elements from the novel which didn't make it into the adaptation, but there are faint echoes in later films:
- Bond's new code name is 7777. This was alluded to in the release date of The Spy Who Loved Me; 7th July 1977.
- At the end of the novel, Bond is feared dead and his obituary is printed in The Times. This element would later be used in Skyfall.
- A possible one: I've been reading about how Lashana Lynch is being cast as a character who takes over the code name of 007 in the next Bond film. As stated above, Bond is no longer in the 00 section in this story, so there's a perfect opportunity to explore that element.
We'll see how that plays out next year.
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