James Bond, Junior – by Ertl

Mike Pigott looks at this small range from Ertl that was based on the adventure of James Bond’s young relative.

Did you know that James Bond, the famous agent 007, had a son by the name of James Bond Jr? Actually, he didn’t – but during the early 1990s there was an animated cartoon of this name, and a range of toy spin-offs, including a diecast line from American company Ertl!

James Junior

 

          James Bond,

          James Bond Jr,

          No-one can stop him,

          But SCUM always try.

          Young Bond cuts through

          Each web of spies.

          He learnt the game

          From his Uncle James

          Now he’s heir to the name

          Of James Bond…

          James Bond Jr.

So went the theme song to the 1991 animated TV series James Bond Jr. But despite being called James Bond Jr, he was really the nephew of 007… which means he should have been called James Bond II (which probably didn’t sound as snappy). Actually, it’s a little difficult to see how James Bond could have had a nephew, given that he was an only child and both his parents died when he was quite young. It would be more feasible if Junior was his son, not improbable given the number of women Bond has been with over the years…. But perhaps that not something to go into when we’re discussing an animated show aimed at children!

On first impressions, it would appear that the programme was a cheap, unauthorized rip-off of the James Bond franchise, but this was not the case at all. It was actually commissioned by the official James Bond licence holding company Danjaq LLC, and produced by the same studio that made the Bond films, United Artists. Animation was by the Dublin based studio of Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, a short-lived company best known for doing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

WARFIELD ACADEMY

 

Yong James was a student at the exclusive prep school Warfield Academy. Warfield seemed to specialise in training students that were related to secret agents; in addition to James Jr, students included Gordo Leiter, the surfer-dude son of CIA agent Felix Leiter, and IQ, the genius inventor grandson of MI6’s Q. Also in the cast are Tracy Milbanks, daughter of the school principal; nerdy Phoebe Farragut; and Bond’s rival, the snooty Trevor Noseworthy.

While at the academy, James and his friends are frequently drawn into conflict with the terrorist organisation SCUM; these interactions usually happen on the school’s frequent trips abroad. SCUM, which stands for ‘Saboteurs and Criminals United in Mayhem’, was a loose association of villains similar to SPECTRE. Many of the SCUM agents were actually characters from the James Bond films, such as Goldfinger, Doctor No, Oddjob, Jaws and Nick Nack, although for the most part they didn’t look much like their previous incarnations. Jaws had a metal lower jaw, while Doctor No was a green-skinned oriental mutant. There were also some new, original villains, such as Goldfinger’s money-hungry daughter Goldie Finger; French evil scientist Dr Derange; and the mysterious leader of the organization, Scumlord.

Despite his close friendship with Tracy Milbanks, Young James also had an eye for the ladies. On his adventures, he often worked with attractive young women with witty names, such as French police cadet Marcie Beaucoup, and weather forecaster Wendy Day.

James Bond Jr was quite a good quality series; the semi-realistic animation was good and the storylines entertaining, although they were a lot less credible than the films (if that’s possible). The SCUM agents were a lot more like comic book super villains, and some of the plots were a bit hard to swallow, but on the whole it was an entertaining show.  There were 65 episodes made in 1991-92, some of which had episodes titles that made reference to film series, such as ‘Live and Let’s Dance’ and ‘Rubies Aren’t Forever’.

THE MODELS

          To tie in with the TV series, Ertl produced a small range of diecast models based on vehicles seen in the show. There were three items in the series, and unusually for diecast toys aimed at a young market, these were to a constant scale, rather than being ‘fit the box’ size.

JAMES’ CAR

In the first episode of the series, James Jr was shown driving his uncle’s Aston Martin DB5. When this car was destroyed by a SCUM attack, James is presented with a car of his own, recycled from the parts of the smashed DB5. This new car is a small red roadster, with a vague Lotus look to it. The car had a number of typical gadgets in it, but was not seen in many episodes.

The Ertl model was quite an accurate representation of the car seen on TV, and was about the same size as a Matchbox or Hot Wheels vehicle. It had a detailed diecast body with dark grey plastic base and bumpers. It was painted a pinky-red colour, with a pink interior and separate grey dashboard. There was a ‘running James’ logo printed on each door, while the rear panel and lights were represented by a thin paper label. The wheels were also quite accurate and were better than the average toy speedwheels, with three-spoke mags and separate plastic tyres.

WARFIELD VAN

 This was a large people carrier used by the Academy to transport staff and students, but also had some hidden espionage gadgets; the most notable of which was the ability to fly! A pair of wings could extend from a roof luggage rack and covert the van into a flying vehicle.

The model van was painted beige, with black plastic base and bumpers. The wheels were the same as on James’ car. The windows were grey tinted but there was no interior. There was a Warfield Academy shield printed on the front doors, while a sticker was used for the headlights and grille. The wings could be swung out from the roof rack by pulling two small tabs. It was a much larger model than the car, although not a particularly accurate representation of the ‘real’ thing, which had a pronounced V-shaped front end, rather than the flat one seen here.

S.C.U.M. HELICOPTER

 

The third model was of a vehicle often used by the villains in the series, a sinister-looking helicopter used by the agents of SCUM. An unusual design of chopper, it had a downturned tail, long skids and a skull-like profile.

The model was quite large, being twice the length of James’ car, and also much taller. It was a reasonable replica of the helicopter seen on TV, if slightly narrow. It was painted white with some grey trim, and a SCUM logo on the doors. The windows were not separate mouldings, and were just mask-sprayed on, while the base and skids were in light grey plastic. The spinning twin-blade rotors could be folded out into an X-shape.

PACKAGING

          The three models were packaged on very wide blister cards, with colourful backing cards showing James, his logo, and a drawing of all three vehicles.

James Bond Jr was made at a time when it was uncertain whether the Bond films would be continuing; it was made during the six-year gap between Licence to Kill and Goldeneye, when it seemed that the end of the Cold War had made the character seem outdated. So in order to keep momentum going (and revenue coming in) it was decided to produce a spin-off series aimed at a younger audience. As it turned out, this was only a temporary problem, as Goldeneye re-energised the franchise and 007 is bigger than ever today.

The animated series is rarely seen today, and has not been released on DVD. The models do turn up occasionally and do not really command high prices, so it’s still possible to add these little-known models to your James Bond collection.

 

This article first appeared in the June 2013 edition of Diecast Collector magazine.

James Bond Jr TM and (c) the respective license holder.