10 Franchises That Made It To Episode 7 Before Star Wars

4. James Bond

What's the story?

Super-spy James Bond sleeps with beautiful women and kills a lot of people all for Queen and country as he fights his way through evil secret society Spectre. Briefly looking like an Australian used car salesman, he marries a countess and watches her gunned down in front of him.

What's in Part 7?

Diamonds Are Forever marked Sean Connery's return to the part that made his name after George Lazenby's single film stay. The story sees Bond going after Spectre and their villainous boss Blofeld, now with hair, after Spectre murdered Bond's wife. Blofeld has a typical Bond villain plan involving diamonds and a space laser. It also features a woman called Plenty O'Toole ("named for your father?" Bond quips).

How does it compare to the previous six?

Connery's clearly only back for the money and Charles Gray is an inferior Blofeld to Donald Pleasance, but all the core Bond movie elements are here to provide a mid-range entry to the series. For a while it looked to have provided the swansong for both Connery and Spectre, although that was true of neither.

Did it go beyond seven?

Just a little. 

Switching actors between grittier and sillier takes on the role has kept the franchise going indefinitely. This October's return of Spectre will be the twenty-fourth film in the official series. Meanwhile, Connery, who declared he would never play Bond again after Diamonds, returned for the unofficial Never Say Never Again twelve years later.