The idea of Bond coming up against a group who want to conquer the world - or at least a piece of it - for monetary rather than political reasons is a compelling one. Oftentimes the villains in a Bond film are motivated by either greed or personal agendas, sometimes under the auspices of doing something more radical. Think of Le Chiffre winning money for warlords in Casino Royale, not because he believed in the cause, but because he was being paid well; so, too, was Dominic Greene's coup d'état in Quantum Of Solace entirely motivated by money; then in Skyfall Javier Bardem's Raoul Silva seemed to be a radical wishing to bring down the ragged dinosaur of MI6 in a post-Edward Snowden world, when really he wanted personal revenge on Dame Judi Dench's M. Which all dovetails rather naturally and organically with the motivations of SPECTRE. They're more like an organised crime syndicate, albeit on a global scale, and with a particular distaste for the meddlings of one James Bond. Their goal of world domination was only ever mentioned in You Only Live Twice, and that was while working as a third party for Communist China (presumably they paid a pretty penny for that volcano base). In Thunderball they play both sides of the Cold War conflict for monetary gain, having no stake in the actual outcome of the conflict. It's all about the Benjamins, baby. Oh and apparently they advised on the Great Train Robbery.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
