If you watch carefully throughout the Q Branch scene in Die Another Day, you'll notice quite a few nostalgic nods and references to past Bond gadgets. Rosa Klebb's poisonous shoe makes an appearance, along with the jet pack from Thunderball and the (somewhat dated) crocodile motorboat seen in Octopussy. The idea was to mark the 40th anniversary of the Bond franchise with a fond look back over fourty years of Q Branch heritage. However, this particular gadget would mark a distinct departure from the more realistic items of earlier films. "Aston Martin call it the Vanquish. We call it the Vanish", John Cleese says proudly. That's right... Bond's new invisible car. Many criticised it for being too radical, claiming the Bond boffins had gone too far this time, but the Vanquish earns its place on this list for that very reason: its sheer ridiculousness. Of course it's preposterous, and Q's rather sketchy explanation of the technology behind it does nothing to bolster its believability, but isn't that what a Bond gadget is all about? 007 drives the cars we dreamt up in the daydreams of our younger days, and if Basil Fawlty tells us that this one can disappear because it has tiny cameras all over it, then so be it.
