These Guys REALLY Want Shirley Bassey To Sing The SPECTRE Theme Song

Fan fiction, fan films and fan edits are a curious compulsion. And it’s a compulsion I kind of get, so I’m reluctant to flat-out hate out of the gate. Sometimes one’s zeal and passion for a cherished property can build up inside, winding up a fan to the point they must somehow act on it. Often this passion gets channeled into “inspiration” - Lucas’ love of Flash Gordon and Kurosawa in some ways begat Star Wars, after all - but sometimes that fanboy zeal bleeds through in more direct ways - if Edgar Wright didn’t feel that passion inside him toward Romero’s Dead trilogy, maybe we’d never have gotten Shaun of the Dead.

But that all-consuming fannish passion is an undeniable, real creative force, and depending on talent, circumstances and opportunity, there’s not always a viable, “legitimate” outlet for it. So we end up with a lot of indulgent pieces of content that are at best creatively bankrupt, and at worst mental masturbation, pointlessly wallowing in the familiar.

I think that’s why this fan video tickled me so much. Here we have two fellas who have edited themselves into a montage of scenes from different James Bond movies. What tips it over into sheer madness is that, in true fanboy fashion, they show up in clips from ALL 24 James Bond flicks. Damn, guys. But what tips it over into something more than wankery is that it’s for a cause! These lovable maniacs are trying to launch a grassroots movement to get Eon Productions to hire Dame Shirley Bassey to sing the SPECTRE theme song.

Should this happen? Dame Bassey sang three Bond themes - Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker - the last one in 1979. While she’s not exactly ever EXPECTED these days, there’ve been a few entries in the ensuing 36 years where she was definitely missed. So I definitely get where these obsessed fans are coming from, and I appreciate that their fanboy filmmaking urges have been channeled toward a tangible goal, as opposed to just dicking around with someone else's intellectual property.

Will these guys' "It's Got To Be Bassey" social media campaign bear fruit? Probably not! Composer David Arnold tried to get Bassey back in 2008 on Quantum of Solace and it didn’t pan out, though the melody from their non-starter reoccurred throughout the film itself.