The evolution of the SPECTRE symbol

The name of SPECTRE isn't the only aspect of the organisation last seen – officially, at least – in Diamonds Are Forever to have been resurrected in the latest James Bond film. The organisation's octopus-like symbol made an appearance too.

The motif has seen a number of changes over the years. The first time we see the SPECTRE symbol is at a chess match in From Russia With Love (1963). The symbol is on a paper coaster delivered with a glass of water and a summons for Kronsteen, a chess grandmaster and SPECTRE agent. The symbol, with its four wavy tentacles and ghoulish head, is less an octopus than a jellyfish out for an evening's trick or treating. The device is seen again as an intaglio on a ring worn by Blofeld. 

From Russia With Love

The SPECTRE symbol next makes an appearance in Thunderball (1965), placed in a ring worn by SPECTRE No. 2, Emilio Largo. This time, the device is more octopus-like, presumably symbolising SPECTRE'S reach and omnipresence. The outer tentacles curve round to enclose the others, perhaps as much to fit the circular frame of the ring as for aesthetic reasons. The facial features of the octopus are reduced to alien-like eyes. 

Thunderball

The design is largely retained for You Only Live Twice (1967) and is seen on a ring worn by Blofeld. In Diamonds Are Forever (1971), however, the symbol is rather different. Adorning the front of Blofeld's bath-o-sub, the octopus has gained a thicker body and straighter and broader outer tentacles, giving the impression perhaps of an octopus wearing a cape or shawl. The eyes, though, remain alien-like.
 

Diamonds Are Forever

With SPECTRE off the screen until the latest film (apart from Never Say Never Again), there have been no developments in the symbol in the intervening period (although Stromberg's Atlantis has a certain resemblance to the octopus device). Almost to make up for it, however, Spectre (2015) contains two designs. Teaser posters for the film cleverly incorporated the octopus symbol within bullet-damaged glass, the tentacles and body being formed by the fissures surrounding the bullet hole. A similar motif was created within the film itself. 

Spectre teaser poster

SPECTRE itself adopts a more corporate-looking octopus logo, which is seen on the outside surface of a ring and on a computer screen. The body of this octopus is relatively thin and wide, while the tentacles are short and curve towards the centre, except the central tentacle, which is longer than the others and is straight and tapers like a dagger. Interestingly, the octopus only has seven tentacles. It's also worth noting that the 'shoulders' of the octopus are raised, and that the head lacks eyes.

Spectre ring 2015

Each incarnation of the SPECTRE/octopus motif is obviously different from the last, yet each could not have existed without those that preceded it. The exception is, of course, the first incarnation, and it is telling that in that case, the motif looks the least like an octopus, as if the designer was influenced mainly, if not solely, by the principal meaning of the word 'spectre'. It is possible that its resemblance to an octopus was coincidental, but was enough to influence the design of the symbol two films later.

There is one other comparison worth making. The Batman symbol has had a long history and has undergone many changes, far more than we have seen on the SPECTRE device. What is curious, though, is that the various designs of the SPECTRE symbol share certain traits with roughly contemporaneous Batman motifs. Thus, the octopus motif of Thunderball and You Only Live Twice has curved, enclosing sides, as does the bat motif used in Batman comics in 1964 and 1965. The thicker body and straight sides of the octopus in Diamonds Are Forever mirrors the thicker body and straighter sides of the bat motif that appeared in the 1966 TV series and in comics in 1970. The spidery lines seen in Spectre's 'bullet-hole' octopus recall the scored appearance of the bat motif used for The Dark Knight Rises in 2012. The official octopus symbol seen on the 2015 ring, meanwhile, has leaner qualities matched by bat motifs used in Batman Begins (2005) and later in comics, and itself has a vague appearance of a flying creature. 

These similarities are no doubt coincidental, am I am not suggesting that the motifs resemble each other in any significant way. However, sharing certain traits, the motifs suggest a common aesthetic, the designers responding to an extent to the same influences or selection pressures within the cultural environment (although the apparent influence of Christopher Nolan's Batman films specifically on the Bond films has been noted elsewhere). 

The SPECTRE symbol has seen a number of changes over the past 50 years, but remains a important and recognisable piece of Bondian iconography in popular culture and a potent symbol for James Bond's most tenacious adversary.

Note: The Batman logos are taken from an infographic published on the World of Superheroes website.

Q in other films

In my last article, I discussed how the character of Q changed through the series of Bond films, and identified some of the essential aspects associated with the character. That Q became a recurrent character in the Bond films was evidence of the character's success. Another indicator is the fact that the character has been imitated in other films, although as we'll see, the imitation has been a little slower to emerge.

The success of the Bond films at the box office in the mid and late 1960s brought a rash of imitators. Most were low-budget and instantly forgettable, but others were successful enough to spawn sequels and their own imitators. Each film copied elements of the Bond films to lesser or greater extents. Gadgets made an important contribution to most of them, but what is perhaps surprising now is the near absence of a Q-like figure.

For example, in one of the earliest Bond parodies, Carry On Spying (1964), there is a reference to the trick attaché case of From Russia With Love (1963), but the film features no armourer or Q-like character. The case is referenced again in the first of the Derek Flint films, Our Man Flint (1966), but it is the M character, Cramden, who explains to Flint how the device works. Similarly, in one of the Matt Helm spy spoofs, The Wrecking Crew (1968), the M equivalent, 'Mac' MacDonald, has the additional role of equipping Helm with the gadgets.

The spy-film boom had ceased by the end of the 1960s, and a hiatus in spy films followed. One of the few Bondian films to be made in the 1970s was Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon (1973). In that film, however, no gadgets are required, as Bruce Lee's hands and feet (and some nunchaku) are the only tools he needs.

The 1980s were also relatively lean, although there were a few films which borrowed from the Bond films. The Nude Bomb (1980) was a big-screen adaptation of the Get Smart television series of the 1960s. The film updated elements of that series, but also brought in a Q-like gadget master, named Carruthers. Eleven years later, Teen Agent (1991) – released in the US as If Looks Could Kill – featured a laboratory scene with Geraldine James in a Q-like role as a white-coated scientist or technician. She equips the protagonist, Michael Corbin (played by Richard Grieco), with a gadget-laden Lotus Espirit.

The 1990s saw renewed interest in the spy genre, and the gap between Licence to Kill (1989) and GoldenEye (1995) was filled with Bondian films, most notably True Lies (1994). Leslie Neilson's Bond and spy spoof, Spy Hard (1995) emerged during this time, and showed another gadget-testing laboratory scene.

Since then, spy films with Bondian elements have proliferated, and many of them have scenes featuring a Q-type character. Cody Banks, the teenage spy played by Frankie Muniz in Agent Cody Banks (2003), is equipped in the lab by Darrell Hammond's Earl. In Stormbreaker (2006), another teenage spy, Alex Rider, is equipped by gadget master Smithers, played by Stephen Fry. In Mission Impossible III (2006) computer wizard Benji Dunn, played by Simon Pegg, is not strictly a gadget expert, but his appearance nonetheless recalls the technical help provided by Q in the Bond films. There is a more obvious nod to Q in Christopher Nolan's Batman films, commencing with Batman Begins (2005). Lucius Fox, former head of research at Wayne Enterprises, becomes Bruce Wayne's armourer, and is shown in a workshop or laboratory, where he develops and tests equipment. Apart from providing technical support, Fox is also something of a mentor to Wayne, just as Desmond Llewelyn's Q is in the later Bond films.

We can see, then, from this brief survey of Bondian spy films and spoofs, that in the 1960s gadgets played an important role in the films, but Q as a character was absent or a very minor figure. It is only from the 1990s that Q-like characters were regularly depicted. We only need return to the Bond films to explain this pattern. Though seeming to be an essential component of the Bond film, Q's lab was not routinely shown until the mid 1970s, beginning with The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Before then, Q appears in M's office or equips Bond in the field (the notable exception being Goldfinger). The obvious point here, therefore, is that, as the lab scene did not appear much before the late 1970s, it could not have been imitated in the films of the 1960s. And it is possible that Q was not imitated in those early films, because despite the attraction of Bond Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger, the scene in From Russia With Love in M's office where Bond is given the attaché case had greater impact in popular culture. It is this scene which was imitated through the decade. By the 1990s, when the lab scene was well established in popular culture, and because of factors such as Desmond Llewelyn's portrayal and the amusing interplay between Q and Bond, Q became an essential part of Bondian spy films and spoofs.