The interesting thing about Thunderball…is it is really more an interesting collection of parts than a fascinating whole. What really makes Thunderball one of the most essential entries in the James Bond series is not so much how it all applies to the book’s plot as how it applies to the Bond story in a larger sense.
For instance, the story behind the story might make an even better movie. The novel started off as an screenplay collaboration on the potential of Ian Fleming actually being behind the making of the very first Bond movie. From the screenplay he drafted the novel, but put only his name on it which led to a long court battle over copyright and plagiarism issues. It is precisely because of this legal battle that there are two different film versions of the story released under two different titles both starring Sean Connery as Bond.
Because the book was based on the original idea written for the screenplay, it means that Thunderball is actually not a technically a Bond novel, but the first novelization of a Bond film even though the book was released before either of the films sharing its story. So there’s that as well.
Aside from all the behind-the-scene drama are some other individual aspects which make Thunderball interesting because of their later impact on the Bond universe. This is the story that introduces a brand new international criminal organization for Bond to go up against with SMERSH being replaced by SPECTRE. Although the films continued using the organization—even titling one of Daniel Craig’s offering after it—Thunderball would not only be the first novel in which SPECTRE appeared, but also the last. The criminal mastermind in charge of the new nemesis for Bond is famous Ernst Blofeld. Except that Bond and Blofeld never actually encounter one another in Thunderball. This means that Blofeld’s initial appearance in the Bond stories in Thunderball is really most noteworthy for setting up the tragic series of events resulting in the death of Mrs. James Bond two novels later.
Which is not to suggest that there is absolutely nothing about Thunderball itself to keep one going. In fact, the infamously paranoid speculative plot about the hijacking of nuclear bombs to hold for ransom is one of the most memorable storylines in the entire Bond canon. In the end, however, it is still just another Bond spy story lacking the emotional wallop of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and at times features a kind déjà vu sensation like it should could have been sequel to Dr. No. The feeling that Thunderball is more a collection of really cool stuff than a fully integrated chunk of coolness may possibly be the result of it starting out as a collaborative effort rather than the singular vision of Ian Fleming.
