Question: How did Bond win the game of backgammon, with Kamal Khan, when he didn't get all his chips off the board? Even the two sixes he rolled wouldn't have done it.
Answer: Not knowing anything about backgammon so this is perhaps wrong. But I thought that Bond didn't win. And the fact that he produced the Faberge egg is what ended the game. (I'm more than likely wrong tho).
Question: Why is someone as wealthy as Kamal Khan using loaded dice in the casino? I mean, what does he actually gain from cheating?
Chosen answer: The satisfaction of knowing he'll win, the thrill of pulling one over on someone; maybe like Goldfinger, he just doesn't like to lose under any circumstances.
Question: The opening scene shows a military base with an equestrian event taking pace, which Bond infiltrates and places a bomb in an aircraft before getting caught, then escapes with the aid of his assistant and a small jet aircraft. How was this related to the rest of the plot?
Answer: It wasn't meant to be related at all. It was just an action sequence to start off the film as Bond completes a previous assignment before a segue into the familiar 007 opening theme and a new song. I recall there were some other earlier Bond films that also used this formula. After the opening bit, the story starts as Bond meets with "M" for a new mission, then a briefing with "Q" about the latest spy gadgets. There was also the obligatory flirtatious banter between Bond and Miss Moneypenny.
I see what you mean. I'm thinking of those films where the opening scene has some link to the main plot (e.g. The Spy Who Loved Me), but Moonraker is like this one, it starts off (spectacularly) with Bond at the end of a previous assignment.
Question: Was Kristina Wayborn's descent from the balcony (in which she tips herself backwards and slides down using her sari as a rope) really carried out as shown? I would have thought that she should plummet to the ground much faster - too fast to be sure of landing feet first - and risk a broken bone or more. Are we to assume that Bond girls have magical powers or that the sequence was slowed down for dramatic effect?
Question: Why was the Walther P5 used in this film, instead of the PPK? Bond refers to it as the PPK, when he informs Q he 'misplaced it' but, the prop used was the P5.
Answer: From what I could gather online, it was simply done to appease Walther who wanted to promote the new firearm.
Question: When Bond is having dinner with Kamel, they were served a stuffed sheep's head. Why did Bond say that he "lost his appetite" and not eat his sheep's head entree? (Could the camera zoom in of Gobinda's eye be a hint that the food was tainted?)
Answer: After he looks at the sheep's head, he then does a double take at Gobinda who is staring directly at him. Bond then says, "It's odd, but when I'm stared at...I seem to lose my appetite."
Chosen answer: Bond is a world traveler and often samples the best that the local cuisine has to offer, however, even he has limits. Lots of people would lose their appetite upon seeing the severed head of an animal staring back at them on their plate. Kamal has also just told Bond how he plans to drug and interrogate him, so not eating or drinking anything would be a smart idea.
Curiously he did eat the souffle starter, there is a clip of him putting a forkful in his mouth.
Question: There are 3 obvious movie spoofs...when General Olov dies on the train tracks à la Von Ryan's Express, when a bad guy gets an octopus in the face à la Alien, and when Q floats in the compound at the end vis Wizard Of Oz...did anyone spot any more? I'm sure there are some.
Question: Kamal Khan says "You need a great deal of luck to get out of this", to which Bond replies something like "Oh luck, then I'll take player's privilege, and use your lucky dice. It's all in the wrist." Is "player's privilege" a thing in backgammon where you can use the opponent's dice, or is that just a witty line Bond uses to effectively say "I've got you"?
Answer: No, "player's privilege" is not a real thing in Backgammon and is made up for the scene. In the rules of Backgammon, you are allowed to ask the dice be mixed BEFORE a game starts, but you can't switch dice during a game (unless somehow they became defective during play).
Answer: Bond (taking over for the Major) had 1 piece on point 2, 1 piece on point 3, and 2 pieces on point 6. Rolling doubles in Backgammon means you get to make 4 moves instead of just 2, so he was able to remove all 4 pieces. If you have a piece on point 2, you don't have to roll a 2 to remove it. Anything higher than a 2 can be used to remove the piece. Kahn even says Bond has to roll a double 6 in order to win, which he does.
Bishop73