1979 O-Pee-Chee Moonraker

Sad news today as the man I knew as James Bond, Roger Moore, has died at age 89.

There have been endless arguments as to who the "real James Bond" is, and I'm not here to discuss that. I grew up during the 1970 and 1980s and the Bond films that I first knew were "The Spy Who Loved Me," "Moonraker," "For Your Eyes Only," "Octopussy," and "A View To A Kill," all of which starred Moore.

Moore's Bond movies were less serious than previous Bond films and some would argue they were "too campy," none more so than "Moonraker". (There is a boat chase scene in Venice in which a pigeon does a double-take).

"Moonraker" is the first Bond movie for which I saw advertisements or spotted listed on the theater marquee. I wanted to go to "Moonraker," but never did. And I've never been much of a Bond follower.

But I do have this pack of Moonraker O-Pee-Chee cards to open for you!

It was sent to me by Angus several months ago. Seems like a good time to reveal the contents.

#61 - Bond and Holly on the run!

I have only cursory knowledge of the movie plot, so there won't be a lot of fanboy detail here. I do know that's Bond and Dr. Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles).

#48 - Mysterious hideouts!

There is Moore's Bond taking a stroll, to track down the evil Hugo Drax in one of his many secret hiding spots.

The cards feature either a puzzle piece or short description of what's taking place on the front. An example of each:

Whoops, I think the puzzle is part of Bond's leg in a space suit and the card is sideways.

#4 - A tight spot for Bond!

This is at the start of film in which Bond is attacked on small plane and pushed out of it by Jaws, the big, scary metal-toothed mercenary who fascinated me as I saw the commercials for the movie. Also, the woman pictured is Corinne Dufour, Drax's personal pilot. She is later killed by wild Dobermans, which is pretty grisly for a Bond film.

#39 - Holly captured by Drax!

Another card of the lovely Goodhead (and unlovely Drax). She wouldn't be a Bond heroine without a suggestive name.

#43 - Director of "Q" branch

"Q" is the gentleman who devised all the crazy weapons for Bond. He was portrayed by Desmond Llewelyn from 1963-99.

#91 - Holly blasts the enemy!

This is when our heroes are on Drax's space station, dressed in space suits. The movie was actually moved up in the Bond film rotation, ahead of "For Your Eyes Only" to take advantage of the space theme, given the popularity of space science fiction at the time, thanks to "Star Wars" and "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind".

#8 - Sticker

There's 007 in action! The gum in the pack is stuck to the back of the sticker and quite unseemly. I guess that means I should stick this sticker.

And that's the entire pack.

"Moonraker" was filmed mostly in France because of tax issues in England at the time. Because of that, the film had a French flavor (Drax and Dufour were both played by French actors). I'm not sure whether that helped spark the decision of O-Pee-Chee to issue this set, but that would make sense.

RIP, Sir Roger Moore.