The scene

MacGyver walks through the lobby of the impressive Casino Royal. Stops to adjust his tuxedo suit and continues into the main gambling floor of the casino.

As he steps through the main door he walks into another man wearing a black tuxedo and bow tie. The impact knocks the drinks from the mans hands. As MacGyver stops to help the man up and apologize, the man pushes him away demanding, "Why don't you watch where your going. Who do you think you are anyway?"

MacGyver stops for a moment, then responds. "Bond. James Bond." To which the man responds by pulling his gun from inside his jacket and yelling that this man is impersonating him.


The competition

Each man has their signature tools and resourcefulness to use in conjunction with anything they can find within the casinos main gambling hall.


Who wins... and why?

Hmm- as resourceful as James Bond is, I'd have to go with MacGyver because of his ability to improvise and use whatever is surrounding him to pull off victory. James Bond sometimes maybe relies a little too much on Q's gadgets- though he's had to make do a few times himself too. But come on, this is a MacGyver web site, for crying out loud! Who do you think I'm gonna vote for?

MacGyver vs James Bond in a Casino Royal game? I'd say a draw. Considered James Bond's brutalness in the film he would surely kick MacGyver's butt but MacGyver would fight back. Bond would have the upperhand for the most part though but knowing MacGyver he would always come back to win the war just to get even.

In case of poker, I don't know. Never saw him play it, maybe he might have a hidden talent.

Went with Mac, of course, but Bond's brutality is a nod in his favor. True Bond (books, not movies-the last one was closer) is someone of a singular ruthlessness that surpasses any villian I've seen on MacGyver. It'd be a heck of a fight.

Poker? Um...Bond.

I picked MacGyver because he has the ability to think on the fly. Mac would push Bond, who then slips on the ice from the spilled drink. Mac runs into the casino, jury rigs the roulette wheel and flings the little ball through the air. The ball strikes Bond between the eyes, knocking him out. Mac then uses the tassels from the curtain to tie Bond up, calls M on Bond's cell phone and tells her where to pick up her agent. Mac then takes Bond's gun, drops it into the fountain, sweeps Bond's girl off her feet and drives away in Bond's car, which of course, Mac has hot wired.

Hey, you asked, it's my story.

I'll take that version!

That has a nice ring to it. However I doubt Bond would be knocked out.

Warning label: I have actually read all the Bond books (which I recommend over the movies any day, except for The Man With the Golden Gun, which is dreadful), and I know the books much better than the movies. I haven’t yet seen the new Casino Royale remake, although I intend to. I also haven't read the post-Bond books -- that is, the ones written after Ian Fleming died -- and I don't intend to.

I like ‘Grrl’s approach to the "grudge match", especially the conclusion <g>, but I really have trouble buying the set-up in the first place. Bond is/was too professional to break his cover and start a fight without a reason. If this really is Casino Royale, Bond’s got a job to do and picking a pointless fight with a clumsy bystander isn’t going to get his job done; even drawing his gun inside the casino had better be a last resort and a response to an established threat. Bond was not a hothead. And he would be too aware of his surroundings to be standing in front of the door so that the next person walking in would collide with him – accidentally, anyway.

And Bond often teamed up with others, including fellow operatives from other organisations – Casino Royale was where he initially met Felix Leiter, who became a recurring character, even after the unfortunate incident with the sharks.

Come to that, I’m not sure I’m willing to buy that Mac would be air-headed enough accidentally collide with Bond in the first place – deliberately, yes. But I’m more likely to suspect that Bond would deliberately place himself in Mac’s way, either to initiate contact (which would be followed, not by shooting, but by an apology and a trip to the bar – where Bond would probably be stuffy over Mac’s teetotaling, and vice versa) or to start an altercation to use as a distraction. Leaving us with two great Distracters working at cross purposes! Maybe Bond’s trying to land Mac in the casino office facing steely-eyed guys with pointed questions and no senses of humour, while he (Bond) gets on with his own mission.

Incidentally, Fleming chose the name “James Bond” because it’s supposed to be a very ordinary name – a name that someone else could have by coincidence.

Poor Rocky – he asks for a tactical assessment and I ask him for context, motivation and backstory!

Okay, here’s my tactical assessment FWIW:

The odds are in Mac’s favour if he breaks away into the crowd, especially if Bond is only trying to set up a diversion, or if he breaks away entirely and slips into the service areas of the casino – not the main floor, which is a more natural territory for Bond. In a chase, I think the odds generally favour Mac.

Mac is in trouble if he gets cornered, especially if they end up slugging it out – he can punch out the run-of-the-mill bad guys well enough, but he doesn’t fare too well when he’s up against someone with martial arts training, unless his opponent make a mistake. That sequence is likely to end up with Mac waking up with an aching head and a dusty tux, ignominiously stuffed into a back corner in one of the service corridors.

And I can imagine the follow-up call after Mac wakes up:

Pete: Yeah, it turns out MI5 sent their best operative to the casino on the same night. He was supposed to make contact with you.

Mac: (rubbing the lump at the back of his head) He did.

Seeing MacGyver and Bond in a fight would be hilarious actually especially since MacGyver seemed to be a fan of Bond as he stated in The Heist. Either hilarious or a terrible misunderstanding.

This is also a possibility how it might have gone: Mac bumps into Bond with Bond saying: 'Watch where you're going, mate.'

Mac and Bond teaming up looks like a great idea with Mac running after Bond to get him out of trouble. And them discussing each others methods to gain a solution.

Mac has somewhat martial arts skills as well. In the Bond I saw and that's only the latest Casino Royal, Bond didn't seem to have martial arts training, just brute force.

Admittedly, Casino Royale is one of the best James Bond movies I've seen in a while, but don't forget other classics like Dr. No with Sean Connery (okay, basically all of Sean Connery's movies), and there's the one with George Lazenby in 1969 ("On Her Majesty's Secret Service") and I like Roger Moore's movies ("Octopussy", "For Your Eyes Only", "A View to a Kill" and others) and Timothy Dalton's take really wasn't that bad either. Though I do think, after seeing him on Remingston Steele, that Pierce Brosnan was born to be James Bond! So definitely check out his movies too- "Goldeneye" was really fun.
And there's Woody Allen's version of "Casino Royale" if you want a fun parody.

Ian Fleming, of course, is the guy who started it all with the books- and I think there's some pretty worthy successors who've kept the Bond legacy alive. But I like to enjoy a little bit of all of it.

Which James Bond would MacGyver fight?
Sean Connery?
Roger Moore?
Timothy Dalton?
Pierce Brosnon?

I'd like to see him take on Daniel Craig, just because of his brutality and recklessness.

you missed out George Lazenby

Who?

MacGyver also says something about James bond in the intro to the Human Factor.

"When James Bond gets an assignment, it's on the Riviera, up to his 007 in bikinis. But me..."

Something like that. I've actually quoted that before publicly. I think I remember getting some strange looks, I think I'll save that kinda stuff for here from now on... >_>

Who?

He was the second actor to play the role of James Bond. He only did one movie, "On her Majesty's Secret Service".

Here's an interesting bit of off-topic trivia.

This drawing is Ian Flemming's visualization of what the James Bond character looks like.



Does it look like any of the actors who have played him?

It does look somewhat like Daniel Craig.

I was thinking Timothy Dalton




maybe? just a little?

Gotta buy me these movies sometime. To be honest I think Daniel Craig is the coolest James Bond so far. If I had to choose out of those six actors, he'd be my choice. Pierce my 2nd but that he should act it like Daniel.

The others look like they'd be down if their clothes got ripped or got scratched on their faces.

Mac wins of course! I see something happening like Mac saying, "Hey, I was just kidding!" extending his hands over his head and saying something disarmingly funny to Bond. Bond then holsters the revolver, and gives a bit of a chuckle.

As Bond walks off, we see Mac trying to fix his hair like Bond's, except the spikey part sticks right back up again (ala the Heist).

Kev

I said Mac - I just feel that sometimes Bond, even though he is well-educated, goes for his Walther PPK, and starts shooting at his target(s) without giving much thought, but Mac does put his mind to work first and thinks his way out of the situation, trying to avoid anyone being hurt or killed.

Also, Mac's very good at reading people, whereas Bond often comes across at being very good at using people, especially women.

I think Mac would win. Bond has all his gadgets made for him before he gets there. Eventually those run out. Mac makes it on the spot. As long as there is stuff around to use, Mac will use it.

My money would obviously be on Mac. But I thought Bond vs Murdoc would be a dandy since they both use weopons and gadgets.

I think Mac would win because he can go to a battle with nothing and just use the resources that he finds along the way, whereas Bond depends on gadgetry from Q. I think Mac would defeat Bond the same way he defeats Murdoc, by causing Bond to take his ownself out.

Mac... Bond is smooth and anticipates peoples actions, but routinely with guns etc, Mac is a whole new ball game, like Murdoc says, enemies never know what he'll do next and neither does he!

Mac would win, but at poker, Bond would win unless Mac cheated like in "The Heist."

Ok, in terms of Bond actors I like Sean Connery (watching "Dr. No" right now) and Pierce Brosnan (the best of his is "Goldeneye").

Mac would beat them both, but Sean Connery would be more likely to listen to Mac and join forces with him. Brosnan's is more reckless, and impulsive.