[Update! We had some problems with our RSS feed and iTunes subscription links below. All has been fixed. Happy listening!]

Bondcast is back! This episode Athena Stamos of CommanderBond.net and I talk about the aftermath of the Casino Royale DVD release and head to a screening party. We also cover our favorite Bond girls, although we both learned that it is very hard to choose just one. Athena takes us through the list of actors that were considered for the role before the mantle went to Daniel Craig.

Since they didn't include one with the recent release, we'll soon be bringing you our own feature-length Casino Royale commentary that you can play along at home with your copy of the film (or without it, if you have an extremely active imagination.) Upcoming interviews on the show include actress Lana Wood who played Plenty O'Toole in Diamonds Are Forever, and John Cox, who runs YoungBondDossier.com, a great source for James Bond news and information in the literary world.

Here are a few tidbits that, even with our vast Bond knowledge, we didn't have at our fingertips during the podcast. When we refer to the post, you can glance here for the points we're talking about.

• England got the Region 2 DVD release of Casino Royale earlier this week (3/19), while the States got the Region 1 discs last week (3/13). Sort of ironic that we get Britain's superspy in our homes before they do.
• CommanderBond reports that after battling with The Secret, Casino Royale has indeed ended up as #1 on the DVD sales charts.
• Pussy Galore's bevy of flying beauties is the eponymous 'Pussy Galore's Flying Circus.' An interesting fact is that while the group is comprised solely of women, it was actually men wearing blonde wigs. Yow.
• Robbie Coltrane portrayed Valentin Zukovsky in both GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough. Plus, he also plays Hagrid in the Harry Potter films. The guy is versatile.
• The Tudors actually premieres on Showtime on April 1st.

Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to join us for the next Bondcast!


SUBSCRIBE to the Bondcast in iTunes
LISTEN to the show now
ADD the Bondcast feed to your RSS aggregator

When you make your list of the best James Bond films of all time, I'm sure different ones come to mind for each of you. Some people prefer early Bond like From Russia With Love starring Sean Connery, or 80's Bond like The Spy Who Loved Me starring Roger Moore or modern Bond like GoldenEye starring Pierce Brosnan. I'm sure there are even a few On Her Majesty's Secret Service fans out there who prefer George Lazenby and his take on Bond. No matter what your favorite Bond film is (or your favorite Bond actor for that matter), you can always count on a James Bond film to deliver the goods in a few key areas: spectacular action sequences, cool gadgets, memorable villains bent on world domination and, of course, a bevy of beautiful, sexy Bond girls.

Bond girls are a great tradition in the 007 franchise and have been involved in it from the very beginning. In most cases, especially in the films of the 60's and 70's, the Bond girls served mostly as eye candy or a casual fling for 007. As the series progressed, however, the Bond girls evolved from their more ornamental status and developed brains, skills and often played key roles in helping Bond complete his missions. Although, even when they did help him, they still ended up spending some "quality time" with the super-spy in the bedroom, ski lodge, car, submarine or wherever else you could imagine. But really, none of them seemed to mind.

No matter what Bond film is your favorite, Bond girls can be counted on to be smart, beautiful and in some cases as tough and deadly as Bond himself. But sometimes all they really need to do is look good in a bikini to fulfill their Bond girl duties. On that note, and in honor of the latest upcoming Bond film Casino Royale, following are my picks for the seven hottest Bond girls of all time. Alright, enough of me, let's get to the girls: