In 1991, children in the United States were introduced to James Bond Jr., star of the hit cartoon of the same name and supposed nephew of James Bond 007. His name doesn’t quite make sense unless Bond’s brother was also named James Bond but according to 1967′s 0031/2: The Adventures of James Bond Junior by R. D. Mascott a.k.a. Arthur Calder-Marshall, 007′s brother is named David Bond. Therefore, the “Jr.” suffix must have simply been a nickname for the young sleuth. Confusing? It gets worse…

The show is loosely based on Eon Productions’ Bond film series which is why Dr. No, Goldfinger, Oddjob, Nick Nack and Jaws all make appearances in various episodes despite being dealt with earlier by 007. Also, some of the episode titles are parodies of Bond titles such as “Live and Let Dance” and “Rubies Aren’t Forever.” These homages are cute but I suggest forgetting about all James Bond continuity (film and literary) before watching one of the episodes for the sake of your sanity. For example, the James Bond Jr. version of Oddjob looks more like MC Hammer than Goldfinger’s Korean manservant and don’t get me started on the green mutated-looking Dr. No!

James Bond Jr. attended the prep school Warfield Academy along with his pals Horace “I.Q.” Boothroyd III (grandson of Q), Gordon “Gordo” Leiter (son of Felix Leiter), Tracy Millbanks and Phoebe Farragut. Taking after his uncle, James Bond Jr. is interested in espionage. In each episode, James and a few of his friends would go on an adventure battling S.C.U.M. (Saboteurs and Criminals United in Mayhem). Meanwhile at Warfield, the remaining friends would cover for them. This formula made for a great Saturday morning cartoon!

Gordo Leiter is an athletic California “surfer dude” with tanned skin, a blond mullet and a bad ’90s outfit. Throughout the series, Gordo used his muscle to get his friends out of predicaments kind of like how his father sometimes helps 007 get out of trouble. It’s interesting that they made Gordo a Californian despite his father being a Texan but then again the show never cared about staying true to the source material. That’s okay because after all it was a cartoon made for kids.

Like the Bond films, James Bond Jr. was a merchandising gold mine. In the early ’90s, the series spawned a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and the Super NES, 6 novelizations, a 12 issue comic book series by Marvel Comics and a toy line by Hasbro. Hasbro’s toy line consisted of 12 figures, 3 vehicles and 2 pieces of spy gear. One of the figures was Gordo Leiter which came with a pop-out skateboard weapon. James Bond Jr. merchandise and episodes on VHS can still be found on eBay.

Here’s the James Bond Jr. opening credits. Enjoy the theme song!

Unfortunately, I missed out on the James Bond Jr. phenomenon as a child. In the early ’90s, I was watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as well as Captain Planet, which unbeknownst to me at the time was filled with neoliberal propaganda courtesy of Ted Turner.

I own a few of the James Bond Jr. videos and I highly recommend searching for a few of them on eBay! There were 8 videocassettes produced with a couple of episodes per cassette. I hope all 65 half-hour episodes are put on DVD someday!

For more information on James Bond Jr., visit Wikipedia.

For pictures of Hasbro’s James Bond Jr. figures, visit the Virtual Toy Chest.

Check out James Bond Jr. on MySpace!