'Royale'lly Confused

Judi Dench Back As M in Casino Royale

According to the director AND the writer's, the new James Bond film, Casino Royale, takes place before Dr. No.

Then why! WHY are they casting Dame fucking Judy Dench as M? How in the fuck is that supposed to work??? That will make the entire 'Bond meeting the new M scene' in Goldeneye completely disjointed. Not to mention the billion other inaccuracies throughout the series.

Which leads me to believe, oh god, this movie is going to be rife with flashbacks. Jesus Christ, am I going to have to wait another three and a half years for a CLASSIC Bond movie? And why did they need to show how Bond became Bond again? I've never wanted to know the fine threads of the tapestry that is James Bond. In fact, that may take a bit away from the stature that Sean Connery presented us with. Who cares how he was shaped, just thank god he was shaped in the first place.

I don't doubt Daniel Craig, but this movie seems to be getting faultier by the second. Can't they just continue the series, without chinking the chain of films. I mean, noone wants a bad film, but in 25 years, if Bond is still in production (which I doubt, producers will eventually give Bond a respective final film) we'll all look back at the string of films, and Casino Royale will be part of the 'weird era' where filmmakers did something different and played around with formula.

Now, I'm not one to diss innovation in Bond. On Her Majesty's Secret Service is one of the best of them all, using its tweaks to the formula and its bold use of originality to legitimise and justify the new casting of George Lazenby as Bond. And yes, I do believe that direct recompusure is in order after the veered direction Die Another Day took. But this is far beyond that. Bond functions by pattern. He grows. Its part of his nature. He rarely delves into his past, and when he does, he doesnt enjoy it. So why are we focusing on irrelevant forewords that have nothing to expand the series by. We want to see an evolution. James Bond as a rookie is not James Bond.

I'm hoping that maybe, just maybe, Casino Royale is a traditional continuation on Die Another Day, in the fact that when we see and feel the security of those words "JAMES BOND WILL RETURN" in the closing credit reel, we know we'll see him where we left off. Not 30 years beforehand, green around the gills and learning the basics.
With Dench in this movie, I'm absolutely confused as to what is happening. Either someone is lying about the movie being a prequel, someone is lying about Dench returning as M, or this movie will be the first to disrupt the streamline effect of the series.

Audiences have known Bond in his varying forms for more than forty years. We don't need a rebirth, a recap, or a study of the past to tell us who Bond is. We know this already. Its James fucking Bond for Christ's sake. Three year old kids recognise who he is and what his character stands for.
Yet, they are still throwing more and more contradictory announcements out each week, frustrating and puzzling me more and more as to what shape or form the next film will take. It's gonna be an agonising wait till this gets released sometime in 2007, but that's something I'm well used to.