It’s a long-running joke that a franchise starved for ideas should go to space, but that meme didn’t emerge from a, well, vacuum. Fast 9 did it, Jason X did it, and Moonraker, the 11th canonical James Bond movie, did it all the way back in 1979. Apparently, a franchise’s 10th installment is around when the midlife crisis develops.
Moonraker was an expensive special effects bonanza that made money hand over fist, but it divided critics and has enjoyed precious little reevaluation since its release. It has its moments, but it was ultimately so campy and over-the-top that it proved ripe for the sort of parody that slowly dragged the franchise into the cultural abyss.
