Eon Productions and Sam MendesSpectrehas been a long time coming.

Three years afterSkyfall, the most successful James Bond movie sinceThunderball(that was 50 years ago, folks!

), Bondmania has returned for the Daniel Craig era like no other since Sean Connery left.

Thus simply as aSkyfallfollow-up, expectations ran at an all time high for the 24th 007 film.

So in a sense, it might have been for the best that SPECTRE vanished from Bond lore.

The result was an unproduced treatment that served as the basis for Flemings 1961 novel,Thunderball.

In the aftermath, McClory ended up with the filmic rights toThunderball,andThunderballalone.

on the condition he not take a stab at adaptThunderballagain for 10 years.

Yet, even byFor Your Eyes Only, SPECTRE and Blofeld seemed like a distant memory.

By 81, Bond seemed to have outgrown Blofelds shadow.

Still, SPECTREs influence was ubiquitous in every avenue of pop culture, except Bond.

In contrast, his children and estate did not feel such a personal vendetta against Eon Productions.

In 2013, the McClory estate sold the complete rights toThunderball(and its characters) to Eon.

And all of a sudden, evenSkyfalls massive success seemed like the footnote.

SPECTREandBlofeld were finally back!

Its mixed, but perhaps Bond fans should accept that this is always what SPECTRE was meant to be.

Many of its creative successes have nothing to do with SPECTRE.

Peter Hunt, who was a long-time editor for Eon sinceDr.

But it worked, not least of all because it had so little to dowithSPECTRE.

The best movies featuring SPECTRE always had them as an intangible threat.

InThunderball, SPECTRE is more pronounced and the quality is noticeably reduced.

Blofeld is attempting to regroup after several defeats at the hand of Bond.

Its not Bond vs. the shadow; its two European snobs in a pissing contest.

But in the 21stcentury, Daniel Craigs Bond doesnt go in for that sort of thing.

Recall when Q said those exact words about exploding pens inSkyfall?

The irony should speak for itself since he gives Craigs 007 an exploding watch inSpectre.

This is the real issue about SPECTRE in 2015 (not just the movieSpectre).

He is no longer a complete male fantasy, because he can never fully enjoy himself.

Its like Connery and, well, the rotating cast of SPECTRE bad guys in the 1960s.

Its kind of his M.O.

Spectreof course still has its flaws, but mostly from not embracing this kind of implicit lunacy.

But they should finish this five-film arc with SPECTRE.

Embrace what that means by bringing Craigs 21stcentury Bond to his roots.

This was inevitable ever since the words our organization were uttered inCasino Royale.

Craigs Bond might not have fun, but its finally time Eon does so again.