The name is Bond...

[jjreason]

I've never heard that before. My brother LOVED all the Roger Moore entries, I think mainly because they are a little bit lighter or campier in tone. Timothy Dalton certainly didn't bring that to the role, at least not that I remember. I should likely gird my loins & do a rewatch of the Daltons & Brosnans at some point. I don't think there are any of those I've ever watched more than once.

[Tom Foolery]

The behind the scenes stuff is fascinating to me.
Like Man with the Golden Gun did so poorly at the box office, it almost ended the series.
And the budget on Moonraker was so high, it basically forced smaller budgets for the next five films. So when they were making Dalton’s last film Licence to Kill in 1989, the budget hadn’t been increased since 1980’s For Your Eyes Only and they were trying to do more with less money and compete against blockbusters like Indiana Jones. When you’re talking about a decade’s worth of inflation, it shows.
Then there was a rights issue between MGM and United Artists and the EON producers. So there was a delay on Dalton’s third film. By the time they got it sorted out, they said in order to make it work financially, Dalton would have to sign on for multiple films, and he only wanted to do one more. So he quit, and that delayed things even more. That’s why there’s a six year gap between Dalton’s run and Brosnan’s.