Why?
Why didn't the baddies just kill Radcliffe and Palmer rather than going to all that trouble of trying to brainwash them?
Because firstly you cannot ransom a corpse and secondly, there would be no IPCRESS story left, you silly omoo22!
(remember the "baddies" got away with £25,000. Now taking into account 40 years of inflation........)
But isn't it robber baddies who are are usually just after money?
I would have thought these spy baddies would be after world domination, or at least a bit of ideological one-upmanship.
This story is set in the Cold War era and Bluejay was on the Communist side - hence that sinister symbalon-type music associated with Eastern European countries. If Government scientists working for the British Government (and the defence of the West) were being neutralised by some stealth method such as brainwashing, this was to the Communist advantage and was almost untraceable. Much more subtle than spiking an adversary's drink with a radio active poison as happened a couple of years ago in London which eventually left a trail to Kremlin door.
You say, would it not be simpler to shoot the target scientists. Remember that for the West to shoot into the Eastern Sector of Berlin was considered to be an Act of War. For Bluejay or one of his assassins to shoot as many as a hundred Government scientists and for the Communist Albanian East to be found guilty, would be considered an act of war also.
It's your turn, dear omoo22
Thanks finnegan.
I would have still thought stealthy assassination would be the most efficient method for spy baddies to neutralise unwanted scientist and spy goodies.
I think you make some good points about the true machinations of espionage being weirder than fiction though.
I thought Ipcress was quite gritty and realistic overall.
In contrast, I've just seen Goldfinger - perhaps you could help with some questions I have there? : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058150/board/flat/172051849
Dear omoo22, it is time to live in the world of reality - not in the fictional world of AUrig Goldfinger and James Bond. I remind you that Gordon Brown, Chancellor and later Prime Minister sold off much of Britain's gold reserves at $200 an ounce. The price the last time I looked was over $1000 an ounce. This is a much more serious matter. What are you going to do about it?
shareI do have a plan, but I'm only going to tell it to a crowd of bad comedy mafiosi impersonators, and then kill them immediately afterwards.
This is a desperately bloodthirsty scheme, and you were for shooting Bluejay & associates too. Have you thought of Mace instead? Change your name immediately – I assume you are one of the female species, and seek professional advice from yours truly!
P.S. I haven’t watched ‘Goldfinger’ since it was screened about 30 years ago, so cannot reliably advise you regarding the Fort Knox Guards, but I seem to remember that they were “playing dead dog” to confuse the enemy.