The official trailer for Moonraker arrived in 1979, marketing the Bond franchise's most audacious entry and its biggest commercial success to that point. Capitalising on the global phenomenon of Star Wars, the production took Bond into space, and the trailer signals that leap with a confidence only the world's most established action franchise could sustain.
First Impressions
The trailer is immediately the most visually ambitious of the Moore era, with the space sequences giving the footage a dimension entirely new to the franchise. The Venice and Rio locations provide earthbound glamour before the film ascends to its orbital climax, and Moore's Bond navigates the tonal extremes of the material with his characteristic unflappable wit.
What the Trailer Reveals
The trailer establishes Hugo Drax's plan to destroy humanity and repopulate Earth from a space station, Bond's globe-trotting investigation, and the film's space battle climax. Michael Lonsdale's Drax is introduced as one of the franchise's most quietly menacing villains, Jaws returns as a fan favourite, and Lois Chiles's Holly Goodhead provides the film's scientific and romantic counterpoint.
Music and Sound
Shirley Bassey returns for her third Bond theme, delivering a characteristically powerful vocal performance over John Barry's lush orchestration. The score balances the film's space-age spectacle with the franchise's characteristic emotional warmth, and the overall sonic palette is among Barry's most distinctive Bond work.
Most Memorable Moment
The space battle sequence is the trailer's most visually arresting footage: laser-armed astronauts in zero gravity representing the franchise's most extravagant action set-piece to that point. It is the moment the trailer most effectively conveys the film's willingness to take the Bond formula to its absolute limits.
Trailer Verdict
Moonraker is the film where the Moore era went furthest out on a limb, and this trailer commits to that without reservation. Whether the result is gloriously absurd or creatively overextended depends on your tolerance for Bond in orbit. Either way, the marketing makes its case with energy and scale. Few franchises could have got away with it. This one did.