Could Skyfall generate 007 `slash’?

Ben Whishaw and Daniel Craig in a Skyfall publicity still.

Skyfall, besides having the highest ticket sales in the history of the 007 series, may generate something else: James Bond “slash.”

Slash is DEFINED BY WIKIPEDIA.ORG as a “genre of fan fiction that focuses on the depiction of interpersonal attraction and/or sexual relationships between fictional characters of the same sex.” According to the online encyclopedia: “It is commonly believed that current slash fanfiction originated within the Star Trek: The Original Series fan fiction fandom, with “Kirk/Spock” stories – generally authored by female fans of the series – first appearing in the late 1970s.”

Slash can also show up as illustrations or music videos utilizing re-edited clips of a television series. Besides Star Trek, other old television series, including The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and The Wild, Wild West as well as non-spy shows such as Starsky and Hutch have inspired slash.

Until now, 007 hasn’t been known for slash. Bond has been a lone wolf. It’s not like Star Trek where you had two characters of equal stature as in the television series that inspired slash.

But that may be changing with Skyfall’s introduction of a young Q, played by Ben Whishaw, opposite Daniel Craig’s Bond. Some slash-themed illustrations are showing up on Internet art sites. depicting Bond and Q as more than just friends. You can CLICK HERE to see a sampling of slash and non-slash Bond-Q illustrations on the Deviant Art Web site. The slash illustrations aren’t explicit but could be considered to have a mature theme.

The movie itself included a scene with a scene which, for some, raised the question whether 007 had a bisexual past when Bond meets Silva (Javier Bardem), the film’s villain for the first time. CLICK HERE to view a Nov. 6 Hollywood Reporter story that references that angle, which includes comments from John Logan, one of Skyfall’s screenwriters.

Fans of shows that have slash stories and art have been known to debate the subject. Sometimes, the arguments can get pretty heated. It remains to be seen whether there will be a slash component to Bond fandom aside from the occasional Internet illustration.