Synopsis (Moonraker)
James Bond (Roger Moore) is assigned to discover why there is no
wreckage of a Moonraker space shuttle at the site of the crash of
the RAF plane which was transporting it over to Britain. His first
port of call is Drax Industries in California, run by Hugo Drax
(Michael Lonsdale), a billionaire obsessed with the conquest of
space. Attempts on Bond's life make him suspicious and, with the
help of Drax's assistant Corinne (Corinne Clery), he breaks into
Drax's safe, where he discovers blueprints for custom-made glassware
from Venini Glass in Venice. He also meets Dr Holly Goodhead (Lois
Chiles), an attractive scientist who doesn't take much of a shine
to Bond. Bond leaves, and Drax has Corinne killed.
In Venice, Bond finds containers that match the blueprints being
made, and runs into Holly Goodhead again. Another attempt is made
on Bond's life on the Venice canals, which he survives, and that
night he returns to the glass factory, where he discovers a scientific
laboratory manufacturing a chemical and placing it in to globes.
In his hurry not to be caught, Bond leaves out a phial of the
chemical, which one of the scientists knocks over, releasing a
gas, which proves fatal to humans, but not to the laboratory animals
and plants. Drax's henchman, Chang, attacks Bond, but 007 defeats
him and goes to his rendezvous with Holly. She admits that she's
CIA, also concerned about Drax, and they agree to join forces.
Bond calls in M, and Frederick Gray, the Minister of Defence,
but when they go into what was a laboratory its been transformed
into a palatial room, with Drax awaiting them. Bond is given two
weeks' leave by M to pursue the case unofficially, and goes to
Rio de Janeiro, home of C & W, whose packing cases he had
found in Venice. Investigating C & W's warehouse that night,
during the carnival, Bond finds it empty save for an air-freight
sticker - and runs into Jaws again (Richard Kiel), Stromberg's
henchman has replaced Chang, but 007 and local agent Manuela escape.
Monitoring Drax Air Freight's planes from a vantage point, Bond
runs into Holly yet again, and this time they agree to team up
properly. Jaws attack the cable car they ride down on, from whom
they escape again, although Drax’s men then capture them
in a phoney ambulance. Bond escapes, but Holly is still a prisoner.
Q has analysed a phial of the toxin that 007 took from the laboratory
and traced it to a black orchid in the upper reaches of the Amazon.
Bond finds it guarded by Drax's men, as well as Jaws. Using a
hang-glider, Bond evades them and follows a beautiful woman into
an ancient temple - Drax's headquarters. Bond is brought before
Drax, whose Moonrakers are lifting off. Drax intends to fire globes
of the toxin in orbit around the world to destroy the world's
human population, and then repopulate the planet with perfect
genetic specimens he has gathered together. Bond and Holly are
reunited in the blast chamber of Moonraker 5, from which they
escape and hijack Moonraker 6.
Blasting off, they are brought on automatic pilot to Drax's space
station, built high above the Earth, invisible because of radar
jamming. Bond and Holly destroy the radar jammer, allowing the
US and USSR to see it, and the US launch the Space Marines. The
agents are meanwhile brought before Drax, who orders Jaws to expel
them from the airlock. Bond persuades Jaws that there won't be
a place for him or his new girlfriend in this genetic paradise,
and he changes side. The marines attack, although Drax has managed
to launch three of his deadly globes. Bond eliminates Drax; then
he and Holly use the laser in Moonraker 5’s nose to destroy
the three globes before they can release their toxin.
