"No one can stop him but S.C.U.M. always tries,
Young Bond cuts through each web of spies,
He learned the game from his Uncle James,
Now he's there to remain, James Bond (BOND, James Bond Jr.)

Look out he's comin' through,
He's gotta job to do,
While he rescues the girl,
James Bond Jr. chases S.C.U.M,
(James Bond Jr. chases S.C.U.M)
Around the World."

Are you singing along already? Probably not. Not quite as catchy as the original animated Spider-man theme song or even Disney's "Rescue Rangers" theme song. This was the opening theme song for a poorly conceived animated series entitled "James Bond Jr." Premiering in September 1991, this half hour syndicated series (which had sixty-five episodes) showcased the adventures of James Bond Jr. (voiced by the ever talented Corey Burton) who was actually the teenage nephew of the more famous James Bond 007. Episodes like "A Race Against Disaster", "Rubies Aren't Forever", "Live and Let's Dance" aired on over a hundred stations.

Junior attended Warfield Academy, a high security prep school college for relatives of Secret Service employees, along with Q's electronic wizard grandson (Horrise Boothroyd who is known by his nickname, I.Q.) and C.I.A. Felix Leiter's surfer-dude son (Gordo) among others.

There is plenty of time between classes and on school trips for them to battle S.C.U.M., an evil organization whose goals are not quite clear other than being evil. S.C.U.M stood for Saboteurs and Criminals United in Mayhem and employed some of the older Bond foes including Dr. No (with green skin thanks to his radioactive water bath from James Bond Sr.), Goldfinger and Oddjob ( still with his razor sharp hat but wearing a purple and yellow jumpsuit with a gold chain and medallion bearing the initials "O.J."-which is scarier now than what the creators of this series intended), Jaws (whose whole mouth now is a set of robot jaws) and Nick Nack (Scaramanga's assistant from the "Man With the Golden Gun"). There were some new villains as well including Skullcap (a steel lid covering the brain of this assassin), Dr. Derange (a mad scientist), and even Goldiefinger (Goldfinger's daughter).

Unlike the adventures of his uncle, James Bond Jr. had no death count to his credit no matter how violent the action and no sexual action other than an occasional peck on the cheek. It reminded me of Jules Feiffer's comment about Batman and Robin that no kid wanted to grow up to be like Robin. They wanted to be Batman.

There were even forgettable James Bond Jr. comic books (Marvel published at least eleven of them), novels, action figures, toys and video game to tie-in with the series. And I blush to admit that I bought some of them since I am a James Bond fan as well as an animation fan.

Why I started thinking about those wasted hours I spent watching some of those episodes was the recent announcement that a new series of James Bond books featuring the famous not-so-secret agent are due out beginning in March 2005 written by BBC comedy writer and thriller novelist Charlie Higson.

This time the series will detail the adventures of James Bond when he was thirteen years old and solving mysteries along side his fellow Eton classmates back in the 1930s.

Ian Fleming Publications, holders of the James Bond literary copyright, has struggled over the years to produce a series of post-Fleming James Bond novels without much critical or popular success from James Bond fans.

In 1968, the first non-Fleming James Bond novel by Kingsley Amis, "Colonel Sun," received a cool reception from many including Fleming's widow who hated the idea of "continuation novels".

In 1981, a successful new series was launched with the well-known English mystery writer John Gardner writing a total of fourteen books. Most recently, American thriller writer Raymond Benson wrote six original Bond novels. However, no matter how well written, all of these original novels were destined to pale in comparison to the original works by Fleming.

The phenomenon of Harry Potter supposedly sparked Ian Fleming Publications to think of unexplored possibilities. Well, unexplored if you ignore a book written in 1967 ("The Adventures of James Bond Junior 003.5" by R.D. Mascott about another James Bond nephew) and the animated series from 1991.

The press release notes that author Higson has "with meticulous research, created an authentic 1930s world for Young James Bond that fits seamlessly with Fleming's."

Miramax Books, the publishing division of the movie production powerhouse responsible for such films as "Kill Bill" and "Shakespeare in Love", has purchased the U.S. publishing rights to the first two "Young James Bond" novels by Charlie Higson for supposedly in the six-figure range. The first book, which will be published in spring 2005, finds the 13-year-old James Bond at a Scottish Castle where he discovers that the owner is conducting ominous experiments in a secret lab. There are currently five books planned in the series.

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