Not that I expected otherwise from the world’s baddest good guy, but am I the only person on the entire Internet who’s noticed the reference in James Bond’s license plate number?
James Bond Aston Martin Vanquish
Photo by RaceCarBuzz
In the film Die Another Day (2002), our favorite secret servant drives an Aston Martin Vanquish with the tag "KEO2 EWW". In my opinion, a clear reference to the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty intended to reduce global warming by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.
KEO2 = Kyoto
EWW = an interjection used to express disgust
It seems to me that Mr. Bond quite disagrees with the notion of reducing his carbon emissions — enough so to warrant a vanity plate! I wonder what would be the fuel economy of a Vanquish decked out in machine guns, rockets, and armor plating?
None of this is shocking. What I find truly shocking is that no one seems to have made this connection! I Googled it expecting to confirm my hunch. Try Googling "KEO2 EWW Kyoto" or some such combination. As of this post, there are zero results. The plate is mentioned and wondered about, but no meaning attributed. And you know how movie fans are. They pick up on these things!
These things always have meaning. The Beastie Boys 3MTA3 easter egg on Licensed to Ill taught me this at an early age. (A fitting Bond reference…) Something as visible as James Bond’s license plate must have meaning. Somebody injected this inside joke with a well-deserved feeling of self-satisfaction. Am I taking crazy pills?
Nearly a decade later, I still clearly remember the media coverage George W. Bush garnered when he withdrew the United States from the Kyoto Protocol in March of 2001. This caused quite an uproar in light of his campaign promises to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Surely, this was still fresh in minds of the film crew during production of Die Another Day, which began principal photography on January 11, 2002
So why not the more obvious spelling "KYO2 EWW"? Perhaps that plate was already taken…
2 Comments
I can’t substantiate my theory, but based on the tiniest of hints I can scrounge it’s my belief that this is very old naval hydrophonic code for: “keo” either zero or O; and “eww” for seven; hence either 007 or Double-O Seven. I could be 180 degrees off here, but that’s what I’m going with for now.
That’s very interesting! The 2 indicating double zero… I’d like to look into this further when I have time. Thanks for the tip!