Explosive Pen

Explosive Pen
Equipment information
Model	Explosive Pen
Created by	Parker (original), Secret Intelligence Service; Q Branch (modified by)
Type	Miniature explosive weapon
Armament	Class IV explosive
Dimensions	150mm x 15mm x 15mm (5.90 in × 0.59 in × 0.59 in)
Behind the scenes
First seen	GoldenEye (film)
Last seen	The World Is Not Enough (video game) (PSX)

James Bond: "They always said the pen is mightier than the sword."

Q: "Thanks to me, they were right."

―GoldenEye.

The Explosive Pen was a fictional miniature class IV grenade disguised as a ballpoint pen. The device was developed by Q-Branch, and was first seen in the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye. Variants of the device were featured in the Game Boy video-game James Bond 007 (1998) and the Sony PlayStation game The World Is Not Enough (2000).

History

GoldenEye (film)

"Don't say it!"
"The writings on the wall?"
"Along with the rest of him."

― Q and James Bond

Issued by Q during James Bond's equipment briefing in London, the explosive pen is a class IV grenade disguised as a stainless steel Parker Jotter pen. Three clicks of the cap arms its four-second fuse, another three disarms it. While attempting to sabotage the Janus Satellite Control Center, 007 is captured and his equipment confiscated. The pen is inadvertently triggered by villainous programmer, Boris Grishenko, who begins nervously clicking it, assuming it to be an ordinary pen. Bond knocks the pen from his hand just before it detonates; damaging the control center and providing a distraction for his escape.

Skyfall (film)

"Not exactly Christmas is it?"
"Were you expecting an exploding pen? We don't really go in for that anymore."

― James Bond and Q

Once James Bond had met the new Q and had been outfitted with his equipment, he made a comment that his gadets of a Walther PPK/S and Radio Transmitter had not been overly exciting, to which Q questioned if he was expecting an exploding pen, noting that Q Branch did not really made gadgets like that anymore.

James Bond 007 (1998 game)

Returning to war-torn Kurdistan, James Bond found the body of 008 outside the cave he rescued him from during his first mission to the region. He searched the body and pocketed one of Q's explosive pens. 007 subsequently uses it to clear rocks which block a path to the Warzone.

The World Is Not Enough (video game)

The explosive pen sees usage in the PlayStation variant of The World Is Not Enough (2000) as James Bond chases the traitorous Mister Bullion through Istanbul. Disguised as a generic pen, the device is magnetic and can destroy doors or barriers. Like its GoldenEye cousin, the weapon is primed by clicking three times to activate its three-second fuse.

Capabilities

To be added

Behind the Scenes

When Bond joked that the writing was on the wall in the scene were the pen grenade introduced, he unknowingly foreshadowed the title of the song used as the main theme for the later bond film Spectre.

The efficacy of an exploding pen was tested in an episode of the popular American TV Series Mythbusters. The myth was declared "busted" after the hosts found that a pen of the size shown in the film could not hold enough explosives to produce the effect show in the film.

Gallery

See also

• Pen Gun