We’ve just had the news that Barbara Broccoli is stepping down as producer on the James Bond movies, giving creative control over to Amazon MGM. She’s the daughter of Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli, and has been producing the series since Goldeneye in 1995.

Naturally, there’s a lot of concern about this, with people believing the franchise will suffer and become a playground for Amazon to try and make a name for themselves. I’m sure that will be true, but it’s not like this franchise was in a strong position anyway. In fact, if Amazon do put the final knife in and kill it off, so much the better.

The series is well past its best, and it would be a far nicer thing to let Bond retire for good. He’s out of his time, a product of the 1950s, who’s existed for far longer than intended. He’s a mirror of the world his creator, Ian Fleming, lived in.

A creature of gentlemen’s clubs, big losses and wins at the roulette wheel. A man of expensive watches, tailored suits, fast cars, and plenty of drinking, smoking and love-making.

In all of his incarnations, up to the most recent, he’s kept something of that. Sure, there were changes made to make him fit better with the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, but in most ways he remained the same character. They even made references to how he was a man out of his time, an anachronism. Maybe he’s not a particularly nice character, but that’s what he was.

Bond is what you might call an aspirational hero, rather than an inspirational one. He’s not relatable in the slightest, but is what many men would hope to be. I doubt there’s a man alive who hasn’t put on a tuxedo for the first time and imagined (or at least vainly hoped) that he bore some resemblance to the legendary spy.

Most men would like to think this lifestyle was for them, even if they grew out of it. They’d like to be as smooth, attractive, overpowering as he was. And even if this is something they’ll never experience personally, they could pretend for a couple of hours while watching him on the big screen.

Whether men still think like that isn’t important, because heroes are no made like that anymore. They have to be disassembled. All sincere heroes are, in some way, made into an object of ridicule or comedy, as is the case withe Marvel, or else have to be made more flawed and “human”. The latest version of the character didn’t even give “a damn” whether his vodka martini was shaken or stirred.

You see, 007 (as depicted onscreen) was supposed to be something of a superman. A kind of stand-in for Britain during the Cold War, always out there, ready to give the Soviets a good thrashing. But what’s the point of him now? There’s no Cold War and no Soviets. Any tech we could dream up to give him is pale in comparison with the tech we really have. Any attempt to make him into a larger-than-life character would end in the Marvelised style of self-deprecating humour.

Now these movies bear little resemblance to what they were, to what they always used to be until Daniel Craig took up the role and had to make it “grounded”. They are indistinguishable from a hundred other action movies, and anything that made them fun, memorable, or must-see events has been stripped away, to leave a more realistic portrayal of the character, fit for the 21st century.

Amazon won’t fix any of these things. Instead they will just make it into another content machine, in their quest to buy their way to being a credible movie studio. Who wants to see streaming shows about a young Bond, or an M spin-off, or maybe some origin stories for misunderstood villains?

You could say all of these things are needed to keep the franchise fresh. You could say it needs to keep up with the times, or risk being left behind. You might be right to say he’s not a likable character. But I say, if everything that made it unique and great has to be stripped away for it to survive, then it’s time for it to die.

In fact, for me, it did die when Craig entered, as a pale shadow of Bond. Whether you love or hate his portrayal, I think everyone can agree that Amazon won’t make it better, but the past few movies made big money, and as long as they continue to do so, the studio will continue to make them.

So let’s give Bond his leave, and let him retire to his gentleman’s club, to spend his days grouse shooting and playing cards. Let’s put him to rest in the 1950s and 1960s, the decades that created him, and let him leave with what dignity he has left still intact.

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