While its easy to wring our hands about soulless Amazon corporate stooges, these two dont really scan that way. Very savvy Hollywood game-players? Sure. But to presume that Pascal or Heyman misunderstand how to make massive films out of beloved franchises means you have to ignore the evidence.On top of all of this, its also possible that the received wisdom about the nature of the Bond movie franchise is a slightly flawed and revisionist narrative. Yes, its true that EON stands for Everything or Nothing and that the approach to making Bond movies since 1962 has been brave, brazen, and delightfully free of focus groups or outside influence. And yet, lets not pretend like there havent been shake-ups in the past. In between The Man With the Golden Gun (1974) and The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Albert Broccoli and his former partner Saltzman were locked in a bitter financial feud. Saltzman had left the Bond franchise after Live and Let Die (1973), but the wounds of the split created problems for the series, which werent fully resolved until after 1977. And even though we tend to think of the Broccoli family as the visionaries behind the 007 film saga, its not like Saltzmans departure wasnt a huge deal nor his contributions to the series trivial.The Bond franchise also faced huge difficulties between the Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan eras. Due to legal troubles over United Artists rights to distribute the Bond films, there was a six-year gap between 007 movies between 1989 and 1995, which is eerily similar to what were experiencing now. And then, of course, theres the fact that Thunderball co-producer Kevin McClory attempted to launch a rival James Bond franchise in 1983 with Never Say Never Again, a movie that despite starring Sean Connery has always scanned as a fake 007 flick.But, the new Bond films wont be just a series of Never Say Never Agains. Under the new producers and yes, Amazon, these new films will represent the future of 007. And while we can point to several Amazon missteps that cost millions and millions of dollars (cough, cough Rings of Power), theres also really solid and successful adaptations like Reacher, who is, basically, the American Bond, anyway. Does anyone think the Tom Cruise Jack Reacher movies did better justice to the Lee Child books than the Amazon TV series? We all know the answer there. Reacher is one of the biggest shows in the world, and the Cruise movies are largely (and correctly) forgotten, the Never Say Never Agains of the Reacher franchise.This isnt to say that Bond should become a TV series like Reacher (thats a different debate). Its simply to say that Bond fans cannot say with a straight face that Amazon cant have fidelity to a beloved action franchise when Reacher exists. Its certainly not a perfect show, but then again, have you seen Octopussy lately?What the James Bond franchise needs now is the room to not just reinvent itself, but also the room to make mistakes without everything being on the line. In fact, I think its okay to say that the first movie that Amazon makes with Heyman and Pascal might not be the greatest. Batting averages on James Bond movies vary, and lets face it, the much-praised Daniel Craig era really only produced two great films: Casino Royale and Skyfall.