The Science Museum in London's South Kensington is currently exhibiting some of the movie gizzmos that have kept fans enthralled over the years - and Q actor, the late Desmond Llewellyn, in work.

Despite the supposed emphasis on science, it's all a little tenuous. True, some of the early gadgets (007's clunky pager in 1963's From Russia With Love) have re-emerged in practical form. But it will be a while before the underwater Lotus Esprit (from 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me) is something you'd drive off the ferry. No, the Science Museum was most likely used because the nearby V&A was otherwise booked.

No matter. Ignore the half-hearted attempt to put the films in context by showing us footage of the Cold War at the start of the gallery tour. Don't bother with the slightly silly test of your Bond knowledge, using a swipe card and a push-button multiple choice quiz. Instead feast your eyes on gadgets and vehicles from your fave films.

First is the AcroJet from the pre-credits of Octopussy, marvellously exhibited with widescreen footage of the scene in question on a background display. Interestingly, an early design of the jet looks a sleeker and meaner model.

There's also the rather naff crocodile sub used in the same film, and a small model of the underwater Lotus earlier mentioned, mounted behind a glass screen.

Minor exhibits such as Rosa Klebb's spiked shoes and Jaws' metal teeth are showcased in a splendid rogues' gallery.

But of particular interest to Bond anoraks such as myself are some of the early storyboards - scenes laid out as a director's guide before filming begins. Some of them never made it to the final film due to budgetary restrictions. There's an aerial action scene in GoldenEye, intended for when Brosnan's Bond scours Cuba by plane to find the villain's underwater base.

From the pre-credits of the same film, Bond's freefall into a plumetting light aircraft - highly ludicrous in the finished cut - looks quite plausible in storyboard form. The reason? It's set out from Bond's point of view, with less emphasis on the long shot that shows our man mysteriously catching the plane up by means of daft computer jiggery-pokery.

Snippets from the films blare out of speakers as you look at some of the rare film posters. A Thailand print of Octopussy, designed by Renato Casara, is chaotic and wonderful while an early poster of OHMSS shows Bond as a kind of mod type.

Along with memorable vehicles from the series Ð the classic Aston Martin DB5 for instance, you can read up on reviews of Bond over the years. Newsnight Review's Mark Lawson explains how Bond was a 'consoling fantasy' by creator Ian Fleming, in reaction to the betrayal of Philby, Burgess and McLean. Bond's opponent in the first book, Casino Royale, a French traitor and a Russian double agent, represented 'a perfect collision of British prejudices between the second world war and the cold war.' Lawson also argues that Fleming's world owed something to Aldous Huxley and H. G. Welles, anticipating the oddball millionaire who becomes more powerful than any government.

All the very interesting, but for sheer visual fun, the best is saved for last. On display are vehicles including the new Aston Martin Vanquish from Die Another Day, Golfinger's yellow Rolls Royce, a model of the helicopter from the pre-credits of For Your Eyes Only, the Q boat that raced along the Thames in The World Is Not Enough and other, smaller nick nacks.

To paraphrase from Austin Powers, SPECTRE would love to get their hands on these lucky charms.