Interview of Julian Egelstaff (cont')

RG: What about a third-person game? À la the incredible Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time or Baldur's Gate?

JE: Well, I've not played Zelda or Baldur's Gate, though I hear they're both incroyable. I generally don't play RPG's, computer or otherwise, because of time commitments. So I'm not really conversant with the differences between first and third person perspectives in the genre, but in general, I'd say that the first person perspective would be better, because it ought to be one step more immersed, so to speak.

I think it's likely that someone, somewhere will produce an RPG along the lines I've described. It's inevitable now since the technology exists and the RPG market has got a huge shot in the arm thanks to Baldur's Gate. Again, it's a matter of timing. Remember, three-fourths of life is showing up.

RG: Joe Dever mentioned in an interview that the rights to a Lone Wolf movie were sold. Good idea?

JE: Yeah, my ears perked up when I read that too. I think it would be a so-so idea, but not so great as the computer game. The movie wouldn't really expand the Lone Wolf experience for the readers. It might introduce it to a lot of other people, IF it were done well, and that's a HUGE if. But overall, from our perspective as the readers, I don't think a movie would be nearly so cool as we might think. Basically, it has a much greater chance of being a let down than anything else. It's a worse than if a regular book were adapted, because not only are you competing with people's own impressions and images of things, you're competing against the interactive experience they had reading the books, and then, on the screen, you're passively serving them some canned tale that they have no influence over.

Interestingly enough, I remember from Dever's interview that he said the actor who played Robin Hood in the BBC series from the late 80's would be a great actor to play Lone Wolf. I used to watch that BBC series over here in Canada, in the late 80's, early 90's, and I remember thinking the exact same thing. I used to get really into the mood after watching the show, it was very Lone Wolf-esque, I thought. I think that proves that a movie could work, it's possible to put the right aesthetic on the screen, but it's a risky proposition.

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