Arcana’s VP of Operations recently had the chance to interview Don Bluth and Gary Goldman before their upcoming SDCC appearance on their thoughts of Dragon’ Lair and why it has endured all of these years. Don and Gary will be on hand Friday, July 25th from 10am to 1pm signing at the right side of the Arcana booth.

 

MP: First off, how did the two of you become involved in the Dragon’s Lair game? Was it an idea developed by you or were you hired to work on the game?

 

GG: We were approached by Rick Dyer of Advanced Micro Computers who had the original idea to do this linear game. He had been developing the idea and contemplating the use of laser disc as the delivery systerm. He sawour film, “The Secret of NIMH” and decided that we were the ones to partner with on the venture. He and arcade distributor, Jim Pearce of Cinematronics approached us in October of 1982. It was to be a three-way partnership, we just had to raise the money for each of our parts. And, ours was going to be pretty hefty, $1.3 million. So, no. We weren’t hired.

 

MP: Early on, did you know you were working on something as special and enduring as the game has become?

 

DB: We didn’t have a clue. In fact it was confusing and we had to figure out how to cut the scenes for continuity and branching to the death scenes. So, we just tried to have fun with it.

 

MP: What are some of your fondest memories of your involvement working on Dragon’s Lair?

 

GG: Probably that it didn’t create the stress that a feature film does. We were flying blind and we had to be extremely creative to help keep the budget down. There was some stress at first, because we didn’t have any funds to even get started, so we borrowed from friends and family. The editor, Dan Molina was the voice of Dirk, with all those grunts and screams and Danny also did the sound design (sound effects). Vera Lanpher Pacheco the head of animation cleanup was the voice of Daphne. Chris Stone the music man was the son of friends of Don’s and he gave us a great price on the music for Dragon’s Lair, Space Ace and Dragon’s Lair II: A Time Warp. The best memory was the call for Rick and Jim in Chicago at the Gaming convention in March of 1983, with just 3 sequences, or rooms, completed with game play programming – Dragon’s Lair was THE hit of the show! I think Jim wrote up over $8M in purchase orders. Whew! What a relief, the rest of the production of the game would be paid for by the sales. Can’t get any better than that.

 

MP: Dirk the Daring and Princess Daphne are two of the most recognizable characters in gaming and animation. Were these characters inspired or modeled after any one?

 

DB: Well, I’m guilty party here, because I designed them. Dirk is sort of a take-off on the character Kay in Sword in the Stone. Kind of an athletic build, but clumsy, and very small of brain – oversized hands and feet. We imagined him as a Charlie Chaplin type, silent, except for a few screams, grunts and moans. He is our “everyman”. He wants to be the knight and save the princess, but, as all of us, has to give 150% to be successful.

 

MP: Dragon’s Lair is just one of many projects (An American Tail, Secret of NIMH, Space Ace, Anastasia, Titan A.E.) the two of you have worked together on. Do you feel you bring out the best in each other’s work?

 

GG: Sort of. After 36 years of working together, we have learned the dance. It’s knowing where the potholes are, and the emotional buttons to avoid. We try to leave each other space to be creative. We share the front end, but I give him the lead. We share the start of actual animation production but once we agree that it’s working, he gives me the lead. Don usually moves on to the next production, while I oversee the post-production (and squeeze in meetings on the next production), complicated, but it works.

 

MP: This year sees the release of Arcana Comics Dragon’s Lair trade paperback collection almost 25 years after the Dragon’s Lair arcade game was created. Why do you feel fans have had such an undying love for the game and characters?

 

DB: I tend to think that it was because it was such a milestone in the graphics in video games and those that played or just watched while others played were entranced by it, maybe even blown away by it. We get fan mail everyday on our ask us page at donbluth.com and I’m always amazed by the comments and absolutely loyalty to the game and the animation in the game. There are fans who buy every new version of the game and even collect every form of the arcade version (from around the world). Even the cel prices of the animation from these games has doubled and tripled in the past 2 years, according to what we see on the internet. But then, it could be because we donated the rest of our animation archive to the Savannah College of Art and Design in late 2005.

 

MP: What are your thoughts on the initial comic series? Would you like to see Dirk and Daphne’s further adventures continue in comic books?

 

GG: The graphics are great and so is the content and the color, Arcana and MV Creations have done a terrific job. The pencils, done by Fabio Luna are right on model and he is so diligent at getting it right. As far as future comic book stories, that’s up to Arcana and MV Creations and whether they will enjoy brisk sales of the books.

 

MP: Have the two of you had any thoughts of developing new characters for your own comic book series?

 

DB: Actually, our focus is on animation and characters for animation. We’re not that knowledgeable when it comes to comics and the distribution of them. I actually started storyboarding “Dragon’s Lair: The Movie” in a comic book, panel format, blocking it out on pages and included it in my first attempt at publishing with “Don Bluth’s ToonTalk” magazine. It’s not as complex, nor as expensive as the film business, but without distribution you going to die!

 

MP: Outside of comics, what does the future hold in store for Dragon’s Lair?

 

GG: We are determined to get this film made. So, hopefully, it will generate a similar excitement and start the next chapter for these characters.

 

MP: Honestly, who’s better at the arcade game?

 

DB: Not me. I’m terrible at all electronic games.

 

GG: My children, who are all adults now, were pretty good at the games, but then, they read the scripts.

 

Special thanks to Don and Gary for taking time out of their busy schedules for interview. Be sure to join them this year at the SDCC for a special Dragon’s Lair Hardcover signing (booth 2514)!