I think it would be interesting to have a TV special
that bases its plot on one of original Arsene Lupin novels,
just like "Castle of Cagliostro" did.
In my opinion, The Crystal Stopper would be an interesting choice.
Hollow Needle and 813 would also be great choice, though the very dark
endings would have to go.
How do they end?
*Hollow Needle: Lupin's lover dies by getting hit with a bullet meant for Lupin (fired by Sholmes BTW) at the end.
Lupin goes in hiding for four years in sorrow, away from his caper life. (though he spends the four years as a brilliant director
of old French agency equivalent of today's FBI, as revealed in 813).
*813: It's a tragic and complicated ending.
After he finally seems to have gained victory over the mysterious "Other One" who has been putting him in constant trouble,
Lupin finds out that the man in jail is innocent and the true "Other One" was a woman he has been trying to protect from the "Other", whom he was
romantically interested and whom he accidentally kills in self-defense (Lupin abhors killing). Lupin later finds out that his important accomplice, who
was a central figure in Lupin's ambitious project of taking back Alsace-Lorraine (economically important regions taken away by Prussia(old name
for Germany) after France's defeat in France-Prussia War in real life) and who was enamored with the woman, committed suicide after
finding her dead. An angry and livid Lupin rushes to Paris, to at least save the innocent man, but his recklessness kills his accomplice/driver.
When he arrives at Paris, the man has already been executed... Lupin's series of "victory against destiny" had ended...
Lupin goes to see his nanny for one last time, before he jumps from a cliff by the ocean to die. But he unwillingly survives and enlists
in the French Legion in Morocco, where the story ends with Lupin seemingly getting ready to shoot himself, or at least die in battles.
(Although later Lupin novels show him still alive and well, getting involved in other cases...)
I was depressed for days after the reading the conclusion of 813, which had a very thrilling and entertaining plot until before the ending.
It is still one of best Lupin stories. But this ending won't go for a Lupin III flick. A story shouldn't be this tragic for his grandson.
