Nancy Drew Hardy Boys Mysteries Season 3 ? ? ? (1 Viewer)

[handley]

This is great news, indeed! I bought the first season quite awhile ago...I'm only 2 episodes in, guess I'd better speed up my viewing.

 

[younger1968]

I grew up watching this cartoon series too in the afternoon... as well as The Beatles cartoons which were playing here at 7am (after The Thunderbirds). Would love to see this released also. I have all or most of the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew books released in the 70's. Also the 2 Hardy Boys LP releases that were used for music in the cartoon series. Great times!

Great post!
I am glad for forums like this as i get to chat with people that have the same interest. I have not waiver much over the years in terms of my entertainment as i like certain genres. I am in my mid forties now and still watch shows of yesteryear as if i were still a kid.
The hardy boys cartoon is something i like to own, because it does episodes based on the novels. I realize the episodes do not follow the novels 100%. You can only do so much in 22-24 mins. The cartoon would be very good to get the kids into hardy boys!!
I also heard something about a movie starring ben stiller and tom cruise as the hardy men. I am not sold on the hardy men concept and even less on Tom Cruise!

 

[gordoncolt]

WOW,thanks to Shout for finishing up Hardy Boys.

 

[PatrickGoodluck]

Great post!
I am glad for forums like this as i get to chat with people that have the same interest. I have not waiver much over the years in terms of my entertainment as i like certain genres. I am in my mid forties now and still watch shows of yesteryear as if i were still a kid.
The hardy boys cartoon is something i like to own, because it does episodes based on the novels. I realize the episodes do not follow the novels 100%. You can only do so much in 22-24 mins. The cartoon would be very good to get the kids into hardy boys!!
I also heard something about a movie starring ben stiller and tom cruise as the hardy men. I am not sold on the hardy men concept and even less on Tom Cruise!

Thank you, Paul. The feeling is mutual. It can be fun to come here and read posts from like-minded people with impeccable taste.
I wouldn’t be interested in any re-make, no matter who is it. I love the 70’s version as it brings back fond memories of that time when life was simpler. The unique chemistry between Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson is not something that can be recreated.

 

[Jeff*H]

Excellent news about Season 3--I can now safely retire my DVD-R recordings for what are hopefully uncut episodes. Shout! Factory saves the day once again on another stalled series. I am finding Shout! releases are lining my DVD shelves more and more.
I never cared for the Nancy Drew segments, so that was one of my favorite things about Season 3, although I prefer the first 2 seasons' Hardy Boys' adventures. I didn't care for the newer format where they started working with Jack Kelly and the U.S. Government. Still nice to have them, though.

 

[Jeff*H]

Season 3 arrived from Amazon today, and it's a good news/not so good news situation: The good:
[*] The series is now (finally) complete on DVD after all these years!
[*] There are some good episodes this season, most notably the 2-part opener "The Last Kiss of Summer"
[/list] The not so good:
[*] Upon checking the first disc, it appears that the episodes are all about 46 minutes long instead of 50, meaning these are the edited syndicated version (evidenced by the fact that the first episode, "The Last Kiss of Summer, Part 1" has the shorter version of the opening theme, when in fact the original unedited version contained a slightly longer version of the opening theme. Ironically, the longer version of the opening theme plays over the menu (!)
[*] Episodes are of decent audio/video quality, no doubt taken from lower-quality syndicated videotape masters
[/list] So in my opinion, this release is a wash. Nice to complete another series, and I'm happy that Universal licensed it out to Shout. I just wish Shout would have pushed for the uncut versions, but perhaps they were destroyed in the fire (although there should have been other copies stored elsewhere). EDIT: I just noticed on the back cover that there is a disclaimer: "Episodes mastered from best available video sources". So there you go...

 

[Brian Himes]

Season 3 arrived from Amazon today, and it's a good news/not so good news situation: The good:
[*] The series is now (finally) complete on DVD after all these years!
[*] There are some good episodes this season, most notably the 2-part opener "The Last Kiss of Summer"
[/list] The not so good:
[*] Upon checking the first disc, it appears that the episodes are all about 46 minutes long instead of 50, meaning these are the edited syndicated version (evidenced by the fact that the first episode, "The Last Kiss of Summer, Part 1" has the shorter version of the opening theme, when in fact the original unedited version contained a slightly longer version of the opening theme. Ironically, the longer version of the opening theme plays over the menu (!)
[*] Episodes are of decent audio/video quality, no doubt taken from lower-quality syndicated videotape masters
[/list] So in my opinion, this release is a wash. Nice to complete another series, and I'm happy that Universal licensed it out to Shout. I just wish Shout would have pushed for the uncut versions, but perhaps they were destroyed in the fire (although there should have been other copies stored elsewhere). EDIT: I just noticed on the back cover that there is a disclaimer: "Episodes mastered from best available video sources". So there you go...

Bummer about the syndicated versions. I never watched the series during its final year, so these will all be new to me. That whole, 'best available' doesn't always mean the 'only' sources available. I'm sure that Shout didn't try all that hard to get uncut episodes. That would be consistant with a lot of their track record to date.

 

[Jack P]

That's unfortunate, but I will concede that I have little memory of this last season and from my standpoint Seasons 1-2 are the "key" seasons anyway. If it weren't for the fact that I have wanted "Last Kiss" on DVD for years (especially for Anne Lockhart!), I wouldn't have been so overly anxious to finally see this on DVD. We are though I think becoming forced to grapple with the question of how many shows had their video masters lost altogether in the fire that's impacting DVD releases now short of going back to the film elements. I recently picked up the 1987-88 Universal series "The Law And Harry McGraw" from Madman in Australia and the prints are so horribly washed out it's like watching an off-air recording, but they have a disclaimer that says due to the fire these were the ONLY extant masters left for the show. I can attest that the Hardy Boys prints look better than that for S3.

 

[younger1968]

That's unfortunate, but I will concede that I have little memory of this last season and from my standpoint Seasons 1-2 are the "key" seasons anyway. If it weren't for the fact that I have wanted "Last Kiss" on DVD for years (especially for Anne Lockhart!), I wouldn't have been so overly anxious to finally see this on DVD. We are though I think becoming forced to grapple with the question of how many shows had their video masters lost altogether in the fire that's impacting DVD releases now short of going back to the film elements. I recently picked up the 1987-88 Universal series "The Law And Harry McGraw" from Madman in Australia and the prints are so horribly washed out it's like watching an off-air recording, but they have a disclaimer that says due to the fire these were the ONLY extant masters left for the show. I can attest that the Hardy Boys prints look better than that for S3.

Hi Jack, I am with you as well about the 3rd season and it would have come out fall of 1978 and into January 1979. I think i was into Wonderful World of Disney at it came on the same time. It was also an era were many families watch Disney on sunday night and there was only one color tv in living room. You may have had a second tv, but it was usually black and white. It was not until the early 1980s that i remember having to color tvs. I watch a couple of episodes, especially the last kiss one and they were good. Anne Lockhart in bikini is something special, but so is the gal that played Joe's wife (Kristen Welch). I did a check on Kristen Welch, but it does not appear she did much acting, which is shame, because she was a hottie!! I hope this could mean hope for Hardy Boys cartoon from 1968-1969 maybe released. The cartoon is based loosely on the books and i would love to have it for my collection. I already have about 20-25 of the books and used to read them as a kid. I think i also heard something about movie called the Hardy Men starring Tom Cruise and Ben Stiller coming out. So, i am wondering if the timing release has to do with testing waters: http://www.movieinsider.com/m4037/the-hardy-men/

 

[younger1968]

i have watched many of the episodes and like them. I can not remember S3 as much as i remember S1 or S2. I was heavily into the hardy boys books in the 1970s and when the show first time thinking it would be based on the novels and that was not the case. None of the episodes relate to any of the books. The 1960s cartoon was based on the books, but only loosely.

 

[Jack P]

Actually, one S1 episode "The Mystery Of Witches Hollow" is an adaptation of the book "Clue Of The Screeching Owl".

 

[younger1968]

Actually, one S1 episode "The Mystery Of Witches Hollow" is an adaptation of the book "Clue Of The Screeching Owl".

Thanks Jack! I miss that connection.

 

[younger1968]

I have watch all S3 now and it is ok, but the quality varies from episode to episode. The last episode of the series the quality is very poor and looks like it was no digitally re-mastered. I have to think that there were some issues with originals as such they are best Shout could get for the release!

 

[Jack P]

Thanks Jack! I miss that connection.

I had a very odd experience as a youth in that was the first Hardy Boys episode I ever saw on TV and by a weird coincidence when seeing the books in the store, the first one I picked up at random just happened to be "Clue Of The Screeching Owl" and I recognized the characters and part of the plot from the episode and the end result was that as a kid I kept expecting the episodes to be based on the books which for that one exception they were not! "Witches Hollow" is the only episode to prominently feature the character of Chet Morton who was in all the books. Chet has a brief appearance in one other S1 episode and is never seen again. A separate S1 episode also gives us the only appearance of another supporting character from the book, Bayport Police Chief Collig.

 

[younger1968]

I had a very odd experience as a youth in that was the first Hardy Boys episode I ever saw on TV and by a weird coincidence when seeing the books in the store, the first one I picked up at random just happened to be "Clue Of The Screeching Owl" and I recognized the characters and part of the plot from the episode and the end result was that as a kid I kept expecting the episodes to be based on the books which for that one exception they were not! "Witches Hollow" is the only episode to prominently feature the character of Chet Morton who was in all the books. Chet has a brief appearance in one other S1 episode and is never seen again. A separate S1 episode also gives us the only appearance of another supporting character from the book, Bayport Police Chief Collig.

The problem is some of the books were written so long ago that technology used in the TV series would not align with the boats. However, there are some episodes you could maybe tie to the books, i.e mysterious caravan or shattered helmet or clue of the hissing serpent, etc as their plot lines do have some similarities .