The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries Season 1 getting DVD rerelease?

MacGyver · October 28, 2013, 02:58:48 PM

(front cover- note the white background- the original release was brown in those spots.)

(Back of the box- as far as I can tell, it's the same as the original release. This release is copyrighted 2007, just as the original release is as well.)

(Another view.)

(Here it is for sale at the store.)

MacGyver · October 28, 2013, 03:09:38 PM

Here are pictures of the original Season 2 DVD release box set to compare.

tomswift2002 · October 28, 2013, 09:52:00 PM

It almost looks like the Target one also has a thicker border on the front, since if you look right be Nancy's circle at the left, the border is cutting of the circle a lot more (of course it also looks like the Target one has the Nancy and boys part printed on cardboard inside a plastic shell, kind of like the early "Flintstone" releases).

MacGyver · October 29, 2013, 12:02:10 PM

Yeah- the border is thicker on the Target release, definitely. I don't think anything else is really different other than the cover and the packaging- I'm pretty sure it's all still the same material inside. So nothing to really get excited about- it was just interesting to note, especially after Season 1 recently got a rerelease too. Now if Season 3 were ever to get rereleased (hopefully with the episodes in better and uncut condition)- I would get much more excited about that.

But I'm happy that all the episodes are available in any form on DVD honestly.

tomswift2002 · October 29, 2013, 01:37:46 PM

I don't see Season 3 getting any decent releases soon. Shout probably has an exclusive contract for Season 3 for a few years now, and considering that Universal has only handled the broadcast rights over the past 30 years themselves, unless Universal remastered the entire series for HD syndication(which they could since it was shot and edited on film), I don't see any other company issuing anything better than those washed out prints.

MacGyver · January 27, 2014, 11:55:07 AM

Well, I have an interesting update on the Season 1 rerelease DVD box set. My local library got a copy of it and so I was able to check out some of the DVDs. I watched some of it this weekend. I rewatched the pilot in its entirety and maybe my memory is just off, but it seemed like it was a little fuzzier than what I remember on my copy of the 2005 original release. Maybe it's always been like that though- unfortunately, some of the scenes set at night tend to be a little hard to make out sometimes- but it only seemed that way right at the start- the rest of the episode was fine.
Anyway, here's the big news with it- The DVD rerelease set does indeed have single sided discs! So I don't know if fans who already have the 2005 DVD set will want to rush out and spend another 20 bucks on this, but I just thought I'd put that out there so people know.
Also, the discs are now orange colored - I suppose to match the color of the box set. There are two separate discs for all The Hardy Boys episodes- and I presume two separate discs for the Nancy Drew episodes as well. (I didn't find those at the library at the time, so I just have The Hardy Boys episodes for right now checked out.)
The menu design is also totally different. The menu now comes up with the same picture of Frank and Joe used on the individual box for The Hardy Boys episodes from the 2005 DVD release. Also, the theme music plays repeatedly in the background. The same options for language settings are there, as well as a "Play All" feature. But you don't get the same episode synopsis for each episode like what they have on the 2005 DVD release. Oh well.
Once I can get my hands on the Nancy Drew episodes, I'll add more details about that. I did take a picture of the new menu screen for The Hardy Boys episodes; when I can get it transferred, I'll add it to The Hardy Boys wiki and post it here.

tomswift2002 · January 27, 2014, 07:30:31 PM

I've always found the image on Mystery Of The Haunted House to have been rather low in contrast, especially right at the start there. They only other thing to check would be to pop the DVD into a computer and see just how much memory the computer says the DVD holds. If it's 4.7 Gigabytes or less, then the video is probably suffering from compression issues (the original releases on the DVD-18's had almost 9 Gigabytes per side): 4.7 GB discs can hold 2 hours of video alright, but anything more and you start running into compression artifacts, especially with low contrast night time shots.

Also, with Season 3, over the Christmas holidays I finally realized why Season 3 looks so poor. Back in the 70's Universal probably made 16mm syndication prints of the episodes, and the U-Matic masters were probably source from the 16mm syndication prints. Over Christmas I was watching a few public domain Christmas cartoons and shows that had been sourced from 16mm and 8mm prints, and the shows were looking very washed out and very much like the Hardy Boys Season 3 episodes. So I wouldn't be surprised if the original 35mm negatives for Season 3 haven't even been touched since 1978-79 when Universal had the 35mm masters transferred to U-Matic for broadcast.

MacGyver · January 30, 2014, 07:30:13 PM

QuoteAlso, with Season 3, over the Christmas holidays I finally realized why Season 3 looks so poor. Back in the 70's Universal probably made 16mm syndication prints of the episodes, and the U-Matic masters were probably source from the 16mm syndication prints. Over Christmas I was watching a few public domain Christmas cartoons and shows that had been sourced from 16mm and 8mm prints, and the shows were looking very washed out and very much like the Hardy Boys Season 3 episodes. So I wouldn't be surprised if the original 35mm negatives for Season 3 haven't even been touched since 1978-79 when Universal had the 35mm masters transferred to U-Matic for broadcast.

Sounds quite plausible. Even with washed out looking prints [and edited episodes], I'm still glad Shout! Factory took the time to make an official DVD release of Season 3.
I can try to check the compression rates on the DVDs later on and report back.
Here's that menu screenshot though.

tomswift2002 · January 31, 2014, 05:15:23 PM

Kind of looks plain when you think that the original menu used a fingerprint to select the different episodes.

MacGyver · January 31, 2014, 08:57:54 PM

Yeah, it is kind of a letdown from the original menu screen- but it's not too bad overall. The big upside is that you get single-sided discs with this set and it's more compact so it can fit more easily on your shelf...But I don't think I would bother buying this rerelease of Season 1 when I already have the original on DVD- if that one dies on me, then at least it's good to know this one is available.

MacGyver · February 25, 2014, 02:28:03 PM

Here are some more menu screen shots from the Season 1 DVD rerelease and of the DVDs themselves.

tomswift2002 · February 10, 2020, 06:53:27 PM

I was just thinking, with the new Nancy Drew series and possible a new Hardy Boys series on TV, it's too bad that Universal wouldn't remaster the series in HD for a Blu-Ray release. Considering the wide degree of video quality that we saw on the DVD releases (from 16mm-syndication-prints-that-were--shot-off-the-wall in Season 3, to a digital 35mm film scan of select episodes in 2004/2006 (such as "The Disappearing Floor") to transfers from 1985 for episodes that were released on VHS/Betamax (quite possible "The Mystery of the Haunted House" was transferred in 1984 but was not released then). It would be really nice to have high quality video for the series.

MacGyver · February 11, 2020, 07:52:47 AM

I would gladly welcome a remastered release if it is released to both DVD and Blu-Ray. A complete series set could now be released and maybe it would be an opportunity to get uncut Season 3 episodes released if that's possible. It would also be nice to finally have some special features, like interviews and episode commentaries from Shaun Cassidy, Parker Stevenson and Pamela Sue Martin. I think all three would probably be willing. I would be interested to see some features on the history of the books and the conversion from books to television and the creation of the opening theme song credits. (Particularly the process of putting the Cassidy's, Stevenson's and Martin's images into the book covers.) And if there is any truth to the talk of reviving the show back around 1988 during the writers' strike, I'd love to see any unused scripts that were considered.