The Hardy Boys on TV and Film VS Books

[SDLagent]

That show is probably the worst I've ever seen.

[tomswift2002]

I just watched that episode as well.  Yeah the segments were based on The Mystery At Devil's Paw (1959) (the Revised was issued in 1973) and The Haunted Fort.  The song that the Hardy Boys performed was Carnival Time (I'll have to check it out but I think its the last song on Side B) from their LP Wheels/The Hardy Boys. 

In terms of the overall quality of the cartoon, the animation was definitely better than the 1966 New Adventures of Superman cartoon that Filmation made, but then it felt like I was watching a combination of the 1960/61 UPA cartoon Dick Tracy (if you think 10 minutes is a terrible time for trying to tell a story, try telling it in a cartoon that only has 5 minutes in which to tell it, with about 1.5 of those minutes taken up in opening and closing credits, which is how this series was), Scooby-Doo, Flintstones, Yogi Bear and the 1967 Spider-Man series.  As far as story-telling goes, most of the time I was having a hard time following the over all narrative of the cartoon, since the charactes would start to explain where a clue came from and then all of a sudden you'd have that psychedelic curtain just come out of nowhere and then the scene was else where. 

Even though the cartoon has got to be the worst version of the Hardy Boys on TV, it would still be nice if it was out on DVD just to see the whole thing just to have some good laughs.

[MacGyver]

Well, I think The Hardy Boys cartoon certainly left a mark in the Hardy Boys world- I would imagine the revised version of "The Flickering Torch Mystery" is proof of that. I wonder if it also influenced the '70s live action show in having Joe singing or I guess that was probably just due to Shaun Cassidy's fame as a singer already in place.

[hardygirl847]

Well first...thanks for posting the link. It's definitely worth checking out. However, with that said, I don't really have any desire to watch anymore. The character's voice for Chet (I'm assuming it was Chet) was so ear piercingly horrible. AHHH! But anyways, I am not a fan of the cartoon. If the powers that be created a cartoon for the Hardys in today's terms...it would be bad ass. I could just imagine the action, awesome stunts, better animation, etc.

The song in the beginning was kind of a catchy....I will admit but it made so sense. Hardys are not about having a party! But then again this was the 60s. haha

[tomswift2002]

The song in the beginning was kind of a catchy....I will admit but it made so sense. Hardys are not about having a party! But then again this was the 60s. haha

Well think of how many times in the books the Hardy's are either at a party (What Happened At Midnight (1931)) or are dancing to some records with Callie and Iola (The Shore Road Mystery (1966))?

[MacGyver]

Well, that and it rhymes.

[MacGyver]

The Hardy Boys cartoon is also notable for having the first regular African-American character, Pete.

[hardygirl847]

Well think of how many times in the books the Hardy's are either at a party (What Happened At Midnight (1931)) or are dancing to some records with Callie and Iola (The Shore Road Mystery (1966))?

Well I haven't read those and I'm basing it off my Casefiles knowledge more than my Originals. I can remember one or two stories where they are at a party. Gosh...I cannot think of the title of one. They go to a friend's house and something happens. I believe it's the person's birthday and they receive a special gun. I believe they get shot at while they are outside at some point. AHH I can't think of it!

But anyways, yes it rhymes or whatever....but still...the whole beginning seemed way off. Confetti and bouncing around the stage like that? Um no thanks.

The Hardy Boys cartoon is also notable for having the first regular African-American character, Pete.

That is definitely noteworthy.

[MacGyver]

I think the book you're thinking of is #16 in The Hardy Boys Casefiles, "Line of Fire", wherein Frank and Joe go to Denny Payson's birthday party and he gets that gun you mentioned. It's not quite the same as a party really, but Frank and Callie go to Bayport's hot new rock club in #30 "The Deadliest Dare". (So you do have a party-like atmosphere there and pulsating music.) In #80 "Dead of Night", the Hardys were headed to a Halloween party with the gang at the start of the book before other events derailed those plans.
There's probably other examples- I know in the originals the Hardys would sometimes have parties to celebrate solving cases- I'm pretty sure there was one such party at the end of "The Mystery of the Spiral Bridge" with most all the gang there.
       But in any case, the whole gist of the TV show is that the Hardy Boys now double as band members and detectives, so of course, they're going to have to use that theme and tone in the opening credits, which I think they did a pretty good job of at that.

[Olivia]

The character's voice for Chet (I'm assuming it was Chet) was so ear piercingly horrible. AHHH!

That's one reason why I couldn't get past the first five minutes.

It might be an okay cartoon - for real - but I just can't get past the voices

[tomswift2002]

Well I haven't read those and I'm basing it off my Casefiles knowledge more than my Originals. I can remember one or two stories where they are at a party. Gosh...I cannot think of the title of one. They go to a friend's house and something happens. I believe it's the person's birthday and they receive a special gun. I believe they get shot at while they are outside at some point. AHH I can't think of it!

Well in the Casefiles some of the books that have parties that I can think of are:

#7 Deathgame (sure it was a paintball game, but some people think of those as parties)
#13 The Borgia Dagger (as I recall the boys are invited to a party at the actress' home)
#16 Line Of Fire (birthday party)
#30 Deadliest Dare
#61 Grave Danger
#65 No Mercy (Joe complains about having to wear a "penguin suit" to a party when most parties in Bayport are T-Shirts and jeans)
#126 Fire In The Sky
A Crime For Christmas (UN Christmas party in New York)

[MacGyver]

I thought there was a party in "The Borgia Dagger", but couldn't remember for sure. But yeah- the Hardys have been to plenty of parties. As to playing music or even just talking about musical preferences- that may be more limited. But the revised version of "The Flickering Torch Mystery" would be an obvious one and I do recall Frank having a Rolling Stones cassette tape in "Too Many Traitors". Joe also taps out a rhythm on the steering wheel of their car in "Revenge of the Desert Phantom". The Hardys seem to mainly enjoy mainstream and classic rock as "Rock 'N' Revenge" and "Mystery with a Dangerous Beat" and "Wreck 'N' Roll" would seem to indicate. And they appreciate rap as seen in "Bad Rap". And I'm sure there's more. In any case, the whole premise of the cartoon is not entirely out of line with the more modern books as such- I could see Frank and Joe going undercover with a band to solve a case, though I don't think they would be doing it on a regular basis and solving mysteries.
     But of course, this is where the influence of The Archies and Scooby-Doo comes in as well.

[hardygirl847]

Line of Fire is the one I was thinking of! I was having a brain moment at the time. Thanks for helping me out there! I stand corrected...I didn't realize how many parties they have had. However, out of the vast number of HBs, SuperMysteries, etc...there really hasn't been that many. And I still don't like the opening credits that much. Or the voices. Sorry.

[MacGyver]

One other little tidbit I ran across regarding The Hardy Boys cartoon- not only was it the first cartoon to feature a regular leading role African-American character, Pete Jones- it apparently had a couple of other firsts.
Here's is a quote from a great, informative article on the cartoon series, as well as some of the merchandise released associated with it (particularly the Rolls Royce car from Corgi with the figuirines of The Hardys and their band).

"And the show was something of a trailblazer. As well as scoring its racial first and being the first cartoon on the air to revolve around mystery-solving musician characters, it was also the first animated series to have an episode plot revolve around drug-smuggling and to have a character use the word "dope" (quite something in 1969). Plus, it was also the first Filmation show to end with "public service announcements" from the characters, a feature the company widely adopted thereafter. These short additional sequences would feature Frank, Joe, Pete and the others exhorting the audience to keep to the straight and narrow by not doing things like smoking or taking drugs while making sure that they did do stuff like being polite and always wearing their seatbelts (this last was somewhat hypocritical on part of the characters, since they never used them when in the Rolls, which didn't appear to have any!)"
http://www.toycollector.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=the-hardy-boysa-a-a-rolls-royce-corgia-a-a-s-most-obscure-far-out-character-toyhtml&Itemid=86477

[tomswift2002]

But yeah- the Hardys have been to plenty of parties.

They've even been to political parties:  Campaign of Crime.