Hardy Boys Season 3 coming to DVD...February 2013!

[MacGyver]

I know this is probably all just wishful thinking, but I did have some ideas on some extras it would be cool to see. I kinda doubt they'll really happen, but you never know. Ultimately, I'll be happy just to have the 10 episodes of Season 3 released on DVD, but if Shout! Factory wants to throw in any of these ideas for extras, I would certainly welcome them. (In no particular order)

1. If the rumors of ABC trying to bring back The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries in the late '80s (during the writers' strike of 1988, I think it was) are true, and any unused scripts actually exist for the show- or perhaps new scripts that were written then- if anything like that exists for real, it'd be awesome to have them included in PDF format on the DVD release.
2. A new interview (and/or round table discussion) with Parker Stevenson, Shaun Cassidy and Pamela Sue Martin. (Yes, I know there were no Nancy Drew episodes for the last season and she isn't even mentioned in the name of the show anymore- but this may be the only chance to have any real extras included for the series and so I would definitely want her included in an interview about the series as a whole and their experiences making the show.) I'd also love to have anyone else still around who was involved in the show included: George O'Hanlon, Jr., Ruth Cox, Jean Rasey, Susan Buckner, William Schallert, Lisa Eilbacher, Janet Louise Johnson (now known as Janet Julian), Gary Springer, Glen Larson, Michael Sloan, Christopher Crowe, Steven Hilliard Stern and a number of others that could be brought in. It'd be great to have representatives from Simon & Schuster, Grossett & Dunlap, and the Stratemeyer Syndicate (former employees, historians, family, etc.) to add insights into the actual publishing history of The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books. It would be cool to have some individual features like that for the history of the TV show, transitioning the books into episodes of the TV show, a general look at the history of The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew in media [including TV shows, movies and video games, etc.], and a history of the publishing history of The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books.
3. Commentaries on episodes by any of the above who would have some involvement and insight on the third season. (I don't generally get into commentaries much, but I know some folks like them.)
4. The Tom Swift and Linda Craig Adventure Hour pilot from 1983. I know this isn't really related to the show exactly, but it was aired in the former timeslot held by the show and they are both products of the Stratemeyer Syndicate. And Tom Swift has crossed over with The Hardy Boys in the two book series, Tom Swift and Hardy Boys Ulta Thrillers. And since this unsold pilot might never get released individually, it would be a nice fit if it was possible to add this to the DVD set.
5. The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Chinese Junk pilot from 1967. This would be even more fitting since it's an actual pilot for a possible Hardy Boys series that unfortunately didn't go anywhere. But it is a great adaptation of one of the books and would be a very nice bonus if it was possible to be included. Again, yes- it isn't really related to the show, but it's another one of those pilots that might never get released otherwise, so it would be nice to have on there.
6. A reprinting of Peggy Herz's Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys book, and the revised version, The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. That little book makes a great extra for this series as it has interviews with Shaun Cassidy, Parker Stevenson and Pamela Sue Martin (the revised version features an interview with Janet Louise Johnson, but still includes some information on Pamela Sue Martin as well) and it has interviews with people involved in the creation of the show as well as the creation of the books (like Nancy Axelrad and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams). A reprint of the book could be sold as a pack-in with the DVD or separately.
7. PDF versions of the two Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries Annual books that were published in the UK in the late '70s that included comic strips with new original stories for The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. (See the link for more on that.)

Okay, I think that wraps up my little dream list of stuff that would be awesome to be included but probably won't- but oh well. It's fun to dream anyway.
I do appreciate the 1st. Season set including a reprint of a classic poster of Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy as The Hardy Boys from '70s teen magazine Dynamite as an extra. The 2nd. Season set included a featurette from Sleuth Channel (now CLOO Channel) counting down the top sleuths in television and film, which was a cool feature to watch, as it showcased a lot of my favorite shows as a kid. However, that wasn't really directly related to The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries- but it was something.
      I suppose I could keep going with other things- I mean, why not reprint The Haunted House & Flight to Nowhere book and The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula book while we're at it? (Both of which are novelizations of episodes on the show.)
Or include on the DVD MP3 versions of The Hardy Boys 1978 LP that was released featuring new original stories with The Hardy Boys ("The Disco Conspiracy" and "The Mystery of the Missing Iceman").
Or reprint the small fold out coloring books included in a 1978 Cookie Crisp promotion that featured both The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew? (See this site for more information on all of those last three items.)
Okay- so those are probably incredibly unlikely.
     Anyway, anyone else have any other hopes and ideas for extras for this DVD set?

[MacGyver]

Oh yeah- and of course, I'm also hoping this release will inspire further releases of other Hardy Boys media. Shout! Factory is timing this nicely to coincide with the launch of The Hardy Boys Adventures series- a fact I'm sure they're well aware of. I would love to see Disney finally release "The Mystery of Ghost Farm" as well- the other Hardy Boys serial from The Mickey Mouse Club which hasn't come to DVD yet.
And of course, I'd love to see official releases on DVD (probably realistically as Manufacture-on-Demand sets, but that would be fine with me) for the 1967 pilot The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Chinese Junk and the 1983 pilot The Tom Swift and Linda Craig Adventure Hour (which I know isn't related to The Hardy Boys really- but Tom Swift has crossed over with The Hardys and they're all in the Stratemeyer family anyway.)
And it would also be awesome if Shout! Factory would be inspired to release The Hardy Boys cartoon series from Filmation- I'd love to have that out in its entirety on DVD and Shout! Factory seems like just the kind of company that would release it. Who knows? We'll see- for now, I'm just thankful to finally have all of the 1970s classic The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries to DVD.

[MacGyver]

And just to post this before I forget it- on a different tack, I'm also curious as to the cover art and title used for this release. I was thinking that it would be really cool to see cover art like the series title used in the 3rd. Season opening, which made it look like the cover of a book. (Incidentally, I kinda wonder if The Hardy Boys Casefiles were inspired some by this- the look of that "book" in the opening titles seems to be a bit similar to the Casefiles' look. And certainly the storylines are fairly similar too.)
However, Shout! Factory is usually really good about maintaining the look already established by the previous company whenever they continue a TV series release to DVD like this. So I hope the Season 3 DVD set will look similar to the look used for Season 1 and Season 2, because I really like that look anyway. But it would be cool if they could incorporate the 3rd. Season "book" series title look as well somehow.
I also wonder about the name used. The series started off with the title The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, but its name was changed in the 3rd. Season to simply The Hardy Boys. If you use that name though, you can't really call it the 3rd. Season, since technically it'd be the first season of this new series' name. But it is the third season of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries- it just has a new series' name that doesn't feature Nancy Drew. So I think it might be easiest to go with the actual name that was used for the third season- The Hardy Boys- and just use "The Final Season", rather than the third season. This would be appropriate because it is both the "first" and final season for The Hardy Boys (since they only had the name change for that one season) and it's also the final season for The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries as a whole. I hope that makes sense. It may be semantics, but I think it is important to be accurate with that and it certainly affects the marketing. (Like the subtle marketing for Nancy Drew when the 2nd. Season was released, as her name is bigger than The Hardy Boys part of the show name on that DVD set. (And her picture is definitely bigger on the cover with The Hardy Boys tucked off in the distance.) Of course, this was done I imagine to push the 2007 Nancy Drew movie. Oh well, that's cool with me. Nancy Drew got a turn in the sun and The Hardy Boys will have their turn on this 3rd. season DVD set.
Here's a look at what I'm talking about.

[MacGyver]

Here are some great wallpapers to use for your computer for the 3rd. Season.

[MacGyver]

Just for comparison-

[MacGyver]

Yay! Amazon.com has the cover art up for the Season 3 DVD release!!!!!!!!
It looks like Shout! Factory went with The Hardy Boys Season 3 for the official title for the DVD release. That's cool- that works for me too. And the cover art scheme is very much in keeping with the style of the first two season DVD releases. It will look nice next to them. Whether or not Shout! Factory includes any extras for this, which as I said earlier I'm rather doubtful of that- but I'd still love to see it happen- I hope this will be a big seller for them and perhaps they'll consider getting the rights to some other Hardy Boys properties- like say, the 1969-1971 Filmation cartoon series of The Hardy Boys.

[MacGyver]

I have one minor quibble with the artwork- I wish they had kept the fingerprint on the circle that says "Season Three", but it's not a huge thing. I suppose they just wanted to have something to fill up that larger circle with the series title, now that the title was considerably shorter from the last two seasons. Oh well- I'm just glad it's being released finally.

[MacGyver]

The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries- Seasons 1, 2 and 3 DVD sets cover art all together.

[tomswift2002]

The design of the Season 3 cover sort of reminds me of the original cover that Universal was showing off when Seson 1 was first released.  That unused cover is still on tvshowsondvd.com's website

But as for Shout including the two pilots as bonuses, I highly doubt it, considering that both pilots are no even owned by Universal.  The Tom Swift pilot is owned by CBS, while the Hardy Boys pilot is owned by Fox.

[MacGyver]

I know it's highly improbable- it was just a dream, but you never know- I've seen some things come to DVD that I never thought would've seen the light of day again..... (including cross company licensing deals).
But maybe those pilots can get released as a MOD DVD someday....

[Hardy Sleuth]

I hope the extras on the DVD set will be exactly what you want, MacGyver.

[MacGyver]

Shout! Factory has released a fact sheet for the Season 3 release. Check it out here.
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Hardy-Boys-Nancy-Drew-Mysteries-Season-3/17879

I didn't see any mention of any extras, so unless Shout! has something super secret they're not revealing, it looks like it will probably just be the 10 episodes. Of course, if they only have the 10 unedited episodes, I will be ecstatic for that.

[MacGyver]

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
I just looked at Shout! Factory's Web site- and they have a preorder listing up for The Hardy Boys Season 3 at a price of $18.98 [which is a reasonable price for me.] And there is an extra included!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sure- it's not quite the extravaganza I might have hoped for that I listed in my earlier post (which I knew the vast majority of was highly unrealistic, but it was fun to list ideas anyway)- but it looks like I did actually get one of the things I wished for- so I am very happy for that!!!

If you hit the link above, you can see what I'm talking about. The page says the DVD set will have 3 discs and it will include a bonus feature- a new interview with Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      WOW!!!!! I honestly wasn't expecting anything beyond the episodes, but to at least have a new interview with both of the main stars- I am very excited to see that. That is definitely a cool bonus feature to include and it will be great to see both of them back together again in this interview. Well, now I'm even more excited for February to get here so I can get this DVD set. I'm glad to see that Shout! Factory has come through once again on including some cool extras on their DVD sets. I can't wait for this one! Yay for The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries on DVD!!!!!!

[Hardy Sleuth]

Cool, I'm very happy for you, MacGyver.

[MacGyver]

Yeah- I was kinda excited about that.