Disappointed with the adventures series

[MacGyver]

I just came across a rather surprising use of cursing in the Files/Casefiles universe, and it was in a Nancy Drew book.  on Page 120 (first page of Chapter 14) of the Nancy Drew Files #12 Fatal Ranson one of the guest characters takes the Lord's name in vain by using the OMG phrase.

Well, that's sad and disappointing.

[tomswift2002]

Yeah, the Casefiles they used guns, (disarming) bombs, knives and whatever else. Darn, I sure miss that! The most only time they used a knife was in that one UB where some girl wasn't breathing due to a swelled shut airway.

Even in the Originals and Revised texts the boys use guns and knives.  Even in the Digests the boys know how to use guns and knives.

[Hardy Boys UB Fan]

I don't think they ever really talked about bombs and terrorists until the casefiles so openly. It was kind of just mentioned in passing, then dropped.

[Hardy Sleuth]

I just came across a rather surprising use of cursing in the Files/Casefiles universe, and it was in a Nancy Drew book.  on Page 120 (first page of Chapter 14) of the Nancy Drew Files #12 Fatal Ranson one of the guest characters takes the Lord's name in vain by using the OMG phrase.

Thanks for that info, tomswift2002. If it's not a prayer to God, then it's literally profanity and I don't like that.

[tomswift2002]

Really? Even younger than the Original Series? Interesting. I'm sure I'll better be able to judge whenever I get around to actually reading one of these books. And I will eventually...... but there are tons of other books I'd rather read first, honestly. I still love the Hardy Boys in general, but my enthusiasm for modern series has definitely waned- ever since the Digests ended in 2005, I haven't been a big fan of most all the series that have followed since.

Check this out for Bound For Danger.  Simon & Schuster actually lists the Grade Reading level for the book as being between Grade 3 & 7.  Even Attack of the Bayport Beast is listed with a Grade 3 - 7 reading level.  And this is what G&D lists for the classic hardcovers: http://www.penguin.com/static/packages/us/yreaders/books4boys/series_hardyboys.php

[MacGyver]

Well, that sounds about the right age level.

[tomswift2002]

I just finished "The Secret Of The Lost Tunnel", revised text, and that is one book that definitely would not fit in the Adventures.  For one thing, Joe (who is a minor) actually enters a gun shooting competition with no questions asked and wins first place and gets a new top-of-the-line rifle. And scope given to him.

[MacGyver]

That doesn't sound like an unlikely scenario particularly in some parts of the USA- but yes, it probably wouldn't be happening in an Adventures book.

[Hardy Boys UB Fan]

I thought they did gun computations in the Casefiles as well? Joe was underage in that series too.

[tomswift2002]

Then there was also, what we would considered a terrorist attack.  Chet lets off a bag of atom crackers in front of a police station and gets off with a warning about disturbing the peace.  Then later Joe also buys atom crackers, again with no questions asked, and then they use them at the old plantation to scare off the crooks.

But in terms of the Adventures, can you imagine those Frank and Joe carrying, much less shooting a gun, or Joe being allowed to buy fireworks?  By the current editorial standards, those are scenes that are too violent for the Hardy's, even though Frank at 18 is an adult.

[MacGyver]

Times were different in the 1950s and 1960s too and laws were not as restrictive....

[tomswift2002]

Times were different in the 1950s and 1960s too and laws were not as restrictive....

True.  But in terms of how much violence the boys can show, in the Adventures it reminds me of the 1990's Fox Spider-Man cartoon and how Spider-Man wasn't allowed to punch anybody, and any guns had to be laser guns.  In the Adventures the Hardy's can really only tackle people, or talk them into surrendering.  In The Secret of The Lost Tunnel the Hardy's, along with Fenton Hardy and General Smith (the person who had called in the Hardy's), were in a royal fist-fight with the gang right at the end of the story.  it's interesting how Steven Grant, one of the Casefiles writers found writing the Casefiles when new editors insisted on less violence in the Casefiles

HARDY BOYS CASEFILES was an interesting experience in groupthink. Because I'd previously worked with Mega-Books on the RACE AGAINST TIME series briefly published by Dell (#1 � REVENGE IN THE SILENT TOMB; #6 � EVIL IN PARADISE) and because the PUNISHER MINI-SERIES had established me as an action guy, I was brought in on the Hardy Boys revamp. See, they wanted to modernize the brothers into a two-boy War Against Crime fighting unit, to which end they blew up Joe's girlfriend so he'd have tough guy vengeance on his mind. They were outfitted with a van replete with various nasty weapons, including a hidden wall housing a variety of guns, and were briefly as dangerous as any other Rambo clone on the market at the time. The series was supposedly aimed at teenage boys, but I suspect marketing reports skewed the readership somewhat younger, because while they started out freely using guns, it wasn't long before they were allowed to use a gun if they took it from a bad guy, but they weren't allowed to carry them. Then they couldn't threaten bad guys with guns, but they couldn't shoot them. Then they couldn't use them at all, but they could use knives. Then they couldn't use knives, but they could defend themselves with their fists. It got to the point where the publisher didn't even want them getting involved in fist fights, so basically their physical activity became limited to running and jumping. Keeping literature safe for America, I guess, so the horror of Columbine could never happen.

Really, The Hardy Boys Adventures are 2nd Grade readers disguised as books aimed at 6th graders and higher.  By comparison the regular Hardy Boys are Young Adult novels, while the Casefiles are Adult novels.  Also I've been finding that most of the Adventures A-plots could be B- and C-plots in the Grosset & Dunlap books.   I was just recently reading The Sign of The Crooked Arrow and I was thinking that the whole plot of The Showdown At Willow Creek could've fit into one chapter in Crooked Arrow (since there was a similar scene that took place all within one chapter).  Or The Curse Of The Ancient Emerald  was nothing more than a stripped down version of The Mummy Case and The Twisted Claw.  Really the Adventures are trying to present the "Adventures" part of the Hardy Boys while removing the violent sections.  I think Attack of The Bayport Beast showed just how much the editors really tried to remove any "violence" from the story.  The "bad guy" I found was really there for no reason, and sort of seemed forced.

[Hardy Boys UB Fan]

Then there was also, what we would considered a terrorist attack.  Chet lets off a bag of atom crackers in front of a police station and gets off with a warning about disturbing the peace.  Then later Joe also buys atom crackers, again with no questions asked, and then they use them at the old plantation to scare off the crooks.

But in terms of the Adventures, can you imagine those Frank and Joe carrying, much less shooting a gun, or Joe being allowed to buy fireworks?  By the current editorial standards, those are scenes that are too violent for the Hardy's, even though Frank at 18 is an adult.

What Casefile had them using atom crackers? They even used Uzi's in the Casefiles, and not seemed to care. There was terrorism in the Casefiles all the time, and it sure makes for great reading today, knowing that would never, ever go today...darn it.

Not that I'm happy about that, mind you! Just like, what do the publishers think we are, stupid?

[MacGyver]

The Hardy Boys Casefiles were clearly aimed at a teenage market though. The Adventures books, if I recall correctly, are marked as being at a reading level for 8-12 year olds.

[tomswift2002]

The Adventure books are marked for 8-12 year olds (the same age as G&D is currently marking the Classic series at), and that's why I'm comparing the two.  They are the only ones on the market right now, but in the Classics the boys can carry guns, knives and throw punches.  In the Adventures it's either tackling people or talking them into surrendering. 

In both the revised Lost Tunnrl and Secret At Wildcat Swamp I was also surprised at how many times the author changed from being with Frank and Joe, to being with Chet and General Smith or Cap Bailey or in Swamp the son of a woman that the gang was trying to swindle out of land. 

By comparison the Adventures are simple, 2nd Grade readers versus the Classics that are complex and read more like an Star Trek novel than something along the lines of "See the dog.  See the dog run!"