Undercover Brothers, The Series

[SDLagent]

I like the Undercover Brothers most of the time.

I like the plots of the books, and I didn?t mind ATAC at first but I?m getting tired it.  The Network was in some Casefiles, but ATAC is in every UB book, I whish they would use ATAC like the Casefiles used the Network.

I didn?t like the boys fighting and not seeming to care about each other, but happily in books, 12, 14, 15, 16, and SM 2, they have cared about each other more.

I like the new characters Brian and Belinda Conrad and Vijay Patal, but I don't like  that the original characters aren't in the books much, Chet's in about nine books, Iola's in four but she doesn't do much, Callie is only in one and is no longer Frank's girl friend.  Biff, Tony, and Phil haven't even made an appearance.

I like that Laura finally has a personality and a job, as a research librarian. (Now we know way Frank is so smart.)

What?s Riley dumb is girls not even looking at Joe most of the time and Frank's always been a bit shy around girls, but not a geek!

Here are my favorite books so far.

#1 Extreme Danger

#5 Rocky Road
Frank and Joe abandon there current ATAC mission(good for you guys! ) and come back to Bayport, to help there dad and the cops investigate vandalism at the local schools.  Chet, Iola, and Callie help the boys solve the case. It is a good non ATAC book, I hope there is more books like this.  Five stars.

#8 Top Ten Ways to Die
Someone is trying to kill young pop star Vee Sharp. Frank and Joe go to LA to protect the star; Aunt Trudy comes with theme, to protect the boys. A good book, four stars.

#9 Martial Law
The Hardys try to determine if there's a connection between injuries sustained by two students at a martial arts school where Chet is taking a karate class. An known to Hardys Chet is trying to solve a mystery to.  In the end the Hardy's and Chet team up to solve the mystery.  A good book, a good fight scene at the end, one of my favs, four stars.

#11 Hurricane Joe
The brothers investigate a string of hurricane warnings-and subsequent burglaries in the Bayport area.  Loots of action, the boys do a good job investigating and Aunt Gertrude tells the boys way she goes by Trudy.  Three and a half stars.

#14 Hazed

#15 Death and Diamonds
   
#16 Bayport Buccaneers


Here are the bad books.

#4 Thrill Ride
The Hardys investigate a woman's death at Uncle Barnie's Fan Park.  Good book, dumb ending. Three stars.  Two stars

# 10 Blown Away
Their is a vintage car auction and a celebrity wedding at the Billington Resort in Phoenix. But they also have a bomb threat and everyone staying at the resort is danger.  Frank and Joe only have EIGHT HOURS to find the bomb and bust the bad guys.  An okay book, the boys are BAD detectives, and it has a BAD ending. Three stars.

#13 The Mummy's Curse
The only good thing about this book is at the beginning they are investigating a non ATAC case.

This series isn?t as good as the Casefiles but its better than the Digests, and last few books have been riley good, I think the series is getting better.

What do like and dislike about the series?  What are your favorite books?    

[tomswift2002]

I like the plots of the books, and I didn?t mind ATAC at first but I?m getting tired it.  The Network was in some Casefiles, but ATAC is in every UB book, I whish they would use ATAC like the Casefiles used the Network.

-I don't like the plots of the books that much, but I will agree with you -----it is time for ATAC to gooooooooo.   The only book where the Hardy's aren't working on an ATAC related----forget that.  I was going to say in the Graphic Novel #7 The Opposite Numbers the Hardy's aren't on an ATAC related case, but the Hardy's are heading out by train to get to one, so it is ATAC related (plus the Hardy's have to fight ATAC's arch-nemesis W.A.R.D's Sisters Noir).

I like the new characters Brian and Belinda Conrad and Vijay Patal, but I don't like  that the original characters aren't in the books much, Chet's in about nine books, Iola's in four but she doesn't do much, Callie is only in one and is no longer Frank's girl friend.  Biff, Tony, and Phil haven't even made an appearance.

-I'm starting to find Brian Conrad to be very annoying.  Doesn't the character have a life other than popping up wherever the Hardy's ar ein Bayport?


What?s Riley dumb is girls not even looking at Joe most of the time and Frank's always been a bit shy around girls, but not a geek!

-What happened to Joe being the "babe" magnet that he was in the Casefiles?

Here are my favorite books so far.

#1 Extreme Danger

#5 Rocky Road
Frank and Joe abandon there current ATAC mission(good for you guys! ) and come back to Bayport, to help there dad and the cops investigate vandalism at the local schools.  Chet, Iola, and Callie help the boys solve the case. It is a good non ATAC book, I hope there is more books like this.  Five stars.

-If you recall, it was an ATAC case, since that ice cream guy kept feeding the Hardy's old cases.  Which leaves one question, if the discs reformat themselves after being viewed, how did that guy have all those old cases that are suppose to "not" exist?


   
#16 Bayport Buccaneers

-I consider it one of the more painfull books to read.


Here are the bad books.

#4 Thrill Ride
The Hardys investigate a woman's death at Uncle Barnie's Fan Park.  Good book, dumb ending. Three stars.  Two stars

# 10 Blown Away
Their is a vintage car auction and a celebrity wedding at the Billington Resort in Phoenix. But they also have a bomb threat and everyone staying at the resort is danger.  Frank and Joe only have EIGHT HOURS to find the bomb and bust the bad guys.  An okay book, the boys are BAD detectives, and it has a BAD ending. Three stars.

-When I was reading these books, I remember asking myself at different times why Frank and Joe were even on these cases?


This series isn?t as good as the Casefiles but its better than the Digests, and last few books have been riley good, I think the series is getting better.

-Isn't as good as the Casefiles???The Casefiles were way, way, way better than any Undercover Brothers book.  I'm even saying that those later Casefiles were better than the UB series, since with the UB series, I don't feel compelled to go back and reread the books for another ten or twenty years.

What do like and dislike about the series?  What are your favorite books?    

-Dislike: #1 ATAC.  #2 Plot is way to short ---sometimes there is hardly even a plot  #3 Where are all the gangs that the Hardy's should be fighting?  In the Casefiles, sure there were some books that had only one or two villains, but then other books had the Assassins, other gangs that dealt with murder, forgery, smuggling, and kickbacks, and sometimes there were gangs who worked two or three different fronts (Operation Phoenix).  The UB series seems to have criminals who are only doing stuff for revenge!  And revenge can get pretty tiring pretty quickly. Plus, the criminals tend to pull the most lame acts of sabotage, such as dropping lights, or pushing someone down the stairs. 4. The Hardy's are always entering from another case that doesn't have any relation to the main case. 
5. The Hardy's don't seem to have any down time.  The boys must be running out of excuses to give to their mom and Trudy.  If I were in the mom or aunt's shoes, I would be asking them what was going on, why they were always going off on trips.  You know, why aren't Laura and Trudy in on the secret by know?  It would make it easier for the boys. 6. Some of the cases sound like they can be really, really good, but in the end turn into really pathetic things (Burned, the Hardy's could've tackled an entire gang of CD bootleggers from all over the world, but instead they end up tackling a teacher at their high school who teaches computer science and distributes bootleg CD's).

-Like: Supermystery #1: Wanted - In my opinion, the only top story so far, even though it was assigned by attack, but it doesn't match the types of stories that were issued in the Digest series by Wanderer or even the Original series.

[tomswift2002]

Some of my comments in the above message are inside the "Quote" section, because I felt they were more appropriate next to the point they were talking about.

[SDLagent]

-If you recall, it was an ATAC case, since that ice cream guy kept feeding the Hardy's old cases.  Which leaves one question, if the discs reformat themselves after being viewed, how did that guy have all those old cases that are suppose to "not" exist?

I don?t think they were the Hardy's old cases, (I don?t think Frank and Joe have that bad a memory!) they were cases that the bad guy maid up.

-When I was reading these (#4 & #10) books, I remember asking myself at different times why Frank and Joe were even on these cases?

Yeah I did to, isn?t there any ATAC agents closer to Phoenix then the boys?  And Mission #4 seemed to be a job for an amateur detective, not a government agent.       

#3 Where are all the gangs that the Hardy's should be fighting?  In the Casefiles, sure there were some books that had only one or two villains, but then other books had the Assassins, other gangs that dealt with murder, forgery, smuggling, and kickbacks, and sometimes there were gangs who worked two or three different fronts

I forgot to mention that, but that riley, riley, riley, riley, riley, bugs me to.  That?s why Mission #9 is one of favorites, theirs a gang in it!    

5. The Hardy's don't seem to have any down time.  The boys must be running out of excuses to give to their mom and Trudy.  If I were in the mom or aunt's shoes, I would be asking them what was going on, why they were always going off on trips.  You know, why aren't Laura and Trudy in on the secret by now?  It would make it easier for the boys.

Yeah you?d think some of the Hardy men?s (Frank, Joe, Fenton) investigating skills would have rubbed of on the Hardy women, and they would find out about ATAC.
The women finding out, would also make a good book, like Laura and Trudy being threading by a criminal to revel the secrets of ATAC, now that would be a riley BAD way to find out that your sons are working for a secret government agency that was founded by your husband!       

[tomswift2002]

-If you recall, it was an ATAC case, since that ice cream guy kept feeding the Hardy's old cases.  Which leaves one question, if the discs reformat themselves after being viewed, how did that guy have all those old cases that are suppose to "not" exist?

I don?t think they were the Hardy's old cases, (I don?t think Frank and Joe have that bad a memory!) they were cases that the bad guy maid up.

The bad guy mentioned that the first case was an old case that another agent had a year earlier.  But here is the real catch, look on pg. 56 of the book


'"I gave you guys the wrong case!  That box was from the recycling pile --- old cases that were supposed to be brought in for shredding!" 

Oh, yeah---did I tell you we sent the discs back to ATAC once we'd viewed them?'

So, if the discs are suppose to get recycled and shredded, what's up with all the "reformatting" of the discs?  I don't get it.  The discs get reformatted to play regular music, and then the Hardy's and the other agents have to send the discs in to get shredded?  Laura and Trudy must wonder why the boys have to return so many CD's.  But, why is there no mention made in any of the other cases or even the graphic novels, of the Hardy's returning the old discs?

But, if the discs get reformatted, then how did the Hardy's manage to play the disc in the first place?  All they would've heard was music?
















'

[SDLagent]

The bad guy mentioned that the first case was an old case that another agent had a year earlier.  But here is the real catch, look on pg. 56 of the book


'"I gave you guys the wrong case!  That box was from the recycling pile --- old cases that were supposed to be brought in for shredding!" 

Oh, yeah---did I tell you we sent the discs back to ATAC once we'd viewed them?'

So, if the discs are suppose to get recycled and shredded, what's up with all the "reformatting" of the discs?  I don't get it.  The discs get reformatted to play regular music, and then the Hardy's and the other agents have to send the discs in to get shredded?  Laura and Trudy must wonder why the boys have to return so many CD's.  But, why is there no mention made in any of the other cases or even the graphic novels, of the Hardy's returning the old discs?

But, if the discs get reformatted, then how did the Hardy's manage to play the disc in the first place?  All they would've heard was music?

That is rely, rely, weird, this book doesn?t seem as good any more.

[tomswift2002]

It doesn't even seem to fit into the rest of the UB cannon.

[D.Hardy]

I like the UB book, because they are written in first person. True some of the stuff in the books are not quite correct, adn i cant stand that but they are great books. The Casefile book are awsome. But i dont like the ones with Callie because Frank semes to care more about her than about Joe. ANd Joe and Callie dont get along. All Hardy boy book rock but none are quite as good as the origional in which i LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE.

[SDLagent]

  It?s good to see another UB fan!

How many have you read?

By the way Callie and Joe get along in the later Casefiles.    

[D.Hardy]

UB- only like 5 or 6 maybe
Casefiles- about 50
Digest- alot
Origionals- all

[tomswift2002]

I loved that part about the first Casefiles.  Callie and Joe, while friends, just seemed to be at each others throatsover different stuff, and it was left up to Frank to solve it.  It was a really good comedy act.

[SDLagent]

It doesn't even seem to fit into the rest of the UB cannon.

Speaking of inconsistency?s in Mission #5:

??Oh, and also as usual, this program will revert to an ordinary video game CD in five seconds.??

-page 23

??I gave you guys the wrong case!  That box was from the recycling pile-old cases that were supposed to be brought in for shredding!?? Captain Creamy said.
    Oh, yeah-did I tell you we sent the discs back to ATAC one we?d viewed them?  I guess this guy was part of the returns processing arm.

-Page 56 

??He must have created the missions for us himself,?

-Frank on page 131

So on page 23 the mission CD that Frank and Joe are watching turns into a normal CD.  But than in one of Frank?s chapters on page 56 he tells us that they sand the CDs back to ATAC one they view them.  So what?s the point if the mission CDs revert into ordinary CDs?   On page 131 it seems like Captain Creamy did make fake missions for the boys, but it still doesn?t explain why they send the old CDs back to ATAC!

On page 23 it says the CDs revert, then on page 56 it says they send them back!  So Mission #5 isn?t just inconsistent with the rest of the series it?s inconsistent within the book!

 

[SkyWarp]

There may not be any inconsidtencies at all (asking for an old Marvel No-Prize here)....

The discs get formatted into a music cd.  However, knowing that technology out ther emight be able to still get some of the old information off the discs, they know they need to send them back for security reasons. 

[SDLagent]

Good point SkyWarp!

Some more inconsistencies I found:

(Chief Collig) shook hands all around, and so did Con Reilly. We?d all worked together before, plenty of times.  Nobody knew better than these two how involved the Hardy guys were in fighting crime. They even knew about ATAC.

-Mission #5, page 80

And

(Frank and Joe have) done the town a great service, considering they?re a couple of amateurs.?? (Collig said.)

Amateurs?

Ha.  If he only knew.

-Mission #12, page 9

So does Collig know about ATAC or doesn?t he?  But this might not be an inconsistency either, note that it never says he knows that Frank and Joe are agents for ATAC, it just says knows about ATAC.   

[tomswift2002]

Good point SkyWarp!

Some more inconsistencies I found:
-Mission #5, page 80

And
-Mission #12, page 9

So does Collig know about ATAC or doesn?t he?  But this might not be an inconsistency either, note that it never says he knows that Frank and Joe are agents for ATAC, it just says knows about ATAC.   

Considering that the author has Frank mention that the both Collig and Riley know about ATAC, I would say that it was a good bet that they both knew about Frank and Joe being agents.  Also, in other books that take place in Bayport, whenever Collig and Riley are on the scene, the authors always mention that the two of them know about ATAC.  So that last quote, about Collig calling them amateurs, it could be that Collig and Riley have been told to say that when there are people around who don't know about ATAC.  Also, if you read pg 81 of Mission 5, Fenton tells Collig that he's putting the boys on the case, and Collig doesn't argue. And why shouldn't he argue???  Because he knows that Frank and Joe and Fenton are Federal Agents.