The long-awaited season 3 of the Hardy Boys 1970's tv series will finally be released in February 2013. Season 3 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A4Y62JU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=hardboyscasee-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00A4Y62JU) can be pre-purchased at Amazon.com
(http://www.hardyboyscasefiles.com/images/comingsoon/DVD_03.jpg) (http://www.hardyboyscasefiles.com/store/index.php?isbn=B00A4Y62JU)
Thanks to Trevor Thurlow (http://www.facebook.com/trevor.thurlow.71) and Matthias Smith (http://www.facebook.com/matthias.smith.16) for the heads up on this information over at the Hardy Boys Casefiles Facebook Group (http://www.facebook.com/groups/18780927716/).
Yay! I'm SO excited for this. That's cool you got the cover art up too. :) 8)
I posted this in another thread, but I thought I'd post it here too.
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just looked at Shout! Factory's Web site- and they have a preorder listing (http://www.shoutfactory.com/?q=node/216632) 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!!! :) 8) :D
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!!!!!! :) :D 8)
You know, I was just looking at the artwork for Season 3 and the interior artwork for Season 1, since someone mentioned how the fingerprint wasn't under the Season number, but if you look at the artwork for the interior case of the Hardy Boys Season 1, the Season number isn't on the fingerprint either.
Hmm-interesting. I'll have to look at that when I get a chance.
Just watching "Last Kiss Of Summer Part 1" on the DVD. Interesting episode, but it's extremely washed out, scratched up and torn up. I think Universal gave Shout broadcast masters that were made back in the 70's, instead of making newer (even standard-def) transfers.
Just watching "Search For Atlantis", boy, this episode looks a lot softer than the Goodtimes VHS.
For anyone who doesn't have a copy of The Hardy Boys Season 3 DVD yet, here's a chance to win a free one from efilmcritic.com (http://www.efilmcritic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20506&sid=eb5074511fedb625ae4a4c6fb82acd2f) :) 8)
But you better hurry- entries have to be submitted by February 20th.
I was just on Amazon and a lot of people are posting there, and I had noticed the shorter length myself, but the masters used are the Syndication masters, and not the Orignal Network masters. The episodes in Seasons 1 & 2 are about 50 minutes each without commercials, while the Season 3 episodes seem to be around the 45-46 minute mark.
One poster thought that this was maybe because of the 2008 fire at the Universal lot, but it could also be because Universal has the syndicated masters priced lower than the network masters.
Quote from: tomswift2002 on February 18, 2013, 09:59:44 PM
I was just on Amazon and a lot of people are posting there, and I had noticed the shorter length myself, but the masters used are the Syndication masters, and not the Orignal Network masters. The episodes in Seasons 1 & 2 are about 50 minutes each without commercials, while the Season 3 episodes seem to be around the 45-46 minute mark.
One poster thought that this was maybe because of the 2008 fire at the Universal lot (this is because one building, called the "Video Vault", was destroyed, but from what I can tell this was only a place for storing duplicate masters on videotape of Universal-owned TV series and Films), but it could also be because Universal has the syndicated masters priced lower than the network masters.
Yeah, it is unfortunate, but still- it's better to have something than nothing at all on DVD. Of course, if it was possible to have used the network masters and get unedited episodes, I'd rather have that. I have been able to confirm that the "Game Plan" episode definitely is edited- there's a whole scene missing at the start of the episode where Joe tackles a bad guy in the airport. Do you know of any other episodes that are edited?
Apparently all the episodes are Syndicated versions. But as I said, Universal probably wanted more money than Shout was willing to pay for the Network cuts vs. the Syndication cuts.
Okay- so every single episode probably has some scenes missing then? Oh, well. That's unfortunate, but I'm still glad the third season at least got released to DVD in some form.
I got a reply from Shout! Factory about the planned extra that was to have been included- the new interview with Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson.
Here is what they said on that:
"Sorry about that, that was indeed a bonus feature that was originally going to be on there but didn't make it for one reason or another. We've now removed it from the site, thanks for letting us know, and enjoy the Hardy Boys!"
Too bad, but it happens. Oh well- I am still glad to have some official form of the Season 3 episodes finally on DVD, syndicated or otherwise, regardless of whether any special features were included.
Syndicated Cuts probably just removed licensed music. Too bad about the bonus feature though :P
There are definitely also some scenes removed along with those syndicated cuts- I don't know of specific missing scenes for all the episodes, but I do know there is a scene with Joe tackling a bad guy at an airport at the start of the episode "Game Plan" that is cut from the DVD release. It's possible there may be other such scenes cut as well and that's disappointing. But again- at least something has been released. It's the same situation with the ALF series released in America- syndicated cuts were used and so each episode has a couple of minutes here and there that are cut- you still get the majority of the episode, but for hardcore fans of the show that want every bit of it intact, it's a disappointing situation. I've got the ALF series on DVD and enjoy watching it, but it would still be nice to have the original network versions (though it's been so long since I've seen the show in its original network run that I can't think of any big missing scenes that stick out to me right now.)
Quote from: Judah-Ben-Hur on February 21, 2013, 08:02:09 AM
Syndicated Cuts probably just removed licensed music. Too bad about the bonus feature though :P
When studios make syndication tapes, hey edit them for a shorter time period so that stations can air more commercials.
I was thinking that once MacGyver pointed that out, maybe I throw out music because it's the one I catch more often.
I LOVE Hardy Boys!!! 8)
I was just watching "Game Plan". It's funny how Monopoly turns up here and then is mentioned in the "Super Sleuths" story 'HB' in 1984.
But out of all the episodes, GP's tape must've been in the worst condition out of them all. Right at the end I was finding that Frank and Joe's faces were looking really red with streaks of green and blue---it almost looked like a worn out VHS tape.
Yeah- that episode did look rather sad, unfortunately (for video quality I mean.) And thank you for specifying that it looked like a worn out VHS tape- I see many people compare a bad quality transfer DVD to that of a VHS tape and that in itself is not entirely accurate, I don't think. A brand new VHS tape (or better yet, Beta tape) has excellent quality. It's only after numerous viewings that it starts to really slide in quality.
Well for most of the episodes I'm finding that it looks like Shout Factory was only able to get either U-Matic 3/4 or S-VHS copies of the episodes---both are broadcast quality, but even for analog broadcast tapes both are at the bottom of the quality ladder (U-Matic was originally launched as a consumer tape format in the late-1960's that didn't take off due to cost; S-VHS came out in 1987). If the episodes did come from Betacam masters (Betacam came out in 1982, with its upgrade, SP, being released in 1985) then they must've been transferred to Betacam years ago, but I would think that Universal would be charging a lot more for Betacam than either U-Matic or S-VHS.
That sounds about the size of it- thanks for the technological details.