I just finished The Crisscross Crime (The Hardy Boys #150). And I got to say I thought I was reading a Casefile! :o There was the usual stuff that I'd expect in a casefiles in there, not a digest book. I loved it! :)
Does anyone else see it as it as a Casefile and not a digest?
I also just finished the Cross Country Crime (The Hardy Boys #134) and this too felt very Casefile-ish.
I haven't read either of those Digests in quite a while, but I do know that there has been much speculation that The Criss-Cross Crime was probably a recycled plot for a proposed entry in the Hardy Boys Casefiles series. I'm not sure if that's actually been confirmed yet though. And that's interesting to hear about Cross-Country Crime- I'd have to look at it again before I could comment much more on that.
The Crisscross Crime was originally written as The Hardy Boys Casefiles #130, and would've been published somewhere between March and May 1998, had the series continued, but was rewritten to remove all Casefiles references, but the tone of the book was similar to Mystery Stories #84 and 85. The book would've followed #129 Explosive Force, had it been published.
Beat me to it, Trevor!
Quote from: tomswift2002 on June 07, 2011, 07:37:31 PM
The Crisscross Crime was originally written as The Hardy Boys Casefiles #130, and would've been published somewhere between March and May 1998, had the series continued, but was rewritten to remove all Casefiles references, but the tone of the book was similar to Mystery Stories #84 and 85. The book would've followed #129 Explosive Force, had it been published.
That why I thought it was a Casefile! And it really was, sort of. ;D What were the Casefile references that were removed?
Quote from: Katie on June 07, 2011, 07:52:20 PM
That why I thought it was a Casefile! And it really was, sort of. ;D What were the Casefile references that were removed?
I don't know for sure, but most likely it was references to Iola being dead (she's alive in all the other continuities), Vanessa Bender being Joe's girlfriend, stuff like that.
Quote from: tomswift2002 on June 07, 2011, 08:27:18 PM
I don't know for sure, but most likely it was references to Iola being dead (she's alive in all the other continuities), Vanessa Bender being Joe's girlfriend, stuff like that.
They weren't even mentioned at all in that book. Do you think that's weird? :-\
No, that's what he was saying- they modified the book so that it would fit into the Digests continuity- because it would have been weird if they did suddenly make reference to Iola being dead and Vanessa now being Joe's girlfriend unless they followed it up with Joe waking up from a horrible nightmare- which would give the Casefiles continuity a Newhart ending. ;D
It would have been cool if they'd given the Casefiles continuity some kind of ending. Just saying.
Yeah- it seems especially in the first few books and even in books much later on in the series, the mystery of Iola's death was always an ongoing thing. I mean, Frank had pretty much accepted it, but Joe still seemed defiantly holding on to some little bit of hope that perhaps she was still alive. I could maybe have seen some sort of explosive, multi-part ending for the Casefiles with Iola doing a Winter Soldier-type scenario. (i.e. Bucky from Marvel's Captain America comics.)
Quote from: SDLagent on June 08, 2011, 01:39:41 AM
It would have been cool if they'd given the Casefiles continuity some kind of ending. Just saying.
Like what kind of ending? :-\
A real ending. A finale. Instead of just cutting the series short.
Quote from: SDLagent on June 08, 2011, 06:27:33 PM
A real ending. A finale. Instead of just cutting the series short.
Do you think that the ending was good in the Hardy Boys digest #190,
Motocross Madness?
For the record, that was #190 actually. And Motocross Madness was a fun enough book, but I don't look at it like a finale to the Hardy Boys Digests series exactly. Although it sadly pretty much did serve as the end of The Hardy Boys that I recognized as they seemed to get further and further from their roots in the Undercover Brothers series- but presumably we can say that the Undercover Brothers series is meant to be the continuation/revamping of the original series. Or that's one view in any case. But seeing as how they didn't number Extreme Danger #191 - I guess it really is best just to call it a spinoff series. Of course, I don't know what really would be a good finale to the Digests series. Something similar to #100 The Secret of the Island Treasure might have been cool- I really enjoyed that book as it brought back characters like Hurd Applegate and took Frank and Joe back to where all their mysteries started. Perhaps some kind of a story that would incorporated all of their various chums throughout the years (including long gone ones like Perry "Slim" Robinson and Jerry Gilroy) and long out of action characters like Jack Wayne and Sam Radley and maybe even Oscar Smuff - along with Chief Collig and Con Riley- and Chet Morton and his jalopy The Queen, and Tony Prito and his boat The Napoli and Biff Hooper and his dog Sherlock (okay- it's not his dog really showed up that often- that one was just kind of a joke- like demanding Ace the Bathound show up in every Batman story ;) ;D) - and Phil Cohen and Frank and Joe there with both the van and their boat, The Sleuth and maybe even mentioning their original sedan- and Aunt Gertrude, Fenton Hardy and Laura Hardy all having fairly significant roles, along with Iola Morton and Callie Shaw- and perhaps they could have even crossed the long uncrossed line (in the books anyway)- and have the Hardy Boys celebrate their graduation from high school- and establish their own part-time detective agency after studying criminology in college. I don't know what the huge mystery exactly would be- but it should find a way to incorporate some of their past mysteries and adventures and pay tribute to the whole cast of characters while at the same time establishing some new ground- and this kind of thing should definitely be a multi-part story- perhaps a trilogy would be in order. Well- that's my idea on it anyway. :)
Quote from: MacGyver on June 08, 2011, 07:52:33 PM
For the record, that was #190 actually. And Motocross Madness was a fun enough book, but I don't look at it like a finale to the Hardy Boys Digests series exactly. Although it sadly pretty much did serve as the end of The Hardy Boys that I recognized as they seemed to get further and further from their roots in the Undercover Brothers series- but presumably we can say that the Undercover Brothers series is meant to be the continuation/revamping of the original series. Or that's one view in any case. But seeing as how they didn't number Extreme Danger #191 - I guess it really is best just to call it a spinoff series. Of course, I don't know what really would be a good finale to the Digests series. Something similar to #100 The Secret of the Island Treasure might have been cool- I really enjoyed that book as it brought back characters like Hurd Applegate and took Frank and Joe back to where all their mysteries started. Perhaps some kind of a story that would incorporated all of their various chums throughout the years (including long gone ones like Perry "Slim" Robinson and Jerry Gilroy) and long out of action characters like Jack Wayne and Sam Radley and maybe even Oscar Smuff - along with Chief Collig and Con Riley- and Chet Morton and his jalopy The Queen, and Tony Prito and his boat The Napoli and Biff Hooper and his dog Sherlock (okay- it's not his dog really showed up that often- that one was just kind of a joke- like demanding Ace the Bathound show up in every Batman story ;) ;D ) - and Phil Cohen and Frank and Joe there with both the van and their boat, The Sleuth and maybe even mentioning their original sedan- and Aunt Gertrude, Fenton Hardy and Laura Hardy all having fairly significant roles, along with Iola Morton and Callie Shaw- and perhaps they could have even crossed the long uncrossed line (in the books anyway)- and have the Hardy Boys celebrate their graduation from high school- and establish their own part-time detective agency after studying criminology in college. I don't know what the huge mystery exactly would be- but it should find a way to incorporate some of their past mysteries and adventures and pay tribute to the whole cast of characters while at the same time establishing some new ground- and this kind of thing should definitely be a multi-part story- perhaps a trilogy would be in order. Well- that's my idea on it anyway. :)
I agree! ;)
Quote from: MacGyver on June 08, 2011, 07:52:33 PM
- and perhaps they could have even crossed the long uncrossed line (in the books anyway)- and have the Hardy Boys celebrate their graduation from high school- and establish their own part-time detective agency after studying criminology in college. I don't know what the huge mystery exactly would be- but it should find a way to incorporate some of their past mysteries and adventures and pay tribute to the whole cast of characters while at the same time establishing some new ground- and this kind of thing should definitely be a multi-part story- perhaps a trilogy would be in order. Well- that's my idea on it anyway. :)
The boys already celebrated their graduation from Bayport High School --- in #9
The Great Airport Mystery (1930).
Okay- interesting to know. Does this mean in the original continuity, the Hardy Boys have been solving cases 10-38 during their summer break? (Although I know those kinds of timelines tend to get pretty nebulous...) But I meant in the revised continuity, they are still portrayed as being in high school throughout the end of the Digests.
Quote from: MacGyver on June 13, 2011, 07:45:29 AM
Okay- interesting to know. Does this mean in the original continuity, the Hardy Boys have been solving cases 10-38 during their summer break? (Although I know those kinds of timelines tend to get pretty nebulous...) But I meant in the revised continuity, they are still portrayed as being in high school throughout the end of the Digests.
For the original texts of 10-38, after graduating from high school in #9, the boys "mysteriously" return to high school with no reason given, but there are mentions in the texts of the boys still going to Bayport High (in #32
The Crisscross Shadow, the boys are on the high school football team).
Yeah, originally Frank and Joe, like all other Stratemeyer Syndicate characters to that point, aged. They were only 16 and 15, respectively, in the first book and by book nine had graduated. At this point the Syndicate realized that the Hardys were ageing too fast and would likely suffer the same fate as Tom Swift who had aged, grown-up, got married, and subsequently lost his popularity. The Hardys haven't really aged since.
Maybe it's different in Canada (since Leslie McFarlane was Canadian and all- but still, I would think he would be writing with American customs in mind since the Hardys are portrayed as Americans)- but most American high school seniors are at least 17 and many are 18. It doesn't seem like Frank and Joe would have been far enough along in their schooling to have graduated if they were only still 16 and 15, respectively.
No, they weren't only 16 and 15. That's what I'm saying. They aged normally until The Great Airport Mystery and than never aged again.
Ah, okay- I misunderstood before.
So from The Great Airport Mystery forward, (in the original continuity) Frank and Joe were stuck at their perpetual 18 and 17.
Which are also the ages used in the revised books as well.
Yeah, from what I can remember. Unless they deaged them back to 16 and 15.
QuoteFor the original texts of 10-38, after graduating from high school in #9, the boys "mysteriously" return to high school with no reason given, but there are mentions in the texts of the boys still going to Bayport High (in #32 The Crisscross Shadow, the boys are on the high school football team).
I wonder if (in the original text continuity here)
The Great Airport Mystery should really be read as the last entry in that series of books- otherwise books #10-38 are flashbacks to their high school years...
Oh well- I suppose that's why they changed it for the revised continuity... Still they could perhaps have The Hardys going to college somewhere as an ending to the Digests run... and maybe do a series of
The Hardy Boys on Campus- as long as it doesn't get derailed into about 90% romance/drama and 10% mystery, like the
Nancy Drew on Campus series pretty much did.
Well, I guess we'll just have to see what happens now with this
The Hardy Boys Adventures series...
Quote from: MacGyver on November 03, 2011, 01:57:27 PM
They could perhaps have The Hardys going to college somewhere as an ending to the Digests run... and maybe do a series of The Hardy Boys on Campus- as long as it doesn't get derailed into about 90% romance/drama and 10% mystery, like the Nancy Drew on Campus series pretty much did.
Well, I guess we'll just have to see what happens now with this The Hardy Boys Adventures series...
I'd like to see Frank and Joe in collage, too, but not if is going to be like you said. I want mystery, not romance. Hope this new Hardy Boys series is as good or even better then the UB's. 8)
So far the closest we've had to The Hardy Boys in college has been the '90s TV series, The Hardy Boys, and Clean Sweep, #114 in The Hardy Boys Casefiles (which has Frank and Joe staying at the dorm of a college friend of theirs.) I'm sure there are probably some other times they've gone undercover at colleges- I'm thinking Game Plan for Disaster (#76 in The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories) for instance, but it's been a long time since I read that one...
The Genius Thieves had Frank enrolled at a college, while Joe was a janitor.
Of course, Chet signed up for Zoar College in the 1970 version of The Melted Coins.
there you go :)
Well Zoar was a fake college, and Chet got swindled.