The Hardy Boys: Season Three

I watched this series starring Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson. Truly enjoyed and entertaining. The actors are great together working to solve mysteries. Watching was loads of fun!

Really enjoyable time watching the classic Hardy Boys DVD'S. Wish the show would have lasted another season from way back when...

In the final season Frank & Joe get to put their detective skills for the government. Its exciting with great guest stars, and each episode doesn't disappoint.

Horrendously transferred from "the best available video"? What happened to the masters in Universal's vault? I don't know. Instead it's transferred from copies of the 3rd season.Don't get me wrong, I am glad to have it, if nothing else, to complete the series collection. Universal could have done better at transferring this season (half a season) to DVD.46 episodes total. The first 14 were as a midseason replacement starting Jan. 30th, 1977. Then a full season starting in Sept., 1977. Finally, the 3rd season lasted only 10 episodes ending on Jan. 14th, 1979. Technically, by 1970s standards of TV seasons only 2. Up until the 1970s the seasons lasted about 30 episodes, then down to the mid-20s per season through the start of the 21st Century.Nothing against the TV series "The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries" as a whole. I am glad I have all three seasons (or 2 if going by the then standard of seasons lasting 20-something episodes, but, that may just be the purist part of wanting a season to last a complete season and not be counted as a season if it is a mid-season replacement or last just half a season. That's nitpicking and I won't do that. Just stating an opinion with that.)The last 10 episodes tried to do too much, too soon. Yes, Parker Stevenson (Frank Hardy) and Shaun Cassidy (Joe Hardy) are getting older as are we all. How much longer could they have continued as amateur, teen heartthrob detectives helping out Fenton Hardy? Maybe a few more years. I am disappointed how Glen A. Larson (also producing Battlestar Galactica at the time) decided to pursue the Hardy Boys going in to Season 3. It would have been better if they tried adapting some of the Hardy Boys books, in print at that time, into episodes for the season, it surely wouldn't have hurt any and quite possibly seen the series last in to the early 1980s before Parker and Shaun were "too old" or tired of playing the teen heartthrobs. Then they could have tried to pursue the more grownup, "working for the Justice Dept." by the, if it had happened, 5th or 6th season (had they been more successful with the 3rd season). But, sadly we will never know.In summation, I am disappointed with the way Season 3 went and turned out (hence ending 2 years after it debuted) and the way they transferred from video instead of the masters (if they still exist), the fact that the 46 episodes add up to just 2 seasons by TV season standards of the time (late 1970s). It could have and should have been done far better than it was (in transfer to DVD, storylines decided on at that time, the direction they took), trying to reach a more "adult" (?) audience, or whatever was going on at that time. As a whole it is good to have the entire series. It gives a chance to watch this series from beginning to end at any time. Just know that the entire series is good and enjoyable. But, don't expect Season 3 to be as good as the 2nd Season or 1st.

The premier episode of season three, the two-parter "LAST KISS OF SUMMER (parts 1 & 2)" almost killed the series right there. Having Joe Hardy in love and getting married to someone we never heard of in the whole previous seasons, and the books this series is supposedly based on, was a real let down for The hardy Boys fans. Seeing an emotional Joe crying & angry for two hours was too much, for the first time the boys don't work as a team, Joe goes off on his own as a renegade. It may have been ahead of its time as almost a decade later this story would become the basis for a new paperback Hardy Boys series called The Hardy Boys Casefiles in which Joe's girlfriend Callie is killed in a car explosion. Joe would become overly emotion in that book and keep his anger through out that book series. I didn't like that story either.This renegade trend would return in a few more episodes of season three. In "GAME PLAN" it is now Frank who is on the verbal attack with Joe and again they seem to be working against each other instead of solving mysteries together. And in "LIFE ON THE LINE" the boys still seem to fail to work as a team as a young woman comes between them.There are still some gems here: "ASSAULT ON THE TOWER", "THE SEARCH FOR ATLANTIS", "THE SCORPION'S STING", & "DEFECTION TO PARADISE (parts 1 & 2)" are five shows worth getting this set for, they are as good as anything in seasons 1 & 2. The boys can get interested in a woman, they just shouldn't let it get in the way on an investigation and break apart the team.I do have all 10 on VHS from their 1980's re-run broadcasts and have seen them many times. So my opinions are not based on anything I read, I saw them. Since I grew up reading the books, my views are also influenced by the original books.By the time THE SCORPION'S STING aired the ratings were so low that several ABC Network affiliates had decided to drop the series and replace it with local programming. Many fans didn't even know there were 10 episodes in season three as they never saw the later ones. Even as early as 2001 some on-line episode lists omitted several season three episodes from their listings, convincing many fans that there were only 8 episodes that year. I'm not even sure TV Land aired all 10 episodes of season three, I only caught about 6 episodes there.The bottom line: 5 good episodes, 4 bad episodes, and 1 mediocre episode. It is worth getting as the price is right, remember that fans paid just as much to get just one episode "THE SEARCH FOR ATLANTIS" on VHS tape in the 1980's, now you are getting at least 5 good shows here.

I read the books when I was younger. I liked the series

As advertised, good series.

Kvaliten är VHS men det förlåter man gärna. Roligt att se pojkarna i sin sista säsong. Inga höjdaravsnitt men fullt sevärt ändå. Synd att det inte blev någon eller några säsonger till....

waited to get this dvd it didn't disappoint

I don't think the Beeb ever showed this series and this is a Region 1 DVD not region 2 so Brits beware. Luckily region 1 players are cheap to buy in the UK.

I actually liked this last season better as there was none of that "promoting Sean Cassidy as a pop star". They were more adult and the stories more serious. Very good series. It's a pity that it ended after season 3.