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| Dvdivas
was founded by John Gabbard in 2000. It's purpose has been and
remains to be to provide you, the entertainment community with
the latest dvds and movie reviews. It will continue to be your
link to the most popular dvd movies. |
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“The Hardy
Boys-Nancy Drew Mysteries: Season One“
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Reviewed
by: |
Wayne A. Klein |
| Genre: |
Mystery |
| Video: |
1.33:1 Full
screen |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
1.0 (mono) |
| Languages |
English |
| Subtitles |
Spanish,
French |
| Length |
11 hours
and 20 minutes |
| Rating |
NR |
| Release Date |
3/29/05 |
| Studio |
Universal
Home Video |
| Commentary:
|
None |
| Documentaries:
|
None |
| Featurettes:
|
None |
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
“Kojak” preview, “Bridget
Jones: The Edge of Reason” preview, preview for other |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
None |
| Music
Video: |
Vintage Hardy Boys poster
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| Other:
|
None |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Pamela Sue
Martin, Shaun Cassidy, Parker Stevenson, Ruth Cox, Lisa Elibacher,
Gary Springer, George O”Hanlon Jr. |
| Written
By: |
Glen A. Larson,
Christopher Crowe, Lou Shaw |
| Produced
By: |
Christopher
Crowe, Glen A. Larson, Joe Boston |
| Directed
By: |
Winrich Kolbe,
Jack Arnold, Ivan Dixon |
| Music:
|
Glen A. Larson,
Stu Phillips |
| The
Review: |
Designed for the kids that had outgrown
“Scooby Doo” cartoons but hadn’t quite graduated to “Murder
on the Orient Express”, “The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries”
revealed themselves in 1977 alternating in the same time slot
on Sunday nights. Featuring an appealing cast with veteran
TV and film directors/writers behind the series, the show
had just the right element of supernatural scary hi jinks
and wholesome teenage activity to appeal to their target audience.
After the first season the casts for both series were combined
with the “Nancy Drew” portion dropped for the third and final
season of the show. The series is very much of its time like
“The Six Million Dollar Man” and “Bionic oman”. The formulaic
storytelling is also the same. For fans of the series this
release will be welcomed as its one that I didn’t think was
likely when many other shows from the same era have yet to
be released. All fourteen episodes of the first season are
presented.
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| Image
and Sound: |
The series
looks surprisingly spry given that it first appeared nearly
30 years ago. The image quality is overall quite good with solid
colors and a surprisingly sharp, crisp image for most of the
episodes. Some sequences in the episodes look a bit soft but,
on the whole, Universal has done a terrific job transferring
these hour long episodes of the original series to DVD. The
mono sound comes across crisp and clear. Although the series
is presented on dual sided single layered discs, they are both
housed in their own clam shell cases making them unlikely to
get scratched. |
| The
Extras: |
To Universal’s
credit they did license a poster that originally came with
“Dynamite Magazine” featuring teen heartthrobs Shaun Cassidy
and Parker Stevenson. It’s kind of cool for those who may
have had the original poster with its vintage day-glo graphics
and design. Sadly, there’s no poster for Pamela Sue Martin
for those of us who had a big crush on her as kids. We also
get previews for various Universal TV shows that are on DVD
or coming to DVD shortly. Sadly, these are bare bones releases
other than these meager extras but given that the audience
for the series is probably fairly small compared to some other
cult series that’s not a surprse. Still, I’m sure that Universal
has some bonus material in their vaults. For example, there
has to be vintage interviews with the cast and crew created
for promos. To Universal’s credit they did license a poster
that originally came with “Dynamite Magazine” featuring teen
heartthrobs Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson. It’s kind
of cool for those who may have had the original poster with
its vintage day-glo graphics and design. Sadly, there’s no
poster for Pamela Sue Martin for those of us who had a big
crush on her as kids. We also get previews for various Universal
TV shows that are on DVD or coming to DVD shortly. ---
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| Commentary:
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None |
| Final
Words: |
Universal
has done a fine job in transferring these well remembered TV
mystery classics. It’s a pity that there’s no featurettes on
the various tie-in’s that occurred during the 70’s. What about
a featurette catching up with the stars of the show? As I mentioned,
there’s bound to be some vintage TV promos and interviews moldering
in the vaults somewhere. Next time let’s dig ‘em out for a fun
visit back to the era when disco was king and the only thing
America had to worry about were gas prices (that sounds familiar
what appropriate timing!) and whether Gerald Ford would trip
over his own feet again on national TV. |
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