The Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries: Season 2

Although the show still featured Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, season 2 was already starting to focus more on the Hardy Boys. When Pamela Sue Martin learned that there would be no more Nancy Drew episodes in the next season, she left the show in the middle of season 2 and another actress took over the role of Nancy Drew. I agree with a lot of the other reviewers that the show started to go downhill in season 2, when Pamela Sue Martin left. Personally, I was disappointed that they stopped the Nancy Drew portion of the show. Some of the episodes might seem a bit corny, however they are still a lot of fun. Die-hard fans of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys will love these shows. I know I do! In this set, the episodes aren't separated into Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys, like the ones in the first season. The episodes are in the order they were aired. Here's a list of the episodes:1. The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula, pts. 1 and 2 -- The Hardy Boys go to Transylvania to find their missing father and run into Nancy Drew, who was supposed to meet with Mr. Hardy to investigate some art thefts. These strange circumstances seem to surround a rock concert held at a local castle where Dracula supposedly lived. Could there still be a vampire lurking in the dark caverns under the castle?2. The Mystery of King Tut's Tomb -- The Hardy Boys travel to Egypt where they try to help a young woman whose purse was stolen. Surprisingly, she is less than grateful for their help and refuses to take the purse back. Frank finds a statuette inside the purse that looks like it's made of gold. Could the girl have actually wanted it stolen?3. The Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom, pts. 1 and 2 -- The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew are attending a detectives' convention in Los Angeles. After a tour of a movie studio, strange things start happening to the convention attendees. Who is out to get the detectives?4. Mystery of the African Safari -- The Hardy Boys are asked to help investigate a case of poaching in Africa where the animals' bodies are not even found.5. The Creatures Who Came on Sunday -- An old friend of the Hardy Boys' asks for their help in finding her missing boyfriend. She believes that his disappearance has something to do with a UFO that she saw in the mountains nearby. Although Frank and Joe don't believe in aliens, it's clear that something is going on in the mountains that people don't want anyone to know about.6. Strange Fate of Fligth 608 -- A stewardess friend of the Hardy Boys gets them seats on a flight carrying a group of stewardess trainees from Nassau to New York. One of the stewardesses is nervous because their flight will pass through the Bermuda Triangle. Her worries don't seem as silly when the flight crew is drugged and Frank has to land the plane.7. Acapulco Spies -- Fenton Hardy is on a case in Acapulco when he runs into some trouble. He tells Frank and Joe to go to a certain hotel and wait until someone gives them a certain code phrase. From there, everything goes wrong. Fenton Hardy disappears, and by accident, a couple of American girls say the code words to boys.8. Nancy Drew's Love Match -- Nancy Drew is asked by a concerned parent to watch his daughter, a young tennis star with kleptomaniac tendancies, but there may also be a more sinister criminal at work.9. The Mystery of the Silent Scream -- A deaf girl reads the lips of a man plotting a horrible crime. She will need the help of the Hardy Boys to catch the man before he can put his plan into action.10. Will the Real Santa Claus . . . -- In this Nancy Drew Christmas episode, Nancy must prove that a man who may or may not be Santa Claus is innocent of a series of burglaries. There is also a new Ned Nickerson in this episode who bears no resemblance to the Ned Nickerson in the first season of the show.11. The Lady on Thursday at Ten -- Nancy is driving late at night in New York when she gets lost and accidentally hits a man with her car. The man is taken to the hospital, and another man at the scene tells her that he is with the NYPD and the man she hit was an escapee. When Nancy doesn't hear from him the next day, she makes inquiries with the police, and they say that they've never heard of the policeman or the escapee.12. Oh Say Can You Sing -- Joe is invited to sing at a concert put on by a friend, Harriet, but Harriet is arrested over a hit-and-run accident. Harriet claims that she only witnessed the accident and reported it to the police, but the police say that she never came to them.13. The House on Possessed Hill -- Frank and Joe feel obligated to help a disturbed young woman who seems to have psychic abilities and a strange connection to an old house that people believe is haunted. Is she a witch, like some people believe, or are her visions hinting at some disturbing events in the past?14. Sole Survivor -- Joe wakes up in a hospital in Hong Kong and is told that his father and brother are dead. Did a car accident really kill them, or is there something else happening?15. Voodoo Doll, pts. 1 and 2 -- The Hardy Boys visit New Orleans during Mardi Gras, but soon after they arrive, someone steals their wallets. Then, someone leaves voodoo dolls of them in their room. They don't know why, but it seems to be connected to a magician performing at a night club. Meanwhile, Nancy Drew is undercover as a magician at the same night club on an investigation of her own. This is the first episode featuring Janet Louise Johnson as Nancy Drew.16. Mystery on the Avalanche Express -- The Hardy Boys and Nancy are in Europe to see a ski tournament. They find themselves on a train with a frightened woman who is being pursued by men demanding that she give them something that belonged to her late brother, only she has no idea what they want. (This episode bears a strong resemblance to the movie Charade with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.)17. Death Surf -- While on vacation, Frank tries to save a drowning girl, but no one finds any trace of her. Her father tells Franks that he and his daughter weren't very close, but he wants to know more about her life. As Frank and Joe start to investigate the dead girl, they find out that they're not the only ones interested in her.18. Arson and Old Lace -- The Hardy Boys are desperately trying to find Nancy Drew, who has been kidnapped by a man living out obsessive fantasies about his dead wife. The situation is made all the more dangerous by an arsonist.19. Campus Terror -- The Hardy Boys try to help an old friend when her college classmates start disappearing. The identity of the kidnapper will come as a shock to them all.

There are many DVD sets in my collection and not one of them was as anticipated as this one. I'm pleased to say that Season Two of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries does not disappoint.To put Season Two in perspective I must first say a few words about Season One. Released on DVD in March 2005, the first season episodes beautifully capture the essence of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew novels that have been a staple in children's literature since the 1920's. Frank, Joe, and Nancy helped solve mysteries around their hometowns, often assisting their fathers on important cases. In Season One the guys and Nancy are just getting started with their crime solving, sometimes making mistakes here and there. This could be debated but Nancy made far fewer mistakes than the boys ever did! In both seasons Nancy is a young woman who mostly works alone and gets the job done right the first time. Pamela Sue Martin's portrayal of Nancy was perfect. No one else could ever BE Nancy, then or now.Nearing the end of Season One a phenomenon helped to transform this great children's series into "must-see-TV" for teens and pre-teens everywhere: The Brothers Hardy - wonderfully portrayed by Parker Stevenson and super singer Shaun Cassidy - became teen idols. And so began Season Two...Though it has been done in print many times since, the first episode on this Season Two set has the characters of Frank, Joe, and Nancy meeting for the first time ever. The brothers are hardly ever home this season, though they do still assist their dad on occasion. The second season takes the guys to exotic lands and the danger quotient is slightly increased over the previous year. If you're a fan of The Hardy Boys Casefiles (novels written in the late '80's) this season is for you!Many guest stars lend their talents to this season too, including Lorne Green, Valerie Bertinelli, Edd Byrnes (77 Sunset Strip), Troy Donahue, Fabian, Tommy Sands, Deborah Walley (Gidget), Melanie Griffith, Ray Milland (veteran actor from the 1920's through the 1980's), Linda Dano (One Life to Live), Rick Springfield (General Hospital), Jaclyn Smith (Charlie's Angels), Robert Wagner (Hart to Hart), Casey Kasem (radio personality), Dennis Weaver (McCloud), and many more.I'm proud to say I've been a fan of this series for 30 years, though I didn't watch it regularly until the end of season two. My memories of watching "The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries" take me back to edited reruns on snowy, low-powered UHF TV channels during the television days B.C. (Before Cable). Needless to say, this set is a joy to watch; the episodes are complete and beautifully restored. They are presented on five neatly packaged single-sided discs. New generations will watch this and get acquainted with three super sleuths who value friendship, perseverance, independence, respect, hard work, brotherly love, and so much more that's missing from today's television landscape. Three decades have passed but parents and children can still enjoy this show together. That is the sign of a true classic.Finally, I must salute the cast - Shaun, Parker, Pamela, Janet Louise Johnson as Nancy Drew, Edmund Gilbert (the ONLY Fenton Hardy and the perfect Hardy dad!), and William Schallert as Mr. Drew. Without you this series would not be the classic that it is. The evidence - this DVD set - proves it!

Watchable enough late 70s tv fare, but lacks any kind of zip or sparkle. Sean Cassidy and Parker Stevenson are simply too cool for school, and Pamela Sue Martin has the screen presence of a lampshade. Despite being crime solving mysteries there is a chronic lack of tension or danger, and by the end of most episodes I'd forgotten what the set-up even was. Still ok for a 70s nostalgia fix if you need to go there.

The DVD set arrived on time. It was in great condition. I loved watching it as it brought back childhood memories. No other actress can portray Nancy Drew as well as Pamela Sue Martin, despite her short stint in the series.

never seen this series before on tv....but stories are interesting and take you back to a time when All Stories had A BEGINING/MIDDLE/and END....all in sequence....just like REAL LIFE ! ! great.

I enjoyed this series which I had never seen before

In its day it was a great TV series brings back happy memories when times were great