Filmation's 1969 cartoon adaptation of The Hardy Boys, in which Frank and Joe Hardy were in a bubblegum rock band. This would make it the first cartoon to feature a mystery solving band. The Hardy Boys was also the first Saturday Morning Cartoon to feature a black character in the main cast, beating out Josie and the Pussycats by a year.
Besides Frank and Joe Hardy, the show's main cast included Chet Morton (renamed Chubby), and two original characters. Pete Jones and Wanda Kay Breckinridge.
In each episode the gang would solve two mysteries (usually plots adapted loosely from the books), and play a concert in between. In-universe it is explained that the profits from their gigs help finance their sluething.
In order to promote the music from the show, Filmation put together a live-action Hardy Boys band. They played all the music on the recordings, as well as toured the United States. Each band member played the role of a character from the show.
"Hurry, troper! Or we'll miss the concert!":
- Animated Adaptation: Of the Hardy Boys books.
- The Ace: Joe Hardy. He can easily get out of traps, trick the bad guys, and is usually one step ahead of the rest of the gang on solving the mysteries.
- Action Dad: Fenton Hardy. He sometimes shows up to save the boys.
- Adaptation Amalgamation: Each episode features the plots of two separate books.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Joe has brown hair in this cartoon.
- Adaptation Name Change: From Chet Morton to Chubby Morton.
- The All-American Boy: Frank and Joe.
- The Alleged Car: Chubby's car, Queen.
- Ambiguously Gay: Frank. He is limp-wristed, and has zero interest in girls whatsoever. Which is in stark contrast with his book counterpart, who was rather girl crazy. Moreover, Joe finds Iola (his love interest in the books) to be mostly an annoyance, and acts like a He-Man Woman Hater towards Wanda-Kay.
- Band Toon: The Hardy's and their friends are in a band in this series.
- The Lineup: Frank on guitar, Joe on bass, Chubby on the sax, Pete on drums and Wanda Kay on the organ.
- Bash Brothers: Frank and Joe physically confront most of the villains. Usually by tackling them to the ground.
- Big Eater: Chubby. In one episode, he finds an important clue in a loaf of bread while trying to make a sandwich.
- Big Little Brother: Joe is taller and more muscular than Frank in this series, who is portrayed as much thinner, shorter, and a little weaker.
- Canon Foreigner: Pete Jones and Wanda Kay Breckinridge.
- Cowardly Lion: Chubby.
- Detectives Follow Footprints: There are a few episodes where the gang literally follow footprints.
- Death by Adaptation: Laura Hardy, the boys mother.
- Distaff Counterpart: Iola is basically just a female-Chet in this version. Complete with the same bird-squawk of a voice.
- Expressive Mask: Bad guys often disguise themselves with rubber masks, which prove to be indistinguishable from a real face.
- Fingertip Drug Analysis: In the episode "The Clue of the Broken Blade", when they find a shipment of vases filled with dope.
- Five-Token Band: Frank and Joe double as the White Male Lead, Pete Jones is the Token Black Friend, Wanda Kay The Smurfette and Chubby The Big Guy.
- Informed Ability: According to advertisements, Wanda Kay played the organ. She's never actually shown doing so in the cartoon, though.
- Deven English, who portrayed Wanda in the Hardy Boys Band, did play the organ, however.
- The Load: Chubby. If he does manage to do something useful, it's usually by complete accident.
- Limited Animation: Like most cartoon's of the late 60's and 70's, shots are often re-used.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: Done quite often. Although, who went off with who usually varied.
- Master of Disguise: Wanda's special ability.
- New-Age Retro Hippie: The whole group. Just listen to the lyrics of some of their songs. Especially "Love, and Let Love".
- Public Secret Message: Happens a lot. Such as in The Secret of the Old Mill, where the costume-shop owners leave messages to each other in the form of window displays.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Wanda is the pink girl to Frank's blue boy.
- Stock Footage: Whenever the Hardy's perform a song, the same pieces of stock animation are used.
- Straw Misogynist: Joe will sometimes tell Wanda Kay she has to stay behind because she's a girl. She usually ends up saving the boys and forcing them to apologize for doubting her.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Frank is the sensitive guy to Joe's manly man.
- Sibling Team: Frank and Joe.
- Token Minority: Pete Jones.
- Too Dumb to Live: In one episode, Frank see's a snake and becomes so scared he falls off a cliff.
- In another episode, Wanda Kay walks face first into a stalactite.
