The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries - The Mystery of King Tut's Tomb (1977)

The Mystery of King Tut's Tomb

In season 2 of the Hardy Boys,  Frank and Joe become globetrotters.  When we last saw the Hardy Boys, in "The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula," they were cruising around Europe in a white VW van, first in France, and then on to Germany, and finally to Transylvania.  In this week's episode, "The Mystery of King Tut's Tomb,"  The Boys have driven the van straight down to Egypt!

Egyptian Contraband in King Tut's Tomb

The plot of this one involves The Hardy Boys driving through Egypt as tourists, on their way to meet their father in Kenya.  While doing some shopping, The Boys have a mystery just coincindentally wind up in their laps, as usual, and they find themselves mixed up with an artifact smuggling ring.   The police confiscate their passports, and Frank and Joe are forced to solve the mystery if they want to leave the country, and avoid  being thrown in Egyptian prison.

Caught by the Fuzz

Of course The Hardy Boys version of "Egypt" consists of TV studio sets, Southern California exteriors that VAGUELY resemble Egypt, and scenes where Frank and Joe are driving their van in front of a bluescreen, and Frank says, "hey look, the Cheops pyramid," and then we cut to stock footage of a pyramid.  Not once do we see The Boys and a pyramid in the same shot.  Most of the sets don't even look Egyptian, more like a European village that has had a few Egyptian paintings and statues thrown on top of it.  In fact, I'm not sure, but I think they might be some of the same sets that were used in "The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula."

Magic Bus

This episode was educational, though.  Did you know the Cheops pyramid is over 480 feet high?  You will after you watch this episode!  Joe also asks Frank, " I wonder if they were really built by people from outer space a few thousand years ago?"  Remember, this was filmed in the 1970s, when that was actually a popular belief.  Oh, another neat fact is that apparently everyone in Egypt speaks English.  I actually wasn't aware of that until I watched this episode, but judging by all the characters Frank and Joe talk to in this one, it must be the case.

Born in Arizona, Moved to Babylonia

This is probably one of the lesser episode of the series.  It's not really THAT bad, but coming on the heels of the excellent "The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula," it can't help but be a disappointment.  The highlights of this episode include the weird American-themed bar the Boys hang out in in this one, complete with a disco band comprised of guys wearing Lawrence of Arabia-style keffiyehs.  To avoid getting caught by the bad guys in the bar, Frank and Joe spot a George W. Bush lookalike and start insulting Texas, prompting a bar fight.  Joe even gets to sing a song, but it's just a few bars of "Deep in the Heart of Texas."  There is also a chase scene, where the Hardys must outrun a white-haired old man, and a crippled man who walks with a cane.

George W. Bush Shows Off His Dance Moves

Overall, not that great of an episode, but still a reasonably fun way to spend 45 minutes.  Next week, it's off to Kenya (or, more likely, a Kenya-like area of Southern California) for "Mystery of the African Safari." 


BONUS!  MUSIC VIDEO:
Batman's King Tut (King Tut footage from the 1966 Batman TV series, set to the music of "King Tut" by Steve Martin!)


More screencaps after the jump...

Creating a Tribute: Tenth Anniversary of 9/11

George Washington, Greg Brady, and Abraham Lincoln Pay Tribute to America's Heroes

A few months ago, I posted this artwork I created in anticipation of the tenth anniversary of 9/11.  The original post is here.  Today being the actual anniversary, I thought I might post a few bits of artwork that went in to creating it.

Original sketch

This is the original sketch I made of my idea.  As you can see, I sketch pretty loosely.  I like to make up most of the details as I go, in the final drawing.

I follow that up buy searching out hundreds of images to use as references, to get the likenesses of the people correct, as well as for details of paramedic uniforms, the pre-9/11 New York City skyline, and things like that.

Then I create a file in Manga Studio, which is the software I use to do most of my drawing, that has all of my photo references in it on various layers, so I can look at them as I am drawing.

I draw all the different elements on separate layers.  So, for instance, I would have Greg Brady on one layer, the New York Skyline on another, the Vinnie Barbarinos on another still...   that way I can later move them around or resize them in Photoshop if I decide to make changes to it.

First version of drawing

This is the first version of the drawing.  You can see that it had Presidents Obama and Bush in it as well as Lincoln, Washington, and Greg Brady.  In fact, when I first had the idea for the drawing, it was only going to have Greg Brady and Barack Obama in it.  But then I decided to add George Bush to it, so that the drawing could better represent the entire ten year period from September 11th 2001 to September 11th 2011.  Also, I didn't want this drawing to appear partisan in any way, it's about bringing this country together, not taking it apart, so having a Republican and a Democrat on it seemed like a good idea.  From there I decided to add Lincoln and Washington as well, as they are our two most iconic presidents, and having them there (along with Greg Brady) seemed to make this all about America, and not any one political party or ideology.

Ultimately, though, I felt it was too crowded up there with so many heads, and ended up going with just the trio of Washington, Brady, and Lincoln.  Because I draw in layers, I didn't have to redraw anything, just click those two layers off.

Drawing with text

I had initially wanted to have some text in the drawing.  I wasn't sure if people would understand what they were looking at without some explanation.  I did leave some text on the T-Shirt version, but for my final artwork, I decided to let the images speak for themselves.

Final colored art

For the final colored version, I removed the text, then shifted the drawing up a little. this made more room on the bottom for the reflections in the water.  When I'm drawing something I plan on coloring, I will often leave areas unfinished so I can finish them in color instead of in black and white, such as the details on the buildings, and the ripples on the water.

Comic: Who REALLY killed Osama Bin Laden?

Text from comic:

Since the death of Osama Bin Laden, there has been a lot of debate in the media about who should get credit for it.  Most say Barack Obama, since he was president at the time.  Some say the credit goes to George W. Bush, since he started the "War on Terror" and put many of the programs in place that eventually led to Bin Laden's demise.

The truth is, both sides are wrong.

It wasn't Obama or Bush...

ABRAHAM LINCOLN KILLED BIN LADEN!

Visit my Zazzle store to buy a t-shirt or print based on this comic.