Hi there...I always thought that "The three investigaters" were a huge flop in America (I must have gotten the wrong idea)...so, are there still any new books? Over here in Germany there are 120 episodes of the audio plays on tape and CD available...
shareI don't think they were a flop...they just stopped being written after 40 or so. They ARE NOT as huge as they are in Germany, but maybe the movie will bring them back to popularity and get kids reading them again. I'm an adult and I've been reading them lately...they are really good books. Ebay always has lots to buy online and we have bought them at secondhand book stores too. My 13 year old son loves them! Can't wait for the movie.:)
shareThey're popular in the UK today but we suffer the same problem as the USA - the lack of a good publisher to really get behind the series and promote it.
Dave
It's hugely popular in Indonesia. Most of the kids I've known in my childhood have read at least one book.
This is my favorite series while growing up, and one of the reason I love mistery stories. I've kinda outgrown this when I'm in junior high, and started reading Agatha Christie novel, but I read one of the T3I book (Mistery of the Coughing Dragon, IIRC), and surprised I still enjoy it.
Can't wait for the movie, hopefully it'll get to this part of the world as well.
Were still fairly popular in the US when I was young in the 70's. Issues with the estate of the creator, Robert Arthur, halted publication of new ones stateside after the late 80's. Personally, they were my favorite growing up, a bit more suspenseful than Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys, where the guilty party was often known ahead of the conclusion.
sharenot too popular over here in ireland, ive to dig deep to find them. Have 20 or so of the books. Always looking for more. Cant wait for the movie.
shareThey were (are?) quite popular in India as well. I remember growing up reading them, and preferred them to the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew series. However, I have no idea what the status is today (I am talking about 1989-1994 period). I do hope it picks up though. Its would be a shame to see this series die out.
shareThey are still popular in Slovakia. The original and the German series are published and are availabe to buy in shops.
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An enemy deserves no mercy. - KK3
I read them in the mid 80's when I was in school and had my local library get loans from other libraries the ones they didn't have on hand so I could reread them as an adult and they were still good. Would like to own them but they are so darn expensive.
shareI Love these books! Never read one inEnglish though..
Only in Swedish..
The good part about swedish translators is that they never, or not very often, translates names. Unlike the Finnish ones.. gawd..
Lucy:Was the music too loud?
Dr. Carter: No, the furniture was too on fire.
I loved them and read a lot as a kid in the early '80's. It will be fun to see the movie.
shareI've just found out about the movies and possible TV series and am stunned.
It was always one of my plans if I ever got mega-rich to commission a TV series of the Three Investigators, because I loved and still love reading the books.
Like many people, they were the first books that got me into reading (for me in the early 90s).
I still collect the books and am only a few short and will step up trying to complete my collection.
I'm sad that Alfred Hitchcock has been and will be dropped from all the books he featured in because of the problems obtaining his character rights. Disappointing.
Anyways, wonder what I/we'll make of the first movie???
They didn't translated names in Finnish editions of Three Investigators. Only thing that bothers me with Finnish books is poorly made translation (lots of spelling errors and so on).
shareAs an American fan who read the first twenty or so I was impressed by the endurance of the series. They went through several authors after Robert Arthur died, so the characters and series did not die with the creator. When Alfred Hitchcock passed away I wrote a concerned letter to the current author (M. V. Carey, I believe) and received a lovely letter about how they planned to continue the series with a fictional character in Mr. Hitchcock's place. I was impressed with the number of titles wracked up over the amazing span of nearly twenty-five years during which so much changed in society. I was a bit puzzled that the films started with Skeleton Island, not only not being the first, but although one of the better titles, not one of the better books in the series as far as my impression as a reader--which made me happy as the movie couldn't wreck it too seriously. The books were extremely popular in libraries when I was a kid and for years thereafter, but I don't know anything about a cult following and find European tastes amazing. They manage to make the biggest deals out of American things I like about which so many others are indifferent.
shareThey were (are?) quite popular in India as well. I remember growing up reading them, and preferred them to the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew series. However, I have no idea what the status is today (I am talking about 1989-1994 period). I do hope it picks up though. Its would be a shame to see this series die out.
Exactly my feeling as well. I tried reading The Hardy Boys, because it was quite popular as well at that time, but couldn't past reading the first 3 pages.
I think one of the good points about T3I is that it had a homey feeling about the kids. They're not famous, cops don't ask for their helped (although it changed later in the series), but they just genuinely love solving mystery.
It´s noteable that in Germany the series is mostly popular by the tapes/records made from the novels. German kids grow up with them for over 30 years now still listening to it full of tension.
And they still use the same voice-actors. They have cult-status here. In recent years they started tavelling the country to perform (read) life from stage and they´re regularly sold-out. They mainly still sound as when it all started.
In Germany the series was titled "Die Drei Fragezeichen" or just "Die Drei ???"(="The Three Question-marks") regarding the fact that they clear them all.
Two years go or so they had to change to "Die Dreiii" or so (not sure) for some legal reasons.
I couldn´t imagine my childhood without the audio-releases of the series though I also read some of the books which are also very popular here.
My entire friends are eager for the film now.
eBay currently has a complete set up for auction (no, I am not the seller).
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=020&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBI%3AIT&viewitem=&item=300098058422&rd=1&rd=1
I believe these are ones that have been re-written slightly to remove Hitchcock.
Wikipedia has a good outline: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_investigators
Also, see:
http://www.threeinvestigators.net/GG.html
I loved these books. I still have a few of them. I don't have Skeleton Island though.... I know I read it as a kid, but I'd like to re-read it before the movie comes out.
shareits just like David Hasselhoff. Its famous in the US but not as famous as how it is in Germany.
share[deleted]
"It" huh? Don't hassel ze hoff, hehe. He WAS popular, in ca. 1990. I don't think my younger siblings even have a clue who he is.
I think the main reason the ???/Three Investgators are so tremendously popular over here (in germany) is the brilliant audioseries. I knew/owned most cassettes, before I even read the first book. Besides, as a kid I thought the books were written AFTER the Europa-Cassettes! A friend of mine from Amsterdam also grew up listening to the (german) audiotapes - not sure if she got them on a holiday here or if they were available in Holland.
oh come on, david hasselhoff is not popular in germany.
Everybody knows that baywatch is bad and that he can´t sing, it´s just like an american urban myth! He is not popular in germany.
But the three investigators (die drei fragezeichen) are popular here!
Every child reads them and i read a lot three investigators books when i was younger. I think american children don´t read often, the look more tv ;-)
Having been a teenager in Germany in the early 90's I can confirm that Hasselhoff was huge for a while. Thank god we got over that fairly quick and now he's just regarded a talent free zone like so many others :-)
The Drei ???/Three investigators however have been with me since the mid 80's when I joined the public library and was able to get my hands on all the ??? tapes. I still love them to this day and mainly listen to them when I have to clean my apartment or do something equally boring.
Now, that movie.... it looks like a fun thing for younger children but for most of us growing up with the wonderful tapes creating pictures in our minds it's pretty hard to watch the movie (probably even harder to listen to it!).
So yes, I will watch the movie when it's out on DVD. But I surely won't see it in the cinema.
I was thinking something similar. I grew up reading the books, listening to the tapes and I don't think I could stand watching the movie now. I have all these pictures in my mind of how everybody looks and am pretty sure, they would be destroyed by watching the movie or else I'd be very unhappy with the cast. So I#m not gonna watch the movie.
But to all those people who want to watch it: Enjoy!!!
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I do whatever the voices in my head tell me to do.
I am a writer, and am currently writing a book that molds several of the main characters on the 3I. I've since gone back and remembered how much I loved them. I surely hope a feature film does them justice.
I even hope Alfred Hitchcock makes an appearance.
To give you the right idea what happend to the book series:
When the US (= English) publications were discontinued, it was worldwide. Nonetheless, the German success was huge (including audio versions). That's the reason why German authors continued writing books for the series and they still do. That's also the reason why a German movie production company did this movie. Shooting of "The Secret of Terror Castle" will start in November 2007 and "The Mystery of the Silver Spider" is being planned.
The owner of the (English) book rights may consider to re-publish the books plus continue the series.
Don't get your hopes up.
Alfred had nothing to do with the books, he only lent his name.
They were never largely popular in America, but they did have some fans. When I was 9 in 1971 I found and read every Investigator book I could find. (Up to about #14 at that time I think) I loved them, though no one else but the librarian had ever heard of them it seemed. I told friends about them, but few were interested. Also they never had the advertising behind them like the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books did. I'm probably too old to enjoy the movie now, but I will see it for curiosity's sake. I will be finding out more about these German stories though. :)
I'm from Germany and I'm a fan of them since I was a little kid (so since 80's). More the cassettes and CD's tho than the books :D
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What is mind? - Doesn't matter.
What is matter? - Never mind.