Everyone who is in their twenties today remembers waking up on Saturday and watching a brilliantly formulaic and cheesy TV show called “Saved by the Bell.”  A show that taught us about jealousy, greed, relationship drama, caffeine pill addiction – okay, wait. I have to stop here because this is one of my favorite episodes ever. When Jesse gets addicted to caffeine pills and she freaks out on Zack in the end yelling, “I’m so excited! I’m so excited! I’m so scared!”  Zack comforts her by saying, “Hey remember when we were kids and we saw ET.  Then we rode our bikes home at night.  You were scared then too.”  Not sure if that’s verbatim, but the gist of it and the gist of the entire shows forced messages and tidying up of these “big problems.” 

Now, I’m not bashing it though, the illogic of the show is what made it so great.  Every episode was self-contained, one week Slater and Jesse were dating, the next Slater was after Kelly and Jesse hated him, with no logical story dots connected in between.  That’s not why we loved it though!  It’s because you had characters you could relate to; the geek, the jock, the cool kid, the self-involved girl, the feminist, the cheerleader.  We all knew these kids in school and we all fit into one of those categories, but in real life the groups never meshed.  A jock would never be caught dead hanging out with Screech in real life, but in TV land not only are they friends, but apparently the only people that participate in every club the school had.  I really wondered what the hell the other students did with Zack and his crew hogging all the glory?  Anyways, this show was a staple for my generations youth because it was just fun to watch and it’s hard to describe why it worked so well.

The shows not only had numerous seasons but also a couple films under their belt as well.  The first one was “Hawaiian Style” which I’ve actually read was the last time the entire cast shot something from start to finish because this was right before the College Years, where not everyone showed up.  In this movie the gang go to visit Kelly’s Grandpa to his Hawaiian resort, but when they get there they have to try and help his save the Hotel from the evil Worthington, the typical rich mogul bastard.  The usual hilarity and absurdity ensues with Screech being kidnapped by a local tribe almost in Gilligan like fashion, Slater and Kelly trying not to fight, and Zack of course falling in love with the first girl he sees as usual.  The film has not aged very well and without the cheesy canned laughter sometimes it’s really hard to decipher when the jokes are supposed to hit, but die-hard fans of SBTB (Saved by the Bell) will still appreciate the effort this film made and get a kick out of it.

The other film “Vegas Wedding” is what everyone who ever watched the show had been waiting for, Zack and Kelly finally tying the knot.  Once again absurdity ensues including jail time, cars breaking down in the dessert, Kelly thinking Zack cheated on her, mobsters chasing Slater and cameos from the series other characters.  This film once again falls into the same trap as the other, but how can you not love it?  It finally gives you the climax to the show you wanted, Zack and Kelly get married!!!  That’s even better than Louis and Clark Kent or Peter Parker and Mary Jane, and why?  Because an entire generation watched these two lovebirds and their near misses towards being together for nearly a decade it seemed and now we get it.  Who could forget the Zack and Kelly’s Prom episode where they dance out back of the gymnasium because Kelly’s prom was ruined and Zack wants to make her smile.  That’s the stuff that gets you choked up on a Saturday morning.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Trailers - nothing too exciting, wish they had a documentary or interviews or something

FINAL THOUGHTS

Children of the 80’s looking for a trip down memory lane should definitely pick this DVD up, if not solely for nostalgia’s sake.  I had fun watching it and that’s about it.