Saved By The Bell: Season Five DVD Review:

This was the last season of the original Saved By the Bell show, before some of the cast moved on to college, and there are a lot of changes in the final year of high school. In the last year there were some huge casting changes as Leana Creel joins the cast as Tori Scott to make up for the departure of Kelly and Jesse halfway through the season. The episodes are mixed together to make it seem as though nobody has left, but the dynamic of the show changes a great deal.

Zach is still up to no good as he cooks up new plans, talking directly to the camera as he get himself into trouble. With the gang being seniors there is prom and graduation to add to the fun as well as some more serious episodes dealing with issues like drinking and driving. The 24 episodes of 1992-1993 are dated enough to be funny without seeming completely lost on pop culture.

The episodes are all fit onto three discs which are all in a Digipack and set in a nice cardboard cover. It seems that more attention has been given to packaging on this season, perhaps because of the controversy behind the cover art, which was altered greatly before fans started to complain and some was changed back. Inside the package has photos as well and each disc is color coded as well. The menu has images and music, starting with the school bell, but I was disappointed by the fact that there are no chapter menus. The chapters are there but they cannot be reached from the menu.

There is one special feature which is "The First of Its Class: From Sit-com to Icon." a featurette which is nearly fifteen minutes long. The one disappointing thing about the package is the missing T.V. movies from the show. Hopefully there are plans to release the entire collection of films all at once.



Ryan Izay