Boy Meets World first aired in 1993. To put things into perspective,
I was 8 years old then. My sister was 11. My sister and the main character,
Corey Matthews, were in the same grade. The point of all of that information
is that while it was on air and while I used to watch it, this show sort of
gave me a preview of what I would be expecting in my coming years. I suppose
that for a time, I grew up with this show. I would watch it regularly with my
sister, until I grew a little older and the story line became a little too “girly”
and sappy for me.
In Season One we are introduced to 11 year old Corey Matthews, his family, which
includes his older brother Eric (Will Friedle), younger sister Morgan (Lily
Nicksay), mother Amy (Betsy Randle) and father Alan (William Russ). We also
meet his best friend Shawn (Rider Strong) and his neighbor and teacher Mr. George
Feeny (William Daniels). The story essentially revolves around Corey and his
experiences as a 11 year old, his life in the sixth grade, and the lessons that
he learns from his mistakes.
Each show ends with some sort of a lesson for Corey. However, unlike many other
television shows from my childhood, like Full House, this one
wasn’t annoyingly sappy. For example, in Full House,
each episode would end with the same slow music and Danny Tanner telling his
daughters how much he loved them despite their foolish mistakes, or the fact
that his children shouldn’t feel bad about being motherless because they
have a dad and a Joey and an Uncle Jesse, and so on and so forth. As far as
learning the lesson went, there was a certain amount of realism involved. Although
the process in which a lesson may not have been realistic, it was still an important
lesson which was presented in a very honest fashion.
One episode that comes to mind is “Teacher’s Bet.” In this
episode, Mr. Feeny bets Corey that he will give a certain percentage of his
salary to Corey if Corey could teach one subject to his class. If Corey does
a better job teaching than him, then Corey gets a certain percentage of his
salary. If Corey does not do a good job, then Corey gives up his bike. A certain
series of events take place, which inspires Corey to read “The Diary of
Anne Frank.” Corey then finds a way to catch his class’s attention
and teach the book. In the end, Corey learns two very valuable lessons: one
the important lessons taught in the assigned book; and two, that a teacher’s
job is not a very easy job. In reality, such a bet would never take place. However,
the important thing is that the lessons taught in that episode are very important
for everyone to understand.
It’s absolutely correct that all of the shows aimed at the same audience
follow the same idea. However, Boy Meets World just does a
better job. It is entertaining, warm, and creative. The story develops very
strongly. All of the characters are complex yet simultaneously, they are very
easy to analyze, much like all twelve year olds. The characters are three-dimensional.
Each episode carries over to the next flawlessly. Every lesson Corey learns
carries over with him into the next episode, which is essentially how people
develop.
The DVD has Dolby Digital 2.0 audio and subtitles available only in English.
It is presented in a full screen layout and unfortunately, the DVD does not
come with many special features:
• Audio commentaries by Ben Savage, Rider Strong, Will Friedle, Danielle
Fishel, and Michael Jacobs: this feature would have been better if everyone
was taking turns speaking. It’s very difficult to understand what is being
said with everyone speaking at the same time.
• “Hair Today, Goon Tomorrow” – Bonus episode from season
four. Personally, I prefer watching episodes in chronological order. It’s
like reading the middle of a book without actually reading the beginning. It’s
difficult to entirely understand what is going on and it spoils the story.
I would have liked to see more features. I always enjoy watching features for
shows and films that I like because it makes the feature a bit more fun. I hope
that DVDs for future seasons will include a lot more.
Boy Meets World is a funny and entertaining show. As embarrassing as
it may sound to say this, I enjoyed it when I watched it when I was younger
and I enjoyed revisiting my childhood once again. It’s worth buying if
you enjoyed it in the past.
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