Boy Meets World - General Discussion

[jmonique]

Most of the cast members who appeared in "And Then There Was Shawn," aka "The Scream Episode" is reuniting for a free Watch-Along and then a paid Q&A, with profits going to DonorsChoose.

 

[Blergh]

"No Guts, No Cory"

 

In spite of the flaws, being  the offspring of parents who came of age during WWII and having heard quite a few of their stories from that time , I actually like this episode a great deal!

 

OK, one thing that bugged me which truly could have been done without was having the entire storyline happening  via a semi-crossover with Sabrina the Witch or rather having her mischievous black cat Salem was awkward and useless. For him to show up at John Adams High and just pop the whole BMW cast into WWII for no real reason was rather lame in retrospect (especially since he had zero interaction with any of them and his cameos whining about hating to live in the 40's were annoying rather than funny). It would have worked SO much better had it been the result of Cory having heard Mr. Feeny's recollections of that time and actually having paid attention to him  THEN simply have had this be a resulting dream fantasy! If they ever re-release this on DVD TOTALLY editing out Salem's 'contributions', I'd make no objections whatsoever!

Of course it had to be a fantasy since the episode covered the entire timeline of US involvement in WWII and even about a few months thereafter (December 7,1941 to roughly December, 1945) which would have meant everyone would have been far too old to be returning BACK to high school after at least four years of military service/support.

Alan was SO cool being both the WWII civilian/postwar dad AND the gang's sergeant. Mr. Russ truly seemed to enjoy playing the tough but fair sergeant. Yes, Mr.Russ (therefore Alan) would have been about 47 at the time this episode was produced- IOW two years too old to have enlisted in WWII AND it would have been very unlikely that they would have allowed a father and son in the very same unit- especially after the disaster that claimed the lives of the five Sullivan Brothers. However, Mr. Russ made it work.

Amy truly embraced being the determined Mom at home wanting to do her part AND moving mountains ( or Eric) to bring back Cory alive! 

Yes, WWII Eric was  still Eric and it was totally believable that he would have been considered too' flat footed and ticklish' to have been allowed to enlist.

Cory tried to be brave but he still needed Amy's Waldorf salad to survive the K rations. Then for him to be declared dead but actually being an amnesiac who thinks he's a tortured French artist was quite the hoot. No doubt Mr. Savage relished Cory becoming the 'French' Pierre while retaining Cory's flat US accent.  He also seemed to have fun with Pierre's French girlfriend who nobly stopped her dream wedding for Cory's sake when Topanga (and Amy) showed up!

Then for Cory to insist that Shawn marry Topanga if Cory didn't make it home was quite the turn! Surprisingly WWII Shawn seemed more awkward with WWII Topanga as they were about to get married than Shawn had when he dated her to get Cory to get his gumption for her.  Still, he DID say that he'd be willing to have the marriage to Topanga annulled if Cory showed up alive one day AFTER  the honeymoon. Of course, even slicked back, Mr. Strong's hair would have been WAY too long for recruiters not to turn into a crewcut in WWII but I guess the BMW folks couldn't allow it to be cut even for WWII!  Oddly enough, even though Jack was in the very same unit as Cory and Shawn, and Jack got singled out for having his roommate Eric's picture displayed, never once were WWII Shawn and WWII Jack alluded to being brothers much less interacted at all (and no references to WWII Shawn's homelife- perhaps he was living in a Hoover Ville tent left over from the Depression).

Mr. Feeny stayed the principal but also was the Air Raid Warden and even the minister who attempted to conduct Shawn and Topanga's aborted wedding. Of course, almost 20 years later, he DID perform Shawn's  actual wedding to the GMW character Katy, mother of Maya Hart .

WWII Topanga was played with relish so one could easily imagine Miss Fishel trying to channel Betty Grable, Bette Davis or Greer Garson as the tough but faithful homefront sweetheart who refused to give up on a life with Cory even when all but Amy thought him dead!  Of course, her kiss cured Cory/Pierre's amnesia.

 

Yes, I know the whole timeline, integrated schools and military unit, WWII Shawn's long hair,etc. made it rather inauthentic but it still was fun with no false notes from the BMW cast! The thing to keep in mind was that this was NOT WWII itself but a parody of that era's movie potboilers that had lovers separated by war with one or both believing the other dead but and about to be torn apart forever when. ..

Edited June 9, 2020 by Blergh

[Trini]

This article is specifically about Trina McGee's recent comments, but apparently there's a podcast with some of the former cast: 'Trina McGee reveals why Angela was absent from the Boy Meets World series finale'

Quote

On a recent episode of Pod Meets World, a podcast hosted by BMW alums Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle, and Rider Strong, the hosts welcomed McGee who, for three seasons, played Strong's onscreen girlfriend Angela Moore. McGee revealed some of the biased treatment she received on set — including why she was absent from the series finale. ...