Saved By The Bell: The Complete Collection – DVD Review

Shout! Factory has released Saved By The Bell: The Complete Collection on DVD and it includes the entire main series, the spin-off, the movies, and more!

I was provided a free copy of Saved By The Bell: The Complete Collection. The opinions are my own.

Saved By The Bell has a very interesting history. The show initially began as Good Morning, Miss Bliss which was supposed to be the return vehicle for former Disney star Haley Mills in 1988. Lasting only for a season (13-episodes), it was canceled. However, instead of scrapping everything, the show was retooled into what would become an iconic series for a generation. Yes, Saved By The Bell did have certain problematic themes, but you can’t deny it was must-see TV for many growing up.

Saved By The Bell: The Complete Collection on DVD includes Good Morning, Miss Bliss, all of the seasons from the main series, spin-off, and the two TV movies. With a lot of extra content included as well, that’s quite a value for the suggested price tag.

Coming to the specifics of the DVD collection, I like the locker-inspired packaging. The 16 DVDs come in standard plastic cases. All of the disks are distributed over four transparent plastic cases. The DVD cases (including the insides) feature images from the show. The back has lists detailing the content on each disk.

Good Morning, Miss Bliss is a 2-disk set. ‘The College Years’ and the movies along with bonus extra content are a 4-disk set. Seasons one and two are a 4-disk set while seasons three and four are a 6-disk set.

The video presentation is 1.33:1 full frame. The standard definition transfer looks good, considering the series was shot decades ago. The audio is Dolby Digital Stereo. The episodes are Closed Captioned. I didn’t face any problems with video or the sound.

As for the extra content, the audio commentary includes:

• ‘Dancing to the Max’ with Richard Dyball.
• ‘Jessie’s Song’ and ‘Snow White and the Seven Dorks’ has Dyball and Tara Wibrew.
• ‘All In the Mall’ features executive producer Peter Engel.
• ‘No Hope With Dope’ has Dustin Diamond, Dennis Haskins and Lark Voorhies with Engel.
• ‘The Last Weekend’ and ‘Zack’s Birthday’ again has Engel.
• ‘Graduation’ has Dyball with Henry Weintraub.

Another fun piece of extra content is the Past Times At Bayside High: Making Saved By The Bell feature which is approximately 52 minutes long. It talks about the history of the show, why Good Morning, Miss Bliss didn’t work, and more. It includes actress Lark Voorhies (who played Lisa Turtle on the series) as well as a number of creative crew members.

The other feature is Bayside’s Greatest Hits: The Music Of Saved By The Bell which is approximately 5 minutes long. It shows Scott Gale talking about doing music for the show. Rich Eames served as the composer.

The two documentary features mentioned above are completely new for the series’ DVD home release.

As for the rest, Alright: Back To The Bell, at approximately 17 minutes long, discusses the show’s impact. We have Dustin Diamond sharing his experience of playing Screech.

At 10 minutes long, Saturday Morning: From Toons To Teens talks about how the show was embraced by kids who felt they had outgrown Saturday morning cartoons.

Further discussing the impact and legacy of this show, we have the approximately 15 minutes long The First Of Its Class: From Sit-Com To Icon feature.

The ‘Photo Galleries’ cover the movies as well as the show.

You also get a 16-page episode guide.

Saved By The Bell: The Complete Collection on DVD is currently available for purchase. I recommend picking it up if you wish to collect the franchise in one package, give yourself a dose of nostalgia, as well as enjoy some interesting extra content.

Feel free to share your thoughts with us.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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