Late in February we were pleased to
bring you word that a representative at Lions Gate had informed us that
Saved By The Bell - Season 5 would include the "Hawaiian Style" special episode that aired in front of the 24 regular weekly episodes that make up the contents of this set. We were also hoping to find out if Lions Gate would also include the special episode that followed the
College Years season: the "Wedding In Vegas" special which concluded things for this cast.
What Lions Gate told us instead was that neither one would be on the
Season 5 set after all! We first suspected something was up when we received the official retailer planning materials for July, and the 2-page
SBTB spread only mentioned a "3-Disc Set contains 24 episodes and approximately 550 minutes of programming," and that the only Bonus Feature on this $29.98 SRP sset would be "Tell-all Documentary (subject to change)". When we confronted the studio about this, they told us, "
it has now been confirmed that it will not appear on Season 5, but it will be released in the future."
So
Saved By The Bell - Hawaiian Style will be released as a separate item later on, and Lions Gate did not clearly tell us whether or not they owned the rights to "Wedding In Vegas" or had plans to release it. We asked for clarification on this, but they did not respond before our deadline.
Nor did we get a response to a matter which has
SBTB fans rather upset, especially over at the SavedByTheBellNOW.com fansite's discussion forum. Ever since we
posted the cover art for the
Season 5 set, fans have easily spotted that the cover art has been manipulated to re-write history.
First off, I'll state, for the record, that the above cover art came directly from Lions Gate. Fans who are upset about it keep questioning whether TVShowsOnDVD may have been somehow tricked. No, this came directly from the studio, for certain.
At first glance, casual viewers of the show will look at the above shot and think that there's nothing wrong with it. More dedicated fans instantly notice, though, that the second girl from the left - wearing a beige button-down sweater - is NOT Elizabeth Berkley's character of "Jessie"! Midway through the final season, both Berkley and Tiffani-Amber Thiessen ("Kelly") exited the show, and did not appear again until the final graduation episode at the end. In their place, Leanna Creel joined the show playing "Tori Scott". It is Creel's face which appears on the box art above. But get this!: the sweater is recognized by fans as one BERKLEY wore in many publicity group shots for the show in the final season! Many of the fans have alternate shots to prove it, too. It is obvious that Lions Gate removed Berkley's head, and pasted Creel's in its place!
The question is, why? A group of fans is trying to get in touch with Berkley, and so far has found out that this seems to be a complete surprise to her! Lions Gate has not been able to provide TVShowsOnDVD (or SavedByTheBellNOW) with an explanation for the change, nor answer questions about why Principal Belding's head also seems to have been photoshopped to a strange position (complaints are that it looks to be at an awkward angle compared to the shoulders). Fans note that on a previous box set, an interior pic pasted Belding's head over a pic of NBC pres Brandon Tartikoff on a publicity shot he took with the cast. Belding gets no respect!
Stay tuned, and hopefully we'll find out more about all of this. If we do, we'll let you know. We're happy to get the episodes, and if they are complete, and don't remind us of the
ALF situation, then we just won't worry too much above the box art. Still, one wonders why would Berkley get the slight? After all, Thiessen's on the cover, and she missed the same episodes Berkley did. Also, Berkley has appeared on the previous covers, so it's not like anything new has changed since then, to our knowledge. What's up? We may never know. But if we do find out, we'll be sure to tell you!
