Updated March 16, 2020 1.3K votes 352 voters 24.5K views
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Vote up the 'Saved by the Bell' fan theories that just might somehow be true.
With a Saved By The Bell reboot in the works, fans are digging back into their favorite Bayside adventures. For folks of a certain age, the show, which ran from 1989 to 1993 and rocked after-school reruns for years afterward, was a staple. It provided insight, unrealistic as it may have been, into high school life and everything there is to look forward to. The sitcom was so popular that it spread into a whole franchise.
In hindsight, it is really odd that the show’s main protagonist, Zack Morris, could literally stop time, get away with absolutely anything, and never seemed to quite learn his lesson. In fact, all sorts of things about this show don’t make any sense. Why did the characters in the show’s precursor, Good Morning, Miss Bliss, all move from Indiana to California at the same time? Why is the principal so enmeshed in these kids' lives? Why do main characters disappear without any explanation?
Let’s explore fan theories which attempt to explain these unanswered questions about the series, and be sure to vote up the theories you think are most plausible.
Mr. Belding Is The Actual Savior Prophesied In The Title Of The Show
Redditors u/Zorak6 and u/jbenz both believe that the show’s title connotes the importance of Mr. Belding’s character. No matter what the kids get up to, it always gets sorted out.
When the students deal with real issues, from substances to bullies, gambling to eating disorders, Mr. Belding is always there to save the day. His name, “Bell,” and the sound it makes, “Ding,” connote his being the real heart of the show, albeit an unappreciated one.
Cracked writer Logan Trent thinks that the differences between Good Morning, Miss Bliss and Saved by the Bell are so jarring because the second never actually happened - it’s just Zack’s dream world.
In the first series, Zack deals with the trials and tribulations of a normal junior high student: he lives in a boring place, gets in trouble with his teacher, has trouble with girls, his friends call him on his crap, and he has family drama at home.
In SBTB - poof! - all his problems are gone. This fantasy world of his likely takes place in his head every day, once his real school day is over and he feels like he is “saved by the bell,” so he can leave and retreat into this made-up life where he is good at everything and never gets in trouble.
Tori Was A Cop, And Screech And Lisa Took Her Life
At TBK Magazine, Scott Pruit digs into what could have become of Zack’s one-time love interest Tori, who mysteriously disappears from the show without a trace. The “tough girl” new student, who shows up senior year after Kelly’s departure, is the only main character who never reappears in later iterations of the show. She doesn’t even make it to the final episode of the season in which they all graduate. She’s just gone.
Pruit thinks that she and Violet from Season 2 were both undercover cops. When Lisa and Screech found out, they took out the faux-students so their illicit caffeine pill business could thrive.
‘Saved by the Bell’ Is A Sci-Fi Show About A Teen Supervillain
Redditor u/TheRealOcsiban believes Saved by the Bell is more than the teen sitcom it appears to be at first glance. In their opinion, Zack Morris’ ability to freeze time, pausing everything that happens around him, is clearly a superpower. Zack is also fearless, girls love him, and he never faces any repercussions in the aftermath of his often-inconsiderate schemes.
By this Redditor’s estimation, "Zack Morris has the superhuman charisma of a vampire." On top of all that, he scored over 1500 on the SAT. As no mere mortal could possess all these powers, Zack must be a sci-fi supervillain.
Zack Morris Perished In Indiana, And ‘True Detective’ Proves It
In a Thought Catalog article, Rob Fee explains his theory that Zack Morris perished in junior high, back in the Good Morning, Miss Bliss days, so he never even made it into the main series. Saved by the Bell is, in fact, a perfect afterlife created by an eighth-grade boy in which his dream of being the coolest guy in school is realized.
The author finds proof of his theory in the show’s opening, which features a spiral symbol later seen in the series True Detective. It is said to represent life cycles; the old ending so that the new may arise.
Zack And Lisa Are Dead And Mr. Belding Is Screech’s Stepfather
Redditor u/clerksrat presents a fairly fleshed out, if ungrounded, theory about the show. They contend that Mr. Belding is Screech’s step-father, and that during the show’s precursor, Good Morning, Miss Bliss, Screech’s friends Zack and Lisa passed, so Belding moved to California with his step-son.
Therefore, during the Saved by the Bell years, Screech’s best friend and crush are both just figments of his and Belding’s imaginations. Then, in The New Class, at the franchise’s end, Screech takes over his step-father’s role as principal of Bayside High, thus allowing them to both move on.
