“Saved By The Bell” Episode Rings True

Posted on June 30, 2010
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By Lauren Keane-Farrell

Bright and early one Monday morning, I took a plane back to Washington, D.C. after a weekend at home. At 6:30 am, most normal people aren’t awake. But luckily by flying JetBlue I had DirecTV where I could zone out for the short trip.

While channel surfing I came upon TBS and saw that Saved By The Bell was on. Half awake I watched Zack and Screech play with a duck. Then, my attention was grabbed when during a school meeting they discussed oil.

In this episode, called Pipe Dreams, the school has struck oil under their football field so now they’re going to make a ton of money by drilling and build a bigger and better Bayside. Some students aren’t so happy. Lead by Jessie Spano, they try to stage a protest but are ignored by the majority of the students and faculty.

The end of the episode resonates with today’s current crisis when the oil is spilled all over the football field and into the school’s pond. There, Zack discovers his duck covered in oil—dead.

Quickly, he changes his mind about the benefits of oil and joins Jessie in her protest. At the end of the episode the school chooses animals and the planet over the greed of oil and wealth.

Pretty interesting that in 1991 high school students on TV were protesting excessive oil consumption. So 19 years later why haven’t we learn our lesson?

“Accidents happen a lot with oil companies, then they just slip out of being responsible for them.” - Jessie Spano

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