No Guts, No Cory |
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| Season 5, Episode 6 | |
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| Production Information | |
| Director | |
| Writer |
Patti Carr and Lara Runnels |
| Airdate |
November 7, 1997 |
| Episode Chronology | |
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Synopsis[]
Transported back to World War II in the 1940's by Salem of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Cory, Shawn, Alan and Jack all volunteer to join the army and fight in Europe. Eric attempts to join, but is denied because he is ticklish and is a torture risk (although Jack states that he was deemed mentally ill). To compensate, he makes up a story about staying behind to protect the Liberty Bell. Shortly before shipping off, Cory proposes to Topanga, who accepts.
Overseas, morale of Alan and co. is wearing thin. Cory is lonely, as he is reduced to playing the harmonica and reading letters from Topanga quietly in his head. Before going into battle, Cory tells Shawn that if he dies and Shawn survives, Shawn should marry Topanga. Reluctantly, Shawn agrees. As soon as the radio informs them of a truce, Cory runs out before hearing that the cease fire will begin in 24 hours. An explosion sends Cory's dog tags into Shawn's hands, and convinces everyone that he is dead.
Days later, Shawn and Topanga prepare to be wed. Although nobody truly wants it, they do it because it was Cory's last wish. Amy, however, refuses to believe that her son is dead and sends Eric to Europe to find Cory. In Europe, Eric and Jack visit a French bistro where they find Cory, who thinks that he is a tortured Frenchman suffering from amnesia, and he is in love with Versailles, a French woman. Eric, unable to jog Cory's memory, agrees to marry him and Versailles. Meanwhile in the United States, Topanga is unable to marry Shawn because she feels Cory is alive. Amy attempts to reassure her and tells her that she sent Eric to find him, but Morgan makes her realize that sending Eric wasn't the best way to go. Topanga & Amy then fly to Europe and interrupt the wedding—Cory is unable to remember Topanga until she kisses him, which restores his whole memory.
Cory, Topanga, Jack, Eric & Amy all return to the United States. Back in high school, Cory tells Shawn he wishes to propose to Topanga with a ring he found from the cracker jack box. Just as he tells Topanga he wants to ask her something, the world returns back to 1997, and Cory gives Topanga the ring.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Ben Savage as Cory Matthews
- Rider Strong as Shawn Hunter
- Will Friedle as Eric Matthews
- Danielle Fishel as Topanga Lawrence
- William Daniels as George Feeny
- Matthew Lawrence as Jack Hunter
- Lindsay Ridgeway as Morgan Matthews
- Betsy Randle as Amy Matthews
- William Russ as Alan Matthews
Guest Cast[]
- Yvonne Scio asVersailles
- Maurice Lamarche as Narrator/TV Announcer
- Kevin Brief as Mailman
- Brook Lee as Dime-a-Dance Girl
Special Guest Cast[]
Trivia[]
- The title “No Guts, No Cory” is a reference to the saying "No Guts, No Glory".
- This is the second consecutive episode with an actor from Sabrina the Teenage Witch guest starring as their character from the show. Nick Bakay voices Salem in this episode, and Melissa Joan Hart guest stars as Sabrina in "The Witches of Pennbrook."
- This episode takes place from 1941 to 1945 as well as 1997.
- The episode shows boys and girls at the same school back in 1941, but integration in the public school system was not until after World War II.
- This episode seems to show World War II ending a few days after the U.S got involved, although in reality it was four years (1941-1945).
- Versailles is the name of Cory's French girlfriend. Versailles is also a city in France where many peace treaties (among them, the one for American Independence) have been signed.
- The "war scene" features a large trench. Trench warfare was not seen in World War II. Individual soldiers dug foxholes for cover, but large scale trenches were obsolete at this time.
- Cory, Shawn, and Alan were members of the first infantry division, also known as The Big Red One, according to their shoulder patches.
- After the war, Eric says that Jack "won a medal". According to his uniform, he was given the combat infantry badge and the silver star or bronze star. (The color of the award was hard to make out.)
- This is the only episode since Season 1 to have a cold opener before the opening sequence.
- In the first draft of this episode, Eric was supposed to go to war with Cory, Shawn and Jack. WIll Friedle objected to this premise as he comes from a military family. Friedle spoke to Michael Jacobs about this and the premise of the episode was immediately altered. WIll mentioned this on the corresponding episode of Pod Meets World.
- The Matthews kept a picture of Salem in their NYC apartment.
- Salem was actually transported to a 1997 Paris of a parallel dimension. This is proven as Salem walks past the Boy Meets World studio, thus the rest of the crossover with You Wish and Teen Angel occurs in a alternate universe where Boy Meets World exists only as a TV show.
- This episode was a TGIF theme night where Salem Saberhagen (from Sabrina the Teenage Witch) eats a "Time Ball" and can travel through time. On the Sabrina the Teenage Witch episode, they travel to the 1960s, in Boy Meets World they travel to the 1940s, in You Wish they traveled to the 1950s, and in Teen Angel they travel to the 1970s.