Screech also morphed from a genius on the original Saved By The Bell to a college dropout who became Mr. Belding's unpaid assistant during the second season of The New Class. However, by the seventh season of The New Class, Screech appeared to be mentally retarded. Seriously, how did Screech go from inventing and constructing his own robot on the original Saved By The Bell to stupidly spilling soup onto an expensive juke box, causing thousands of dollars in damage in one of the episodes from one of the last seasons of The New Class?

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I remember him being confident in the first episode of the College Years but didn't they revert back to making Screech a clown later in the season.

Now I'm starting to realize why Dustin Diamond is such a bitter human being today. They really messed up Screech's character for the worse.
"You win some, you lose some. But you live, you live to fight another day."

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Its even stranger to me that on the College Years episodes, Screech is kind of set up to be a cooler character(he gets the girl over Zack in one episode! In the pilot when he's first shown, he gets a very spirited applause from the audiance too.) thanks to being alittle more mature. All that was kind of deconstructed when he was brought back to The New Class.
"You win some, you lose some. But you live, you live to fight another day."

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you're not going to get too much criticism about that, because that analysis of Screech's life is nothing less than excellent, even to a point a little about Dustin Diamond's own life.
Great point watching Screech in the New Class would almost serve as a foreshadowing of Dustin Diamond's post SBTB career, lol.

I recently read "Behind the Bell" for the first time. In it, Diamond actually claimed that he grew a huge poofy Jew-fro during the last season of The New Class so that when the show was eventually cancelled, people would know he wasn't the character if he was seen with short hair! I don't believe this excuse for one second, but this is exactly what Diamond claimed in the book.

Well he claims in his book that he had sex with one of the NBC executives when he was like 16 or something. He makes himself sound like some kind of sex magnet and I don't believe majority of what he says in that book. Nobody proof read that book either, it's full of errors like having a period in the middle of a sentence instead of a comma or starting a new paragraph in the middle of a sentence. There's even a part where a paragraph is repeated in it's entirety immediately after you just read it. The guy's an idiot, he thinks Uncle Fester is from The Munsters (yes that's stated in the book too)
Dragonzord! Mastodon! Pterodactyl! Triceratops! Saber Toothed Tiger! Tyrannosaurus!

The guy is just a loser, period. He was probably trying to sleep with all those underage girls on The New Class as well. I'm surprised his face isn't plastered all over some sex offender registry.

According to his terrible book he started changing his acting during the last season or two because he was trying to distance himself from the character. He actually comes off in that book like he actually stood a chance of having a REAL acting career after this series. He spends so much time bashing Elizabeth Berkley for making Showgirls but the fact is she's had a better acting career since SBTB than he has. I would suggest NOT reading the book, it's mostly him talking about all the girls he "supposedly" slept with during his life and I kid you not. Then he bashes everyone he's ever worked with and bitches about The New Class like he had no choice but to do it.
Dragonzord! Mastodon! Pterodactyl! Triceratops! Saber Toothed Tiger! Tyrannosaurus!

Problem is, he
didn't
talk in a high pitched voice like that on the original series. At least not that the ridiculous clownish extent he did on TNC.

Yeah, you guys are waaaay off the mark. The reason he still acts like a buffoon is because that's what his character did in the original series. He talks in that voice because Dustin Diamond was trying to play him as he did when he was younger. It was the same with Urkle. If the voice is part of the shtick then you don't get rid of it.
Jack "Things could be worse"
Hurley "HOW?!"

I'm alittle late here but, you guys got alittle too deep here with this. Never would I imagine my simple little question would turn into the psych evaluation on the fictional character of Screech Powers! Not for nothin, but HE'S the failure to you guys? Zoinks indeed.
"A commitment to cinema means to lead a technically deviant lifestyle."

Its all what his days as a student at Bayside made him become. A clown, a buffoon, a loner, perhaps even a loser, you name it. He was tormented, cheated, bullied, used, and ignored to the point that he felt insecure and needed to attract attention even with the most ludicrous expressions. You wonder why Screech is nothing more than Mr. Belding's assistant when he could be something much better? It all has to do with his insecurity and the gut feeling that there is nothing more to be had beyond the walls of Bayside High, the animated facial expressions, the funny sounds, the gestures, everything. Screech really has no idea what he wants to do in life (except perhaps become the next wacky principal of Bayside High). I know most people will disagree with me on this point but I don't think the producers simply put Screech back just to boost ratings or otherwise he would have been removed. Rather they were sending a message out to the young viewers to be more confident and stand up for themselves in high school so that they don't end up like Screech.
rockmt=
you're not going to get too much criticism about that, because that analysis of Screech's life is nothing less than excellent, even to a point a little about Dustin Diamond's own life. I think unlike the other cast members his career has faired the worst of anyone else's who were apart of the original cast of teens. Everyone else has seem to reach a certain level of respectablity in their acting/entertainment careers, while Dustin has been somewhat more of a butt of jokes.
Let's get back to Screech, it's kind sad to see a character or any man or woman in similar situation be so successful in high school (valedictorian) and breeze through college in very tough classes, only to end up as a 7 year assistant principal at a very small high school. I'm not saying anything is wrong with that, because some people are perfectly happy with that in their lives. Some people don't need flashy accolades or highly touted titles to their name to feel good about themselves or feel successful. Still, Screech is a different case, since he was doing brilliant/inventing things when he was still 13 years old in the show. You would think someone like that in reality would ascend into a very challenging profession or even be tycoon/inventor.
Also, look at how he is treated, not very much higher than he was in high school. Students still treat him like he is a joke, but the kids in New Class have little bit more respect for him than the original cast ever did.

This is a very depressing topic and a very sad assessment of Screech's life. Really makes you think.

I totally agree with you, Screech was totally insecure and got attention by making those waked out facial expressions and outragous schemes and acts. He crying out for attention and was willing to do anything to be accepted by the new students at Bayside.

Its all what his days as a student at Bayside made him become. A clown, a buffoon, a loner, perhaps even a loser, you name it. He was tormented, cheated, bullied, used, and ignored to the point that he felt insecure and needed to attract attention even with the most ludicrous expressions. You wonder why Screech is nothing more than Mr. Belding's assistant when he could be something much better? It all has to do with his insecurity and the gut feeling that there is nothing more to be had beyond the walls of Bayside High, the animated facial expressions, the funny sounds, the gestures, everything. Screech really has no idea what he wants to do in life (except perhaps become the next wacky principal of Bayside High). I know most people will disagree with me on this point but I don't think the producers simply put Screech back just to boost ratings or otherwise he would have been removed. Rather they were sending a message out to the young viewers to be more confident and stand up for themselves in high school so that they don't end up like Screech.