Travel Into My World

Since I wasn't feeling up to writing in Into the Fire yesterday, I started watching some of the stuff on my DVR. Yesterday I chose Girl Meets World. I saw a lot of parallels between Girl Meets World and it's parent show, Boy Meets World. These aren't a bad thing. It was just interesting to see that some of things that Cory Matthews' family taught him carried over into his adult life with his own daughter, Riley.

For starters. Riley is just a hammy as Cory was back in the day. Why do I know this? Well after my 12 episode marathon of Girl Meets WOrld last night, I went in search of Boy Meets World episodes. I found the pilot, and watched it. It was like watching Riley 20 some years ago or something like that... and Ben Savage pulled it off just as easily back then as Rowan Blanchard is now. That speaks volumes about her casting, really. She could totally pass as Ben Savage's daughter, too. They have a lot of the same mannerisms.

Now let's talk about Maya. Maya is Riley's best friend. She is totally Shawn as a female. Well, not completely, but the home story is very similar, with Maya's mother having to work so much she can't really focus on being Maya's mother. Maya's father left them when Maya was younger, and so her mother had to take several jobs in order to keep a roof over their head. Without the lack of real supervision, Maya is often outspoken, out of control, and just over the line of being a delinquent. Unlike Shawn, though, she seems to have more of a conscience. Sometimes that conscience is named Riley.

Riley serves as the foil to most of Maya's nonsense, and often is the only one Maya has to turn to when things get bad, and she can't deal. Riley's parents, Cory and Topanga also view Maya as their daughter, and have often helped her out tough spots.

This mirrors how Cory's parents took Shawn in at some point during Boy Meets World to try and keep Shawn going on the straight and narrow.

The show keeps up the trend of mirroring characters with Farkle Minkus. Farkle is (if you haven't guessed already) the son of genius Stuart Minkus from Cory's school days. He is definitely his father's son without a doubt. There are some subltle differences between the two, though. For one, Minkus 2.0 (which is my loving nickname for Farkle) is a little more endearing to watch. I know a lot of people hated Stuart Minkus in Boy Meets World, which I didn't understand at all. I often thought Minkus was hilarious to watch, especially his rivalry with Topanga in later episodes. (More on THAT from the Girl Meets World side of things in a bit!) One thing they did with Farkle that they never did for Minkus (that I remember) is represent the harmful effects of bullying. In that particular episode, I was brought to tears by the Farkle (he refers to himself as this, I didn't make it up!!). I thought it was well done. And I had to wonder if Minkus ever had such an episode made. I have to find this out eventually.

Another marked difference between the two is how he is treated by the main characters Riley and Maya. Instead of downright shaming him, and being mean to him, Riley and Maya seem to embrace Farkle and accept him as part of the group. Even though the girls constantly rebuff his romantic advances, he seems to take it very good naturededly and make the best of what he's got, which is two loyal friends that happen to be female. I find this to be very refreshing, and not uncommon in the vein of Disney shows. (see Hannah Montana's Oliver Oaken, for reference). Even popular guy Lucas considers him a close friend. This never happens in your average sitcom anymore. Yet, Lucas isn't your average pretty face, either!

I definitely think that Farkle will exceed his father's popularity in this show, because of the differences, and how the similarities work with them, instead of against them. He's different enough to stand out away from Minkus, but similar enough that fans of Boy Meets World will recognize his Minkus-ness. (I know I do. And I can't be the only one, right? RIGHT?!)

No drabble about this verse would be complete without talking about the parents: COry and Topanga! When Boy Meets World wrapped years ago, I was satsified with them being married, and glad to see that at least for some High School Romance love can last through a lot of different things. Yet, the lives of these characters that I had watched for so many years continued to playout in the back of my mind. I imagined Shawn living either with or near Cory and Topanga, married to Angela. Eric taking over his father's store, and Minkus becoming rich and laughing at those who had been so mean to him.

Well. Everyhing besides Cory, Topanga, and Minkus is still up in the air and a mystery. Cory and Topanga are happily married, and the parents of two children, Riley and Auggie.

Cory as we learn is a 7th grade History teacher. And not only that, he is Riley's teacher. How awkward that must be for the two of them. Yet, Cory often uses it to his advantage to teach the class, and his daughter history and life lessons, often at the same time. I liken Cory's teaching style to be a gentler version of Finney's. He can be strict, but he's also a bit more laid back about it. He is a great father to Riley because he gets it. We find out that all of the things Finney ever taught him, he is now diligently, if not subtly, passing on to his own roomful of often reluctant students.

At home as Riley's father, he tries hard to navigate parenting a pre-teen who is finding her first crush, working on self-image, and so much like him, it scares him. Yet, its because of his own experiences that he recognizes his own past experiences in his daughter's life. Maya's situation being one of many. I think it is for that reason that Riley and Cory are the most ideal father/daughter pair.

Topanga....Oh my gosh. I dont' really remember much about her direction towards the end of Boy Meets World to be honest. And that really kinda upsets me because I should know the MOST about her since she was my favorite character. But I guess i can only go off what I do remember.

Topanga is a high powered attorney at a large firm. She has become a successful lawyer, wife, and mother. Yet she maintains her strict morals as we see in the episode where she gets a visit from PastHippie!Topanga. As a mother, Topanga seems to have learned from her mother, and Amy Matthews, Cory's mother. She is lighthearted with both of her children, and finds her own way to teach lessons. We don't see nearly as much of her yet as we see Cory, so it's hard to really make any real comparisons.

I mentioned earlier that there was more to the rivalry between Minkus and Topanga. Well, it's true. In the episode, "Girl Meet Maya's Mother", Stuart Minkus makes a guest appearance at Career Day. We find out that Minkus really lived up to his threats of becoming rich and famous. (But I want to know why Farkle isn't in private school, if that is the case!) He and Topanga pick up right where they left off at their graduation, comparing As. Now; however, they stoop to using their children's grades in their totals. It was SO funny! When I was watching that episode, I was drinking a soda, and my poor keyboard got sprayed. (A side note, Lee Norris is still VERY Minkus, even years later. I heard he's played some guy named Mouth in One Tree Hill, but after The Torklesons and Boy Meets World, I can't see him in a drama... that's terrible, right?!)

Okay, so this got a bit out of a hand, this essay. But they tend to do that when I'm really focused. LOL. Now I need to go back and make a dent in my Fanfic!

Trivia: We find out in "Into The Fire" that Andrew has finally developed his telepathy. Because she was the first one to be on the receiving end of it, Victoria keeps it a secret as she feels special that Andrew told her first.