Saturday mornings were truly something special in the halcyon days of 1992. Pre-teens would roll out of bed, pour themselves a bowl of their sugary cereal du jour, and feast on TNBC’s mix of wacky content. Hijinks were the name of the game, as it turns out California Dreams, Hang Timeand The boys in town taught us that the unbeatable combination of friendship and comically revealed schemes could defeat our only common enemy: adults.

No show exemplified the spirit of TNBC more than the iconic sitcom Saved by the Bell. The seminal series about a group of teenagers going through the highs and lows of adolescence at Bayside High originally aired 86 episodes (not including Good morning, Miss Bliss) before spawning countless spin-offs – The new class, the college yearsand most recently a satirical revival which aired on Peacock — on its way to becoming the epitome of wacky ’90s sitcoms.

The show was almost always detached from reality – Zack Morris routinely froze time, and there were countless crazy episodes, including one where the gang accidentally convinced a government agent that Screech was an alien — but also featured some moments that felt all too real, like Jessie’s addiction to caffeine pillsthe whole “no hope with drugs”.and of course the infamous Zack (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) and Slater (Mario Lopez) fistfight.

The episode in question, Season 5 “The Fight,” is actually pretty grounded on SBTB standards as it focuses on Zack and Slater trying to date the new girl at school. Their series of pranks is pretty typical SBTB chinerie (Slater third wheel at Zack’s date, Zack hires an actress to pretend to be Slater’s mother to ruin AC’s movie date), but the tone inexplicably shifts as the back-and-forth turns violent .

Everything comes down to the cupboards. Zack calls Slater a jerk, Slater calls Zack a bastard, and… it’s… on. AC shoves Zack, who escalates the altercation by throwing wild hay. Bad idea, Preppy. Slater’s defining traits are “fighter” and “loves chameleons,” so he takes Zack down effortlessly and punches him hard. Finally, Mr. Belding, who wears a toupee in this episode, steps in and puts an end to this wild brouhaha.

I’ll say what we’re all thinking: “Hey, hey, hey, hey! What is going on here!?“

So why exactly in the silly world a Saved by the Bell does the zack/slater fight seem so real? Because it was, at least according to Mark-Paul Gosselaar. During a recent appearance on The Kristian Harloff Showthe actor who brought Zack Morris to life said the Preppy/Slater skit was as realistic as it gets.

“You go half speed during rehearsals and classes and stuff like that, and when the lights came on it was Friday night, we’re in front of an audience and I think it was a real struggle.” Gosselaar told Harloff.

“Mario used his wrestling to knock me down. I had no tampons, there was nothing on the ground. I hit the pavement in the studio,” Gosselaar continued. “I look back on it now and just chuckle because there were no standards and practices. It was raw and there might have been some real emotion in it because none of us backed down. I certainly wasn’t going to say he hurt me, and he wasn’t going to say I hurt him in any way. But that’s as real a fight scene as I think I’ve ever done, and I was only sixteen.”

So how does the episode end exactly? Zack and Slater almost face off for round 2, but cooler heads prevail. After pouring a handful of fruit on each other’s clothes (now that’it is Saved by the Bell I remember), the two former friends prepare to fight, but the super director Mr. Belding is there again to break it up. Thank you, KING.

During the fight, Belding’s wig ends up in the punch bowl and everyone has a hearty laugh. Our heroes make amends as the audience collectively goes “awwww”.

Something tells me the two will be friends forever.

You can watch Mark-Paul Gosselaar’s full interview with Kristian Harloff on YouTube.