Shipworthy is sailing back in time this week to pay tribute to one of everyone's favorite throwback ships: 'Boy Meets World's Cory Matthews and Topanga Lawrence!
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Each week, ET’s resident small-screen romance expert, Leanne Aguilera, will be traversing the high seas and investigating one of TV’s most swoonworthy ships. Sail along to relive the sweetest moments, hottest makeouts and more -- and then head over to Twitter to let us know what you loved and which ships you’d love to see more of!
Shipworthy is sailing back in time this week to pay tribute to one of everyone's favorite throwback ships: Boy Meets World's Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) and Topanga Lawrence (Danielle Fishel)! This OG couple had thousands of young shippers all up in their feelings before we ever even knew what an OTP was, sticking together through middle school kisses and high school skids (looking at you, Lauren), navigating their way through college as an engaged (and then married) couple, and finally ending up as Girl Meets World's adorable parents of two equally precocious kids.
The fictional couple may have given a whole generation of swooning TV viewers an unrealistic goal of young romance that lasts forever, but we love them all the more for it! Here's a look back at some of our favorite Cory and Topanga moments:
The pair started out as a pint-sized slow burn, which was fitting, seeing as they were only in middle school during Boy Meets World's first season! While Cory was still sorting out what was so great about girls, Topanga made the first move, planting one on her future hubby while they were handcuffed to a locker together.
"That was my first ever TV kiss, and I was very nervous, because we did that scene in front of a live audience," Savage recently told ET's Leanne Aguilera. "I was nervous! Pretty girl, tons of people watching, there's a locker. I didn’t know what to do. But it was fine, it was fine."
The now-37-year-old actor recalled that he was 12 years old at the time he and Fishel, then 11, filmed the scene, adding that the young co-stars didn't do much planning before the big smooch.
"I think we just did it," he added. "I don’t think there was a lot of like, [planning], like, we were very young. I don’t even think at the time that we gave it that much thought in terms of the repercussions. But Danielle's a sweetheart, and always a good professional."
From that moment on, Cory and Topanga were pretty much inseparable, even though it took them until season three (and a few more kisses) to make things really official. But this time Cory made the move, with his sweet declaration: "If I had to dream up the perfect woman, she wouldn’t even come close to you."
It wasn't always smooth sailing, with a few breakups and rough patches as the two traversed their high school years. But the cute couple survived infidelity (Lauren!), insecurity, and other temporary rifts, always finding their way back to each other -- even when that meant an epic trip to Disney World so Cory could win Topanga back.
Even as they were about to be separated, when Topanga's parents made the decision to move to Pittsburgh, the pair didn't let go, pleading their case to Cory's parents, who thought they were too young to be making such major life decisions as a couple.
"When we were two we were best friends. I knew everything about this girl. I knew her favorite color I knew her favorite food," Cory protested, explaining to his parents why he didn't want to live a life without Topanga in it. "She was the girl I sat up every night thinking about. And when I’m with her, I feel happy to be alive. Like I can do anything."
And when it came to the next step in their life together, Topanga made the first move once again, forgoing her admission to Yale and proposing to Cory during their high school graduation ceremony.
The pair got married in college and lived a long and happy life together. Fans even got to see them as parents on the cancelled-too-soon Disney Channel spinoff series, Girl Meets World, where the teenage angst and puppy love was passed on to the next generation, and Cory took on the Mr. Feeny role, teaching daughter Riley (Rowan Blanchard) and her classmates meaningful lessons about life and learning.
But don't worry kids, even if you spent your teen years (and 20s....and 30s....) longing for a love like these two...
...don't worry! Topanga was the smartest girl in school, and even she knew that a great love story means taking things one day at a time.
See more on Cory and Topanga in the video below, and hit us up on Twitter for more swoon-inducing Shipworthy content -- and to tell us about your favorite pairs! Happy shipping!
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