The Movie:
The teenage years can be very awkward. You aren't a kid anymore,
but not an adult yet either. There's the difficulties associated
with first romances, and changing relationships with friends and parents.
It can be trying in the best of circumstances, but it's even more tricky
when you find out that some of your best friends are aliens.
That's the predicament Liz Parker (Shiri Appleby) finds herself in.
While working at the Crashdown Cafe in Roswell, NM one afternoon, two men
get in an argument. One pulls a gun, and they start grappling.
During the fight, the gun goes off and Liz is shot in the stomach.
As the two men run off, one of Liz's schoolmates, Max (Jason Behr) runs
to her. He places his hand on her wound and heals her. He asks
her not to tell anyone what happened, and runs off. You see, Max
is an alien. He, along with his sister Isabel (Katherine Heigl) and
friend Michael (Brendan Fehr,) arrived on Earth in the UFO that crashed
near Roswell in the late 1940's. (They were contained in incubation
chambers and didn't emerge until the late 80's looking about 5 years old.)
They each have special powers, but they are afraid that the government
will lock them up if they are found out, so they hide their abilities.
By saving Liz's life, Max has put himself, and his alien friends at
risk. The local sheriff, Jim Valenti (William Sadler,) realizes that
something strange happened during the shooting. First of all, the
bullet that was fired couldn't be found at all. Added to that was
the fact that the uniform that Liz was wearing had a bullet hole in it.
Neither Liz nor any of the other people in the restaurant will admit that
anything out of the ordinary happened, but Valenti is not about to give
up that easily.
Liz promises Max she won't tell anyone, but she isn't really good at
keeping a secret, so her best friends Maria (Majandra Delfino) and Colin
(Colin Hanks son of actor Tom Hanks) soon find out about the aliens too.
Max, Isabel, and Michael want to find out where they come from and who
they really are more than anything,. So with the help of the three
humans who know their real identity, they start searching for the truth.
Unfortunately it looks like someone else is searching for aliens too, the
FBI.
The youths finds some evidence that leads them to believe that there
is another alien on Earth, one who has used his powers to kill. So
these six teenagers have to track down an alien who may be a serial killer,
while staying one step ahead of the local sheriff and the FBI. Who
said being a teenager was easy?
Though Roswell has all the trappings of a science fiction show, it is
more of a teenage soap opera. The story about the aliens often takes
a back seat the budding romance between the main characters and the fact
that they can't be together because they aren't the same species.
Sort of a modern day version of Romeo and Juliet. As the series
progresses, more characters pair off, and more road blocks to happiness
pop up.
I was happy to see that there is a story arc in this season, which is
pretty well wrapped up at the end (though there is ample room for more
stories.) The science fiction aspects of the show were
interesting and the strongest aspect of the show. Though I wasn't
really impressed with the first few episodes, as the season went on I found
myself being drawn into the story. By the end of the season I was
really wanted to see how it was all wrapped up. The murdering alien
and some of the more eerie aspects of the show worked well.
The romance subplots, on the other hand, never did much for me.
I'll admit that this show is aimed at teenagers, a group that I have not
been a member of for quite some time, but I thought they spent much too
much time on this part of the show. Younger viewers, particularly
women, might find the 'we love each other but can't be together' plots
touching, but I didn't. They never really explained to my satisfaction
why the aliens (or humans depending on the episode) didn't feel that they
could date another species. The various on-again off-again relationships
just left me cold.
There were a higher than average number of shows that felt like filler.
Some clues and trails that were explored over several shows turned out
to be dead ends, and that was disappointing. Others shows dealt mainly
with the romances and didn't advance the main story very much. Had
they cut these episodes out, the series would have been much stronger as
a whole.
Another problem I had with the show was the many plot holes and continuity
errors that cropped up throughout the show. Maybe I noticed as many
as I did because I watched the entire season over a short period of time,
but it really got annoying after a while. There were little things,
like Max healing Liz with his left hand and leaving a right hand print
on her stomach. And then there were the big things, like a man being
shot in the chest, and then perfectly fine the next day. (He even
admitted that the bullet missed his heart by six inches.) Or the
kids parents (they all still lived at home) not noticing that they would
be gone over night. Things like that happened a lot. The show
also wins the award for the most inconspicuous FBI agents ever.
There were a lot of mistakes with time too. In one episode Michael
and Maria take a road trip. Max, Liz and Isabel start following them
an hour later. Three or four hours after that, Liz's old boyfriend
Kyle (Nick Wechsler,) starts after the other two groups. Yet Kyle
arrives at the destination about ten minutes after Liz's group. Things
like that happen throughout the series, and it really made it hard to suspend
my disbelief.
One last aspect that I didn't care for was the fact the aliens' powers
were not very well defined at the beginning of the series. They could
do whatever the situation called for. It really wasn't a Deus ex Machina
device, since it was small things usually, but the strange things they
could do left me scratching my head. They could play a CD out loud
by holding it, see into people's past by kissing them, mend broken pottery
by waving a hand over it, and just about anything else that the writers
can think up. By the end of the series they limited the aliens one
major power each, and that worked much better.
One thing I will give the series, is that the ending was very good.
Without giving anything away, I thought it wrapped up the major plots and
did not seem contrived or stupid.
The acting in the series was fairly good, but not outstanding.
My favorite actor had to be Majandra Delfino as Maria. She was able
to play the kooky friend well, without turning the character into a parody.
She made Maria seem three dimensional and real. Brendan Fehr was
excellent as Michael, the bad boy of the group. He though his character
was mad most of the time, but he didn't hit the same angry note each time.
He tired (and mostly succeeded) in varying the character's mood enough
so that he didn't come across as a caricature.
Oddly enough, I thought Shiri Appleby, the main character Liz, was the
weakest actor. She preformed really well in the serious heart-to-heart
scenes, but she played every scene with the same tone and style.
It seemed like she only had one emotion throughout the show.
Ironically, her character had the least amount of development throughout
the show. Usually the person a show revolves around has the deepest
history and background, but not in this case. That may have hampered
Shiri's performance some.
The DVD:
Audio:
The 5.1 English mix for this show is very good.
The sound was very full and rich. There is a good amount of bass,
especially in the suspenseful parts where ominous low music would slowly
swell up from the background. The incidental noises, crickets at
night, street noises, etc. were clear an easy to pick out, but not overpowering.
Full use was made of the soundstage, with music and effects frequently
coming from the rear speakers. I was pleasantly surprised at how
good these discs sounded.
Note: There is an ominous statement on the
back of the slipcase. It says that these DVDs "Include new cutting-edge
songs selected by the original Roswell music team!" I assume this
means that they were not able to secure the rights for some of the music
used in the series when it originally aired. Having never watched
this show on TV, I can't say for sure. The music that was included
did not sound out of place, and fit well.
Video:
The video for this show, presented in anamorphic widescreen, was very
good. There were a lot of night scenes and details were easy to pick
out. The colors were accurate and looked fine. There were only
a few minor encoding defects, mostly involving pixilation of smoke, which
is very hard to encode without some defects. A nice picture.
The Extras:
There are some nice extras included with this set.
Commentary Tracks: There are
commentaries on the following episodes: The Pilot with writer
Jason Katims and director David Nutter; Blood Brother with David
Nutter; The Balance with writer Thania St. John; Sexual Healing
with Shiri Appleby (Liz) and Majandra Delfino (Maria); Crazy with
Shiri Appleby and Majandra Delfino; and Destiny with Jason Katims
and director Patrick Norris.
None of these interested me too much. The ones with the directors,
they mainly talk about what they were trying to do with the direction and
background music. They tell you what you are looking at on screen
a lot, something I rather dislike. ("And here the character is watching
two people talk. From the look on his face, you can see he's not
happy." That kind of stuff.)
The commentaries with Appleby and Delfino weren't any better.
They talked about how much they liked the other actors, and mentioned which
scenes were difficult to film, but there were long gaps in the dialog where
nothing was said. There just wasn't a lot of information in the commentaries
that I found interesting or added to my enjoyment of the show.
Deleted Scene from the Pilot:
A single short scene that was probably cut for reasons of time. It
didn't add anything to the plot.
Area 51 Featurette: A half
hour featurette discussing the show's origin and premise with the cast
and crew. It wasn't too exciting, a promo piece but the looks of
it. They mainly talk about things you already know if you just finished
watching the entire series.
Roswell High Featurette: An
interview with the writer and editor of the book series that the show was
based on. This is only 10 minutes long, but it was more interesting.
They discuss how the series got started, and how quickly it was turned
into a TV show.
Emilie de Ravin Audition Tape:
Two audition scenes with the actress who plays Tess (a character who is
introduced later in the show.
Music Video: Save Yourself
by Sense Field
Final Thoughts:
Though it wasn't the best show ever, Roswell's story does grow
on you, and by the time the last episode arrives you'll be wanting more.
There was a lot of continuity, and I like that in a show. There were
several episodes that mainly dealt with the romance between the main characters,
and I didn't care for those as much. They felt like filler to me.
Had they shortened the season, and concentrated on the mysteries concerning
the aliens, it would have improved the show a lot.
This show is highly recommended for people who appreciate teen romance
shows mixed with science fiction. This will be right up your alley.
Though I did have some problems with the show, when all was said and done,
I did enjoy watching it. Recommended.
Buy: