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 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.