Roswell (1999) - General Discussion

[AnnaRose]

On the DVD commentary for the Cry Your Name episode, Ron Moore talked about how they were always getting notes and pressure from the WB that Max was too weak and I think the end of season two domineering-stuff was probably a reaction to that.

[bettername2come]

On 5/8/2018 at 6:53 PM, slf said:

I still can't believe that the writers decided to write Max as such a prick in the back half of season two when they intended to reunite him and Liz. He's domineering, condescending, entitled, and manhandles Liz and Isabel quite a bit.

Watching the DVDs, one of the commentaries had Shiri and Majandra talking about how they kept telling the producer they didn't want the girls to be with Max and Michael when they were treating them so poorly because they were worried about sending a bad message.

I just finished rewatching season one. Maybe it was just nostalgia, but I really enjoyed it. I thought Jason Behr did a good job with some of the white room stuff and I've always liked how they incorporated the Valentis more and put them on the aliens' side. 

[phoenics]

On 5/30/2018 at 10:04 PM, bettername2come said:

Watching the DVDs, one of the commentaries had Shiri and Majandra talking about how they kept telling the producer they didn't want the girls to be with Max and Michael when they were treating them so poorly because they were worried about sending a bad message.

I just finished rewatching season one. Maybe it was just nostalgia, but I really enjoyed it. I thought Jason Behr did a good job with some of the white room stuff and I've always liked how they incorporated the Valentis more and put them on the aliens' side. 

Season Onederful was hands down the best season of Roswell.  I'm watching S2 right now and it's very different.  The human characters turned into complete props for the alien characters - Season 1 did a much better job of exploring the interior lives of ALL of the characters - not just the alien ones.  The writing felt more balanced.

[phoenics]

48 minutes ago, nosleepforme said:

Honestly, they just never had a handle on the sci-fi-stuff and it showed. I remember that I was so excited that they were introducing antagonists for the show's characters at the end of the first season, but they never really figured out the Skins and then they were just discarded in that two-part-episode, because they did not know what to do with them. I think they had a much better handle on the FBI/Conspiracy Stuff in season one, because they didn't have to make up an entire world and rules. They never even went anywhere with the whole Kivas-Storyline that was actually a fairly interesting backstory. I think he possessed a man in season three for one episode, but that was so lame, when that character had been made so important in the backstory of the four aliens that he could have had so much more potential. The second season was my least favorite of the show when I rewatched it a couple of years ago. I think the third season was better again and had a better handle on both sci-fi and romance elements, but by that point they were still somewhat spinning their wheels.

I could have written this entire post!  I agree.  I was glad we got some antagonists - to help drive the story - but not when it turned Alex, Maria, Kyle and Liz into props.  The heart fell out of the story.  And worse, the sci-fi, though promising left so many hanging chads that it was unfulfilling.  I remember some fans did incredible fan-fiction on it... 

They dropped so many plots in S2... Future Max, Liz being able to astral project (they finally picked it up in S3), the Dupes, K'Var/Khivar/Kivar, Brody, Nikolas... where Tess got the alien bomb that almost killed Liz, Maria and Michael, how Alex translated the book, the Granolith going from this super powerful thing to a one-time use spaceship (side eye), why the future friend Serena never showed up, why the Granolith could be both a one-time use spaceship but ALSO rigged for space travel (guess it's like Superman's Phantom Engine from his spaceship), the whole "we have to remain a unit of 4" nonsense that led to Future Max and the fallout, like a million things they just left hanging.  I still get mad when I watch The End of The World episode and realize that we NEVER got a payoff from it.

The writers just gave up I guess.

I still thought S3 lacked any depth in its scifi elements - they could have done so much more with Liz's powers and why she had them and why Kyle didn't.  Kyle seemed to think he'd get powers a year after Liz manifested - but she manifested a whole season earlier and Kyle still had no powers.  They should have explored why Liz had powers and why Kyle didn't - that could have explored more mythology much more deeply.  I also thought there were missed opportunities to have aliens sympathetic to them not come across them more - after Courtney that got dropped - I guess they just killed all of the Skins?

Reminds of how Sleepy Hollow abandoned the mythology of S1 and S2 and kinda hurt the show - losing the horsemen and the whole Apocalypse thing hollowed out the show, imo and made it feel ungrounded from its premise.

[blueray]

Liz developed powers in season 3, so about three years after he healed her. Kyle was healed about a year after she was (the end of season 1). Therefore he was right in thinking he might develop them too.  As not as much time past for him.

 

Quote

after Courtney that got dropped - I guess they just killed all of the Skins?

She was killed by that Skins kid (Nicholas?) when she wouldn't give him what he wanted. She turned out to really be on the good side. Most of the skins were killed in the one two parter. The rest were killed by Tess.

[Mikita]

On 9/15/2018 at 7:53 PM, nosleepforme said:

The plot twist with Liz developing powers was cool, but also kind of silly TBH, because it came three years after it occurred. And if we are to assume that everybody who is healed by the aliens gets power, then all those sick children that Max healed in the christmas episode in season two will also eventually become super-humans with powers.

I thought the same thing about all of the sick children. But it was not three years after her healing that Liz developed powers. Max healed her during their Junior year of high school and the season three series finale was their graduation. So a little over a year. This also means that Kyle wasn't healed a year after Liz. It was probably more like months.

[bettername2come]

On 9/19/2018 at 11:57 PM, Mikita said:

I thought the same thing about all of the sick children. But it was not three years after her healing that Liz developed powers. Max healed her during their Junior year of high school and the season three series finale was their graduation. So a little over a year. This also means that Kyle wasn't healed a year after Liz. It was probably more like months.

They were sophomores in season 1, so two + years. Although in fairness, I think it's hard to hypothesize how long it would take for the effects of alien healing to alter the brain to the point of giving powers.

[AnnaRose]

On 9/15/2018 at 7:53 PM, nosleepforme said:

The plot twist with Liz developing powers was cool, but also kind of silly TBH, because it came three years after it occurred. And if we are to assume that everybody who is healed by the aliens gets power, then all those sick children that Max healed in the christmas episode in season two will also eventually become super-humans with powers.

I like to read this post-Graduation fanfiction called Chameleon, by Carol000/spacemom, which resolves all the loose ends and even addresses the issue of the sick children that Max healed at Christmas time.  I think the writer is very talented and she produced a very satisfying ending to the saga.  The only problem for me is that there is a ton of Max and Liz sex that I need to skip over.  (Some people may like that stuff, but I prefer not to read anything graphic.)  Anyway... I was reminded of it when I read your post, so I thought I would mention it here since I found it very well written and it gave me a much greater sense of closure than I had when the show was ended way too soon.

[blueray]

My theory on the kids is that they may not develop powers, as Max didn't directly heal them from immediate death, just their illness which in a way isn't that different than healing someone's injury. What he does for Kyle and Liz is heal them moments before death. He may have also done this for Jim too (in that lab in season 3). So it's possible both Kyle and his dad with develop powers.  I wish the show had more time to explore all of this.

[shantown]

On 9/22/2018 at 1:07 AM, AnnaRose said:

I like to read this post-Graduation fanfiction called Chameleon, by Carol000/spacemom, which resolves all the loose ends and even addresses the issue of the sick children that Max healed at Christmas time.  I think the writer is very talented and she produced a very satisfying ending to the saga.  The only problem for me is that there is a ton of Max and Liz sex that I need to skip over.  (Some people may like that stuff, but I prefer not to read anything graphic.)  Anyway... I was reminded of it when I read your post, so I thought I would mention it here since I found it very well written and it gave me a much greater sense of closure than I had when the show was ended way too soon.

This story would have made a really great season of the show!

[AnnaRose]

3 hours ago, shantown said:

This story would have made a really great season of the show!

 I know!!!  Ah, if only...

[shapeshifter]

I loved the show from the pilot through "Sexual Healing," but when Tess arrived to become the third part of the worst (IMO) type of relationship triangle, I really should have bailed. I guess I kept thinking she would go away, but I should have considered that IRL the Max-Liz relationship was forever damaged. At least my blind faithfulness in the show and the relationship was rewarded in the series finale. 
And my then-young teen daughter and I regularly bonded while watching my video tape of the "I Married an Alien" episode.

[melanierutschek]

I am currently rewatching Roswell from 1999, does anyone have a floor plane of the Evans House? I would really like to know as I want to build that house in Sims 4.

[Whimsy]

After seeing Jason Behr on the reboot I got the bug to do a rewatch.  My third time rewatching without the original music.  Every time I start it I think I can look past the music changes and every time I'm disappointed and just can't. Some of the replacement music is downright terrible.  It really does ruin some of the emotional reaction to some of the scenes.  

Other than that, I still think the show holds up well.  Despite the laughable cell phones.  

[blueray]

The replaced music bothers me too. It's times when it I may not notice and other times when it clearly doesn't fit in. 

[Myrrhine]

In the neighborhood of stars in other roles, Brendan Fehr and Majandra Delfino are doing a Roswell-adjacent project together. with some other familiar faces, I think. https://igg.me/at/bandt/emal/10162543 

[ParadoxLost]

3 hours ago, Myrrhine said:

In the neighborhood of stars in other roles, Brendan Fehr and Majandra Delfino are doing a Roswell-adjacent project together. with some other familiar faces, I think. https://igg.me/at/bandt/emal/10162543 

I thought this was a scam because their reflections on how they felt about the show and the fans keeping them from getting cancelled was such a steaming pile of horse shit compared to what I recall about the BTS drama back in the day. But its all over their twitter so I guess that they are trying to crowd fund this thing.

It sounds pretty stupid.  I feel kind of bad for them.

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

7 hours ago, Myrrhine said:

https://igg.me/at/bandt/emal/10162543 

I thought this was a scam because their reflections on how they felt about the show and the fans keeping them from getting cancelled was such a steaming pile of horse shit compared to what I recall about the BTS drama back in the day. But its all over their twitter so I guess that they are trying to crowd fund this thing.

Yes, agreed, but:

3 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

It sounds pretty stupid.  I feel kind of bad for them.

I thought it sounded like something I'd like to see 
--not great cinema, but for old times sake.

 

[Myrrhine]

Hey, I'll watch their new stuff! I'm excited. My recollection is they've talked about how they were very young and looking back appreciate their experience on the show maybe differently than they perceived it at the time. 

As for the music, I don't remember what it originally was anymore, but in rewatching, I do have times where I hear the replacement music and think, "This sounds wrong!" Ah olden days when dvd / streaming release was not an expectation, so there was no contractual arrangement for it at the time of airing. 

[tessaray]

I would watch it if I stumbled across it.

It (the crowd funding stuff) does look pretty amateurish though. I think they made a mistake trying to frame it as a pilot.  They should have pitched it as an indie film (wink,wink) and let the fans sell the Michael/Maria comparisons. I say this mainly because of what I've heard from writer friends, that money people like to buy source stuff and then put their own spin on it. And I've read that it's practically impossible to sell a series** but easier to do if it's based on a book or a movie. But who knows... maybe they can pull it off.  

** I know a guy who does short indie films and he has been pitching one of his as a potential series.  It's a pretty good story and I think if he would rewrite it as a YA novel, it would probably get sold easily. But he's been entering the pilot screenplay in competitions for over 5 years and he won't accept that maybe Hollywood doesn't work that way.  

[sleepysuzy]

Resurrecting a zombie thread because I just rewatched the whole series over the past few weeks: the kissing noises were so over-the-top, bordering between gross and hilarious.

The writers definitely had no idea where they were going with this show. I would love to see the actors react to their own terrible New York accents and styling from the Dupes. The whole baby storyline ended up being nothing but a contrivance to give Liz and Max relationship drama - which is straight out of a soap opera plot. At least they didn't end up saying the baby was not his, but good grief. Maria and Liz give up their ambitions - to be a singer and scientist, respectively - to follow their men. Poor Kyle never got a date again after Liz dumped him. Alex's death made very little sense, but was fantastically acted. 

[shapeshifter]

Good points from the perspective of 20+(!) years later, @sleepysuzy!  
Especially “Maria and Liz give up their ambitions - to be a singer and scientist, respectively - to follow their men [aliens].”

[tessaray]

Even when it was still on the air, it was obvious that the writers had no idea what they were doing or where they were going. But (with one or two exceptions) the actors had such great chemistry with each other, it was fun to watch. 

Just repeating the words "the Dupes" is like nails on chalkboard. It was so cringey.

Good point about Liz and Maria. Looking at the ending from that perspective, Maria gave up the most. A person can study science anywhere but a music career is impossible on the run. 

[bettername2come]

On 7/14/2021 at 11:25 AM, tessaray said:

Good point about Liz and Maria. Looking at the ending from that perspective, Maria gave up the most. A person can study science anywhere but a music career is impossible on the run. 

On 7/14/2021 at 7:41 AM, sleepysuzy said:

Maria and Liz give up their ambitions - to be a singer and scientist, respectively - to follow their men.

According to the books that take place after the series

Spoiler

they eventually defeat the Special Unit and are able to return to Roswell and their real identities. In working together to do this, things get patched up with Langley the alien Hollywood producer, who thinks Michael would be great in action movies. Michael plays him Maria's demo and he wants to help make her album. Ultra-cheesy? Yes. But at least somebody decided to tie up that loose end and have Maria get what she wanted and make Michael supportive of her career. 

 

 

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, bettername2come said:

According to the books that take place after the series

  Hide contents

they eventually defeat the Special Unit and are able to return to Roswell and their real identities. In working together to do this, things get patched up with Langley the alien Hollywood producer, who thinks Michael would be great in action movies. Michael plays him Maria's demo and he wants to help make her album. Ultra-cheesy? Yes. But at least somebody decided to tie up that loose end and have Maria get what she wanted and make Michael supportive of her career. 

Which book is this? 

[bettername2come]

On 9/11/2021 at 10:36 PM, shapeshifter said:

Which book is this? 

Turnabout by Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin.

[tessaray]

20 hours ago, bettername2come said:

Turnabout by Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin.

Yikes. Cheapest price is $150 on Amazon.

[shapeshifter]

Back in 2015, I donated all my Roswell books to the library when I had 30 days to leave my apartment after 10 years before the landlord and his wife were moving in.

[LanaAlana]

Hey there. My sister and I are huge Roswell fans and we are trying to find someone who recorded the original show on DVDs with the original music. Is there any way that we could access what you recorded online somehow? You don’t know how happy that would make us 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[tessaray]

Google the Roswell Restoration project. I'm not sure if it's still a thing but you might get a lead or two.