"I'm Liz Parker, and five days ago I died. After that, things got really weird." - Shiri Appleby as Liz Parker
Roswell: The Complete First Season DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
No on ever said that being a teenager is easy. For high school student Liz Parker (Shiri Appleyby), it's downright weird. Liz works in her father's restaurant, the Crash Down Café, in her hometown of Roswell, NM. While taking an order one afternoon, an argument between two patrons results in gunfire, and Parker is fatally shot in the chest. During the ensuing chaos, Max Evans (Jason Behr), a shy fellow student, surreptitiously heals the wound, bringing his classmate back to life before scurrying off with his surly friend Michael Guerin (Brendan Fehr).
As any self-respecting conspiracy theorist knows, Roswell is home to the mother of all supposed government cover-ups. In 1947, hundreds of residents of the southwest reported seeing a strange flying craft in the skies over the town. Some even claimed to have seen a downed spaceship, complete with several alien pilots. The government alternately blamed weather balloons and mass hysteria, but skeptics soon argued that not only had the aliens landed, but that the aircraft and its inhabitants had been spirited away by a secret government cabal that planned to study the creatures and steal their flight technology.
The residents of the fictional version of the town might not take stock in the conspiracy, but they are more than willing to exploit the curiosity of outsiders (as in the Crash Down's kitschy alien décor, complete with waitresses in deelyboppers). A teen who miraculously heals a shooting victim is bound to turn a few heads, though, the most prominent being that of Sheriff Jim Valenti (William Sadler), a hard-nosed cop whose father is institutionalized for his involvement in "alien hunting." Liz's best friend, Maria (Majandra Delfino), witnesses the shooting and also becomes suspicious about Liz's quick recovery.
Liz and Maria soon find answers to their questions when they discover that Michael, Max, and Max's imperious sister, Isabel (Katherine Heigl) are actually aliens. They are not sure how or when they arrived on Earth, they simply know that they were gestated in pods in the desert before "hatching" when they were five. Appearing totally humanoid, they were discovered by Isabel and Max's loving adoptive parents. Michael, on the other hand, was taken in by an abusive drunk.
The first episodes of the series suggest My So-Called Life with aliens. This is no coincidence - Jason Katims, who developed the show based on the Roswell High series of books for teens, was also Executive Story Editor on My So-Called Life, and he builds on his fine gift for creating startlingly accurate depictions of teen life by now adding a sci-fi element. Those same sci-fi gimmicks - the friends can listen to CDs without a player, can repair torn canvas or repel clothing stains by manipulating molecular structure, and have an odd taste for Tabasco Sauce poured on top of desserts - prevent the show from reaching the dramatic heights of Life, but it is to his credit that there are so many effective moments. Liz's narrative journal entries in the early episodes are almost lyrical, and Katim and his writing staff's depiction of teen love as Liz and Max's attraction grows is simultaneously grand and funny. The characters he creates are smart, snappy, and a pleasure to spend time with. The one misstep is Alex (Colin Hanks-Tom's boy) as the group's requisite "likeable nerd," a woefully underwritten role.
In the middle episodes, the balance between Life-style teen oriented drama and science fiction begins to shift. The alien teens begin to search for clues to their origins while simultaneously trying to maintain their cover by staying one step ahead of Valenti and their mysterious new guidance counselor, Kathleen Topolski (a coolly menacing Julie Benz). Almost every episode provides them with a new tidbit of information about who they are. Not all of these elements work - sometimes series seems like a particularly glossy riff on the Brit/Nickelodeon series The Tomorrow People - but at least most of the developments in the show's mythology seem well thought out and purposeful (unlike, say, The X-Files, which too often felt as if it was being made up as the creators went along).
Starting in episode seventeen, the series becomes even more action oriented. Several new characters are introduced, including the suspicious transfer student Tess Harding (Emilie de Ravin), malevolent shape-shifting alien Nasedo (Jim Ortlieb), and rogue F.B.I. agent Pierce (David Conrad who, along with several of Roswell's other cast members, starred in Katims' short-lived but fondly remember series Relativity). As these plot advancements send the show into overdrive, the season moves at breakneck speed to its exciting concluding episodes. There are some clunky sequences even in these standout installments - when the gang all too easily infiltrates a government facility in the season finale, the show takes on the far fetched tone of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries - but Roswell still manages to maintain viewer interest.
The twenty-two episodes that make up Roswell: The Complete First Season are divided onto six discs. The discs are housed in slim, clear keepcases. The front of each individual keepcase features a large photo of one actor from the series. Because the cases are clear, the double-sided coversheets show through to the inside of the case and are printed with stills from the series. The backs of the cases feature the episode titles, the writer, director and original airdate of the episode, and brief episode summaries, all on a neat mockup of a Crash Down Café menu. The six keepcases slide into a cardboard sleeve.
The DVD menus are extremely simple, low budget affairs. There is no "play all" feature, but the episodes are divided into chapters.
Hardcore fans should note that, as stated on the back of the box, this release "includes new cutting-edge songs selected by the original Roswell music team." Because the practice of releasing entire seasons of TV shows on DVD is a relatively new one, until recently producers of TV shows did not secure the rights in advance to include songs by outside artists featured in broadcasts on subsequent DVD releases. With CD sales figures falling lower and lower, record companies are now asking for exorbitant DVD licensing fees when approached by DVD producers. Producers are left with few options. They can pay the high fees and pass the costs along to consumers through much higher DVD prices, replace the music with either less costly songs or generic scoring, or simply not release the show on DVD at all. Twentieth Century Fox decided to replace the offending music with other wallet-friendly songs. While obsessive fans may notice a difference, newcomers to the show will not. Grumpy fans can at least take comfort in the fact that Fox went through the effort to release the series. Other classics like WKRP in Cincinnati and Miami Vice may never make it to DVD because of these same music clearance issues.
