UFO UpDates Mailing List
From: Stig Agermose <stig.agermose@get2net.dk>
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 14:57:37
Fwd Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 21:14:00 -0400
Subject: WB's 'Roswell' Mixes Aliens, Teen Angst
Source: AP via the Arizona Daily Star,
http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/LB0357.html
Stig
***
Wednesday, 29 September 1999
WB's 'Roswell' mixes aliens, teen angst
By Chris Roberts
The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE - Imagine you're a teen-ager and you don't know who
your parents are or where you came from. That's a ton of teen
angst.
It wasn't enough for the creators of "Roswell," who have upped
the ante. So imagine all the above plus one more thing - you're
an alien.
But, rather than relying on the "Star Wars" approach of
fantastic creatures and cutting-edge special effects, "Roswell"
(premiering at 8 p.m. Oct. 6 on KWBA, Channel 58) is a
star-crossed teen-age love story with an otherworldly twist.
The show is scheduled in the slot that follows the popular
"Dawson's Creek" and matches the teen appeal of WB shows like
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
"It is a wonderful metaphor for teen-age alienation," said
executive producer and script writer Jason Katims ("My So-Called
Life"). "As teen-agers, we all feel like aliens and some of us
as adults (feel that way) too."
While the show may be saving money on special effects, it is
spending some on the music. Tunes from such alternative bands as
Eagle Eye Cherry, Dave Matthews, Garbage and Sarah McLachlan are
strategically placed in the pilot to accent the emotion of the
moment.
Set in Roswell, N.M., but filmed near Los Angeles with Roswell
Daily Record newspapers in the racks, "Roswell" borrows heavily
from the fabled high-desert crash of a UFO. It is sure to
attract, at least for a while, the hard-core believers who think
the U.S. government is still covering up the details of that
crash.
Three alien teens - who look human, but later reveal they can
"change molecular structures" - came from an incubator onboard
the spacecraft. Two of them, Max Evans (Jason Behr, who has
appeared on "Dawson's Creek") and Isabel Evans (Katherine
Heigl), were found walking naked along the road as small
children and adopted by a loving family.
The third, Michael Guerin (Brendan Fehr), was adopted by a man
who "just keeps me around for the monthly check."
The story begins with the apparent death of teen-ager Liz Parker
(Shiri Appleby).
Liz, a waitress at her father's diner, the Crashdown Cafe, is
accidentally shot in the stomach when an argument between two
patrons erupts into a struggle over a gun.
Max risks revealing himself and his friends when he heals the
gunshot wound with a touch that leaves a silver palm print. He
breaks a bottle of ketchup, smears it on Parker and tells her
not to tell anyone what happened.
It's the beginning of an impossible relationship.
As Max reveals more of himself to Liz, an act of trust the alien
teens believe could have deadly consequences, he performs a mind
meld that allows Liz to see the world through his eyes.
She sees herself as well.
"I could feel everything he felt, I could feel his loneliness,"
Liz says. "In his eyes I was beautiful."
Some of the lines are cutely corny, and the incubator birth is
never fully explained, but enjoying science fiction normally
takes a suspension of disbelief.
Tongue-in-cheek humor that includes a few low-key special
effects is intended to keep sci-fi fans from slipping into
love-story ennui.
Michael and Isabel chastise Max for risking everything by saving
Liz. "You use your powers all the time," Max says to Isabel.
"Recreationally," Isabel responds as she melts the cheese on her
taco.
Appleby says the new episodes will focus more on the threat of
capture. The alien teens establish in the first episode that
they believe they are in a life-and-death situation, avoiding
government agents who will spirit them to a lab and dissect
them.
The suspicious sheriff (William Sadler of "The Shawshank
Redemption") has personal reasons for digging out the truth. His
father was a law enforcement officer in 1959 when a body was
found bearing a similar silver hand print.
When he tries to report the incident at the cafe to a federal
agent, he is met with skepticism and the warning, "Do you know
what everyone at the agency called your father? Sgt. Martian."
The earnestly delivered lines help give the
wrong-side-of-the-Milky-Way love story and other plot twists a
veneer of realism.
"We don't want it to turn into 'My Favorite Martian,"' said
executive producer Jonathan Frakes ("Star Trek: The Next
Generation"), who makes a cameo appearance in the pilot. "We're
taking it seriously."
Visit *Warner Bros. Online for the official websites of your
favorite WB TV shows.
© Copyright
UFO UpDates - Toronto -
updates@globalserve.net
Operated by Errol Bruce-Knapp - ++ 416-696-0304
A Hand-Operated E-Mail Subscription Service for the Study of UFO Related
Phenomena.
To subscribe please send your first and last name to
updates@globalserve.net
Message submissions should be sent to the same address.
|
Link it to the appropriate Ufologist or UFO Topic page. |
Archived as a public service by Area 51 Research Center which is not
responsible for content.
Financial support for this web server is provided by the
Research Center Catalog.
Software by Glenn Campbell.
Technical contact:
webmaster@ufomind.com