ROSWELL on PLANET-SF

PLOT

Outside the UFO center, someone in a green alien costume is handing out flyers to people while staring across the street where Liz is in the Crashdown.

A deputy tells Valenti about all the calls they’ve had about the sighting last week. Valenti tells him that it was dry lightning and that it’s the deputy’s job to explain that to him.

Valenti returns to his office where he finds "alien expert" Everett Hubble sitting in his chair. Valenti tells Hubble that he’s not welcome in town, but Hubble claims that he’s just stopping by.

At the UFO Center, Isabel drags Michael away from an "alien expert" and says that she wants to leave. Michael thinks that the convention could hold the answers they’re looking for. "Yeah, I’m sure it’s a real mecca for factual information," notes Isabel. The pair are confronted by the alien, who claims to be a human trapped in an alien body before pulling off his mask to reveal that he’s Max. Isabel is not impressed.

At the Crashdown, Liz is serving a couple of convention guests when Larry and Jennifer enter. She stars seeing flashbacks of the shooting before showing them to a table where the pair order drinks. Larry orders an Alien Encounter milkshake and then asks Liz to tell him what really happened in September.

At the UFO Center, Max drags Michael into one of the room and asks how he stopped thinking about Maria. Michael advises Max to throw himself into something else to get his mind off her. Afterwards, Max collars an overworked Milton and offers to take on more responsibilities.

Michael is looking around the exhibits when he sees Maria setting up something called the "Alien Takedown" and asks what it is. It turns out that the "freak show" as he described it is a wrestling match, which Amy DeLuca is running. Maria introduces the pair to one another. After Amy leaves, she sarcastically notes that Michael made a great first impression. "Why would I want to make an impression?" he asks.

Elsewhere at the convention, Jonathan Frakes comes up to Max and tells him that Milton told him Max is in charge of celebrity relations. He wants to know why Shatner and Stewart got suites and he didn’t. Max explains that since they signed on earlier, they got the two suites available. Frakes says that he’ll need a suite as well and eventually Max promises to move him to another motel.

Milton then introduces Max to Hubble, who is rumoured to have made direct contact, although the aliens aren’t little green men. Milton is trying to get Hubble to participate in the final roundtable discussion but Hubble says that he’s just passing through.

Valenti is going through a box of his dad’s personal belongings and picks up a newspaper article about his father being arrested for a Silo murder.

Max is in the UFO Center’s info booth when he’s distracted from the kid who’s asking him about the aliens by Liz showing up. Michael helpfully tells him to think of mud. Liz starts telling him about Larry and Jennifer returning but Max’s mind starts to wander before he blurts out "mud", before telling Liz that he’s thinking about the lunch the Crashdown is catering for tomorrow and wonders if they could do a mud pie.

Elsewhere in the UFO Center, Isabel tells Alex to stop following him. He denies it, but then Maria gives away that he was looking for her.

Outside, Hubble is leaning against a car when Valenti comes up to him and asks why he’s come back. Hubble replies that he’s been tracking what’s going on ever since the shooting at the Crashdown. Valenti tells him to hell the hell out since it was because of Hubble that he had to have his father committed. Hubble reckons that Valenti still has questions about the Silo murder and that he’s the only person who knows what the answers. They can both help one another.

Day 2. Outside the UFO Center, Jonathan Frakes is preparing to mold his handprints into the cement to start Milton’s collection. Except that the cement is still too wet and his hands plunge straight into it.

At the Crashdown, Liz asks Jennifer if she would like another refill and points out that it will be her eighth cup. Jen tells her that Larry will know she’s been crying and he hates it when she cries. Liz offers to help her.

Back at the Center, Michael asks Max who the real experts are. Max replies that there aren’t any because it’s a freak show. Michael sees Hubble and asks who he is. Max claims that he’s nobody. Then Michael sees Larry, but Max says that he’s probably just there for the convention.

Michael goes off to keep an eye on Larry while Max tries to talk Hubble into taking part in the roundtable on Sunday. Milton claims that he’s a doer, not a talker and Max asks whether he saw anything. Hubble tells him that the UFO Center is a joke and that if the people knew the truth, they wouldn’t be laughing so much.

Later, Max looks up Hubble on Milton’s UFO search engine and finds something about the Silo murder.

At the retirement centre, Valenti is trying to talk to his father about the murder. He asks if Hubble was there and is told that he couldn’t let go of his wife and kid. Valenti tells him that Hubble didn’t have a wife and kid.

At the Crashdown, Jen tells Liz that Larry proposed to her a year ago but that they’ve been on the road ever since that day at the Crashdown. Larry has been chasing UFOs ever since that day and now she just wants to settle down with a normal guy. Liz says she can understand that, and admits that she also has a unique boyfriend.

At the convention, Larry tells the panel of his direct contact, which was at the Crashdown. Hubble seems interested but Max and Michael exchange alarmed looks before Michael makes his way towards Larry and puts his hand on his chest. Larry continues with his story of Liz getting shot but starts scratching himself all over. One of the experts says that he’s insulted by Larry’s ridiculous story but Larry continues and points to Max as being his alien. Frakes calls security, who turn out to be Max and Milton and says that Max may not be the best convention coordinator but he’d hardly call him an alien.

Outside the Center, Hubble asks Larry to tell him about Max.

Day 3. Frakes asks Milton where Shatner, Stewart and Nimoy are. Milton doesn’t reply but says that at least he’s now got a suite. Max asks Milton about the Silo murder, admitting that he looked it up in the UFO search engine. An impressed Milton tells Max that when he says Hubble doesn’t talk, he means he doesn’t talk - ever. The rumour is that Hubble found an allien has been tracking it ever since.

Michael watches a frantic Amy trying to persuade one of the wrestlers to show up for the Alien Takedown but the guy hangs up on her.

In Valenti’s office, Hubble shows the Sheriff a series of photos of murder victims from the last 40 years, all of who had a silver handprint on them. He tells Valenti that his father might have shot the wrong man in 1972 but he wasn’t crazy. He can see in Valenti’s eyes that the Sheriff knows this this is true and tells him that the it’s their duty to do something about the alien since it’s a killer. He asks whether Max has anything to do with all this. "Maybe," replies Valenti.

Alex turns up at the Evans house after spending the last 20 minutes hanging around outside. He hands Isabel a book on constellations and suggests they try it out sometime. Isabel tells him that they agreed there’d be no dates, but Alex tells tells her that it wouldn’t be a date, just two friends at the same place at the same time. Isabel tells Alex that his obsession has to stop because it’s suffocating her.

At the Crashdown, Maria and Amy are depressed because the wrestler didn’t make it to the Alien Takedown. Alex shows up, equally depressed, and asks them if they find all men obsessive. Amy, Maria, Liz and Jen all agree that they are. Alex asks what if there’s a guy whose obsession is a woman. "Dream on," says Liz.

Milton shows up and tells Amy that the match is almost over. The winning wrestler tells her that she’d better call an ambulance and Amy rushes over to the ring where she finds a masked wrestler lying on the ground. He takes off his mask to reveal that he’s actually Michael. Maria sits down in front of him and kisses him. "Mud," he tells her, "I’m thinking about mud." "Why do I even try?" Maria asks.

Valenti goes through the photos Hubble gave him and notices a licence plate in one of the photos. He looks it up on his computer and finds that it was registered to Sheila Hubble.

At the UFO Center, Hubble finds Max and agrees to take part in the panel. The only problem is that his slides are at home and his car’s at the garage. Max offers to drive him.

Valenti goes to see his father again and tells him that he was right - Hubble did have a wife, that he found her dead with a handprint on her and that he saw a man running away from the scene who he thought was the murderer. Two years afterwards, Hubble came back, persuaded him to find the drifter and that he killed an innocent man because of Hubble. Valenti Snr denies it so his son asks him to tell him what really did happen. As his father talks, Valenti realises that it was Hubble who shot the drifter. His father tells him not to trust Hubble.

Michael sees Max and Hubble leaving in the jeep and demands some answers from Larry, who admits that Hubble asked him what happened on the day of the shooting.

As they’re driving, Hubble tells Max his story. It was his first anniversary and he bought some fireworks from an old Indian beside the road but he’d forgotten the matches so they pulled into Peppers Café.

He gets Max to pull over and continues his story. Hubble went into the Café and saw the books of matches in a bowl on the counter, but they were 10c and he didn’t have any money on him. He thought about going back to the car but the guy behind the counter gave him the matches on the house.

Larry enters the Crashdown and looks around for Jen, who is helping out Liz, telling her that he’s had an epiphany, although she thought he’d said it was an allergy attack. He wants them to settle in Roswell and tells her he’s ready to marry her.

Valenti drives to Bitter Lake after Hubble and Max.

Hubble continues - four innocent people lost their lives that day - his wife, his unborn daughter, the drifter and him. The only thing that kept him alive was Max.

Max tells Hubble that he doesn’t know him, but Hubble pulls a gun on him and tells Max that he knows him - he’s a shapeshifter who changed himself into that drifter after killing his wife. Valenti has told him about healing Liz and about the handprint, just like on Hubble’s wife. Max swears that he’s not who Hubble thinks he is, but Hubble tells him that he knows what he’s capable of and won’t let him kill again.

Michael suddenly appears and shouts, which distracts Hubble long enough for Max to knock the gun out of his hand. The pair struggle in the dirt and Hubble tries to reach it, but Max uses his power to move it out of his reach just as Valenti’s car pulls up.

Valenti tells Hubble to drop the gun, but Hubble insists that he saw Max’s powers. Max denies it. Valenti tells Hubble to drop the gun again, but Hubble says that nothing’s going to stop him and tells Valenti to unload all his bullets. Valenti replies that it only takes one, but Hubble tells him that his father couldn’t do it and neither can he.

Hubble gets ready to shoot Max but Valenti shoots him first and he slumps to the ground. He apologises to Max, saying that he didn’t know how dangerous Hubble was. An angry Max rounds on Valenti, telling him that he’s the sheriff, he’s supposed to protect him. Michael tries to get Max to shut up, before not before he asks Valenti whether he’d treat his own son in this way.

Valenti tells both of them to get out there and reports the shooting. As they leave, Michael tells Max that Hubble was crazy, but Max replies that he doesn’t think so - the one they’ve been looking for has killed a lot of people.

CAST

Jonathan Frakes who plays himself is best known for his role as Commander William Riker on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. He also played Stanley Hazard in NORTH AND SOUTH I-III.

CONTINUITY

After the Silo murder in 1972, Valenti had to have his father committed.

Hubble disappeared after his wife was killed, before reappearing two years later and shooting the drifter.

NOTES

Items on the Crashdown menu include: Green Eggs with Moon Rock Hash, a Convention special and an Alien Encounter milkshake.

How does Michael manage to catch up with Hubble and Max?

MUSIC

Collective Soul - Run, Euphoria - Delerium, Bis - Young Alien Types, Bush - Forty Miles from the Sun, Jars of Clay - Hand, Radford - Closer to My Self.

COMMENTS

Great stuff.

The relationship side of things takes a bit of a backseat (well, apart from Isabel turning down Alex again) as we learn more about the alien that Max, Michael and Isabel are searching for as well as more about Valenti and his background.

It's nice to see Larry and Jennifer back and the latter gets some good scenes at the Crashdown with Liz, and also Maria and Amy (who continues to be a very enjoyable guest character). Michael also gets to save Maria and Amy from being thrown out on the streets when he takes part in the wrestling match. BACK TO THE TOP

THE CONVENTION

Written by EMILY WHITESELL

Directed by TUCKER GATES

STARRING
SHIRI APPLEBY
Liz Parker

JASON BEHR
Max Evans

KATHERINE HEIGL
Isabel Evans

MAJANDRA DELFINO
Maria DeLuca

BRENDAN FEHR
Michael Guerin

COLIN HANKS
Alex Whitman

NICK WECHSLER
Kyle Valenti

and WILLIAM SADLER
Sheriff Jim Valenti

GUEST STARRING
STEVE HYTNER
Milton Ross

DIANE FARR
Amy DeLuca

WENDLE JOSEPHER
Jennifer Kattler

KEVIN WEISMAN
Larry Triller

with JOHN CULLUM
James Valenti Snr.

and TOM BOWER
Everett Hubble

CO-STARRING
DERON MICHAEL McBEE
Wrestler

JASON PECK
Deputy Hansen

PAUL TIGUE
Zinaplex

ANDY MORROW
The Kid

US/UK TRANSMISSION DETAILS
The WB: 2 February 2000
Sky One: 6 April 2000
BBC2: 7 December 2000

EPISODE RATING: 9/10

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