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This page works in
reverse to most of the news page on the site, with older stories at the
top and newer ones further down. As usual, all the stories are
accessible via the links on the left (once again, older stories at the
top of the list, followed by more recent ones).
SEASON
3 CAST MEMBERS
30.06.01 - With The
Departure airing on Sky One in less than two weeks, it seems like a
good time to start the countdown to season three...
As those who've seen
the season two finale or who've read the UPN press release for season
three will probably have realised, Emilie de Ravin's Tess will not be
back as a regular for season three. In fact, latest reports have
it that the character (and most likely the actress, although she could
of course return as Ava as well) may not be back at all next season.
There will, however, be
some new characters on the show next season. According to Ain't
It Cool News, Katherine Heigl's Isabel will find a new beau over the
summer in the shape of Jesse, a lawyer at her father's firm.
However, all is not as it seems as Jesse is, in fact, none other than
the evil alien Kivar.
E! Online's
Wanda reports that soap star Tyler Christopher and Sopranos
co-star Jason Cerbone may be in line for the part. Producer Jason
Frakes may direct the UPN premiere. Back
to the top
WANDA
SPOILERS - 9 JULY
12.07.01 - A couple of Roswell
snippets from Monday's column:
Asked whether Max and
Liz get back together, Wanda quotes a very reliable source who
says, "a long-dormant relationship will be re-ignited."
Sounds more like Jim and Amy, if you ask me...
On the subject of
Isabel's new man Jesse (former General Hospital star Tyler
Christopher and The Sopranos' Jason Cerbone are apparently still
in the running for the role): "He's a young lawyer at Isabel's
father's law firm. When the season starts, we learn they went out
during the summer, but she broke things off with him for no apparent
reason. Just walked up to him and said, 'It's over. Don't
call me.' There's major attraction between the two, but later,
Isabel learns that Jesse is not what he seems," which pretty much
reiterates previous news on this one. Back
to the top
ROSWELL
RETURNS TO EARTH
17.07.01 - Shiri
Appleby has said that she's looking forward to a return to the central
romance between Max and Liz in season three, adding that she agreed that
the harder science-fiction edge in season two may have alienated some of
Roswells core fans.
"I think one of
the great aspects about the show was the love and feelings and the fact
that these characters felt so deeply over this science fiction
aspect," Shiri said during UPN's fall preview for reports in
Pasadena, California.
"And when you went
too science fiction, you lost a lot of the emotion. So hopefully,
this year, with the UPN support, we'll be able to combine the two
strengths, and the show will actually be able to blossom this year.
The first season was great, but it was a lot of work, because it was
only love story, which means it was me and Jason [Behr] working so many
hours per day. And then second season, it was just the science
fiction. So you were, like, wanting the emotion, versus in first season
you were wanting more of a break from it, because it was so emotional
and it took so much out of you. And so I think this year Jason [Katims]
is really focusing on, like, giving the audience both of it, so they can
get involved in the craziness of it, but still feel for the
characters."
Shiri said that it
troubled her that the show shifted its focus from Max and Liz.
"It bothered me to some degree, but at the same time, you
acknowledge the fact that you're part of an ensemble show, and...there's
so many great characters and so many great actors, that it was wonderful
for the audience to get a little bit of a taste of everything. And
the show started off that way. And it came and went. ... It was
sort of nice to have a break. But...I think this season is going
to be focused on Max and Liz getting back together, and their trials and
tribulations, and the Isabel romance. I think there will be a lot
of things going on, but I think the focal point will be the love between
the two of them, finally."
Source: Sci-Fi Wire.
Back to the top
WHAT'S
UP WITH ROSWELL?
19.07.01 - A few season
three snippets from Jason Katims, courtesy of Cinescape Online:
On the subject of Tess:
"[she] is somewhere out there in the cosmos, and she may return at
some later date, but for now, she's gone. We're really sort of
basing [stories] on character arcs and the theme of next year is change.
Tess has left with their only way home, and until now the alien
characters all thought [being on Earth] was a temporary situation.
Now it's permanent, and they have to build lives for themselves
here."
Katims also revealed
that Colin Hanks will be returning for an episode as a ghost. Back
to the top
CHANGE
COMES TO ROSWELL
21.07.01 - Some more
season three spoilers from Jason Katims, this time as reported by Sci-Fi
Wire.
"The stories are
getting a little bit out of high school," Katims told reporters at
UPN's fall preview for the Television Critics Association.
Katims added,
"Isabel gets into a serious relationship and falls into a
precipitous marriage. Max goes on a quest to find his child, and
Liz goes along with him, and that quest will take him out of Roswell and
onto the road. ... Michael basically wants to
build a life for himself and winds up getting a job. ... Maria's
character begins to pursue her musical career, and that becomes a real
thing."
He
added, "One of the things I'm really interested in playing,
starting with the beginning of the year, is the family drama that is
here in the show and that we've never really explored. In the
first episode, Max and Liz get arrested. ... And suddenly they're in
real trouble, and their parents are called in. ... It's not so funny
anymore, and it's not like they can go away for two days and say, 'We
went camping,' and everything is OK with them. By the end of the
episode, Liz is forbidden by her parents ever to see Max."
In
an interview following the press tour, Katims told Sci-Fi Wire,
"I felt where we went kind of astray a little bit [last year] was
these four-episode arcs, where there was so much mythology, and so many
pieces of storylines out there, that it just got too complicated.
I think we're on a much better track here. This is really what I've been
wanting to do with the show, bring it back to building the season based
on character arcs, and we have a character arc for every character in
the show."
As
part of that, Katims said the show has hired writer Melinda Metz, author
of the Roswell High series of books on which the show is based,
and her writing partner, Laura Burns. "What I expect them to bring
is, they obviously have a long history with these characters, with this
world. They have a great imagination, and I don't expect them to
bring storylines from those books. What I expect them to bring is
their imagination and who they are as writers, and I'm very excited
about the possibilities here." Back
to the top
ISABEL
TRANSFORMED
21.07.01 - If you've
seen the shots of Katherine Heigl at the Legally Blonde premiere
you'll have noticed her new look, but that's not all that will be
different about Katie's character new season.
Katie says she's
looking forward to the new season because of the changes the producers
have planned for Isabel, including a new love interest that may lead to
marriage.
"It's been a tough
couple of years, because I think there hasn't been a lot of development
for her," the actress said. "It's been sort of confusing
what to do with her, because there wasn't that love interest, there
wasn't that connection. It was hard to find where she fit in,
because they had created her as this vulnerable, yet aloof, character,
and it was hard to find her place. But hopefully, this season will
be it."
Katie is also looking
forward to moving Isabel away from the perfect daughter, sister and
friend. "I think we're stepping away from that a little bit.
I think she rebels a little bit. And she says, 'I'm living my life
my way. You can't tell me what to do, no matter what you think.
And I appreciate your love and support, but back off.' ... This season
is going to be a lot of fun for me. I'm really excited about it.
The opportunity to develop a different side of Isabel, a more flirty and
fun-loving and joyous side. She's been so afraid and so vulnerable
and just not really truly living her life for all this time. And I
think this season is the opportunity for her to branch out, to find her
roots." Back
to the top
RODRIGUEZ
PLAYS NEW LOVE INTEREST
31.07.01 - Adam
Rodriguez, seen most recently as a wheelchair-bound computer expert in
the short-lived UPN haunted-hospital drama All Souls, will join
the cast for season three, which stars on UPN on 16 October.
Starting with the
season premiere, Rodriguez plays Jesse Ramirez, a lawyer who becomes
romantically invovled with Katherine Heigl's Isabel, who was
contemplating leaving for college at the end of season two.
The native New Yorker
and former baseball player also appeared in Brooklyn South, Felicity,
NYPD Blue and the Jennifer Lopez video for If You Had My Love.
Back to the top.
KATHERINE
ON ISABEL IN SEASON 3
05.08.01 - Speaking to E!
Online, Katherine Heigl had this to say about what to expect from
her character in season three:
"I know that this
season for my character, Isabel, is going to have a very serious love
interest because Michael has had that love interest for the past two
years. Max has had that in his life and I think Isabel has finally
decided that we're staying on Earth - there's no escape now - so it's
time to kind of settle into what she's more comfortable with, which is
her human side and find that great love of her life, that very permanent
love in her life. So it's exciting, and there'll be a little love
triangle, it's a bit of that Roswellian twist, so it'll be very
exciting for me." Back
to the top.
ROSWELL
PICKUP SURPRISED SADLER
05.08.2001 - William
Sadler told Sci Fi Wire that he thought Roswell was dead,
dead, dead and was shocked when UPN picked up the series. "I
was talking to my agents and managers, saying, 'Let's look for the next
gig, boys, because this is it,'" he recalled in an interview.
"I couldn't imagine how we'd pull this out of the fire."
"The WB didn't
want us," he said. "The numbers weren't fabulous.
But UPN bought 22 episodes. That's indicative [of UPN's faith in
the series]. They could have bought six or nine."
Season three will kick
off on 9 October. When last seen, the aliens watched as the
pregnant and murderous Tess rocket towards her home planet.
Meanwhile, Sadler's character Valenti was without a job, having
sacrificed everything to protect the aliens he once pursued. What
will unfold remains to be seen - cast and crew only returned to the set
in late July - but Sadler believes the leap from The WB to UPN will have
a major effect on Roswell.
"The two things
I've heard [producer] Jason Katims talk about is that, one, the episodes
will be more self-contained," Sadler said. "You can tune
in anytime and don't have to have watched the previous episodes to
understand this one. The other thing is that they'll be
character-driven. They'll be about the people and not so much
about evil FBI special units, big threats from outside and having to
deal with them. Those episodes were fun to shoot, but I don't
think they served us well, and I'm not sure that's what we do best.
The shows that worked the best were the ones that tug at your heart a
bit. They're human stories everybody can relate to. It
doesn't have to be schmaltzy high-school romance. The episode in
which we lost Alex - Cry Your Name - was an example of
that." Back
to the top
MORE
ON ADAM RODRIGUEZ
11.08.01 - A few more
snippets on the only new season three regular, Jesse Ramirez, played by
Adam Rodriguez.
The character will be
introduced in the season three opener, as a young lawyer who works for
Max and Isabel's father.
"He had a very
charming, very real quality," executive producer Jason Katims said
of Rodriguez's audition. While the goal in casting the role was to
get the best actor possible, Katims said he is happy that in this case
their choice happened to be a Latino. "It's something we've
wanted to do, and it reflects the population of New Mexico," he
said.
Speaking of the
relationship between Rodriguez's character and Katherine Heigl's Isabel,
Jason Katims said, "Our plans are to have [it] accelerate very fast
and very far." Back
to the top
FRAKES
TO DIRECT FOURTH EPISODE
28.08.01 - According to
Jonathan Frakes.net, executive producer Jonathan Frakes began
preparations to direct the fourth episode of season three on August
22nd.
According to Ain't
It Cool News, the episode, entitled Secrets and Lies, and
written by Rusell Friend & Garrett Lerner sees Max finding himself
in Hollywood, investigating the death of a guy we'll see shooting at
Michael in the season premiere.
This suspicious demise
will lead Max to probe the Paramount Pictures archives in search of
proof connecting the present-day murder to one from the past at the
hands of the same alien. This proof, insists Liz, can be found in
the dailies of a Paramount science fiction feature titled They Are
Among Us.
How does Max get on the
Paramount lot? A talent agent he meets at the dead man's funeral
puts Max up for an Enterprise audition (as an alien) with Scott
Bakula.
The audition doesn't go
particularly well: Frakes telling Max he's not very convincing playing
an extraterrestrial (the unanswered question is, will he remember
meeting Max in The Convention?) Back
to the top
ENTERPRISE
CROSS-OVER: STRANGE, BUT TRUE
30.08.01 - On Tuesday,
I said that Secrets and Lies, the fourth episode of season three
was part of an alleged cross-over with new Star Trek
series Enterprise, but now zap2it.com confirms that the
story is, indeed, true.
A suspicious death
sends Max on a mission to Hollywood, where the film vaults of Paramount
Pictures may hold a clue. While there, he hooks up with an agent
(as you do), who gets him an audition on Enterprise.
The most well-known
link between Roswell and Trek is Jonathan Frakes, who
played 2IC William Riker on The Next Generation and several Trek
movies. He also directed two of them, First Contact and Insurrection,
and will also be directing Secrets and Lies.
He's not alone on the Roswell
set for sharing a Trek connection, as Ronald D. Moore, whose Star
Trek credits include TNG, Deep Space Nine, Voyager
and the movies Generations and First Contact is an
executive producer on the show.
According to Frakes,
Moore put his head together with fellow executive producer Jason Katims
to hatch the idea.
"This was the
brainstorm of Ron Moore and Jason Katims," says Frakes.
"They said, 'Since you're directing, would you mind playing
yourself in the episode? And while you're at it, would you mind
playing yourself as if you're directing an episode of Enterprise?
And while you're directing the episode of Enterprise, do you
think we can get somebody from the cast of Enterprise? And
while you're at that, would you call [Trek executive producer]
Rick Berman and Paramount and see if it's OK?'"
"It's an
opportunity to express our synergy."
If all this sounds
confusing, it's no more so than the tangled history of Roswell
itself. "The hybrid on Roswell is so strange,"
says Frakes. "20th Century Fox Television made the pilot for
Fox, then sold it to The WB< and we shot it at Paramount. Then
20th sold it to UPN. It's incredible."
While Berman, who
oversees the Trek franchise, didn't allow filming on the Enterprise
sets, says Frakes, he did give his blessing. "It's an
audition scene," says Frakes. "Max is auditioning to
play the role of an alien, only he doesn't know how to play an alien,
hence the wacky, ironic hi-jinks."
"It's a comedy
scene in a serious episode."
The original idea was
to have Enterprise star Scott Bakula, who plays starship Capt.
Jonathan Archer, appear in the audition scene with Jason Behr.
"He thought it was too early to break the fourth wall," says
Frakes. "Bakula is not going to do it."
At present, Frakes
doesn't know whether or not he'll have an Enterprise cast member
in the episode, which begins shooting on Friday. "I don't
know that you'd get any bang out of anybody but Bakula," he says,
"because Bakula is at least a TV star. These other guys [in
the cast] are about to become TV stars. So I think we can get as
good a laugh out of me directing Jason as Max in the audition."
"It'll play
because it will be me telling Jason that he doesn't know how to be an
alien. The joke is there."
This will be the third
time that Frakes has appeared on Roswell. He played the
countdown guy at the Crash Festival in the pilot and appeared as himself
in The Convention.
"I've always had
trouble playing myself," he says. "Some people like it;
some people find it a little absurd. It's a many-layered joke at Roswell,
being the producer and director and an actor." Back
to the top
WANDA
SPOILERS - 27 AUGUST
03.09.01 - A couple of
snippets from last week's chat on Eonline:
There's a new
shape-shifter, a Hollywood producer who finds Max in episode five (see
story above), who wants nothing more than to be human.
Colin Hanks has just
finished shooting his scenes as a ghost for episode 3 and "would
love to pop in again later in the season."
Asked whether Jason
Behr and Shiri Appleby despise each other, Wanda only says that
"'despise' is a very strong word. Let's just say his being
shipped off for a few episodes (#4 and #5) to Hollywood is no random act
of storytelling."
Chris B. also pointed
out that the cast publicity shot shows the pair separate, which appears
to confirm rumours that Max and Liz 'shippers might be disappointed this
season. Back
to the top
WANDA
SPOILERS - 10 SEPTEMBER
11.09.01 - From last
night's chat:
Are Liz and Max
going to have "adult relations?"
Wanda: Sort of.
They have late-teen relations when they get caught in the school's
"eraser room" (Is there really still such a thing?) in the
third episode. Back
to the top
MAX
AND LIZ GET BUSTED
 15.09.01
- As the pic of the right shows, season three opener, Busted,
sees Liz and Max getting arrested. The pair attempt to rob a
liquor store as part of Max's effort to find his son. According to
Sci-Fi Wire, the episode will
mark a return to the show's pivotal Liz-Max storyline. Back
to the top
ENTERPRISE
ACTOR IN ROSWELL CROSS-OVER
20.09.01 - As we
reported last month, season three's fourth episode will crossover with
new Star Trek series Enterprise, and although it's less
than the Roswell production team originally envisioned, it's more
than they first thought possible.
According to executive
producer Ronald D. Moore, the concept first pitched in the writers' room
was rather more elaborate that what we'll see in the final version of Secrets
and Lies, which sees Max auditioning to play an alien on Enterprise.
"We were working
on the stories," says Moore, "and we had a story that was
bringing Max to Los Angeles anyway, and we knew that we wanted to mine
that. It's, 'OK, bring the character to L.A. and have fun with
it.'"
"It was Russel
[Friend] and Garrett [Lerner], who wrote that episode, who pitched it in
the room. The notion was to do a crossover...having Max brush up
against the entertainment industry. There was just something
irresistible about the core idea of it all, which was to have an alien
try out for the role of an alien. At one point, the story was
bigger - he was going to get the role, be on the stage, put on the
prosthetic."
"But cooler heads
prevailed, so it became a much simpler, smaller gag. So now it's
the right size, because it's a single scene, a single gag."
The first thought was
to have Enterprise star Scott Bakula, who plays Capt. Archer,
play himself, reading with Max in his audition for an Enterprise
episode being directed by Jonathan Frakes. In reality, Roswell
exec producer Frakes would be directing the crossover episode as well as
making a cameo appearance.
But, according to
Frakes, Bakula declined for creative reasons. "He thought it
was too early to break the fourth wall," said Frakes.
The Roswell gang
then changed the scene to feature just Frakes and Jason Behr. The
final scene, however, features Frakes and Enterprise cast member
John Billingsley, who plays alien Dr. Phlox.
"It went through a
few permutations," says Moore. "We had problems
scheduling the two shows so the actor could make the crossover. It
got really complicated for a while, but eventually it worked out."
Billingsley, though,
will not be wearing his Phlox makeup or costume. "The scene
isn't set up that way," says Moore. "It's a casting
scene, and he's the guy that's reading with Max, as himself."
"It's a cool
little bit, but it is a little bit. Max is on his way from A to B,
and, along the way, this happens. It's not a major plot
point. It was a fun side trip."
Asked in August if
Frakes might actually direct an Enterprise episode at some time,
that series' executive producer, Brannon Braga, replied, "I would
love him to. He's a big feature-film guy now, so I don't know if
he'd be interested. But I would be honoured if he'd come over here
and direct an episode. I think that'd be great. Maybe I'll
give him a call."
And of Roswell,
Braga says, It's actually a very good show, if people would take the
time to check it out. It's very well-written." Back
to the top
WANDA
SPOILERS - 24 SEP
25.09.01 - A few
snippets from last night's chat:
Is Isabel really
going to marry that new sexy dude?
Yes. And that old
evil dude pops in as an uninvited guest at the reception.
Old evil dude?
Who's that? Kivar?
For sure. She
finds herself suddenly dancing in his arms at the reception, when he
tells her: "Enjoy your first wedding day. Ours is still to
come." A failed smooch attempt and, poof, he's gone.
Anything else?
At Jesse's bachelor
party, Sheriff Valenti gets down with his very own band, the Kit
Shickers, and the T-chuggin' boys do a little kit-shickin' of their
own. On the agenda: lap dances followed by a bar brawl. Back
to the top
SHIRI
TALKS SEASON THREE
26.09.01 - Roswell's
third season is looming, and cast member Shiri Appleby is talking a
little bit about what lies ahead.
Specifically, Appleby
spoke to Ian Spelling's syndicated Inside Trek & Sci-Fi
column about the season opener Busted, saying, "Max and Liz
are going to be together. It's exciting. The scenes are
really sweet and romantic between them. It's also very dangerous,
because Max and Liz start rebelling together. They hold up a
liquor store and get arrested. Liz's parents forbid her from
seeing Max, but Max and Liz are working together to contact Max's son.
"What I'm most
excited about is that you'll get to see these two people that are so
passionate about each other finally be with each other. And you
get into it in the very first scene. The whole first episode,
you'll see the past couple of months in flashbacks and see how they got
to the place where the first episode starts. It catches you up,
and you see how they've gotten to the place they are now.
"They've
completely rebelled against everything. They're not as sweet and
wholesome as they used to be."
Meanwhile, UPN has
released its description of the episode:
Max and Liz risk
their freedom - and put their love in jeopardy - on the UPN premiere of Roswell
airing Tuesday, October 9 (9.00-10pm, ET/PT)
- Adam Rodriguez joins
cast in the role of Jesse Ramirez -
Busted - When
Max begins to have visions of his missing son, he and Liz go on a
desperate search for the child. Their quest leads them to hold up
a convenience store where an alien space ship is being concealed.
Betrayed by a mysterious informant, they are arrested and jailed - and
forbidden by their families from ever seeing one another again.
Meanwhile, Isabel revels in her secret love affair with Jesse, a
handsome young attorney, and Michael begins to straight out his life, on
the UPN and season premiere airing Tuesday, October 9 (9.00-10pm,
ET/PT).
Guest starring are
Garrett M. Brown as Philip Evans, Mary Ellen Trainor as Diane Evans,
Dayton Callie as Ferrini, Michael Chieffo as Mr. Seligman, John Doe as
Jeff Parker, Jo Anderson as Nancy Parker and Phil Reeves as Judge Davis.
The script was written
by series executive producer Jason Katims and the episode was directed
by Allan Kroeker.
Source: Cinescape
Online. Back
to the top
SCI-FI'S
NEW SEASON PREDICTIONS
08.10.01 - Once again, Sci-Fi
Wire has given its round-up of this season's new and returning
sci-fi/fantasy series, including Roswell:
Roswell
UPN, Tuesday, 9pm
Premieres Oct. 9
There were lots of
exciting adventures last season for the alien and human teens to deal
with. They found out more about themselves, Liz (Shiri Appleby)
got a visit from a grown-up Max (Jason Behr), and Tess (Emilie de Ravin)
and Max got close. A little too close, actually. At the end
of last season, the aliens were ready to go off to their home planet
when they discovered that Tess had killed Alex (Colin Hanks) and seduced
Max into getting her pregnant. Roswell's third season will
bring a romance for Isabel (Katherine Heigl) with new regular Adam
Rodriguez. Michael (Brendan Fehr) will get a new job, Max and
Liz's parents will actually show up once in a while, and Max will go on
the road to find his child. Now it's hard to tell how going on the
road is going to help Max find a child who apparently was headed to
another planet in the season finale, but maybe it's a really long road
trip. Series creator Jason Katims promises more "relatable
human stories" that have that Roswell twist. Maybe we
romantic fans will actually get together this season, now that Tess is
out of the picture.
The Outlook:
Since this fine series began, it's been hanging on by a thread. Roswell
survived its first season on The WB and then promised to become more
action-orientated for its second season. The series kept its word
and dug into sci-fi, only to find itself cancelled for the
trouble. Luckily for fans, UPN wanted The WB's demographics.
For the third season, the producers are talking about going back to the
show's roots. There's no doubt Roswell is still looking for
its identity. It still doesn't quite know what kind of show it
wants to be. The writing is very good, but the characters still do
things that just don't seem right for them. At this point, UPN
appears much more supportive than The WB ever did. Let's hope
so. With Buffy as a lead-in, Roswell has a real
chance to do well. Of course, there is that pesky problem of Smallville
sitting over on The WB in the same timeslot, but I'm liking its
chances. Now if only it can find its rhythm and let the teen
aliens grow up a bit, Roswell will finally get a chance to come
into its own. Back
to the top
WANDA
SPOILERS - 1 OCTOBER
09.10.01 - A few
snippets from last week's chat:
Are the Roswell aliens
going home this season?
No. As it stands,
the plan is for them to be prepping the whole season to get there, but
they won't until the finale - or, more likely, next season.
You teased us about
some devastating Max-Liz info last week, and you didn't come through
this week! What gives?
Ah, yes. We can't
forget about your favourite on-off lovebirds. Because of real-life
happenings, the onscreen couple has a very bleak future. After a
few episodes of Liz-Max bliss, the two end up getting arrested, and
Liz's parents forbid her to see him. Liz, being the good little
girl she is, obeys. And from what I hear, it's the last we see of
Max-Liz for a while. Perhaps the rest of the season. Back
to the top
ROSWELL
RETURNS TO ITS ORIGINAL FORMAT
Sci-Fi series to
focus on relationships instead of complex plots
11.10.01 - PASADENA -
The change of networks means an easier-to-follow Roswell.
Majandra Delfino, who
stars as all-too-human Maria DeLuca on Roswell, won't have to
step up to the blackboard to explain the plots before each episode this
season.
"It did get
complicated," Delfino told TV Star. "The WB stressed
the need for sci-fi, but the plots upset the majority of fans."
With its move to UPN, Roswell
is focusing on relationships, changes for the characters and stories
that are over at the end of the hour, Executive Producer Jason Katims
said.
Roswell begins
its third season at 9pm Tuesday on Channel 13. The back-to-basics
approach should prove popular with fans, who watch the show less for
pure science fiction and more for its characters.
The season premiere, in
fact, is an easy-to-follow story that says a lot about alien Max Evans
(Jason Behr) and his human girlfriend Liz Parker (Shiri Appleby).
Roswell, based
on the Roswell High books, makes the feeling of teenage
alienation literal by making some of its teenage characters descendents
of the aliens who supposedly crashed in Roswell in 1947. The young
aliens were incubated and "hatched," but appear in every way
to be teenagers. It's their powers that can give them away.
Last season ended with
alien Tess taking the only way home to their native planet after
betraying the group and becoming the mother of Max's son.
"Tess is somewhere
out there in the cosmos, and she may return at some later date, but for
now, she's gone," Katims said at a UPN news conference at the
Ritz-Carlton Huntingdon Hotel.
This season will
feature coming-of-age stories for the human and alien characters, who
will be challenged in ways viewers haven't seen, Katims said.
There are plot spoilers
in the next four paragraphs.
Katims confirmed Max
will try to find some way to leave Earth and get to his son. Liz
will join him on that quest.
This season, Adam
Rodriguez joins the cast as Jesse Ramirez, a love interest for alien
Isabel Evans (Katherine Heigl), Katims said. I can't say too much,
but I urge fans to follow this story. For one thing, the romance
will lead Isabel to stay in Roswell and go to a community college
instead of heading off to a university.
And alien Michael
Guerin (Brendan Fehr) will get a job and try to build a life for himself
on Earth.
Tuesday's episode
(again, here's another plot spoiler) begins with Max and Liz in a store
robbery. But the story goes far beyond that.
Roswell appeals
to viewers because the characters, including former Sheriff Valenti
(William Sadler), are outsiders and underdogs, Katims said.
Appleby said fans tell
her they're waiting for the day when Max and Liz are really a couple.
"Hopefully, that
will happen," Appleby said. "I would love to see her not
cry in a whole episode. Personally, I'm ready for her to smile and
run around and be a fun kid, so hopefully this year will lend to
that."
Appleby said she liked
the storyline last season in which Liz, without much support from
anyone, investigated the death of Alex (Colin Hanks, Tom Hanks'
son). "She was able to fight for something that she believed
in, and so I think it sort of gave her a sense of independence.
"I think you'll
see her actually become more of a young woman and more of an independent
person versus just chasing after a boy," Appleby said.
"She's actually going to form more of her own opinions."
That's a good change
for Liz. For too long, she's been reacting to events she couldn't
control, and I think it's time for her to provide more of the
leadership.
When The WB canceled Roswell,
the producers and stars didn't know whether UPN would pick up the show.
"As bizarre as it
is, I had, like hundred-dollar bets going on with everybody that we'd
for sure come back," Delfino said.
"She didn't
actually specify on what network, so..." added Heigl, sitting near
her.
Heigl had darkened her
hair and cut it for another role before the news came of UPN picking up
the show. She admitted it was easier to keep her new hairstyle for
UPN than it would have been on The WB, which faced a good-natured
controversy with the media over star Keri Russell cutting her hair on Felicity.
Source: Ventura
County Star, 7.10.01. Back
to the top
RONALD
D. MOORE TALKS ROSWELL
11.10.01 - "Last
season, it looked like the writing was on the wall," recalls Roswell's
co-executive producer Ronald D. Moore. "UPN was just sort of
an idea that was getting floated out there, because Buffy was
talking to them. We were moving out of our offices. It
looked like it was all over. Jason Katims said, 'You know
what? They just can't kill this show. They've tried and
they've tried and it just keeps surviving. Let's plan next
season,' He was right, so I just have to believe it too."
"The operative
word for this season on Roswell is change," Moore told Cinescape
Online. "Because of the way the second season ended, a
lot of the storyline and thread we had been following came to an
end."
"Their way back
home is finished," says More. "Basically, most of
the things that the villains were after them for is over too. With
that in mind, before last season was really even over, we sat down and
started thinking about what we wanted to do with the characters.
It seemed like a great opportunity to wipe the slate and start again,
because that's essentially what the characters have to do. Now
that they are not going home, and all of those question have been
answered for them, they are stuck here. What do they do with
themselves? We were able to take the characters in all different
directions."
Moore also gave some
inside info on some of the early season three episodes.
Busted (written
by Jason Katims) - "The opening...is Max and Liz, sitting in a car,
making out, outside of a convenience store. It's hot and heavy for
a few minutes. Then they say, 'Are you ready?' 'Yeah, I'm
ready.' 'Are you sure?' 'Yeah, I'm sure.' Then they
pull on ski masks and guns and go in and hold up the convenience
store. So a lot has happened with Max and Liz."
"The first episode
is a two-track story," Moore continues, "One is in the present
day as they are arrested by the police in Utah and are charged with
armed robbery. All the parents come, and try to get them out, so
there is a legal story going on in the present. We are also
flashing back over the summer to see how they got to that place, where
Max and Liz are together now. The elephant in the room in their
relationship is that Max slept with Tess, and has a child out there,
which Max is now concerned about. Liz doesn't want to be without
Max anymore, and basically signs up to help him contact his son.
The journey takes them eventually to breaking into this convenience
store. Max and Liz this season, while they are together, the
relationship has been made much more complicated."
As we've already
revealed here on TCF, Max's quest eventually takes him to Los
Angeles. In Secrets and Lies, he must get onto the
Paramount studio lot to find information. His ticket onto the lot
is an audition for Roswell's UPN stablemate, Enterprise,
and the director of both Secrets and Lies and the fictitious Enterprise
episode is executive producer Jonathan Frakes.
"He's hunting for
ways to contact his son," explains Moore. "He's hunting
for ways to contact his son. He realises there might be another
shapeshifter in Los Angeles, the other protector. Max comes to Los
Angeles. Along the way, he needs to get on the Paramount lot for
something, and has a way to get on the lot if he goes and auditions for
this role. So the scene is him auditioning for a role on Enterprise
as an alien, and not getting it. Jonathan Frakes plays himself, as
the director of the episode. John Billingsley, who plays Phlox [on
Enterprise], is reading with Max. Max is terrible.
They stop him and they say, 'No, no, no. You've got to believe you
are an alien. You have to think you are from another
planet.' It's a funny scene."
Moore also confirms
that Secrets and Lies doesn't feature any of Enterprise's
sets, makeup or costumes: "It's John Billingsley doing a guest shot
on Roswell." Back
to the top
ROSWELL
UPS THE ANTE
11.10.01 - Roswell
co-executive producer Jonathan Frakes told Sci-Fi
Wire that the show will have a new look and feel for season
three. "We can't pretend most of these kids are in high
school anymore, which I think is a blessing," Frakes said in an
interview. "Isabel is in college. Max is on the
run. I just directed an episode [Secrets and Lies], and
it's Max in L.A. looking for the second shapeshifter [to be played by
Joe Pantoliano of The Matrix]."
Frakes added,
"We've really upped the ante in terms of the setting and
characters. Half of my episode was hsot in the streets of
L.A. Michael's got a job at a high-tech firm as a security
guard. It's going to end up revealing that there's stuff going on
there that's going to help Max understand the mystery [surround his
son]. The kids are not standing around lockers much anymore.
Liz [Shiri Appleby] and Kyle [Nick Wechsler] are still in high school,
because Shiri and Nick can still play that age. So we can
occasionally tell stories that take place in a classroom. And
we'll still have that wonderful SF underpinning. The surfacing of
the second shapeshifter will provide cool optical opportunities, but the
strength of Jason Katims and Ron Moore as writers is [that] they lean
more on character than [on] visuals. As someone once said, 'If it
ain't on the page...'" Back
to the top
MICHAEL,
THE GUYS, AND THE GREAT SNAPPLE CAPER
13.10.01 - That's the
title of the second episode of the season, and it's a comedy according
to executive producer Ronald D. Moore.
As the title suggests,
much of the episode focus on Brendan Fehr's character. Moore says,
"Michael looks around and realises that he's stuck here. He's
the one that always assumed he was going to be leaving, and never really
bothered much with convention or trying to do anything with his life on
Earth. Suddenly he ain't going home, and decides, 'I have to get
my act together.' He's about to flunk out of high school.
He's got this apartment, and he can't pay the bills. So he decides
to take on a second job and start taking more responsibility in his
life. He takes a job as a night watchman. The second episode
is basically played for laughs. It's Michael working as a night
watchman at this place, bonding with the guys, and starting to screw
around with them, and hanging out."
The episode also
touches upon the relationship between Jim Valenti, and his son, Kyle:
"After Valenti lost his job as sheriff, he hasn't gotten a new job
yet. He's been sitting on the couch sleeping and watching TV all
day. Kyle has had to go out and get a job. You see that Kyle
is now the parent, and Valenti is now the son. That's also in the
second episode. Kyle is getting sick of it, having trouble paying
the bills, and telling dad to get off his ass and do something with his
life."
Source: Cinescape
Online. Back
to the top
ROSWELL
IMPROBABLE BUT ENJOYABLE SOAP
15.10.01 - While press
reaction to Buffy's UPN debut has been rather negative, Roswell's
season three opener seems to have generated slightly more upbeat
stories, which can only be good news given the slightly disappointing
ratings for Busted. Here's what the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette had to say:
There was plenty of
hype surrounding the move of Buffy The Vampie Slayer from The WB
to UPN, but another series made the same journey but with much less
fanfare.
That's always been the
fate of Roswell, which premiered on The WB in fall 1999 to high
praise from critics, but after the pilot, the series too often felt the
same: teen-age aliens facing the same angst familiar to human teens.
It wasn't bad; it just
got old.
Alien Max (Jason Behr)
saved the life of human Liz (Shiri Appleby), thereby getting her
attention and setting the stage for an alien-human, Romeo and
Juliet-style romance. Max's fellow aliens, Michael (Brendan Fehr)
and Max's sister Isabel (Katherine Heigl), were nervous about the
Max-Liz romance, as were Liz's human pals Maria (Majandra Delfino) and
Alex (Colin Hanks).
Last season the show
took a different direction, placing a greater emphasis on sci-fi
elements and continuing stories. The season ended with a
compelling murder mystery arc that led to a shock as supposed good alien
Tess was revealed to be Alex's killer. She then spirited away from
Earth on the aliens' only space ship, taking Max's unborn child with
her.
Oh year, earlier in the
season Tess convinced Max they were fated to be a couple, drawing him
away from Liz.
The new season that
begins with Tuesday's episode jumps all over the time continuum, from
Max and Liz taking their steps back toward a relationship a few months
ago to their for robbing a convenience store in the present.
Not that they've turned
into small-time crooks. Max discovered another spaceship was
hidden in a military hangar beneath the store. After getting a
mental message from his unborn son, Max decided he had to find a way off
Earth to rescue his alien baby.
If it all sounds too
preposterous, well, it is. The show acknowledges that.
"I just want to
put everything that happened behind us," Max tells Liz.
"I would, too, if
I had impregnated an alien killer who murdered one of our best friends
and then left the planet with my unborn child," Liz replies.
There's good reason why
Roswell gets lost in the shadow of Buffy. Buffy
is an infinitely superior show, far more sophisticated, creative and
intelligent. But Roswell developed into an enjoyable alien
soap opera last season. You'd tune in and never quite know what
you'd get, whether it was a trip back in time to the crash of an alien
spacecraft in 1947 or a visit from the Max of the future, who warned Liz
their relationship would doom the world.
Tuesday's season
premiere, written by series creator Jason Katims, gives only a few hints
about the direction the show will go in, but there definitely seems to
be a greater concentration on the more human aspects of the show.
The parents of Max and Liz, previously seen in small doses, have
prominent roles in the episode and even conspire to keep the young
lovers apart.
At the same time,
Isabel, sporting a new short hairstyle, has taken up a secret affair
with an older man: a 25-year-old lawyer who works with her father.
Roswell on UPN
does seem, at first glance, a bit steamier than it was on The WB, with
lots of makeout sessions between the various couples. Tuesday's
episode isn't one of the show's finest hours, but it's a serviceable
start to the season.
This summer, Katims
indicated Roswell will have fewer serialized stories on UPN.
"One place we
differed slightly [with The WB] is that they were clearly pushing us to
do more mythology, arc stuff," Katims said. "Now we're
trying to do more stand-alone episodes, so you don't have to have seen
the episode before to feel like you've seen the story."
While Katims could pick
out episodes from each of the show's first two seasons as favorites,
several cast members expressed a clear preference for season one.
"Story-wise, I did
like the first season better," Delfino said. "I liked
playing into the metaphor of kids being aliens as opposed to really
dealing with aliens." Back
to the top
RELOCATED
ROSWELL BACK TO ALIEN LOVE THEME
15.10.01 - Meanwhile,
the Detroit Free Press of 9 October had this to say:
It's not exactly a new,
improved Roswell.
But having joined WB
refugee Buffy The Vampire Slayer in a jump to rival UPN, the
engagingly offbeat series about teen space aliens living incognito as
humans in a small New Mexico community is definitely getting back to its
romantic roots.
"One of the things
we wanted to do was get Max (Jason Behr) and Liz (Shiri Appleby) back
together and reintroduce the Romeo and Juliet story line that was the
foundation of the show," says Jason Katims, the talented writer and
executive producer of Roswell, which returns for its third season
premiere at 9 tonight on UPN.
Moodily handsome Max,
you see, is from a galaxy far, far away.
And sweet, impetuous
Liz is a human teen queen who has fallen head over heels in love with
Mr. Outer Space. She's mad about Max.
But last season, the
second year in which the show bobbed along under the ratings radar, Roswell
and Katims occasionally lost their way.
In an effort to attract
a larger audience, more emphasis was put on the sci-fi and
conspiracy-laced actionfest elements of the show.
"Those really big
sci-fi and mythology episodes got a little complicated," admits
Katims. "They were not as relatable. There was
sometimes a lack of emotional hooks."
Katims, who was a
writer and producer on My So-Called Life, the marvelously
perceptive ABC cult drama about the trauma of adolescence, knows how to
write young characters. He also created the captivating ABC
romantic drama, Relativity, which also explored romance from a
Romeo and Juliet perspective. Minus the dead lovers part, of
course.
So Katims has a knack
for conceiving enchanting romantic relationships.
When we first see Liz
and Max in the new season premiere, they're not exactly having an
idyllic night. They're holding up a convenience store where an
alien space ship is being concealed. Yikes.
After being betrayed by
an informant, they're arrested and tossed in jail temporarily. At
that point their families forbid them to see one another again.
Yeah, right.
You'd better believe
they will see each other again.
And the reason that the
Max and Liz lovefest was put on hold last season?
Well, there was this
little hormonal complication. Max between emotionally entangled
with Tess, a blond vixen from his home planet. The last time we
saw her, she was blasting into outer space for the trip home, pregnant
with Max's baby?! OK, say yikes one more time.
Oh sure, it may sound
preposterous. But a fine cast and Jason Katims' imaginative
storytelling have made Roswell a very beguiling diversion indeed.
This season will
revolve around Max and Liz and especially Max's "search to find his
son," says Katims. That's right, Max is receiving cosmic
vibrations that his son has been born.
Meanwhile, Max's young
interplanetary pals, Michael (Brendan Fehr) and Isabel (Katherine Heigl),
are going through some changes of their own as Roswell becomes
slightly more adult and less about high school.
Michael takes a job as
a night watchman, intensifies his relationship with spunky human
girlfriend Maria (Majandra Delfino) and finally develops some outside
friendships. And now that she's a community college student,
former blond bombshell Isabel has gone brunette, cut her hair short and
fallen in love with the dreamy new attorney in town, Jesse Ramirez (Adam
Rodriguez).
In fact, by episode
three they'll be getting engaged.
One more time again:
Yikes.
"Jesse doesn't
know she's an alien," says Katims. "We'll be getting a
lot of humor and drama out of that."
What Roswell
would really like to get is some new, improved ratings.
Last year, the series
was stuck behind the incompatible family drama 7th Heaven on the
WB Monday schedule. But with the move to UPN, the show will follow
supernaturally simpatico Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
"That's a great
lead-in with Buffy," acknowledges Katims.
"Hopefully, we'll bring along our old audience and find some new
viewers."
It would be about
time. Roswell, in which the alienated teens are teen space
aliens, has always conjured up a charming entertainment spell that's
otherworldly. Back
to the top
ROSWELL
GROWS UP, GETS NEW RELATIONSHIPS ON UPN
19.10.01 - Another
review of Busted, this time from USA Today, 10 October:
A return from the grave
may be a great story line for Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but it's
pretty much the everyday state of affairs for its fellow UPN transplant,
Roswell.
In just two years, the
story of alien teens who have assumed human form was let go as a pilot
by Fox, barely survived its first year after fans mass-mailed Tabasco
bottles (an alien delicacy) to WB, and was then picked up by UPN for a
third season after wB cancelled it.
"There's something
about this show that wants to live," executive producer Jason
Katims says. "It has had a relatively small audience, but an
incredibly passionate audience. There is clearly the potential for
growth."
Katims says Roswell
(tonight, 9 ET/PT) may get that opportunity at UPN, feeling the network
will promote the new arrival more than WB would have pushed a third-year
show. Getting the slot after Buffy doesn't hurt, either.
On UPN, Katims hopes to
move Roswell toward the relationship stories that appealed to him
at the show's beginning, but were sometimes overshadows by story lines
about the alien mythology. More stand-alone stories will make
individual episodes more satisfying, he says. He hope to give a
higher profile to the humour that is sometimes eclipsed by the brooding
nature of the show.
This season, the three
alien teens - Max (Jason Behr), Isabel (Katherine Heigl) and Michael
(Brendan Fehr) - are still in high school, but stories will have a more
grown-up feel. Michael learns responsibility as a security guard,
working the graveyard shift at a pharmaceutical company, while Isabel
gets into a serious relationship with a new character, lawyer Jesse
(Adam Rodriguez).
Max hits the road to
search for his missing son, starting in Utah with his terrestrial
girlfriend, Liz (Shiri Appleby), one of the few humans who know the
alien secret.
"Max and Liz are
together. They've declared their love again. It's what our
audience has been waiting for," Katims says, referring to their
Romeo-Juliet relationship.
Max and Liz also end up
getting arrested, which draws their parents into the story. They
will be much more involved than they were during the first two seasons,
Katims says.
Max's travels will lead
to other adventures, such as a trip to Los Angeles, where he auditions
for a role on the latest Star Trek show, UPN's Enterprise
(talk about shameless cross-promotion). Jonathan Frakes, a Roswell
executive producer and star of Star Trek: The Next Generation,
directs and guest-stars in that episode. Joe Pantoliano (The
Sopranos, Memento) also appears in two episodes as a Hollywood
producer who has information about Max's alien past.
"Roswell is
at its best when it's telling stories that are a blend of relationship
stuff and science fiction," he says. "I'm looking at
[the third-year pickup by UPN] as a wonderful opportunity for
us." Back
to the top
MORE
UPN BLURB
20.10.01 - Here's UPN's
description of the next couple of episodes:
Significant Others
(23 October) - Isabel must finally confront her fears about love and her
conflicted feelings for Jesse. Meanwhile, Maria happily discovers
a new, "human" part of Michael in an unexpected place.
Secrets & Lies
(30 October) - Enterprise's alien doctor John Billingsley and Sopranos'
Joe Pantoliano guest star. Max heads for Hollywood where his
search for the sole surviving shape shifter leads him straight into
television. Back
to the top
CONTROL
EPISODE DETAILS
28.10.01 - From UPN's
website:
Control (6
November) - Sopranos' Joe Pantoliano guest stars. Max's
search for the sole surviving shape shifter leads him to unexpected
discoveries about himself, his position and his son. Meanwhile,
back in Roswell, Isabel and Jesse face the music. Back
to the top
ROSWELL
OBSESSED WITH "THE BEST STUFF ON EARTH"
29.10.01 - A certain
bottled ice tea drink has been repeatedly cropping up on UPN's Roswell.
The drink maker Snapple
was prominently featured in the last two episodes of the teen sci-fi
drama starting with the Oct. 16 episode, in which Michael (Brendan Fehr)
was fired from his graveyard-shift security job when he stole a case of
popular ice tea drink. Oct. 23's episode also had Michael's
on-again-off-again girlfriend Maria (Majandra Delfino) asking for a
Peach Fuzz Snapple by name.
Asked whether the brand
name appearing on the show was due to a product placement deal, a UPN
spokesman explained that no, the show isn't getting money from Snapple -
it just really is "The Best Stuff on Earth," as it's logo
says.
"Ronald D. Moore,
the co-executive producer of Roswell, is a major, world-class
Peach Snapple fan," the spokesman told the New York Post.
"And that's how it gets into the show. There is no
promotional exchange or anything like that."
Source: zap2it.com
Back
to the top
JONATHAN
FRAKES' TAKE ON ROSWELL
03.11.01 - From Soap
Opera Digest:
UPN's sci-fi soap Roswell
hopes to engage brand-new viewers by boldly incorporating the network's
new Star Trek series, Enterprise, into its October 30
episode.
Roswell
Executive Producer and Star Trek veteran Jonathan Frakes'
directing - and appearing in - this special installment is his latest
contribution to the series; however, contrary to popular belief, his
wife Genie Francis' (Laura, General Hospital) ethereal appearance
as the alien teens' mom in the first season wasn't his idea.
"Thania St. John,
one of the executive producers in the first season, is a huge fan of
hers, and she asked me if I thought Genie would do it," Frakes
explains of how the key cameo was conceived. "Genie enjoyed
it immensely; it's always nice to do something different."
Aside from hoping she'll return to his show, he says, "We're always
looking for stuff to do together; we'd like to do a project where I
would direct her." Having met on the set of the '80s soap Bare
Essence and married in 1988, they shared the screen again in a 1995
episode of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, about
which he says, "It's a blast; it's a real gift. It's nice to
go to work in one car." For now he has a regular role in her
soap life: "I break the [GH] scripts down every night
before she goes to work."
The former Star
Trek: The Next Generation actor (ex-Will Riker) has been connected
to Roswell since its inception - "The project was brought to
me, as a series of teen novels called Roswell High, since I am
the official spokesperson for all things paranormal" - and is very
pleased with the Enterprise episode, which he arranged.
"I'm obviously in the Star Trek family, so I asked Rick
Berman, who's the arbiter of all things Star Trek, if we could do
it, and he said, 'Sure.' And the availability allowed us to use [Enterprise's)
Dr. Phlox, John Billingsley.
The way Enterprise
is involved is far from forced: "Max is on a quest to find his son;
the clues lead him to California. He needs to get some information
out of some film vaults, which are on a film lot in Paramount, where
they're shooting Enterprise. So he gets himself an
audition." Playing himself as the Enterprise director,
Frakes tells Max he doesn't make for a believable alien. Joe
Pantoliano (Ralph, The Sopranos) guest stars in the episode as an
alien shapeshifter named Kal Langley; look for him to have an important
role in Max's life in the weeks to come.
Frakes had his own take
on the Enterprise installment: "Roswell is a show in
which you can do anything you want stylistically, and I tried to shoot
the L.A. version of the episode with a little more pace and quick
cutting than the Roswell side of it - part of the story takes place in
Roswell, part takes place in L.A. - so I tried to make the two different
towns feels different stylistically."
The multi-talented
actor has nothing but praise for his series, and commented on the
reasons for its popularity: "As with most successful shows,
certainly the stories are well-told, and that comes from Jason [Katims,
co-creator and executive producer] and Ron [Moore, writer/producer], and
then we have an attractive and talented cast - that helps. And I
think people are really intrigued by the possibility that there are
aliens.
"Ron is fabulous;
he is very gifted," Frakes adds of Moore, who scribed several
episodes of Star Trek: TNG, where the two met. "He
wrote a wonderful memo in light of the [terrorist-attack] tragedy that
he distributed to all of us on Roswell. It was really
encouraging and uplifting; he's one of the genuinely good ones."
Roswell airs on
Tuesdays, at 9pm EST. Back
to the top
ROSWELL'S ALIEN
TEENS AT HOME ON UPN
03.11.01 - Los
Angeles - A door slams in the face of a good looking, dark haired
young man. A beautiful blonde girl sits on her bed, weepy and
disconsolate, distractedly fingering a guitar.
It's the set of Roswell,
the aliens-are-us series, in which gorgeous young things - whether
descendants of an alien culture or homegrown Americans - are bursting
with all the glorious mood swings of teenage passion.
The hour long
science-fiction young adult drama now airs on UPN, Tuesdays, 9-10pm,
ET/PT. This third season of the show, which previously stuttered
along for two years on rival network The WB, is now in a prime timeslot
behind Buffy The Vampire Slayer which also jumped networks.
Roswell is the small
town in New Mexico rumoured to be the site where an alien spaceship
crashed in 1947. Enter the possibility for these hot alien teens
to be living and loving there.
This day an episode
entitled Beyond The Music, planned to air at the denouement of
November sweeps, is taking shape in Hollywood on the Paramount stages
that contain sets of the town's homes and the Crashdown Cafe, where the
seasoning of choice is Tabasco sauce.
Not surprisingly the
cameras are focused on a potential love triangle. This one is
between Maria and Michael and new arrival Billy, described in the script
as "the classic archetype of mysterious drifter and soulful
artist," but sardonically dubbed by Michael in a line of dialogue
as "Billy Bob Thornton."
Clayne Crawford is
guest starring as Billy opposite Majandra Delfino's (pretty human) Maria
and Brendan Fehr's (alien, but much better looking than your average
human) Michael. Maria's bedroom is the setting.
Director Jonathan
Frakes keeps the levity high as the actors prepare to act moody and
mysterious.
"My philosophy is
that if people are laughing it's more likely they will be
spontaneous," he says, while praising the talents of the show's
clan of "sexy, smart, talented, bright, young" stars.
Both Frakes and the
show's executive producer Jason Katims mention the multi-layer aspects
of this series; the challenge of weaving science-fiction, teen angst and
comedy together to play to a new audience on UPN without alienating the
small but intensely devoted group of fans who have been there since the
beginning.
"UPN wanted to
make sure that the backstory wasn't too complicated ... that it wasn't
so drenched in mythology that you felt like you had already missed the
boat on the show if you tuned in now," says Katims.
"That was very good news to me because I felt the second season got
a little too complicated from a story point of view ... and when we do
that I think we get away from what is the core of our storytelling,
which is just very relatable story lines ... I think the science fiction
part of the show is what should life the show up to metaphor. It
should make it feel magical, but it shouldn't take over what the show is
about."
Although the main
characters are still teens this season they are faced with more mature
issues. "We've extended the canvas a bit by taking them into
the workplace, on to the road, into a precipitous marriage ... [they're
in] territory we haven't really explored before," says Katims,
whose previous credits include the insightful, emotional shows Relativity
and My So-Called Life.
"The crux of the
metaphor of this whole show is that when we are teenagers in a certain
away we all feel like aliens and, as I've been doing this for a couple
of years, I will go a step further and say we all feel like aliens no
matter what age we are," says 40-year-old Katims, stressing he is
also working to strengthen the "family drama" aspect of his
show. "It speaks to outsiders. In a weird way I have
always thought of this as an immigrant story - dealing with how much of
the other world do we hold on to and embrace, and how much do we let go
... [in order to] assimilate."
New writers this season
include Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz, friends and co-workers who as
editor and writer at the publishing company Daniel Weiss Associates
created the Roswell High books, the first volume of which
inspired this series, produced by Regency Television and Twentieth
Century Fox Television. Those books were aimed at the tween
market, but Burns notes this series has clearly grown into "less of
a high school show."
Max (played by very
handsome dark-haired Jason Behr), and Max's sister, Isabel, (played by
very pretty Katherine Heigl) are teens of alien heritage trying to feel
at home in Roswell. The series also stars Shiri Appleby as Liz,
another pretty human teen who knows the aliens' secret as does Kyle,
played by Nick Wechsler. One of the few adults who knows the
secret is Sheriff Valenti, played by William Sadler.
Metz and Burns,
entertainment buffs who ease each other about their "hokey"
tastes and "nerdy" obsession with movies and television, are
amused by, and amusing about, their transposition from New York to
Hollywood. Their first script will be about a New Year's Eve
party. Their office is a trailer on the Paramount lot. Being
on site enables them the benefit of dropping by the set, a valuable
insight for this embryonic screenwriting team who had sold some previous
scripts but had never seen them produced.
And what do these young
women who first dreamed up this fictionalised Roswell think
landed at the real Roswell?
"I believe the spy
weather balloon story," says Burns.
"I feel that I
should have [an opinion] but I really don't know," admits Metz.
"But I certainly
don't think it was beautiful teenage aliens," laughs Burns. Back
to the top
UPN
BLURB FOR TO HAVE AND TO HOLD
04.11.01 - Alternative
rock band Ivy guest stars. With her wedding imminent, Isabel is
torn with doubt about her alien heritage and plagued with haunting
dreams of a former lover. Max, reluctantly agrees to serve as
Jesse's best man. Back
to the top
UPN
BLURB FOR INTERRUPTUS
11.11.01 - Here's UPN's
blurb for the 20 November episode:
Mysterious events and
unexpected visitors threaten to derail Isabel and Jesse's
honeymoon. Liz and Maria discover that Philip has begun a secret
investigation into the happenings around Roswell. Back
to the top
SHIRI
AND MAJANDRA ON-LINE CHAT SPOILERS
13.11.01 - Shiri and
Majandra took part in an online chat with E!
Online on Monday, here's their comments on Roswell's
third season:
This season, will
Maria get a boyfriend she's satisfied with? She seems unhappy with
Michael.
Majandra - I don't know
if she gets a boyfriend she's satisfied with, but she starts to realise
life is more than just having a boyfriend.
Looking from the
outside in, how do you see the season so far, and do you like the
direction the show is headed?
Shiri: I think the show
has gone back to being based on the relationships and the
characters. I think it's working a lot better than it was last
season.
Obviously, all of us
Max and Liz fans out there are wondering what's ahead for the two of
you. Jason Katims mentioned a twist in February. Any hints?
Shiri: I think Liz
starts to realise the consequences of being so committed to Max.
What do you think
about the cycle of breaking up the couples for more creativity?
Majandra: I think that
sounds like a great idea. I also think that's what teens do.
They're kind of flighty.
How do you think Liz
would accept Max's son if he were around?
Shiri: Well, at this
point, she's so in love with him she would accept it. But, at the
same time, it would be a constant reminder that he's with someone
else. So it would cause some drama.
Any chance of Maria
speaking or singing in Spanish?
Majandra: Speaking has
been talked about, but the other has been tossed around, and she
definitely won't be singing in Spanish.
Last season touched
on the subject...do Liz and Kyle develop any powers?
Shiri: Yes. And
that's all I can say.
While Max and Liz
may be a couple, we rarely see them in the same scenes. Is this
going to change in upcoming episodes?
Shiri: Yes, I think so.
Kudos to Maria for
finally getting her shining star in music! But does she have to
give up Michael for that? Please tell me they get back together.
Majandra: Well, as most
of you could tell, Michael was a very bad boyfriend. And I think
he gave a really bad message to teenage girls about what they're
expected to deal with. What he put Maria through is not something
any girl should go through. Unless he does a complete 180, she
stays away from him.
What's gonna happen
in the next few episodes?
Majandra: Let's just
say it gets better. We've got Thanksgiving and Christmas coming
up, so there are a lot of holiday-based shows that are really good.
How do you like
Maria's role this season?
Majandra: It's starting
to get juicier. Back
to the top
SHIRI
ET CHAT SPOILERS
18.11.01 - Shiri
Appleby was recently interviewed by E! Online where, amongst
other things, she discussed the way she hopes her character will go in
season three.
Entertainment Tonight: So
what will happen this season?
Shiri: Max and Liz are
going to get together and rebel against everything that's
happening. Liz has focused so much of her energy on one boy these
past two years - on what it would be like to be with him. When she
finally gets what she wants, her eyes open up. She sees that her
choices in life affect other people. So, for the first time, she
becomes more of a woman and takes responsibility for her actions.
This season, they're also going to be searching for Max's son who Tess
has taken back to the other world.
ET: Would you like
to see Liz and Max get together?
Shiri:
Definitely! I've been playing the yearning for two years.
I'd like to know what it would be like to work with Jason as a couple
versus anger, yearning and lusting.
ET: But isn't there
a fear that if she's with him, the world might end?
Shiri: In that episode,
she got him to change, so it's a different world now. Now that
Tess has gone back to the home planet, I think that the whole craziness
of the triangle no longer exists. Back
to the top
UPN BLURB FOR BEHIND
THE MUSIC
18.11.01 - Behind
The Music (27 November): A visit from an old flame sparks Maria to
reassess her aspirations and relationships. Meanwhile, their
father's increasingly intense investigation force Max and Isabel to
action. Back
to the top
WANDA
SPOILERS - 19 NOVEMBER
21.11.01 - Max and
Liz? Now he's back from L.A. anything serious gonna happen?
Yes. Serious
problems. Would it happen any other way? Liz becomes much
stronger, much more independent. She has some big changes in store
- in all aspects of her life...including location. I'm told she
heads off to boarding school sometime after the holidays. Back
to the top
KATIMS
SHAKES UP THE STATUS QUO
24.11.01 - Executive
producer Jason Katims has been talking about a number of shake-ups in
the status quo that lie ahead.
Talking to Zap2it.com,
Katims revealed that there are big changes ahead for many of Roswell's
main characters, potential break-ups being a major part of it.
Behind the Music
looks to be a bumpy episode for Maria and Michael, according to Katims.
"We did a really moving episode coming up with Maria examining two
things: Maria and Michael's relationship when an old boyfriend of hers
from band camp comes to town; and also Maria realising she's lost that
music side of herself and how much she's given up."
There will also be
trouble ahead for Liz and Max: "Liz starts to realise she's
literally changing and she doesn't know why. Something is
happening to her, something alien alien and she think it's from the fact
that Max healed her and it's making her change. So she starts to
also reconsider everything that's gone on."
Adding to the couple's
difficulties, Katims says that the writers are toying with the idea of
bringing back Emilie de Ravin's character, Tess. "We don't
know yet," he says. "We definitely have that as one of
the possibilities of what we may do, we're definitely considering
that."
Katims also says that
the newlywed couple of Isabel and Jesse will be facing big issues in
January.
"We examine the
marriage between Isabel and Jesse, the alien and the human. We go
between two realities; one is the reality of the show as Isabel tries to
hide being an alien from Jesse, and then we go to the '60s sitcom
version. The Bewitched version of it - where Katie Heigl
and everyone else in the cast play as if they're in a '60s sitcom
playing themselves. In that reality, Jesse knows that she's an
alien." Back
to the top
SAMUEL
RISING
03.12.01 - UPN has
released details and images from the 18 December episode, Samuel
Rising.
Samuel Rising -
When an autistic child approaches Max, speaks to him, and then later
presents him with a drawing of a flying saucer, Max is forced to
consider if, in some way, his own lost child is trying to reach out to
him. Meanwhile, in an attempt to get close to Maria again, Michael
plays Santa, albeit badly, to Maria and Liz's elves at a charity event,
and Isabel and Jesse share their first holiday as husband and wife.
The episode was
directed by Patrick Norris from a script written by series executive
producer Jason Katims.
Cinescape Online
has some of the photos up here,
including Michael as Santa, Liz and Maria as elves and Liz and Max
skating. Back
to the top
A
TALE OF TWO PARTIES
20.12.01 - UPN has
released its blurb for the New Year's Day episode of Roswell, A
Tale of Two Parties:
Unusual pairings and
the morning after. Nothing, and no one, is the same come New
Year's Day morning. Back
to the top
KATIMS
ON UPCOMING EPISODES
16.01.02 - Talking to Sci-Fi
Wire, Jason Katims offered spoilers for upcoming episodes in the
rest of season three.
"[Episodes] 13 and
14 are also a two-part episode [this refers to the season finale being a
two-parter]," he said. "I think the first half of the
season has been sort of dedicated to reestablishing the character
stories of the show, ... headlined by Isabel's marriage. ... And then
what we're doing starting in February is ... Liz starts to believe that
there's some residual effects that have come about after Max has healed
her. And she doesn't know what's happening to her, and at some
point she thinks she may be dying. ... [She has] certain almost
hallucinatory experiences and finally realises that she needs to get
away, and that's really for her own well-being. And she leaves,
and she goes to Vermont. Through February, we're ... doing
episodes that are ... raising the story stakes, playing around with both
that premise with Liz and some other sci-fi premises, to bring us [to]
... a few episodes that remind me of the last few episodes of the first
season, where there was definitely a lot of strong human emotion that
came out of it, but there were very high stakes, kind of wild
episodes. ... Big things happen. Jesse winds up discovering
the truth about Isabel. Things like that." Back
to the top
REINVENTING
ROSWELL
21.01.02 - We've
already carried the story that UPN has ordered extra episodes of Roswell,
so I thought I'd stick this report from the Pittsburg Post-Gazette
here as it is rather spoilerish:
Once again the sci-fi
drama Roswell is on the fence for renewal, getting lower ratings
than UPN executives or executive producer Jason Katims expected.
The show may take a
break in March to make way for two new comedy series, but Katims
promises whenever the remaining episodes air, the story involving the
infant son of alien teenager Max will be resolved. And yes, Tess,
the child's mother, who kidnapped him in last May's season finale, will
be back for the resolution.
Katims said he feels
all the stories relating to the teen aliens in high school have been
exhausted, and a two-hour season finale will set the show up for a new
direction.
"The finale will
act as a satisfactory and emotional ending and also act as a pilot if
the show returns," Katims said. He wouldn't specify what
those changes will be but said it could involve cast changes. Back
to the top
UPN
BLURB FOR I MARRIED AN ALIEN
26.01.02 - UPN is
describing the 29 January episode as follows:
I Married An Alien:
A journalist friend of Jesse's comes to Roswell and begins snooping
around for a story. After some strange sightings and suspicious
stories he latches onto a theory that threatens to expose the alien
identities of Michael, Max and Isabel. Back
to the top
UPN
BLURB FOR CH-CH-CHANGES
02.02.02 - Liz begins
to undergo bizarre changes to her body with increasingly adverse
reactions to her mental and physical well being. Meanwhile, Maria
is presented with an offer she may not want to refuse. Back
to the top
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