Roswell

Pretty much everyone has heard of the conspiracy theories involving aliens, the U.S. government and Roswell, New Mexico. In these theories, the aliens are usually of the little green men variety. But what if there really were aliens from the Roswell crash among us and they looked like high school students? That’s the premise behind Roswell, a teen-targeted TV show that ran from 1999-2002. It’s another of those teen shows (like Buffy) that I missed when it was in first-runs. But I watched the entire three seasons recently and really enjoyed it. Like most teen-centered shows I watch, it caused ideas for future YA books to start crackling in my head. Nothing about Roswell itself or aliens, but it was a jumping-off point for my imagination.

I like how the show took the idea of star-crossed lovers to a whole different level. As Liz Parker (Shiri Appleby), one of the leads, said in one of the promos: “Romeo and Juliet came from two different worlds. Max and I have them beat. We come from two different planets.”

The story revolves around Max (Jason Behr), his sister Isabel (Katherine Heigl, before Grey’s Anatomy fame), and their friend Michael (Brenden Fehr), all three aliens from a planet they can’t remember. They were in the 1947 crash at Roswell, but they remained in incubation pods until they popped out in time to be teenagers for the show. Max and Isabel were adopted by a loving family, but Michael got stuck in the foster care system. They lead pretty normal teenage lives in Roswell, but they’re always aware that if anyone becomes aware of who and what they are, they’ll have to leave and not come back. They tell no one their secret — until Max has to save Liz with his super-duper alien healing powers. Thus begins the love story of Max and Liz. It’s definitely not an easy one as they try to figure out if they can even be together.

I enjoyed the Max/Liz story, but I was at least equally attracted to the love story between Michael and Maria (Majandra Delfino), Liz’s best friend. Their relationship is more bumpy, even when they’re together, but there’s a vulnerability about Michael behind all his macho bluster that made Maria’s love for him all that more powerful. He was this wounded guy, and Maria was what he needed to heal, even though he didn’t realize it for awhile. He’s not exactly introspective guy.

You know how Buffy had the Scoobies? Well, the aliens have a small circle of human friends who are in the know — Liz and Maria initially, then their friend Alex (Colin Hanks, Tom’s son), then Sheriff Valenti and his son, Kyle. This group often works together to foil the efforts of the feds and other various baddies who are after the aliens for horrible lab purposes.

Since you know I love YouTube fan vids, here are a couple for Roswell. The first is for Max and Liz, set to Dido’s “Here With Me,” which was the show’s theme song. The second is for Michael and Maria, set to “Ice Dance” from the movie Edward Scissorhands.

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