Rating: 
Summary: Adolescence and 'Alien'ation
Review: At some point, every teenager feels like an outsider - an 'alien'. This show takes that common teenage angst a little more literally by focusing on the lives of 3 teenaged extraterrestrials in highschool in Roswell, New Mexico.This season revolves around a core of 6 characters: the aliens - Max Evans, Isabel Evans, Michael Guerin; and the humans - Liz Parker, Maria DeLuca, Alex Whitman. The 3 alien children were found wandering in the desert, Max and Isabel by their adoptive parents, Diane and Phillip Evans, while Michael was found later and has been in and out of trouble and the foster care system ever since. Max is introspective, thoughtful and responsible; Isabel is beautiful and popular and uses her social position to mask her insecurities and fears; Michael has suffered a difficult childhood and focuses only on finding a way 'home', secure in the conviction that it has to be better than where he is and even more confident that no outsider can be trusted with their secret. Among the humans, Liz Parker is most like Max, responsible and intelligent, with typical teen anxiety about her identity and future. Maria DeLuca is Liz's best friend and near polar opposite; being raised by her mother after her father left them, Maria tries to be as independent as possible and has an affinity for odd herbal remedies. The third member of their group is Alex Whitman, a fairly typical guy who likes computers and playing guitar in his band and is willing to go as far as he needs to for his friends. The series begins in the Crashdown Cafe where Max and Michael are hanging out; Liz, Max's longtime crush, is a waitress there and her family owns the restaurant, also waitressing there is her best friend Maria DeLuca. An argument between customers results in gunfire and Liz is shot; Max is unable to watch the girl he's loved from a distance for years die and heals her, thus revealing to her the existence of the 3 aliens. The scene in which Max heals Liz is the driving force of the series, it fuels the romantic tension between the two as well as placing the alien trio in danger from the local sheriff Jim Valenti (the father of Liz's current boyfriend, Kyle) and brings the possible alien existence to the attention of the FBI. The best parts of this series are those that deal with the very human drama inside the science fiction frame of the series. It is very easy to identify with the fears and insecurities of these teenagers and the show explores them very successfully. The performances are strong all around and the cast is first rate. The series is originally based on the Roswell High book series by Melinda Metz but outside of the basics (and sharing the first scene basically word for word) the two diverge and end up about as far from each other as possible. If you're a die hard fan (or even if you're not) the books are worth a read. All in all, this series makes for great entertainment as the teens try to turn the bond created by a life and death secret into friendship. Having seen the DVD set, I do have a criticism: When Roswell was first made, the music rights were not secured for future release; the scope of DVD technology and what it could mean for television wasn't fully realized for years and securing the rights to the music retroactively in so cost prohibitive as to prevent the series release on DVD at any time (other series face this problem as well, examples are Malcolm in the Middle and Charmed, among many others). The Roswell team chose to reassemble the original music group and actually REPLACE music throughout the episodes (if you have the box set, you'll find an insert by Jason Katims explaining the decision). Some music is the same (the theme song 'Here With Me' by Dido, along with it's reprise at the end of the season finale, Max still heals Liz to 'Fear' by Sarah McLachlan, and frankly, no other song would have done here, so it had to stay, and 'Crash' by Dave Matthews Band is still the end of the first episode) but the vast majority is new music. While I must give them credit for putting in the effort to reassemble the people who chose the music the first time around, I have to say that the alternate music is often very poorly chosen. The songs themselves are okay, but there were some songs that I couldn't stand being replaced (Collective Soul's 'Run' in "Independence Day" is one of them, the song replacing it doesn't fit the scene very well). I'm not sure why they thought that they should choose songs of radically different styles from the original selections, or even songs with extremely different meanings - the new music sometimes drastically alters the feel of a scene entirely and I can't think of one example where this change is for the better. I'll still enjoy the DVD set, though I'm not going to be taping over my VHS copies anytime soon. I just hope that when Season 2 comes out, they'll do a better job picking music.
Rating:
Summary: Roswell is like an abusive boyfriend
Review: At first it's wonderful, then it treats you horribly, but you can't leave it -- because it could change! The first season of Roswell, or more accurately, the first 16 episodes of Roswell, is some of the greatest young adult programming I've ever seen. Unfortunately many of the original writers bailed and were replaced by people who wanted to play up the sci-fi aspects of the series more than they wanted to make it a moving, realistic story of "alienated" teens. So I recommend this DVD to anyone who loved the series, but if you haven't seen it, I'm warning you -- you will fall in love with this show, get hooked, and then it will change horribly before your eyes. One word: Tess. Why, Katims, WHY??
Rating: 
Summary: Finally!
Review: Roswell was one of the best character driven sci-fi shows out there even though it was relatively short lived. Though the idea for aliens in Roswell was old, the producers managed to really put a new twist on it and come up with some intriguing plots that spanned the whole show. Other reviews have summed up the episodes, so I won't. Let me just say this is one series well worth owning, and I can't wait to get my hands on it!
Rating:
Summary: Great show
Review: I loved this show when it was on the WB. I am so excited that they are going to release it on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST SHOWS IN HISTORY
Review: I got into Roswell in the middle of the second season and fell in love. When it was cancelled, i was so depressed. But when Scifi took it, i got to watch it again and was happy. Now I can watch it whenever I want!!!
Rating:
Summary: Roswell -sci fi show or Dawson's Creek II?
Review: While I always felt the show carried too much of the Dawson Creek angst, I missed most of the first season because of it. I had wanted to watch it regularly, mostly because of former Star Trek The Next Generation actor Jonathan Frakes association with the show -he was an excutive producer and directed several episodes. But like I said, the first season reminded me of the Creek with aliens. It got boring very quick, and besides, the shows seemed to no where. The show did have an appealing cast, which made it ten times better than Dawson. Jason Behr is hot, and should've been bare chested more often, and I always thought they should've made Nick Wechsler's character gay. I mean, hello, he was way too girlie. Still, he was hot also. Shiri Appleby's Liz and Majandra Delfino's Maria were wonderful, well rounded characters, but William Sadler's Sheriff was silly until he discovers the truth about the guys. All in all, season one was okay. I liked season two, when the show really became a sci fi show. Ironically, most fans did not like that season and when it jumped to UPN for it's third and final season, the show returned more to the Dawson Creek style of story telling. And the Colin Hank's character was missed by then, and well the show never recovered. The show never really found a balance between the sci fi and teen stuff. So the fan base became goofed up by it. There was one camp that liked the love, teen thing, while others didn't mind the teen stuff, but wanted more sci fi. Oh well, I'll still have my Jason Behr in all his digital glory.
Rating:
Summary: Finally
Review: I have been waiting and waiting for this to be released on DVD. One of my all time favorite shows. Too bad it only lasted 3 seasons.
Rating:
Summary: ROswell kicks ass.
Review: I watched the whole thing whiel it was airing... i watched it while it was on sci-fi!!! bottom line: jason behr is sooo hot. wow!! haha.. yeah its a good show too. i love it. wonderful!
Rating:
Summary: Simply the Best
Review: This year Roswell became my favorite television show. Unfortunatly I was a late convert catching the show in an all too brief repeat on the Sci-fi channel. The chemistry of the cast and the charisma/star power of its lead, Jason Behr, left me at the edge of my seat after every episode. A mix of action, sci-fi and drama all woven with an incrediable love story that always kept me wanting more-Roswell was unforgetable! Season 1 was, as previously reviewed, the far superior episodes. I attribute this to the uneeded introduction of the character of Tess. Falling back on an overused plotline of bringing in a "new girl" to cause conflict among the lead couple (Max and Liz) was lazy and hurt season 2. By the time they figured it out and gave her the boot Season 3 was already struggling. I wonder now if Roswell would have performed better on Fox (the network it was intended for). At the time the WB was not available in enough states for a show to grow slowly to success as I believe would have been the case with Roswell. Season 1, however, is a must see! Currently there is talk of making a movie version of the show (www.roswellmovie.net)-which I hope will happen!
Rating:
Summary: Prayers Answered
Review: I am walking on air RIGHT NOW!!!! I never missed an episode of ROSWELL and it still stands as my favorite TV show. I have waited since its cancellation, for the show to be put on DVD. I'm sure all of us Roswell fans out there can breath a sigh of relief, our show will finally be on disk and we can now enjoy it whenever we want....
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