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Roswell (1999-02) Any fans?

Admiral Jean-Luc Picard

Admiral Jean-Luc Picard

Commodore
Commodore
Roswell is an old show from over 20 years ago that I have on DVD and have thought about revisiting. For those who've not seen it, it's basically teen drama mees The X Files. :lol: Most episodes deal with a mix of teenage alienation and coming of age, extraterrestrial mythology, and evading FBI alien hunters. It's a great blending of drama, comedy, sci-fi, and a little bit of horror mixed in to some of the darker episodes. I was a teen when this came out, and it was one of the first serialized shows I watched, the other two being DS9 and Stargate SG-1. I tried watching the newer CW show, but... they just changed it up too much to the point of just being something else.

Any fans? Did you watch it original run like me or find it later on?
 
I watched the original run. I liked the first two seasons quite a bit, but season 3 was not just badly written--it had a huge ick factor going on. Of course in that third season it was up against season 1 of Smallville which was as popular as any show on the WB gets. Roswell was pretty much doomed at that point. Great news for Katherine Heigl though. I don't think she would have gotten her more famous roles if Roswell had been more popular.
 
I was a big fan when it originally ran, and I even got to meet Katherine Heigl and Brandon Fehr at a local event put on by one of our TV channels. I still have their autographed pictures up on my wall.
I never got around to checking out the reboot.
 
The reboot is fine,

No high School.

Max is a cop and Liz is hispanic, with some immigration problems of her own where the government is calling her (actually, her father, she's fine) an alien.
 
I was told back when it was on that the recent adaptation was more of a sequel to the YA books then the old TV series. I never read the books so I can't say if that is true or not.

*To add to an earlier discussion, I noticed the label "LGBTQ Friendly" to refer to this year's Hugo Winner, which has several LGBTQ characters. Their orientations are part of the plot, but not the sole focus of the plot. I think the term "Friendly" is a very useful one and probably serves to meet that marketing niche bookstores and publishers like.
 
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theenglish said:
I was told back when it was on that the recent adaptation was more of a sequel to the YA books then the old TV series. I never read the books so I can't say if that is true or not.
Click to expand...

The diner uniforms are identical.

The Crash Down Cafe is fairly "similar".
 
Guy Gardener said:
The diner uniforms are identical.

The Crash Down Cafe is fairly "similar".
Click to expand...

Yes, visually there are a number of similarities; however, the show never referenced events from the original series--and when that series ended...

The kids were outed, being pursued, and on the run.
 
theenglish said:
Yes, visually there are a number of similarities; however, the show never referenced events from the original series--and when that series ended...

The kids were outed, being pursued, and on the run.
Click to expand...

My guess is that the novels had hand drawn art of the uniforms from well before either show started preproduction ;) .
 
JD said:
I was a big fan when it originally ran, and I even got to meet Katherine Heigl and Brandon Fehr at a local event put on by one of our TV channels. I still have their autographed pictures up on my wall.
I never got around to checking out the reboot.
Click to expand...

I met Brandon Fehr when I had to take my younger sister to an MTV Canada thing near the tail end of the run of the show.
 
theenglish said:
I watched the original run. I liked the first two seasons quite a bit, but season 3 was not just badly written--it had a huge ick factor going on. Of course in that third season it was up against season 1 of Smallville which was as popular as any show on the WB gets. Roswell was pretty much doomed at that point. Great news for Katherine Heigl though. I don't think she would have gotten her more famous roles if Roswell had been more popular.
Click to expand...
Was it the "retooled for UPN" thing you didn't like? What did you think of the 7 episodes that closed out the show? Good ending?
 
JD said:
I was a big fan when it originally ran, and I even got to meet Katherine Heigl and Brandon Fehr at a local event put on by one of our TV channels. I still have their autographed pictures up on my wall.
I never got around to checking out the reboot.
Click to expand...
What was it like to meet Katherina and Brandon? They did since phenomenal roles on a show barely anyone watched. :lol:
 
theenglish said:
I was told back when it was on that the recent adaptation was more of a sequel to the YA books then the old TV series. I never read the books so I can't say if that is true or not.

*To add to an earlier discussion, I noticed the label "LGBTQ Friendly" to refer to this year's Hugo Winner, which has several LGBTQ characters. Their orientations are part of the plot, but not the sole focus of the plot. I think the term "Friendly" is a very useful one and probably serves to meet that marketing niche bookstores and publishers like.
Click to expand...
The original show adapted the books, some of the writers even worked on S1, if I remember right. The new show only borrowed names and ideas and ditched everything else. No one was gay or LGBTQ+ in the 1999 series, and I don't think so in the YA book series either. This was added to the new show to modernize it.
 
theenglish said:
Yes, visually there are a number of similarities; however, the show never referenced events from the original series--and when that series ended...

The kids were outed, being pursued, and on the run.
Click to expand...
It can't reference the 1999 series, because of copyright, they only had the rights to adapt the books.
 
Admiral Jean-Luc Picard said:
Was it the "retooled for UPN" thing you didn't like? What did you think of the 7 episodes that closed out the show? Good ending?
Click to expand...
Specifically I had a problem with Isabel dating an older man and getting married when she was still in school. Okay, Isabel is very mature for her age but it was a creepy story, especially in context of....

Maria singing Paradise by the Dashboard Light with former Sheriff Valenti.

Didn't the writers even consider that these scenes and storylines of much older men next to characters who are supposed to be teens might look?

As for the rest of the show, I was totally fine with the ending. Glad the writers were given time to create an ending that provided some thematic closure while hinting at adventures to come.
 
theenglish said:
Specifically I had a problem with Isabel dating an older man and getting married when she was still in school. Okay, Isabel is very mature for her age but it was a creepy story, especially in context of....

Maria singing Paradise by the Dashboard Light with former Sheriff Valenti.

Didn't the writers even consider that these scenes and storylines of much older men next to characters who are supposed to be teens might look?

As for the rest of the show, I was totally fine with the ending. Glad the writers were given time to create an ending that provided some thematic closure while hinting at adventures to come.
Click to expand...
In real life, Katherine and Adam were only 3 years apart in age. In the show, Isabel is 18 and already a HS graduate, she graduated early at the end of S2. Was Jesse's age every explicitly stated beyond early/mid 20's? They're both legal adults. Is it weird or objectionable? Yes. Is it predatory? Not really. It's not like she was dating a 45-year-old.

What was wrong with the Maria-Valenti duo? Don't know the song, just know the actress/character both seemed very into it, and Valenti at this point is full swing midlife crisis. It's 2002, people were not obsessed with To Catch a Predator, not everyone was paranoid back then like people are today. Also keep in mind, everyone had grown to see Valenti as a fatherly protective figure to the friend group.

While I would have loved the show to continue for several seasons more, it ended at the right time with them graduating HS and going out into the world as adults. Worked for me. :)
 
Admiral Jean-Luc Picard said:
In the show, Isabel is 18 and already a HS graduate, she graduated early at the end of S2. Was Jesse's age every explicitly stated beyond early/mid 20's? They're both legal adults. Is it weird or objectionable? Yes. Is it predatory? Not really. It's not like she was dating a 45-year-old.
Click to expand...

I think what I said is that it was icky. I stand by that. And thanks for reminding me that Isabel was barely out of high school then, and in the U.S. anyway she was barely legal to give consent. (Not to say that U.S. laws are world laws).

Admiral Jean-Luc Picard said:
What was wrong with the Maria-Valenti duo?
Click to expand...

Read the lyrics. IIRC there was an "eeewww" reaction right here on this board back then.

EDIT: Never mind--found it.
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