ROSWELL- Season One (1 Viewer)

[Deb Walsh]

Thanks to this forum, I thought to check my set last night, and was relieved to find the discs were all present and accounted for. I liked the fact that producer Jason Katims actually took the time to write an insert explaining why the music was different from the broadcast versions, and to highlight specific musical elements that are still the same (Dido, Sarah MacLachlan, Dave Matthews). Haven't watched the episodes yet, but I agree that I like the packaging. I like the slim cases - didn't Firefly have those as well?

It's interesting to see DVD set packaging becoming more of an artform, much as album covers were back in the days before CDs.

 

[MaraKM]

I appreciated the Katims insert too. Though, I wish they'd included a song listing on the discs -- if they're as happy about all the new music they found for the dvds as they're saying they are, it would have been nice of them to make it easy for us to buy the songs, instead of trying to track them down through google lyrics searches.

Some of the replacements are fine, and some are jarring, but I guess it's a pretty subjective thing -- I'm sure that some of the ones that don't bother me would drive another fan nuts, and vice versa. The funniest one is in "Leaving Normal" where, in the original broadcast, Liz's father was singing along to the radio ("The Weight" by The Band"). They replaced the song with something fairly generic & unrecognizable, and muted the vocal, so you just see his lips moving. Which wouldn't be that big a deal, but a few seconds later in the scene, Liz's grandmother arrives at the cafe, and teases him by saying "I can't believe you're still listening to them." Now, I understand that The Band are too expensive. But surely there has to be one song/band from the 60's that's cheap yet recognizable, or a cheap cover band that can fake the classic-rock sound? Or were Katims' & Co. too rushed at that point to notice that the dialogue referenced the music? Oh well.

 

[David_Blackwell]

I started a thread on the S1 DVDs being released in Japan (over in the Regional DVD Forum). Given the cost of the Japan DVDs and the episodes being released 2 episodes per volume, I do wonder if they have all of the original music intact. Go over to thread to click on links to see some of the Japan R2 DVD covers.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=191380

Be Seeing You,
David Blackwell

 

[john_hood]

I think I'll be picking up Roswell S1 (R2 DVD) over the summer (perhaps during one of the endless online sales!).

With regards to Shiri's acting ability. Hm, she's cute nuff said! :b

 

[Jeff Willis]

Are there any "Roswell" gurus out there that can help me out with the 2 releases of S1 for this show? A friend recommended this one to me and I see that threre have been 2 releases for S1 on Std DVD: One in '04 and the other one in '08. From Amazon's pages, I can't see a difference except for what I think is an Amazon typo where it's indicating the '08 release total time as 176 minutes with the same amount of discs (6) as the earlier release in '04.


This series came highly recommended by a friend and when I saw that S1 was anamorphic, that got me interested as S1 was aired in '99. I expected it to be in 4:3 ratio.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Are there any "Roswell" gurus out there that can help me out with the 2 releases of S1 for this show? A friend recommended this one to me and I see that threre have been 2 releases for S1 on Std DVD: One in '04 and the other one in '08. From Amazon's pages, I can't see a difference except for what I think is an Amazon typo where it's indicating the '08 release total time as 176 minutes with the same amount of discs (6) as the earlier release in '04.


This series came highly recommended by a friend and when I saw that S1 was anamorphic, that got me interested as S1 was aired in '99. I expected it to be in 4:3 ratio.

I don't believe there are any differences in the discs, or contents. The '08 was a re-release. The only real difference is that the '08 versions are offered in far slimmer, space-saving packages. There is also a complete series set floating about. You should buy that--it's probably cheaper than buying the 3 seasons individually. The entire series is widescreen anamorphic on dvd. There is a huge amount of music replacement, for which the producers apologized in a liner note. This probably won't bother you if you didn't watch the shows as they originally aired. Honestly, the music choices they made were fair ones and do not distract from the stories. It was unfortunate, but that's the way it is.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ethan Riley

I don't believe there are any differences in the discs, or contents. The '08 was a re-release. The only real difference is that the '08 versions are offered in far slimmer, space-saving packages. There is also a complete series set floating about. You should buy that--it's probably cheaper than buying the 3 seasons individually. The entire series is widescreen anamorphic on dvd. There is a huge amount of music replacement, for which the producers apologized in a liner note. This probably won't bother you if you didn't watch the shows as they originally aired. Honestly, the music choices they made were fair ones and do not distract from the stories. It was unfortunate, but that's the way it is.

Ethan,


Many thanks for the post. I looked at the complete set too but can't decide yet since this one will be a blind buy.


Good point about the music subs. Won't affect me there.

 

[Ethan Riley]

      Quote:

Ethan,

 

Many thanks for the post.   I looked at the complete set too but can't decide yet since this one will be a blind buy.

 

Good point about the music subs.   Won't affect me there. 

 

I've never been sure whether to recommend this to people or not. It's almost like a mash-up of the X-Files and Dawson's Creek...if that makes any sense. It started out quite good...then it just seemed like the writers had a strong property and never knew what to do with it. They played it too safe. The scifi trappings were kept too far in the background to give the show enough distinct genre flavor; it was like watching Dawson's Creek, but yeah--there's aliens. It's never been fully known if the scifi stuff was minimalized simply because of budget restraints, or because of an artistic choice. Either way, it always just sort of flirts with becoming a genre drama without ever really wanting to commit. I mean, "Fringe" was definitely gonna be a genre show from Day One, while Roswell always just skirted that issue. I mean, the kids all have a few super-powers, but they hardly ever use them. A couple of other aliens pop in from time to time and then just as quickly disappear from the Roswell scene. There is a spaceship; you just never really get to see much of it, and forget about ever visiting the aliens' home planet. Not to make too much of a spoiler to those who haven't watched the show, but alien landscapes simply never happened in this one. The show should have been an enduring genre classic and joined Buffy, Smallville and others from the whole WB-type stable. The series just sort of rambles from situation to situation with no real end goal. I think the notion of whether or not viewers like this series depends on how much they get caught up in the relationships between the main characters. As I said, it's definitely more of a "relationship" show than a scifi program. If you don't personally buy into the Liz/Max relationship from day one, and if you don't care for those two actors, then the whole series is doomed. I did care about them (with some reservations). Shiri Appleby is, of course, a very good actress--one of the most overlooked actresses of today. Jason Behr never got much challenging material to work with in this particular show--his Max remained a bit of an enigma from beginning to end. To buy into Max, you pretty much have to project some of your own feelings into him because there's not a lot of emotional range on display here. The rest of the cast is quite good. Katherine Heigl was an early stand out; unfortunately, according to the crew, she was also a royal pain in the ass during the last two seasons. She loathed the material and at times refused to come out of her trailer. I believe she was trying to get fired from the show ala Jessica Biel in "7th Heaven" or more recently Taylor Momsen from "Gossip Girl." Heigl's lack of cooperation shows towards the end of season three--she just seems to flat out not believe a word she's saying. The other five supporting cast members all have a certain spark that was always comfortable to watch. There's just something about them as an ensemble that seemed to click, and the show's small number of viewers definitely were caught up in them. I think if "Roswell" had any sort of credibility whatsoever, it's because the majority of the cast was caught up in what they were doing and saying, and therefore the audience's suspension of disbelief was settled. Also, they are all great characters, highly believable and people you would want to know. And what's more--they all clicked together on levels rarely achieved on television. You could put any two of the (presumably disparate) principal cast members together and you'd have a scene. Each of the characters had a relationship with each of the others. And each of them had an opinion about the others, and each of them would have something to say to the others. The ensemble was probably always the best thing about Roswell. Roswell is a show that should have been #1 in terms of good acting, characters, relationships and its unique situation. Unfortunately, the show simply suffered from a writing staff that was never able to bring the show to its deserved potential.

 

[Jeff Willis]

^ Thanks for the info here. Detailed post. It'll be a decision that might wait for Santa's list or birthday. I'm typically a cautious blind-buyer in this hobby as well as already having a lot of un-viewed sets on the shelf.