The aliens have landed

The second season of the short-lived series "Roswell" came out on DVD this week. I purchased it the day after it was released. Priced at approximately $48, this package contains all season 2 episodes, including my favorite Roswell episode of all time, entitled "The End of the World."



If you are not familiar with the series, here's a crash course (pun intended!) The series followed a group of teenagers who live in Roswell, NM. At the beginning of the series, there are three alien teens who have lived as humans for as long as they can remember. They were "born" from pods that were in a spacecraft that crashed in Roswell. Remember the big coverup? They were hidden and so were not captured by the government.



So they came out of the pods as six year old human children. Two (Max and Isabel) were adopted by a good family and the other (Michael) was in foster care.



The series actually takes place while they are in high school, but back story is told through flashbacks and narrative. Season One shows how the aliens become emotionally involved with some human teens, complete with teenage relationship angst, which is made even more intense because of the alien factor. Max and Liz (a human girl that was shot in the first episode, but Max healed her with his powers) are the Romeo and Juliet of the show. The relationship goes through some terribly intense ups and downs through the entire series. If the relationship can be described as on again, off again.. season one is the on again stage and season two is the off again stage.



The whole series really focuses on the relationships between the aliens and humans, while also exploring the mysterious past the aliens have as they struggle for meaning and identity in their lives. They don't really know why they are on earth at first, which actually parallells the search most teenagers undergo in their lives.



Season Two is filled with the same emotion and drama as season one. While the packaging of the DVD set could be better (the disks come in those cheesy plastic boxes that are incredibly flimsy) the overall design is good. The cover art is beautiful, and the menus are sufficiently cool.



If you are a Roswell fan, or you want to experience a great series from the beginning, check out Roswell, seasons one and two on DVD. It's an out of this world experience!



Anita Havel

The Casual Critic