Love Letter to Roswell
(A Roswell Season One DVD Review)
By Kara Larson (AnyaLindir@aol.com)
Love Letter to Roswell
The opening credits bring back with three seasons' worth of memories. The slow beat of "Here with Me" induces a bittersweet sense of nostalgia for a time when Roswell was my life. I was one of those dedicated fans who did everything but stalk the stars and the producers of the show. I was there for the first Roswellian gathering at Paramount studios, I was there for the first big Fanforum party the following August. I remember the blood, sweat and tears that were the center of my world during the Roswell years. The complete first season of Roswell on DVD is a product of that love and my reaction to it, like my memories, is bittersweet.
The package arrived on Tuesday, the DVD slipcase showing two very familiar faces under the Roswell logo. Instead of being a quad-fold case like I've seen on some of the other DVDs, this package put each DVD in its own plastic case. Each case features one of the cast: Liz, Max, Maria, Isabel, Michael and the Sheriff. There are four episodes per DVD, with most of the extras on the final DVD of the set. The menus themselves are uncomplicated and don't involve a lot of flashy animation, making it easy to navigate through the DVD. The extras themselves aren't too impressive. There is one deleted scene and six episodes with commentary, but there are only two featurettes and one audition tape for Emilie de Ravin.
The only other real disappointment was the change in some of the songs within the episodes. "Heatwave" doesn't seem the same without Santana pounding out "Put Your Lights On" during Michael and Maria's first heavy make-out scene. And while the 'new cutting-edge song' that the Roswell music team found for that scene at the window in "Independence Day" was an appropriate song, I kept hearing "Run" in my head while Michael stood outside in the rain.
But in essence, everything remained the same. The episodes still carry all of the emotional power that I remember. The lack of commercials is an added bonus. And the commentaries by Shiri Appleby and Majandra Delfino on "Sexual Healing" and "Crazy" were hysterical. Commentaries provided by the Roswell producers, writers and directors were informative and insightful, but the highlight of the DVD set was definitely hearing Shiri and Majandra's stories about life on the set and Brendan's Hair (in capital letters).
Someone said that the DVD set was a love letter to the fans. Roswell was definitely a show like no other for fan involvement. Shiri and Majandra even remarked on how they heard about friendships made through this show. Even though my own Roswell-based website hasn't been updated in two years, I still count the people I met through Roswell as some of my closest friends. Roswell was indirectly responsible for my current job, because my boss was so impressed by the website I co-ran with my friend Emily. Roswell carries too many memories for too many people to ever really die. And thanks to this DVD set, we can relive those memories, for better or worse.
Highly recommended for Roswell fans, or people who missed the series the first time around. This is the best season, and while the extras aren't everything that was promised, the DVD itself brings back enough memories to make it worth it.