Roswell: The Complete First Season

Whether you believe an alien craft fell from the sky in the '50s or you swallow the governmental propaganda of weather balloons, Roswell's six-disc season one collectors edition will make believers out of fans. Most of the standard bonus features can be found on the sixth disc, including two making--of featurettes by Sparkhill and a couple audition tapes of actress Emilie de Ravin, who plays Tess Harding. The 30-minute Area 51 Behind the Scenes of Roswell, starts out as a testimonial, with cast and production staffers gushing on about such and such actor is great and such and such actress is wonderful. Once users wade through that, however, some interesting points and anecdotes bubble to the surface. Executive producer and writer Jason Katims and producer Carol Trussel describe how the small town of Covina, located some 30 miles outside of Los Angeles, was transformed into Roswell, N.M., through the use of two strategically placed signs for the Alien Museum and the Crashdown Café. The exterior shots of the main strip in Covina combined with sets on both the Fox and Paramount lots help create the illusion of Roswell. Other interesting evidence of life for the series came in the form of thousands of Tabasco bottles mailed to studio execs by fans at the close of the first season as an homage to the show's signature Tabasco-eating aliens. Fox had placed Roswell on the chopping block due to mediocre ratings, but the outpouring of fan mail and Tabasco showed them that perhaps life did exist for this show. Both producers and actors credit the passion of their fans for keeping them afloat for four seasons. In the other featurette, the 10-minute Roswell High, writer Melinda Metz and editor Laura Burns reveal that a series of books titled Roswell High was the impetus for the show. An effort was put into commentary tracks. Each episode contains an enthusiastic track from either a director, a writer, a producer or an actor. What's missing is a featurette on the actual Roswell and it's real/fictional happenings. However, fans will nonetheless love this release, and newcomers will be able to check out still another creation inspired by that fateful occurrence in the '50s that continues to capture our collective imagination. --Jamie Clark