The aliens are among us!

Thanks to AlienChick for sending this in! Note the two smaller articles at the bottom, and that the article made a mistake in saying that Isabel is a human character.

the aliens are among us

From: Soap Opera Update
February 1, 2000 issue.
Primetime Focus section
Written by Damon Romine.

You could call it DAWSON’S CREEK IN SPACE. Or X-FILES LIGHT. But ROSWELL seems to fit just right. Like DALLAS 20 years before, they’re both one-word titles that instantly convey the appeal of their settings: Dallas has its oil, Roswell its aliens.

Roswell, of course, is the real-life New Mexico town that has become famous for what many believe was a fiery crash of an alien spacecraft back in 1947. ROSWELL brings this legend into the present: Max, Isabel and Michael are three Tabasco sauce-loving alien descendants from the crash who find themselves attending high school while searching for the truth about where they’re from.

At the heart of this sci-fi tale is an old-fashioned soap filled with love and intrigue. Sexy alien Max (Jason Behr) and human Liz (Shiri Appleby) find themselves thrown together in a romance that they know shouldn’t be happening. But they just can’t stay away from each other!

“The thing that was most appealing to me was that it was a love story with a real obstacle to it. As a writer, I’m drawn to a Romeo-and-Juliet-type love story with this kind of obstacle,” says writer/executive producer Jason Katims (MY SO-CALLED LIFE). “And if you want to do a contemporary story about young people, it’s hard to find a real obstacle. ‘Why can’t they be together? What’s the big deal?’ And I think the fact that they are different life forms really gives you that obstacle.”

For Behr, this is his third series on the youth-driven WB. But now he’s leading the alien ensemble as the sensible — and sensitive — Max. For the actor, playing an alien is right up his alley.

“As far as the genre is concerned, I think ‘E.T.’ had a profound impact on me when I was a child,” he admits. “I think that the fantasy and the discovery of it all, and the idea behind the fact that there could be other intelligent life forms out there, is fascinating. For me to sit here and tell you that we are the only intelligent life form that ever existed would be very arrogant of me.”

Co-star Katherine Heigl, who plays human Isabel began to research the real-life Roswell after she got the part. “My father sent me the official government records on Roswell and it’s actually very interesting,” she says. “They’re still saying it was a weather balloon crash, but I think there’s still plenty of mystery there.”

For actress Appleby, though, the realistic teen voice of the characters is what appealed to her. The USC student auditioned for all three female roles before landing the part of Liz. “I think what really drew me to this was the writing,” the newcomer says without hesitation. “It spoke to me and it is written in a really realistic way.”

No matter how much romance is instilled, comparisons to THE X-FILES are totally inevitable. “There’s certainly similarities, dealing with the alien issues. But it’s a little bit more personal, because we (the aliens) are on a search of our own about where we’ve come from,” says Brendan Fehr (Michael).

Like THE X-FILES, ROSWELL has its own mythology and is following a path to get there. “We’ve plotted out the first season,” says Katims. “But one of the exciting things about the premise is that the three alien characters don’t know about their history, which makes it exciting, because as they discover their back story, the audience is discovering it.”

Like they say on that other show, “The truth is out there.” So it’s time to discover ROSWELL!

Colin Hanks: Son of Tom

Oscar winner Tom Hanks is a fan of ROSWELL. That’s because his son Colin Hanks is one of the stars! Colin plays Alex, the best friend who knows the truth about the aliens in Roswell, but remains a skeptic. The younger Hanks, though, isn’t riding on his father’s popularity. In fact, he isn’t promoting the series just to avoid discussing his family connection. “I do not want that stardom in my like because of what he goes through on a daily basis”

The Man Behind The Aliens

Actor Jonathan Frakes is famous for his Commander Riker on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Now he’s moved to the helm of ROSWELL. As executive producer, Frakes continues his personal fascination with the possibility of a real-life alien landing in Roswell, New Mexico. In the past, he’s hosted the special “Roswell: Cover-Ups And Close Encounters.” The actor hasn’t ruled out guest-starring on the series, but he would most likely play himself. Again. In the pilot episode, Frakes played himself as celebrity host of Roswell’s annual alien-landing celebration.