ROSWELL: PILOT {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The pilot in this sci-fi series, based on the "Roswell High" book series, about teenage alien-human hybrids living in Roswell, New Mexico, as they try to find a way home. The episode begins as Liz Parker writes in her journal about having "died" five days earlier. Flashing back over the previous week, Liz describes her work at a UFO-themed diner, the Crashdown Cafe, interacting with people in Roswell for the upcoming Crash festival. At the same time, hunky classmate Max Evans ogles Liz as co-worker Maria watches. Then, two men get in a fight and one fires a gun, inadvertently hitting Liz in the stomach. Max rushes over to Liz and puts his hand on her open wound, after which she appears completely healed. Before fleeing, Max douses Liz with ketchup to mask the blood stains and tells her not to say anything. Sheriff Valenti arrives on the scene and two tourists immediately discuss what they believe to have happened, claiming a gun did go off but that there is no bullet hole. The next day in science class, Max freaks out when each student is asked to examine their own cheek swab. He excuses himself and makes a hasty retreat. Liz nabs Max's pencil and scrapes off his cells to be examined under her microscope. Comparing Max's cells to her own, she sees that his aren't normal. Liz goes to Max to confront him with the information, but runs into her boyfriend: the sheriff's son, Kyle. Once arranging to be alone with Max, Liz reveals that Max's silver handprint is on her stomach. She questions Max on where he is from and he reveals that he is "not of the Earth." Max pleads with Liz to keep his secret. Meanwhile, Maria and her pal Alex discuss what is going on with Liz. Elsewhere, Max's sister Isabel is furious at him for breaking the "sacred pact" in using his powers. Fellow alien friend Michael thinks it is time for them all to leave Roswell. Isabel is worried that they will soon be turned over to a government agency and exterminated. Later, Maria confronts Liz, wanting to know what Max did to her. Meanwhile, Sheriff Valenti pulls Max's car over and inspects his license, noticing a Tabasco bottle on the floorboards, just like one he observed on an empty table at the cafe after the shooting. That night, Kyle walks Liz home from a date and questions her on her aloof behavior, then notices the handprint on her stomach. After her date, Max comes over to speak again with Liz. Max communicates to Liz how he came to Earth and how he can "see" her thoughts. At school the next day, Liz feels like Max has put "a force" on her and changed her life. That day, Sheriff Valenti again questions Liz, showing her some 1959 autopsy photos of a man who died with a silver handprint on his shoulder. Sheriff Valenti asks to see Liz's stomach, having been told by Kyle about her similar handprint. She raises her shirt and shows her flawless skin, but Sheriff Valenti thinks that the print could have just faded. He then questions her about Max, wondering if he was at the Crashdown on the day of the incident. Finally, he shows Liz the dress she was wearing at the cafe that day, which has a bullet hole in it. Sheriff Valenti calls in Agent Stevens to reveal his findings. However, the agent thinks the sheriff is acting like his father, who was dubbed "Sergeant Martian" for having chased after alien creatures. Liz questions Max further about his existence and learns that Isabel and Michael are also aliens, all of whom gestated in incubabtion pods after the famous 1947 crash. Max then demonstrates some of his powers. Liz wonders why Max would risk his existence for her. Then, Liz tells Max about the corpse photos she saw, and he claims it is an impossibility. She also warns him about Sheriff Valenti, after which Max tells Isabel and Michael that they must flee. With the Crash festival about to begin, Maria again demands to know from Liz what Max did to her, then freaks out when she hears the story. Michael is excited to learn about the autopsy photos, thinking it must mean that there is another one of "them." Later, Maria and Liz stop the three aliens from leaving town. Maria tells the trio not to go because it would prove their guilt. Afterward, Liz apologizes to Kyle for her behavior, meant to distract him as Maria and Isabel set a ruse in motion to take suspicion away from the aliens. At the festival, Sheriff Valenti approaches Max to question him about the Crashdown incident, after which he handcuffs the alien. Then, Liz, Maria, Isabel, and Michael ensure that the silver handprint evidence no longer holds water, using Kyle as a dupe. Thus, Sheriff Valenti is forced to let Max go, though he delivers a warning that he'll find out the truth. The festival culminates with a recreation of the alien crash at Roswell, after which Max meets Liz atop a nearby hill. There, he tells her that it is not safe for them to be together. Back in the present, Liz closes her diary and states that, though she "died," she's now "come to life." Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: WB
- DATE: October 6, 1999 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:44:03
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:64160
- GENRE: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, fantasy/science fiction; Space aliens
- SERIES RUN: WB - TV series, 1999-2002
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Jonathan Frakes … Executive Producer
- Lisa J. Olin … Executive Producer
- Kevin Kelly Brown … Executive Producer
- David Nutter … Executive Producer, Director
- Jason Katims … Executive Producer, Developed by, Writer
- Phillip M. Goldfarb … Producer
- Melinda Metz … Based on the "Roswell High" books by
- W.G. Snuffy Walden … Music by
- Joseph Stanley Williams … Music by
- Shiri Appleby … Cast, Liz Parker
- Jason Behr … Cast, Max Evans
- Katherine Heigl … Cast, Isabel Evans
- Majandra Delfino … Cast, Maria DeLuca
- Brendan Fehr … Cast, Michael Guerin
- Colin Hanks … Cast, Alex Whitman
- Nick Wechsler … Cast, Kyle Valenti
- William Sadler … Cast, Sheriff Jim Valenti
- John Doe … Cast, Jeff Parker
- Michael Horse … Cast, Deputy Owen Blackwood
- Wendle Josepher … Cast, Jennifer
- Kevin Weisman … Cast, Larry Trillin
- Vance Valencia … Cast, Mayor Sandler
- Joe Camareno … Cast, Paramedic
- Yolanda Lloyd Delgado … Cast, Ms. Hardy
- Channing Carson … Cast, Liz at 7 years
- Daniel Hansen … Cast, Max at 7 years
- Zoe Nutter … Cast, Isabel at 7 years