Roswell - RBI # 5 : The sci-fi in Roswell - Page 17

Reggie · 01-25-2009, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BBBoBBB (View Post)

One thing that you're forgetting is the salaries of the actors. After a successful first season many of the stars of the seres ask for and recieve raises, sometimes substantial. Building a new set is a one shot expense, per-episode salary increases are an on-going expense.
(...)
Ronald Moore was brought in for season two to handle the scifi aspects of the show, Katims wasn't a scifi writer. Moore supposedly came up with the Granalith idea. I'm sure he had more planned for it then the travesty that was Departure but then he wasn't in charge of the story lines.

I hadn't forgotten salaries; they were a factor contrary to my thesis, so I omitted them.

But was anyone on Roswell asking for more money, when the series was going down?

And since when is RM a sci-fi expert? Star Trek is notorious for its bafflegab and hand-waving non-explanations.

BBBoBBB · 01-26-2009, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reggie (View Post)

I hadn't forgotten salaries; they were a factor contrary to my thesis, so I omitted them.

But was anyone on Roswell asking for more money, when the series was going down?

And since when is RM a sci-fi expert? Star Trek is notorious for its bafflegab and hand-waving non-explanations.

Compared to JK, RM is an expert. RM has done more then just Star Trek, a series that is still alive in various incarnations, he also was the developer of Battlestar Galactica. He wasn't the show runner or one that was writing Roswell even tho he did do a few episodes, but helped JK. People have made excuses for the chads on Roswell by saying RM was distracted by his pet project at the time, a TV version of Pern.

Oh, and Rowell never did Very well for UPN, it did ok by UPN standards. The smaller networks have very little development money and will keep a lower performing show for the season because they don't have a backlog of projects waiting to get greenlighted. If Roswell was such a success for UPN why cut their order by 4 episodes??

KenL · 01-27-2009, 01:14 PM

Jason Katims discusses the cancellation of Roswell:

So, Roswell spent two seasons on WB, then was axed after just one on UPN. Why?

Katims: Personally, the toughest blow for me is that from day one on UPN, our numbers were way too low. The writing was on the wall even then, although the network liked the show and, frankly, gave it their best shot. We just wound up in a highly competitive time slot. Unfortunately, for us, Smallville did incredibly well. Plus, other unexpected successes like The Guardian took some of our audience. We just did not hold enough of our lead-in audience [from Buffy the Vampire Slayer] - that was a great disappointment for me.

TVGO: The show has had trouble balancing its sci-fi and soapy aspects. Looking back, what might you have done differently?

Katims: I would've stayed with the Skins as antagonists - and not gone off on things like the whole storyline about alien DNA. And in the second season, the mythology of the show became very complicated and the audience started to get lost. I think that's what people got frustrated with more than the soap-opera element of the show. It is a soap opera!

Reggie · 01-27-2009, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KenL (View Post)

Jason Katims discusses the cancellation of Roswell:

Katims: (...)And in the second season, the mythology of the show became very complicated and the audience started to get lost. I think that's what people got frustrated with, more than the soap-opera element of the show. It is a soap opera!

Exactly! Instead of having a coherent plotline, with external adversaries, JK started making trouble by playing games with the front couple. He figured that the audience would continue to care about the characters, even when they were acting wildly out of character. Little old ladies who have their "stories" on for company during the lonely day are an easier audience than younger people who are watching the plots and characters attentively, and who expect some plausibility from both. It's a "suspension of disbelief" thing: If I have to work at suspending disbelief too hard, without getting a commensurate level of enjoyment from the show, then it's not worth the bother and I'm outa here!

xmag · 01-29-2009, 05:11 AM

Quote:

Katims: I would've stayed with the Skins as antagonists - and not gone off on things like the whole storyline about alien DNA.

Did he mean the "royal 4/Destiny/Death and reborn aliens" part of the show?

KenL · 01-29-2009, 02:59 PM

Did he mean the "royal 4/Destiny/Death and reborn aliens" part of the show?

He did not clarify his answer.........Perhaps he is addressing the issue of the alien destiny that you mentioned.

Citrus and Vine · 01-29-2009, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Instead of having a coherent plotline, with external adversaries, JK started making trouble by playing games with the front couple. He figured that the audience would continue to care about the characters, even when they were acting wildly out of character. Little old ladies who have their "stories" on for company during the lonely day are an easier audience than younger people who are watching the plots and characters attentively, and who expect some plausibility from both. It's a "suspension of disbelief" thing: If I have to work at suspending disbelief too hard, without getting a commensurate level of enjoyment from the show, then it's not worth the bother and I'm outa here!

But doesn’t saying that you’re “outa here” contradict what you actually did while Roswell aired and have continued doing in the ensuing years, even now? You’re still here. You’re still talking about Roswell.

Stories which have only external adversaries are easy to understand and easy to predict the outcome.

Liz and Max’s relationship was in doubt from the first episode of Roswell. Roswell is drama, which includes drama about the main characters’ relationship with each other and with other characters.

Regardless of how much a couple loves each other, if there is a break-up, they may not get back together. If a couple breaks up and gets back together later, they may have difficulties in their relationship, as Max and Liz did, and as Michael and Maria did.

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xmag · 01-31-2009, 07:47 AM

Everything is weird with Roswell anyway, even the post-show interviews

. I don't know why Katims regretted the skins storyline, it was one of the less appreciated by the fans, who prefered the couples with a little paranormal/alien stuff.

BBBoBBB · 01-31-2009, 07:31 PM

I think Katims must have drank to koolaid. The first episode of Roswell on UPN had decent numbers for UPN, most of the fans DID follow the show from The WB. After the first episode and the horrendous lake scene then the whole jail thing, the second episode of season 3 lost half the audience. With the spoilers poiting out the "new" vision of the show that Katims planned, the ratings never recovered.

I don't think Katims knew what the heck he was doing. He had no clue about continuity and would just toss in scifi elements to force a plot point. Katims is a great soap opera writer but he was in over his head with Roswell.

And if he got rid of the skins what the heck was Nicholas doing at the summit?? Hmmm, another point that Katims couldn't keep straight.

Citrus and Vine · 02-01-2009, 10:43 AM

Nicholas survived Tess’ mindwarp in the high school, because Nicholas had better mind control of himself than other Skins in the high school had, and because, as he backed away from what he mentally thought was a fireball, there was a side corridor, which allowed him a way out from what he thought was happening. At the end of the episode, someone resembling Nicholas rides a scooter past Max and Tess outside, which meant that Nicholas hadn’t died in the high school.

If the writers had chosen to have more episodes with Skins as adversaries, they could have, since Nicholas didn’t die at the high school, and since not all the Skins were in the high school.

When shows are cancelled and not picked up elsewhere, people who made the show sometimes consider what they might have done differently that might have extended the show. At the time Jason Katims was interviewed, his idea then was that possibly the story became too complicated by DNA episodes.

While some people aren’t interested in DNA, many people are aware that people have DNA, and they wanted to know whether or not aliens had DNA, and wanted to know the source of the group’s human DNA. Roswell episodes with information about characters’ DNA provided answers to those questions.

If Roswell had been written differently in any part of it, it might still have been cancelled anyway. Roswell was cancelled in its first season. Viewer campaigns and support convinced the WB to pick up Roswell for its second season, then UPN picked up Roswell for third season, and later the SciFi channel picked up Roswell re-runs, and later Roswell was released on DVD and was re-released in new covers last year. Roswell also aired in countries outside the United States. Roswell proved successful. Roswell writers continue writing on successful television series which currently air on prime time television. Some of those writers are also executive producers of their shows.

Roswell wasn’t made by the WB, which paid for the rights to air Roswell. The WB could have cancelled Roswell at the end of Season Two, even if Roswell had more episodes about the Skins as antagonists and didn’t do episodes about DNA.

The same year the WB cancelled Roswell again, it also cancelled Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which had high ratings. By canceling some shows with proven audience support, the WB had the means to produce its own show Smallville, about teen Superman, who has special powers. Smallville continues airing new episodes.

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xmag · 02-12-2009, 06:14 AM

Quote:

And if he got rid of the skins what the heck was Nicholas doing at the summit?? Hmmm, another point that Katims couldn't keep straight.

And how did he survive in the first place? Between the ball of fire killing off all the other skins, and the fact that he was supposed to die soon because his skin couldn't last for long, why was he still alive?

Misha · 02-12-2009, 07:49 AM

xmag, I think Katims was refering to the Hybrid Chronicles when he's talking about the alien DNA... That's one hell of a confusing arc... that didn't go anywhere after it was "resolved"... Aside from the money to go to Las Vegas, that is

Citrus and Vine · 02-12-2009, 08:27 AM

Although Courtney ruined the new husks, she and the other Skins didn’t immediately die. They would die later without new husks, when the husks they were in wore out. Courtney’s new husk, which Michael took with them, wasn’t mature enough for Courtney to continue living.

A group of Skins went to Roswell by bus, to get the Granilith, so they could leave Earth, since their husks, which they needed to survive on Earth, were wearing out, and Courtney had ruined the new replacement husks. The Skins didn’t have a way to leave Earth, which is why some Skins wanted the Granilith, even before Courtney ruined the new husks.

Tess’ fireball wasn’t an actual fireball. Tess, Max, Michael, and Isabel weren’t affected by what the Skins thought they saw. The school hallway walls, lockers, floor and ceiling weren’t scorched, which means that there hadn’t been a fire in the hallway.

The Skins thought they saw a fireball behind Tess. They reacted in fear and backed away. Skins died and turned to dust, as a result of what they thought they saw behind Tess. Tess, Max, Michael and Isabel were unaffected by the imagined fireball.

Nicholas didn’t die in the high school. He backed away from what he also thought he saw, but he had better control of himself, than the other Skins had of themselves. A side corridor provided Nicholas the means to escape from what he thought he was seeing.

Nicholas continued living, after Skins in the high school died. At the end of the episode, Nicholas rode a scooter past Max and Tess. Later, Nicholas went to New York, where the Dupes lived.

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Reggie · 02-12-2009, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Citrus and Vine (View Post)

Tess’ fireball wasn’t an actual fireball. Tess, Max, Michael, and Isabel weren’t affected by what the Skins thought they saw. The school hallway walls, lockers, floor and ceiling weren’t scorched, which means that there hadn’t been a fire in the hallway.

The Skins thought they saw a fireball behind Tess. They reacted in fear and backed away. Skins died and turned to dust, as a result of what they thought they saw behind Tess. Tess, Max, Michael and Isabel were unaffected by the imagined fireball.

Either the Skins were killed, or they were not killed. Please pick one, and stick to it.

And the Skins were all affected by the aging of their husks. That would include Nicholas, assuming he was a Skin. He should have been in just as bad a shape as the others.

xmag · 02-18-2009, 06:20 AM

We saw skins pieces or what was left of them everywhere. Of course, Max, Michael and Isabel weren't affected, the ball of fire wasn't coming in their direction but in the opposite one. So the skins were dead. How did Nicholas survive... maybe he had the alien device allowing him to be in another time zone?