The first program that I remember seeing this in was
“Roswell.” It’s the story of the small
town in New Mexico where aliens are believed to have crash-landed. In the series, the aliens take the form of
three teenagers, a girl and two boys, who are living with adoptive
parents. They believe they must keep
their alien identities hidden, even from their parents, or face being “hunted”
and/or “studied” in laboratories.
Liz is the girl next door who works at the local
café. One day, Max and his friends are
eating in the café. While they are there,
the café is held up and Liz is shot. In
the confusion that follows, the three aliens would normally just slip
away. They are used to keeping a very
low profile in town, not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention to their
lives. But Max can’t leave; he has admired Liz from afar for a long time and
cannot let her die. Going against
everything his instincts for survival, and the other two, are telling him he
uses his alien power to save Liz’s life.
His healing leaves a hand print on her body and so there are lots of
questions afterward. Eventually, Max
tells Liz the whole truth and asks her to keep his secret.
The main mistake that this show made was having it
be all about the teens. The parents (one
of whom was played by Jo Anderson) were 100% clueless to all that was going on
right under their noses, and this got annoying very fast.
Right around the time this show ended, “Smallville” premiered
and improved on the concepts that “Roswell” had started. “Smallville” corrected the
adults-are-all-stupid flaw in the “Roswell” premise. Clark’s parents were fully
aware of their unusual child. Jonathan
and Martha Kent were the most intelligent and supportive parents you ever
wanted to meet, and this went a long way toward giving the show appeal to a
much wider adult audience.
The main underlying theme that both these shows
shared was the idea of an alien in the role of the Beast. Both Max and Clark were secretly in love with
the most beautiful girl in town. But
they knew they were Different. They both
had a big secret. Max felt that his
secret was a burden for Liz to share.
Clark feared telling Lana the truth for the same reason. Clark believed he too would be rejected by
everyone he loved if they knew the truth about him. There was also a lot of guilt. Clark knew that Lana’s parents had been killed
in the meteor shower that brought him to earth.
In essence, he blamed himself for her pain. In addition, both Max and Clark knew nothing
about their planet of origin and that made them doubt themselves even
further. In each case, they reacted much
like Vincent would to the progression of a romantic relationship.
Of these two shows, granted, “Smallville” had a lot
of themes going on, and especially when Lois came along, lost the Beauty & the Beast flavor. “Roswell” was much more focused on the
romance overall. In what may have been
one of the best TV theme songs ever, the singer Dido echoed Vincent’s words in “Nor
Iron Bars a Cage” in haunting beautiful tones:
I am what I am…
I’ll do what I want, but I can’t
hide.
I won’t go, I won’t sleep, I can’t
breathe,
Until you’re resting here with me.
I won’t leave, I can’t hide, I
cannot be,
Until you’re resting here with me.
(continued...)
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