Roswell
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Introduction
The television show Roswell debuted on the WB network in October of 1999. It ran on the WB for two seasons, then moved to UPN for a third, and final, season. The show went off the air in 2002.
Roswell told the story of three teenaged aliens: Max Evans, his sister, Isabel, and their friend, Michael Guerin. They were stranded in Roswell, New Mexico, with no idea who they were, but knowing that they had powers that were unexplained (Max could heal, Isabel could visit people in their dreams - "dreamwalk" - and Michael could destroy things). They assumed that they originated from the famed "Crash of '47." Much of the show was dedicated to the three aliens discovering the secret of their past. To that end, eventually, a fourth alien, Tess Harding, was also introduced.
The story of Roswell kicked off when a local high school student, Liz Parker, was shot in her family's cafe, the Crashdown, by accident. Max healed Liz, because he was secretly in love with her, and, thus, exposed his secret to her. Liz's best friends, Maria and Alex, were eventually brought in on the secret as well. Another important character was the sheriff of Roswell, Jim Valenti, who was the original antagonist in the series, as he tried to expose Max's true identity. He became Max's ally later in the series, after Max healed Valenti's son, Kyle, who also became an important character. In Season 3, the character of Jesse Ramirez was introduced, as a love interest for Isabel.
Fanfiction was written for Roswell from the very beginning. More details will follow below.
The Canon
This section needs more information.
Terminology
Below is a list of terms and their definitions that are used in this fan community.
Most terminology in Roswell Fanfiction is related to romantic pairings. Some of the major pairings are listed below:
Lamptrimmer/Rebounder: Kyle/Tess
Polar: Michael/Liz
Ground Zero (GZ): Max/Maria
In Crowd: Kyle/Isabel
Awakened Dreamer: Zan/Liz
Streetwalker: Rath/Maria
Remedialist: Maria/Kyle
Mental Vibrator: Michael/Tess
Fifthwheel: Alex/Tess
Please see Roswell ships for a more comprehensive list of shipper terms used in the Roswell fandom.
There is also some terminology which refers to "type" of story:
Canon: stories which pick up from events which occured on the show
Alternate Universe/AU: stories which place the characters in alternate universes, either with aliens or without
CC: Conventional Couple pairings. These are the pairings which were majorly explored on the show and are considered the "canon" pairings: Max/Liz, Michael/Maria, Alex/Isabel, and, to a lesser degree, although increasing recently, Kyle/Tess. Although Max/Tess, Liz/Kyle, Isabel/Jesse, and several others were explored on the show, to lesser or greater degrees, they are rarely considered "conventional."
UC: Unconventional Couple pairings. These are stories which pair characters who were not necessarily paired on the show, or might have been, for a short time, but are still considered "unconventional" - popular examples would be Michael/Liz, Max/Tess, Isabel/Kyle, and Max/Maria. There are many others.
Crossover: Stories where Roswell is crossovered with other shows, movies, books, etc. There are popular "crossover" pairings in Roswell fandom. An example would be X-Tremers, who pair Liz with Alec from the T.V. show Dark Angel
Timeline
Below is a partial timeline of events that took place in this fan community.
1999
- On October 6, 1999, the 1ALL_ROSWELL mailing list was created. [1]
- On October 7, 1999, the All-Roswell mailing list was created. [2]
- From 1999 to 2000, part of this fan fiction community was very active on FanForums. Members posted stories and gave feedback on the site.
- "At the end of the first two seasons, in 2000 and 2001, fans peppered network offices with more than 10,000 bottles of Tabasco sauce. The effort eventually branched out to include charitable donations tied to the show, but none of it was enough to get Roswell past its third year." [3]
2004
- On June 10, 2004, the LiveJournal community roswell_fandom was created. [4]
- On July 2, 2004, the MySpace group roswell was created. [5]
2005
- On May 14, 2005, the MySpace group roswellfansrock was created. [6]
2006
- By 2006, fanfiction continues to be written in this fandom. One of the largest sites out there is roswellfanatics.net.
Kerfluffles
Dreamers v. Rebels Something that seems obvious, given the pairings in question (Max/Liz and Max/Tess), dreamers v. rebels were always in contention, and the fights were vicious. At one point, there was a deport Emilie de Ravin (the actress who played Tess) petition being circulated and there were often comparisons between Tess and animals (most commonly a gerbil). Rebels tended to call Liz the Lizbot, mocking her voice and delivery. It got so bad that there actually had to be a designation for dreamers who liked Tess, and those people tended to be scorned by both groups.[citation needed]
Dreamers v. Candies Dreamers and Candies often feuded when debates about which of the main couples (Max & Liz or Michael & Maria) were the best.[citation needed]
Dreamers v. Polars Polarists and Dreamers have always had a rocky relationship, but after a rule change at a major fanfiction board, it brought the feuding to a head. Both sides have since resolved their issues.[citation needed]
Applesaucers (Shiri Appleby fans) v. Katherine Heigl fans Fans of Shiri Appleby were none too pleased to see Katherine Heigl's (often nicknamed KHo)screentime increase in later seasons while they saw Shiri's decrease, something they blamed on Heigl's then relationship with Jason Behr. They took their frustration out on fans of Katherine Heigl.[citation needed]
Fanforum v. Roswell Ate My Soul Dreamers, especially spoiled dreamers, were angry with the censorship that seemed to be rampant on fanforum.com and migrated to their own board, Roswell Ate My Soul (RAMS), following the spoiling of The End of the World, an episode that forever changed the dynamics of the Max/Liz relationship. Promoted as an alternative to fanforum, in that it encouraged uncensored speech, it's greatest appeal was it's accurate spoilers, which came from actual script pages. Hercules of Aint it Cool News and Wanda (now Kristin) of E!'s spoiler chat, often used RAMS as a source. The feuding hit a fever pitch when news of Tess/Max having an intimate relationship broke.[citation needed]
Roswell ate my soul is now defunct.
Fanforum v. Jason Katims When news of Tess/Max having sex (and a child) broke, some dreamers on fanforum posted Jason Katmis' (the creator of Roswell) work phone number and urged them to call. It's unclear if anyone did.[citation needed]
Influential Fanworks
Stories
General/CC
The Future Arc by Danilise
Roswell Elementary Series by Kara and Emily
Homes by EmilyLuvsRoswell
The Son Series by Midwest Max
A Call to Arms by Bennie
AU With Aliens
Spin by incognito
This Brilliant Dance by mangoaddict
AU Without Aliens
Own Me/Our Story by jasper711
My Life as a Teenaged Superhero by Deejonaise and Applebylicious
Not So Little by Applebylicious
Gold diggers by nibbles2
Crossover
Still Yours by Kzinti_Killer (Roswell/Highlander)
Don't Dream It's Over by Calinia (Roswell/Dark Angel)
Dreamer
Captivated by Darkness, Fight the Break of Dawn, Fading Into Twilight, Darkest Days by Ash
The Experiment Series by LivE
Captive Hearts by Breathless
Revelations by EmilyLuvsRoswell
Antarian Sky by Rosdeidre
Yours by Deejonaise
Serendipity: Every Path Leads to You by Majesty
The Bitter Dregs by Tasyfa
See: Max/Liz
Candy
The Praetorians by DocPaul
Rebels and Saviors by DocPaul
The Day We Never Kissed by DocPaul
Mysteries, Shattered, Amends and Shan'taran'a (Forever) by Anla
Routines by Chicky
The Short-Term Fix by Yettaren
Masques: An M&M 'Little Shop' Fic by kLyn
Lost In America by candylovespell
See: Michael/Maria
Stargazer
Love and the Single Woman by StargazerUK
The Letter by StargazerUK
Almost Perfect by vegas312
Lamptrimmer
The Fourth by Icalynn
I Could Have Loved You by jbangelo
Nothing To Lose by jbangelo
Polarist
The Polar Novel by Whiteotter
Finding Ulysses by Peachykin
Memory of Her by Peachykin
Journey's End by Darkvixen
Nemesis Game by Darkvixen
Poison by Zanzabehr aka PolarTruckin'
Point of Origin by various authors
See: PolarAttraction.com
Awakened Dreamer
Hands Of An Artist by RoswellOracle
Second Chances by femmenerd
Rebel
Providence by mangoaddict
Remnants by Didi
In Crowd
To Sunrise From Indigo by jbangelo
Paradise Lost by Elizabeth
Ground Zero
Lost And Found by Midwest Max
My Beloved Wife by Midwest Max
Other UC Pairings
Mental Vibrator:
Analecta by Hauntedd
Remedialist:
Desperately Wanting by jbangelo
Fandom Members
This section needs more information.
Fandom size
January 2008
As of January 7, 2008 there are 3,326 stories on FanFiction.Net [7] and 83 stories on Twisting the Hellmouth [8]. RoswellFanatics.net has a total of 128584 articles and 4914 registered users [9], and Roswellian Chronicles has 758 registered users.
However, the Roswell fandom did not tend to gravitate towards boards such as FanFiction.Net. Instead, it centered around numerous Roswell-only boards such as RoswellFanatics.net and other discussion communities or ship-specific sites (examples include Candy Is Dandy and PolarAttraction.com which has more than 1430 members, 12000 posts, and 696 stories on its archive).
In addition, the Roswell fandom is notorious for hosting a vast amount of "lurkers," or fans who read fanfiction and discussions without ever registering or participating in any way. As such, there is no way to accurately gauge their numbers.
External Links
Roswell Fanfiction Sites
Crashdown.com - Fanfiction Page
Roswell Fanatics Fanfiction Archives
Roswell: The Promise - A Dreamer Archive
PolarAttraction.com, board, archive
See also
Sources
Below is a partial list of articles and academic sources to help you continue to learn about this community.
- Stein, L. E. (2002). Subject: 'Off topic: Oh my God, US terrorism!: roswell fans respond to 11 September. European Journal of Cultural Studies. 5 (4), 471-491.
- Storm, Jonathan. "Save My Show!" The Philedelphia Inquirer. 28 March 2007. < http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/television/20070327_Jonathan_Storm___Save_my_show_.html >
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