Toon Zone Talkback - "Roswell Conspiracies": The Mystery Is Why Haven't I Heard Of It

[darkdetective]

This is the talkback thread for "Roswell Conspiracies": The Mystery Is Why Haven't I Heard Of It.

Does anyone here actually remember watching this?

[W.C.Reaf]

I've watched it all recently and it was alright, but sadly nothing really special. The animation held up for the most part but the characters and the world seemed woefully underdeveloped. They threw us into these new concepts of Vampires and Werewolves without telling us that much about how they're different.

Also the conspiracy stuff really needed better writing as it should've gotten some more story arcs as the premise suited it best. It also seemed towards the end there was a shift in what story they wanted to tell as what was set up and what paid off were going in opposite directions. The massive gaping plot hole in the first half of the show ('The Conduit' episodes) lends credence to that theory as it suggests they were going in another direction with the show before changing their minds.

The mystery of why no ones really heard of it is because it simply wasn't that good. It wasn't that bad either but it was a mostly forgettable series that could've been great with the proper writers behind it.

[Dudley]

I remember this show back when I was 8-11. It seemed like it had the potential to be cool, but I found it boring when I watched it.

[FFmax]

Wow I just watched the entire series months ago, it was a pretty darn good show. I liked how the werewolves and banshees and other aliens had recurring roles in this show, they weren't generic baddies, they actually had personality and most of their problems came from the alliance and their crazy authority. And the ending was fantastic, it was three parts long if I remember, and a lot crazy stuff goes down, but I don't want to spoil for people who didn't watch this series. It's disappointing that this series wasn't as popular as other cartoons, but I think if they changed the target demographic to teens instead of kids, the show would have fared much better, because the story gets pretty complex and I seriously doubt little children would have the attention span to sit through let alone understand the plot.

[Silverstar]

Turns out all myths and legends, like werewolves, vampires, yetis, banshees, etc. are all aliens stranded on Earth.

Interestingly, there was an issue of the Super Friends comic book series which followed a similar premise: a woman was being pursued by a group of Universal Studios movie monsters; it turned out that the woman was actually a criminal and the 'monsters' were actually a team of Super Friends from outer space: Superior Man (a Frankenstein monster), Fangclaw (a werewolf), Stretch Man (a mummy) and Batman and Batwoman (a pair of husband-and-wife vampires). Anyways:


I saw a few episodes of Roswell Conspiracies on Syfy, back when it was still called Sci-Fi Channel. It was an interesting idea with potential, but I think it just lacked the oomph factor that made most kids' action cartoons memorable; the lack of cool vehicles, gadgets, catchphrases and merchandise definitely didn't work in it's favor. Also, no wisecracking teens, cute mascots or sassy robots. RC was pretty much a straightforward, cerebral sci-fi show, which might have been why it didn't catch on; shows without a lot of bright colors, bells and whistles are typically deemed 'dull' by most kids.

[BonnieB21:-)]

I loved Roswell Conspiracies. I watched it when it originally aired. It was riding on The X Files mania that was sweeping the world. Though the show is more a combination of XF and NBC's little seen Dark Skies.

The reason why the show isn't well remembered is because it was a part of the Bohbot Kids Network that syndicted a lot of cartoons including Kong, Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders, Skysurfer Strike Force, Captain Simian & The Space Monkeys. Most of the time it aired at 6:30AM, and a lot of the time it was pre-empted for infomercials. At the very end of it's run, Fox Kids picked it up and then Kids WB reran Men In Black against it. Fox Kids was going to add it to the week day line up along with Dungeons & Dragons, but it never happened. Fox Kids imploded and no more cartoons aired on the channel anymore. No more syndicated non-cable cartoons for kids on week days! Enjoy your PBS...kids.


Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths, & Legends has a great pedigree with Greg Weisman working on the original series bible (he was removed from the project). Though you can still ask him questions about it, and he posted some on the station8.org website. Greg Johnson and Bob Forward replaced him.

All in all, it's a great show, you can find a DVD of the first 20 episodes at your local Toys'R Us. Since the 5 episode packs seem to be out of print.

[darkdetective]

You can get it for under $5 at Walmart.

[W.C.Reaf]

Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths, & Legends has a great pedigree with Greg Weisman working on the original series bible (he was removed from the project). Though you can still ask him questions about it, and he posted some on the station8.org website. Greg Johnson and Bob Forward replaced him.

Greg Weisman made a series bible and wrote a pilot script which he pitched but he wasn't hired for the show and his bible was thrown out. Some of his ideas got used but not a lot and I think the only big thing that got used was the broad strokes of the pilot script were made into the first two episodes of the show.

If you're a fan of the show read Greg's series bible on his Ask Greg website as it's entirely different than what got made. It even has two timelines, one of them is the history of the conspiracy and how the world sees it, the other is what really happened. It's a fascinating read on what the show might've been.

[BonnieB21:-)]

Here's the Roswell Conspiracies page from station8.org. Greg Weisman answers questions and posts the 11 part series bible and timeline that weren't used.

http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/...es.php?lid=121

The 20 episode DVD is $4.25 at Walmart.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/13917833

Epoch Ink Animation's website.

http://www.epochinkanimation.com/tv.html

Besides, Greg Weisman, Greg Johnson, Bob Forward working on the show Christy Marx of JEM and GI Joe fame also wrote an episode for it.

http://www.christymarx.com/writing/roswell.htm

RC:AML used to have a really good flash website that has long since disappeared.

[macattack]

I saw a couple of random episodes back in the day, never really grabbed me.

Greg Weisman's series bible is really impressive, though. He really thought everything out. Too bad it never really got used beyond the pilot. I think the show would've been more memorable with his ideas.

Not to say Bob Forward and Greg Johnson are bad writers/showrunners either, but their efforts have always been flawed. Good, most of the time, but flawed.