How does a Roswell episode get from a writer's mind to the television screen? The process may be much harder than you think.
The WB has made a few scenes of Wipeout available from the actual shooting script beginning with Scene 54. Read each scene and click on certain passages and you will see the storyboards that were conceived before shooting.
Afterwards, watch the Quicktime clip of the actual scene compared with the storyboards. Let us know what you think by dropping us an e-mail.
EXT. WEST ROSWELL HIGH - LOUNGE AREA - DAY
The Skins leer at our heroes. Nicholas closes in.
NICHOLAS
There's only one more thing I need to
know before we can all call it a day.
Where's the Granilith?
MAX
(Head still down)
I'm not telling you.
NICHOLAS
Oh, you will.
Nicholas flicks his wrist. Michael, Isabel, and Tess writhe
in agony.
MAX
I'll take you there. Just you and me.
This has nothing to do with them.
ISABEL
Max, don't.
NICHOLAS
Try to understand something. I don't need
you for anything. I'll just get it
myself.
Nicholas puts up his hand, moves in. Max looks to Michael.
The request is unspoken. Michael focuses on Max's restraints,
closes his eyes, and BOOM. Max's hands slip free.
Max puts up his force field to protect the group, but
Nicholas goes right through it. With the point of a finger,
Max's hands are bound again.
NICHOLAS (CONT'D)
This is too easy. In the old days, I
would've been no match for the both of
you. But now...
Nicholas touches Max's head. Max grimaces as his body is
wracked by searing pain.
FLASHES
The desert highway. A milemarker. Alien symbols on the desert
floor.
Michael and/or Isabel's faces lit by the light of
the Granilith chamber. (Note: We should never see the Granilith
itself, nor should we see details that would give away its location.)
Max strains against Nicholas's onslaught.
NICHOLAS
Either way, you're going to die, Max. So
why don't you make this easy on yourself?
The mind-rape continues.
FLASHES
A turnoff. Desert Terrain.
Summoning everything he's got, Max rallies. The mental
flashes stop.
NICHOLAS
(To the other skins)
He's still strong enough to block me. Fix
it.
Nicholas steps out of the way, and several Skins move in.
They aim their palms and blast Max. Still reeling from
Nicholas' mind-read, Max can't fight back. He slumps against
the force of the blows.
Nicholas and the Skins blast Max again. He SCREAMS in
excruciating pain.
TESS
Stop it! Max!
There's no response. He's dying.
NICHOLAS
Again!
TIGHT ON TESS
She closes her eyes, goes into a mindwarp.
The Skins fire at Max. He gasps, unable to breathe.
NICHOLAS
Ready to tell me now?
Nicholas moves in, hand ready to extract the secret.
Suddenly, the SOUND washes out. The walls of the school, the
lounge furniture, everything bleeds away. Tess stands in
front of a wall of fire.
Nicholas reacts in horror as the flames close in.
Michael and Isabel take in their fiery surroundings.
It's like our heroes have been lifted to a separate plane.
ISABEL
Oh my God.
The fireball grows. Max looks at Tess. She's like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
Tess opens her eyes, and the fire vanishes. Max, Isabel and Michael look back toward the Skins.
There's nothing but floating ash and Skin dust.