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Recently I have read­ing two books simul­ta­ne­ously “Twi­light by Stephe­nie Myers” and “Batrimeaus — Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud” both fic­tional. One is a vam­pire love story and other is about a 5000 thou­sand year old djinni, a com­plete mag­i­cal mys­tery sim­i­lar to Harry Pot­ter. How­ever I am going to com­pare both of them. I am try­ing to com­pare two sim­i­lar story line of “Twi­light” and famous TV series “Roswell — by Jason Katim”. We will talk about Batrimeaus later sometime.

Just a brief back­ground, “Roswell” was a famous sci-fi/teen TV series which ran suc­cess­fully from 1999–2002. And for “Twi­light” fan you already know what “Twi­light” novel is all about. The first of 4 novel series of Twi­light Saga was writ­ten in 2003. The movie “Twi­light” came out in 2008 and was an instant hit. The next series of the Twi­light Saga novel “New Moon” has been released as a movie which has already hit the the­ater and i assume this is also tur­ing out to be a good movie. I had watched the first movie, so was eager to watch the next part. But before I did so I though of read­ing the novel first. Thats where in all the com­mon­al­ity of the TV Series “Roswell” and the first novel “Twi­light” striked.

Here are some strik­ing sim­i­lar­ity between both the plots.

Roswell — In the pilot, we’re intro­duced to Liz Parker (Shiri Appleby), a bright Roswell teen who writes every­thing down in her diary. In the first scene, she’s saved from cer­tain death by Max Evans (Jason Behr), her quiet biol­ogy lab part­ner who just hap­pens to be an alien. Max’s secret and life are threat­ened when he pub­licly uses his pow­ers to heal Liz from a gun­shot wound.

Twi­light — In the open­ing scene, we’re intro­duced to Bella (Kris­ten Stew­art) a lonely teen who just moved to the dreary town of Forks, Wash­ing­ton. Bella is soon saved by her quiet (wouldn’t you know it) biol­ogy lab part­ner Edward Cullen (Robert Pat­tin­son), a vam­pire mas­querad­ing as a nor­mal teen. Using his super­nat­ural strength to save Bella from being hit by a car puts Edward’s secret and his life in jeopardy.

The Romances:
Roswell — Max and Liz form an alien-powered bond when he heals her. They exchange emo­tions and mem­o­ries instantly and fall deeply in love. Unfor­tu­nately, Max’s alien roots and a revolv­ing door of big bads get in the way of their hap­pily ever after.

Twi­light - Um, Edward likes the way Bella smells. That’s about it. Her aroma is so intox­i­cat­ing that he feels the need to gawk at her from a dis­tance day and night. (Is this love or just ani­mal mag­net­ism?) Bella seems to dig that Edward isn’t a nice, polite, nor­mal teen who can go out in the day­light like all the other boys. Her sweet stank attracts a socio­pathic vamp who tries to kill her and Edward, which briefly gets in the way of their romance.
The Diaries/Voiceovers:
Roswell — Liz Parker’s voice is the first thing you hear in the Roswell pilot and in most of the fol­low­ing eps. Her diary entries nar­rate the bulk of the series and give each ep a warm, inti­mate feel­ing, partly thanks to Appleby’s sin­cere voice.

Twi­light — The movie opens with a voiceover from Bella, and the voiceovers con­tinue through­out the film. They don’t offer much in the way of warmth or inti­macy. Instead, they feel mopey and stock, but that might have some­thing to do with Stewart’s unim­pas­sioned line read­ings.
The Lead Characters/Actors:
Roswell - Appleby is end­lessly appeal­ing as the sharp, warm and capa­ble Liz. She might be a sen­si­tive teen, but she’s rarely mopey, even when cir­cum­stances keep her apart from her first love. Jason Behr’s sub­tle turn is per­fect for Max, a char­ac­ter who’s pulled from the side­lines to become a benev­o­lent leader and protector.

Twi­light — Bella is writ­ten as a bright girl who’s expe­ri­enc­ing the thrill of first love. Stew­art plays her as an angsty, pre­ten­tious, and unlike­able emo kid. Pat­tin­son fares bet­ter as the valiant Edward, but it’s clear that he comes from the John Lovitz school of ACTING!

Other sim­i­lar­i­ties:
Twi­light and Roswell both fea­ture sup­port­ing char­ac­ters with super­nat­ural gifts who feel threat­ened by the main char­ac­ters’ rela­tion­ships. In Twi­light, these char­ac­ters come off as one-note, but Roswell’s sup­port­ing char­ac­ters were, of course, allowed to develop over three sea­sons. Also, both fran­chises por­tray Native Amer­i­cans as some­what mys­ti­cal peo­ple. InRoswell, they have a spir­i­tual link to the aliens. In Twi­light, they’re ter­ri­to­r­ial onlook­ers who might be werewolves.

So what’s your ver­dict who is more roman­tic “A charm­ing vam­pire — Edward Cullen” or “A cute alien — Max Evans“