All of the aliens in the show have some type of 'otherworldly' power. Some are stronger then others, some have better control than others, but they all can do things that humans are not capable of.
They can all do some things, like changing colors of items, altering appearance of items, heating items, make mechanical items work, unlock doors, etc.
Some of the aliens seem to have a special or unique power. For example Max can heal and he has a shield, Isabel can enter people's dreams, Michael has destructive power, and Tess can
We don't know if these powers are unique to the individual, or if they are just better at them than the others, like a talent. Perhaps other aliens could learn to do these things.
In an interview, JK said that the alien's powers reflected their personalities.
Here is a little more info about alien powers, right out of the show
Here is a list of alien powers used in seasons 1 & 2.
each different type power that was used by each person.
Max Evans
(special or unique power - Healing & Protective Shield)
Multiple Episodes
- Heals
- Connects with Liz
- Locks & unlocks doors
- Uses a shield
----------
Pilot
- Smooths clay bust, and restores it
----------
Leaving Normal
- Allows Liz to connect with her dying Grandmother
----------
285 South
- Flattens the tires on the FBI guy's car
- Repairs tear in the Jeep's soft top
----------
River Dog
- Presumably he fixes Maria's jetta
(Michael couldn't & Isabel doesn't seem mechanical, since she had the Jeep fixed at a repair shop)
- Makes a light
----------
Missing
- Activates vending machine
- Gets a flash off a CD
----------
Toy House
- Extinguishes fire
----------
Into the Woods
- Alters a card in his hand to allow Jeff Parker to win
- Re-ignites Nasedo's signal
----------
Blind Date
- Gets up on a store sign, with no ladder or other visible means
- Spray paints a heart on Liz's wall
- Makes the heart glow like neon
- Replaces Maria's and Alex's face on a photo with his own
- Makes a street light flash like a disco ball
- Makes car alarms go off, and then play music
- Makes parking meters shoot sparks
----------
The Convention
- Pushes a gun out of reach
----------
Sexual Healing
- Makes Liz's skin glow
----------
Four Square
- Opens the pod chamber door
----------
The White Room
- Uses super speed
- Possibly blocked Isabel from connecting him
(Isabel says he won't let her in)
----------
Destiny
- Presumably blocks Kyle from getting flashes when he healed him.
(In the episode End of the World, Kyle tells Liz that he didn't get
flashes from Max when Max healed him, but it sure looks like Max got flashes when he healed Kyle.)
- Uses the Orb
----------
Skin & Bones
- Alters or removes cadmium-x from bones
- With a touch, sends Liz a series of flashes of them together
- Ages bones
----------
Ask Not
- Opens a keypad lock
This is an interesting cut scene from 'Ask Not'
INT STOREROOM � DAY � CONTINUOUS
In a blur of motion, a figure whirls around in the DARK room � there�s a BRIGHT LIGHT EMANATING from his hand! An alien energy burst?
Max instinctively ducks and throws out a hand to ward off whatever seems to be coming at him. As he�s bathed in a REDDISH GLOW from o.c. he closes his eyes and braces himself for the impact.
But nothing happens.
He carefully opens his eyes to see A WALL OF ENERGY a few feet in front of his still outstretched hand. (We should be able to see through the wall. Think of it like a crackling and multi-hued force field.)
On the other side of the energy field, sits a teenaged STONER, staring at the iridescent light show while he cradles a joint in one hand and a small lighter-torch in the other.
(Which we now realize was the source of the bright light seemingly reaching out for Max from the darkness.)
Max is shocked -- he had no idea he could do something like this. He pulls his hand back and the field DISAPPEARS. The Stoner blinks a few times...then exhales a cloud of SMOKE. He gives Max a wasted smile.
STONER
Dude. Did you see that?
MAX
See what?
The Stoner blinks again...then gets an even bigger smile on his face.
STONER
(re: joint) All right...
Max takes a deep breath and steadies himself.
----------
End of the World
- Changes the color of roses as he threw them to Liz
----------
Meet the Dupes
- Feels depressed after Zan dies
(even though he didn't know of Zan's existence)
----------
A Roswell Christmas Carol
- Lights a bulb on a Christmas Tree
----------
Departure
- Plans to fire a bold of energy through the heater that will start a 'controled' fire to kill Leanna. He says he can contain it long enough for the other people to evacuate the building
- Seems to be about to kill Tess in the pod chamber. He raises a hand to her head until she reminds him that it would kill his son too.
Isabel Evans
(special or unique power - Dreamwalking & Connecting with people without touching them)
Muptiple Episodes
- Dreamwalks
----------
Pilot
- Plays CD
- Heats food
(Apparently cooking food from scratch with alien powers makes it taste bad,
but reheating food with alien powers doesn't.)
----------
Monsters
- Makes the radio on Maria's Jetta louder
- Boosts the power on Maria's Jetta's air conditioning
----------
285 South
- Cleans coffee off clothes
- Lights Kerosene lamp
----------
Blood Brothers
- Draws Alex's blood
----------
Heatwave
- Changes color of nail polish through the bottle
----------
The Balance
- Changes ketchup to mustard through the bottle
----------
Toy House
- Changes color of lipstick on her lips
----------
Into the Woods
- Re-ignites Nasedo's signal
----------
Blind Date
- Restores grass after it was burned
----------
Sexual Healing
- Turns off lights, ignites candles & starts music with a snap of fingers
----------
The White Room
- Connects with Max from across town
(but later in the same episode is unable to do so again, saying Max is blocking her)
----------
Destiny
- Sees Pierce's thoughts even though she is in another room and he is awake
- Uses the Orb
----------
Surprise
- Makes a hole in a metal door
- Repels electricity
----------
Wipeout
- Pushes the boys out of the bathroom and slams door
----------
To Serve & Protect
- Connects with Laurie when she touches her, and sees the ganderium
Here is an interesting cut scene from the script
ISABEL: How am I supposed to dreamwalk Melissa Foster when I don't know who she is?
MAX: Valenti showed you her picture. Try to dreamwalk her.
ISABEL: I know everyone that I dreamwalk. I have no idea who or where this girl is.
----------
Disturbing Behavior
- Reverses the connection through Brody to contact Larek
----------
It's Too Late & It's Too Bad
- Turns paper to ash in her hand
----------
Off The Menu
- Cooks burgers and fries
(Apparently cooking food from scratch with alien powers makes it taste bad,
but reheating food with alien powers doesn't.)
Michael Guerin
(special or unique power - Blowing things up)
Michael doesn't have as much control over his powers as Max and Isabel and often unexpected things happen.
Multiple Episodes
- Blows things up
----------
Morning After
- Unlocks window
- Vision when he touches the key
----------
Missing
- Sharpens pencil
- Removes paint from a canvas
----------
Leaving Normal
- Changes answers on test
- Melts lock on locker
- Causes iching
Here is an interesting exchange between Max and Michael about his powers that is supposedly an cut scene from the episode 'Leaving Normal'
This takes place in the bathroom just before Michael tells Max that he sealed Kyle's locker shut.
MICHAEL
Max, something's happening to me. Check
this out.
Michael takes an abandoned cup of coffee that's sitting on the
windowsill. He puts his hand over it.
MICHAEL
Those guys beating the hell out of you
got me angry, and suddenly I'm able to
do all this stuff I never could do
before. It's like I'm you or something.
Michael turns the cup over. First dry ground coffee comes
out. Then sugar. Then he pours the rest out -- water.
MICHAEL
I can separate things.
Max looks at what Michael just did, amazed...
MAX
You're getting good, grasshopper.
----------
285 South
- Pushes Kyle across a room
----------
Into the Woods
- Heals River Dog
- Re-ignites Nasedo's signal
----------
Independence Day
- Makes lights flash, wind blow and cupboard doors bang
----------
Sexual Healing
- An interesting cut scene from SH
Michael reaches over to a CD that's glowing on the
table next to them. The minute he touches it, the loud music
and the glowing stop.
MICHAEL
The CD player broke. Just something I
figured out how to do
----------
Four Square
- Young Michael opens pod chamber door
----------
The White Room
- Changes his fingerprints
----------
Destiny
- Disables car
- Kills Pierce from across the room with a blast of power
- Uses the Orb
----------
Summer of '47
- changes Orange Soda to beer
- Snaps his fingers and makes fire to light a cigarette
----------
A Roswell Christmas Carol
- Locks door
----------
Disturbing Behavior
- Locks Laurie in Maria's Jetta
----------
How the Other Half Lives
- Sucks the air out of a room
----------
Viva Las Vegas
- Seals his locker with the money inside
- Alters drivers' licenses
- Cheats at roulette
----------
It's Too Late & It's Too Bad
- Fixes garbage disposal
----------
Baby It's You
- Throws the alien 'bomb' out the window
----------
Off the Menu
- Turns a valve
----------
Departure
- Michael says he didn't let Maria get flashes when they kissed, and allows Maria to 'see him'
(showing he can control connecting with someone)
- Ignites the Jeep and pushes it off a cliff
Tess Harding
(special or unique power - Mind warping & Altering memories)
Multiple Episodes
- Mind warps
----------
Tess, Lies & Videotape
- Fixes a broken statue
----------
Four Square
- Sends dreams to Max, Michael & Isabel
- Takes destiny book out of a wall
----------
Max to the Max
- Seems to sense when Max is near
----------
The White Room
- Presumably can 'scan' items into her mind
(Nasedo tells Michael & Isabel to do it, and is surprised that they can't)
----------
Destiny
- Uses the Orb
----------
Ask Not
- Heals Max
----------
End of the World
- Changes the color of Kyle's bedroom wall
----------
Harvest
- Claims she can use her power to help strengthen Max's shield, but it doesn't seem to do anything
----------
Wipeout
- Throws a Skin attacker to the floor
- Creates a giant fireball that avoids her 'friends' and kills the Skins
(Tess says she was trying for a mind warp of fire, but the fire became real.
Makes you wonder what else she could materialize out of thin air.)
----------
A Roswell Christmas Carol
- Carves a turkey
----------
Cry Your Name
- Presumably she causes Alex's car, with his body in it, to crash into a truck
----------
Off the Menu
- Changes memories
----------
Departure
Here is an interesting cut scene. It seems Tess is losing her powers now that she is pregnant
INT. TESS' ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Max enters. Tess looks terrified, sits on a chair.
MAX: You should lie down.
TESS: I think I'm losing my powers. I couldn't flip the CD on from across the room. I do it every day of my life without a second thought. What's happening to me?
Then later when she mindwarps Kyle it adds -
Tess grabs Kyle. When he turns they are eye to eye, inches apart. Tess in her weakened state breathes deep, and closes her eyes - mindwarping Kyle. It's not easy for her. She is losing her powers. Kyle looks at Tess.
Then when Maria and Liz are at Kyle's house trying to get him to remember -
KYLE: So what are we doing in here?
LIZ: Trying to find the trigger. The trigger for Maria's mom was the T-shirt. When she saw the T-shirt it made her remember everything that happened that day in the UFO Center. For Alex it must have been the Thai food. It made him think of Las Cruces.
Liz Parker
(special or unique power - Visions of the Future)
We know that Max changed Liz when he healed her, but we really didn't see proof
of her powers until season 3.
Ch-ch-changes
- Melts a plate
- Sets a book on fire
----------
4 Aliens & a Baby
- Throws Tess across the room
----------
Graduation
- Gets visions of the future
----------
Or did she experience changes a lot earlier?
Multiple Episodes
- Gets flashes from Max (and Nasedo) when they kiss
(the other humans don't get flashes unless the aliens want them to. So either
Max and Nasedo didn't try to block Liz, or she could see the flashes anyway.)
----------
Morning After
- Suspects Topolsky of being not what she appears
(Liz has no proof and little evidence. She is mostly going on a feeling. New power or just intuition?)
----------
Balance
- Appears in the balance healing vision even though she didn't drink from the bowl,
didn't chant, and stepped out of the circle
(River Dog was in the cave too, but didn't appear in the vision. So how did Liz get there?
Either she was brought in through her connection to Max, or somehow brought herself in.)
----------
Sexual Healing
- Says she feels like she is changing
(Perhaps she has some heightened sense, or simply feels something is happening to her physically &/or mentally)
- Gets visions of the crash & the orb being buried
----------
Surprise
- Says she doesn't trust Tess
(Perhaps she has some feeling about what will happen. Interesting that she is trying to get Max together with Tess when she doesn't trust her.)
----------
Wipeout
- Picks up a piece of skin and it dissolves
(I have no idea if this has anything to do with powers or not, but I thought I would mention it as a curiosity. When Max, Michael and Liz pick up pieces of skin they dissolve, but when Maria picks up a piece, it doesn't.)
----------
Max in the City
- Contacts Max in New York
(Isabel gets her started, but if you watch closely, Isabel opens her eyes, and
breaks her concentration before Liz reaches Max. And Liz continues on
her own, reaching Max, and saving his life.
Liz is changed, but was contacting Max a benefit of Liz's connection with him,
or a separate power like astral projection?)
----------
Heart of Mine
- Has an strong, upsetting feeling that the group would never be together again
(In the next episode Alex dies, and the group is split. Perhaps this is an early hint of Liz's prophetic power.)
----------
Cry Your Name
- Is convinced that Alex's death was suspicious, even before she has any proof
----------
Departure
- Tells Max that it doesn't feel right to kill Leanna
Shapeshifters
(special or unique power - Unknown)
Multiple Episodes
- Shapeshifting
(this may be an alien power, or it may be a natural ability)
- Kills by cooking internal organs
----------
Into the Woods
- Sends a signal
----------
Max to the Max
- Blows up a gas station
----------
The White Room
- Throws Michael across a room
- Changes Michael's jeans and t-shirt into a suit
- Presumably can 'scan' items into his mind
(Nasedo tells Michael & Isabel to do it, and is surprised that they can't)
Zan
(special or unique power - Unknown)
Meet the Dupes
- Collapses a fruit stand
Lonni
(special or unique power - Unknown)
Meet the Dupes
- Alters her appearance to look like Isabel
----------
Max in the City
- Causes a window washer basket to fall
- Plays CD
Rath
(special or unique power - Unknown)
Meet the Dupes
- Pushes Zan into the street
- Causes a truck to accelerate
- Changes a license plate
- Alters his appearance to look like Michael
Ava
(special or unique power - Unknown)
Meet the Dupes
- We never actually see Ava using powers, but we presume she has them.
In MTD she raises her hand, prepared to use powers.
Courtney Banks
(special or unique power - Unknown)
Surprise
- Fills empty glasses with Coke
Congresswoman
Vanessa Whitaker
(special or unique power - Unknown)
(my theory is that her unique power is directing electricity. she uses
electricity against Isabel, and it appears she killed Nasedo with electricity)
Skin & Bones
- Kills Nasedo
----------
Surprise
- Beats up Tess
- Blows a door off its hinges
- Directs electricity
Nicholas Crawford
(special or unique power - Mind rape*)
*Courtney explains this as, he is able to take any information from your mind that he wants.
(Courtney also says that Nicholas can do everything the podsters can do, and more.)
Harvest
- Throws Isabel to the ground
----------
Wipeout
- Mind Rape
- Unlocks Handcuffs
- knocks out Max, Michael, Isabel & Tess
- presumably creates columns that Max, Michael, Isabel & Tess are tied to
- causes pain to Max, Isabel, Tess & Michael
- Somehow survives Tess' fireball
T. Greer
(special or unique power - Unknown)
Surprise
- throws Tess, Liz & Max to the ground
- drags Max across the floor
- attacks Max
Skins
(special or unique powers - Unknown)
Wipeout
- a woman throws Maria to the floor
----------
Harvest
- attack Max as a group
Emissary
(special or unique power - Unknown)
Max in the City
- Possess a human body, and uses them like a puppet
(some equipment on the home planet may also be used. Larek tells Max -
Holding onto these bodies isn't easy. In fact, it's chewing up huge amounts of our resources.)
- He is able to use his powers even through the borrowed body
- Sends a burst of light into Max's head that reveals his seal
Larek, Hanar, Kathana, Sero
(special or unique powers - Unknown)
Max in the City
- Possess a human body, and uses them like a puppet
(some equipment on the home planet may also be used. Larek tells Max -
Holding onto these bodies isn't easy. In fact, it's chewing up huge amounts of our resources.)