TESSOVISIONS AND MOMMOGRAMS

Tess Harding brings a unique skill/power to the pod squad: she can place images in others' minds. She can even do this from a distance and to two people at once. FanForum posters call this a "Tessavision." That may not be a very scientific term, but it's fitting.

Speculations on Tess's use of her power:

1)Tess seems to be the source behind Isabel's and Max's daydreams in Tess Lies & Videotape and in 4 Square. In The White Room, Isabel is the first person to become privy to Tess's special talent when Tess makes Isabel think that Tess has been captured by an FBI agent. Isabel then asks if Tess if she has been causing Max's visions of Tess. Tess does not deny this; she just replies: "I can only keep it up for a little while."

2)When Max and Isabel are with Tess, they have visions of their hatching in the Pod Chamber that do not match previous memories that Max has had. Max remembers Isabel with short hair. In Toy House, we see a home video of Max and Isabel as children as Mrs. Evans is watching it. Isabel has short hair. But when Tess was added to the Roswell storyline, suddenly child Isabel has long hair. This leads us to believe that the new version of Isabel as a child is not correct. It is most likely a Tessavision.

But even if it is a Tessovision, why the difference between hair lengths?

1) remember in 4 Square Isabel finds Tess and Mrs. Evans looking at pictures of Max and Isabel as children. The question of this scene is why would Tess be interested in childhood pictures of Max & Isabel? Maybe Tess is not yet sure that Max and Isabel are really who she thinks they are. If Tess sees the picture of Max and Isabel drawing the "whirlwind" symbol in the sand, that would confirm Tess's assumption that Max and Isabel are her 'family'. We also speculate that there are plenty of pictures of Michael in that scrapebook too.

2) We know that there was about a three year period of time where Michael was "lost" to Max and Isabel. Qfanny thinks he reappeared right before the Evans took that vacation to Florida. In a three year period, it is possible for hair to naturally grow from the short hair of child Isabel to the mane of long hair child Isabel has in the possible Tessovisions. If Tess was looking at those pictures of Max, Isabel and Michael at age nine, it really wouldn't be too hard to imagine them as six year olds. Same people, just shorter. But in creating the Tessavision, she made a blunder, not considering the fact that Isabel's hair may have not always been long.

However, some question whether Tess really needed to have a visual picture of anyone to use in a Tessavision even though we know Isabel needs to have a picture when she dreamwalks. But in Destiny Tess is able to project Agent Pierce to two different agents at the same time. Perhaps she is well acquainted with what Pierce looks like? Recall the box of pictures of Max in Tess, Lies, and Videotape that Liz found after Tess seemingly (from the audience's point of view) planted visions of herself and Max in Max's mind in the Biology class.

After Max To The Max and the conversation she had with Harding in the pod chamber, it seems that she knows quite a bit about Pierce--and so that may include what Pierce looks like.

 

TESS: I made you think something was happening right in front of you when it really wasn’t.

ISABEL: That’s what you did to Max, isn’t it? That’s why he had all those thought about you.

TESS: I can only keep it going for a little while.

09-08-2000 01:17 AM
Double_D

I really don't think it's all that complicated, guys. The original little girl who portrayed the young Isabel was David Nutter's daughter Zoe. David Nutter left "Roswell" about this time to work on developing "Dark Angel" for Jim Cameron and FOX. I'm sure that when he left, his daughter was no longer available, so they cast another little girl who may have resembled Katy Heigl a bit more.

As a side note, the little boy who plays young Michael is, I believe, Robert Katims.