Characters

Character Descriptions
and Season 1 Story Arcs

NOTE: Final character designs will be established by the animation studio.

Roswell

Gray, male, 30-ish. Chief Culture Officer on the GSS Rhapsody
Infatuated with humans, in love with Donna, has secrets.
Musical style: Any and all
Enneagram Personality Type: 4, the Tragic Romantic.

Roswell, the ship’s Chief Culture Officer, is a gray alien infatuated with humans. He likes to dress like his heroes from the early 60s, the Rat Pack. He’s optimistic, romantic, friendly and very smart, but he’s secretly afraid people will discover he is flawed and gets depressed. He hides a core of sadness that goes back to his childhood with no father. He covers feelings of insecurity and inadequacy by being really friendly. He naturally bonds with everyone, always able to find commonalities. He is driven to know the truth and beauty of the human experience.

But his answer to every problem is a memory wipe.

When he falls for Donna (a California housewife abductee from 1962), he is so afraid of being vulnerable and exposed, that he makes her forget every date they have. We learn there are ongoing problems with memory wipes everywhere, and the process isn’t as stable as it was. Donna remembers things she shouldn’t. Eventually, he confides in her, and reveals they have an alien-human hybrid baby together. She is overjoyed and eager to raise the baby in a family setting. But, this isn’t protocol, and many blocks spring up as the couple tries to live happily forever after. Roswell decides to wipe her memory a few more times - sometimes due to orders from HQ, sometimes just to spare her from being upset - or so he won’t have to deal with any emotional backlash. He wishes he could make her forget her husband on Earth, but the fact that he can’t have her totally only makes him want her more. It is only after many trials, tribulations and false starts that Roswell and Donna are able to settle into a happy relationship – but we’re never sure how long it will last. They aren’t allowed to live as a family on the ship, and Roswell faces a heartbreaking decision at the end of Season One - stay onboard the Rhapsody without Donna, or live as a family with Donna and the baby, in an isolated, prison-like environment.

We also find out that Roswell is the son of Captain Zenith. He was born in low Earth orbit after the Roswell incident, summer 1947. He never met his father, a fact that he eventually shares with Neville (who was abducted and taken from his pregnant wife during WWII). It’s a way that the two of them bond.

Roswell’s main area of study is Musicology, including pop culture aspects, and the scientific research around sound vibrations, acoustics, decibels and harmonics. He is fixated on harnessing the power of sound to create a new SounDrive power system that one day might power the Gray’s fleet. Human sound technology is the most advanced in the galaxy, and Roswell is totally bummed that he doesn’t actually have ears. He can hear – but not like the humans, with their complex, beautiful ears. (He has an ear fetish).

Roswell’s office, and his quarters are decorated with Earth posters and memorabilia (some emphasis on Vegas). Almost like a tourism office. He loves hanging out in the ship’s Karaoke Bar, and seems to drink a lot. We find out mid-season that he just loves to mimic the Rat Pack, and alcohol doesn’t affect grays. It’s the same as soda pop.

Donna Caldwell

Human, 25-year old neglected housewife, abducted from San Diego in 1962.
Memory wipes interfere with her relationship with Roswell
Musical Style: Beach Boys, surf music or heavy metal (depending on her mood)
Enneagram Personality Type: 2, the Helper.

Donna is a California girl, abducted from her San Diego home in 1962. She’s been on the Rhapsody for about 5 months. She abandoned her dream to open a bake shop when she married John, who comes home late, cheats and ignores her. She is abducted while putting his dinner back in the fridge when he doesn’t come home.

While traveling through the galaxy, Donna realizes the limitless potential of her own life. She finds true love and family values with a gray alien, Roswell. At first, he keeps erasing her memories of their dates, but eventually, he confides in her, and reveals they have a hybrid baby together, who was brought to term in a lab.

Donna has always wanted kids, so surprisingly, she is overjoyed and eager to raise the baby. But, this isn’t protocol, and many blocks spring up as the couple tries to live happily ever after. Roswell decides to wipe her memory a few more times - sometimes due to orders from HQ, sometimes just to spare her from being upset. They have moments of great happiness, but then she is forced to forget it all. Donna is also troubled by the fact that she is still married to John. She has no way to break up with him from space, but eventually does write him a “Dear John” letter and sets it adrift in space, in a bottle.

Meanwhile, there are ongoing problems with memory wipes everywhere, and the process isn’t as stable as it was. Donna remembers things she shouldn’t. It just takes forever for them to really settle into a happy, accepted relationship. At the end of Season One, Donna has a big decision to make - return to Earth as planned, or stay with Roswell and the baby in an isolated, prison-like environment.

Captain Zenith

Gray, female, 60-ish. Captain of the GSS Rhapsody
Roswell’s mother. Trekkie. Her husband was lost in the Roswell crash.
Musical Style: R&B, Blues.
Enneagram Personality Type: 1, the Reformer.

Zenith is an attractive, confident older gray female. She chose this assignment to close out her brilliant career in the Grays’ Exploration fleet, partly because her son, Roswell, was stationed on this ship. She is introspective, strong and kind, with a good sense of humor. She lets her crew have fun, but knows where to draw the line, and is, herself, very disciplined. Zenith doesn’t want a relationship, choosing to remain independent.

Zenith is an enthusiastic Trekkie. She refers to classic Trek scenarios and has a celebrity crush on Shatner. She enjoys painting in her spare time, and keeps a pet armadillo named Curly in her quarters.
Zenith is revered among the entire Gray fleet, and has decades of experience – diplomatic, pioneering and (on rare occasions, as needed) military. She has dealt with Ssskions before – especially Capt. Stecki, whose crush on her has gotten out of hand and led to his threat to invade Earth (her sector).

We find out later in the season that Zenith’s true love, Demain (Roswell’s father), crash landed on Earth in 1947, and it is unclear if he died in the famous crash, or was taken captive and might still be alive. This is one reason she stays single. She wants to find out if he is still alive, and if so, she wants to stage a rescue mission.

Zenith gave birth to her only son in low Earth orbit following his father’s crash, and she named him after the last place she had seen his father. When the crew was trying desperately to beam up any life forms from the area, a baby armadillo was accidentally brought aboard, and that is her pet, Curly.

Captain Stecki

Ssskion Captain, male. (Reptilian, chameleon-based)
Obsessed with Zenith. Not as evil as he wants to be. Mostly annoying.
Musical Style: Rock.
Enneagram Personality Type: 3, the Achiever.

Stecki is an evil wannabe Reptilian commander, part of the Ssskion race, related to Earth’s chameleons. He’s a toxic narcissist, but just not as much of a threat as he would like to be…. He appears as an Annoying Hologram through much of Season One and shows up in the flesh at the end, when his attack fleet finally arrives after numerous delays due to traffic, bad directions, etc. Stecki is largely dismissive of his crew and considers most of them morons.

Ssskions change color based on their moods. Like chameleons, they have two oversized eyes with move independently. Stecki’s catch phrase is “I saw that!” They also have long, sticky tongues that can zip several feet out of their mouths to eat bugs, pick up a coffee cup, grab a pen or steal food from a co-worker’s plate. Their hands are also chameleon-like, with two opposing fingers on each side.

Stecki is obsessed with Zenith – has a crush on her, mainly because she is so uninterested. He says he’s attacking Earth because he knows that is her territory and she will have to deal with him, to defend it. When rejected, he gets mad and threatens Earth and Humans. He has no idea her husband may still be on Earth.

Dr. Lewie

Gray alien, male. Ship’s doctor, Relaxation Specialist on the GSS Rhapsody
He’s adopted beatnik style and language. Runs the Probe Lab. Gets high.
Musical Style: Jazz.
Enneagram Personality Type: 9, the Peacemaker.

Lewie heads the Probe Lab and is this ship’s Doctor and Relaxation Specialist. He is a fan of Beatnik culture, and wears a beret, sunglasses and sports a goatee. His language is infused with Beatnik words and phrases, and he loves cool jazz. A trained anesthesiologist, he’s constantly formulating (and personally testing) new concoctions, called “fog,” to help humans undergo probing and other exams. He often uses similes and idioms in the wrong way but then kind of defends them.

Lewie’s affinity for probes and proctology moves some to call him a “buttnik.” In Season 2, Lewie gets a love story of his own.

Cindy Adams

Human 17-yr old girl, abducted from Alabama in 1974.
Poet/songwriter. Loves David Bowie, wants to marry a rock star.
Musical style: Disney Princess / Glitter Rock.
Enneagram Personality Type: 7, the Enthusiast.

Cindy is a high school junior in Brewton, Alabama, when she’s abducted. She has one best friend and they are the outcast rock-n-roll girls – always talking about music and rock stars, saving their allowance to go to Mike’s Record Store on the weekend. She makes As and Bs, but still skips class fairly often. She writes poetry and songs, often late at night in her room. She has middle class parents and one younger brother.

She’s only been on the ship for a couple of weeks, and misses her family. But, Cindy has always loved science fiction and outer space, so she is inspired and excited by the unique opportunity of traveling through space. She is in love with David Bowie and spends her time writing songs and poetry. Cindy is also writing a screenplay about her fictional adventures, called “Love in Deep Space.” She has made friends with Donna, the neglected housewife abducted from 1962, but longs to find her soulmate. Cindy was raised on Disney movies, and she wants Prince Charming. She sees relationships developing all around her onboard the Rhapsody, and wants to find love – but is also holding out for a cool guy – a rock star, preferably. Her periods of depression escalate throughout the season.

Toward the end of the season, Cindy does find her soulmate (Bolan) when the Rhapsody stops on Bowie’s home planet to help cheer her up. She decides to stay there, with Bolan, instead of returning to Earth.

Captain Neville T. Walker

Human male, 26-yr old British pilot, abducted in 1942 during WWII
Gruff and suspicious of the grays. Has a destiny with them he doesn’t know.
Musical style: British 70s-80s punk.
Enneagram Personality Type: 1, the Reformer.

Neville resents the grays for taking him away from his pregnant wife, and the child that he may never meet. His abduction was a classic foo fighter scenario, happening in mid-air during an air battle over Germany. Neville is suspicious of the grays and their true agenda. He’s been onboard for about 6 months, and doesn’t like being held prisoner in space. But he begrudgingly befriends Roswell, because they drink and play board games together.

Neville eventually unlocks a memory that the abduction was a rescue, while his plane was on fire, going down. Neville cannot be taken back to 1942 because extensive cybernetic construction was needed to repair his burned skin and gunshot wounds he received from the enemy plane. If the 1940s humans discovered the repair technology, it would become a huge problem. We’re told Neville was being saved for a special reason. Neville’s special destiny with the grays is revealed late in the season. He saves the ship from the Ssskion invasion after unlocking secret memories of being trained to fly the grays’ ships.

When the Rhapsody returns to Earth in 2015, Neville is shown his son, Tommy, on Facebook. He sees his son is doing great and his wife has passed away, and knows that his place is in space, fighting alongside his new friends. Zenith invites him to stay onboard as their new Military General, and he accepts. (“Captain Walker, I’d like to promote you.” We include “Tommy” reference Easter eggs.)

Shavika

Ssskion Communications Officer, female. (Reptilian, chameleon-based)
In love with Stecki, who ignores her. She seems quiet, but is psychotic.
Musical Style: Hip-Hop
Enneagram Personality Type: 3, the Achiever.

Stecki’s Communications Officer, a seemingly unremarkable and quiet Ssskion, is madly in love with him, and she fantasizes about being with him. They had sex once, about a year ago, and it was “the best 3 minutes of her life.” But he was drunk and doesn’t remember it. In fact, he can never seem to remember her name, and constantly refers to her by the wrong name (Shakira, Shambala, Chevrolet, Shambooey…). She is always reminding him, “It’s Shavika, sir.”

We discover later that Shavika's family is rich. She is used to getting exactly what she wants, and she wants Stecki - the Captain. Nothing less will do. When she realizes Stecki is infatuated with Captain Zenith, Shavika develops a deep, dark jealousy and begins planning ways to kill her “rival.” Shavika’s murder fantasies grow more and more elaborate and as season develops. As the invasion battle commences, we see that her plans may actually be realized. She has resources and connections we didn’t know about. Zenith is in real peril of being taken out by Shavika.

Security Chief Manalishi

Gray alien, male. Security Chief aboard the GSS Rhapsody
Ingenious bondage device inventor. Into BDSM. His outlandish devices always work.
Musical Style: Nine Inch Nails, Goth
Enneagram Personality Type: 6, the Loyalist (paranoid).

Manalishi is an ingenious inventor and a BDSM enthusiast. He is the Inspector Gadget of bondage. His skills are perfectly matched with his job as Security Chief, and his reputation as the fleet’s most enthusiastic and effective security officer is widely known. His ideas often seem over the top, needlessly complicated or comical - but in the end - they work and he is praised.

Manalishi is constantly adding new features to his Security Dungeon - none of them particularly cruel, but most of them kind of funny. And in the end, they work. His ideas always pay off, which surprises Capt. Zenith at first, but she gradually learns to trust his instincts.

Manalishi is painfully nerdy and socially awkward, but whip smart. He is smitten with Nurse Grapple and her domineering, rough style. The two of them form a relationship. Manalishi often test drives his new inventions and devices in his private quarters. Sometimes, funny accidents occur while he’s working out the “kinks.” There are a few booby-traps in his quarters, for protection against invaders.

Nurse Grapple

Gray alien, female. Nurse assisting Dr. Lewie on the GSS Rhapsody
Hates humans, likes being rough on them. Outspoken and resentful.
Musical Style: Heavy Metal
Enneagram Personality Type: 8, the Boss

Nurse Grapple hates humans. Can’t stand them, their skin is gross, sticky, and all that (gulp!) disgusting hair, it’s everywhere. Have you smelled them? Ewww. Putrid. She actually quite enjoys probing and prodding and sticking needles in them. She was a trailblazer med student who made up her own degree and title as a Forensic Astropathologist. She blames the humans for taking away her adventure of cruising the galaxy solving crimes and breaking down space crime scenes because she’s stuck out here guarding the earth sector where nothing ever happens, and she’s relegated to dealing with “them.” She hates them all, maybe except for that one gal, Bones from their screen stories. Bones is perfection, and probably smells good.

Grapple takes an instant liking to Security Chief Manalishi, when she learns of the elaborate restraint and punishment devices he invents and builds. Their love story will take many comical and psychological twists and turns, with her as the gravel-voiced dominatrix and him loving the restraints.

Tech Chief Huit

Krakenite, male (related to Earth octopus), Tech Chief on the GSS Rhapsody
He interacts with software on a physical level, incorporating and controlling it.
Musical Style: Techno/EDM
Enneagram Personality Type: 5, the Investigator.

His name is pronounced "Hewitt," although it is spelled like the French word for 8. He’s an AI-infused Krakenite. Krakenites are a race of octopus-ancestors who were originally aquatic but can now also travel with water-filled fish bowls on their heads. They frequently form physical/mental bonds with computer software and other forms of technology, and are known across several sectors for their tech expertise, which is both intuitive, predictive and visceral. Because they are linked with the technology in such an intimate way, if a system has a glitch, they feel it. Diagnostics and repair recommendations are swift and usually accurate.

Because his link with technology is so intimate, Huit, like all Krakenites, is devoid of emotions, which could sabotage the system. This makes him unique aboard a ship where love is everywhere you turn. We find out in Season 2, however, that Huit’s emotions actually do exist - and are stored away in an archived file folder. One day, that file folder will be opened, exposing Huit’s true feelings and endangering the ship’s systems.

Krakenites are the ancestral race of Earth octopuses, and they share many features: Blue, copper-based blood; three hearts; toxic ink squirting. They have brains in each one of their tentacles, allowing each arm to think and work independently of the others (so, he can play several card games at once. He wears a cowboy hat on his bowl when he plays poker). Huit, like all Krakenites, is a master of disguise and can shape shift and also move his invertebrate body through tiny openings, thus enabling him to do intricate repair work on hardware.

Orlando

Sea Monkey, male, Tech Assistant to Huit aboard the GSS Rhapsody
His brain contains cloned material from the British royal line. Dutiful, but haughty.
Musical Style: Sea Shanties
Enneagram Personality Type: 1, the Reformer.

Orlando is a Sea Monkey who assists Huit in his Aquarium Headquarters (AQHQ). He is about 4 inches tall, very smart, dedicated to duty and the common good - but plagued with delusions of grandeur and a sense of entitlement. He believes his superior intellect and standing should propel him to the position of Tech Chief, or even Ship’s Captain. He thinks this should be obvious to everyone. He speaks with a British royal accent and says “Carry On” a lot. He is comfortable swimming or walking and can breathe in or out of water. See also: Species and Civilizations section for the Sea Monkey backstory.

O.T.T.

Humanoid Cruise Director (later shown to be a robot) aboard the GSS Rhapsody
He’s always on, super cheery and funny – sometimes annoyingly so.
Musical Style: Electronic Dance Pop.
Enneagram Personality Type: 7, the Enthusiast.

OTT stands for “over the top.” He is an “always on,” humanoid, always upbeat, the abductees’ cruise director and morale officer, cheering them up and entertaining them, no matter what. He was given the Cruise Director job because he was too annoying to do anything else, and he can’t get girls to date him. He longs to be able to chill out, and visits the Relationship Coach weekly.

Mid-season, OTT does get into a relationship, and when it turns physical, his non-binary partner, Zed, finds a broken “On” switch hidden on his back and we realize he is actually a malfunctioning robot who is literally always on. Aspects of his programming prevented OTT from knowing/remembering that he wasn’t really human, so this is news to him, also. Later, when the relationship sours, OTT finally finds what turns him off. He can, at last, relax, thanks to a bad breakup.

Coach Rootha

Humanoid Relationship Coach on the GSS Rhapsody
Later revealed to be a human-alien hybrid, explaining her abilities to interact with minds.
Musical Style: New Age
Enneagram Personality Type: 2, the Helper

Rootha is the ship’s humanoid Relationship Coach, and she is warm, smart, funny and very empathic. Most characters eventually wind up in an appointment with the Relationship Coach, which is always viewed as positive and normal. She’s the coach (not doctor or therapist). Rootha wears large glasses during her sessions, which (we’re told) allow her to better see and understand the feelings of her patients.

Mid-season, during a session with OTT, we finally see her take the glasses off, and her eyes are overly large, revealing that she is, in fact, a human-alien hybrid. This helps her relate to both species, and gives her extraordinary abilities to interact with their minds. She explains to OTT (who also appears human, but isn’t) that often, we are more than others see. We are more complex beings – greater and more capable than we realize.

Tanjen

Gray, female, 40-something, First Officer aboard the GSS Rhapsody
Secretly working for a violent underground Human Rights network
Musical Style: Spy music, Henry Mancini
Enneagram Personality Type: 6, the Loyalist

Tanjen is a chic, well-traveled, very experienced Gray. She is warm and friendly but not overly gregarious. What the audience doesn't know, and won't know for a while, is that she is not who she says she is. Tanjen leads a double life, with another, secret identity (Jentan, pronounced with a French accent like “zhonTawn”). She is, in fact a galactic criminal, an activist wanted for crimes against labs and facilities experimenting on humans. Her rap sheet includes breaking and entering, arson, theft, trespassing, conspiracy, etc. She works with an underground organization called GETH (Grays for the Ethical Treatment of Humans), and they are ruthless in their pursuit of justice for humans.

We find out later in the season that Tanjen is trying to sabotage the Rhapsody’s Memory Wipe systems. Huit has blamed himself and his ill-timed trip to the Bermuda Triangle, but Tanjen was actually responsible. We see her interact with GETH headquarters and narrowly escape detection a few times. Tanjen wants the humans to remember – in all timelines and locations – about the truth behind the gray’s abductions. She wants to end human abductions and experimentations – forever. During the Ssskion battle, she has a chance to destroy MemoryNet, but suddenly faces a big decision.

Roger Byers & Bill Graff

Human males, early 20s, abducted in Kansas 1980 while camping.
Just beginning a relationship, developing acceptance while they are in space.
Musical style: Country, Southern Rock
Enneagram Personality Types: Roger = 9, the Peacekeeper. Bill = 7, the Enthusiast.

These two were abducted while camping in the wilds of Kansas, summer 1980, the same night they had sex with each other for the first time. They have just arrived onboard in the pilot episode. Bill is the “gayer” of the two, upbeat and funny. Roger is still dealing with confusion and guilt, but he really likes Bill, and their whole relationship develops while in space. They get to tell the earlier abductees about life in 1980, and Bill actually has a Rubik’s Cube in his pocket, which he tries to solve for the entire season.

While cruising through space, Roger realizes that no one thinks their relationship is odd, and that, in fact, everything in space is so wild and strange, that his love for Bill is really …. natural and positive. He learns to accept it as the two of them get closer. When the time comes for them to be dropped off on Earth again, they are sad to have to go back in the closet, returning to their 1980 homes. But the crew has a surprise for them, and they are dropped into a big celebration outside the White House in June, 2015, the day gay marriage became federally legal.

Klarkyr

Dairy Cow, accidentally gains intellect, becomes guest on the GSS Rhapsody
Drinks a lot, befriends Roger and Bill
Musical Style: Country
Enneagram Personality Type: 4, the Tragic Romantic

Deck C on the Rhapsody is full of cattle. Grays have franchised “Burger World” fast food restaurants on their ships – for the humans, at first, but now the grays like it, too. Grays also have a documented fondness for strawberry ice cream (seriously – Google it), so the milk provides that treat, too. The cows are treated very well, until they are taken to “the pasture” and never come back.

One cow, mid-season, escapes from Deck C and accidentally becomes self-aware when a random space particle zips through her brain. She has a “Soylent Green” moment in Burger World, but is invited to stay on board as a guest and becomes a season regular, with a universal translator. She names herself “Klarkyr” (Icelandic for “smart cow”) but friends call her Klare. She befriends Roger and Bill, the cowboys from Kansas.

Klarkyr’s newfound intellect comes at a price, though. She wars, internally, with her desire for friendship and intellectual conversation among the humans and grays, and her duty to avenge the other cows. She feels guilt, and gradually becomes an alcoholic. We follow her journey, and eventually, in Season 2, we learn that the milk from an alcoholic cow is not unlike a White Russian. Klare becomes an entrepreneur, selling her alcohol-infused milk to the abductees.