As one who frequently called Tess many a name, including the aforementioned Gerbil, I never thought of any of it based on the actress' physical appearance. Good Lord, Emilie was gorgeous then as she is now. True, at the time I wasn't overly impressed with her (she's grown leaps and bounds IMO as seen in Lost), but when actual Tess discussion came up, it was very clear to me that we were commenting on the character, not some poor girl who found herself playing evil, then good, then no-wait-the-writers-changed-their-minds evil again.Tasyfa wrote:Unfortunately, this one crossed over from originating as a bash of the actress, Emilie, b/c she had that sweet chubby-cheeked look at the beginning of her tenure in Roswell. (Courtesy of being only 18 lol.) It just kind of took off, I guess b/c rodents are not seen as desirable in general. Personally I find it disgusting, but that's me.CandyDreamQueen wrote:Okay, I know this is not really cannon, but I didn't want to make a whole new topic just to get the answer so here it is.
Why do dreamers call Tess the Gerbil?
I never got that one.
hugs, Tas
Now, all this is not to say that Tas is wrong, because I would never do that
. It is to say, however, that some dreamers (and Tess haters, anti-Tessers, RAGErs, whatever else they/we were called) didn't call Tess the Gerbil based on appearance. It may have begun that way but spread not based on its origins. I honestly just thought it was a playful rendition on the rodent thing and meant nothing else. You know, she was a Gerbil, not trust worthy and might eat her own young. I once had a gerbil escape its cage and crawl into the VCR - I never put much stock in them. Okay, I'm not saying there was tons of logic in that assessment, just what I thought.Actually, if you want a really good psychological explanation, there are a lot of studies done on the power of naming. By creating a name for something, and an unflattering one at that, a person/group creates a sense of power over that something. So, by naming Tess "Gerbil" or by naming the sex between Max and Tess "Tex", or whatever else we make names for we are asserting some claim over these entities. Even names like Dreamer, Candy, or Stargazer - sure they are a way of identifing affiliation, but they are also a way of claiming a small part of ownership in the couples they are named for.
Tess' name as "Gerbil" is a way of asserting power over her just as it is a way of "Othering" her, but that's a whole other story and completely off the question of canon. Still, pretty interesting stuff if you ask the academic in me.
, you can find a list of ALL music for all seasons, by episode, with scene listings, for both the show and the changes in the DVDs as well (as much as is known to date), at PHMustang's wonderful site, 
Ki-ki 
but well, I guess that it wouldn't have helped for the 'I'm gonna kill you' scene, if people had been all around, trying to save her 
)
Writer consistancy?})