I'm doing something not-so-polite and quoting myself ( Nilly "Firefly 3: Too Damned Pretty to Die" Aug 10, 2004 5:25:01 am PDT):

If I'm not mistaken, the only one that River didn't get a different-than-what-I'm-really-saying-right-now line from, was Kaylee. Is it that with Kaylee it's so very much "what you see is what you get", no dark secrets, no shadowed corners of the soul? Or does it have anything to do with Kaylee seemingly being the only one who connected to River as River, not any other adjective that any other members of the crew may have used? Or that the two are connected? Or does it have anything to do with the way Kaylee tried to distance herself from River after "War Stories", and now either she closed herself up or River tries to be considerate and not reach out to her too much, sensing her fear, the dryness of the friendship that started to bloom between them? Obviously, I have no idea. I just thought it was such a lovely touch.

Kaylee is very young. She comes from a backwater planet.

Heh. Anne W and I once did a "counterpart" thing for each of the characters, who they'd have been in high school, what IRL background each of them came from.

Kaylee grew up in a farming community in 1950s Nebraska. Her daddy ran the local gas station and auto repair. He had the only tow truck for forty miles. His wife died when their youngest, Kaylee, was about ten. Kaylee's older brothers all played football, but didn't go on to college. They took jobs at the Safeway Foods or the new textile plant, got married to the girls they dated in high school, joined the church, had kids, and lived pretty much the life their folks lived before them.

Kaylee was mechanically gifted from an early age. She was a tomboy, and remembered her mom smelling wonderful and looking happy every anniversary when she and Kaylee's dad went out dancing, but she never had that experience of dressing up for the prom, wearing high heels, putting her hair up. The boys in her class who might have noticed she was a girl were too intimidated by her brothers to ask her out for dates. But they didn't mind hanging around the gas station and taking her out to the lake for beers and recreation.

Now Bender walked into the gas station looking for spare parts. He spotted her, all cute and curious, and asked her if she wanted to see a spaceship. Of course she did. And suddenly she has a job doing something she's good at, and a chance to ramble around the 'verse, meet all kinds of people, see all kinds of new places...

It's all an adventure to Kaylee. She's open to pretty much everything but meanness. And something mean enough, with enough direct menace, will overwhelm her. But otherwise, she's happy to be out of the little crossroads town and the gas station and the dead-end life after high school.

Kaylee has no inner conflicts, no inner demons, she knows who she is and likes herself; having no anger, she projects none onto her world or the people in it.

Zenkitty has wisdom.

Tamara: I still say that Kaylee's look during the OiS vision-cam was less than flat. She was into negative territory. Either she disliked River, or she was revealing a basic dyspesia with the world.

Beverly, that was wonderful! Could you please post all the other characters, as well (since you said that you'd already done the same for them, anyway)?

[Edit: also, the name of the original mechanic of "Serenity" was Bester, IIRC, not Benter t /nitpick ]

Take me some time, Nilly, but I'll work on it. Anne? You remember any of this? I could use the help remembering.

I seem to recall we had a difference of opinion about Wash's background, but not what it was, right now.

ETA: Nilly!

And also, the discussion was verbal, in the car. So I don't have archived text as reference. But as I think on it, I'll post what I remember.

Beverly, no bother - I just loved the one you already posted so much, I was eager to see the rest.

The only thing I remembe rabout Wash's background is something he mentioned in Our Mrs. Reynolds:

Planet I'm from, couldn't see a one of 'em, pollution's so thick. Sometimes I think I entered flight school just to see what the hell everyone was talking about.

Yep. I thought he would have been a jock, a class clown. I think Anne thought he would have been an AV nerd, who got tired of being bullied and bulked up and worked out.

Zoe was a doctor's daughter, only child, southern family, wealthy, genteel and well-educated. They lost everything in the war, which is why she wound up fighting.

Mal we all know about. My theory was that he was raised by a single mom, rich in life experience, laughter, sense of who he was in the community and family roots going back generations on their land. Lots of men worked there, but there was never a lot of money for new clothes, or a car when he turned 16. He may even have dropped out of high school to help out on the ranch--or farm, whichever. He had an early education in self-sufficiency, getting by and making do, and not feeling any embarrassment about it, and also in bossing people--the men who worked the ranch were mostly older than he was, but he would have been his mother's foreman from an early age. His experiences with command in the war sort of cemented that ability, while also embittering him and making him question his values. The ones he still retains he holds onto fiercely.

I never got as far as Book, but he's a fascinating one to puzzle out, for me.

Simon and River, we know all about them already. And I never connected enough with Inara to speculate about her past more than idly.

Nilly! Thank you. That is exactly what I was hoping for. I even thought to myself, "Maybe Nilly will come along and be all eloquent." Hee!

Beverly, that was great.

Gus, I don't disagree. I think her silence and facial expression (or lack of one) is open to interpretation. Just as everything else in that episode. Fun.

They lost everything in the war, which is why she wound up fighting.

I want Zoe's backstory. I want to know (and I understand you have to change these things to work in the almost-here and nearly-now) if she wound up fighting, or always was kinda like that.

My theory was that he was raised by a single mom,

Huh. I don't see that. I mean he likes women, and strong women, but there definitely seems like there was a Dad in his life. He's invested in a lot of male culture.