I agree with MaryRose 100%. Inara is able to converse intelligently about a vast number of subjects other than hair and makeup-which she NEVER mentioned, and probably in several languages (other than English and Chinese). She has a biting sense of humor, and she is a great mystery from the very beginning, when Mal asks her why she’s running, and she blows him off. (Much like when Shepherd Book’s character refuses to answer Mal’s questions about his origin. There were WAY too many questions left unanswered when this show was canceled. Booo.)

That, and as a fencing woman myself, I think it is ridiculously awesome that she had to teach Mal to fence.

Being bisexual myself, I also have to mention the more-than-client relationship with a powerful woman that she maintained, evidently for a long time.

She’s got depth. Being pretty doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a personality.

I do strongly agree that we need to remember that beautiful people can be interesting and intelligent too. It’s like the discussion above, about Kari and Scottie. Kari looks incredible, Scotty is the grungier type when it comes to looks, but I still think that Kari has the more interesting mind. We shouldn’t judge her because she’s cute, and I shouldn’t judge Inara because she is beautiful.

Maybe I have been doing that. But I don’t know. To me it just seems like everything she does on screen is motivated by her sense of doing things that are well mannered. For instance, fencing and archery are typical things to learn when you are to socialize with the rich and fancy, so it would have been more interesting if she pulled out a club and clobbered someone ;) Point taken about martial arts though; that’s not typically a part of high society socializing.

And about her well groomed exterior, I do mention that Kaylee wants similar things at times. But when it comes to Kaylee, that is a much smaller part of her. Like in “Shindig” where she really wants to have a pretty dress and go to a fancy party. When she gets there though, she discovers that she doesn’t have Inara’s knowledge of how to look and behave to be accepted by typical high society girls, but she doesn’t let that bother her for long. She is soon dazzling a large group of men by talking with them about technical details about engine configurations, instead of typical party small talk.

So I don’t blame a character for wanting to look pretty, I know that doesn’t have to mean that they don’t have something else too. But I have a harder time with Inara, since she obviously spends very much time on her hair and make up even when she is on the ship, out in deep space for weeks, where she sees no one but her closest friends. To me that just seems like a girl who cares more about her outward appearance than most other things, and those girls are usually very boring.

But sure, I have surely judged her too harshly. Part of the harsh judgment in the post was an act though ;) I just needed a good contrast between them to illustrate the point that just because someone is more beautiful it doesn’t have to mean that they are more attractive. Maybe that led me to taking some cheap shots and I apologize. I stand by my opinion that Inara is one of the more boring characters in the way she acts through most of the series though ;)

Kari says pretty opposite things and she really doesn’t believe that it will work. Of course, having any preconceived belief of the outcome of an experiment before you have any evidence is unscientific, but extraordinary claims do need extraordinary evidence, and with that in mind I think Kari’s position is the more sensible one. Believing that you can think positive thoughts to your plants to get them to grow better, without any evidence for such a process, is just something that I have a hard time respecting.

That being said though, I do really like Scottie too, and maybe I would have liked her better than Kari if she would have stayed on the show so we could have gotten to know her better. As it is now I’ve seen too little of her and have a hard time not judging her from that one incident.

I am sorry that you failed to grasp the depth of character which Joss Whedon imbued into Inara Serra. Perhaps you would be best to remember that sometimes intelligent, interesting people like to keep themselves well-groomed and beautiful.

This is not to say that I don’t think of Kaylee as a highly intelligent, spunky, and interesting character. Let’s not forget that she’s gorgeous, also. Her profession lends itself to a messier, more grungy look, as does Zoe’s, who also is well-groomed. No, they don’t wear extravagant costumes, but perhaps that has more to do with the fact that they don’t cater to the very wealthy, as does Inara. Kaylee repeatedly expresses envy over Inara’s extensive, elegant wardrobe. Zoe wears more feminine clothing few times through the series, once in the beginning of Our Mrs. Reynolds, once in Serenity the movie, once in Heart of Gold, and once in The Message.

I am simply pointing out that if you choose to find fault in Inara, let it be in her distribution of her body, rather than in her character depth, as she is clearly a very complex character, in fact.

as for mythbusters, what you said about scottie (thanks for the name!) is exactly how i feel about kari - less than scientific. with kari i feel like she relies too much on her cuteness rather than actually contributing. also, “mistress of metals” is an awesome title to have.

i guess we should just be glad there are shows out there featuring so many smart women that we are able to disagree on which one is the best! i do think shows like this are a huge step forward in terms of the way women are portrayed in the media.

I agree that Zoe is sexy, and I thought about mentioning her since her expertise in military matters does make her interesting. But since I was looking for examples of interesting girls of the brainier type, Kaylee was a much better match. And I’m trying to improve my brevity in my writings, so I opted not to put in Zoe, because I felt I had nothing brief to say about her :) And military girls are after all pretty common in TV and movies, but the genius mechanic girls are a rarer breed.

Ah, you’re thinking of Scottie Chapman, also known as “Mistress of metals”. I guess I really should have mentioned her. She is an excellent welder and metal worker and I do really love girls like that (and I know plenty of them in real life, to my great pleasure).

Scottie did sometimes annoy me though, by exhibiting a less than scientific viewpoint on certain things. I still loved her on the show, but Kari is my favorite for her sheer enthusiasm for the experiments they do. She isn’t as scientific as one might want either, but enthusiasm does go a long way :)

as for mythbusters, i’m not a big fan of kari but i did really like the other girl who used to be on quite a bit whose name completely escapes me right now. she was much grungier than kari, and as a result she came off as much more knowledgeable and capable, making her more attractive in my opinion.