Oh I can imagine. They probably get that same look my mom gets when I tell her that parasites are cool. The 'well as long as you enjoy it' look.

Oh don't you worry, I get so angry when I hear people say that. Or even worse, ask me if I'm doing it because I want to play with the dolphins. Sadly MB is girly-science major. Every girl here "like so yeah, I wanna to do research on dolphins". AAARRRRGGGG! I'm a marine parasite girl myself.

I was young when the show came out, so the science, or lack there of, was beyond me. But yeah, season 2...lets just leave it at that.

Glad you liked the site :D
http://www.geocities.com/nurscherryorchard

Nur - Marine Biologist, heh? Good for you! I look at the ocean as humanity's real frontier, since most of us will not be going into deep space any time soon (except maybe in our vivid imaginations). I watched SeaQuest too - it could have been so much better if they actually had someone in the field helping them with their stories. Supposedly, Bob Ballard helped with the science end, but the stories were pretty weak. Don't even get me started on season two...

One request I have of you - be a REAL Marine Biologist and don't try to get a job working with dolphins in a marine park. Every undergrad MB I have met in the past 10 years wants to do that. Of course it would be fun, but those jobs are rare and there is lots of fun to be had in other areas (zooplankton and phytoplankton are cool too - imagine a "star wars" scale battle taking place every day in every square meter of the ocean).

Anyway, good luck in your pursuits, and I like your website :)

Interesting point. I've wondered about that since Mal mentioned hiring a cook in Out of Gas.

My guess is there were already too many characters. Hmm. I can totally see Joss leaving that open for a future character.

Or maybe after Inara and Mal hook up, and she stops...companioning, she could be the cook. Who knows what they taught her at whore school?

Oceanographer, Excellent! Marine Biologist myself. Well...in training actually but I'm working on it. I used to watch SeaQuest when I was younger and I thought that their sub was great, but you always got the feeling that is was too much of set with its big open corridors and Enterprise-like walls. I can totally see Serenity as a wee little research vessel.

This may seem trivial (ok, it is) but I would like to see a real cook on board - maybe he/she can be the 10th character in the new series. You talk to any ship-board cook and they will tell you that it is a full-time job, not something that the engineer does when she has time.

Think about it - who buys food in port? Who fills up the little food boxes on the walls in Serenity's mess (so that people can eat breakfast and lunch by themselves). Maybe Book can become the ship's cook, since he already showed some skill at it in the pilot. Otherwise, why is he still on board the ship? At least Simon found a job as ships' medic to justify his presence. I think Book should too, otherwise, why would Mal would keep him onboard so long? Right now, he is the only "passenger" left, and how long can that last.

Yes, I vote for Book to be ship's cook.

Kaylee cooked dinner in the first episode... they may rotate who cooks the sit-down meal at 1800... and mal says the rest of the time it's fend for yourself.

Use to work there, but now I am more N@val-science centered, but exactly where I can not say. Not to be cryptic, but these days (post 9/11) you have to be careful what you put in public forums, and everything goes into Google for permanent storage...

You work for NOAA? Curious as I have a few friends over that way.