So, I’m sitting here watching Joss Whedon’s Firefly, the Jaynestown episode, in fact, and all I can think about is how much I admire Joss Whedon’s ability to write such distinct and complex characters. Even in just the cold open for this episode, you get Kaylee teaching Simon about swearing, Mal willing to use Simon’s looks for a bit of a con… in just the few minutes of cold open, you get a clear picture of everyone’s motivations and a sense of where they’re coming from, even without having seen an episode:

Simon, the proper doctor

Kaylee, decidedly less uptight

Jayne, who’s clearly not telling us everything

I’m rambling a bit here and not making much sense, I suppose. This is more clear in my head, I promise. It mostly just got me thinking about how distinct Whedon’s characters are in this and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and Dollhouse. Just the fact that Simon uses the word ‘mad’ when every other character on the show would likely use the word “crazy” instead gets me here.

Ahhhh, never mind. I really shouldn’t be worrying about characters right now when I still suck at story structure. Gonna go reread these mini essays by Dan Harmon on story structure and work on some outlines.