As I recall from the unaired episodes you find out that the original engineer was something of a womanizer and he'd brought Kaylee back to the ship for a roll in the hammock. Sadly for him something went wrong with the ship and Kaylee fixed it better and faster than he could. Plus, he was kind of a usless turd.
Derek Stanley
Sent from my iPhone...
On 2012-06-18, at 17:00, wrote:
> (Laughing out loud)
>
> Brilliant!
>
> (Laughing out loud again)
>
> "Ethically Challenged Merchant!"
>
> That's what I will have said if I come back and write my last message in
> another incarnation.
>
> Your remark on the crew as PCs has me thinking: I wonder what the guy who
> played the first engineer did to get kicked out of the group!
>
> Dave
>
> > wrote:
> >> I know what you mean, but Whedon has reportedly admitted that it was
> >> based on a campaign in a major SF RPG, according to information here,
> >> although the primary source is no longer available: [deleted]
> >
> > I could see that. In fact, the reason I think "Traveller" when I watch
> > Firefly is not the "low-tech/hi-tech" mix, "shotguns-in-space", and
> > things like that. It is more thematic. First, it is an obvious "Ethically
> > Challenged Merchant" campaign. The character mix is built exactly
> > like a group of PCs. Not all characters actually have to be PCs,
> > but they can be. But to top it all off, the thing is that they *act*
> > just like PCs.
> >
> >> I'm sorry for ruining your light-hearted reply to my light-hearted
> >> comment.
> >
> > You didn't. I just wanted to get my disclaimer in so that no one even
> > remotely thought I had any sort of knowledge on the situation.
> >
> >> Although you're starting to sound like Joss paid you some plausibly
> >> deniable hush money. :-)
> >
> > Geez, that would be *great*. I would *so* pass around the FUD on
> > this if I was actually paid to do it! Alas, I am not ...
> >
> > Mike West
> >
> >
> >
>
>