I give Kari a few more points over Jessi, because Jessi’ accent is hard for me to understand (non-American here) and Jessi does come across as trying too hard. Kari also have a better rapport with the guys, which of course to be fair, something which Jessi would also pick up over time.
I haven’t seen the episode with Jessi in it and have only seen a few pictures of her, but damn does she look plain! I trip over more attractive blondes when I go to a mall around here.
What is it that makes her a geek goddess? Is it that she’s female, not ugly and doing something sciency? That’s got to be really encouraging to potential women in technical fields. “Gee, you really do a good job with that, do you mind if I look at your ass?” It’s not that looking isn’t natural, but somehow with Kari it’s become OK or even sacrilege not to just openly declare how hot she is.
The only myth I want to see tested right now is the myth that Kari can’t come back immediately, and when she does, can they launch Scrunchyface McTomboy to the moon using rockets?
Having a simple sort of mind, I merely appreciated the TOS-uniformed female in front of me and not considered that she was, in fact, substituting for Kari. Now with that image in mind…