The Joss Whedon tv show Firefly had many winning attributes. One of the most charming was that the characters frequently spoke in Chinese, usually to swear. Firefly is a western space opera. The episodes of the first reason run through many basic Western plots, but with a spaceship. It's notable for the excellent writing and frequently superior acting. The science is deliberately vague, and the overall tone is pretty much anti-Star Trek. The characters often interject in Chinese in a way that, based on my observations of how people in other countries include English in their speech, is quite typical in reaction to a foreign, dominant language. The original pitch, I'm given to understand, included a racial element in that the Han Chinese were the dominant culture and language. The captain was on the losing side of a war and presumably in the original context he would have been on the losing cultural side as well; the authorities on many planets would have been Han; the two upper-class fugitives who join the crew would have been Han; etc. All that remains of this very cool background idea is some mis-pronounced Chinese dialog and big Chinese characters stenciled onto the sets. The show was cancelled in the first year, though a medium-budget movie is due for theatrical release this year.

Meanwhile, this site with translations should be an invaluable companion to the DVDs.

Serenity, Part 1

Ta1ma1 de5!

他媽的！・他妈的！
Ta ma duh!
"F*** me blind!"
—Mal, on learning of approaching Alliance cruiser

• ta1ma1 de5
: [vulgar] Damn (it)!, F***!; ta1ma1 [literally] his ma (ta1 he; [understood de5 possessive marker]; ma1 ma); de5 possessive marker

This is one of the few bits I already know, and I question the translation. Ta ma duh is literally "his mother's", so I would think that a more ideomatic translation would be simply "motherf***er". I would certainly welcome more input on this point.