that yellow bastard - Serenity and some Mandarin translations

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October 3rd, 2005

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2005.1003.1453::Serenity and some Mandarin translations
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I managed to catch Serenity three times this weekend--Friday night I met up with [info]leeannslytherin and [info]crazchica. Saturday, I avoided the Florida/Alabama game with another viewing and then met up on Sunday with [info]countessmary (who I wasn't able to sit with Friday night) for a third.

In general, the Mandarin in the movie is much better than the Mandarin in the series. Since some of the longer phrases are either spoken offscreen or look a bit like they've been ADR'd, I suspect that they had a dialogue/dialect coach come in to a recording studio and run them through the phrases multiple times and picked the best one.

Some Mandarin Translations--Possible Spoilers
  • Bai tuo: River's teacher (Tamara Taylor) says this preceding another phrase that I couldn't quite place in the opening scene. It means "Please!" with a pleading or "Give me a break" connotation.

  • Dong le ma: Mal (offscreen) says this to Simon after walking into the mule hangar bay towards the end of the long tracking shot. It means "Understand?"

  • Da jia zuo xia!: Zoe on the mule, right before she whips around in a 180. It means "Everyone sit down!"

  • Shang Di: River says this on Miranda as part of a long string of Mandarin. It means God.

  • Zhang wo bien tsin shi tou: Not sure if these are the exact words, but River self-translates this after she says it to "Make me a stone."


Like I said earlier, Serenity is good, and much of the success of the movie (and any possible future Firefly-related projects) is dependent on both the first and second weeks of ticket sales. So here's an offer for those of you that read this who have little idea of what I've just talked about. Of the qualifying persons who: live in the Atlanta area and have seen neither Serenity nor Firefly, the first one who comments on this entry will receive: one ticket to a showing of this movie for this coming weekend. I'm thinking the 4:40 showing at Regal Hollywood 24, but I'm flexible.

In other news, I watched Mirrormask this Saturday night, and it was good, too. A bit slow at parts, but visually striking.

( 8 comments | Leave a comment )

Comments:

[info]batnandu::2005.10.04.02:50 pm::first post
[User Picture]Ticket, please.
[info]thepeopleseason::2005.10.04.03:07 pm::Re: first post
[User Picture]So be it, Jedi.

[info]fyrdrakken::2005.10.04.09:27 pm
[User Picture]I'd love the ticket, but I'm out of your area by about half a continent. (But I'm hoping to not only go again this weekend but to drag my mother along, since I'll be done showing her the entirety of Firefly by then.)
[info]thepeopleseason::2005.10.04.09:41 pm
[User Picture]Part of my reasoning for wanting people unaware of the series is that I'm trying to get a gauge on how effective the movie is to newbies. From the four or five people I've taken who haven't seen the series, I've got a 100% success rate in garnering interest in the DVDs.
[info]fyrdrakken::2005.10.07.04:16 pm
[User Picture]Another friend asked a question and had at least a couple of people reply that they hadn't seen the series and the movie didn't make them want to. That's the only place I heard that kind of reaction, though I have to wonder how many of the reports of "taking so-and-so who doesn't watch SF and she loved it!" are being filtered through the perceptions of enthusiastic fans.

Anyway, I've been convinced to make the small-scale experiment of sending Dad to go see the movie before showing him the DVDs.
[info]countessmary::2005.10.06.05:45 pm
[User Picture]do you have stock in that theater or something??? Jees.
[info]thepeopleseason::2005.10.06.05:50 pm
[User Picture]Nope. It's just the best theater (size, sound, etc) that's the closest to me. I'm actually going to hit Perimeter Pointe, because

1) it'll be closer to Dave and Busters in Marietta
2) it's closer for a bunch of people I'm meeting up with (who live outside the perimeter in various locations from Acworth to whatever city is way up in the NE).
[info]countessmary::2005.10.06.06:31 pm
[User Picture]I've never actually been to dave and busters... someday...
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