Question: In some scenes, why do the Serenity crew members speak Chinese?
Question: On the back of the complete series DVD I just purchased, it says there are 14 episodes plus 3 unaired ones. The episode guide only lists 15 episodes (counting both parts of Serenity). Is this a typo or is there something I'm missing?
Chosen answer: I think you're misreading it. The fourteen count is the overall total inclusive (e.g. the 11 aired episodes + the 3 unaired ones).
Question: Regarding this question and answer: "In some scenes, why do the Serenity crew members speak Chinese? [One of the premises of the show is that the two major Earth societies that survived, and ultimately merged, were the Chinese and Americans. As a result the common language includes much Chinese. Clothing, signage, and building designs also have a heavy Chinese influence.] Answered by MovieGuy." Survived what?
Chosen answer: It's never made entirely clear. What we know is that at some point, the Earth became unable to sustain those who lived there, resulting in a mass exodus to a new star system. At that point in the Firefly timeline, the two existing superpowers were the Americans and the Chinese. Whether other present-day nations might still have existed is never mentioned.
Question: I've noticed that on the show, people use "gorram" a lot. Is that phrase used as a euphemism for "God damn"?
Chosen answer: Yes, this was done to allow them to swear without causing a problem with the censors. They also swear quite a bit in Chinese.
Question: How do you pronounce Jewel Staite's (Kaylee) last name?
Answer: State.
Question: I've never seen the show myself, but I was wondering what kind of a name "Inara Serra" is. I'm assuming Inara is of Portuguese origin, but mostly because the actress was born in Brazil. Can someone please help me with this?
Answer: Inara is actually Arabic in origin; it means "ray of light" or alternatively "heaven sent". Serra, on the other hand, is Portuguese and means "mountain range" - derived from the same word in Latin, where it means 'saw' (as in the cutting implement, which a mountain range might resemble, rather than the act of seeing).
Chosen answer: One of the premises of the show is that the two major Earth societies that survived, and ultimately merged, were the Chinese and Americans. As a result the common language includes much Chinese. Clothing, signage, and building designs also have a heavy Chinese influence.