diff --git a/scripts/mosh b/scripts/mosh
index 0cf2748..5773ed1 100755
--- a/scripts/mosh
+++ b/scripts/mosh
@@ -163,6 +163,23 @@ my $pty_slave = $pty->slave;
 
 $pty_slave->clone_winsize_from( \*STDIN );
 
+# Count colors
+open COLORCOUNT, '-|', $client, ('-c') or die "Can't count colors: $!\n";
+my $colors = "";
+{
+  local $/ = undef;
+  $colors = <COLORCOUNT>;
+}
+close COLORCOUNT or die;
+
+chomp $colors;
+
+if ( (not defined $colors)
+    or $colors !~ m{^[0-9]+$}
+    or $colors < 0 ) {
+  $colors = 0;
+}
+
 my $pid = fork;
 die "$0: fork: $!\n" unless ( defined $pid );
 if ( $pid == 0 ) { # child
@@ -173,13 +190,20 @@ if ( $pid == 0 ) { # child
 
   my @server = ( $server, 'new', '-s' );
 
+  push @server, ( '-c', $colors );
+
   if ( defined $port_request ) {
     push @server, ( '-p', $port_request );
   }
 
   if ( scalar @command > 0 ) {
-    my $command_string = q{"} . (join ' ', @command) . q{"};
-    push @server, ( '--', '/bin/sh', '-c', $command_string );
+    my $command_string = join ' ', @command;
+    $command_string =~ s'\$'\$'g;
+    $command_string =~ s'`'\`'g;
+    $command_string =~ s'"'\"'g;
+    $command_string =~ s'\\'\\'g;
+
+    push @server, ( '--', '/bin/sh', '-c',  qq{"$command_string"} );
   }
 
   exec 'ssh', '-S', 'none', '-o', "ProxyCommand=$0 --fake-proxy -- %h %p", '-t', $userhost, '--', @server;
diff --git a/src/frontend/mosh-server.cc b/src/frontend/mosh-server.cc
index 23c629c..ad8aefb 100644
--- a/src/frontend/mosh-server.cc
+++ b/src/frontend/mosh-server.cc
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ void serve( int host_fd,
 	    ServerConnection &network );
 
 int run_server( const char *desired_ip, const char *desired_port,
-		char *command[] );
+		char *command[], const int colors );
 
 using namespace std;
 
@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ int main( int argc, char *argv[] )
   char *desired_ip = NULL;
   char *desired_port = NULL;
   char **command = NULL;
+  int colors = 0;
 
   /* strip off command */
   for ( int i = 0; i < argc; i++ ) {
@@ -117,7 +118,7 @@ int main( int argc, char *argv[] )
        && (strcmp( argv[ 1 ], "new" ) == 0) ) {
     /* new option syntax */
     int opt;
-    while ( (opt = getopt( argc, argv, "i:p:s" )) != -1 ) {
+    while ( (opt = getopt( argc, argv, "i:p:c:s" )) != -1 ) {
       switch ( opt ) {
       case 'i':
 	desired_ip = optarg;
@@ -129,9 +130,12 @@ int main( int argc, char *argv[] )
 	desired_ip = strdup( get_SSH_IP().c_str() );
 	fatal_assert( desired_ip );
 	break;
+      case 'c':
+	colors = myatoi( optarg );
+	break;
       default:
 	print_usage( argv[ 0 ] );
-	exit( 1 );
+	/* don't die on unknown options */
       }
     }
   } else if ( argc == 1 ) {
@@ -195,7 +199,7 @@ int main( int argc, char *argv[] )
   }
 
   try {
-    return run_server( desired_ip, desired_port, command );
+    return run_server( desired_ip, desired_port, command, colors );
   } catch ( Network::NetworkException e ) {
     fprintf( stderr, "Network exception: %s: %s\n",
 	     e.function.c_str(), strerror( e.the_errno ) );
@@ -208,7 +212,7 @@ int main( int argc, char *argv[] )
 }
 
 int run_server( const char *desired_ip, const char *desired_port,
-		char *command[] ) {
+		char *command[], const int colors ) {
   /* get initial window size */
   struct winsize window_size;
   if ( ioctl( STDIN_FILENO, TIOCGWINSZ, &window_size ) < 0 ) {
@@ -285,7 +289,10 @@ int run_server( const char *desired_ip, const char *desired_port,
     fatal_assert( sigprocmask( SIG_SETMASK, &signals_to_block, NULL ) == 0 );
 
     /* set TERM */
-    if ( setenv( "TERM", "xterm-256color", true ) < 0 ) {
+    const char default_term[] = "xterm";
+    const char color_term[] = "xterm-256color";
+
+    if ( setenv( "TERM", (colors == 256) ? color_term : default_term, true ) < 0 ) {
       perror( "setenv" );
       exit( 1 );
     }