diff --git a/redis/_compat.py b/redis/_compat.py
index c7859b571b..38d767d435 100644
--- a/redis/_compat.py
+++ b/redis/_compat.py
@@ -12,6 +12,16 @@
     except ImportError:
         from StringIO import StringIO as BytesIO
 
+    # special unicode handling for python2 to avoid UnicodeDecodeError
+    def safe_unicode(obj, *args):
+        """ return the unicode representation of obj """
+        try:
+            return unicode(obj, *args)
+        except UnicodeDecodeError:
+            # obj is byte string
+            ascii_text = str(obj).encode('string_escape')
+            return unicode(ascii_text)
+
     iteritems = lambda x: x.iteritems()
     iterkeys = lambda x: x.iterkeys()
     itervalues = lambda x: x.itervalues()
@@ -48,6 +58,7 @@
     xrange = range
     basestring = str
     unicode = str
+    safe_unicode = str
     bytes = bytes
     long = int
 
diff --git a/redis/client.py b/redis/client.py
index e4445713eb..602136f04c 100755
--- a/redis/client.py
+++ b/redis/client.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 import threading
 import time as mod_time
 from redis._compat import (b, basestring, bytes, imap, iteritems, iterkeys,
-                           itervalues, izip, long, nativestr, unicode)
+                           itervalues, izip, long, nativestr, unicode, safe_unicode)
 from redis.connection import (ConnectionPool, UnixDomainSocketConnection,
                               SSLConnection, Token)
 from redis.lock import Lock, LuaLock
@@ -2532,9 +2532,9 @@ def raise_first_error(self, commands, response):
                 raise r
 
     def annotate_exception(self, exception, number, command):
-        cmd = unicode(' ').join(imap(unicode, command))
+        cmd = safe_unicode(' ').join(imap(safe_unicode, command))
         msg = unicode('Command # %d (%s) of pipeline caused error: %s') % (
-            number, cmd, unicode(exception.args[0]))
+            number, cmd, safe_unicode(exception.args[0]))
         exception.args = (msg,) + exception.args[1:]
 
     def parse_response(self, connection, command_name, **options):
diff --git a/tests/test_scripting.py b/tests/test_scripting.py
index 4849c81b7c..2e6f549b94 100644
--- a/tests/test_scripting.py
+++ b/tests/test_scripting.py
@@ -10,6 +10,16 @@
 value = tonumber(value)
 return value * ARGV[1]"""
 
+msgpack_hello_script = """
+local message = cmsgpack.unpack(ARGV[1])
+local name = message['name']
+return "hello " .. name
+"""
+msgpack_hello_script_broken = """
+local message = cmsgpack.unpack(ARGV[1])
+local names = message['name']
+return "hello " .. name
+"""
 
 class TestScripting(object):
     @pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
@@ -80,3 +90,24 @@ def test_script_object_in_pipeline(self, r):
         assert r.script_exists(multiply.sha) == [False]
         # [SET worked, GET 'a', result of multiple script]
         assert pipe.execute() == [True, b('2'), 6]
+
+    def test_eval_msgpack_pipeline_error_in_lua(self, r):
+        msgpack_hello = r.register_script(msgpack_hello_script)
+        assert not msgpack_hello.sha
+
+        pipe = r.pipeline()
+
+        # avoiding a dependency to msgpack, this is the output of msgpack.dumps({"name": "joe"})
+        msgpack_message_1 = b'\x81\xa4name\xa3Joe'
+
+        msgpack_hello(args=[msgpack_message_1], client = pipe)
+
+        assert r.script_exists(msgpack_hello.sha) == [True]
+        assert pipe.execute()[0] == b'hello Joe'
+
+        msgpack_hello_broken = r.register_script(msgpack_hello_script_broken)
+
+        msgpack_hello_broken(args=[msgpack_message_1], client = pipe)
+        with pytest.raises(exceptions.ResponseError) as excinfo:
+            pipe.execute()
+        assert excinfo.type == exceptions.ResponseError
\ No newline at end of file