But, of course, the real villain of the piece is Gargoyle, played by David Jones. This voice, I'm sad to say, needs work, but not so much work that it ruins the dub. When in angry, bellowing, mode, Jones is fine as the evil, masked bad guy. But when I watched the scenes where Gargoyle has Nadia prisoner and is lecturing her on how superior he and how he will take over the world, so she might as well hand over the crystal, I couldn't help but giggle. It took me awhile to figure what I was finding so funny, then it hit me: he sounds just like the narrator for NFL Films! It became a little like MST3K. Gargoyle would drone on about how darn powerful he is, then I'd chime in, using the same tone of voice, "The San Francisco 49ers moved inexorably down the field as Joe Montana picked apart the Giants' secondary." Then I'd fall over sideways laughing. If you don't make that connection, however, Jones' Gargoyle isn't all that bad, just a little cartoony, like nearly every other character in the dub.

At this point, I haven't seen enough of the crew of the Nautilus to fairly judge them. I would like to point out one thing, however. I'm not certain whether it was intentional or not, but Nemo sounds a little like Captain Gloval from Robotech. Considering how similar the two characters are in both appearance and demeanor, I wouldn't be surprised if this was a little "nudge-and-a-wink" on the part of ADV. It's up to you whether you find this clever or annoying.

Perhaps my favorite voice in the film, however, is one with no face. Karen Kuykendall plays the kindly old lady (Nadia in later years?) whose voice introduces each episode. If you've seen the popular trailer for Nadia that appeared on ADV tapes and DVDs more than a year ago, you'll immediately recognize her. Her voice is wonderful, the grandmother everyone wishes they had, and sets a whimsical, romantic mood.

The Nadia dub is directed by Charles Campbell, who, as it turns out, also directed the Lost Universe dub mentioned at the beginning of this review. After hearing that dub, I had serious questions about Campbell's competence, but he's laid those questions to rest. It may help that Campbell didn't write the ADR script for Nadia himself, as he did with Lost Universe.

Overall, the dub of Nadia is unpolished, unsophisticated, and a whole lot of fun. Do yourself a favor: try watching an episode Saturday morning while eating a bowl of cereal. I think you'll see what I mean.

Rating: *** (out of 4)

(review based on episodes 1 - 8)

Released by: ADV

Dub by: Monster Island (ADV)

Director: Charles Campbell

Nadia - Meg Baumann

Jean - Nathan Parsons

Marie - Margaret Cassidy

Grandis - Sarah Richardson

Hanson - Corey Gagne

Sanson - Martin Blacker

Gargoyle - David Jones

Narrator - Karen Kuykendall

Note: I need to give props to the following website, simply called "The 'Nadia' Page", for confirming my suspicions that Nadia, Jean, and Marie are indeed played by children. The site describes the dub's premiere at Project A-Kon last June.

I couldn't possibly write this column without the help of the Dub Seiyuu Database.

Agree? Disagree? Have a comment about a dub, or just about dubbing in general? Let me know!