Bought the "Nausicaa" dvd (yep, you heard me--"bought") and it's glorious, just glorious. Not just a bright, clean picture, but the sound effects and music are crystal clear--you can hear the slight muffling of people speaking with breathing masks on, for example, or the terrible whirring and clicking of millions of insects swarming.
Care has been taken with the translation--little inconsistencies that have bothered fans have been patched up the best they can ("it was unconscious so it didn't breathe much poison" changed to the more defensible "it didn't seem to have breathed much poison;" "Lord Jhil" changed to "King Jhil" which makes some sense--what princess would have a mere lord for a father?). I miss the hair-raising name 'God Soldier,' given to the monster raised from Pejite (the more religiously neutral--and flavorless--name "Great Warrior" is substituted).
Patrick Stewart as Lord Yupa doesn't capture the original's fierce warrior growl, but he does have the regal authority, and his inflections seem at least as eloquent. Chris Sarandon runs away with the character of Kurotawa (he has the best lines in the film), the three old men are played up for comedy, Lohman and Thurman do fine as Nausicaa and Kushana, respectively, and the wonderful Mark Hamill is sadly wasted in a bit role (fear of overexposure? He had a major role in "Laputa"). The music, as far as I can remember, is largely unfussed with (unlike the horrendous rendering of "Laputa").
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