...where one can find a handful of Daria episodes in French. I'm not saying where they are, though. (Besides, I'm waiting for Kara Wild's "What now?" update at the DVD Blog.)

I decided to download Episode 208, "Chez les surdoues" -- "Gifted", in English, the episode where Jodie and Daria go to Grove Hills. It was a huge download with RealPlayer, about 70 MB. But I'm the kind of person who likes watching DVDs dubbed in languages which I don't speak, and listening to the dubbed dialogue without subtitles. So I listened to the nice French voice actors speak.

A few conclusions:

* Barch's voice seems less harsh. It's definitely less shrill and screechy.
* Ms. Li's voice sounds more dignified, and measured. In the "English dub", you feel as if Ms. Li is going to fly off the handle at any minute, but I didn't get that impression in the "French dub".
* Jake and Helen are just right.
* Daria and Jane are what they are. Daria is appropriately dry, and Jane's voice has the odd semi-baritone we associate with Jane's voice, truly a voice all its own.
* Quinn's voice sounds less soprano. However, the French voice actor gives it a more interesting and varied interpretation, seemingly more subtle.
* Sandi's voice loses a lot. The compelling baritone is missing, and we're just left with a voice that sounds like any other French teenage girl. They basically got Sandi wrong.
* Jodie sounds a bit more sincere, although I could just be hearing things.
* Tiffany's voice is a bit deeper. I would love for a French-speaker to translate Tiffany's "does this make me look fat?" into the accurate French words used on the dub.
* And finally, Trent Lane. Trent Lane is perfect, the French voice actor sounds better than the English one, with his bohemian ways finding the right voice. I wouldn't be surprised if the Lanes were formerly the Rues....