Apparently, there were two versions of the opening sequence made for the first episode.  According to Nadesico 1000% reference collection, in one version originally shown on Japanese TV featured a short prologue depicting the First Battle of Mars, and then following a CM break, then the A Part (the first segment of each episode.) begins.  In the subsequent commercial VHS and LD release of Nadesico, the prologue sequence cuts directly into the opening theme.
    When ADV released the tape in America, some complained that they were being treated to a opening sequence different from the version they had seen before.  These two versions of the first episode and the fan subs that were employing this material, may have contributed to this confusion.
 

スキャパレリ・プロジェクト
Project Schiaparelli

    Since Japanese rewrites all foreign words using its 50 some phonetic alphabet, sometimes tracking down the original spell can become pretty tricky.  This was one of them.  It took some hours on the web to track down this person.  While many are familiar with the pioneering work that, Schiaparelli is not a household name regarding Mars research.  The name Schiaparelli is based on Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli, an Italian astronomer from the 19th century.
    The Dutch physicist Christian Hyugens is accredited for making the first reliable observations of Mars using a telescope in 1659.  Our Schiaparelli comes into the picture because in 1877 he was the first person to notice surface features on Mars the resembled canali, Italian for "water channels."  This was gleefully mistranslated into English as canals, with the implications that some intelligent life had dug these up to subsist on the Martian surface.  This exciting speculation on the existence of intelligent life on Mars led one man, a man later to become one of the most famous astronomers in America, to build a observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona and for years make him stare at the red disk floating in the sky.  That man was Percival Lowell, a man who probably has done more to excite the public's imagination regarding Mars than anyone else before Orson Welles and his "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast.
 

ガイ・スーパー・アッパーの秘密
The Secret of "Gai Super Upper"

    Some people in the fandom community have taken issue with the translation of "Gai Super Upper" featured in this episode.  Apparently, in some of the popularly circulated fan sub translations of Nadesico, Gai's line was translated to "Gai Super Napalm."  Some claimed that this was homage to a weapon featured in the second episode of the original Gundam TV series (circa 1979.)  Amuro pilots his Gundam and goes about destroying the remaining parts of Fed MS left in Side 7 using a weapon called the "Super Napalm."  This was the only time this weapon was featured in Gundam.  It's been argued that Gai's line is homage to this.
    While I'm certain the original producers of Nadesico would be quite tickled to hear of such thoughtful analysis, I don't hesitate in proclaiming that there was no such intent.  The reason is Gai never says "Gai Super Napalm."
    Gai's line, transcribed verbatim, is "Gai Su-pa- Na'pa-."  Napalm is pronounced napa-mu in Japanese, not na'pa-.  But what is na'pa- then?  It's the mispronunciation of the word U'pa- or "Upper" in English.
    If you go through the AR script, it clearly states that Gai is to say the line "Gai Super Upper."  There words and sounds in languages that come out sounding differently if they are combined with certain sounds.  For some Japanese speakers, if you say "Gai Super Upper" fast and with force, it comes out sounding like "Gai Super Na'per" sometimes.  This type of slip-up is usually caught in the recording booth, but apparently, the makers of Nadesico left it in there, either as an inside joke or as a cute error to give even more authenticity to the character Gai.  (In real life, people do not have perfect grammar or pronounce words perfectly.)  This information can verified from the Nadesico 1000% CD-ROM.  "...While it should actually be pronounced "Gai Super Upper," when pronounced with passion, it comes out sounding as "na'per-."  正しくは「ガイ・スーパーアッパー」なのだが熱血的に発音すると「ナッパー」となまるのダ。(from Nadesico 1000% CD-ROM)
    Now I could have translated this line as "Gai Super Napper," but English speakers do not make this kind of mistakes often, and most would not understand the reference, so I made the decision of dropping this reference from the translation I provided to ADV.  I doubt any of us would think a small reference such as this would have raised such controversy.
    Now people are entitled to their opinions and I won't claim my translation to be perfect, but it is some what ironic that some in the fan community are lambasting my translation over a small "mistranslation."
    By the way, while the word na'pa- doesn't exist, na'pa is a real word in Japanese.  Na'pa means "green leafy parts of vegetables" in Japanese.
 

声の和声学
Harmonics of Voices

    One of the most astonishing aspects is the number of different Japanese voice actors that are involved in Nadesico.  I've been informed that the recording studio in Tokyo was filled to capacity at times and that they needed to take turns of go through all the voices for certain episodes.
    ADV tried it's best to match the variety of voices featured in the original show.  While some may take issue with the "playful" nature of voices featured in the English dub of Nadesico, there is no question that the voices are all distinct, which is something sadly missing in many English dub projects.
    This is my personal opinion, but I do not find much fault with the English voice acting.  The voices of Akito, Yurika, Ruri, Goat, Prospector, Gai, Megumi, Minato, Fukube, Uribatake, and Munetake were all distinct and identifiable.  Some voices worked better than others, but I was quite happy with the voice casting.
    Two voices stand out the most in this episode.  Mr. Saizo, the owner of the restraunt Akito worked at, with his thick Brooklyn accent, and the security guard with the British accent.  To be frank, neither character has such memorable voice qualities in the original show.  Saizou did have a slight "city talk" tone, but that was about it.  While people will argue about whether these voice add or detract from the show, they were quite memorable and they do not inhibit the flow of the show, as they are characters that only appear briefly.
 

アニメの中のアニメ
Animation inside the animation

    One of the most intriguing aspects of Nadesico is the "inside view" that the show provided.  When Goat and Prospector come to Megumi, you first see her during a recording session.  Megumi is a professional anime voice actress, so this is natural, but the viewer will notice that the screen that's projected is nothing more than still shots of color pencils on paper, not the animation we are used to seeing.  This is because many times animation production gets pushed back that the animation is not ready for the voice recording sessions.  They will many times employ still shots as guides and markers are projected on the screen to indicate the movement of the mouth.  Some times even this is missing, and in chronic cases, the actors and actresses are left with nothing more than stick figure on the screen, a stop watch, and the AR script.  This is not something animation studios are too proud of showing so you won't see footage of this type of work too often, but trust me, that's what they have to contend with at times.