April 22, 2004, 10:42AM Spike TV gives show a wacky makeover By DAVE LARSEN Cox News Service Dodging boulders and dashing across spinning logs is tough enough without having wisecracks lobbed at you, too. But that's the fun of Spike TV's wacky reality sports show, Most Extreme Elimination Television's latest cult hit, known to fans as MXC, combines Fear Factor-style stunts with the snarky voice-over commentary of Mystery Science Theater: 3000 and the slipshod dubbing of classic kung-fu movies. Using actual footage from a popular 1980s prime-time Japanese game show, Takeshi's Castle, a troupe of Los Angeles improvisational actors re-voice the episodes, pitting teams of fictional rivals such as "the Unemployed" and "Environmentalists" against one another in crazy competitions to create all-new comedic story lines. Visually, MXC draws laughs from high-impact pratfalls, highlighted in each episode with a recap of the Top 10 "most painful eliminations of the day." But the true humor lies in its eyebrow-raising commentary, delivered by two outrageously dressed Japanese hosts with the unlikely names of Vic Romano and Kenny Blankenship. They are joined by field correspondent Guy Le Douche, who interviews contestants with a panda-shaped microphone, and Captain Tenneal, who leads players through ridiculous challenges with titles such as Rope Pullers. Working from the 130 one-hour episodes of Takeshi's Castle that aired between 1986 and 1990, executive producer Paul Abeyta edits together various games to form the basis for a half-hour episode of MXC. "We don't have a clue what they're doing or saying," Abeyta said, regarding the original Japanese series. MXC's voice cast -- Victor Wilson, Christopher Darga, Mary Scheer and John Cervenka -- improvises over Abeyta's footage, playing off the absurd action to create new story lines, characters and dialogue. "Our only rule is we make fun of everyone," said Scheer, a Mad TV alum who provides all of MXC's female voices. Everyone, that is, except for the Asians. The Japanese contestants are given goofy Anglo names and offbeat occupations, such as a plasma donor for flat-screen TVs or an instruction complicator for the IRS. Spike TV shows MXC episodes numerous times throughout the week, with frequent marathon presentations. The series' third season of 26 new episodes kicks off at 9 tonight with a one-hour special, MXC Almost Live. Taped last month at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla., the special features hundreds of Florida college students competing in familiar MXC challenges, rebuilt at the theme park from the Tokyo Broadcasting System's original game plans. The rival teams, "College Greeks" and "College Geeks," are captained by extreme-sports stars Tony Hawk and Tara Dakides. "Everyone on the show with the exception of Tony and Tara will be re-voiced," Abeyta said. "They are the only two real voices you'll hear, and if you watch the show you'll see that we're going to slip their audio a few frames to make it look as though they were dubbed in." They are running an MXC marathon all day today. If you've never seen the show check it out
Unfortunately I'm stuck running errands so I'll miss the marathon. I've got my VCR ready for the special and the new episode(s) tonight though.
I actually used to watch the original Japanese show "Takeshi's (Takeshi Kitano) Castle" when it was on air in Japan. The show was a massive hit in Japan. It was one of the funniest game show/reality tv (think American Gladiator done in typical Japanese camp humor) that I had seen. Unfortunately for me, Spike TV's MXC has completely killed it. They should have had Japanese language translators dub it ala "Iron Chef" (which is remarkably faithful to the original Japanese). The whole premise of the show is also completely lost. The object of the game was to have a 100 people go through an obstacle course. After a few rounds of this, the surviving contestants get to storm "Takeshi's Castle" in these little go carts with water pistols I believe. It was rare for anyone to actually succeed in defeating Takeshi, but it was fun to see if anyone actually made it through. Quite absurd but funny as anything.
Really? That can't be better then the re-dubbed Kenny Blankenship and Vic Romano. Funniest duo on television. The Captain and Guy le douche are equally hilarious.
The rerun they are showing now is one of the funniest episodes I have seen. It has the "American Idol" type singing contest that is judged by some Mafia looking guy. Funny stuff
I never figured out what that event was all about. I guessed it was some sort of karaoke competition or something but it was just so different from everything else I didn't get it. The Power Rangers are now a musical group? WTF?
Joss Jarhead sings (in a death metal type voice); "Take off your clothes I'll show you my hose No one will see cause The doors are closed"
It's not even so much the lyrics that are funny than Kenny commenting that his mom used to sing that to him when he was a kid.
This show is hilarious! My favorite event is the log rolling event. Those poor suckers always get their heads slammed against those logs and bent into all sorts of positions as they fall into the water! Hilarious!
MXC almost live last night was hilarious!!! I know that some guys must have broken collarbones after hitting that door full speed! The show had way too much man crack though.
