Takeshi's Castle
en.wikipedia.orgI only know the German version from RTL2 which had funny commentary dubbed over it with made-up names and stuff. Curious, did the dubs in other countries do the same? Were there languages with the original commentary translated?
In the uk it was Craig Charles of red dwarf fame, renowned funk and soul DJ and robot wars host. It was brilliant.
I can hear his laugh just reading this
We had this in the 80s/90s in Italy within a show called "mai dire banzai", they mixed up clips of Takeshi's Castle and Za Gaman[0], and the commentary was three guys of which two acted as faux Japanese experts and the third acted surprised at the completely made up bits of Japanese culture.
It was incredibly popular back then.
US had Most Extreme Elimination Challenge (MXC)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Boww2fJUEHc
strange Poland didn't have one...
Ironic this was posted the same day: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50016956
Right you are Ken!
The dubs for the Spanish version did it too. There were two dubs, one in 1990 and another one for a 2006 re-run. Both completely made up.
It was localized with the name Humor Amarillo ("Yellow Comedy").
I know...
Probably unscripted improv, and hilarious. Go chino cudeiro!
I actually watched it as a kid on Eurosport. It also had the dubbed over commentary. The original has lots of comedy bits between the games, most of them were cut in the German version.
Yes, it was a deliberate strategy to add localized commentary, as the original context would not apply in foreign markets. An example of Transcreation
Back in the early 2000s, I always had a good laugh whenever I was flipping through TV channels and stumbled upon Takeshi's Castle.
I was involved in pro paintball for several years and at the start of every one of their matches, one of the pro teams would chant:
"DON'T. GET. ELIMINATED."
Right you are, Kenny.
My ncpa team would just say "fuckem up!". They did not like that at nationals.
I was the co-ordination for the NCPA NEIC conference!
What team did you play for??
“Right you are, Ken!”
(From MXC, based on footage from Takeshi’s Castle)
Still remember that phrase from years ago.
Kenny Blankenship and Vic Romano! The names so discordant with the visuals...
How could you leave out the reporter in the field, Guy La Douche?
You can watch some English subtitled rips here:
https://archive.org/details/takeshis-castle-with-english-sub...
The other archive link shared here, it's to another set of rips that appear to lack subtitles.
wait did you see that microsoft execution container (mxc) article and think "oh wow remember the best show that was on spiketv"? :D
I don't know about spiketv but yes @ microsoft execution container post
His movies are also worth a watch: Hana bi, Sonatine, Brother, Dolls, and Zatōichi are all amazing movies.
Should do a rewatch again, it's been a while...
You're forgetting the one.
You know the one.
Dies Irae plays softly in the distance
I watched Hana bi and Sonatine recently. I thought "this sounds like Joe Hisaishi" - turns out it was, he scored basically all of Takeshi's films
Getting Any, a total Takeshi movie
if you're into yakuza campyness try the outrage series. he's great in them.
absolutely blowing my mind to realize vic romano and detective nishi are the same actor
There's a related Famicom game that's quite (in)famous: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takeshi%27s_Challenge
Wouldn't have expected this on Hacker News. Used to love watching this as a kid!
IRL OG Fall Guys
Thanks! Someone once told me about this, told me MXC is actually Takeshi's Castle, but I forgot, long ago. Fun fact.
Most of Beat Takeshi's work is amazing, from this, to his films, even his infamous Nintendo game.
"Right in to the mud!"
Remember watching this as a kid after school eating my bag of chips I'd been given for lunch which I'd save up so I can eat it later while watching this. In Canada, it was aired as MXC.
Sinkers and floaters. Lots of jokes about remedial dental work that would be required.