| MXC | |
|---|---|
| Format | Comedy |
| Starring | Victor Wilson Christopher Darga John Cervenka Mary Scheer |
| Opening theme | Firebrand by Bumblefoot |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | 81 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | approx. 20 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Spike |
| Picture format | 480i |
| Original run | April 13, 2003 – February 9, 2007 |
MXC (Most Extreme Elimination Challenge) was an American comedy television program that aired on Spike TV from 2003 to 2007. It is a re-edit of footage from the Japanese game show Takeshi's Castle which originally aired in Japan from 1986 to 1989. The re-edit created a new storyline, as a dub was added that centered on the game show hosts narrating the action as people tried to win points for their teams by surviving through different challenges. In the original program Takeshi's Castle, the characters Kenny and Vic are actually a count named Takeshi and his assistant creating challenges in order to fight off an opposing military leader and his troops.
MXC was produced by RC Entertainment, Inc. in Los Angeles, California, and is the property of both Tokyo Broadcasting System and RC Entertainment. The special episode Almost Live, is the property of Viacom International, which was filmed in the United States by the producers of MXC. In addition to this, MXC's distributor is Magnolia Home Entertainment.
For the first two seasons, MXC was an initialism for the show's former title: Most Extreme Elimination Challenge. Early commercials in 2003 promoted the show as just Most Extreme Elimination with the initials MXE.
The last episode premiered in February 2007, completing the series that spanned five seasons and 81 episodes.
Contents |
In the show, the contestants' names were usually names of celebrities, network bosses, or family members and friends of the producers or voice actors. Several recurring names appear in the show; the most common family name is Babaganoosh, since the producers of MXC were given short deadlines for producing episodes giving them limited time to write the scripts. Babaganoosh comes from Darga as his family is from the middle-east where Baba ghanoush is the name of a local eggplant dish.
During the production of the show, the network bosses stated that they did not want Cervenka and Wilson to repeat games from episode to episode, but Cervenka and Wilson ignored this, knowing that fan-favorite games would keep fans interested in the series. Some fan-favorite and recurring games included Log Drop, Wall Bangers, Dope on a Rope, Rotating Surfboard of Death, and Sinkers and Floaters, amongst many others. Due to the immense reception of MXC in the United States, several of the original Japanese actors whose acting careers were failing at the time MXC aired in the United States got massive career re-boots because of the fan-base in the United States.
While the basic premise of MXC is that of a legitimate game show, its true premise is that of a comedy not intended to be taken literally. All background audio is added by an audio technician, leaving none of the original audio from Takeshi's Castle in MXC. The script is completely unrelated to the original Japanese dialogue, in which Wilson and Cervenka stated that they specifically intended for the dialogue in the show to have nothing to do with Japanese or Asian culture. The only Japanese related term used for the show was the name "Most Extreme Elimination Challenge", which has a Japanese-like feel. Both producers openly admitted that they had no knowledge of what the contestants or actors were originally saying during the filming of Takeshi's Castle. In MXC's script, the dialogue is usually based on sexual puns, pop culture, or mocking various celebrities, athletes, sports announcers, and politicians. Contestants are given names and occupations based on their team and physical appearance. In addition, the various challenges are all given humorous names, such as "Sinkers & Floaters" or "Wall Bangers." The footage for a single episode of MXC can come from multiple episodes of Takeshi's Castle, and occasionally the same footage, including challenges, will be used in multiple episodes with different character names and dialogue. Unlike international editions of Takeshi's Castle, the original text that appeared on screen is left as is mostly uncovered, and sometimes the characters will play off of it.
MXC is personified as a game show that is hosted by the eccentric characters Vic Romano and Kenny Blankenship, along with the field marshal Captain Tenneal and the field reporter Guy LeDouche. Usually, two or three teams of contestants compete in several turn-based and head-to-head challenges. The only episode done without a competitive team base was the first episode ever made, which was simply centered around the stereotypical antics of college girls. Even though this was the first episode made,[1] it was the seventh episode of season one to air. Most other competitive teams do not truly have a real-life rivalry (e.g. Season 1, Episode 2 "Donors vs Addicts"), while others such as Democrats vs. Republicans vs. Third Party do.
The contestants compete in a variety of challenges, usually four per episode, but occasionally as many as six. The challenges are extremely hard, and a majority of the contestants fail to complete the challenges. Throughout the show, painful failures to complete challenges are reviewed by Vic and Kenny in the "MXC Impact Replay", which is essentially a sports themed playback feature. Occasionally, the Impact Replay is used for Kenny's pleasure, in looking at the female contestants, items, or random events in the series which he finds funny or disappointing. Contestants who do complete a challenge earn one or two points for their team. The team with the most points at the end of the episode wins the competition. At the end of each episode, Kenny counts down the ten most "Painful Eliminations of the Day," which usually focus on the events shown in the Impact Replay, but sometimes includes random events that involved the main or recurring characters.
On April 22, 2004, Spike TV aired a special edition of the show to start the third season, featuring skateboarder Tony Hawk and snowboarder Tara Dakides. The special was taped at the Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida using students from nearby colleges and appropriately dubbed MXC Almost Live. The special edition is not based on the original Takeshi's Castle footage but only has some added in for Vic, Ken, the Captain and Guy LeDouche. Actors were hired to play those who would replace the roles of the latter two, named "Major Babe" (Michelle Sorrell) and "Guy LeDouche" (Eric Esteban). While everyone in the episode is American, everything said by any contestants besides Hawk and Dakides is still dubbed.
Three other special episodes have aired including the special nighttime episode, the monsters vs mascots episode, and the special winter episode. All of these special episodes were from Season 2.
Most of the characters and contestants on MXC are voiced by the producers and series' writers: Victor Wilson, Christopher Darga, John Cervenka, and Mary Scheer.
The following are characters who have established a semi-consistent name. However, their names may change to fit in with a show's theme or style of game.
Though uncredited, Jamie Alcroft was the announcer for the first four episodes of MXC before Cervenka took over that role.
A two-disc DVD set, containing the first season episodes, was released on October 3rd, 2006. It includes several bonus materials, such as:
The second season was released on April 17th, 2007.
The episode entitled "Monster Edition - Real Monsters vs. Product Mascots" is heavily edited on this two-disc set. The episode has a running time of 11 minutes and 19 seconds, as opposed to the rest of the episodes on the disc, which have a running time of 20 minutes and 5 seconds. No official reason for the editing has been given, although it is most likely because the cut scenes involved copyrighted characters from Ultraman and Astro Boy. (See Ultra Series#Licensing rights dispute)
Special Features (Disc One):
Special Features (Disc Two):
Part of the third season was released on DVD on November 6, 2007. The set contained the first half - 13 episodes - of the third season of the show.. Volume Four was released on November 11, 2008, completing the third season.[2]
Special Features (Volume Three Disc One):
Special Features (Volume Three Disc Two):
Special Features (Volume Four Disc One):
Volume Four and Volume Five of the show were both released on DVD on November 11th, 2008.[2] The fifth volume contains every episode of the fourth season, except the "Most Best Of MXC" compilation episodes.
Special Features:
The American gameshow Wipeout on ABC has been accused of being "a blatant copycat" of shows such as Takeshi's Castle and MXC, and a copyright infringement lawsuit has been filed by Tokyo Broadcasting System against ABC in late 2008, claiming the obstacle-course game show closely resembles several Japanese shows. It alleged "Wipeout" violated its copyrights to shows such as "Takeshi's Castle," Most Extreme Elimination Challenge" and "Ninja Warrior."
The Japanese network later sued Dutch entertainment giant Endemol, which produces "Wipeout."
The companies settled the case Nov. 30,2011 after meeting with a federal magistrate judge in Los Angeles. No settlement terms were filed with the court.