Most Extreme Elimination Challenge

*Most Extreme Elimination Challenge*
Most Extreme Elimination Challenge
	File:MXC Logo.JPG MXC logo
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. 30 minutes
Original release
Network	Spike TV
Release	April 13, 2003 –; present

MXC is an American comedy television program that airs on Spike TV. It is a redubbing of the Japanese game show Takeshi's Castle, which aired from 1986 to 1989.

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.

History

On April 13, 2003, Spike TV (then called "The National Network" or "The New TNN") began airing a comedy-oriented dub of Takeshi's Castle called Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, which was produced by ADR company RC Entertainment. This version features voice-actors from the Groundlings comedy troupe, dubbing over both regular characters and participants; no serious effort is made to lip-synch, though at least some effort is taken to match the dub to gestures and other subtle body movements.

Show format

MXC is a "game show," hosted by Vic Romano and Kenny Blankenship, in which two or three teams of contestants compete in several turn-based and head-to-head challenges. While some matchups, such as Democrats vs. Republicans vs. Third Party, have a real life meaning, most of them, such as Inventors vs. Ex-Child Actors, do not.

The contestants compete in a variety of challenges, usually four, but occasionally as many as six. The challenges are extremely hard (MXC's tagline is "the World's Most Toughest Competition in Town"), and a majority of the contestants fail them. Failed attempts which look especially painful or ridiculous are highlighted via the "MXC Impact Replay." Contestants who do complete a challenge earn one or two points for their respective team. The team with the most points at the end of the program wins the competition. At the end of each show, Kenny counts down the ten most "Painful Eliminations of the Day," which usually focus on the action from the show itself but sometimes include highlights from the various goings-on around the competition.

While the basic premise of MXC is that of a legitimate game show, it is actually more of a comedy program. Much of the dialogue is unrelated to the original competition itself and is instead based on pop culture, mocking various celebrities, athletes, sports announcers, and politicians. Contestants are given names and occupations based on their team and physical appearance. MXC completely replaces all of the original audio from Takeshi's Castle, including adding a background of cheering audiences, voicing any incidental characters, and adding any sound effects required for the scene. 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 more than one episode of Takeshi's Castle, and occasionally the same footage, including challenges, will be used in multiple episodes with different 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.

Special US episode

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 "Gip LeDouche" (Eric Esteban). While everyone in the episode is American, everything said by any contestants besides Hawk and Dakides is still dubbed into English. This episode also featured an appearance by Japanese punk band Peelander-Z, who performed the song "S.T.E.A.K."

Characters

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.

Main Characters

Vic Romano (who was named after a character from the Miami Vice episode "Streetwise" who was played by Bill Paxton) is the co-host and play-by-play commentator. He is level-headed, has a dark past of alcohol abuse, failed marriages, various addictions and generally treats MXC as a serious competition. Vic was once also a professional baseball player who became addicted to "everything", including every type of drug, alcohol, and easy women. He once was an airline pilot during his stint of alcohol abuse, but states, "Luckily, nobody noticed". Notable catch phrases include "Right you are Ken", "Indeed!", and "Good to know." He is played by the well-known Japanese actor Takeshi Kitano and voiced by Victor Wilson.

Kenny Blankenship is the other co-host and color commentator. Blankenship is a light-hearted high-school dropout whose uncle owns the network. He thinks mostly about "chicks, pizza and beer." He is played by comedian Sonemanma Higashi and voiced by Christopher Darga.

Captain Tenneal, whose name comes from the 1970s musical act Captain and Tennille, is the field marshall. The Captain has a very clear cut view of how the world works. You either agree with him or, "You're wrong!", because he is the Captain. The Captain is also independently wealthy, somehow. He is played by Hayato Tani and voiced by John Cervenka.

Guy LeDouche is the field reporter. He is portrayed as a creepy French journalist who hits on every contestant he interviews. He has other family member interviewers, who show the same behavior, such as "Lyndon" (which plays off wacky political figure Lyndon Larouche), "Geek", "Giddy", "Gip," "Goon", and "Gawp", along with females named "Gay", "Grandma", "Gab", "Gin" and "Gidget". He is played by Shingo Yanagisawa and voiced by John Cervenka (male) and Mary Scheer (female).

Recurring Characters

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.

Danny Glands (a play on words of long-time Las Vegas entertainer Danny Gans) is an MXC Staffer who works in many of the games. His primary responsibilities include asking questions in Finger It, knocking down contestants in Brass Balls and launching the soccer balls in Dirty Balls. Also known as Jimmy Junk, Golden Shower Boy, Barry Sosa, and in the game "Circle Jerkers" he's known as "Sugar Ramon Fisk". Played onscreen by J-Pop star Michiru Jo.

Skanky is a sixteen-foot monster who punishes contestants that fail to complete the Wallbangers game.

Chief Otto Parts (a parody of the Chief Auto Parts auto supply store chain) is a Native American who taunts the contestants in Rotating Surfboard of Death.

Em on Em (a spoof of rapper Eminem) are gay twins dressed in rainbow ponchos. Main games include Tumbling Dominos of Doom and Irritable Bowl Syndrome. Also known as Babe and Ruth and Bud and Pud. They are played by Shoji and Shoichi Kinoshita.

The Babaganoosh Family is a family of contestants from the Middle East who appear in nearly every show.

The Brown Spider taunts contestants in various games, including Wall Buggers and Dash to Death. Usually played by Brad Lesley.

Though uncredited, Jamie Alcroft was the announcer for the first four episodes of MXC before Cervenka took over that role.

Challenges

The challenges in MXC derive directly from the challenges in Takeshi's Castle, each renamed for humorous purpose, frequently using double entendre or other puns, sometimes found in the Glossary of Perversion. While each game has its own goal, the general rule for most is to avoid falling into the surrounding mud or murky water, renamed "safety fluid" for the show, and identified as any number of repulsive substances, often provided by the fictional "Hot Carl". (NOTE: Some of the games have more than one title; all the titles are shown here as a reference.)

A Mazing Grace: All contestants must get through a giant maze. The team with the most contestants through wins.
Athlete's Feet: Contestants have to find a pair of matching shoes and get across a giant 375 degree baking sheet. The team with the most contestants through in the alloted time wins.
Backyard Bocce Ball Bloodbath: Numerous golden balls are hidden in a garden. The team who finds the most balls wins.
Ball Busters: The object of the game is to try to get down the first base line with out getting beaned by Donny 'Big Hands' Johnson. Contestants are placed in giant baseball suits and have to walk across a narrow lane while avoiding three giant baseballs.
Bird Droppings: Caw! Caw! Caca! Contestants wear bird outfits and are flown in the air with a zipline. They must grab a pink rabbit with their feet and drop it into a bird's nest, all while avoiding the soccer balls being shot at them.
Boulder Dash: Based on the Scandanavian game "Flatternoogin", the object is to run up the long chute and pass several stones without getting painfully eliminated. Contestants must run through a long chute and reach the top while avoiding the large boulders that roll down the chute. There are numerous slits for the contestants to hide in, but guards will push them out. They are allowed to keep moving until they are knocked down by a boulder.
Brass Balls: Now the object of the game is for contestants to grab a golden ball and get across the rickety bridge without getting you or your balls shot off by our trained assassins. Contestants must carry a golden soccer ball across a narrow bridge. At the same time, the guards will attempt to knock you off with their soccer balls.
Buck Off!: Stay on the bucking horntoad and shoot down the bloodsucking hairless pink bat. Contestants get on a rodeo toad and must shoot down a pink bat.
Bunk Buddies/Roulective Surgery/Cruelette - Each contestant grabs a colored chip, if your color comes up you're on the bottom. -- Danny Glands S1E04
Bust-a-Nut: Contestants put on a giant nut suit and must hop across a twisty path with their legs tied up.
Character Assassination/Battlefeltch Earth
Cheeze Squeezers/Cut the Cheese
Chum in the Mouth: Contestants ride a foam board down a conveyor belt, and must duck or jump foam "sharks" to avoid being tossed into the water.
Circle Jerkers - Contestants pick a small coloured ball from a mystery box and must fight sumo-style against one of the MXC staffers whose uniform corresponds to their ball colour.
Clear Sphere of Fear - You must navigate your way through the maze while avoiding the Skulls of Doom in the hermetically sealed capsule before the oxygen runs out. -- Vic Romano
Corn Holders
Crate Escape, The
Crossing the Poo-tomac/Crossing the Pee-O Grande
Dash to Death - The object of this challenge is to get across the obstacle course of challenges without getting dashed to death. -- Vic Romano
Dead End Zone
Dead Letter Zone
Dead Men Walking
Door Jam or Door Jammed (a/k/a Legal Maze - Find a loophole in the system and get out on a technicality, but make a wrong turn and you're sent up the river. -- Vic Romano -- S1E04; a/k/a In & Outhouse)
Door Slammers/Great Holes of Glory - Contestants must find the correct opening and pop through it, hopefully without much residual tearing. -- Vic Romano; Wrong door and you may get a mouthful of mud! -- Kenny Blankenship
Dope on a Rope - The object is to grab the rope and swing from point A to point B without landing in mystery sludge C. -- Vic Romano
Dirty Muddy Balls/Mudballs/Dry Balls/Highballers/Catch Hell - Trash through the sludge, snatch the orb in the air, and keep your balls sparkly clean. -- Vic Romano
Eat Shiitake - This game is based on one by Hobbits which combines the light-hearted frivolity of fungus flying with the horror of drowning. -- Vic Romano.
Elimination Idol
Endangering Species
Finger It
Foul Balls/Spit Balls
Frigid Slope of Icy Death
Gang Plankers/Swamp Gassers
Get a Piece - This is the game where our contestants try to reassemble the original animated cells from the beloved family classic Jungle Book Fever. -- Vic Romano
Get Hard - The competition is gonna get a lot stiffer, why? Because our automotive and dairy teamers must crawl through 18 million cubic feet of quick drying cement and get to the other side before they get hard. -- Vic Romano -- S1E03
Great Escape from Foster Care
Hand Job/Wet Spot - The first player to smack the right answer wins the round for their team. -- Vic Romano -- S1E04
Impassable Stones of Mount McKidney - The object is to get up the hill and squeeze by me and my asteroids while we pelt you with giant stones. -- Commander Penetrant
Intestinal Fortitude
Irritable Bowl Syndrome (a/k/a Hot Steaming Bowl of Love) - Stay in the bowl, slide down the slope without getting flushed. -- Vic Romano
Log Drop - Contestants must scamper across the spinning timbers without getting dumped.; The premise of Log Drop is simple: stay dry good, get wet bad. -- Vic Romano (a/k/a Congressional Log Jam)
Jerk and Release (a/k/a Porking The Barrel)
Le Tour de Grand Prix (Or as Kenny Blankenship calls it "The Tower of Grand Pricks")
Little Man in the Boat - Climb on top, go for a little ride, but don't stop in time and you'll deal with this guy. -- Vic Romano
Loogie Launch
Mine Games
Mud Butlers - In this event each player must tap an inflated goat bladder with a meat mallet, and then run down the steps of doom and attempt to catch the swollen orb before it lands in the bog of mystery mud. -- Vic Romano
Muddy Runs
Nut Baggers (or as many fans like to call it, Salty Nut Sackers)
Pie in the Sky
Plank Spankers
Pole Riders - Now the object of the game is easy. Just firmly grip the head of the shaft and go from one end to the other without getting wet. -- Vic Romano
Prison Break/Get Over It/Wall of Hidden Blistering Death/Hosin' The Ho's/Slippery Slope of Slanted Death - The team that gets the most members over the wall and down the slippery slope of death and into our soothing safety sludge is the winner. -- Vic Romano
Rotating Surfboard of Death - Catch a wave, dodge the dolphin, or die. -- Vic Romano (a/k/a Rotating Surfboard of Political Suicide)
Rump Bumpers
Runaway Stump - Players must keep their balance while riding the log without falling into the mystery sludge -- Vic Romano
Sack Lunch/Bagel Bumpers
Saddle Sores
Shaft Grabbers (renamed Mounting the Spike in the Spike TV premiere special)
Sinkers & Floaters - Contestants must skip across the slippery stones without swallowing a mouthful of sludge. -- Vic Romano (a/k/a Rock The Moat)
Skid Markers
Slipped Disks of Doom
Sno Man's Land
Sorry, Wrong Number/One and One Make Number Two
Spare Me/Pinheads
Sperm Wheelers
Sprayed and Neutered
Staff Infectors
Survivor: Seaman Island
Swish Bucklers - The game is taken from an old pirate drinking game popular among alternate lifestyle pirates. -- Vic Romano -- S1E03 A/K/A The Giant G-String of Doom/Hook Line and Swingers/Drop Dead Line.
Take a Leek
Teetering Temple of Crippling Doom/Tumbling Dominoes of Doom/Nerve Racketeering Slabs of Death - Don't get caught between the two-ton tiles or you'll get crushed and suffer permanent and irreversible death. -- Vic Romano
Turtle Gut Check/Turtle Hurdlers
Wall Bangers/Frozen Wallbangers - Choose the right door and you're on the road to victory, but choose the wrong one, and you belong to Skanky! -- Vic Romano
Wall Buggers/The Sticky Stuff Of Love/Window Pain/The Flailing Wall - One wall, one insect, they bugger it! -- Vic Romano (Wall Buggers); Contestants swing across the moat and press themselves firmly against the glass. -- Vic Romano. Like a bug on a windshield! -- Kenny Blankenship (Window Pain)
Yank My Dinghy - Get dragged through the sewage soaked waters of Elimination Bay, through a series of deadly obstacles, and onto the Platform of Pleasure. -- Vic Romano S1E10 (also in the Animation Premiere and Spike TV hour-long specials)
Yankin' It/Yank 'Em

DVD release

Season One

A two-disc DVD set, containing the first season episodes, was released on October 3, 2006. It includes several bonus materials, such as:

An original Takeshi's Castle episode (viewable with English subtitles, or an English announcer)
Kenny Blankenship's Most Painful Eliminations of the Season
Original MXC sales presentation to the network
Audio commentary by the producers and voice actors (featured on episode 1, episode 7, and episode 12)

Season Two

The second season was released on April 17, 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 that the cut scenes involved copyrighted characters.

Special Features (Disc One):

Original Episode of Takeshi's Castle. (Episode #61)

Special Features (Disc Two):

Kenny Blankenship's Top 25 Most Painful Eliminations of the Season.
Behind-the-Scenes of "MXC"

External links