MXC - Most Extreme Elimination Challenge Season One (2003) DVD Review

The footage for Most Extreme Elimination Challenge is taken from Takeshi’s Castle, a brutal Tokyo game show that isn’t really altered as far as visuals go, but all of the voicing has been dubbed over to make everything that happens seem even more ridiculous. Although dubbed, it isn’t translated. They make up dialogue to fit close to what it looks like they might be saying, adding a bit of flare here and there. It’s kind of like watching an underground and illegal version of Fear Factor dubbed over by the gang from Mystery Science Theater 3000, with a little bit of Maximum Exposure thrown in for all of the injuries.

The teams are usually made up of extremely large groups of people, but it is left up to the writers to decide what these groups are made up of. In one episode they have organ donors versus people battling addiction. These decisions help with the dubbing jokes and we accept the absurdity for that reason alone. The competing teams don’t really matter anyways. With such a large group of people it is near impossible to relate and root for anyone. The show moves quickly and the hard falls and embarrassing spills are the focus of the show, and the winner is irrelevant.

What makes the humor of the dubbing so great is the randomness of it all. The competitors often yell into the audience before attempting the task and the choices for what they say are often strange and silly, but funny in their randomness. Similarly humorous are the antics of the two hosts, Kenny and Vic. Vic is the responsible one and Kenny is always getting distracted. There are also the field marshal, Captain Tenneal and Guy LeDouche. Each of these guys are given new personalities in the dubbing and it is amazing how consistent they can keep it with their real actions. What is truly amazing about the show is the way it stays away from making the jokes at all racial. They make silly innocent jokes, none of which are directed at the Japanese culture. There is more focus on satirizing American society through the medium of a Tokyo game show. But mostly it’s just about the falls.

The DVD has all thirteen episodes from season one, including the couples episode, on two discs. Disc one also has a bonus episode of Takeshi’s Castle, which can be watched with the original dialogue. Disc two has the most painful eliminations of the entire season and an MXC Sales Presentation. There is also audio commentary on three episodes.