MXC - Production

Production

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 US.

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.