Are you a Keshi head?! (Takeshi's Castle)

Member Name: unnameable

Product:	Takeshi's Castle
Date:	20/01/04 (1171 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great fun, great to de-stress you

Disadvantages: addictive viewing!

Takeshi?s Castle is a cult favourite on the digital TV channel Challenge TV that also shows the fantastic ?Fort Boyard?. Ok I admit it....I was exaggerating when I said Fantastic ;)

Basically it is an old Japanese game show hailing from the 1980?s with an added voiceover by the fantastic Craig Charles (of Red Dwarf and Robot Wars fame).
The whole show is littered with so many double entendres that you may as well throw a few pictures of Sid James in and call it Carry On Takeshi! If you?re like me you?ll find this hilarious though, of course.

If anyone has seen Tarrant on TV you may have spotted a few clips in his ?crazy Japanese game show? section.

Outline:

100 contestants start the show led by the nicely named General Lee (him in the nice clean suit), and their aim is to eventually storm Count Takeshi?s Castle, as you do.

Along the way there are various elimination games, which are like highly exaggerated ?It?s A Knockout? games with added humour. Almost every one of them involves a wet or muddy end if the contestant just happens to fail.

Along the way, Count Takeshi?s henchmen try to force people out of the elimination games (usually by ?helping? them into the mud!), and are sometimes the main subject of the games themselves!

Elimination games:

When the 100 contestants start they are usually met with either the ?Great Wall? or ?Slippery Wall? game (depending on which series you are watching I think).
Both games are essentially the same idea, contestants have to help each other to climb up and over the wall in front of them. Only difference is the Slippery Wall is sloped and greased on both sides!

The final game is always ?The Showdown?, in which the remaining 5 contestants have to hurtle around in adapted go-kart things (Diddy Dodgems as Craig Charles calls them), as do Takeshi?s henchmen. Each kart has a paper ring attached to the front and is armed with a water cannon. Th
e sole aim is for the contestants to ?penetrate? the henchmen?s rings before the henchmen get theirs! Simple I hear you say? In the history of the show, it has only ever been won three times! The prize is still a mystery, but is rumoured to be 1 million Yen. Nice!

Between the first and last game the show is filled with some highly entertaining (and painful looking) elimination games. Some of my favourites include: -

· Skipping Stones

20 or so stepping-stones lead from one side of a pond to the other. All the contestants have to do is get from one side to the other. Trouble is, some of the stones are fakes and sink, and the contestants have to RUN across! There are some spectacular falls during this game.

· Honeycomb Maze

Two henchmen are lurking in this maze, which is made up of cubicles with doors at each side. The contestants have to make it from one side to the other without getting caught and ?black handed? by the henchmen (each has a hand covered in paint). 3 out of 4 of the exit doors are duds and lead to a pool of muddy water. Lovely!

· Uphill Garden

Another game involving paper rings and water guns. The contestants have to run uphill to the exit while avoiding having their ring penetrated by the henchmen is daft costumes (such as crocodiles, cars, doughnuts!). Lots of falling over, and much hilarity.

· Bridge The Gap

Two spinning wooden bridges lie between two pillars. All the contestants have to do is move from one pillar to the other! Not as simple as it sounds, as the bridges disappear under walls after a quarter of a turn, and this would result in being shoved into either a pool of mud or flour (?!)

· Sumo Rings

Contestants pick a coloured ball from a box, and this indicates which henchman they have to battle in a round of Sumo wrestling. Henchmen include Porker (big fella), Spud (bloke in a potato suit), Animal (SCARY!), and skinny guy amongst others.
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· The Gauntlet

Much like the Funhouse you would find at a funfair I suppose. The contestants have to run from one end to the other, avoiding big swinging balls (oo er!), rotating kebabs, water traps, and henchmen of course. All the way they have to race against a pink train running along a track above them.

· Knock Knock

This one is great to watch. The contestant is faced with four doors, two of which are made of paper. They have to run towards a door of their choice and dive through it. If it is a wooden one, they go thump and roll over in a heap of broken bones and bruised egos. If it is paper they fall through and get another 4 doors! There are 4 sets of 4 doors in total, and a henchman hiding behind the third set. Damn this game must hurt.

· High Rollers

Contestants have to get from one platform to the other. Problem is, they have to step over 7 huge heavy rollers, which are fixed above a nice muddy pool. The rollers must be on some damn good bearings as they roll very easily at the slightest hesitation causing more crumpled (but damp) heaps.

· Bridge Ball

This is a good one? The contestants have to get from one side of the bridge to the other, all the while they are being pelted with big black balls by the henchmen (with startling accuracy) and have to carry a gold ball thrown to them by our friend General Lee. On top of all this, the bridge is basically no more than a rope bridge with no side, so it wobbles, spins, and throws them off with ease!

· Mushroom Trip

Yet another game involving getting from one platform to another. This time the contestants have to hang on to a giant spinning mushroom (I have no idea why), using just their hands. Almost all of them fall into the obligatory muddy pool below. I?m sure I?ve seen some people break their ribs while trying to reach the platform in this one!

There are countless other games, but I would be here all day trying to d
escribe them all!

When is it on?:

Usually at 6pm & 7pm weekdays (& some Sundays), but I have watched a couple of weekend marathons (sad aren?t I?), and there are occasional hour long specials on Saturdays!

Summary:

This is a nice welcome dose of mindless fun, and is great to sit and laugh your backside off in front of with your kids, while catching all the smutty remarks that they wouldn?t understand (usually preceded by ?As my old Dad used to say..?, although ?look at the big balls bouncing off her backside? is a personal favourite)

I only started watching it by chance earlier this year, but have been a fan ever since.. I think I can even call myself a Keshi Head!

Truly a unique show, this really does the trick if you are wound up in any way and need to loosen up. Quality entertainment at a time when everything seems so damn serious.

Thanks for reading!

Marc

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