About Takeshi's Castle Takeshi's Castle is a Japanese comedy game show staring Takeshi
Kitano.

Takeshi played
the count of a
castle which
grounds were full
of silly, but
tough, games.
Guided by
General Tani,
around 140 contestants each episode attempted to storm the castle, and win the million Yen on offer, by getting past all of Takeshi's games and guards in their way. The 'closer to the castle' the contestants got, the harder the games became, whittling down the General's army of volunteers. The remaining few who reach the castle faced Takeshi himself in the final battle ('Showdown'). Here the contestants had to break Takeshi's paper ring, or set off his sensor to win. If a player is successful in doing this they beat Takeshi and a million Yen is theirs!

As it was so difficult to defeat Takeshi, there had to be another prize. The 'Fighting Sprit Prize' was 10,000 Yen and was awarded to the contestant who showed the most determination to beat Takeshi and to storm the castle.

Takeshi Kitano himself first dreamt up the show. He wanted it to be like a real life video game. On the 2nd of May 1986 the first ever episode of Takeshi's Castle was aired (which is seen in the UK as episode 1 of series 2).  The series ran for near enough 3 years – up until the 14th April 1989 when Takeshi decided to call it a day and to end the show on a high. Three more special shows were made after, these aired on 6th October 1989, 10th March 1990 and on the 19th October 1990 – which was the last episode. Until...

On Saturday the 2nd April 2005 the (almost) unbelievable happened! Takeshi's Castle was back, but unfortunately for one night only. It was TBS's 50th birthday, and to celebrate an extra special Takeshi's Castle was made. This was, for the first time ever, a live episode. It only featured 2 games ('Skipping Stones' and 'Bridge Ball') and was filmed on TBS' new site, and not in the Green Mountain Studios as before. General Tani was back to guide the handful contestants around the games, and Higashi and Takeshi Doll were also there to bring even more fun to the event. After this was aired a demand came, from Japan and the UK, for a brand new series of Takeshi's Castle to be made. There is no news on this though, as yet...

In different countries around the world Takeshi's Castle has been re-edited and aired on different channels. Here's a quick run down of each version:

UK
In 2002 Challenge TV brought the rights to show Takeshi's Castle in the UK. Originally just a filler program, each show was edited down to 30 minutes (around 23 minutes without an advert break) just keeping the games and cutting out the sketches and interviews. Craig Charles gave a voice-over to try and explain what was going on to the new English audience. He also coined the word "Keshi-heads” as name for anyone who's a fan of the show.
After this initial series it was clearly popular, so Challenge commissioned 3 more series, ending with 10 special 'hour-longs' (45 minutes w/o ads). The last new episode was aired on New Year's Day 2004. There were also three or four 'Best of' episodes at the end of each series featuring highlights from that run.
Takeshi's Castle became one of Challenge's most popular and best-loved shows, and because of this it was repeated daily for years.

Australia
The Comedy Channel in Australia re-edited Takeshi's Castle to add in newly filmed footage of Australian hosts in a studio. It was also dubbed, but it kept to the original running of the show (unlike MXC which edited together different episodes and cut the final battle, see 'USA' for more info).

Czech Republic
In 1990 the show was aired in the Czech Republic under the same name, Takeshi's Castle. Two Czech comedians voiced-over, ala the Challenge/Craig Charles's version.

France
In France the show is exactly the same edited version as in the UK. The only differences are there are two voice-overs, Thierry Roland and Moon Dailly, and you do get to see them at points in the show. It was broadcast on the channel M6.

Germany
Takeshi's Castle aired on the DSF channel in Germany, again using the show's original name. Here again it's a classic voice-over edit with a German host explaining what was happening over the top of the original footage. It kept to the original running, including all the games, sketches, character clips and the full final battle. In July 2007 the UK edited version began on RTL2 with new German voice-overs.

India
The Indian channel Pogo TV also aired the UK edited version of the show, however voices are redubbed by Indian comedians Sunil Pal, Navin Prabakar, Ahsaan Qureshi and Raju Srivastava. Jaaved Jaffrey gives the voice-over.

Italy
Takeshi's Castle was originally aired on Italia 1 in the late 80's. Then it was called "Never Say Banzai” (Mai dire Banzai) and voiced-over by 'Gialappa's Band'. Most recently Takeshi's Castle was back on Italian TV, this time on the channel GXT, in the form of the Challenge version with Italian voice-over's Lillo and Greg.

Pan-Arab (countires)
In the early 90's Takeshi's Castle was on Arab TV under the name The Fort. It was given a voice-over by Ryadh Shararah.

Philippines
Again this version was aired in the early 90's, on Philippine channel IBC 13. The show started by being completely dubbed in Tagalog, the major language in the Philippines. For later episodes the Takeshi and Saburo scenes were completely re-shot with actors Anjo Yllana and Smokey Manoloto playing the parts of the Count and his sidekick.

Portugal
The Portuguese version was also called Never Say Banzai (Nunca Digas Banzai) and was aired on SIC in the 90's. José Carlos Malato along with another host provided the voice-over.

Spain
In Spain, Takeshi's Castle is known as Humor Amarillo. Voiced-over by comedians Juan Herrera and Miguel Ángel Coll, it aired in the early 90's on Telecinco. In January 2006 the show was brought back on Cuatro TV. This time it is voiced-over by Fernando Costilla and Paco Bravo. This version is considered the best edited-down version, as it shows the Battlefield Reporter's interviews, game animations and castle ground maps along with some of the sketches. The bad point is that they cut off the final battle.

USA
Takeshi's Castle airs in the USA on Spike TV as a completely re-edited, re-dubbed show. Here none of the original audio can be heard, instead every character and contestant has been re-named and the American re-dub changes what they say, usually something innuendo filled. Only four games are shown and the final battle is cut as the plot of the show has been changed. In this version it's edited so "two teams" are battling each other to get the most "points".
There is an MXC DVD available.


A few countries have also re-made Takeshi's Castle themselves:

Brazil
In the 90s a TV show in Brazil remade some Takeshi's Castle games including 'Rice Bowl Down Hill', 'Knock Knock' and 'Bridge Ball'. In 2008 Takeshi games returned to Brazilian TV in "Programa Silvio Santos". Some games featured include 'Ride the Wave', 'Knock Knock', 'Wipe Out' and 'Run Way'.

China
A Chinese version of Takeshi's Castle was made, called "Determination Derby". Lots of the original Takeshi's Castle games were remade, including 'High Rollers', 'Honeycomb Maze' and 'Catch It'. Four teams competed against each other for prizes.

Germany
In June 2007 Germany's pirate-themed "Entern oder Kentern" ("Board or Capsize") began an 11 week series. It featured 'Keshi games 'Skipping Stones', 'Wipe Out', 'Bridge Ball', 'Catch it', and more. Three celebrity-led teams, took on each other, and the pirates, for the prize.

Taiwan
In the 90's Taiwan made their own version called "100 Wars, 100 Victories". Here again the original games were remade, and an addition to the show were the 'kidnaps' where a monster would grab a contestant and carry them away. The original Japanese show filmed a special episode using the Taiwanese set in 1990.

USA
There have been two different Takeshi remakes in America, both only making it to the pilot stage. The first was "King of the Mountain" in 1990. Games remade included 'Skipping Stones', 'Knock Knock', 'Avalanche' and 'High Rollers'. In 1993 Vin Di Bona Productions created their own version called "Storm the Castle". Here 30 families had to get through some of Takeshi's best games ('Wipe Out', 'Mushroom Trip', 'Honeycomb Maze'), past well known monsters taking the place of Takeshi's guards, and onto the final battle. This was different to the original as it was played on water. The 2 remaining families had to pop ballons on the other's boat. Who ever popped all of the opposing team's balloons first won.