Turning on the TV in 1990’s Japan, would open a library of what we would consider today “Lost Media”.
I mean who back then could expect anyone in 25 years time, would want to watch “歌の大辞テン!! Uta no Daijiten!!” (a music ranking show). So finding preserved episodes becomes impossible.
(me… i want to watch it…🥹)
歌の大辞テン!! Uta no Daijiten!! 1998
I got sucked down the rabbit hole into “Japan’s Lost Gameshows”, after making my video on youtube about the most disturbing ones.
But what initially surprised me was seeing Takeshi’s Castle listed as Lost Media. 🤔
(ouch!)
The premise of Takeshi's Castle is that a large number of contestants were "forced" by General Tani to storm Takeshi's Castle.
Beforehand, they must complete a number of difficult physical challenges standing between them and the Castle.
(we all know this tho, right?)
But what you might not know… is that Takeshi’s Castle had a pilot, filmed before the first episode ever aired.
and not only is it lost… but it was not the show we recognise today.
Magazine from 1986, talking about never before seen pilot
According to photographs and descriptions published in a Japanese television magazine at the time, the pilot flipped the entire power dynamic. Takeshi and General Tani’s roles were reversed. Instead of defending the Castle, Takeshi led the contestants in an assault against it - while Tani controlled the Castle itself.
The rules were harsher and stranger. According to the magazine, of the 80 people who participated in the pilot; a number of contestants were eliminated simply by being “covered in paint” during some challenges.
The lost episode never surfaced but the magazine tells us that it aired on the 29th April 1986, only in the Kanto region of Japan.
With this information, it allowed people to find this…
Image uncovered from original pilot (wow!)
3 seconds of footage from the original pilot, used in a trailer for episode 1.
It’s incredible that we can capture a glimpse into 1986 like this, just imagining being there in that moment and participating is omega cool! What might be going through their 1986 minds…
thinking about what they’ll have for dinner tonight? What they’ll watch on TV?
Putting myself in the perspective of another era for just a moment (no matter how simple the questions I may be asking are lol), just feels incredibly interesting and it’s what I hope to achieve with this newsletter.
This is my first post so thank you for reading, I’d love to hear what you might want to learn about, I know we’re “lostin2007”, but I promised gameshows and got a bit “lost” on my own with it all.
(goodbye 2000’s & hello 1986 lol)
I imagined we’d be like “anything below 2007 goes…” so at least I’ll stick with that.
I hope you can bare with the design for the moment as I really jumped into this headfirst. We’ll be getting Lost In 2007 soon as I redesign everything to more fit the era, but I just wanted to get my idea out first.
At least its something to look forward to.
Thanks again for reading!!