Today, I give you the final battle from the Beijing Special. Chen Kenichi takes on Son Rihei in the shark fin battle. (I didn’t have time to watch the whole battle again and make notes this morning. I will try to do some more early next week, if needed.) Again, a HUGE thank you to our secret Santa who provided this episode.
- Fukui asks the judges about their mood before the final battle. Saito says she is excited (“doki doki”). Tanimura says it feels like the World Series and that he is nervous (“kincho”).
- Does anybody know the music that was used for Kaga’s entrance? It certainly had a dramatic feel to it that set the mood perfectly.
- The theme ingredient cost about $20,000 (2,000,000 yen)
- Keep your eyes open for a Kentucky Fried Chicken commercial.
- Chen has a problem getting the theme ingredient. Is a mistake this early in the battle a bad omen?
- The challenger may be using the same orange juice based soup he used in the preliminary battle. (I couldn’t understand enough to know for sure).
- After finding out that the challenger is using melon, Fukui comments, “Yesterday oranges. Today melons.”
- The challenger’s daughter said that her dad was “really cool.”
This episode appears to have been recorded from the original Japanese television broadcast. As a result, the episode is in Japanese with NO subtitles. All commercials and breaks are intact. Enjoy.
There are two options for viewing this episode. The pop-up player will use the usual divx encoded file. This smaller, lower quality file can also be downloaded directly using the “Download File” option. Also in the download menu this time is an option to download a higher quality VOB file (approx. 1.7GB). (You can play the vob file in VLC Player.)
New in the database this week: Beijing Special – Final Battle
December 27th, 2009 at 5:01 am
Thank you very much again mister Secret Santa and tuthead! You both have provided us with a true gem by unearthing and sharing this Beijing special. I am very much appreciative. It truly was a great Christmas present!
In response to your question about what music plays when Chairman Kaga enters, I’m not quite sure what it is, but I know I’ve heard it before. I think it’s from a movie soundtrack though.
I do, however, know what music plays during Son and Chen’s entrance right after Kaga’s from 2:00 – 3:00 on the video. It is a music track titled “Never Surrender” from the “First Knight” soundtrack (you know, that movie with Sean Connery and Richard Gere) by the late Jerry Goldsmith. It plays from 1:14 – 2:14 on the track.
On a side note, I love it when Kaga accidentally hits that dude in the face with his cape at 1:32. It makes me laugh every time. It even times perfectly with the drum hit on the music that’s playing.
Again, thanks a bunch for these episodes and I’ll see if I can figure out what Kaga’s music is.
-Ryan
December 27th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Thanks for this very special episode.
December 27th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Thanks for the comment, homalef. Expect a credit on Part 4 of my Music of IC article.
December 28th, 2009 at 4:35 am
Thanks, Blissey. I appreciate that.
March 27th, 2010 at 7:52 am
I have just seen the start of this episode (I’m in Australia so I’m a bit behind), I was disgusted to see that they chose shark fin for their theme ingredient! Do you know how they get shark fins? The fishermen catch the shark, pull it up against the side of the boat, cut the fins off and let it go. You only need to know a little bit about sharks to you they have to keep swimming all the time to keep breathing. I’m sure you can imagine that without fins a shark will struggle to swim well enough to breath let alone hunt. So by buying shark fins Iron Chef is supporting the torture of sharks for entertainment! The best a shark that has suffered this fate can hope for is for another shark to find it shortly after it has been mutilated and cannibalise it.
And then lets not forget that shark fin being as expensive as it is (as they commented so much on the show), that if they had chosen a less expensive theme ingredient they would have been able to put the money they wasted on torturing sharks to good use and bought people in third world countries clean water, food, shelter and maybe an education… but why would they do that, when the select few who taste get the really ‘nice’ but fleetingly short lived in comparison to their long healthy lives?
I didn’t even watch more than a quarter of the show because their delight over the fact that what they were going to eat cost $600 a kilo!
How do the Japanese live with themselves for funding such cruelty? Don’t get me started on what happens to the dolphins or whales! Research? What research? what have they discovered? Whale goes better in sushi than it does in noodle soup? Is shark finning research? How long do sharks last with no fins?
I hope now you know what happens to the sharks to get their fins on to plates you will think twice before supporting Iron Chef or buying shark fin soup yourselves!