The Music of Iron Chef Japan, Part IV

The Music of Iron Chef Japan, Part IV

by William “Blissey” Raymer

In this final installment, I will focus on music cues that have not yet been mentioned in the first three installments of this series, as well as additional usages of cues that have been mentioned in the first three articles and corrections of data presented in those articles.

4TH CONFRONT: THE REST

One of the cues I’ve heard described the most in comments on this series of articles is the music which replaced “Charging Fort Wagner” as the Iron Chefs’ ascension music on 2001-2008 Food Network airings of Iron Chef.

As of this writing, I cannot identify the source of this cue, which has been given the nickname “Yomigaeru” (Japanese for “Come to Life”) here on the Iron Chef Filehouse.

However, due to the so-called “Secret Santa” who made the 1996 “Beijing Decisive Battle” (ICC episode number 441) available to us here on the ICF, we now know that “Yomigaeru” was, in fact, used on the original Japanese version of Iron Chef.

During the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Decisive Battle (see the Part 1 download), “Yomigaeru” can be heard at time code 16 minutes, 19 seconds into the video. “Yomigaeru” plays until time code 16 minutes, 40 seconds into the video (at which time “Charging Fort Wagner” begins as normal).

Here is an example of “Yomigaeru” as used on the post-2001-to-2008 U.S.-dubbed version of Iron Chef (taken from the Fois Gras Battle between Komei Nakamura [in his debut battle as an Iron Chef] and challenger Kiyoshi Suzuki [ICC episode number 410]), followed by its use in the “Beijing Decisive Battle…”

• U.S. “Yomigaeru”
• B.D.B. “Yomigaeru”

Of the cues I have yet to describe so far, the one heard most often is the Chairman’s entrance fanfare, heard on special occasions, such as the entrance of the New Chairman, Masahiro Motoki, in the 2002 Japan Cup special (ICC episode number 1001).

This fanfare is the theme to the Nobunaga’s Ambition series of historical simulation video games. Here is the fanfare, as used on Iron Chef, taken from an album released to commemorate the 20^th anniversary of the Nobunaga’s Ambition series:

• Chairman’s Fanfare

Another of the cues replaced in post-2001-to-2008 English-dubbed episodes of Iron Chef was the music stinger heard after the Chairman’s “Allez Cuisine” start call and the ringing of the Gong of Fate. Originally, this cue was excerpted from the composition “Fanfare for the Common Man,” composed in 1942 by  Aaron Copland (1900-1990). The “Fanfare for the Common Man” excerpt was subsequently replaced by an excerpt from the cue “335” from the Backdraft soundtrack (exact time code unknown). In addition to the uses described in its entry in the First Confront, “Show Me Your Firetruck” (from the Backdraft soundtrack) provided a third cue. At the end of the challenger’s profile at the beginning of each episode (before the opening sequence), the opening of “Show Me Your Firetruck”  (9SMYF time code-0:00 to 0:09) plays as the Chairman implores today’s challenger(s) to do his/her/their best in the Kitchen Stadium. (As an example of this encouragement, say this series of articles is a battle I’m fighting. As a slow-motion shot of me typing at my laptop’s keyboard plays, the Chairman might say… “Now, Raymer! Show us the magic of the music that was used in my Kitchen Stadium!” Just kidding of course, but you get the point.)

• Show Me Your Firetruck Implore Cue 

In addition to its use in the “Iron Chef World Cup 1997” special (see the Second Confront), the “Star Trek Generations Overture” was also used in the afore-mentioned “Beijing Decisive Battle.”

After the verdict in the Preliminary Battle (part 2 download) (1STGO time code-0:35 to 0:47) plays after Shinichiro Ohta’s interview with Iron Chef Chinese/Szechwan Representative Chen Kenichi as he and Peking Representative Son Rihei celebrate their advancement to the Final Battle.

• Star Trek Generations Overture Beijing Advancement Cue

Two additional cues from Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (the source of the original tasting panel introductory music) were used in the “Digest” seen at the beginning of the original U.S. version of Part 2 of the “2000^th Plate Special” (aired in Japan as one special-episode 631b in the Filehouse database). These two cues were “Yip Man’s Kwoon” (2YMK time code 1:08 to 2:27, at which point the track ends) and “Lee Hoi Chuen’s Love” (3LHCL time code 0:00 to 0:32). Both of these cues played as progress on the All-Chinese Team’s dishes was described.

• Yip Man’s Kwoon 2000^th Plate excerpt
• Yip Man’s Kwoon full track
• Lee Hoi Chuen’s Love 2000^th Plate excerpt
• Lee Hoi Chuen’s Love full track

Also, I have recently discovered that the name of the track from the 1998 film Lost in Space used in Dominique Bouchet’s introductory film in the “Millennium Cup 2000” special (“Thru the Planet”-see the Second Confront) is only the name of the track as it appears on the original TVT Records soundtrack album.

A separate score-only album released by Intrada (the TVT Records release mixes selected score tracks with lyrical songs) contains this track, but under the title “Lost In Space.” The time code data remains the same (20LIS-I time code 0:40-1:07).

At this time, I cannot think of any further cues that I have not touched upon. So, at this time, I must close out the Music of Iron Chef Japan series. Take care. Or, in other words….

WILLIAM “BLISSEY” RAYMER

YUMA, ARIZONA USA

25 MAY 2010