| Pure Pwnage | |
|---|---|
Pure Pwnage title screen |
|
| Genre | Mockumentary Comedy |
| Created by | Jarett Cale Geoff Lapaire |
| Starring | Jarett Cale Geoff Lapaire Joel Gardiner |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| No. of seasons | 2 (web series) 1 (TV series) |
| No. of episodes | 18 (web series) 8 (TV series) (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Derek Harvie Catherine Tait Ron Mann |
| Producer(s) | Jarett Cale Geoff Lapaire |
| Location(s) | Toronto, Ontario |
| Running time | 10–50 minutes (web series) 22 minutes (TV series) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Showcase (TV series) |
| Original airing | Web series: May 11, 2004 – August 23, 2008 Television series: March 12, 2010 – April 30, 2010 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Pure Pwnage (pronounced "pure ownage",[1] /ˈpjʊər ˈoʊnɨdʒ/) was an Internet-distributed, mockumentary series from ROFLMAO Productions. The fictional series purports to chronicle the life and adventures of Jeremy (played by Jarett Cale), a Canadian and self-proclaimed "pro gamer". In 2010, an adaptation of the web series began airing on Showcase, a Canadian cable television channel, but the series failed to be picked up for a second season.
Contents |
Jeremy (played by Jarett Cale) also known as "teh_pwnerer" is extremely proficient at video games but inexperienced when it comes to normal social interactions. Jeremy is only interested in "pwning n00bs" and making it as a pro gamer and often comes off as lazy and narcissistic to other people. Kyle (played by Geoff Lapaire) is Jeremy's brother and an aspiring film-maker. Kyle decides to film a documentary of Jeremy's exploits as a gamer and his interactions with the gaming and non-gaming world.
There are currently eighteen web episodes available to the public and eight TV episodes.
Pure Pwnage was created by Geoff Lapaire and Jarett Cale who also play the show's main protagonists. Originating in 2004, eighteen Internet-distributed episodes of the series have been released to date. In 2007, the series creators estimated their current viewer base to be over three million.[2] The series is filmed primarily in Toronto but has also included scenes filmed in Calgary, Alberta; Montreal, Quebec; Aurora, Ontario; Hamilton, Ontario: and the Netherlands.
During an interview, director Geoff Lapaire (although as "Kyle"; Lapaire maintained his "Kyle" identity among fans and media) insisted that all of the characters on the show are not acting.[3] He suggested that the personalities on Pure Pwnage display their true-to-life abilities and eccentricities, and the characters took great pains to maintain that the Pure Pwnage world is simply an extension of the real world. Lapaire has finally admitted that they are in fact actors. The sixth fanchat with the crew was out-of-character, where the fact that the characters within Pure Pwnage are exaggerated versions of the actors was confirmed.
On August 6, 2009, it was announced that a Pure Pwnage TV series had been commissioned by Showcase.[4] Upon the announcement, many members of the Pure Pwnage fan community raised concerns. The main complaints were that the series was only announced to be airing in Canada, and the assumption that it would be changed in order to appeal to viewers not familiar with internet culture. Jarett Cale, who writes the show and plays Jeremy, tried to quell the complaints on the Pure Pwnage forums, saying "We're doing our best to get it broadcast in the USA, UK, Australia, etc., but it's really up to each country's respective broadcasters. [...] Geoff and I are still the main creative force – we're producers and writers. We've also brought on many new people with experience in traditional television to help us out both story-wise and production-wise. FPS Doug will still be there, and he will still be played by Joel Gardiner."[5] In response to a user asking if the TV series meant there would be no more web episodes, he said "Nope, it only means there's a new TV series."[6]
Despite this, the future of the web series was uncertain. Geoff Lapaire, director of all previous episodes of Pure Pwnage, left the show in September 2008 to focus on the then-unannounced TV series, and Troy Dixon, who played T-Bag in the series, died in a car accident on December 6, 2008.[7] Jarett Cale announced in January 2009 that work on the next web episode had begun, with him as the director, however the episode has not been released.[8]
In a short Livestream cast on March 15, 2010, a user posted a comment regarding the web series and Jarret replied that the web series is back in production and is in progress. He has not given out an ETA.
On January 19, 2011, Jarett made an announcement on the Pure Pwnage forums that the TV series had not been picked up for a second season. Additionally, the web series has been put on indefinite hold. In his own words, "My hope that Pure Pwnage will see a proper ending to its illustrious web series has nearly vanished. I've let Geoff know that should he be willing at any time to resume some of his traditional, critical roles on the web series I will fly home to Toronto in a heartbeat to help make it happen."
On August 6, 2009, it was announced that a Pure Pwnage TV series had been commissioned by Showcase.[9] The announcement was made in the form of a mini-episode where Kyle tries to convince Jeremy to stop playing on his Nintendo DS Lite and make the announcement. The series had been teased for several months under the name "Project X". The TV series premiered on Showcase March 12, 2010, and premiered on Australia's ABC2 on October 4, 2010.[10]
Starting in March 2010, the Pure Pwnage website began letting fans send Jeremy questions via e-mail. Jeremy then answered the fan questions in video segments posted on the website titled, Jeremy's Mail Sac.
Starring Dave (Dawei) as himself, Pro at Cooking is a spin-off of Pure Pwnage. A cooking show for gamers with Dave hosting as the main chef. When his female assistants do not perform as expected, Dave constantly fires each one of them usually after every episode. Directed by Davin, it has only aired seven 5–10 minute episodes. No other characters from Pure Pwnage, excluding Dave, Davin, and Geoff, appear on the show.
From February 28, 2006 to March 7, 2007, the Pure Pwnage website featured a regularly issued comic, of which a new page was released once every two to three weeks. Apparently set in the "real world" rather than in the fictional world of Pure Pwnage, the comic breaks most of the fourth wall of the show. For example, Dave said in the show that he was leaving it due to unfinished business in China, the comic claims that the real reason was that he had found a new job in Vancouver.
However, both the show and comic clearly contain elements that are either symbolic representations of reality (for example, pwning an opponent with "micro balls" as a possible metaphor for pwning them in an actual video game) or are not based in reality whatsoever.