Pure Pwnage
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (February 2008) |
| Pure Pwnage | |
|---|---|
 Pure Pwnage title screen | |
| Created by | Geoff Lapaire, Jarett Cale |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 18 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | ca. 10–50 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Release | May 11, 2004 – present |
Pure Pwnage (pronounced "pure ownage",[1] IPA: ['phjʊɹ oʊnɪdʒ]) is 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 self-proclaimed "pro gamer". Originating in 2004, eighteen episodes of the series have been released to date. In 2007 the creators of the show 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, Montreal, and the Netherlands.
Characters
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.
Jeremy (aka teh_pwnerer)
Played by Jarett Cale, the protagonist of Pure Pwnage is twenty-five year old Jeremy[4], a stereotypical pro gamer. He lives in Toronto, Canada with his younger brother, Kyle. Jeremy spends the vast majority of his time playing video games and "pwning n00bs", using the online handle teh_pwnerer ("the owner-er"). He has been playing games since the age of two, when he used to "toaly pwn Pong" (totally own Pong).
Due to Jeremy's profound immersion in video game culture, his social skills have atrophied. Because Jeremy has lived in his basement for most of his life, he has had very little conversation with any other person and has therefore taught himself how to speak. This means his fictional accent is slurred and full of interjections such as "like" and "'n' stuff". However, he has also developed the ability to quickly master any video game, and can play competitively against extremely skilled opponents. Jeremy often makes narcissistic comments about himself.
Kyle
Played by Geoff Lapaire, Jeremy's younger brother and director of the show Kyle is working full-time on Pure Pwnage, and ROFLMAO productions . He determines what events to film, but usually just follows Jeremy around. Occasionally, he tries to introduce Jeremy to a diversion from video gaming. According to Jeremy, Kyle is a "toal n00b" (total noob) in many ways.
The show is shot almost entirely from Kyle's point of view and he often talks to the other characters.[5] His face is finally revealed in Episode 12.
In Episode 18, it is revealed that Kyle is also involved with producing pornography.
Doug (aka fps_doug)
Played by Joel Gardiner, Jeremy's boisterous best friend and rival Doug spends most of his time playing FPS games such as Counter-Strike: Source, America's Army, and Call of Duty 4, and defeating his opponents by skillfully "getting the headshot". According to Doug, his skills frequently get him banned from servers due to accusations of him hacking. Doug has serious anger management issues, and can appear to be a psychopath, obsessed with FPS games to the point that he goes out training and practicing headshots in real life with an imaginary gun and holding the belief that carrying a large kitchen knife whilst running makes him go faster. At the end of the first season, Doug betrays Jeremy for a conspiring, unidentified organization, but they reunite as friends during Jeremy's birthday party in episode 16 as they pwn together on Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
Doug's triumphant catchphrase, "boom headshot", has become a popular exclamation among FPS players and has appeared on many online message boards and chatrooms. One such game that the phrase is common upon is Counter Strike as Doug made it popular while playing the game.
The character Brucie in Grand Theft Auto IV bears a striking resemblance to Doug both in terms of looks and personality and is reported to have been modelled on him[citation needed].
Dave (aka Dawei)
Played by Dave Lee, Jeremy's friend Dave, notable for his cooking skills and his nonchalant sense of humour,is first introduced as a crew member in a "behind the scenes" featurette at the end of Episode 3 ("FPS Doug"). He excels at fighting games such as Street Fighter II but is usually seen cooking or casually observing Jeremy's and Kyle's antics. He has started his own web cooking show, named Pro at Cooking.
Dave left the show after Episode 9 ("The Story of Dave"), saying he had things to do back in China (he later returned in Episode 13, entitled "Old Habits"). The webcomic later revealed that he was really moving to Vancouver for a new job. However, the creators of Pure Pwnage have been known to be misleading, and the webcomic could very well be a filler for those looking for an explanation on why Dave left the show. Hak5 episode 2x05 on Pure Pwnage implies that Dave simply didn't want to star in the show and requested to be written out in a positive way. Recently, Dave posted a story on the main page of the website about his life in China, with a picture attached. One of Jeremy's MySpace friends took pictures of the spot where Dave also took his picture, and is in fact located in Toronto's Chinatown, also in his new show "Pro at Cooking" at 1:33 he walks by the same place. Dave returned to the show in season 2, rescuing Jeremy from his "near pwned" experience vs Doug and the Big Bad. He refused to say what happened in China but he resumes playing games and cooking for Jeremy and Kyle.
Teh_Masterer
Voiced by Fr. William Craig (played by Geoff Lapaire). Always clad entirely in ninja clothing, Teh_Masterer is a mysterious master gamer who trains Jeremy and others in the ways of being a pro gamer. His micro ability is so profound that he can play multiple video games at the same time, and he claims that he once "beat Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue with nothing more than a row of pawns and a single bishop." He lives in seclusion in a small apartment , but has access to a training area (Kyle refers to this as the "room with no exits"[3]). His true identity was unknown until Episode 12, where it is stated that Geoff Lapaire who plays Kyle also plays Teh_Masterer. However in retrospect this can be seen as quite an obvious fact as it is clearly the upper of Geoff Lapaire's face when you see Teh_Masterer's partially masked face. In Episode 11, when Jeremy visits Holland, Teh_Masterer appears to be under surveillance by some form of agency such as the CIA, who are tracking Teh_Masterer's network of gamers and apprentices. Whether this story arc will be picked up on or continued in the future is unknown. Teh_Masterer wears black ninja clothing to protect his exceptionally sensitive skin, a condition he developed from playing video games for fifteen straight years in a dim basement.[6]
Anastasia
Played by Miranda Plant, MMO-playing Anastasia is Jeremy's first, but former love interest on Pure Pwnage. She interacts with Jeremy off-camera in Episode 2 ("Girls"), but the audience never sees her meet him until Episode 6 ("Imapwnu of Azeroth"). She plays World of Warcraft under the pseudonym "Tagi". In episode 14, Jeremy decides to delete her character in World of Warcraft after it becomes apparent that Anastasia has become addicted to it. Anastasia and Jeremy have different views about video games, as she believes they should be social—not just about pwning noobs. In episode 12, it is revealed that she has turned into a vegetarian because of the health benefits. In episode 17, Jeremy sees Anastasia dancing with a guy, when she told him she was going for a "girl's night out." This ultimately leads to their break up. See also Anastasia's weblog.
Terence Brown
Played by Troy Dixon. In episode 15 T-bag is introduced to the cast. An expert at the Halo series, quoted as making "$250,000 last year playing Halo". He and Jeremy get off to a bad start at the release of Halo 3 as they wait in line, where it is shown that T-bag is famous among Halo fans for his skills in Halo. However, they meet again in the street and decide to start afresh. Jeremy is later invited to T-bag's Halo 3 party, where he sees Doug. Doug and Jeremy then have a one on one match, and Jeremy eventually decides to leave because it appears he didn't feel comfortable arguing with Doug, his old friend. Troy Dixon, who played T-bag, died in a car crash on December 6, 2008.[7][8][9][10][11] The Pure Pwnage cast is quoted as saying:
It is with great sadness that we bring you this news. Troy Dixon lost his life in a car accident on Saturday night. He will be remembered for his warmth and kindness, and for the laughter he was able to bring to this world. Whether he was on the stage of a comedy club or in front of a camera, Troy was truly in his element as an entertainer. He will be missed dearly by his friends, family, and all of us at Pure Pwnage. We're grateful to have had the opportunity to know him.[12]
The future of the character T-Bag is unknown as Troy died in a fatal car accident after the release of the episodes 17 and 18.
Kris
In episode 17, Dave is shown with a younger pupil who is a part of an exchange training program set up by Teh_Masterer. Kris is the young gamer that is assigned to Jeremy. Jeremy explains that Kris is the best of the younger gamers. In episode 18 Jeremy talks about Kris with T-Bag when they are on his yacht. Jeremy implies that Kris is "a guy". However, at the very end of the episode, we are shown a brief clip of Kris, who turns out to be a teenage girl. The episode ends with Kris sitting in his desk chair while Jeremy stands open-mouthed at the shock of his pupil's unexpected gender.
Episodes
There are currently eighteen episodes available to the public. Episode 18 was released on August 23, 2008. Episode 17 was released on August 14, 2008. Episode 16 was released on March 8 2008. Episode 15 was released on November 10, 2007. Episode 14 was released on July 24, 2007. Episode 13 was premiered first on April 14, 2007 in Toronto, it also premiered in various other cities (including some in the USA) within the next few weeks. Finally, it was released to the general public on May 4, 2007. Episode 12 was the first episode to feature credits for the cast of the show. Episode 11 was released June 19, 2006 through an advance screening over the internet for US$2.99 and was released June 21, 2006 to the general public for free. They are all available for download in DivX-encoded AVI format and now also in Mac/iPod and PSP MP4 format from the Pure Pwnage website, HTTP mirrors, via BitTorrent, or via Xfire. Subtitles are available in 30 languages and counting. The entire season, as of Episode 12, can now be viewed directly on the site, using Macromedia Flash Player. On the release of Episode 12, the website was overwhelmed by the many users trying to watch the season finale.
Episode 1 of season 2 premiered on April 14, 2007, at 7 p.m. in the Bloor Cinema in Toronto, after some technical difficulty and was eventually shown in black and white. The next day, for the first time, it was screened in colour at Cinema du Parc in Montreal. It had also been screened on later dates throughout late April at several locations in the United States (such as New York, Houston, and San Diego.) and Canada. After much delay, Episode 13 (Season 2) was released as a streaming format on the Pure Pwnage website on May 5 at 9:35 a.m. (UTC).[13]
Episode 2 of season 2 ("Lifestyles") premiered on July 14, 2007, at 4 p.m. local time, in the Fairfield Theatre in Croydon, United Kingdom. Due to local demand in the UK, the originally-planned single screening was extended to two screenings, the latter at 8 p.m. The premier featured a re-screening of episode 13 prior to the screening of the new episode, and was hosted by Cale, Lapaire and Plant.
Episode 3 of season 2 ("T-Bag") premiered online November 10, 2007 at 12 a.m. after live premiers throughout Canada and Australia.
Episode 4 of season 2 ("Duty Calls") premiered online March 8, 2008 after live premieres in Toronto and Vancouver.
Episodes 5 ("Just the Guys - Part 1") and 6 ("Just the Guys - Part 2") of season 2 premiered in Toronto, and in many other areas of Canada a day later. Episode 17 (Season 2 Episode 5) was released online on August 14, 2008, and Episode 18 (Season 2 Episode 6) was released on August 23 2008.
Episode 19 (Season 2, Episode 7) according to Jarett is currently in development as of January 27, 2009.
Pure Pwnage: The Comic
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 magical world of Pure Pwnage, the comic breaks most of the fourth wall of the show. For example, Dave held 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.
References to Pure Pwnage
 | This article possibly contains original research. (February 2009) |
- In Guild Wars: Factions, the player is capable of recruiting a ranger henchman called Yuun. During combat he occasionally taunts the enemy with "I can dance all day! I can dance all day!" and "Are you afraid of my...headshot?". These are references to the taunts used by Doug while playing Counter-Strike.
- In Guild Wars: Eye of the North, the player can earn a skill named Ebon Vanguard Sniper Support, which when it deals bonus damage, indicating a headshot, a message that may appear is "Snap, headshot!", also referencing the taunt used by Doug, changed to reflect the use of a bow and arrow.
- Über Micro Skillz is a title awarded by the online game Guild Wars to players who win sufficiently many of the mini-games available during seasonal festivals.
- An episode of the show Hak5 is a special episode about Pure Pwnage, featuring Geoff and Jarett talking out of character about the show, its conception, and also documenting the showing of Episode 12 in Toronto, Canada.
- In episode 8 of Good Game at 3:50 there is text labeling the master setting on an HDD as "Master-er". Good Game has also interviewed Pure Pwnage twice.
- In an episode of Weebl and Bob titled "Housework", there is an exploding hedgehog followed by an exclamation of "BOOM! Hedgehog!" There is also a dancing man who says "I can dance all day." These are possible references to Doug.
- There is a mod available for Garry's Mod which contains skins for Jeremy and FPS_Doug, as well as a vehicle - the noob school bus.
- Call of Duty 3 features a loading screen, which stresses the importance of headshots, cleverly titled "BOOM! Headshot!"
- In Valve's Meet the Sniper video, in the opening, the Sniper says "Boom, headshot" when he flicks the TFC VIP bobblehead.
- In the movie Disturbia, while Kale Brecht, played by Shia LaBeouf, is playing Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 he shouts "BOOM, BOOM HEADSHOT!" a reference to FPS Doug's famous tagline.
- In the Arabic movie Tito (film) the character played by Karim Swelim says 'BOOM HEADSHOT' to the character played by Sharif Nassef during an action scene even though it is an Arabic movie.
- In the Peggle Extreme Minigame that came with the Orange Box the counter-strike level is titled "Headshot" while the level itself consists mainly of the word Boom! making it a subtle reference to FPS_Doug.
- A Ctrl+Alt+Del comic uses the "Boom Headshot" catchphrase when Ethan plans to crush his Counter-Strike-playing co-worker's skull using a sledgehammer.
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (June 2007) |
- On March 27, 2006, Jeremy sold a lock of his hair with a signed bandana on eBay as memorabilia from Episode 10. It sold for US$4,200 (approx. C$5,000 [Mar 2006]) through 10 days of 99 bids.[14] They used the money to travel to the Netherlands to surprise visit long-time fans of the show.[15] The Pure Pwnage crew obtained the address from clothing that was ordered from those fans.
- Episode 10 received 597,893 downloads in the first 24 hours from the official mirror alone.[16]
- The director, Kyle, made reference to the two "article for deletion" discussions on the article about the show on Wikipedia while discussing legitimacy of such Internet television.[16] (AFD Discussion: 1, 2).
- The episode 12 Pure Pwnage TeamSpeak chat was targeted by a cracking group from goons.net who managed to close down the TeamSpeak server on more than one occasion throughout the chat, although the disruption was completely ignored by the organizers and the chat went successfully. These relentless attacks forced the crew to displace their fanchats since episode 16 onto IRC, while streaming themselves on video on the purepwnage homepage. [citation needed]
- Forum user Skrie from the Pure Pwnage forums is the attacker from episode 11. This can be explained by the fact that Skrie was given a surprise visit from Cale and Lapaire during their Netherlands visit using the money procured from Jeremy's (Cale) hair auction on eBay.
- Jeremy uses the Razer Deathadder gaming mouse.
- The dog "Dick" that appears in episode 12 of Pure Pwnage has his own MySpace Profile: Kemo and in the end credits it says his name is Kemo.
Notes
- ^ The word "pwnage" can be pronounced several different ways. The show's creators pronounce it "ownage". Jeremy justifies this pronunciation with the following statements: "When people say '/poʊn/', they sound like a complete fag, and I'm not cool with being a fag, so I pronounce it 'own'." "'Pwn' was originally a typo of 'own', because the 'P' is near the 'O' on the keyboard. The person is still trying to say 'own'." [TeamSpeak chat, December 13 2005].
- ^ Geoff Lapaire. "The Infancy of Internet Television". Pure Pwnage. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ a b Starting with Episode 8, the Pure Pwnage cast and crew hold a public TeamSpeak interview soon after the release of each episode, revealing many details about the show and the personalities involved in its creation. The recordings of each episode are linked in a post on the forums.
- ^ "Jeremy's Official Myspace" (html). Retrieved 2007-08-17.
- ^ There are some instances where Kyle is caught on camera. In Episode 2 ("Girls"), when Jeremy is talking about the one time he pwned, the mirror behind him gives a presumably accidental glimpse of Kyle filming. In addition, Episode 9 ("The Story of Dave"), gives a third person shot of Kyle filming when the group is ambushed, but his face is hidden behind the camera as usual.
- ^ In the Pure Pwnage forums, a user's post pointed out a physical resemblance between
Teh_Mastererand a musician named Geoff Lapaire (Kyle), based in Toronto. The presence of a link to the Pure Pwnage site at the bottom of Lapaire's website suggests the possibility that he is the actor who playsTeh_Mastererand/or is Pure Pwnage's music producer. In Episode 12, it is revealed that Geoff Lapaire plays both Kyle and Teh_Masterer. A later post in the same thread confirms Geoff Lapaire's association with Pure Pwnage, as thepurepwnage.comdomain name is registered under the name "Geoff Lapaire." His specific connection toTeh_Mastererremained unconfirmed until recently, although in a FAQ by a root admin of the forum [1] it was verified that "Geoff is the web guy, he makes the Pure Pwnage web page and the store page." In Episode 12, however, it was revealed that Kyle is played by Lapaire and that Lapaire directs Pure Pwnage, as well as composing music for the show - ^ "Driver killed in Mount Forest-area crash" (html). Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- ^ "Fatal Crash near Mt. Forest" (html). Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- ^ "Fatal crash near Mount Forest" (html). Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- ^ "Troy Dixon (1981-2008)" (html). Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- ^ "Troy Dixon, 1981–2008" (html). Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- ^ "Troy Dixon (1981-2008)" (html). Retrieved 2009-02-08.
- ^ Kyle (2007-05-05). "Episode 13 released". Retrieved 2007-11-07.
- ^ "Some of Jeremy's hair (teh_pwnerer from Pure Pwnage)". eBay.ca. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
- ^ Kyle (2006-04-14). "Kyle and Jeremy in the Netherlands!". Pure Pwnage. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
- ^ a b Kyle (2006-03-28). "The infancy of Internet television". Pure Pwnage. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
External links
