Review:
Pure Pwnage Teh TV Show: Episode One

101 – The Life of a Pro Gamer

‘Dude, your mom is totally lying. There’s no way she loves you if she cancelled your internet!’ – FPS_Doug

Pure Pwnage has enjoyed a long and healthy gestation period to get to where it is today. Beginning in 2004 as a single sketch about a young man talking of his love for PC multiplayer FPS Counter-Strike, it soon blossomed into the sporadically updated internet TV show Pure Pwnage.

The original series followed the misadventures of pro gamer Jeremy, known online as Teh_Pwnerer, as filmed by his brother Kyle, a film school student in need of a documentary subject. As the show grew in popularity, the cast began to swell, adding FPS_Doug, Dave, T-Bag and romantic interest Anastasia to the mix. Eventually a story structure was bolted on, building up the idea of a coming war between two factions of gamers: the pros, lead by Jeremy’s mentor Teh_Masterer, and an unknown, insidious enemy.

Even if you haven’t seen the original show, there’s little doubt you’ve escaped its influence on pop culture. The victorious pelvic thrust, Doug’s cry of ‘BOOM! HEADSHOT!’ or even the songs created for the show, like ‘World of Warcraft is a Feeling’ or ‘Get Outta MySpace’. It’s nothing short of a gaming phenomenon.

After just one series, the show had such widespread popularity that creators Jarett Cale and Geoff Lapaire (who revealed their real names in the finale of the first season) were able to premiere episodes outside their native Canada, travelling to the US, England and even Australia. Now, after eighteen episodes and five years in production, Pure Pwnage has made history by making the jump from the internet to television. The pressure on Jarett and Geoff is unenviable – they now have to make show that appeals to both their original audience and a whole new one.

It begins here with this surprisingly promising opening that starts by acknowledging the original series (or at least the first few episodes.) The success has given Kyle and Jeremy a TV show, meaning that Kyle still needs to film his brother, a fact that irritates Jeremy immensely.