"Ehehehehehehehe!"
Purno de Purno is a Dutch adult Surreal Humor computer-animated series created by Marcus Vlaar and Hans Wessels.
The series is about a purple-suited man named Purno, who frequently finds himself in bizarre situations along with very strange individuals. The plot starts with a princess having her beauty stolen by a group of thieves, leading to Purno to go on a adventure to retrieve her beauty. After that ends... well, that's when it fully dives into Mind Screw territory.
Originally airing on VPRO in 1989, the surreal, bizarre exploits of the purple-suited man proved popular with adults, teenagers, and children alike (due to airing on a children's timeslot, of all things). The series would later continue until 2007, with a total of five shows.
In 2001, VPRO aired a Spin-Off called Purno Poseert, which depicted a CGI Purno in the real world interacting with Dutch celebrities (serving as a crude documentary series).
This work provides examples of:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Various pre-rendered models appear in the series, with the most prominent being in the first series. This was rather significant in 1989, as Purno was one of the few fully CG shows at the time.
- All Just a Dream: Most of the events in the second series' Episode 10 Special Offer were a dream, as Purno wakes up from his bed in the ending.
- Alliterative Title: The title of the Spin-Off, Purno Poseert, repeats the letter "P".
- Animate Inanimate Object: In the second series' Episode 4 Sunil Baba and the Forty Degrees, Purno finds himself in a laundry world populated by sentient clothes.
- Art Evolution: Doubling as a Art-Shifted Sequel, starting from the fourth series development of the series moved from the now-antiquated Amiga 2000 setup to modern computers. Thanks to the technical limitations being lifted, the animation and art evolved to a more "rounded" style. Compare here
◊ and here◊. - Ascended Extra: Sjakie and Kiet were originally just supporting characters. In the fourth series, they become main characters alongside Purno.
- Asian Buck Teeth: Dr. Ha Chiu dons one of these.
- Asian Store-Owner: Dr. Ha Chiu, who owns a Chinese store that sells various potion-like liquids.
- Attractive Bent-Gender: In Sunil Baba and the Forty Degrees, Purno drinks a potion that changes his gender.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Certain other characters have used Purno's catchphrase "sapperedosio" at some points. For example, in "Sunil Baba and the Forty Degrees", the plumber says this catchphrase after being hit by Purno, who has just emerged from Buuf's washing machine.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall:
- In the first episode of the show, one of the three people who challenge Purno to a race punches the screen and cracks it at some point.
- Purno actually watches his own show in one episode. His television depicts exactly what is going on in the actual episode... which is literally just Purno watching himself watching himself. That is, until the TV loses signal and displays static.
- Camera Abuse: A character in the first episode punches the screen, causing it to sustain a big crack.
- Catchphrase: Purno's is "Sapperedosio!", which is a neologism used in the manner of "Oh, wow!".
- Celebrity Paradox: Played with. Purno watches his own show in one episode, implying that the companies that made the show in real life exist in the Purno universe.
- Cephalothorax: Sjakie initially has a typical body. Come the fourth series, his body now consists only of his head, which has arms and legs attached to it.
- Character in the Logo: Most of the logo designs for the show feature Purno in the center of the logo.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome:
- Buuf disappears after the second series.
- Dr. Ha Chiu disappears after the third series.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Purno is of a species of humanoid called the Purnos. It's even in the show's title!
- Droste Image: One episode features Purno watching his own show. The TV shows Purno watching his TV, and the TV shown on that TV depicts Purno watching his TV, and so on.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Early on in the series, Sjakie and Kiet were more humanoid in appearance. In the fourth series, Sjakie became a ((Cephalothorax)) while Kiet's body was changed into something resembling a bowling pin.
- Endangered Species: In "Sunil Baba and the Forty Degrees", Purno states that his species, the Purnos, are an endangered species.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The name "Buuf" is extremely close to the Dutch word for "neighbor", referring to how she's Purno's neighbor.
- Extremely Short Intro Sequence: The intro used in the third series is about 15 seconds long.
- Fantastic Racism: In "Sunil Baba and the Forty Degrees", Sunil Baba's ultimate goal is to eliminate all clothes that are any color besides white.
- Gender Bender: Purno turned into a girl after drinking a gender-bending potion in one episode.
- Giant Woman: A naked one appears in "De Grote Blote Vrouw". It's actually a big disguise worn by a ton of mini Sjakies who come from Sjakiestan.
- Gratuitous English: Characters occasionally use English in the series, e.g. Purno says "It was one of those nights..." in a couple of episodes.
- Instrumental Theme Tune: The theme song for the first series has no lyrics, with only Purno's distinctive laugh in the end being any sort of vocals.
- Living Museum Exhibit: Purno and the gang become these in "Homomuseum".
- Long Runner: The show's total runtime was from 1989 to 2007, a total of 18 years.
- Lost World: Purno, Sjakie, and Kiet end up discovering a prehistoric world while trying to find a caveman that escaped the Homomuseum.
- Love Interest: Purno had a girlfriend named Buuf (literally "the neighbor" in Dutch) in the second series.
- Mind Screw: ...Oh, boy. Where do we begin.
- The series is full to the brim with strange scenarios, random incidents with no further explanation, surreal imagery and character designs, and all joined together into a hodgepodge of strange events.
- The first series has Episode 2 starting off with Purno being chased by a pair of teeth in the desert, where he finds himself near a labyrinth. After being greeted by a laughing skull, he gets lost in the maze. There, he tries to get out by singing notes that become solid, so that he can walk on them to the top.
- Multilingual Song: The otherwise Dutch full version of "Si Sa So Sapperedosio", the theme song for the fifth series, contains entire verses that are in English.
- No Plot? No Problem!: Starting in the second series and onwards, Purno de Purno became purely a surreal romp across strange situations with no real rhyme or reason.
- Roger Rabbit Effect: Purno Poseert has Purno appear alongside real people.
- Shout-Out:
- Purno's hometown, Hootchie Cootchie Town, gets its name from one of the names the Purno team used, Hootchie Cootchie Cartoons.
- One of the humans in the Homomuseum is called the Homo Playstationus. He even has the PlayStation controller's buttons as toenails!
- The name of the episode "Sunil Baba and the Forty Degrees".
- Similarly, the name of the episode "Beauty on the Beach".
- At the beginning of "Coconut Sjakie", Purno says "Now you're playing with power!"
- Later on in "Coconut Sjakie", Bugs Bunny of all people pops out and helps Purno and Sjakie to find their way out of the video game.
- Surreal Humor: Surrealism is the staple for Purno de Purno.
- Theme Tune Extended: An extended version of the fifth series' theme song was featured on a CD.
- Vague Age: It's never explained how old Purno is in the show. According to Marcus Vlaar, Purno doesn't really have a age.
- Purno lives alone, but he's not really an adult. How old is he?Hans: He's not a child.Marcus: We don't know. See, that's the weird thing about Purno is that he's really ageless. He could be 15, but he could also be 35.Hans: He was created in 1988, so you do the math.Marcus: He has something childish, but indeed lives independently. But Purno doesn't have a realistic character, so he doesn't have to be of age. He remains virtual.
- Win to Exit: Subverted. Purno gets trapped in a video game, but Buuf literally pulls him out of the game before he has a chance to win.
