“Dr. 1Up” Diagnoses Video Game Characters On Machinima Prime

When Machinima announced the re-launch of its Machinima Prime channel, execs promised a return to the network’s roots. Sure enough, the first original series from the new Prime is a classic combination of video games and comedy. It’s called Dr. 1Up, and it stars Noel Carroll as the titular doctor, who provides medical advice to video game characters.

Each episode features a diagnosis of a famous video game character. In the debut, Solid Snake arrives at Dr. 1Up’s clinic and learns that 30 years of nonstop cigarette consumption has caused him to contract aggressive lung cancer. He doesn’t seem to mind, because he’s too busy hiding in boxes and launching into 30-minute long soliloquies. Meanwhile, the doctor’s receptionist (played by Bree Essrig

) hatches a plan to get the stars of The Last of Us to stop annoying her.

Dr. 1Up was written by Woody Tondorf (who is co-leading Machinima Prime’s return to regularly-scheduled programming) and directed by online video veteran Yuri Baranovsky. Their combined effort takes a familiar concept (video game logic applied to real life) and executes it with polish. New episodes will arrive each week.