I am a fan of the Fallout franchise. I have no idea how many hours I have poured into their games over the years. Though I never did manage to finish Fallout 4, with it being the weaker of the titles as it ran on a dated engine and had an incredibly weak story and degree of freedom for a game that was supposedly an RPG. One day I am sure I will manage to finish it, biting down and accepting the negatives and trying to find the positives in it. But for now, I think the television series and prior entries will have to do. And it comes as no surprise that this television series now exists. With video game franchises looking to capitalise more on their brand names, and with cash all over the place ready to be thrown into the hellfire, it was merely a matter of time until a name as large as Fallout appeared on the screens. A television series seems fitting for such a universe. One in which that is deep in lore that is barely appreciated or even known within the large fanbase it has, as much of that lore is hinted in small moments of exploration in the games, either through visual storytelling within the world, or the shudders reading segments as one discovers books and such within the world as they attempt to roam it and slaughter everything in their path.
A concern with the world of video game titles is that the video game industry seems, and it's more surprising here, highly interested in ruining their established names in favour of points from shareholders in the form of pursuing agendas. When I had heard that there would be a Fallout television series, I had zero hope or interest in it. I felt that it was inevitable that it would pursue cheap production quality and contain a silly amount of modern political agendas that felt utterly strange in the world the events take place in. Fallout 4 felt like this to some degree, being a bit lost in how it felt like creating atmosphere, not really staying true to the lore or giving depth to the world it wanted to tell stories within. These days I am willing to give things a chance, I'm curious over how bad something can really be, or even good. Even if I feel I may no longer be the targeted demographic. So, with the sudden release of the Fallout television series, I decided I would give it a go. Really though, when did this come out? I completely forgot it was going to exist and haven't heard a thing since some teaser images of the cast were released!
This is a first impressions post based on the first episode of the show, there may be the odd spoiler regarding the events of this first episode, however I typically refrain from mentioning major points. Read on if you want!
If you have any familiarity with the Fallout franchise, you will know that survivors of a nuclear war were kept and raised within different vaults across the United States. With this came a more dystopian set of ideas: these vaults were not necessarily meant to save humanity in the event of a catastrophic nuclear war that threatened its existence, but to test it under a set of insane concepts. This means that each vault was ultimately different to the rest. One may feature entirely women and one male, some deliberately would have limited resources to see how the inhabitants would react and how long they'd last; these are two of many concepts that found their ways into the lore of the franchise over time, and it gave the vaults an interesting appeal when discovered within the games. Naturally, many vaults failed to survive, and the concept of leaving the vaults was unheard of. A death sentence that would throw one out into a world of radiation, mutated creatures, and the chaos of any survivors that roamed the wasteland still.
As is the case with the Fallout games, the story here seems to be quite familiar: an inhabitant of one of the vaults finds themselves thrown into sudden chaos as the entire structure within the vault falls to pieces with the invading of raiders. Our protagonist's father is taken captive and much of the vault slaughtered, leading to the decision for her to leave the vault in pursuit of finding her father. This is similar to the stories of Fallout 3 and 4 as a loved one is taken from them and they pursue something greater outside of the vault. The dangers that await them being something they're totally unprepared for. Fallout starts off with some backstory regarding the world, a city that coincidentally falls to pieces as it is nuked multiple times just moments after a discussion takes place between a man and a child that details how bad it might be for that to happen sometime. I didn't really like how this set of scenes played out, being a bit too coincidental for my taste. But it was cool to see how a city was reduced to nothing with numerous strikes, the scale of it, and the sudden realisation that nuclear war could take place at any moment. This also sets up something more for later on, as a character we see suffers a particular fate.
The first episode really is just the introduction to the world. The main character's call to action as their world is turned upside down. The events that led to this world in the first place. The history of a nuclear war that caused humanity's remaining survivors to either live in fear underground or struggle above the surface in a landscape still tormented by the horrors of radiation, decades later. There isn't really much more to it aside from a bit of exposition as to set the stage a bit. I didn't really mind this, though in parts it did pursue the typical agenda pushing nonsense that just seemed a bit pointless. A bit inevitable at this point, eh? Though fortunately it didn't stick around for too long, and the show's momentum picked up a bit.
A few positives on this first episode worthy of mentioning: I really liked how well the show is shot. There's definitely care in the visuals. It's a very good looking show both in costume design and cinematography. It captured the era of Fallout's 50s world really well, utilising the typical music from the games, as well as the colours. Mixed with the retro futurism that it holds. Decent money was definitely thrown at the costume designs, sets, and on lenses and lighting to pursue a visual height that suits the franchise and the expectation the fans would have from it. Even in the action scenes they were both choreographed well and featuring a nice degree of directing and visuals. Not seeming too fake or reliant on special effects. A little more gory than one may expect. I quite liked this, that they didn't shy away from showing intense action that suits the brand. Fallout is known for letting its players get a bit crazy and pursue some gory action in which characters and creatures are gibbed and reduced to chunks of flesh and meat. I hope this quality continues on throughout.
I also quite liked some of the cast members. Actors from established television shows from throughout the last few decades. Some surprising faces appearing that you wouldn't really think would end up in a Fallout story. I think they suit the space quite well. Casting seems quite strong so far, though I'm curious as to whether this will continue as the show develops deeper into its story and set of main characters. For now, we only really know of three or four characters that have some general importance to the broader narrative. Definitely a lot more to come. I'll be sticking around to see how things do develop, though I also expect some of the weaknesses to make their way back in here and there. It's a show with a lot of potential so far, but also has the ability to quickly go south.
I've seen four episodes and I'm really liking it.
Going to check out more tomorrow! It's strong so far
I'm starting to watch it and I'm really liking it, the characters are super interesting! 👏
First things first, I did not know about this video game so this whole universe is totally unknown to me, but for what you have described of the cameras in what each one is different there is already a potential, because of them will emerge characters with unique visions, in recent years to bring to film or television video games has become customary especially with those who have an audience, but I have only one doubt where is it available to see it?
On the other hand, I agree with you that some series start well and can go down the toilet, either because they are suspended or because on the way they end up messing up with stilted and very bad plots that can bore or disappoint completely damaging the series.
I finished the last episode last night. I enjoyed the entire thing a great deal!