The first season of theFallout TV serieshas quickly become one of the most celebrated video game adaptations in history. It masterfully represents its source material and is recognized as an exceptionally successful TV show in general markets, acquiring16 Emmy nominationsthis coming award season.
Falloutfans, new and old, have been digging into a show thatfaithfully represents a well-regarded franchise while confidently making its own necessary add-ons. With tons of fantastic lore and history backing it,Fallout, available on Amazon, hits the target dead center, from itssardonic opening momentsto its shockingcliffhanger ending.
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So, from the perspective of general audiences and long-time fans,here is what we think the Fallout TV show did perfectly in its premiere season.
10References And Callbacks
Reminding Us That This Really Is Fallout
A disconnect between the film’s world and its video game source material is sadly noticeable in manyvideo game adaptations. Despite many of these shows pulling a lot from the game they’re based on, they often seem wholly different from what fans expect.
So, when longtimeFalloutfans catch references such as the iconic Red Rocket gas station and the prominent in-universe food brands, there’s a sense that the show is humbly paying homage to the games we fell in love with.
These more casual callbacks to the games, along with other more significant ones,make this show feel like a true Fallout experienceset in the universe we’ve already come to know.
9Characters And Their Motives
Deep, Nuanced People Who Roam The Wasteland
Our main characters include a vault dweller, a ghoul, and a member of the Brotherhood of Steel. While each of these explicitly comes from some part of theFalloutuniverse,the characters' variety of motivationsand viewpoints makes them feel unique and authentic to this show.
Maximus, our main Brotherhood of Steel member, is rebellious, whichperfectly clashes with the Brotherhood of Steel’s traditional ways(like a better version of Finn from the recent Star Wars trilogy). On the other hand, there’s our initially open-minded kind vault dweller,Lucy, who isslowly exposed to the savage ways of the mutated wasteland.
Because of their intricate journeys, most characters don’t feel like poster children for their given faction or background. Like the actual characters from theFalloutgames, they are complex, individual pawns in an intertwining story.
8The Brutal Violence
Fallout’s Notorious Lust For Bloodshed And Dismemberment
Falloutis loaded with enoughblood and goreto frighten even the most seasoned Jet junkie.We seriously can’t overstate how much bodily gore is shown in this show. Yet this emphasis on decapitations, limb dismemberment, and bodily carnage is, interestingly, one of the most faithful aspects ofFallout.
People don’t get grazed and scraped: heads are blown off, people die, andthese acts of violence impact our main characters and their stories.
If you’ve playedFallout, you likely have used the infamous VATS game system to target your enemies' heads, limbs, and even eyes. So,the TV show seems to honor these aspects of the gamesbecause even if it makes us turn from the screen,they decided to show the blood and gore in all its glory.
7Inspiration From Fallout 1 and 2
Taking Hints And Useful Lore From The Classic Titles
ManyFallout fans were reasonably skepticalwhen the show was announced to take place in California, as Bethesda’s newerFallouttitles are exclusively set on the East Coast.Claiming California means coinciding with original lore.
Luckily,Fallout elitists can now let out a great communal sigh of relief. Classic lore and locations such as Shady Sands become pivotal plot points and add credibility to the deeper story of this show.
So,despite the show’s original characters and story, it’s fantastic how well it attempts to stick to the history ofFalloutwe already know and worship.
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6The World Before The Bombs Dropped
The Show’s Greatest Original Addition To The Fallout Universe
TheFalloutTV show’s best original contribution to theFalloutfranchise is its portrayal of the world before the Great War and the bombs dropping.The original character, Cooper Howard, who we know in the wastelands as the Ghoul, is developed throughout the 8-episode run of the series as a figurehead celebrity icon in the pre-war world.
Through this storyline, we get insight into Vault-Tec, the state of the world before the bombs dropped, andtons of information and world-buildingwe’ve only technically seen first-hand in the opening moments ofFallout4. Especially because of the transition to television,this addition was utterly necessary for the show to make.
Instead of the game series' computer terminals and slowly pieced-together subtext,the Fallout show uses the visual medium’s emphasis on non-linearity to flash us back in time, expertly giving us that pre-war background we’ve all been hoping for.
5The Outstanding Music
Celebrating Those Tunes That Helped Us Wander The Wasteland
When we hear those twentieth-century tunes, many of us are automatically taken back to our journey in variousFalloutgames. So, more than most adaptations, they needed to get this quality of the franchise right.
Luckily, throughout this first season,we were consistently given returning and new tunesthat fit that retro-future 50s aesthetic. Unlike the disappointment of We Need a Hero and Thunderstruck in the Mario movie,Fallout is solely filled with canonically pleasing melodies.
With a cameo of Fred Armison as a radio technician playing pre-war music for the scavengers of the wastelands to jam out to, it’s evident that getting the music right was a top priority, and quite honestly,they nailed it.
4Factions Old and New
Meet The Groups Ruling The Wastes
Factionslargely embody Falloutand the story it is trying to tell. We’re pleased to see the Brotherhood of Steel, individual groups of cultists, vault dwellers, and even the New California Republic as part of the collection of factions this show explores.
The phrase “war never changes” is as relevant as ever, as, throughout this season, the factions and their conflicts consistentlyrise from the ashes of Armageddonto fight for land, power, and status.
When asked if the Brotherhood of Steel are good guys, the show responds, “It’s a complicated organization.” Bearing bad actions with a good conscience.
All parts of the story depend on how the factions attempt to take a hostile planet and shape it into what they individually view as paradise. With all of these references and elaborate perspectives present in the show, it hasclearly nailed the factionsof theFalloutuniverse.
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3The Wasteland Itself
Our Nuclear, Post-Apocalyptic, Retrofuture Wonderland
Taking place in California, we all expected a desert, Mad Max-like appearance of the wasteland that was the baseline aesthetic of much of the original games. Although Bethesda’s titles get a bit more colorful with their foliage (definitely incorporated in parts of this show), we were happy to say that thewastelands are still that barren hellscapewith danger looming around every corner.
In the games,the wasteland’s random and unexpected personality almost becomes its own character, a presence that is likewise present in the show.
Along withodd characters popping uprandomlyand the wide variety of mutated wildlife our characters find themselves against, the wasteland’s influence is as ever-present as it is in the games.
2Vault-Tec And Their Vaults
The Underlying Benefactor Of The Nuclear-Burdened World
Hidden beneath it all, shifting behind the shadows of each game,Vault-Tec has been an underlying currentthat oversees the more sheltered parts of the wasteland. With their experiments ongoing through nuclear destruction,nothing is as much of a time capsule to the past as the vaults themselves.
In the show, Vault-Tec andits vaults are prominent, and an entire plot runs through the series, in which we figure outthe secret,despicable natureof this cheerful, cartoon-branded company.
The underlying plot of The Vaults and Vault-Tec is so perfect in howit becomes integral to the finale of this season’s plotline.
1The Main Story
The Story of theFalloutseries is the bow that ties this perfectly depicted world together.
The show begins with a first-hand account of the bombs being dropped and vault dweller Lucy being guided to find her father long after, so you’d think it’s just aFallout 3or4ripoff, but eventually,the plot becomes much deeper than that.
Maximus, Lucy, the Ghoul, and the other pawns moving around the wasteland, following scraps of the same mystery, are a perfect narrative device. They have their own perspectives but follow the same guiding light to the next clue on the verge of being uncovered.
Ultimately, we discover how connected these individual perspectives are to each other and how integral they are to the pre-apocalypse world.Everyone in the wasteland has a burning desire,andtheir stories are always somehow influenced by the wild wasteland they inhabit.
The story is trulya wonderful example of game-to-screen adaptations. It has its own perspective and feel while sticking to the lore and source material where it truly matters.
This show has easily reinvigorated even the most exhaustedFalloutfan,making us even more pumped for the next season, which, hopefully,is right around the corner.
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