It’s obvious to all that video game adaptations have had a challenging history. For every ‘The Last of Us’, there’s a ‘Mortal Kombat’ lurking just around the corner. It seems we are plagued every year with further attempts to bring popular gaming franchises to the big screen. While it opens up a lot of potential for awesome, detailed, engrossing stories, it also opens up a lot of potential for renowned IPs to flop, leaving behind devastated, dedicated, loyal fans.
Case in point – the new Fallout TV series on Amazon Prime, which began streaming on April 10th. For those not in the know, the Fallout series are a variety of post-apocalyptic RPG-adventure games with an incredibly devoted fanbase. It’s fair to say Amazon had their hands full with this one, but, loyal readers, remain hopeful! Remember – this is the same streaming service that gave us Vox Machina and Invincible – both instant classics and faithful adaptations of their source material. Granted, it’s also the same streaming service that gave us the critically-assured dud that was the Rings of Power.
Should we dare hope for a show that will give us the detailed world of the Fallout universe? Does the Fallout TV show manage to capture the darker comedic elements of a post-apocalyptic wasteland? Can we be granted a universe that seduces both die-hard fans and newcomers alike?
It seems that, luckily in this case, our prayers have paid off.
Fallout is a surprisingly good adaptation that kept me engrossed throughout its 8-episode run, and, overall, it’s a decent attempt at establishing a video-game universe for the general public. Since its release Fallout has been streamed more than 65 million times! Put simply, Fallout has exploded into the spotlight, and the mainstream. It has quickly earned itself a second season, reinvigorating a franchise that hasn’t seen a release since Fallout 76 back in 2018. Indeed, within days of streaming, many of its titles rocketed up the Steam chart, from obscurity to notoriety once more.
The Fallout show takes place roughly 200 years after a nuclear war has wiped out most of America, the majority of the survivors now living in underground bunkers known as ‘Vaults’. This is where we meet our main character – Lucy, played by Ella Pernell, inhabitant of Vault 33. Regrettably, things don’t seem to go Lucy’s way when, on her wedding night, a posse of raiders infiltrate the vault, butcher the inhabitants and kidnap her father. Determined to get him back, Lucy ventures above to rescue him. Unfortunately, the wasteland above is a very different world to what she has been taught.
For myself, Lucy quickly became the star of the show, being naïve, gullible and an easy victim for other characters up on the surface; a welcome change from the perceived Mary-Sue-esque abilities of characters in other shows. Most importantly though, Lucy learns and grows as the plot develops. This gives us a substantial amount of detailed character development, leading to us, the audience, rooting for her in her mission to find her father and regain some sense of normality in a world gone insane.
It sounds like a basic set up, and it is, because this is a main questline that has been played out across many titles, including the Fallout (game) series itself. The real meat of the Fallout show comes through the smaller side stories however; the quirky, bizarre characters, the unusual storytelling, the odd, head scratching moments that leave you wondering what just happened and let me tell you – Fallout has all of this in abundance. For those long-term, dedicated fans, there are plenty of Easter eggs, as you might expect from a video game adaptation, but Fallout manages to make all of them seem a part of the world. Numerous times did my girlfriend tell me to be quiet as I pointed out yet another facet that I’d seen on screen that had no immediate relevance to the plot or characters!
Is Fallout perfect? No. Often the story falls flat in its attempts to mesh satirical humour with straight-faced drama and the severe lack of in-depth world building is a real slap-in-the-face to non-gamers. Undeniably there’s a lot of stuff that is simply glossed over; the goal of the Brotherhood of Steel, the existence of the Enclave, the retro-1950’s aesthetic, all of which is never truly acknowledged, explained or expanded upon. Those stepping into the show for the first time might simply be stunned by how much is simply thrown at them and I wouldn’t blame them for feeling overwhelmed and switching off.
Ultimately though I have to say I enjoyed Fallout a whole lot more than I expected – a compelling human drama, which, like the games, offers harsh survival and grim horror but never loses the humour that underpins its world. If you’re willing to go into it with an open mind, I think you’ll have a lot of fun with Fallout. I certainly did. Here’s hoping that Season 2 will be as big of a nuclear blast as its predecessor.
What do you think? Have you watched Season 1 of Fallout yet?
