Some of Amazon’s adaptations have been met with critical praise like The Boys. Others have received mixed responses from fans like The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power show. What side does Fallout land on? Straight with The Boys thankfully and the two have a lot in common.
Fallout’s adaptation is the best outcome fans could have hoped for. It looks good, has great acting, is bloody, and it’s an original story. That was the right choice to make because adapting a specific game like Fallout 4 would have proved to be more challenging. Those are some initial praises but there is plenty more to come.
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
6 The Pre-War Era
Two Thumbs Way Up
Fans have only seen glimpses of the pre-war era in the games. The biggest example happens in Fallout 4 which shows bombs going off and players being frozen in a pod like in the show’s Vault 31. The show gives players a lot more time to bask in the weird future. Everyone is acting like it is 1960 but there are small things to let viewers know it’s also an alternative history in the early 2000s.
From the cars to the TVs to the Pip-Boy gauntlets, it’s all pretty astounding. There are still a lot of leftover questions from this era, so season two will probably go back a few times. It was a nice way to break up the dustiness of the post-apocalyptic future that season two should copy.
5 The Costumes
What If I Want To Wear Green?
That’s a joke that Hank makes to his wife about having to wear blue jumpsuits in the Vaults. Has a Vault ever allowed occupants to wear another style or color of jumpsuit? So far the main Vaults in the games haven’t and it’s not shown in season one of the show either. Jokes aside, the jumpsuits look authentic.
A lot of the costumes and props look phenomenal. It was a good choice to mostly use makeup on Walton Goggins to turn his Cooper character into a Ghoul. The same goes for the Power Armor that The Brotherhood of Steel wears. That has more CG in the design but someone still built a mini mech-suit and that should be applauded.
4 The Environments
This Could Be All Yours
The costumes and props are good but the environments are also well-done. That moment when Lucy exits Vault 33 mirrors how it felt for players to leave Vault 101 in Fallout 3 and in the other games. Stepping out into the sunlight and being presented with a massive world to explore was mesmerizing even in a depressing post-apocalypse. In Lucy’s case, she’s by the ocean so that is something new for the series as she walks along the coast.
All of the buildings look properly decrepit and even the nice places, like The Brotherhood of Steel’s base camp, have some unfortunate things about it. The fact that Maximus is surprised by a shower in Vault 4 is truly horrifying. The various Vaults are definitely the highlight of season one along with Filly which looks a lot like either Megaton from Fallout 3 or Diamond City from Fallout 4. The set designs make everything more immersive on top of the aforementioned costumes.
3 The Balance Between Humor And Drama
Get That Jelly Mold Out Of Here!
Season one manages to strike a fine balance between being funny and being dramatic. For example, that moment when Cooper’s daughter sees the mushroom cloud is gut-wrenching because fans know what is going to come next. Cooper in general has a more serious tone in the past than his future ghoul form who fires deadpan jokes as fast as he fires bullets.
When the show is funny, it’s a laugh riot though like Maximus not understanding how the male genitalia works despite being a man. The humor and drama work well in the show which mirrors the games fantastically. They both understand that levity is needed in a post-apocalyptic story which The Last of Us show and game lacked.
2 The Violence
Follow That Bullet
Fallout 3 began the era of Uber violence in these games. The Bloody Mess Perk allowed enemies to literally explode into red goo and bones. It’s hyper-violent but hilarious at the same time and the Amazon adaptation nails the gore perfectly.
From Stephanie getting a fork in the eye to Wilzig getting his leg chewed up by a prosthetic, fans will know early on how graphic the show is. It also does a few “video gamey” things with the camera like in the town of Filly. After several shots from Cooper, the camera follows the bullet to its target. It’s kind of a nod to the slow-mo kills from the games but there is no V.A.T.S. joke disappointingly.
1 The Dialogue Paths
Three Characters, Three Styles
Another big reason why fans love the Fallout series is that players can go into a situation any way they want to. If they have high charisma or dialogue perks, they can talk their way out of situations. If they want to kill people, they can do that too. The talk-heavy player is kind of the path that Lucy follows in the show.
Cooper is the rogue player, going on a badass run who doesn’t care about anything or anyone else so long as he gets revenge, answers, and a paycheck. Maximus is kind of the middle-of-the-road player who’s tried to do good things but also has moments of selfishness. These three characters could have been crafted into the show as a way to mirror dialogue choices in the games or at least how three distinct sets of fans play Fallout.
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