Fallout: The End
April 11, 2024 12:30 PM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe
Okey dokey..
Amazon brings the long running Fallout video game series, full of retro-futuristic technology, ghouls, radiation and the Wasteland to the screen. Series stars: Ella Purnell, Walton Goggins, Aaron Moten and Kyle MacLachlan.
Amazon's description:
"Based on one of the greatest video game series of all time, Fallout is the story of haves and have nots in a world in which there’s almost nothing left to have. 200 years after the apocalypse, a peaceful denizen from a cozy fallout shelter is forced to return to the surface--and is shocked to discover the wasteland waiting for her."
Available on Amazon Prime. All Eight Episodes Available Now. (Keep future episode spoilers to the future episodes)
Amazon brings the long running Fallout video game series, full of retro-futuristic technology, ghouls, radiation and the Wasteland to the screen. Series stars: Ella Purnell, Walton Goggins, Aaron Moten and Kyle MacLachlan.
Amazon's description:
"Based on one of the greatest video game series of all time, Fallout is the story of haves and have nots in a world in which there’s almost nothing left to have. 200 years after the apocalypse, a peaceful denizen from a cozy fallout shelter is forced to return to the surface--and is shocked to discover the wasteland waiting for her."
Available on Amazon Prime. All Eight Episodes Available Now. (Keep future episode spoilers to the future episodes)
Walton Goggins.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 1:53 PM on April 11 [8 favorites]
posted by Parasite Unseen at 1:53 PM on April 11 [8 favorites]
*sigh*
posted by drewbage1847 at 1:55 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
posted by drewbage1847 at 1:55 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
Props to the prop team. They nailed every single thing - when Maximus and Dane walked into the power armor storage area, I got goosebumps just from the power armor stations they were hanging from. Nuka-Cola bottles and machines! The cars! The camera the dad was using at the birthday party!
The idea of vaults being close enough to be in communication, connected by a single tunnel, is new to the series, right?
Aaron Moten is a hell of an actor. The way he carried his emotions through the interrogation scene was amazing.
posted by hanov3r at 2:09 PM on April 11 [7 favorites]
The idea of vaults being close enough to be in communication, connected by a single tunnel, is new to the series, right?
Aaron Moten is a hell of an actor. The way he carried his emotions through the interrogation scene was amazing.
posted by hanov3r at 2:09 PM on April 11 [7 favorites]
Oh my god the prop work and scene dressing is just perfection.
I was guessing that vaults 31, 32, and 33 were a tryptich of vaults that are collectively some experiment. (Isn't there a pair of vaults, maybe in New Vegas, that were set up adjacent and used for some kind of A/B testing?)
I was definitely pleased by this episode - once they get into more plot, I hope they can keep fun going.
posted by rmd1023 at 3:53 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]
I was guessing that vaults 31, 32, and 33 were a tryptich of vaults that are collectively some experiment. (Isn't there a pair of vaults, maybe in New Vegas, that were set up adjacent and used for some kind of A/B testing?)
I was definitely pleased by this episode - once they get into more plot, I hope they can keep fun going.
posted by rmd1023 at 3:53 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]
I was just trying to figure out the timelines based on this episode.
Bombs Fall: 2077
FO1: 2161
FO2: 2241
FO:NV: 2281
FO3: 2277
FO4: 2287
TV Show: 2296
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 3:55 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]
Bombs Fall: 2077
FO1: 2161
FO2: 2241
FO:NV: 2281
FO3: 2277
FO4: 2287
TV Show: 2296
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 3:55 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]
What is the point of this show? Based on the first episode, it’s a cynical simulacrum weaponizing nostalgia to earn money for Amazon shareholders. There is no beauty here, no art; no meaning to be found. We are just supposed to sit, alone, awestruck at the volume, and beaten senseless.
posted by rhymedirective at 5:32 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]
posted by rhymedirective at 5:32 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]
The whole point of the Fallout series in general (between the games and other media) has been a deeply cynical exploration of nationalism, fascism, nuclear war and the continuing habit of parts of humanity to engage in wars that no one wins.
There's a lot of game lore and some of it's being hinted at - like the Enclave as the remnants of the corporate fascist state that the US had begun, the fact that Vault-Tec wasn't on the up and up about the nature of the vaults and how humanity drove itself to the brink of destruction by a rapacious use of Earth's resources. (that's what kicked off the war that eliminate lead to an exchange of atomic bombs between China and the US after a large sustained conflict in Anchorage Alaska)
The series, as a whole, is deeply cynical about power and hopeful about humanity's ability to be human and despairing of how often we abandon it.
My guess is that we're going to find out that the leader of the Raiders who attacked the vault was a former vault dweller herself - exiled or kicked out like some of the previous game's protagonists. Maximus will have some sort of internal conflict with the nature of the Brotherhood of Steel, because oooh boy. And... Lucy will be changed by being out of the vault and there will be no happy ending for anyone.
posted by drewbage1847 at 6:04 PM on April 11 [17 favorites]
There's a lot of game lore and some of it's being hinted at - like the Enclave as the remnants of the corporate fascist state that the US had begun, the fact that Vault-Tec wasn't on the up and up about the nature of the vaults and how humanity drove itself to the brink of destruction by a rapacious use of Earth's resources. (that's what kicked off the war that eliminate lead to an exchange of atomic bombs between China and the US after a large sustained conflict in Anchorage Alaska)
The series, as a whole, is deeply cynical about power and hopeful about humanity's ability to be human and despairing of how often we abandon it.
My guess is that we're going to find out that the leader of the Raiders who attacked the vault was a former vault dweller herself - exiled or kicked out like some of the previous game's protagonists. Maximus will have some sort of internal conflict with the nature of the Brotherhood of Steel, because oooh boy. And... Lucy will be changed by being out of the vault and there will be no happy ending for anyone.
posted by drewbage1847 at 6:04 PM on April 11 [17 favorites]
Can’t wait to hear what you think about episode 2, rhymedirective!
As a huge fan of the Fallout series, and as someone who has been devoting all my meager gaming hours to Fallout 4 lately, this was just amazing to me. The fidelity to the game universe was astounding.* I am beyond thrilled that a whole new audience who would never deign to pick up a controller are going to get to experience the beauty, art, meaning, awe, and senselessness of this universe that has developed over decades.
And I’m so happy that the story this show is telling is not one from one of the games. When a show adapts an existing story you’re always aware of how it’s different from the one you know—or even just how you imagined it. (C.f. 3 Body Problem.) I’m very excited to see how these elements that I’m familiar with are remixed into something fresh.
*I never actually played any Fallout game before 3. Are the Brotherhood of Steel this overtly religious in the earlier games?
posted by ejs at 6:31 PM on April 11 [2 favorites]
As a huge fan of the Fallout series, and as someone who has been devoting all my meager gaming hours to Fallout 4 lately, this was just amazing to me. The fidelity to the game universe was astounding.* I am beyond thrilled that a whole new audience who would never deign to pick up a controller are going to get to experience the beauty, art, meaning, awe, and senselessness of this universe that has developed over decades.
And I’m so happy that the story this show is telling is not one from one of the games. When a show adapts an existing story you’re always aware of how it’s different from the one you know—or even just how you imagined it. (C.f. 3 Body Problem.) I’m very excited to see how these elements that I’m familiar with are remixed into something fresh.
*I never actually played any Fallout game before 3. Are the Brotherhood of Steel this overtly religious in the earlier games?
posted by ejs at 6:31 PM on April 11 [2 favorites]
Can’t wait to hear what you think about episode 2, rhymedirective!
You really don’t.
posted by rhymedirective at 6:32 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
You really don’t.
posted by rhymedirective at 6:32 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
ejs - yes, in FO1/FO2 - they are very much so - in fact one of the themes for the BoS from the first FO game is called "Metallic Monks".
The exact nature/mission of the BoS varies from game to game as different creators do their thing with them - fascist controllers of pre-war tech with religious overtones, saviors of the wasteland, despotic helpers, etc.
And Fallout has the Truffaut "No Such Thing As An Anti-war Film" problem where there are quite literally ardent defenders of the in-universe literal American Nazis with a Eugenics obsession.
posted by drewbage1847 at 6:45 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]
The exact nature/mission of the BoS varies from game to game as different creators do their thing with them - fascist controllers of pre-war tech with religious overtones, saviors of the wasteland, despotic helpers, etc.
And Fallout has the Truffaut "No Such Thing As An Anti-war Film" problem where there are quite literally ardent defenders of the in-universe literal American Nazis with a Eugenics obsession.
posted by drewbage1847 at 6:45 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]
There's a continuity problem with your timeline, Just this guy, y'know. The Vault Dweller known as Karen Van Halen left the Prydwen a flaming wreck in 2287 during the search for her son, Sean, so it can't be here in 2296.
posted by wintermind at 6:49 PM on April 11 [4 favorites]
posted by wintermind at 6:49 PM on April 11 [4 favorites]
It's not the Prydwen, it's a sister ship called the Caswennan - you know, just to keep the whole Arthur thing going.
posted by drewbage1847 at 6:51 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]
posted by drewbage1847 at 6:51 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]
Oh yeah, Moises Arias (the younger MacLean brother) is 29 to (Lucy MacLean) Ella Purnell's 27.
To me, Arias looks late-30s/ 40s in this. I wonder if this is a sly nod to some of the less good (and outdated) character skins in the games.
posted by porpoise at 10:36 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
To me, Arias looks late-30s/ 40s in this. I wonder if this is a sly nod to some of the less good (and outdated) character skins in the games.
posted by porpoise at 10:36 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
rhymedurive, yes. It is aexactly what tou described and that is the art of it. It is a world that never existed, the trapoings of 50’s white America, corpo-fascist with a veneer that exuded fakery and falseness. A cargo-cult vision of a world that belies an ugliness with a sharp tang of overt violence. And that’s the backdrop to a weird adventure, with 3 1/2 main charachters who each discover the falseness and a truth they all share in that fantastical world.
I will say the writing is very in line with most of the games from Fallout 3 onward (this is a show produced by Bethesda Games and Todd Howard is an executive producer).
If all you see is nothing, look harder (to quote Shogun).
posted by daq at 10:42 PM on April 11 [10 favorites]
I will say the writing is very in line with most of the games from Fallout 3 onward (this is a show produced by Bethesda Games and Todd Howard is an executive producer).
If all you see is nothing, look harder (to quote Shogun).
posted by daq at 10:42 PM on April 11 [10 favorites]
connected by a single tunnel, is new to the series, right?
Yes, there are a lot of non-cannonical vaults left for interesting stories to arise.
As far as we know, 33 is connected with 32 and that the connection allows ingress/ egress to the Vaults/ Outside, right? Can we assume that Vault 32 (after the Raiders had their way) is empty, or is it still infested with Raiders with contact with the outside world?
My personal headcannon is that eventually, long-conquered/ re-conquered Vaultech Vaults would make great equivalent of keeps in castles. Make using of existing down (like an ant nest) instead of having to build up.
But Fallout posits base human-portable fusion generators, even after WW3, being manufacturable and maintainable and the fuel be refined.
Maybe I'm just surprised that the Bethesda aesthetic went 'Mad Max' (maybe a decade, give or take, I'm talking about 'Road Warrior') instead of feudalism and stone fortifications. It has been a couple of hundred years.
posted by porpoise at 11:27 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
Yes, there are a lot of non-cannonical vaults left for interesting stories to arise.
As far as we know, 33 is connected with 32 and that the connection allows ingress/ egress to the Vaults/ Outside, right? Can we assume that Vault 32 (after the Raiders had their way) is empty, or is it still infested with Raiders with contact with the outside world?
My personal headcannon is that eventually, long-conquered/ re-conquered Vaultech Vaults would make great equivalent of keeps in castles. Make using of existing down (like an ant nest) instead of having to build up.
But Fallout posits base human-portable fusion generators, even after WW3, being manufacturable and maintainable and the fuel be refined.
Maybe I'm just surprised that the Bethesda aesthetic went 'Mad Max' (maybe a decade, give or take, I'm talking about 'Road Warrior') instead of feudalism and stone fortifications. It has been a couple of hundred years.
posted by porpoise at 11:27 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
So, do you think this show going to be enjoyable for someone who has no interest in the video games, like The Last of Us was?
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 2:29 AM on April 12
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 2:29 AM on April 12
So far (4 episodes in) it feels coherent and well told. There are innumerable references to the videogame world as props and background but then... are they references if it's a faithful recreation of the game world? Or are they just "the set" and "the props".
I haven't played a Fallout in 10+ years now and I'm having a blast with the show.
posted by Molesome at 3:44 AM on April 12 [1 favorite]
I haven't played a Fallout in 10+ years now and I'm having a blast with the show.
posted by Molesome at 3:44 AM on April 12 [1 favorite]
rhymedurive, yes. It is aexactly what tou described and that is the art of it.
I've played Fallout 1 and 2 several times going back to the late '90s. I've played the other Fallouts (except for Tactics and 76) once. I know what Fallout is. My criticism of this show has to do with the fact that there is no reason for it to exist. It's an assaultive "I-remember-this!" IP adaptation; nothing more, nothing less.
posted by rhymedirective at 6:02 AM on April 12
I've played Fallout 1 and 2 several times going back to the late '90s. I've played the other Fallouts (except for Tactics and 76) once. I know what Fallout is. My criticism of this show has to do with the fact that there is no reason for it to exist. It's an assaultive "I-remember-this!" IP adaptation; nothing more, nothing less.
posted by rhymedirective at 6:02 AM on April 12
As someone who as never played a single Fallout game, I have to strongly disagree with your thesis, rhymedirective. I am enjoying it thoroughly! It is also an insult to all of the people who work tirelessly to make movies and TV shows to call it "artless."
Maybe it is an advertisement for the game series - I am now very interested in playing - but it is also a quality show in its own right. I have zero nostalgia for anything they're showing, and yet it compels me.
posted by grumpybear69 at 6:25 AM on April 12 [17 favorites]
Maybe it is an advertisement for the game series - I am now very interested in playing - but it is also a quality show in its own right. I have zero nostalgia for anything they're showing, and yet it compels me.
posted by grumpybear69 at 6:25 AM on April 12 [17 favorites]
I really dislike the main stories of Fallout 3 and 4, while also love the game mechanics (especially FO4), world, and side stories. My friends and I went into this show thinking "well, the story can't be worse than the recent FO games", which is true so far...
Even with the grains of salt I came in with, I can't imagine calling this show assaultive, heh. Anyhow, if this has made anyone interested in the games: you'll get the best character writing and story from Fallout New Vegas (and the older 2d games), and you'll get the most 'like the show' world/'stuff' design from Fallout 4. You won't get anything out of Fallout 76 because it's the worst example of Bethesda not always being the best stewards of the franchise.
I look forward to seeing where the show goes and only have a few reservations from some scenes/plot elements so far.
posted by destructive cactus at 6:52 AM on April 12 [1 favorite]
Even with the grains of salt I came in with, I can't imagine calling this show assaultive, heh. Anyhow, if this has made anyone interested in the games: you'll get the best character writing and story from Fallout New Vegas (and the older 2d games), and you'll get the most 'like the show' world/'stuff' design from Fallout 4. You won't get anything out of Fallout 76 because it's the worst example of Bethesda not always being the best stewards of the franchise.
I look forward to seeing where the show goes and only have a few reservations from some scenes/plot elements so far.
posted by destructive cactus at 6:52 AM on April 12 [1 favorite]
porpoise: They also mentioned Vault 31. Didn't the Overseer say that Vault 31 is now a long memory after he came to 33 and got married?
I'm a bit curious if they'll indicate which FO4 ending is 'canon'. I think there's enough other lore out there that the canonical ending for FO3 is that the Lone Wanderer enabled the water purifier. I'm guessing that the canonical FO4 ending is a Minuteman ending that didn't blow up the Brotherhood of Steel, there. There was a mention of orders from "The Commonwealth" but I don't know if this means the BoS is being run from Boston.
posted by rmd1023 at 7:31 AM on April 12 [1 favorite]
I'm a bit curious if they'll indicate which FO4 ending is 'canon'. I think there's enough other lore out there that the canonical ending for FO3 is that the Lone Wanderer enabled the water purifier. I'm guessing that the canonical FO4 ending is a Minuteman ending that didn't blow up the Brotherhood of Steel, there. There was a mention of orders from "The Commonwealth" but I don't know if this means the BoS is being run from Boston.
posted by rmd1023 at 7:31 AM on April 12 [1 favorite]
So I never really got into the games - I struggle to remember plot points from a dozen hours ago when I accidentally stumble across the next part of the storyline (western rpg syndrome, yo), the UX makes me itch, etc etc etc. I mean I know the stories from lets plays (more or less), which makes me _wish_ I enjoyed playing the games more, but ... eh. So while I know broad chunks of the lore, I'm not deeply invested in the world either. And I'm... I dunno. It's fine? It's not grabbing me like I expected.
posted by Kyol at 7:39 AM on April 12
posted by Kyol at 7:39 AM on April 12
drewbage1847, thank you for the clarification. Fortunately, you can't see my embarrassed face behind my power armor helmet.
posted by wintermind at 9:56 AM on April 12
posted by wintermind at 9:56 AM on April 12
Fallout was a serial numbers filed-off copy of Wasteland, which was a pastiche of 50s to 80s post-apocalyptic fiction. Subsequent iterations of Fallout were copies of copies, and this is, like, so many generations of copying that whatever meaningful connective tissue the various props once had is long-since eroded away. Which is to say: it looks gorgeous but the lore is kinda nonsense. Like, for starters, why are people still living in trash and filth and ruin more than a hundred years after the OG vault dweller crawled out of vault 13? Was the desire for a clean and tidy house burned away by the apocalypse?
I dunno. Goggins is fun, and I don't mind a story about a doe-eyed innocent out in the big bad world.
posted by surlyben at 11:35 AM on April 12 [5 favorites]
I dunno. Goggins is fun, and I don't mind a story about a doe-eyed innocent out in the big bad world.
posted by surlyben at 11:35 AM on April 12 [5 favorites]
I remember seeing a poster that indicated 31, 32, & 33 were all linked. (“Stronger together” or similar.)
My bet is that two were experimental and Lucy’s was the control population.
I have a lot of fondness for the games, and I’m glad this show exists. My spouse, who would never pick up a controller, gets to experience a slice of this silly-ass world with me.
Fellow gamers, please grow up and leave gatekeeper/purity-test BS in the rubbish bin where it belongs. Let’s share our stories and be generous with them!
posted by FallibleHuman at 12:52 PM on April 12 [7 favorites]
My bet is that two were experimental and Lucy’s was the control population.
I have a lot of fondness for the games, and I’m glad this show exists. My spouse, who would never pick up a controller, gets to experience a slice of this silly-ass world with me.
Fellow gamers, please grow up and leave gatekeeper/purity-test BS in the rubbish bin where it belongs. Let’s share our stories and be generous with them!
posted by FallibleHuman at 12:52 PM on April 12 [7 favorites]
There is no beauty here, no art; no meaning to be found.
Are you talking about Fallout 76 ?
posted by Pendragon at 3:04 PM on April 12 [4 favorites]
Are you talking about Fallout 76 ?
posted by Pendragon at 3:04 PM on April 12 [4 favorites]
I'm so far enjoying this. But my objection with it, is the same objection I have for Fallout 3 and especially 4 (which, I admit I haven't actually played, but I know of them). The problem is that it should be set sometime around Fallout 1 or 2.
Fallout 2 was 80 years after fallout 1. Shady sands was a town, the NCR existed. New Vegas was another 40 years on. The world had changed. There are cities which aren't junk heaps in mouldering ruins anymore.
The TV show is set 135 years after fallout 1. It should look different.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:15 PM on April 12 [3 favorites]
Fallout 2 was 80 years after fallout 1. Shady sands was a town, the NCR existed. New Vegas was another 40 years on. The world had changed. There are cities which aren't junk heaps in mouldering ruins anymore.
The TV show is set 135 years after fallout 1. It should look different.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:15 PM on April 12 [3 favorites]
Fellow gamers, please grow up and leave gatekeeper/purity-test BS in the rubbish bin where it belongs.
Who is *gatekeeping* here? People are allowed to have opinions beyond rapturous bliss.
It's a meticulously crafted product. The set design is stellar. The casting is really strong.
It's also cynical and hollow, leaning entirely into Snyder-like grimness that forgets that this is also supposed to be funny. The story is ham-handedly and lazily told, not to mention *bloated* in the same way that many other streaming shows end up being when they learn the wrong rules from not having a time slot. These episodes do not need to be over an hour long.
The lore is a mess from the source material, sure, but folks being stuck in a steady-state for centuries just strains credulity, although it's certainly better than the games where dead bodies are still lying around everywhere. These things serve the needs of the property only -- they have no story purpose and detract from the verisimilitude of the setting. They are valid targets of critique.
Am I enjoying it? Sure. Are we just supposed to *uncritically* enjoy it? Because, frankly, that's a lot closer to gatekeeping than any of the actual criticisms leveled here so far.
Generally speaking, I enjoy a diversity of opinion and discussion, which is what I see above.
posted by absalom at 4:31 PM on April 12 [7 favorites]
Who is *gatekeeping* here? People are allowed to have opinions beyond rapturous bliss.
It's a meticulously crafted product. The set design is stellar. The casting is really strong.
It's also cynical and hollow, leaning entirely into Snyder-like grimness that forgets that this is also supposed to be funny. The story is ham-handedly and lazily told, not to mention *bloated* in the same way that many other streaming shows end up being when they learn the wrong rules from not having a time slot. These episodes do not need to be over an hour long.
The lore is a mess from the source material, sure, but folks being stuck in a steady-state for centuries just strains credulity, although it's certainly better than the games where dead bodies are still lying around everywhere. These things serve the needs of the property only -- they have no story purpose and detract from the verisimilitude of the setting. They are valid targets of critique.
Am I enjoying it? Sure. Are we just supposed to *uncritically* enjoy it? Because, frankly, that's a lot closer to gatekeeping than any of the actual criticisms leveled here so far.
Generally speaking, I enjoy a diversity of opinion and discussion, which is what I see above.
posted by absalom at 4:31 PM on April 12 [7 favorites]
The time jump was a last minute Beth idea for 3. It was originally supposed to be much closer to the day the bombs dropped but they changed their mind and it's had a hard ripple on things.
And I'll put Episode 2 up later tonight
posted by drewbage1847 at 5:27 PM on April 12 [2 favorites]
And I'll put Episode 2 up later tonight
posted by drewbage1847 at 5:27 PM on April 12 [2 favorites]
I watched the first episode and liked being back in the Fallout universe. I thought the "here are my stats" starting monologue was a really fun nod to the way all the games start. I am reserving my judgement on the show until I've seen a bit more, but I think all the elements are there for doing some exploring of the themes of the game series. Whether we get there or not is yet to be seen.
Mostly, it makes me miss my character Kia from Fallout 3 & 4, and it makes me remember how much I hated leaving Dogmeat behind when I stopped playing. I bogged down in settlement building and never finished 4, but I still enjoyed it. My favorite will forever be 2, though, despite the issues with the disconnected car trunk that basically made me replay parts of it over and over... I'll never forget working briefly as a fluffer on a porn set in Fallout 2 - it was one of those "is this really happening?" moments, lol.
posted by gemmy at 5:34 PM on April 12 [5 favorites]
Mostly, it makes me miss my character Kia from Fallout 3 & 4, and it makes me remember how much I hated leaving Dogmeat behind when I stopped playing. I bogged down in settlement building and never finished 4, but I still enjoyed it. My favorite will forever be 2, though, despite the issues with the disconnected car trunk that basically made me replay parts of it over and over... I'll never forget working briefly as a fluffer on a porn set in Fallout 2 - it was one of those "is this really happening?" moments, lol.
posted by gemmy at 5:34 PM on April 12 [5 favorites]
Absalom, there’s plenty to critique, and your post does a good job of it.
I was responding to assertions that adaptations into media other than games had no purpose. If there’s an alternative interpretation of “cynical simulacrum”, for example, I’m all ears.
posted by FallibleHuman at 6:04 PM on April 12 [2 favorites]
I was responding to assertions that adaptations into media other than games had no purpose. If there’s an alternative interpretation of “cynical simulacrum”, for example, I’m all ears.
posted by FallibleHuman at 6:04 PM on April 12 [2 favorites]
I haven't finished yet, but to my eye the whole thing gets better after the first couple episodes, and then much better a few episodes after that. I thought there were some really clunky bits in these first two.
(Also, at least one of absalom's objections gets addressed, I think. But I'm not sure if that's something new invented for the show or if the games already took that route.)
posted by nobody at 9:01 PM on April 12
(Also, at least one of absalom's objections gets addressed, I think. But I'm not sure if that's something new invented for the show or if the games already took that route.)
posted by nobody at 9:01 PM on April 12
I'm watching through this and I'm not really enjoying it? I would like to. But the way the show veers in tone is giving me whiplash in a way that I don't vibe with. I absolutely hate how much of the soundtrack are songs from the game. A lot of the fanservice really, really doesn't work for me.
absalom's characterization of cynical and hollow is what's really killing me. This show is Content.
What it is doing is making me want to reinstall one of the games, spend an absurd amount of time modding it, and then spend slightly less time actually playing through it again.
posted by Neronomius at 9:22 PM on April 12
absalom's characterization of cynical and hollow is what's really killing me. This show is Content.
What it is doing is making me want to reinstall one of the games, spend an absurd amount of time modding it, and then spend slightly less time actually playing through it again.
posted by Neronomius at 9:22 PM on April 12
I want to say to those who are on the fence about this show (as I was)... Tim Cain (creator of Fallout) is broadly positive about it, and that was good enough for me to give it a go.
posted by Acey at 5:40 AM on April 13 [3 favorites]
posted by Acey at 5:40 AM on April 13 [3 favorites]
I played F3 & 4 and enjoyed them, though I am not a super-fan by any means. I found that the "LOL science 1950s smile nuclear LOL" vibe got really played out by the end of my time in the games. But I enjoyed them.
I found episode one to be very nice looking, but oddly dull. Nothing stood out as bad, and the scene of the bombs going off was gut wrenching in an unexpected way, which shows good craftwork on the show's behalf. The performances were good. The gore was unexpected and kind of fun in a gross way (the games are violent, and the "LOL science 1950s smile nuclear LOL" is supposed to be the dissonance that makes the games unique).
But I found the show lacking energy, fun and anything that made me compelled to want to see what happens next. I will give a couple more episodes a try, but count me in as disappointed in episode one.
posted by SoberHighland at 7:10 AM on April 13
I found episode one to be very nice looking, but oddly dull. Nothing stood out as bad, and the scene of the bombs going off was gut wrenching in an unexpected way, which shows good craftwork on the show's behalf. The performances were good. The gore was unexpected and kind of fun in a gross way (the games are violent, and the "LOL science 1950s smile nuclear LOL" is supposed to be the dissonance that makes the games unique).
But I found the show lacking energy, fun and anything that made me compelled to want to see what happens next. I will give a couple more episodes a try, but count me in as disappointed in episode one.
posted by SoberHighland at 7:10 AM on April 13
Based on the first episode, it’s a cynical simulacrum weaponizing nostalgia to earn money for Amazon shareholders.
That may be or it may not be, but attempting to draw any conclusions from the first of 8 episodes is a bit premature. I mean if it rubs you the wrong way very badly you don't need to soldier on, but this is a very strong take to base on so little of the runtime.
posted by axiom at 12:36 PM on April 13 [1 favorite]
That may be or it may not be, but attempting to draw any conclusions from the first of 8 episodes is a bit premature. I mean if it rubs you the wrong way very badly you don't need to soldier on, but this is a very strong take to base on so little of the runtime.
posted by axiom at 12:36 PM on April 13 [1 favorite]
I’m personally surprised by the take - I found it so compelling I binge watched the entire thing starting at 1am during law school finals lead up. I’m really excited that this exists, because it gives me an in to show my partner the Fallout universe as they are not a gamer; I can’t wait to see what they think of it. The intro opening - *chefs kiss*. I particularly love the way they nailed the swift deterioration, and kind of the setup of the discoveries you would later make playing all four games. “No room!” I don’t know whether I love the shot of them trying to escape on the horse while the bombs kept falling, or the shot of his face trying to come to terms with the falling bombs better, but either way, glorious and I can’t wait to rewatch with more people.
posted by corb at 2:02 PM on April 13 [5 favorites]
posted by corb at 2:02 PM on April 13 [5 favorites]
Loved the games, took me two days to get through the first episode because of the unrelenting violence of it. I'm generally OK with violence on TV. And I've played a lot of Fallout with builds specifically tuned to increase the gore and flying giblets because it was hilarious. Somehow that brutality comes off a little less hilarious in a live action TV show.
But what really bothered me was the sexualized violence, Lucy's husband and the wedding night. Having a fake wedding be the start of a Raider attack is a great plot device. Showing our attractive young woman having a lusty first shag after the wedding was fun! Then showing her being attacked, running around in her underwear fleeing in panic for her life... Too much rape as entertainment, a lazy way to raise the emotional stakes on TV. And not in keeping with the games at all. They mostly avoid sexuality and I can't recall any depictions of sexual violence in the games. (Some incidents alluded to in the story, for sure.)
At least Lucy is the protagonist and not some passive victim.
posted by Nelson at 6:40 AM on April 14
But what really bothered me was the sexualized violence, Lucy's husband and the wedding night. Having a fake wedding be the start of a Raider attack is a great plot device. Showing our attractive young woman having a lusty first shag after the wedding was fun! Then showing her being attacked, running around in her underwear fleeing in panic for her life... Too much rape as entertainment, a lazy way to raise the emotional stakes on TV. And not in keeping with the games at all. They mostly avoid sexuality and I can't recall any depictions of sexual violence in the games. (Some incidents alluded to in the story, for sure.)
At least Lucy is the protagonist and not some passive victim.
posted by Nelson at 6:40 AM on April 14
I don't play video games at all and I enjoyed this. I'm older than many of you and possibly further into the trash culture rabbithole than many of you, but this was giving Albert Pyun's Radioactive Dreams to me.
I understand how a person could take this as not being about anything, but I would suggest maybe that's a frustration with pulp in general. This is setting up to be pulp, though, and not something ambitiously dense like say, Last of Us. I don't mind. I enjoy some good pulp, now and again. Or maybe it's frustration with the prevailing style of TV pacing in 2024. (Call it the Surf Dracula problem.)
Big ups from this horror nerd on the kills in this show. Holy shit, the FX team is earning their keep.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:44 AM on April 14 [4 favorites]
I understand how a person could take this as not being about anything, but I would suggest maybe that's a frustration with pulp in general. This is setting up to be pulp, though, and not something ambitiously dense like say, Last of Us. I don't mind. I enjoy some good pulp, now and again. Or maybe it's frustration with the prevailing style of TV pacing in 2024. (Call it the Surf Dracula problem.)
Big ups from this horror nerd on the kills in this show. Holy shit, the FX team is earning their keep.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:44 AM on April 14 [4 favorites]
Just popping in to say that I find Surf Dracula a very useful concept for thinking about our current media moment.
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 10:24 AM on April 14 [2 favorites]
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 10:24 AM on April 14 [2 favorites]
They mostly avoid sexuality
I had a text file at one point with all the possible f/f encounters in Fallout 2. It was not tremendously short. I believe 3 (haven't played 4 or NV) has much less sex but the original two had a *lot*.
posted by restless_nomad at 6:50 AM on April 15 [1 favorite]
I had a text file at one point with all the possible f/f encounters in Fallout 2. It was not tremendously short. I believe 3 (haven't played 4 or NV) has much less sex but the original two had a *lot*.
posted by restless_nomad at 6:50 AM on April 15 [1 favorite]
Non-Fallout player with virtually zero knowledge of the franchise. I found the first episode pretty engaging and interesting.
posted by Atreides at 7:23 AM on April 15
posted by Atreides at 7:23 AM on April 15
Looks like everybody on the show has taken the Bloody Mess trait, given how explody people are.
I really liked how they sold the absolute menace of the Brotherhood of Steel interrogation. Just sitting in a chair while a madman in a two-ton suit stomps around behind you. Terrifying.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 1:06 PM on April 15 [4 favorites]
I really liked how they sold the absolute menace of the Brotherhood of Steel interrogation. Just sitting in a chair while a madman in a two-ton suit stomps around behind you. Terrifying.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 1:06 PM on April 15 [4 favorites]
Mod note: We're just out here in the Wasteland, adding the series to the sidebar and Best Of blog, don't mind us!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 6:05 AM on April 16 [5 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 6:05 AM on April 16 [5 favorites]
well, I don't game and I am really enjoying this so far (3 eps in). I think the "point" of this series is to bring a popular and well-loved property into a different format where it might reach a new audience, who might really love it! more good shows works for me.
posted by supermedusa at 9:31 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]
posted by supermedusa at 9:31 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]
I know nothing about the game, but I enjoyed this first TV episode. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much humour was included, particularly in the early vault scenes. Is that humour something that's baked in to the game's approach too?
posted by Paul Slade at 12:18 AM on April 17
posted by Paul Slade at 12:18 AM on April 17
I haven't played any of the games because I'm not that kind of gamer, so I personally appreciated the adaptation. I can't evaluate it fairly as an adaptation because I haven't interacted with the source material, but as a standalone TV show I thought it was pretty good. I binged it and mostly enjoyed it. It wasn't the best TV I've ever watched, but I found a lot of things to like, and overall had a good time.
posted by confluency at 1:57 AM on April 17
posted by confluency at 1:57 AM on April 17
Is that humour something that's baked in to the game's approach too
Absolutely. They really nailed not just the aesthetic but the tone.
posted by restless_nomad at 5:47 AM on April 17 [2 favorites]
Absolutely. They really nailed not just the aesthetic but the tone.
posted by restless_nomad at 5:47 AM on April 17 [2 favorites]
I think for most fans of fallout, the big worry about the adaption was going to be how they adapted the tone. The aesthetic is pretty easy (they hit it out of the park though) and the grim violence, but the way the material veers between the downright silly to the outright distressing.
I mean in FO4 you play as a survivor of a Vault experiment and witness your partner be murdered and your infant son kidnapped who pops up into a post apocalypse wasteland where Fenway has been turned into a fortified city, there's synthetic androids being used to replace people by a shadowy group, a guy who talks about how baseball back in the day was a combat sport with teams going at each other with "swatters" and a ghoul obsessed with an old time radio/tv show about a "Shadow"esque crime fighter named the "Silver Shroud" - who you can dress up as and fight crime.
So it wildly veers and they've somehow continued to thread the needle, so I'm relieved. Would have been way too easy to settle into one or the other poles.
The real place where I think the games get you in the guts is the environmental storytelling you find - simple things like a skeleton sitting a bathtub with a toaster or a pair of skeletons laying on a bed with discarded pill bottles around them. The "worst" ones are the ones where you discover things like a family slowly suffocating because their makeshift fallout shelter's ventiliation system had a malfunction or a woman who got trapped in a safe at a large department store, slowing dying from a lack of food and water and no one coming to let her out. (The game lets you find her distress call and you track it down only to discover that you're 200+ years too late).
There was one example of that when Lucy discovered the family around the dining room table with the Vault Tec Plan B or whatever it was.
posted by drewbage1847 at 8:50 AM on April 17 [3 favorites]
I mean in FO4 you play as a survivor of a Vault experiment and witness your partner be murdered and your infant son kidnapped who pops up into a post apocalypse wasteland where Fenway has been turned into a fortified city, there's synthetic androids being used to replace people by a shadowy group, a guy who talks about how baseball back in the day was a combat sport with teams going at each other with "swatters" and a ghoul obsessed with an old time radio/tv show about a "Shadow"esque crime fighter named the "Silver Shroud" - who you can dress up as and fight crime.
So it wildly veers and they've somehow continued to thread the needle, so I'm relieved. Would have been way too easy to settle into one or the other poles.
The real place where I think the games get you in the guts is the environmental storytelling you find - simple things like a skeleton sitting a bathtub with a toaster or a pair of skeletons laying on a bed with discarded pill bottles around them. The "worst" ones are the ones where you discover things like a family slowly suffocating because their makeshift fallout shelter's ventiliation system had a malfunction or a woman who got trapped in a safe at a large department store, slowing dying from a lack of food and water and no one coming to let her out. (The game lets you find her distress call and you track it down only to discover that you're 200+ years too late).
There was one example of that when Lucy discovered the family around the dining room table with the Vault Tec Plan B or whatever it was.
posted by drewbage1847 at 8:50 AM on April 17 [3 favorites]
restless_nomad: FO4 lets you romance any human companion, so you can have f/f or m/m companion romances, but the writing and responses are the same regardless of the player's sex. Which means that on the one hand, yeah, romance anyone! but on the other hand, there's nothing queer about queer pairings. Compare with New Vegas where - if you have the "gay dude" perk (I forget what it's called - confirmed bachelor or something?) - you have some dialogue options with a male character where you can flirt with him and then he talks about how some factions are more welcoming to homosexuality than others.
posted by rmd1023 at 9:09 AM on April 17 [1 favorite]
posted by rmd1023 at 9:09 AM on April 17 [1 favorite]
That's a nice option. It was a much bigger deal to me in... 2000? or so when I played Fallout 2 for the first time and actually *had* f/f options, so I treasured them. That was still extremely rare.
posted by restless_nomad at 9:48 AM on April 17 [2 favorites]
posted by restless_nomad at 9:48 AM on April 17 [2 favorites]
I haven’t played the games, though I’ve watched (well, half-watched while I played my own games on my Switch) my husband play co-op on some of the newer ones with his buddy, so I have the broad strokes when it comes to the setting, plot, and aesthetic of those.
From the first episode, I can see this is going to be visually impressive. I do like the post-apocalyptic aesthetic and the cynical takedown of “American the good.” I’ll also watch Walton Goggins in just about anything. It was also predictably violent so this won’t be a right-before-bed show for me.
I do wonder if the show is biting off more than it can chew in 8 episodes. There was a lot of character introduction in ep 1 and I’m wondering how they’ll pull all the threads together than they’ve started. Husband remarked “Well, the show has… vibes.” So we’ll see how it turns out.
posted by eekernohan at 4:48 AM on April 18
From the first episode, I can see this is going to be visually impressive. I do like the post-apocalyptic aesthetic and the cynical takedown of “American the good.” I’ll also watch Walton Goggins in just about anything. It was also predictably violent so this won’t be a right-before-bed show for me.
I do wonder if the show is biting off more than it can chew in 8 episodes. There was a lot of character introduction in ep 1 and I’m wondering how they’ll pull all the threads together than they’ve started. Husband remarked “Well, the show has… vibes.” So we’ll see how it turns out.
posted by eekernohan at 4:48 AM on April 18
A friend: "and now he doesn't have a nose"
Me: "what? How does he smell?!"
apparently, "awful!" wasn't as obvious as I thought it was
posted by Pronoiac at 7:32 PM on April 20
Me: "what? How does he smell?!"
apparently, "awful!" wasn't as obvious as I thought it was
posted by Pronoiac at 7:32 PM on April 20
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posted by drewbage1847 at 12:43 PM on April 11 [20 favorites]