Fallout (Amazon Prime) (2 Viewers)

[Adam Lenhardt]

Yeah, I think the screwed that up.

It was implied it became a city with skyscrapers given the blast point and the surrounding buildings

They screwed that up. They couldn't have been pre-war buildings because Shady Sands was in the middle of nowhere, not created in an old metropolis. In 3 generations (Vault Dweller -> Vault Dweller grandchild) the difference between Shady Sands was size (one map -> 4 maps) and nothing exceeding a couple stories or build out of anything more than bricks and stone (and other low tech building materials).

The biggest discrepancy is the location, which has never been consistently portrayed. Fallout made it seem like it was in the middle of Death Valley. Fallout 2 showed it as being southwest of San Francisco, just on the other side of the Sierra Nevada. The show depicts it as being on the outskirts of Los Angeles's urban sprawl. My sense was that the skyscrapers in the distance were supposed to be pre-war skyscrapers from Los Angeles, while Shady Sands was more like a large town within visual range of Los Angeles.

The facts of Shady Sands's growth and fall tracked for me, given its status as the capital (at the time) of the New California Republic. Between Fallout (set primarily in 2161) and Fallout 2 (set primarily in 2241), Shady Sands went from being a small outpost housing a handful of extended families to the largest population center in the West, with 3,000 residents, and the New California Republic was the dominant power in the Southwest. According to the chalkboard in the Vault 4 classroom, Shady Sands got nuked in 2277, with the flashbacks we saw being shortly before and afterward. I can believe that roughly 28,000 people would be attracted to Shady Sands during those three and a half decades following Fallout 2, and that the hydroelectric power from the Hoover Dam would allow them to develop more infrastructure than most of the wasteland.

 

[JimmyO]

My apologies for the hit and run question, but I don't want to spoilerize myself by reading the thread.

How is Fallout? Are people enjoying it? I am shy about investing in a series if it sucks Any general opinions welcome! Thanks!

 

[Walter Kittel]

My apologies for the hit and run question, but I don't want to spoilerize myself by reading the thread.

How is Fallout? Are people enjoying it? I am shy about investing in a series if it sucks Any general opinions welcome! Thanks!

I absolutely recommend it. In terms of fidelity to the game environment upon which it is based I'd argue that it and The Last of Us are the very two best adaptations I've ever viewed. It has a very different tone vs. The Last of Us, but the tone and aesthetic of the series remarkably recreates the game environment. (I have played a LOT of Fallout over the years in multiple franchise titles.)

Even if you aren't a gamer, I would recommend the series. Production design is top tier. I am slowly working my way through season one (to make it last a while vs. binge watching) and it has been remarkably entertaining. It features some fairly extreme violence (which is sort of cartoon-ish, since it is based on a video game.) Not sure how you feel about that?

The acting has been solid, and the world building is very engaging. Repeating myself, definitely recommended.

- Walter.

 

[John Sparks]

The first episode really pulled you in but alas the second episode didn't. I gave it a shot and didn't read ONE review.

 

[KeithDA]

I finished the whole series last night and found it very entertaining. I have not seen the video game (or any other game for that matter), so I came at it completely new and it worked for me. I'm not sure how the story would have played out in a game, but the development here kept me guessing and wanting more.
Nicely set up for series 2...?

 

[JimmyO]

I absolutely recommend it. In terms of fidelity to the game environment upon which it is based I'd argue that it and The Last of Us are the very two best adaptations I've ever viewed. It has a very different tone vs. The Last of Us, but the tone and aesthetic of the series remarkably recreates the game environment. (I have played a LOT of Fallout over the years in multiple franchise titles.)

Even if you aren't a gamer, I would recommend the series. Production design is top tier. I am slowly working my way through season one (to make it last a while vs. binge watching) and it has been remarkably entertaining. It features some fairly extreme violence (which is sort of cartoon-ish, since it is based on a video game.) Not sure how you feel about that?

The acting has been solid, and the world building is very engaging. Repeating myself, definitely recommended.

- Walter.

Thanks Walter! On your recommendation, I will give it a spin.

 

[Alex...]

Season 2 incoming

‘Fallout’ Renewed For Season 2 At Amazon

Fallout has been renewed for Season 2 at Prime Video

deadline.com

 

[Walter Kittel]

Viewed episode three earlier today. Still holding up really well. It was interesting to see a denizen of Far Harbor (one of the the Fallout 4 game DLCs) in California.

One of the more interesting things about the series is how it is emphasizing that the brutal nature of the world above ground will change a person. This was touched on by Wilzig (Emerson) in episode two when he warned Lucy that she would need to adapt to survive. We see this personified in Cooper's persona before the bombs fell vs. the current timeline. I also enjoyed the personal growth that Maximus exhibited in this episode by turning away from his baser instincts.

We get more of Cooper's back story in episode three and I think I know where this headed, but I'll keep my speculations to myself. If what I think is going to happen, does happen; well that explains a lot.

- Walter.

 

[DaveF]

Finally started Fallout this week! Only watched the first two episodes, so can’t catch up on the thread yet.

It’s been an about five years since I’ve played any Fallout and I forgot how violent it was. So I wasn’t anticipating how bloody it would be when I started watching with my wife. But she’s drawn in enough to deal with it (largely by covering her eyes and watching through her fingers).

It’s enjoyable so far, if not nearly as amazing as The Last of Us. Fallout is giant, over the top, action/adventure but doesn’t have a resonant emotional core. It’s about the looks not the feels. And as such, it’s fun having a realization of this retro-future, post-nuclear wasteland world. I was hoping for more humor, building on the ‘50s camp from the games. But I guess Fallout (at least Fallout 3 & 4) aren’t really “funny” games, and are largely dark, dramatic, violent and tragic.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Fallout is giant, over the top, action/adventure but doesn’t have a resonant emotional core. It’s about the looks not the feels.

While it doesn't have the depth of character development and emotion of "The Last of Us", I will say that this show has a more resonant emotional core than the Fallout games. By the end of the season, Lucy MacLean and Cooper Howard, in particular, have really been put through the wringer.

 

[Sam Posten]

Call it. Trust me.

 

[KeithDA]

Call it. Trust me

Can someone make a spoiler-protected explanation of this? I'm not calling this number from the UK...!

 

[Sam Posten]

Can someone make a spoiler-protected explanation of this? I'm not calling this number from the UK...!

Spoiler

It’s a funny sound clip of a vault that has been compromised

 

[Philip Verdieck]

Spoiler

It’s a funny sound clip of a vault that has been compromised

Also, text it. 2132582858. Send any string.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

My apologies for the hit and run question, but I don't want to spoilerize myself by reading the thread.

How is Fallout? Are people enjoying it? I am shy about investing in a series if it sucks Any general opinions welcome! Thanks!

They completely nailed it. It is virtually impossible for them to have done better. Sure, there are a few minor inconsistencies but they are so trivial as to essentially be irrelevant.

If you placed said inconsistencies on a balancing scale, then placed everything they got right on the other side, it would launch the inconsistencies into the air.

 

[AlexF]

Can someone make a spoiler-protected explanation of this? I'm not calling this number from the UK...!

Someone on Reddit recorded it:

Spoiler

 

[WillG]

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