Fallout (Amazon Prime show)

https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/fal...on-1234696997/

"Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy have set their sights on creating another expansive sci-fi series.

The “Westworld” duo are developing a show at Amazon based on the “Fallout” video game franchise. Their Kilter Films banner is producing the project which has a series commitment penalty attached, meaning it would go directly to series if Amazon execs are on board with the scripts.

The “Fallout” series, which began in 1997 with the original game, is set in a world where the future envisioned by Americans in the late 1940s explodes upon itself through a nuclear war in 2077. With their Amazon project, Nolan and Joy will look to bring “the harshness of the wasteland set against the previous generation’s utopian idea of a better world through nuclear energy,” to the small screen. The project will look to retain the games’ “harsh tone,” which making sure it is still “sprinkled with moments of ironic humor and B-movie-nuclear-fantasies” which players of the epic franchise know and love.

The series hails from Amazon Studios and Kilter Films in association with the games’ producers Bethesda Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks. Nolan and Lisa Joy, who signed a blockbuster overall deal with Amazon last year, will exec produce alongside Athena Wickham for Kilter Films, with Todd Howard as an EP for Bethesda Game Studios, and James Altman for Bethesda Softworks. Lionsgate is also executive producing the series."

Could be good. Keep us updated, MM!

I'm definitely skeptical about the whole thing. Unlike most videogames that get adapted into films or shows, Fallout is a role-playing game above all else where the player creates a protagonist from scratch and the narrative tends to be a simple one involving the protagonist searching for a MacGuffin (albeit one that's usually padded out with all kinds of sub-plots and side-quests). Bethesda's entries have tried to add extra dimension to the protagonists and their narratives with varying levels of success (and in doing so have drawn considerable criticism for misunderstanding what made the early Fallout games so beloved in the first place) and it's definitely a point of concern that those mistakes may get repeated in a series (especially if it's going to turn out like Westworld as well).

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Hopefully they actually do stick to the general vibe of the games. As for the story, what I think could really work is if each season it's a different character from a different vault. That way it keeps the show fresh and we get to experience the world of Fallout in a variety of ways. Basically what I'm saying is I want vaults! They don't all have to be from a vault, but I want vaults.

"A Fallout TV show co-created by Jonathan Nolan" sounds like something an algorithm would spit out if you fed it my interests. It could only be improved by "a coupon for free Arby's curly fries with each episode."

As for whether it translates to TV: I agree, in a very literal sense, not so much, given the RPG elements. The big thing pointing in the other direction (in the direction of it working) is that Fallout has a very clear vibe. There are a lot of things that feel like the kind of thing Fallout would do, so I think it'll be very easy to create something which "feels" like it lives in that universe atmospherically and thematically.

Anyway, I'm in, will definitely give it a chance and probably be pretty excited to see it by the time it's ready to be seen.

AWWWW-SNAP! This one's going into the Gotta category.

This is Thursday! Early word is good, fans in particular seem pleased. I'm pretty excited.

It looks great!

Ol’ girl was wonderful in Yellowjackets and Boyd the Ghoul is gonna shine 🤩

Fallout might be good or not. I hope it's good since I am a huge fan of all Fallout games (Fallout 1, 2, 3, 4, and New Vegas).

Yet, it's interesting how self-parodying the aesthetics of this TV show are compared to the original Fallout.

This was how Fallout's art looked like in the first game from 1997:

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/fa...20070625091229

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/fa...20080728001644

Compare that style with the style of this TV show's posters. Looks like a parody of the parody of the parody, iterated many times....

I think it's because they're basing it on the Bethesda games, as opposed to the originals, which were developed by other people before Bethesda purchased the rights.

the frank frazetta style of those pics is but one piece of the fallout aesthetic, which has incorporated cartoonish irony from the very beginning (most obviously in the form of vault boy and how the opening cutscene juxtaposes him cheerily advertising vault-tec on a television in a bombed-out city while old-time crooning plays over the top). just because the bethesda games were able to realise this in a more technically advanced and accessible manner than the interplay/black isle games doesn't mean they invented it (to say nothing of how new vegas was developed by a studio that had worked on pre-bethesda fallout and arguably has a greater claim to being "pure" fallout than whatever bethesda itself has developed). no wonder it's become something of a sticking point for a certain cross-section of the fan base, especially with how the show diverges from the games' canon (most obviously in how it handles the new california republic).

that being said, i've enjoyed the show for the most part. it's well thought-out when it comes to determining how to build around the usual macguffin-chasing quests that tend to define the games' narratives, incorporating the various factions and how they play off each other, and fitting in all the excellent world-building (having goggins play a ghoul who led a complex pre-war life is a genius move in this regard).

Yeah, I think it would be fair to say the general aesthetic has always been there, but that Bethesda leaned more heavily into it, and honestly I think that was one of the better things they did.

Funny little story to demonstrate this: my first Fallout game was Fallout 3, and it was also one of my first open world RPGs (Super Mario RPG was first, but that was so constrained relative to F3 that F3 might as well have been the first), and I became completely entranced by it, as most people do with their first big game in the genre. But it was nervewracking. The ghouls were horrifying, I probably jumped over and over...

...and then one day, maybe while replaying it or playing New Vegas or something else (I don't remember), I decided to put the Pip-Boy radio on...and it completely transformed the game for me. Suddenly it wasn't so creepy or sinister or scary. There was still tension and surprise, but the whole vibe changed. The violence became silly, the enemies more of a fun challenge. Part of this was just playing more, sure, but I realized I should've been playing that way, with the old tunes going in the background, the entire time. Licensing all those old songs for the game was a stroke of genius that did not take away from the existing aesthetic, but genuinely enhanced it, turning it into a better version of itself.

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Anyway, I'm halfway through and starting to enjoy it more. I'm a little underwhelmed by the action, episodes 2 and 3 in particular, it kinda feels like it's going in slow motion. I think the editing could be a lot tighter and I think the fighting and gunplay could use a little more ingenuity. But episode 4 was a bit better in this regard and I'm still impressed by the overall tone and set design. And I have a lot of confidence the back half of the first season is going to be better, anyway.

Planning to savor this a bit, watch 1-2 episodes a night at most, and be done Monday at the latest. But, realistically, probably tomorrow night.

I loved the show; it was better than I had expected. People have learned to make proper videogame adaptations now.

Basically, they nailed the spirit of the original games better than the Bethesda games while having the aesthetics of the Bethesda games (Fallout 1 and 2 had more gritty aesthetics, yes, cartoony, but gritty).

Also, the story doesn't diverge from the original games much; what happens is that the show takes place over 60 years after Fallout 2, so new events, occur after Fallout 2's timeline.

There episodes in & I'm enjoying it. Feels like The Boys minus the superheroes.