The Fallout show

 

There's a aura of resigned inevitability with which we approach the existence of yet another attempt to adapt a video game to the world of static TV- albeit with this one being less of a straight adaptation and more of a 'spiritual' adaption. So to speak. The TV Nolan is coming to bring the Post-Apocalyptic wasteland roaring to our screens this April and we have a teaser, the kind of teaser that tells us nothing about what to expect and has me slightly worried this is going to be more of a 'look at this crazy world' than a genuine interesting story told within the Fallout body. But those are preliminary concerns, this is only a teaser, and Johnathon Nolan has shown himself to be a talented storyteller in the past so I'm willing to lay down a little benefit of the doubt. Still, we know that out of the many attempts only The Last of Us managed to get a half decent TV adaption, and that one wasn't being handled by Amazon- the guys who fumbled LOTR. The odds are not exactly in Fallout's favour right now.

First off, thank god this isn't a Fallout 3 adaption. I know Todd Howard mentioned how he didn't want this to adapt that story because "We've already told that story", but my god if that isn't missing the forest for the trees! It's not about 'telling more stories', it's about robbing the agency of an RPG in order to make it a TV show! It's about saying "No, the game you played is not canon- this is the canon Vault Wanderer and these are the choices they made." That and let's be honest here- Fallout 3's story isn't really all that strong. It's a half-decent thread for dragging players across the Wasteland but try and actually deconstruct it's higher themes, character dilemmas or narrative substance and you're going to come up short. It's bones are as thin as paper. Setting this show in the world of Fallout allows for the team to springboard off the several decades of worldbuilding and instead focus on really nailing the impact of the story alongside the quirkiness of the world. So far they've demonstrated to excessive degree how they understand the quirky, I just hope they didn't leave the drama at home. (Because I don't come to Fallout just for the quirky, you know!)

In a move I'm certain that Bethesda are going to regret, they've already labelled this show as canon to the events of the game- which, given the fact that Bethesda are incapable of keeping the Fallout canon straight within their own game canon, is pretty much dumping an entire can of worms all over your face straight away. (Seriously Todd, what were you thinking?) Already I've noticed a little bit of an oddity given that this show is set in Los Angeles- (the cheapest filming location Hollywood could manage) which would give the team free reign to do whatever they want execpt- uh oh, we've actually already been to LA. Known as The Boneyard in the time of Fallout 1, LA is home to the Super Mutant invasion that is threatening to wipe out all life left in North America before the Dweller deals with it. And sure, what we see of LA is merely a fraction of what the city once was, but it looks pretty- still-standing. As opposed to the vast sand-strewn dunes we've seen out of the Fallout show teasers, which seem to resemble more something out of Mad Max than Fallout.

But hey, maybe I'm splitting hairs too early for us to call. Afterall, I don't believe we've been told when this story is set. For all we know there was another nuke set off in the remains of LA that flattened the land some more! And besides, the only way that LA wouldn't have been a sandy wasteland, if we're being honest with ourselves, would be if it wasn't directly struck with a Nuke- and what sort of antagonist foreign superpower would saturate the whole of America with nukes but miss their most lucrative financial metropolis? That would just be stupid. So maybe the Fallout show has it right and this is another example of Bethesda slowly kicking dust over the Black Isle Studio originals and hoping that no one points it out. But I noticed Bethesda, and I'm going to point it out. Just as I will if this branch of the Brotherhood turn out to be another illegal timeline pivot, like the Fallout 76 branch were. (How hard is it to keep the Brotherhood narrative linear, guys! There's whole Wikis that chronicle things for you!) 

The key for any show like this will rely on the budget, because we've all seen what happens to adaptations deprived of those! (The CW is filthy with them.) As well as how much the show creators are fans of the game, because we've recently learnt how little the source material means to some showrunners, such as with the Halo TV series and their absolute disgust for the overarching narrative themes, basic plot elements and even iconography of the franchise it was based on. Nolan talks a big game about how he 'understands' Fallout, but all I really have to go on is his word and Todd Howard's recommendation, and given that Todd Howard recently sold me Starfield, I'm don't think he's 100% on the top of his game with things like this like he used to be. Of course with all that said, it would be exceptionally entertaining to get a Fallout TV show as bad as the Resident Evil show. Where topics of conversation include Zootopia smut and Dua Lipa dance-offs.

On budget, at least, the show looks fine. There's nothing overtly bad about the costumes that we've seen and the post apocalyptic radioactive creatures, which appear to be fully CG, look decent. (I would have gone for practical mixed with digital to better sell the rustic Fifties aesthetic, but Nolan is the one in charge of the purse strings, I guess.) It seems that they've decided to make the Ghoul aesthetic focus more on the 'burnt skin' angle rather than the 'rotting and pealing flesh' way, which is a bit of a shame- I wanted to see an utterly grossed out audience try to take scenes seriously when their dramatic muse has flesh lumps hanging off his nose-hole: but I understand the change. I also wish there was a tiny bit more of the ruins of the old world in this teaser- but again, we don't know the extent of what we'll see just yet. I just really hope they remember the key to what makes Fallout great.

Because, you know, it's the one thing that Bethesda keep forgetting. Fallout is not a game about a post apocalyptic world. There's a dozen of them and they are as familiar as the last. As much as I love Wasteland, it's world is boring and I couldn't name any faction outside of the Rangers if you held me at gunpoint. What Fallout is about- are Post Apocalyptic societies. It's about the people who crawled out of the ash and what they made of the ruins they built their new lives around. The misconceptions, the recontextualizations, the cult-like gangs formed around seemingly innocuous old world frivolities. That is where the quirkiness and wackiness most naturally slides into the gameplay formula- and if the team can nail down that- then they can do anything with this series as long as I care- because I will be satiated.

April will be a very important month for Bethesda, and I will be watching along with everyone else to see if Nolan can make up for the 5 year break we've had since the last real Fallout game. (Yes I'm delegitimising 76.) This, more than any other game show before it, has the potential to either be really solid and engaging TV or an absolute disaster of gigantic proportions; and it will be up to the ability of production to raise the standards of Bethesda's writing to something watchable. I really hope I'm going to come away from this show itching to hop back into the alternate future, but at the very least I hope I'm not going to cringe everytime I see the Creation Club tie-in content that Bethesda are currently scrambling over themselves to start shipping.