Doing It Right: Fallout Streaming Series
In my continuing series, Doing It Right, I will be highlighting a specific piece of content creation I have grown very fond of since my first exposure to it, when I played the vast open world, first-person roleplaying game (RPG), Fallout 4. Unlike those who had been part of the extraordinarily successful series when it was originally created in 1997 by Interplay Entertainment, then subsequently sold to Bethesda Softworks, I grew to love where I started the gaming series due to its rather quirky humor and macabre take on a post-apocalyptic world. When I discovered it was going to be made into a streaming series on Amazon Prime and saw the trailer, well, I knew it was going to exceed my expectations. Since completing season one, I have only one thing to say, they nailed it!
Prior to moving forward in this reading, keep in mind I will be conveying certain elements of both the streaming series and the games in this universe. There may be spoilers and if you are like me, experiencing something new in an organic way is important to feel the full impact of not just the story itself but how it can influence your approach to playing the games.
In my own gaming experiences, especially with large open worlds, the story, and its non-playing characters (known as NPCs) often dictate how I will control the actions of the player character, aka, the PC. Will I tread down the path of a heavy-handed savior of the wasteland where only the main objective matters, everyone else be damned or will I be fair and diplomatic in building the necessary alliances needed to achieve the ultimate goal of making this post-apocalyptic world a little better to live in?
No matter the approach, allowing yourself to be drawn into a vast universe through various storytelling mechanics creates a memorable experience leading to several playthroughs of a game or watching streaming content numerous times, much to the chagrin of friends and family. When this does happen, it is a clear sign you have stumbled upon a piece of remarkable content.
As a reminder, comparison pieces such as this one, will be detailing story telling elements only. The goal is to highlight how both platforms either compliment one another or create conflicting parallels. I will not be discussing game play mechanics, but I may, briefly, reference some falderal the streaming version of Fallout received from the gaming community related to its handling of the overall timeline of the Fallout universe. Doing so is not an attempt on my part to invalidate expressed opinions on the issue, merely to paint a picture of what iconic content often experiences when translated to other mediums of content consumption no matter the words I use to describe it.
In this writing, I will not fully replicate what the Fallout series is about given its vast history and development since its inception. Those of you familiar with my posts should know by now, I will provide necessary links in the References section at the end of this article to assist in your journey of understanding what the specific topic encompasses. This has always served a dual purpose of not reinventing what has already been developed and a means for people to delve into a particular issue or story in their own way.
As one who served in the military from 1985 to 1994, when I heard the iconic line; War. War never changes uttered when beginning my playthrough of Fallout 4, I found myself nodding and uttering my own, So very true as I began my journey into a new universe, which has provided countless hours of enjoyment and memorable experiences. It is the reason why I picked the iconic line spoken by the very talented Ron Perlman as my excerpt for this month’s post.
The Fallout universe depicts the aftermath of the Great War of 2077, an apocalyptic nuclear exchange between the United States and China in an alternate history of Earth where advances in nuclear technology after World War II led to the emergence of a retro futuristic society and a subsequent resource war. (Fallout American TV series Wiki).
Many survivors took refuge in fallout bunkers known as Vaults, which were created by the prolific corporation Vault-Tec. In both the games and the TV series, the protagonist will emerge from their specifically numbered vault to begin a journey wrought with mutated beasts, ghouls, raiders, slavers, and greedy vendors all with one goal in mind; to take advantage of or kill them, sometimes both. In order to avoid any of these fates the aforementioned denizens wish to exact upon them, the main character must rely on their collective talents to talk their way out of sticky situations and craft weapons, which are often a hodgepodge of parts scrapped together by investigating every nook and cranny of the wasteland.
Another element faced by the protagonist, often called the Sole Survivor or Lone Wanderer is working with the many factions throughout the apocalyptic landscape whose overall goals are as esoteric as the myopic views of their leaders who will stop at nothing to ensure their vision of this world is achieved. As one headline states rather bluntly, Everyone wants to save the world. They just disagree on how (Nukapedia: The Fallout Wiki). The number of groups vying for control are too numerous to mention and, as you can probably imagine, too intertwined for an appropriate breakdown in this writing. Please refer to the References section and explore at your leisure.
One faction the TV series leans into is the Brotherhood of Steel, commonly abbreviated BoS, a post-war technology focused paramilitary order with chapters operating across the former territory of the United States and founded by rogue U.S. Army officer Captain Roger Maxson shortly after the Great War. Their primary purpose is to regulate the usage of and preserve advanced technology. Insight into their hierarchal, caste driven society is provided by Maximus, played by Aaron Moten, who is one of the three primary antagonists in the TV series. His cynical views and questionable acts of self-preservation often put him in dangerously precarious situations.
Lucy MacLean, played superbly by Ella Purnell, is a young Vault dweller who emerges from Vault 33 in search of her father, Hank, who is played by none other than Kyle MacLachlan. After her vault is infiltrated and ransacked by Raiders, Lucy witnesses her father being forced to leave with them. Faced with the prospect of never seeing him alive again, Lucy defies the rules put in place by the leadership of Vault 33 and ventures to the surface in hopes of rescuing her father. Much like Lucy, when you leave a vault as the player character in the games, a look of disbelief and Oh shit, what have I gotten myself into expression is the only emotion one can muster at this point.
Although I like them all, my personal favorite of the three main antagonists is simply referred to as The Ghoul, played by the diversely brilliant Walton Goggins who balances his own, artistic interpretation of what a gunslinger and bounty hunter ghoul would act like with what is already established about them in Fallout lore. Ghouls, who were originally humans and severely mutated by residual radiation, typically come in two main varieties; those who live within rebuilt civilizations with normal intellect and personalities or have become feral, often roaming together in packs. Pre-War, The Ghoul was known as Cooper Howard, a once famous Hollywood actor and Vault-Tec ambassador. When you throw in a Southern drawl and a shoot-out reminiscent of a scene from any of the Kill Bill movies, it is abundantly clear everyone involved with this series understands the Fallout universe. The Ghoul’s intentions do seem abundantly clear when he is initially introduced; however, behind his cold and business-like approach to collecting bounties, lies a focused determination towards something more personal. As you travel with him, reflective sequences point to what this may be, but the true extent is not fully realized by the viewer until the very end of the first season.
I would be derelict in my review writing duties if I did not mention these three primary characters but there is another reason. Yes, you know me too well, I mention them for context regarding an all too familiar mechanic found in content creation known as the storyline, which I have highlighted in previous writings. How this mechanic is used in entertainment writing such as the Fallout TV series and story-driven video games is not too dissimilar.
In the computer game Fallout 4, storylines manifest within its four major factions: Brotherhood of Steel, The Railroad, The Institute, and Commonwealth Minutemen. This is a regular facet in most massive, open-world RPG’s where it plays the role of providing an abundance of moralistic choices for the player character, which is designed to ultimately take the character down a specific path towards what is called the endgame.
Streaming content, such as the Fallout TV series, is built upon the same foundation, which is not a stretch of the imagination because both of them are fictional stories. Lucy and The Ghoul do not belong to a specific faction but, like Maximus, do have their own unique storylines. One could make an argument, the former do belong to a faction of sorts, albeit they are the sole member. No matter the vehicle and terminology used to deliver creative content, the mechanics remain the same.
Here is where all of this context comes full circle. I believe anyone with an ounce of creative insight into how a story should be told properly can safely say, having a direct translation from a piece of original content to another medium, such as a novel adapted into a major motion picture, is not a realistic expectation. Yet, we find certain camps of people getting triggered over the minutiae rather than asking one important question; did they capture the essence of the original story?
I went into watching the TV series with an open mind, reminding myself to monitor my biases and not allow them to influence my perspective. If you have read any number of my prior posts, the ineptness demonstrated in how certain content creators handled notable content such as The Walking Dead franchise, Marvel’s X-Men, the Shannara Chronicles TV series, G.I. Joe, etc., you are then well aware I have no problem calling out poorly delivered content, no matter what type it is.
In my opinion, the Fallout TV series not only paid proper respect towards the lore already developed in the computer games but also towards those smaller details, which serve to drive home the quirky harshness and brutal nature of a post-apocalyptic landscape where treating someone with respect often leads to your demise.
The creators of the TV series also knew how to capture action sequences and the often blunt, truculent attitudes of surface dwellers without going over the top. What a viewer witnesses in the TV series mirrors what players will experience in the games. When Lucy leaves the isolated walls of Vault 33 behind in search of her father, I was brought back to when I took my first steps outside Vault 111 as the main protagonist in Fallout 4. After being attacked by small dog sized roaches, mutant mole rats and ghouls within the first 30-munutes of starting the game, like Lucy in the TV series, all I could say is, Okey-Dokey.
There are many other subtleties Fallout players can pick up, where first time viewers of the Fallout universe can experience them and come away with their unique perspective on how these elements enhanced their experience. The 1950’s esque music played on radios throughout the games as you adventure is periodically replicated quite nicely during certain, cinematic events in the TV series and during the end credits of each episode.
Also, I heard superbly interwoven melodies from the various works of Inon Zur, a composer of soundtracks for film, television, and video games. He has been quite prolific in lending his talents to many of Bethesda Software’s video games, mostly recently being Starfield. As a listener of soundtracks, I find his work exceptionally moving and he captures the mood of any scene perfectly.
The introduction of the Pip-Boy, which stands for Personal Information Processor, a wearable personal computer developed by RobCo Industries prior to the Great War was seamless. The TV series creators did not overly draw specific attention to the device, serving to avoid overemphasizing its importance in the lives of Vault Dwellers. I have seen how stressing certain aspects of established lore can make it appear overly forced, which takes away from its true importance.
The wearers of these devices would already be familiar with its capabilities and use the technology effortlessly. There would be no need for say, Lucy to explain its functions in the TV series to a supporting character given most already know about them. Through controlled uses of it during certain moments in the series, the viewer can easily grasp its intended purpose. It also demonstrates the series creators understand their audience has a brain and creative mind to figure these little lore pieces out for themselves.
I could go on and on about these little details due to how impressed I was with the TV series’ ability to carve out its own niche in the Fallout universe, while staying true to the essence of the established lore. If you are interested in learning about some of the falderal, I mentioned regarding how the gaming community responded to how the overall Fallout timeline was treated in the TV series, please take a moment to visit a content creator whose opinion I value when it comes to putting events like this in the proper perspective. The YouTube channel is MrMattyPlays and can be found in the resources section.
I look forward to watching season two of this wonderfully crafted series and how it will unfold. This is truly a wonderful time for certain iconic content to be brought before us. It is also a prime example of what I have always mentioned in my posts. Bring in the right people who actually understand the essence of the content they have the privilege of working with.
In closing, your moment of Zen is to talk less, do more and be humble. This will allow wisdom to take hold and give you the ability to help yourself, while being effective in helping guide others to take their journey towards living in the moment.
Until next time, be safe, be well and let us get back to the fine art of creative writing.
References
Aaron Moten:
Ella Purnell:
Fallout (American TV Series) Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout_(American_TV_series)
Fallout Game Series (Nukapedia: The Fallout Wiki):
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout_series
Ghoul:
Inon Zur:
Kyle MacLaclan:
MrMattyPlays (YouTube)
https://www.youtube.com/@MrMattyPlays
Walton Goggins:
