Fallout 3
Well officially it seems to be a trend. Now that The Witcher has exceeded expectations of what a video game property can do as a TV show (yes, yes, I know, books), there seems to be a bit of a gold rush to make new shows based on high profile games. HBO is hosting a Last of Us series of the type Chernobyl wrote. And now Amazon Prime Video has recruited the creators of Westworld to produce a new Fallout series for them.
The announcement contains very little detail about the show, but a lot of the usual talk “we are so excited to bring this property to life, etc., etc.” that we normally see in this type of news.
But having Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy of Westworld working on this is … something I’m not entirely sure of. While they are well versed in dystopian futures, I think the tone of this will have to be wildly different from Westworld, a show that’s almost 100% devoid of humor, when that’s the foundation of what makes the Fallout universe work.
Fortunately, I think whoever ends up directing the show (again, Nolan and Joy are just producers) has a perfect example on Amazon, The Boys.
Boys
The Boys, based on the series of graphic novels, is more or less the exact tone I’d like to see from a Fallout series, an almost perfect combination of black humor and ultraviolence that makes it one of the best TV shows.
Dark humor is the cornerstone of the Fallout universe, and if they can make it, in addition to the game’s alternate aesthetics, alternate storyline, I think we’ll be on our way to a worthwhile series.
My personal preference for a Fallout series is to adapt Fallout 3 to begin with. Fallout 1 and 2 are classic but don’t exactly lend themselves to adaptation. Fallout 3 seems especially relevant with its “Ruined DC” setting, which could obviously play well (or very, very poorly if done poorly) in the current climate, and I think most people would say Fallout 3 has a one of the best stories in the franchise (although yes, New Vegas probably wins overall).
As we keep skipping places and starting over with brand new casts with every new Fallout game, I wonder how the show will handle that, whether they would just stay in one place, or span the entirety of America destroyed and irradiated in the future. season. But I guess we are getting ahead of ourselves as you have to survive this first race to start.
I think this could be a great show if handled correctly. The Boys is a very strong model for tone, despite the dramatically different source material, and if the Westworld team can develop a sense of humor, this could work well. But I will have to remain at least somewhat skeptical for now.
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