• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Fallout: The Television Series

I never played the games, but I'm a big fan of Jericho (TV series). I tried giving this show a shot but gave up after two episodes. I love post-apocalyptic fiction, but this was just too video gamey. What am I missing here?
 
I never played the games, but I'm a big fan of Jericho (TV series). I tried giving this show a shot but gave up after two episodes. I love post-apocalyptic fiction, but this was just too video gamey. What am I missing here?
That's an interesting observation to me in that I haven't played a video game since, probably, Space Invaders and I thought the series was great: quirky sci-fi with a killer cast, interesting premise and visually interesting faux-retro aesthetic.
 
I never played the games, but I'm a big fan of Jericho (TV series). I tried giving this show a shot but gave up after two episodes. I love post-apocalyptic fiction, but this was just too video gamey. What am I missing here?
What makes it video gamey? I do enjoy the game a lot, but that was not the draw of the show. Fallout, as a series, has an interesting mix of very dark and post-apocalyptic, with cheery music, or iconography. It has a twisted sense of humor that aims to look sideways at the excesses of the Pre-War world.

The tone is going to be much different than a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction because of that. It also utilizes a more 50s era understanding of radiation and technology as its base, so it should not be treated as realistic in any sense.
 
What makes it video gamey? I do enjoy the game a lot, but that was not the draw of the show. Fallout, as a series, has an interesting mix of very dark and post-apocalyptic, with cheery music, or iconography. It has a twisted sense of humor that aims to look sideways at the excesses of the Pre-War world.

The tone is going to be much different than a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction because of that. It also utilizes a more 50s era understanding of radiation and technology as its base, so it should not be treated as realistic in any sense.
The end of your post answers your question that you opened with. The lead girl, is she the main character? Completely unphased by anything. She leaves the vault and enters a world she knows nothing about, how can she expect to survive or have any idea where she is going? The black guy and the Iron Man suits, I found all of that to be obnoxious. The red vampire, is he going to be the villain? Is he a zombie? To me, it's just a show about a kidnapped father and a daughter out to save him, but I find myself not really caring about either character.

Post-apocalyptic films and shows, I prefer stuff like...

The Book of Eli / I Am Legend / Jericho (2 seasons) / Mad Max (5 films) / Planet of the Apes (10 films)
The Road / Sweet Home (3 seasons) / Terminator: Salvation (4th film) / World War Z

There are probably others, but you get the idea. Fallout was just too video gamey for my tastes.
 
Completely unphased by anything. She leaves the vault and enters a world she knows nothing about, how can she expect to survive or have any idea where she is going?
No, she doesn't. She is completely oblivious and that's her character arc while taking on the task as if it's a Vault task.

The red vampire, is he going to be the villain? Is he a zombie?
A ghoul, or zombie, but became that way due to radiation exposure.

Again, it's not as serious in some ways as the films you listed, it takes a very sardonic approach to the post apocalypse, with humor and satire as well as grim realities.


If it's not for you, it's not for you but the Ghoul character has an interesting backstory interwoven with the past and the Great War.

It's not serious all the time and would encourage those to not take it perfectly seriously.
 
No, she doesn't. She is completely oblivious and that's her character arc while taking on the task as if it's a Vault task.

A ghoul, or zombie, but became that way due to radiation exposure.

Again, it's not as serious in some ways as the films you listed, it takes a very sardonic approach to the post apocalypse, with humor and satire as well as grim realities.

If it's not for you, it's not for you but the Ghoul character has an interesting backstory interwoven with the past and the Great War.

It's not serious all the time and would encourage those to not take it perfectly seriously.
Oblivious, unphased, same thing. Where's the fear, where's the trauma, where's the desperation? She felt like a tourist. Radiation slowly melts your body until you drown in your own blood, it doesn't turn you into a ghoul or zombie. I do not like sardonic approach nor satire, so maybe that's why I was getting bored quickly?

I wasn't expecting it to be serious all the time, but I was disappointed that it never tried to be realistic, and the characters are caricatures, no one acts like a real person.
 
Oblivious, unphased, same thing. Where's the fear, where's the trauma, where's the desperation? She felt like a tourist. Radiation slowly melts your body until you drown in your own blood, it doesn't turn you into a ghoul or zombie. I do not like sardonic approach nor satire, so maybe that's why I was getting bored quickly?

I wasn't expecting it to be serious all the time, but I was disappointed that it never tried to be realistic, and the characters are caricatures, no one acts like a real person.
It's not realistic according to our contemporary knowledge: it uses a 50s era understanding of radiation, and technology. It's not our world but a divergent timeline from the 50s ish forward.

It might be be for you though it grows more serious as it progresses. But, I get if it's not for you.
 
It's not realistic according to our contemporary knowledge: it uses a 50s era understanding of radiation, and technology. It's not our world but a divergent timeline from the 50s ish forward.

It might be be for you though it grows more serious as it progresses. But, I get if it's not for you.
If it were a 50's sci-fi show, that'd be fine. Given it's the 2020's and this is a TV show made in the 2020's, I'd much rather it use a 2020's understanding of radiation and technology. Honestly, that was what was killing the show for me. It was that, and none of the characters showed any real emotion. The girl felt like a tourist, the black guy was just "there," and the red zombie felt more like a bounty hunter then a zombie. Too much WTF for me.
 
the red zombie felt more like a bounty hunter then a zombie.

why-not-both-why-not.png


 
If it were a 50's sci-fi show, that'd be fine. Given it's the 2020's and this is a TV show made in the 2020's, I'd much rather it use a 2020's understanding of radiation and technology. Honestly, that was what was killing the show for me. It was that, and none of the characters showed any real emotion. The girl felt like a tourist, the black guy was just "there," and the red zombie felt more like a bounty hunter then a zombie. Too much WTF for me.
That's the concept of the series: it's the 50s understanding. So, if that is too far then the whole franchise is not for you.

Lucy is closer to a video game character in a bit of a blank slate but also will grow quite significantly in the show.

The Ghoul is still a person, not a zombie. Ghouls can be more sane, or more feral. They can last a long time, are healed by radiation and survive significant wounds.

His stance as a chatting not showing emotion is a part of his arc.
 
That's the concept of the series: it's the 50s understanding. So, if that is too far then the whole franchise is not for you.

Lucy is closer to a video game character in a bit of a blank slate but also will grow quite significantly in the show.

The Ghoul is still a person, not a zombie. Ghouls can be more sane, or more feral. They can last a long time, are healed by radiation and survive significant wounds.

His stance as a chatting not showing emotion is a part of his arc.
Yeah, I really don't care about 50's understanding at all. It's not the 50's anymore, it's 2024, and the show was made in the 2020's, so I expect realism. I do appreciate you explaining this part, it helps me articulate why I was bored with the show. Lucy's blank slate is the problem. I gave up on her after two episodes, because she has virtually no emotions except "gotta find my dad." Radiation doesn't heal, it destroys DNA, so the Ghoul just had me rolling my eyes every time he was on screen. I couldn't stand him.
 
Yeah, I really don't care about 50's understanding at all. It's not the 50's anymore, it's 2024, and the show was made in the 2020's, so I expect realism. I do appreciate you explaining this part, it helps me articulate why I was bored with the show. Lucy's blank slate is the problem. I gave up on her after two episodes, because she has virtually no emotions except "gotta find my dad." Radiation doesn't heal, it destroys DNA, so the Ghoul just had me rolling my eyes every time he was on screen. I couldn't stand him.
Not the show for you. It's not built with 2020s understanding in mind. The whole franchise is set up with divergent technological development and world history. History did not unfold like our world. You had an increase in.efforts towards use of atomic energy, robots, and wars over resources. The Great War was anticipated so the US government had a whole host of vaults built as well.as plans against Armageddon.

It's steeped in 50s era Americana culture, of constant consumerism culture and corruption of industry and government. There was rampant paranoia over Communist infiltrators and on going attitudes similar to the Red Scare and McCarthy style politics of "unAmerican Activities."

This lore is quite deep but going at it for realism will be disappointing.
 
It's a shame you're bouncing off the series, because I thought it was really good and I liked Lucy as a protagonist. She's from a society where everyone helps each other and does their part to keep things working or else they all die, so the real world is like an alien planet to her. But she puts on a brave face and goes off into the wasteland with no clue what she's doing or where to go, because she's a plucky optimist who gets things done.

We know she's not going to die in two episodes out there, as she's the lead character, but the real question is how much of her optimism and morality is going to survive in this world. Will the wasteland wear away her upbeat attitude, or will she stick to her principles in the face of overwhelming bleakness?

Also there's more going on with the weirdness in the wasteland than it seems. Some of the less realistic elements are due to scientists playing around with nature, and there's been a lot of history since the bombs dropped.
 
Yeah, I really don't care about 50's understanding at all. It's not the 50's anymore, it's 2024, and the show was made in the 2020's, so I expect realism. I do appreciate you explaining this part, it helps me articulate why I was bored with the show. Lucy's blank slate is the problem. I gave up on her after two episodes, because she has virtually no emotions except "gotta find my dad." Radiation doesn't heal, it destroys DNA, so the Ghoul just had me rolling my eyes every time he was on screen. I couldn't stand him.
Why does Gamma Radiation make the Hulk? Why does Cosmic radiation make the Fantastic Four? Why does a yellow sun give Superman powers and a red sun takes them away?

How do the zombies in the Walking Dead even realistically function the way they do?

This isn't a 'real world'. This is a fantasy world.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top