The trailer for Amazon's Fallout TV series dropped this weekend, and it's either craven fan service or wonderfully authentic, depending on your point of view.
The trailer depicts a lead character leaving a vault after an apparent catastrophe, discovering the broken world outside, and encountering ridiculous monsters as well as factions like the Brotherhood of Steel. It also features some extreme gore, which you'd expect from Fallout.We've written a few times about the slowly unfolding saga of this show, which has Westworld's Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan as producers. To be clear, though, they won't actually be the showrunners; that honor goes to Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel, Tomb Raider) and Graham Wagner (Portlandia, The Office, Silicon Valley).
The two showrunners each cover one-half of what Fallout has traditionally been: Robertson-Dworet brings the sci-fi action credentials, and Wagner brings the satirical comedy.
The pedigree seems strong, but after Amazon's expensive but barely watchable The Lord of the Rings series, I'll remain skeptical until I get to see it for myself.
You can watch the trailer above, but if you want to geek out, join me below. I've been a fan of Fallout for most of the video game series' 26-year existence, and I noticed several details and references in the trailer:
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Like most Fallout games, the TV series starts in a vault: specifically, Vault 33, which is heretofore unknown in the lore.Amazon
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We get a brief glimpse at some kind of violent catastrophe that affects the vault, driving the protagonist outside; that's another staple of the franchise.Amazon
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The set design for this vault exit is taken straight from the games. Off to the side, there's a corpse, confirming that she's leaving after some disaster.Amazon
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This card flashes during the trailer, and despite being generally a much bigger fan of the Bethesda Fallout games than the OG ones, I'm going to quibble. Todd Howard didn't create Fallout. But yes, this show seems heavily inspired by his interpretation.
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This establishing shot shows a ruined Santa Monica pier, driving home that this show is set in the ruins of Los Angeles.Amazon
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After the protagonist leaves, she encounters Michael Emerson of Lost fame. His vibe seems like a good fit!
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The town she arrives at looks a lot like Megaton from Fallout 3. But it can't be, obviously, since Megaton is near the ruins of Washington, DC, and this series is set in Southern California.Amazon
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There's a ghoul character. The makeup looks a little silly to me in live action, but maybe they didn't want to get too gross with it.Amazon
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The gait of this briefly shown character suggests to me he's a feral ghoul, so we're not just going to see the ones who retained some of their humanity.Amazon
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This dog appears several times in the trailer. He'd better be named Dogmeat.Amazon
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We get several glimpses of the Brotherhood of Steel, one of the most prominent factions in the games' universe. First, these vertibirds; their design is completely faithful to the game.Amazon
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Here's a Brotherhood of Steel airship; one of these was particularly prominent in 2015's Fallout 4.Amazon
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Lastly for the Brotherhood of Steel, we see power armor. Wouldn't be Fallout without it. As with the ghoul, I feel it looks a bit silly in live action, but maybe we'll get used to it.Amazon
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The power armor didn't protect this Knight from this Yao Guai. That's a mutated bear that threatens the player in many of the games. This shot also suggests that not all of the locations visited will be fully nuked out, too. It looks like Northern California, not Southern, to me.Amazon
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That's not the only well-known Fallout monster that makes an appearance. Here's a radroach.Amazon
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And here's a gulper, a somewhat less iconic Fallout monster.Amazon
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Mr. Handy makes an appearance, too, it seems.Amazon
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Even the turrets and computer interfaces are taken right out of the games' look.Amazon
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There's not a ton of it in this trailer, but this shot clearly establishes that the show remains as committed to heightened gore and violence as the games.Amazon
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The trailer closes with this shot of nukes going off over LA, suggesting that we'll see the old world's end in flashbacks.
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April 12 is a long way away. I guess we'll see if this show is not just faithful but good in five months.Amazon
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