In 1997, the first Fallout game was created. A post apocalyptic story about what happens after a nuclear war. Following the first game, several more additions to the story were made. The latest game came out in 2021 called Fallout 76: Steel Reign.
In early April this year, a tv adaptation of the video game came out under the same name. Fallout follows what happens after the nuclear war. Before the war started and while the threat of nuclear warfare was imminent, a company called Vault-Tec built fallout shelters called Vaults to protect citizens from radiation. Before the bomb dropped, the company gave up on trying to save the future of the United States and shifted their perspective, making the vaults into different social experiments in order to collect data and keep the company alive. For example: Vault 12 was designed to see the effects of radiation over time, as the door was designed not to seal properly. Only those who could buy a spot in the vaults made it in. The rest of the world was left to see the destruction of the world first hand.
The main storyline of Fallout follows Lucy MacLean, a young woman from Vault 33. During a marriage agreement with Vault 32, she realizes her new husband is not who he says he is. Lucy MacLean and the people of Vault 33 come to realize that the people from Vault 32 are not Vault Dwellers at all, but people from the surface looking to raid what the people in the vault have been so fortunate to have for 219 years.
After the raiders destroy the population of Vault 33, and take Lucy MacLean’s father to the surface, Lucy decides to leave the vault and find her father.
The music of Fallout makes the post apocalyptic setting feel even more real and engaging. The pre-war music throughout the show adds to the apocalyptic atmosphere. Songs like “So Doggone Lonesome” by Johnny Cash, and “I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire” by The Ink Spots, capture the wild west dynamic of the surface’s nuclear wasteland, and the “stuck in time” feeling of the vaults.
The set design is one of my favorite parts of this show. The Vaults have a retro 1950s design and the accuracy of that time period is really cool to see. It adds to the creepiness of the show by demonstrating that the people of the vaults are truly stuck in time. The wasteland or “surface” is a rough place, where gunslinging Ghouls make the rules, and people make their money off of trading secrets with criminals and giving information for the wanted. Buildings are destroyed and desert sands make everything dusty. Many set design pieces were made to look like western saloons and stores. The contrast between the two aesthetics make the show diverse and ever-changing.
I loved watching Fallout and I recommend the show to anyone who wants to watch. I look forward to the second season and the secrets that will be revealed. Stream the show on Amazon Prime video to see what happens to Lucy MacLean, the cowboy-ing Ghouls of the wasteland, and discover what’s really dwelling in the Vaults.
