PaxVenire
Wasteland Peacemaker
So I've had enough time to watch and process the first season of Amazon's new Fallout TV series. I've given my thoughts on the show on multiple fronts at this point, my likes and dislikes, but I now wanted to talk about what I would have done differently. The prospect of this post isn't to just throw everything out the window and reset, but admittedly there was a lot of the show's plot I didn't care for, and so while I'll try to use concepts and characters from the show we got, a lot is going to be changed and retrofitted into a story I personally would have liked to see as a fan of Fallout 1, Fallout 2, and Fallout: New Vegas. Furthermore, as this is a post about what I would have done differently, it's going to involve subjective opinions and changes not everyone will agree with. If you would have done something differently than me, let me know in the thread as I do love reading people's ideas and discussing this series. Here is your fair warning regarding spoilers.
My first change would be to move the show from its 2296 Los Angeles setting to 2255 in the San Francisco Bay Area. There are multiple reasons for this change, but the one that first comes to mind is that setting it between Fallout 2 and Fallout: New Vegas gives us a chance to look into some of the interesting events that have unfolded in between these two entries, including the major event that this show derives from.
In Season 1 the Fallout TV show, the Los Angeles Boneyard (incorrectly portrayed as the New California Republic capital city of Shady Sands) is revealed to have been nuked on or around the year 2277. I can only assume at this point in time that this was done in order to wipe the slate of progression clean so that the world of Fallout can remain one massive stagnant wasteland that can't retain its progression or escape the apocalypse. Perhaps the NCR is still alive and will return in Season 2, but what we've seen is that the heartland of the NCR was nuked and is now in the process of being taken by the Brotherhood of Steel with no other location within NCR borders coming to the aid of their birthplace for years. I'm not entirely against the fall of the NCR in concept, I think it could make for a compelling story if done right and fits the series thematically, but there were a million other ways the country could have collapsed than what we were given.
Moving the setting to 2255 San Francisco, I can feasibly tell a post-apocalyptic story, set in a recognizable location, within the West Coast setting, and about the fall of a once great civilization (the Shi Empire in a canonized good ending from Fallout 2) and still have that rich worldbuilding the series was raised on present.
Factions
My second change would be to up the stakes of the show by adding true faction conflict throughout the season. Within the Fallout series, we've always had at least two ideologically opposed factions butting heads over what they feel is the best course of action for the wasteland. Fallout gives us the fledgling communities of the wasteland vs. the Unity, Fallout 2 gives us the growing communities of the wasteland vs. the Enclave, and of course Fallout: New Vegas gives us the New California Republic vs. Caesar's Legion vs. Mr. House. Within these conflicts are also sub factions fighting amongst each other.
Season 1 of the TV show gives us a very one-sided conflict with an all powerful Brotherhood of Steel vs. the last handful of remnants of the New California Republic from Shady Sands that doesn't fully culminate until the tail end of the show and is over right as it starts. It also gives us a tail end reveal of Vault-Tec as a main antagonistic faction for Season 2. The Enclave is shown to still be operating as well somewhere, though not focused on. Now Vault-Tec aside, I think the idea of seeing conflict on the West Coast between the BOS and NCR would've actually been interesting, which is why I picked the specific date of 2255.
Music
My third change would be regarding the music. This is admittedly subjective, but I feel there was way too much oldies music in the show. Nearly every new scene opened with an oldies track. This is of course in line with Bethesda's iteration of the series where the 1950s retro future takes precedent over the original concept of a 1950s flavored future that was destroyed with a new world coming out of it.
I personally would have loved to hear some of the Mark Morgan tracks accompanying the show or perhaps new Mark Morgan tracks made specifically for the show. I will say, I think the OST for the show was good. Ramin Djawadi, who's most known for his work on Game of Thrones, was a good pick for the series. I would personally use the oldies music sparingly with orchestral and ambient music taking precedent.
Tone
My fourth change would be to the tone of the series. Another subjective change, but while I enjoy the humorous side of Fallout a lot, I don't think it should feel like an outright comedy. This is a post-apocalyptic story after all, and if every corner of the world has a joke, then the stakes for the world as a whole can't be taken as seriously.
Call me the fun police if you'd like, but I think toning down the comedy and making the show more of a thriller would not only draw an audience closer and up the stakes at play, but also make the comedy stand out more as its earned.
Structure
My fifth change would deal with restructuring the show. Season 1 has 8 episodes, each around an hour long. Now this isn't inherently bad, there have been a lot of really good shows with higher episode counts per season and hour-long runtimes each. The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Game of Thrones, etc. The problem I had with the Fallout TV show was that it had 8 ~hour-long episodes, but really only about a feature film's worth of plot-relevant content.
I get the show is an adaption of a video game, but unlike a video game where sidequests are a staple feature of making said game more interactive and replayable, sidequests in a TV show are known as filler episodes and can turn off the watcher from continuing the series if the filler is too frequent or uninteresting. I can't put a number to the episode count or runtime of a TV show that exists solely in my head, so for the sake of brevity I'll just say the episode count and runtime would befit its relevant content.
Major Changes
SettingMy first change would be to move the show from its 2296 Los Angeles setting to 2255 in the San Francisco Bay Area. There are multiple reasons for this change, but the one that first comes to mind is that setting it between Fallout 2 and Fallout: New Vegas gives us a chance to look into some of the interesting events that have unfolded in between these two entries, including the major event that this show derives from.
In Season 1 the Fallout TV show, the Los Angeles Boneyard (incorrectly portrayed as the New California Republic capital city of Shady Sands) is revealed to have been nuked on or around the year 2277. I can only assume at this point in time that this was done in order to wipe the slate of progression clean so that the world of Fallout can remain one massive stagnant wasteland that can't retain its progression or escape the apocalypse. Perhaps the NCR is still alive and will return in Season 2, but what we've seen is that the heartland of the NCR was nuked and is now in the process of being taken by the Brotherhood of Steel with no other location within NCR borders coming to the aid of their birthplace for years. I'm not entirely against the fall of the NCR in concept, I think it could make for a compelling story if done right and fits the series thematically, but there were a million other ways the country could have collapsed than what we were given.
Moving the setting to 2255 San Francisco, I can feasibly tell a post-apocalyptic story, set in a recognizable location, within the West Coast setting, and about the fall of a once great civilization (the Shi Empire in a canonized good ending from Fallout 2) and still have that rich worldbuilding the series was raised on present.
Factions
My second change would be to up the stakes of the show by adding true faction conflict throughout the season. Within the Fallout series, we've always had at least two ideologically opposed factions butting heads over what they feel is the best course of action for the wasteland. Fallout gives us the fledgling communities of the wasteland vs. the Unity, Fallout 2 gives us the growing communities of the wasteland vs. the Enclave, and of course Fallout: New Vegas gives us the New California Republic vs. Caesar's Legion vs. Mr. House. Within these conflicts are also sub factions fighting amongst each other.
Season 1 of the TV show gives us a very one-sided conflict with an all powerful Brotherhood of Steel vs. the last handful of remnants of the New California Republic from Shady Sands that doesn't fully culminate until the tail end of the show and is over right as it starts. It also gives us a tail end reveal of Vault-Tec as a main antagonistic faction for Season 2. The Enclave is shown to still be operating as well somewhere, though not focused on. Now Vault-Tec aside, I think the idea of seeing conflict on the West Coast between the BOS and NCR would've actually been interesting, which is why I picked the specific date of 2255.
Music
My third change would be regarding the music. This is admittedly subjective, but I feel there was way too much oldies music in the show. Nearly every new scene opened with an oldies track. This is of course in line with Bethesda's iteration of the series where the 1950s retro future takes precedent over the original concept of a 1950s flavored future that was destroyed with a new world coming out of it.
I personally would have loved to hear some of the Mark Morgan tracks accompanying the show or perhaps new Mark Morgan tracks made specifically for the show. I will say, I think the OST for the show was good. Ramin Djawadi, who's most known for his work on Game of Thrones, was a good pick for the series. I would personally use the oldies music sparingly with orchestral and ambient music taking precedent.
Tone
My fourth change would be to the tone of the series. Another subjective change, but while I enjoy the humorous side of Fallout a lot, I don't think it should feel like an outright comedy. This is a post-apocalyptic story after all, and if every corner of the world has a joke, then the stakes for the world as a whole can't be taken as seriously.
Call me the fun police if you'd like, but I think toning down the comedy and making the show more of a thriller would not only draw an audience closer and up the stakes at play, but also make the comedy stand out more as its earned.
Structure
My fifth change would deal with restructuring the show. Season 1 has 8 episodes, each around an hour long. Now this isn't inherently bad, there have been a lot of really good shows with higher episode counts per season and hour-long runtimes each. The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Game of Thrones, etc. The problem I had with the Fallout TV show was that it had 8 ~hour-long episodes, but really only about a feature film's worth of plot-relevant content.
I get the show is an adaption of a video game, but unlike a video game where sidequests are a staple feature of making said game more interactive and replayable, sidequests in a TV show are known as filler episodes and can turn off the watcher from continuing the series if the filler is too frequent or uninteresting. I can't put a number to the episode count or runtime of a TV show that exists solely in my head, so for the sake of brevity I'll just say the episode count and runtime would befit its relevant content.
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