Call Out To The Fallout (Amazon Prime show)

[dbunting]

I binged this all over the weekend and enjoyed the hell out of it. I did have a lot of the same questions I see on this last page but I didn't need them answered to have had a good time watching it. Lots of fun characters, strange creatures and a good ol "death to management" slogan never hurts. Lots of great visuals.  I really loved the little roomba like brain guarding vault 31(?) who was basically foiled by a broom that fell over. Then he keeps chasing the guy with a needle, hey stop so I can stab you!

I think the last time I enjoyed a show similar to this was Peacemaker, but this was better.  

[Werthead]

12 hours ago, karaddin said:

I missed these signs, would you mind elaborating?

 

7 hours ago, Kalbear said:

A bit confused on this part though - knowing what we do about Howard's wife and what she went through to get a vault slot, and knowing what we do about who dropped the bombs first - how would she ever let her daughter not be at her side the day of the drops? Why was she with Howard at that point?

Yes, these are the same thing.

Spoiler

There's no way Barb would let Coop have their daughter on that day, so it's probable that Vault-Tec did not drop the bombs, it was the US and/or China or, in extremis, the Zetans (and the casual audience will really got WTF when they show up on the show).

5 hours ago, Kalbear said:

Well, not if vault tec was planting them.

Spoiler

They don't need to, Vault-Tec has/had its own missiles (they show up in at least one of the games).

Spoilers for the games, but at one point in Fallout 3 you hack a computer that was plugged into the US military command net when the war started and it gives a pretty terrifying blow-by-blow of what happened:

Spoiler

• 23 October, 2077, 00:03: The US Pacific Fleet detects three unidentified submerged objects off the coast of California. They are assumed to be nuclear-capable Chinese attack submarines.
• 03:37: An unidentified bomber squadron, presumably Chinese, is detected off the Bering Strait.
• 09:13: The IONDS (Integrated Operational Nuclear Detection System reports four nuclear launches from China, with an estimated flight time of 29 minutes. The United States goes to DEFCON2. The National Guard is put on alert to deal with disaster relief operations.
• 09:17: NORAD confirms multiple Chinese nuclear launches. The US goes to DEFCON1. The nuclear briefcase is brought to the US President in an unknown location.
• 09:26: The US President others nuclear response scenario MX-CN91. The United States launches a saturation strike against China.
• 09:42: Philadelphia and New York are hit by multiple warheads. Seconds later, California is hit by a simultaneous strike. Sirens go off in every remaining American city, giving some people in Washington DC and Boston time to reach shelter.
• 09:47: Washington DC is hit, terminating civil administration and governance.
• 09:47 - 11:47: The totality of the Great War. The United States and China bombard one another with thousands of missiles, mostly low-yield warheads in the kiloton range but so many of them that they effectively end human civilisation. Several other global powers reportedly launch their missiles, but given the level of fallout, it's really immaterial.
• Thirteen missiles reportedly hit Salt Lake City alone, reducing the city to dust. Around a dozen warheads are fired at Las Vegas, the Hoover Dam and nearby military bases, but Robert House's antiballistic missile defence system and laser interceptors hit and destroy almost all of them whilst still in the air. A couple of warheads are pushed off course rather than destroyed and detonate dozens of miles from the target. Las Vega is the only major US city to survive the war intact (and is subsequently renamed New Vegas).
• The West-Tek Research Facility is hit and explodes, spraying FEV (Forced Evolutionary Virus) particles into the atmosphere. Combined with the radiation, this results in the subsequent rapid creation of creatures including radroaches, radscorpions and, apparently, ghouls.

Fallout 4 backs that timeline up partially:

Spoiler

The news reporter confirms New York and Philadelphia have been hit just before he has a breakdown on-air, and you leg-it to Vault 111 outside Boston, getting inside just as the first - well, only - bomb hits the area.

 

[polishgenius]

 

Finished it, yeah, that was good. 

 

Spoiler

The roundtable scene, with Cooper listening in and finding out where Barb stands, was brilliantly done. On-the-nose, like, but excellent.

I don't know that we'll find out how Moldaver survived- she's gone now, it's not super-relevant. Cryo-tech is probably the only reasonable logical explanation, but I don't think it really matters. 

The production values are superb, as well - it's true that there's some feeling of artificiality but that just goes with the general feel of Fallout anyway. 

[Heartofice]

The show feels like it’s using Fallout 4 Settlement builder toolkit to create sets. I keep wanting to hit the scrap key every time I see a chair or barrel laying around. 

Edited April 16 by Heartofice

[Kalbear]

On Moldaver, here's my fanwank:

Spoiler

So the common idea is that she got her own vault (like the other major head honchos) and used it to preserve herself, and then woke up later. And then, of course, died just now. 

But there's another thing we haven't seen in the show yet that is somewhat vaguely common in the games - cloning. What if Moldaver's vault has a bunch of her? Maybe that's why she was okay to come out and lead despite being one of the only sources in the world that seems to be fighting against the vault-tec leaders. It would go well in her statement of using the power that the bad guys provide and being a hypocrit, plus similar to what Vault-Tec said - if factionalism is the problem, another obvious solution is to have all the factions think like you do. 

 

[Werthead]

Alternatively.

Spoiler

She's the first successfully-created synth, from just before the war.

One of the reasons I think Fallout is really popular is that every piece of sci-fi pulp bullshit is in there somewhere.

[A True Kaniggit]

Just finished the last episode.

So our we assuming concerning Cooper Howard's wife and child....

Spoiler

His wife is the current leader of Vault 33. And his child is currently in cryosleep in vault 31?

 

Edited April 16 by A True Kaniggit

[Ramsay B.]

3 minutes ago, A True Kaniggit said:

Just finished the last episode.

So our we assuming concerning Cooper Howard's wife and child....

  Hide contents

His wife is the current leader of Vault 33. And his child is currently in cryosleep in vault 31?

 

Spoiler

No. Betty was a mid level exec along side Hank as we saw in the last episode. 

What a pleasant surprise this was. Was cautiously optimistic after seeing the trailers but it actually exceeded my expectations.

[A True Kaniggit]

20 minutes ago, Ramsay B. said:

  Reveal hidden contents

No. Betty was a mid level exec along side Hank as we saw in the last episode. 

What a pleasant surprise this was. Was cautiously optimistic after seeing the trailers but it actually exceeded my expectations.

Spoiler

But Howard's wife stated they would be in a managerial vault. That fits vault 31 perfectly, since they supply overseers. They could both still be in cryopods. (Especially since Howard is still looking for his family. Which makes me think his daughter did not die in the initial blasts. He must have got the daughter to the ex, who then took off with her)

 

Edited April 17 by A True Kaniggit

[Ramsay B.]

15 minutes ago, A True Kaniggit said:

  Hide contents

But Howard's wife stated they would be in a managerial vault. That fits vault 31 perfectly, since they supply overseers. They could both still be in cryopods. (Especially since Howard is still looking for his family. Which makes me think his daughter did not die in the initial blasts. He must have got the daughter to the ex, who then took off with her)

 

Spoiler

I mean yeah they could be in cryopods there, or anywhere. I was just responding to you asking if his wife was the current head of vault 33. Thought you confused Betty and Barb.

 

[A True Kaniggit]

14 minutes ago, Ramsay B. said:

  Reveal hidden contents

I mean yeah they could be in cryopods there, or anywhere. I was just responding to you asking if his wife was the current head of vault 33. Thought you confused Betty and Barb.

 

Spoiler

Nah.

I thought she might have been using a fake name.

Edit: Wait...... I'm getting Fallout 4 vibes right now.

Did we ever get the name of the daughter?

Is the current leader of 33 the daughter?

 

Edited April 17 by A True Kaniggit

[Kalbear]

Okay, no, it isn't the daughter.

Spoiler

We see Betty in 2077 as a younger executive assistant in the same scene that we see the young Hank. That's who Betty is. 

My suspicion is that neither barb or her daughter are in vault 31. That seems to be an experiment for Bud, but not for all executives. Barb was way higher than that.

 

[karaddin]

2 hours ago, Werthead said:

Alternatively.

  Hide contents

She's the first successfully-created synth, from just before the war.

One of the reasons I think Fallout is really popular is that every piece of sci-fi pulp bullshit is in there somewhere.

I know the 50s America aesthetic is part of the appeal for some as well. It really puts me off though lol, both just that it doesn't appeal but my brain also really struggles to imagine a technological branch that's done all it has but still doesn't have any screens bigger than 14" by 2077?

If the bombs fell in the 1990s/2000s I'd accept it much better since then it's only a few decades of technological divergence rather than over a century.

Wasn't enough to stop me really enjoying this though, everything else is more than sufficient to overcome that initial hurdle. It did put me off playing the games though - I gave 4 a try and bounced off.

[Heartofice]

Fallout has it's own aesthetic that I think of as 'Fucked up Jetsons'. I think of it as a world that people in the 50s would imagine the future to look like. So lots of crazy things like robots and flying cars, but mixed in with their own limited vision of what a tv would look like based on their current tv.

A bit like how spaceship controls look in old Star Trek. Now it seems utterly ridiculous to suggest you would fly a star ship using big flashing buttons and levers. 

[polishgenius]

15 hours ago, A True Kaniggit said:

  Reveal hidden contents

But Howard's wife stated they would be in a managerial vault. That fits vault 31 perfectly, since they supply overseers. They could both still be in cryopods. (Especially since Howard is still looking for his family. Which makes me think his daughter did not die in the initial blasts. He must have got the daughter to the ex, who then took off with her)

 

Apart from what Kal said about Betty's identity

 

Spoiler

Vault 31 isn't really a 'managerial vault'. Sure, in a literal sense it's a vault with managers in, but it's part of an experiment, not one of the bases of the people running the experiments. Like Kal says, Barb was Bud's boss, she wouldn't subject herself to his ideas. 

 

It's not comfirmed and they may go somewhere else with it but the end hints pretty strongly that Barb and Janey are in New Vegas.

 

Edited April 17 by polishgenius

[Martell Spy]

The Big Fallout Interview: Todd Howard and Jonathan Nolan Answer Our Burning Questions About Season 1
The executive producers tell us all about adapting the beloved games for the small screen.

https://www.ign.com/articles/the-big-fallout-interview-todd-howard-and-jonathan-nolan-answer-our-burning-questions-about-season-1

Quote

 

I was actually specifically going to ask you about that Shady Sands timeline conversation. And you say that nothing in New Vegas is retconned. I think the rub, to kind of TLDR it, is that "The Fall of Shady Sands" happens in 2277, which is four years before New Vegas. So are people just misunderstanding what "The Fall of Shady Sands" means or something like that?

Howard: All I can say is we're threading it tighter there, but the bomb falls just after the events of New Vegas. That's when Shady Sands blows.

So basically, "The Fall of Shady Sands," it doesn't mean a nuke, necessarily?

Howard: Correct.

Okay. I'm glad we got that out of the way. That was a big question.

Howard: Look, we are tight on the dates, if you really want to get into it. But what's important is when the show takes place. What is happening in the time period of the show? And that's what's most important to us.

 

 

[Werthead]

15 hours ago, karaddin said:

I know the 50s America aesthetic is part of the appeal for some as well. It really puts me off though lol, both just that it doesn't appeal but my brain also really struggles to imagine a technological branch that's done all it has but still doesn't have any screens bigger than 14" by 2077?

If the bombs fell in the 1990s/2000s I'd accept it much better since then it's only a few decades of technological divergence rather than over a century.

Wasn't enough to stop me really enjoying this though, everything else is more than sufficient to overcome that initial hurdle. It did put me off playing the games though - I gave 4 a try and bounced off.

Wasteland does it a bit better with the bombs going off in 1998, although it's a bit vague if it's an alt history (well, it obviously is now, but not when the first game came out in 1988). The retrofuturistic thing is because of the legal need to make the Fallout series legally distinct from the Wasteland series (Fallout 1 was supposed to be Wasteland 2 but EA wouldn't sell Interplay the rights; the same team only finally got to make Wasteland 2 in 2014, amusingly marketing it as a spiritual successor to Fallout 1 and 2).

[Kalbear]

I love the idea of Aaron Paul and Ron Perlman being in this. Especially Perlman. 

[Werthead]

The list of famous-to-semifamous actors in Fallout is already pretty big.

Michael Dorn (twice!), Dave Foley, Ron Perlman (four times!), Rene Auberjonois, Matt Perry, Felicia Day, Liam fucking Neeson, Zachary Levi, Michael "Saul fracking Tigh" Hogan, Malcolm McDowell (as the President of the United States, kind of), Danny Trejo, Richard Dean Anderson, Tony Shalhoub, Jim Cummings, Kris Kristofferson, R. Lee Emery, Lynda Carter (I believe her nephew works for Bethesda so she has a voice role of some size or another in every Bethesda game from Morrowind onwards), William Mapother (from Lost, also Tom Cruise's cousin), The Actor Keith David, and more.

Fuck, Rawls from The Wire is Caesar in New Vegas, I forgot that. Perfect casting.

[Werthead]

Cool stuff.

I took my own stab at this as well.