Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy
Amazon Prime Video
If you have read this column before, you may have seen me declare my apocalypse fatigue, what with the sheer volume of doomsday drama on TV today. I still am fatigued, for the most part, but a new series from Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy has given me pause. Based on the hit video games of the same name, Amazon Prime Video鈥檚 Fallout is a jaunty, free-wheeling trip to the end of the world, far from the dour survival dramas dominating our screens.
Fallout conjures up an alternate history drenched in Americana. Before the Great War of 2077, the US was a nuclear playground where the 1950s never really ended. With household robots to perform chores, the wealthiest members of this retrofuturistic society had more time to knock back a Nuka-Cola and brood over impending annihilation 鈥� or, worse still, communists infesting Hollywood. The apex of this jingoistic, hyper-consumerist culture was Vault-Tec, a company hawking underground bunkers to those with sufficient wealth to buy an apocalypse-proof shelter.
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When judgement day finally came, the elites scurried underground and left the world to burn. But the destruction wasn鈥檛 total: pockets of survivors eked out an existence on the ravaged surface. Radiation turned some into ghouls, mutated posthumans capable of living for hundreds of years if they could avoid going feral. (A disclaimer: Fallout is as far from the realism of hard sci-fi as it is possible to get. Don鈥檛 expect an explanation 鈥� you won鈥檛 get one.)
Our story picks up in the hardscrabble wasteland of 2296. Led by Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan), a now-egalitarian community of apocalypse dodgers lives in comfort deep below the ground, intent on rebuilding civilisation within a generation.
Hank鈥檚 daughter Lucy (Ella Purnell) is a chipper young woman happy to be married off to a stranger from a neighbouring bunker. But when her wedding descends into violence, Lucy must ascend to the surface world in search of her kidnapped father. In this ultraviolent frontier, populated by cowboys and cannibals, her generosity of spirit won鈥檛 get her very far.
The first episode of this eight-part series is a little clumsy, burdened as it is with the need to introduce Fallout鈥榮 lore and darkly comic tone. But when Lucy hits the not-so-fresh air above ground, something clicks into place, especially once she is in contact with rogue scientist Wilzig (Michael Emerson).
He is on a secret mission, but the price on his head has attracted the wasteland鈥檚 warring factions, including The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), a gunslinging bounty hunter who becomes our window into the pre-war past. Rounding out this trio is Maximus (Aaron Moten), an acolyte of a religious paramilitary group that seeks out pre-war technologies. Moten is a star in the making: he plays Maximus like a traumatised child, but also with great humour.
Amazon has clearly bet big on Fallout. It also aims to please fans of its source material. For instance, I was delighted to see Wilzig has a canine companion (dogs feature in the games) and to hear many of the 1950s hits that helped keep players pinned to their consoles. Fallout鈥榮 all-American apocalypse has lots to say about capitalism and the supposedly benign forces of civilisation. But it is also just good fun 鈥� something we need more of on our TV screens.
Bethan also recommends鈥�
Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy
HBO
Based on the 1973 film, this series is set in a frontier-themed amusement park full of ultrarealistic robots that can be killed and tortured with impunity 鈥� until they start to become sentient.
Neil Marshall
Amazon Prime Video
This Treasure Island prequel might not seem an obvious companion to Fallout, but it is a stunning exploration of who is granted access to the privileges of civilisation.
Bethan Ackerley is a subeditor at New Scientist. She loves sci-fi, sitcoms and anything spooky. She is still upset about the ending of Game of聽Thrones. Follow her on聽
Twitter @鈥宨nkerley
