Even After Amazon's Disastrous 'Lord of the Rings' Series, 'Fallout' Looks Promising
It goes without saying that Amazon Prime’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” was quite the polarizing show.
Sure, it had fans, but for every soul who enjoyed the show, there appeared to be at least a half-dozen who had severe, significant issues with the way the show deviated from the black-and-white moralistic views of “Lord of the Rings” author J.R.R. Tolkien.
X head honcho Elon Musk was one staunch critic of the show, and crystalized that displeasure with a biting social media post:
Tolkien is turning in his grave
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 5, 2022
“Tolkien is turning in his grave,” the outspoken billionaire posted back in September 2022.
Indeed, this writer is a big Tolkien fan and agrees with Musk’s take.
Whatever the show was trying to be, it failed spectacularly under the weight of trying to update a timeless tale of good versus evil as some post-modern exercise in moral relativity.
Despite its disastrous reception from most Tolkein fans, the second season of “Rings of Power” is due for release some time this year, according to TV Guide. But that doesn’t change the fact that it has failed the vision of its creator, period.
An outsized chunk of blame falls squarely at the feet of the Amazon decision-makers who clearly have such an issue with Tolkien’s original vision.
And now those meddlesome showrunners are back to take a stab at another beloved media franchise, the popular Fallout series of video games, and … maybe they learned their lesson?
OK, that’s definitely wishful thinking, but at the very least, Amazon seems keen not to spit all over the creator’s vision.
Take a look at the trailer for yourself below:
WARNING: The following trailer contains blood, gore and other violent imagery that some viewers may find disturbing
For the unfamiliar, Fallout is a long-running series of video games published by Bethesda (currently) and focuses on an alternate-history version of the United States and the world.
In Fallout’s version, the U.S. and China effectively ended life as we know it when they engaged in a nuclear war.
While most of Earth’s citizens had to fend for themselves (assuming they survived) in a devasted wasteland, a number of luckier humans were able to live in underground bunker communities known as “Vaults.”
The games — and apparently the show — typically focus on an escaped vault dweller.
Early indications from the trailer suggest that “Lucy” (actress Ella Purnell) will play the role of the main protagonist within the otherwise unknown plot of the show.
And I, as a pretty huge Fallout fan, am weirdly optimistic about how this will turn out — despite my personal disappointments with “Rings of Power.”
The key reason for that is that Amazon’s “Fallout” seems aimed to actually uphold and honor the source material.
Now, to be sure, honoring the source material for Fallout (a video game where you often create your own main character) is a different beast altogether from honoring the source material for Tolkien (an author whose literary genius leaves little room for readers to doubt his intent ) … but that’s sort of the point.
Unlike “The Lord of the Rings,” there is no grand existential evaluation of good and evil within Fallout. In fact, one of the hallmarks of Fallout is the open-ended nature of the narrative, with you, the player character, being able to make story-altering decisions.
No, for Amazon’s “Fallout” to appease Fallout fans, it just needs to hit the feel of the game — which the trailer absolutely does — while maintaining plenty of action set pieces and the textbook dark humor of the source material.
(If the names “Gary” or “Dogmeat” mean anything to you, you know exactly how dark this game’s humor can be.)
“Fallout” is set for release on Amazon Prime on April 12, but it is unclear how the show will drop (whether it’s all the episodes at once, or a weekly installment).
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