The Fallout season one DVD is highly recommended for its quality and extras. The Amazon Prime series Fallout is based on a highly successful video game. In a world after a major nuclear disaster, many people live underground in vaults created in the 1950s around Los Angeles by the company Vault-Tec as interconnected, yet self-contained, fallout shelters. Two centuries later, Lucy (Ella Purnell) surfaces from Vault 33 to track down her kidnapped father (Kyle MachLachlan). In the wasteland of the Hollywood Hills, she encounters murderous sadists, gangs of thugs, monsters, and several bloody battles. She also encounters a nearly invincible mutant: The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), whom we gradually learn about through flashbacks.
The show's details are striking. The sets are excellent, and every episode features references to the video game, other series and films, events, and facts. Besides die-hard video game fans, there's plenty for other series viewers to enjoy. You just have to appreciate the sometimes spicy action and cynical humor. I enjoyed seeing familiar faces like Kyle Machlachlan, Michael Emerson, and good old Erik Estrada.
Jonathan Nolan is responsible for this series. He also created Person of Interest and Westworld. Series that keep you thinking about them after watching the episodes. Besides Michael Emerson's guest appearance in the former, I also found The Ghoul quite similar to The Man in Black from Westworld.
As you watch the episodes multiple times, you see or hear more and more small details, but perhaps I'm reading too much into them. For example, The Ghoul uses the Mexican motto "Feo, Fuerte y Formal" (ugly, strong, and dignified) several times, as well as the epitaph of American legend John Wayne. And in the final episode, the song "My echo, my shadow, and me" is played. Is that a reference to "my rifle, my pony, and me" from the John Wayne film Rio Bravo?
Fortunately, the series' DVD adds a lot to the episodes. The release consists of three DVD discs containing the eight episodes (a total of 448 minutes) and the extras. These extras are spread across the three discs. The first episode, "The End," runs for almost an hour and forty-five minutes, and director Jonathan Nolan and Walton Goggins provide audio commentary. The two men complement each other well, with Nolan being the most enthusiastic. Fortunately, the overlap with the other extras is limited, and they mainly cover the background of the making of this start to the series.
The remaining extras are all included on the disc containing the final three episodes. Firstly, there's "Inside Season One," a short documentary of over seventeen minutes about the making of the series, featuring interviews with various people involved. There are also ten short two- to three-minute videos covering the details of the series. These include the actors' clothing, the use of music, actor Walton Goggins' makeup as The Ghoul, and an interview with Nolan, a passionate fan of the Fallout game. Besides these short background videos, there are also seven humorous black-and-white commercials for Vault-Tec titled "Vault Seller's Survival Guide – Animated Shorts."
The series itself is highly recommended, but the extras offer plenty of interesting material for fans. Fans also have the option of opting for even better sound and picture. A Blu-ray release and a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Steelbook edition have been released simultaneously. Plenty of choice, and that's entirely justified for this strong series. This DVD is definitely recommended.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
