Editor’s Note: The below contains spoilers for Fallout Season 1.
The Big Picture
-
Fallout
‘s unique blend of retrofuturism and classic music sets the stage for a potential musical episode. - The franchise’s use of 1940s and ’60s culture as well as its dark humor is reflected in its iconic songs.
- Virtual reality and hallucinogenics in the Wasteland could introduce musical episodes in Prime Video’s adaptation.
Fallout, to put it simply, is weird. In a good way. It’s a franchise that is so unique and distinct from just about every other fictitious world out there, with rich lore and fascinating characters around every corner. It’s a sci-fi saga in every sense of the term, yet it’s also one that is entrenched in the culture of 1940s and ’60s America, creating a sometimes grim and sometimes hilarious satire that video game fans have enjoyed for decades and television fans are experiencing for the very first time.
The world that existed before the bombs fell in Fallout is one very different from our own, featuring robot servants, nuclear-powered cars, and more. Despite those technological advancements, the culture of Fallout‘s world is still deeply reminiscent of that of the mid-20th century United States, with its residents having the same tastes in television, clothing, and perhaps most importantly, music. The songs and music of the Fallout universe are so incredibly distinct and always play a significant element within both the games and the recently released show. That same emphasis on music, combined with the Fallout franchise’s regular willingness to present out-of-the-box ideas, makes Prime Video’s adaptation a perfect candidate for a musical episode.
Fallout
In a future, post-apocalyptic Los Angeles brought about by nuclear decimation, citizens must live in underground bunkers to protect themselves from radiation, mutants and bandits.
- Release Date
- April 11, 2024
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Creator(s)
- Graham Wagner , Geneva Robertson-Dworet
- Streaming Service(s)
- Prime Video
How Is Music Incorporated in the ‘Fallout’ Franchise?
The Fallout universe takes place in an alternate timeline that diverges from our own after the events of World War II, leading to a society that embraces the prospect of nuclear technology rather than fully fearing it. The United States appears to have become a full utopia in terms of technological advancement, but the culture left behind in World War II remained almost exactly the same. In no space is that more true in the music tastes of the pre-nuclear war country, with genres like jazz, swing, and doo-wop being the most favored. That’s not to say that other, more modern forms of music don’t exist in the world of Fallout, but most people prefer to listen to classic tunes from The Ink Spots, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, and more.
The thematic significance of these songs goes beyond just merely going with the Fallout universe’s retrofuturist aesthetic. When these songs were created in real life, they were developed before, during, and after the Cold War, when the threat of a nuclear cataclysm was a paramount cultural concern. Thus, many of these songs feature direct subtext surrounding those concerns, with Sheldon Allman‘s “Crawl Out Through the Fallout” being one of many blatant examples. Tunes like that are pretty fitting for trekking through a nuclear-irradiated Wasteland and also fit nicely with the series’ darkly comedic tone.
The Fallout games feature plenty of Easter eggs and references pertaining to the classic music of the era, with some of the game’s quests even being named after those songs. Players can even tune in to nearby radio stations to listen to the Wasteland’s latest current events or the songs created before the world plunged into chaos. Whether it’s the more classic songs one would hear in the Capital Wasteland in Fallout 3 or the more Western casino tunes in Fallout: New Vegas, the music of Fallout helps truly personify the franchise’s style and tone.
How Would a Musical Episode Work in Prime Video’s ‘Fallout’?
Even with a show as willingly goofy as Fallout, it’s always a bit jarring when characters in a musical episode just start singing without any rhyme or reason. Should the Fallout show want to explore the possibility of a musical episode, there certainly would need some sort of plot reason for that to occur. Thankfully, the world of Fallout has plenty of outlandish methods that could be implemented to bring a musical episode to life.
As we know from Season 1 of Fallout, drugs and hallucinogenics are omnipresent in the Wasteland. Ghouls like Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins) know this fully well, as most of them are entirely impervious to the effects of these drugs. Still, there are also new drugs being introduced to the Fallout universe every day. We see Cooper utilize a new substance that prevents the effects of going feral, and we also see Thaddeus (Johnny Pemperton) get turned into a Ghoul by an experimental injection. With powerful drugs like that, certainly, there’s one that could make its users think they’re in a swanky Broadway musical, right?
The post-apocalyptic world of Fallout also still maintains its technological prowess in some regards. There’s no shortage of mad scientists in the franchise, and many of them have found escape from the Wasteland through technology. More specifically, virtual reality. In the main story of Fallout 3, players can run into a scientist who has created a virtual world within the confines of Vault 112. It’s a world that looks almost as if it came straight out of Leave it to Beaver, so a virtual world that is a musical instead of a sitcom wouldn’t be far-fetched.
Other Shows Have Found Success (and Failure) in Musical Episodes
The surprisingly popular genre of musical episodes on television consists of a lot of hits and a lot of misses, which is typically determined by how good the explanation is for the musical episode to begin with. It also depends on the actual show that’s making the episode and how it fits with the already existing narrative. Sometimes these episodes fit in perfectly, while other times it can be a bit more jarring.
A fine example of a solid musical episode is the glorious return to form that is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, with the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise being forced to do intermittent singing in the middle of their Starfleet duties. Another great musical episode can be seen in the medical comedy Scrubs, where a woman gets a head injury that causes her and everyone around her to partake in nonstop singing. Speaking of medical shows, not all of them are winners, as the musical episode of Grey’s Anatomy felt very bizarre for a serious drama like that. One of the biggest standouts to date, however, remains Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s musical episode, in which the citizens of Sunnydale find themselves bursting into song courtesy of a meddling demon.
Fallout Season 1 is available to stream on Prime Video.
