Fallout: Season One (Limited Editon) 4K Ultra HD Review

THE SERIES

Based on one of the greatest video games of all time, Fallout is the story of haves and have-nots in a world in which there’s almost nothing left to have. Two hundred years after the apocalypse, the gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the incredibly complex, gleefully weird and highly violent universe waiting for them above.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 3¾/5

This release, which is an Amazon exclusive as of this writing, is housed in a Steelbook packaging and has a J-card. Episodes are split across 3-duscs.

Episode Commentary — “The End” (episode 1) with Director Jonathan Nolan and Actor Walton Goggins

Inside Episode 1 is just the video version of the commentary track.

Featurettes:

• Inside Season One (18:02) takes viewers behind-the-scenes with the making of the series with interviews by the cast and crew.

• Creating the Wasteland (3:46) looks at the visual effects and use of CGI to create the world.

• Safe and Sound (2:37) examines the music and soundtrack.

• Set Your Sets on 2296 (2:23) covers the locations and cinematography.

• The Costumes of Fallout (2:43) contains interviews with the costume designer and others in the department.

• Writing for the Wasteland (2:26) goes into the writing process of turning the popular video game into a series.

• Meet the Filmmaker (and Fanatic) Jonathan Nolan (3:04) is an interview with the filmmaker.

• Prosthetics and Makeup Gone Nuclear (2:47) is on the make-up and gore effects.

• Becoming the Ghoul (2:08) — Walton Goggins goes into his dual characters.

• Console to Camera (2:52) details taking the game and faithfully adapting it.

• Welcome to the World of Fallout (2:41) more or less is promotional trailer.

Vault Seller’s Survival Guide (17:28) are animated promo shorts.

VIDEO – 4¾/5

Fallout: Season 1 arrives on 4K Ultra HD and is presented here with a 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and each episode comes with a 2160p high-definition resolution. Detail throughout the series does look quite good, detail is sharp and nicely defined throughout and colors well balanced to go along with the stark black levels. I can’t comment on how this compares to how it streamed, but I have to think it is a market improvement.

AUDIO – 5/5

Every episode is accompanied by a strong Dolby Atmos track (DTS-HD MA 7.1 for systems unable to process) and these tracks offer up strong dialogue levels and the action scenes, including the opening with the nuclear explosions, give off amazing depth and foreshadowed things to come.