My first experience with Fallout was with Fallout II on the PC. I played that a lot back when the game first came out. I never got into Fallout 3, New Vegas, and avoided Fallout 76 like the plague. I did get a bit into Fallout 4 and really enjoyed my time with it.
So with my experience playing some of the Fallout games, I was skeptical on how they would adapt a game series like this into a TV show. Well they did it and here we have the first season of Fallout on 4K Blu-Ray.
This first season features three episodes of the show on a single Blu-Ray disk with the exception of the third disc. The third disc features two episodes and the bonus features.
I won’t go into much about the show as I don’t want to spoil it, but I will say that they did a great job of bringing the game world to life. It feels like an extension of the franchise rather than a straight up adaptation and it’s a welcome surprise to what is the norm in the industry when it comes to adapting video games to TV and film.
To kind of elaborate, I am used to seeing films and TV adaptations being either a straight up adaptation of a video game or something that resembles a video game franchise but then goes completely off the rails to try and be its own thing. If done right, either of them are enjoyable experiences, but the Fallout series, at least this first season is really something special.
The special features in this BR set have behind the scenes interviews with the film maker, hair and makeup, location featurette that talks about bringing the game world to life. Additional features include the writing in adapting the video game writing to film, and animated shorts about vault life in the world of Fallout.
All of these featurettes that are included in this set are far from boring. At least if you’re a die hard fan of the series of games or find these kinds of things fun and interesting.
After watching this season, and seeing what they did to bring this to us in a physical release, I am excited to see what we get with season 2, both in the progression of the series as well as the next physical release.
Which brings me to the physical release of this series on 4K Blu-Ray.
The case that this first season comes in is a steel book case that holds the three blu-ray disks really nicely. The colors on the case really pop and make it stand out on a shelf, even if it’s just by the spine.
To be honest, this is the Limited Edition Steel Book edition so other versions may be different, but this specific release looks really nice.
In addition to the actual series, you also get a set of collectible cards. Now I was initially thinking they would be the size of trading cards, but they aren’t. No, instead they went with the cards being the size of post cards. I get why they did this…I mean it’s Fallout and it’s presented as if it’s a tourist destination I suppose. So I totally get the idea behind the cards being post card size. It fit’s the aesthetic of the series well and kind of is a nod to the series while simultaneously being a bit funny.
The only real drawbacks to this collection are the collectible cards being the size of post cards instead of trading cards and then there is the back cover art of information. To briefly explain, you would normally get the back of a case to give you information about the series or movie but with this steel book release, it’s here, but as a separate piece of cardboard that kind of just sits over the top of it.
As much as I appreciate the fact that the back cover art info is here, I would have much preferred to have it and the post card sized collectible cards fit inside the steel book case. I mean would it have been that hard to make a place for them to go in the case? I really don’t think it would be too difficult to have made that happen.
In conclusion, would I recommend picking up this Limited Edition Steel Book set for the first season of Fallout? Well as of writing this review, you can get this specific version for $77 on Amazon. You can get a regular 4K version for $29. So you’re paying about $47 for a Steelbook case, and collectible cards that are the size of post cards. As nice as the steelbook edition is, I would say that unless you’re a die hard steelbook collector, I would suggest picking up the cheaper 4K version. Overall though, yes I would recommend picking up the first season of Fallout as it’s a wonderful series and addition to the Fallout universe that is a must watch!
Disclaimer: We were provided with a review copy
In addition to writing articles, Ryan Byers also creates content for his YouTube channel called "Obscure Games and Consoles", collects video games, and dabbles in video game development.