The creators of the series fallout have strived to respect the world of video games as much as possible. But they had to make a change regarding the Pip-Boy, the personal computer installed on the characters’ wrists.
In the Fallout universe, a nuclear disaster forces the few survivors to live in fallout shelters, far from the radiation that pollutes the surface. This postulate is 100% respected by the series broadcast exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. From the first episode, we discover how life is organized in the bunkers. It is governed by codes and residents have access to equipment to help them on a daily basis, including a device installed on their wrist.
The device in question is called a Pip-Boy. It is a personal computer, capable of collecting data and offering useful functionalities. For example, we see Lucy, the heroine, holding the Pip-Boy towards a looter to capture its radiation rate. This accessory, which takes the form of a huge bracelet, is taken from the Fallout video games. But there is still a clear difference between the Pip-Boy of the series and the one that early fans know.
Fallout’s Pip-Boy had to be cut down for the series
In video games, the Pip-Boy is a huge and unsightly device. In the series fallout, it is much smaller and discreet. This reduction in measurements is explained by Howard Cumming, in charge of production design, in the columns of Screen Rant on April 20. He reveals that it is a fully accepted choice, linked to the fact that the Pip-Boy is much too big in video games anyway (for gameplay reasons).
“ In Fallout, it’s all about scale, right? And Pip-Boys are huge in games. Really huge. So I talked to Todd Howard, ‘You know we’re going to shrink the Pip-Boy?’ And he said, ‘No, but the Pip-Boy is big in the game, because we have to be able to use him on screen. Pip-Boys should be smaller normally.’ And then we had Ella Purnell, who is a short woman, with small wrists “, explains Howard Cumming.
He adds : ” We had to rethink everything, but keep the same design. And, even while shrinking it, they wanted it to be functional. » To do this, the Pip-Boy of the series fallout integrates a telephone odd », which gives authenticity (no need to add anything in post-production). It’s an interesting adaptation, which adds credibility to what we see on screen.
For the record, the collector’s edition of the video game Fallout 4 allowed buyers to obtain a real Pip-Boy, into which they could slide a smartphone to access a companion application (menus, inventory, etc.). The object, intended for fans, was enormous, with a size rather modeled on that of video games.
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