I just finished watching City of Ember, quite a good movie by the way, but all through the movie I just couldn't get the feeling out of my mind that I was watching Fallout 3 in movie format.

Think of the scientists in the beginning as Vault Tec, the city itself as a massive vault and the kids as the Dwellers trying to get out since their fathers failed to do so.


Did Bethesda get the idea from the book since it was originally written in 2003, or did the author take ideas from Fallout 3? Or is the author one of Bethesdas employees?


Did enyone else see this and get the same feeling, or have I just played too damn much Fallout 3?

I read the book, never saw the movie, nor do I know anybody else who has. I doubt anybody here has seen it, heard it bombed pretty bad. Anyway, the plot and setting of city of ember is nothing at all like Fallout 3's, so I'd say its just you

Well, we can't deny some similarities.
~An event has happened in the world where people are forced to hide in underground shelters, essentially underground cities built by the government (IE, the Vaults and Vault-Tec).
~There is an underlying theme of the higher ups supressing the need to escape (The Vault 101 experiment).
~The Protagonists defy the Higher Ups to escape to the world outside (James's and the Lone Wanderer's escape from 101)

And the movie actually did pretty good at the theater I used to work at.
However, the Fallout themes of Vaults and whatnot have been around since...97? So, maybe a little inklings here and there but it of course can be purely coincidence.

Hey, guess what? It might be a big surprise to you but Fallout pre-dates what I'm gonna bet is your Xbox.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout_(computer_game)

It was okay. I watched it on Cable, via OnDemand.

... what, exactly, crawled up your butt and died??

For one, even I was able to draw parallels between City of Ember and Fallout. Heck, my partner who DOESN'T play Fallout was drawing parallels. It's got nothing to do with owning an xbox. And, nothing to do with being stupid, which is to me clearly what you were trying to infer.

Hmm. Yeah not sure what Tostitos might be objecting to with this line.

Yeah, the timelines don't really coincide for Fallout 3 to be much of an influence on City of Ember, or vice versa. Possibly some correlation between the old Fallouts and the book the movie was based on? But even then I'd say it's likely going to be a stretch. This really isn't the most original post-apocalyptic concept out there (see A Boy and His Dog, for example, as an interpretation of a dystopian Vault - which predates either Fallout or City of Ember, for starters.)

Sure, there's some similiarities, but I think if anything they're drawing off of common influences as opposed to each other.

I've seen "City of Embers" and i actually really enjoyed the movie.. and i disagree that it might have been based on Fallout..

The movie does a nice job, of never informing the audience of what exactly happened to the world, it leaves it up to the viewer to come to that conclusion

Also, i've said this quite a few times already.. it is very difficult to make a story, about the world ending.. and not come to the same conclusions that other apocalyptic stories come to as well
Wether it be nuclear war, or man destroying the planets resources, (which is what i think "City of Embers" hinted at)

The only way, that i can think of.. for a story to differ almost entirely from a Fallout stand point on post-apocalyptic stories.. is if the infastructure, of every country in the world were to collapse.. and the world kept moving on.. I've actually seen many interesting takes on that kind of idea (mostly done in Anime)

But, if i remember correctly.. "City of Embers" was a story, about a group of people.. chosen to live in a constructed city underground, for 200 years.. without any information of any kind, on the happening of what happened to the world.. the scientist agreed it would be best, if they had no idea of what happened.. to make life easier

That, differs from the Vault-Tec idea in Fallout.. since everyone in the Vaults live everyday with the idea, that they are the last hope for Humanity
In "City of Embers" the whole movie, is about a struggle to find out.. what is actually beyond the darkness of the caves

I've actually watched the movie, never read the book. No, I don't think Fallout influenced City of Ember nor do I think Bethesda was influenced by the movie or the book. I think both Fallout 3's story of the Vault 101 Overseer and City of Ember's story of the "Mayor" are pretty cliche and predictable. It's a pretty basic theme in Western dystopian literature -- the ruling class suppressing the natural tendency of people to question what's "beyond."

In that sense both stories are unimaginative and don't really push the envelope. Was anyone really surprised at the Overseer's actions in Fallout 3's opening? It's not like that theme hasn't been done to death...heck it's been done to death in other modern games (Bioshock for one).

In fact, for a dystopian setting not to include it would be refreshing but almost impossible considering the nature of dystopias in general.

In other words, Bethesda's decision to make Vault 101 a dystopia probably had little to do with City of Ember, it's just the nature of the beast and both are based on much older literature that's become cliche at this point.

I think the reason why most dystopia oriented stories, have such over bearing figure heads.. is due to the fact that most story writers, find it hard to imagine, a broken down world.. having to ration almost every available resource.. Being able to function without an over bearing figure for all the populous to look up to, to take charge and give advice/orders

Its just hard to formulate a story based on a large community of people.. being able to work together, and survive with their rations.. with just eachother to regulate consumption
Just doesn't seem realistic

So, Yar.. like you said it would practically be impossible.. i believe the only way a community in such a world, that could live without social distress.. is a community of android human like robots

It probably had more to do with FRANCHISE CANON than any other reason. Fallout IS dystopian. To have it any other way would ruin the franchise. If the concept seems old, it might be bceause Fallout 1 happened 10 years ago. We could argue about how Fallout 1 came to be what it is, but Fallout 3 is simply a continuation of the Fallout world.

Most things can be linked to something else in some sort of way.

There is no idea that is completely original, even if it hasn't been made into practical use, eg Da Vincis picture of aircrafts etc.

So you can really link anything to something even if it is obscure, because everything is derived from some sort of inspiration.

I laughed when I saw the trailer for this. Some points do seem strikingly similar.

This is the conclusion I, my partner, and our friend all came to, as well.

I just watched the trailer and I see what you mean lol

Yes, Fallout IS dystopian. But Black Isle presented that dystopian reality with the competing social orders etc. in a new and interesting way that moved the genre forward. Bethesda's overbearing Vault 101 Overseer was a much more traditional story, much closer to traditional dystopian literature, just like City of Ember. Neither one is very creative. That's my point, I distinguish between Fallout 1/2's presentation of a dystopian society (or multiple societies) and Vault 101's Overseer (which is afterall the point of the thread, since the comparison is between City of Ember and Vault 101).

One could argue, with equal success, that FO1 wasn't that creative either, considering that it's a continuation of the thousands of years old Epic Myth: Unlikely hero emerges to save humanity. Creativity, I suppose, is in the eye of the beholder.

I could argue that the FO3 story is more interesting, because the player character's only quest is to find good old dad. How is this going to affect the world? No one in Megaton could care less, except for the one individual who wants to make money on it. To my mind, that makes it a stronger story than the "hey, we are all going to die in a couple months if you don't deliver us from this evil" plot of FO1.

Maybe. But I'm speaking specifically about the vault life in Vault 101 and the Overseer being the archetypal authority figure in dystopian literature. The story itself as far as the main quests isn't really important, not in my mind at least. I was considering more the way the individual societies are represented in the gameworld. And by that I mean mostly the settlements and towns.

If you've read a lot of dystopian literature, the similarities between City of Ember and Vault 101 start to become obvious since both rely on a common theme.

I'm not criticizing Bethesda for the decision if that's what it seems like. I'm almost 100% sure that they designed the story of Vault 101 as a sendup/tribute to older dystopian stories (The Giver, 1984, Farenheit 451...etc. etc.)