Disney's Percy Jackson Hates Action

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The new Percy Jackson and the Olympians on Disney Plus does a lot right, from making Luke a better character than the movies did, to having some fun material for Grover and the others. But where it falls flat on its face is the action and suspense. In this video, I go over why.
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[@captainmidnight]

What did you think of the show? Use code CAPTAINMIDNIGHT at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: incogni.com/captainmidnight

[@justinriley]

I like it. Definitely a solid 7.5 or 8/10. But there's a lot of room for improvement.

[@jordy2211221]

I am so glad you agree it lacked tension and suspense! I thought I was crazy watching with my partner (massive fan of the books) as she just liked that they casted it well haha. Every scene is them walking slowly, talking about what to do or "what do you mean?" it just so grinded my gears

[@cephasokoro9504]

I thought it was fine,I haven't read the books but for an outsider perspective I think if was fine,they was room for improvement obviously but it's inoffensive

[@satisfied656]

Well, i think i will stay by the #PercyJacksonMovies!🤔They are not perfect BUT at least they are not convoluted and boring like this sh*t-show!🥱 I only watched the first episode and had seen enough brain-diarrhea!😳 #SaveYourTime🤗

[@charlieford3285]

Honestly kinda sucked. It’s only redeeming qualities are the visuals and accuracy to the book - for the most part. Otherwise it felt dumbed down to be a childs show, but also had super slow pacing. So neither a child or adult could fully enjoy the show, whereas at least the movies were actually engaging. And as someone else said, it's too Disney. It has super generic and low quality production, all hidden under a big budget.

[@manuelrojas7843]

I don’t understand the argument for “the book readers already know what happens”. I reread the books every couple of years and I remember and know what happens, and it’s still great every time. People revisit things they like

[@itsmejb]

couldn't have said it better. if the source material cant be just as good a second time around, how much did you really like it the first time?

[@enzoresciniti2089]

Exactly, so stick to the book. Why bother adapting, right? I don't understand the argument of revisiting the same piece of art over and over and wanting the exact same thing again, but from a different medium. Respectful to the source doesn't mean carbon copy. The most famous movie adaptations are always pretty different from the novels. But it's a tough line to walk, especially when fans can't agree on what's good for a franchise.

[@CoOlKyUbI96]

I think it’s counterproductive for the project itself. While yes a lot of the people watching are most likely fans who already read the books, it still doesn’t mean that information should be left out. Viewers shouldn’t have to feel like they have to do extra research outside of the show just to get an understanding of what is going on

[@superfinevids]

It's kinda like sex or porn. People know what's going to happen and most of them are pretty much the same. But people still watch them over and over again.

[@connoredward354]

It’s Disney/Rick Riordan stans coping

[@sabbyali3212]

The Percy Jackson tv show character act as if they’ve already read the books

[@sophia21s]

😂😂😂😂

[@BlueberrySmith]

imho that was an improvement over the first book, because it was really repetitive with the "main heroes who study greek myths for a living cant recognise a monster from a popular greek myth" trope

[@abc.animal5143]

@@BlueberrySmithi think it made sense sometimes for Medusa but not for Lotus Casino.

[@BlueberrySmith]

@@abc.animal5143 maybe you are right, idk If I can be just here, I was an audhd kid with a special interest in mythology long before I started reading PJ

[@abc.animal5143]

@@BlueberrySmith I have adhd and autism and i really connected wit these books, but i had an interest in myth before them too

[@LeMelleKH2]

This show reeked of everything wrong with Disney+'s production style. Everything felt so cheap, despite a big budget. Nothing is filmed with any sense of style and tension, and it just kills the suspense of any scene.

[@bigalbucatini5991]

It’s all designed for the standard played-out 8 episode limited series style. Paced in the most boring and predictable way possible, even when you hadn’t read the source material

[@AkuraTheAwesome]

It's because the people running the show are business majors and not creatives. It's all about the money now and nothing else, and it shows.

[@cephasokoro9504]

What show did you guys watch 😂

[@rbtorelli1994]

I absolutely have to agree, but for me it was the fact that so many scenes were so obviously filmed on The Volume, making the actors look so starkly different than the scenery. A lot of this show was very unfortunately either filmed in a small room with dialogue, or the massive volume with barely any life to the scenes. Which is absolutely criminal for a series and book with just SOOO much life and action and adventure!

[@LeMelleKH2]

@@rbtorelli1994 another great point! The volume is such a crutch of a technology. What was once a unique device to film in VERY specific contexts is now used to make such lazy and uninspired content

[@emmaelizabeth3373]

My biggest complaint for this series is that it just wasn't "fun." As you pointed out, it lacked that sense of urgency and excitement, plus the few attempts at humor just felt really off because of how somber the overall tone was. I get that some of the more off-the-wall elements of the book probably needed to be toned down to fit with the live action medium, but come on. "Fun" is probably the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Percy Jackson, so it's a real shame that the show wasn't able to truly capture that.

[@bobodo45]

Do you think the show would've been better in animation?

[@emmaelizabeth3373]

@@bobodo45 For sure, and I was even about to say as much. I think the whimsy, the colorful characters, and even the plot structure of the Percy Jackson books would translate really well to a serialized animated show. And on the practical side, you can have really cool action scenes and set pieces without spending a fortune on CGI, and you don't having to worry about your child actors aging too quickly! But adaptations of novels into animated movies/series are so rare that I never bothered to spend much energy hoping for this lol

[@bobodo45]

@@emmaelizabeth3373 fair points

[@mehorton2657]

Exactly. Humor is sooo integral to the series, it’s one of the main things that makes pjo pjo. I would’ve been able to forgive so many of the changes in the show if it at least had the fun spirit of the books

[@noobmasterruben5167]

Yeah I feel like the show felt suspenseful to me was when Ares showed up because Adam Copeland really went all in as this big strong figure who has no problem punching kids to achieve his goal

[@MichaelFrontz]

My girlfriend and I watched this show week by week together, and it was concerning the amount of times we started a sentence about the show like this- "At least in the movie they...". The lack of tension and suspense was really frustrating- each episode felt like a flat line to me. Hopefully it will improve now that season 2 is confirmed! There is potential for sure.

[@noobmasterruben5167]

Honestly the minotaur scene for me was at least able to capture that sense of danger in the movie too

[@lilithofthevalley19]

It was the same for my sibling and I. These have been our favorite books for +10 yrs, we've watched the movies countless times and I reread The Lightning Thief specifically almost every year, and I'm never bored by either of them. Yet we couldn't help but leave this show as background noise every week.

[@Yopjo]

I'm really worried about Season 2. Disney tends to only listen to the loudest audience, which is comprised of fans who believe Disney is doing us a favor by adapting the books and that we owe it to them to watch it without criticism. This fan base also blindly praises everything in the show and shuts down any criticism with statements like "it's a kids' show," "the author was involved," or "it's book-accurate". Disney only cares about money, and if their cheap, poorly done product sells, I don't think they will change anything about it. I hope I'm wrong tho, it's gonna be pretty disappointing if they ruin the last 2 books.

[@ia490]

​@@lilithofthevalley19omg I thought I was the only one who ended up putting it on the background. made me feel guilty cause I love PJO but the show is just so boring 🥲

[@Kidassassin109]

I can agree to this. I was thinking maybe it’s because I’m 26 and it’s probably more for kids and teens.

[@dyland1842]

Im glad someone agrees with me. Im definitely not happy with all the changes. Especially with how annabeth and grover dont seem to be scared of the gods. Percy being not scared of the gods is supposed to be unique and strange, due to his unique situation, but here we have grover disobeying dionysius and manipulating ares, and annabeth shouting at hepheastus. It just makes percy seem less... percy because as the megamind movie says, when everyone is super, no one is

[@dyland1842]

Ok i said megamind when i meant incredibles 😅

[@bryantgrove6199]

You can edit the comment.

[@dyland1842]

​@@bryantgrove6199yeah but i dont want to lose the heart

[@lordgameboy1303]

@@dyland1842i’ll be honest I thought it was intentional lol

[@dyland1842]

​@@lordgameboy1303 I'll just take the complement

[@zarinakhtar8884]

I hate how they removed some of the goofier elements to make the show more serious. Like how Cerberus just wanted someone to play with him because he was lonely, Charon wanting a raise, Hades complaining about being overworked and many more.

[@cartoonishidealism582]

It’s this utterly bizarre middle ground where it’s simultaneously too bleak to have the comedic tone of the original book, while also being so afraid of having any sort of tension that they fail to capture the danger of the original book. And the best point of reference for this is what they did with Charon and Hades. Charon is robbed of all his charm and personality and turned into just some guy in a cloak, while Hades, who was supposed to be intimidating and terrifying and utterly GODLIKE in the books is just a goofy dude spouting Marvel level humor. We neither get the memorable humor of Charon nor the raw dramatic presence of Hades.

[@dig8634]

@@cartoonishidealism582 I really wish they just dropped Crusty altogether, a pretty pointless side-bit that lasts like two pages, and kept Charon's parts. Why have a side entrance in Crusty's? It's just so they could skip interacting with Charon

[@x0xgregx0x]

@@cartoonishidealism582 all gods looked awful and so human. I hate how percy wins over Ares, in the book he usses his intellingece and strategy and slowly drives him into the water and there uses the water, in the show it also hits him with a big wave that he could easily transform in something else, he's a god!!

[@UdayGorade]

I couldn't get past the first few episodes.Felt like the action was missing..Also the kids seemed to be so less surprised,scared of what they see.

[@alenor210]

I think my biggest complaint is how they made the kids more active in all their predicaments, while in the book they’re primarily reactive. In the book, they wander into a place, realize too late that it’s a monster trap, and have to improvise a way to escape/survive. It made for a fun adventure and served as a nice reference to the Odyssey, where Odysseus and his crew did the exact same thing. But in the tv show, they spot every trap in advance and are always somewhat prepared for them, which makes the subsequent action feel less exciting.

[@judahmoar2533]

While I agree that many scenes felt a bit less exciting, I remember being frustrated with the books that the supposedly very smart kids who spent a bunch of time at Greek mythology camp didn’t know even the most well known stories of Greek mythology

[@juliardutra]

​@judahmoar2533 they did know about greek mithology, but most of them lived at camp and just at camp. They didn’t know about how the myths presented themselves in the morden age because they were always protected (considering that Annabeth arrived when she was 7 at camp). The only one that could have some insight was Grover since he did go out more, but after what happened with Thalia I don't think he rescued more campers. I missed the Odyssey style soooooo much😢 Sorry, english is not my first language

[@anakinlowground5515]

@@juliardutra I always find it funny when people apologize for having bad English, when a lot of the time, their English is a WHOLE lot better than most native speakers. What I just said applies to you.

[@j-trainchannel4626]

These were some of my favorite changes they made in the show, but I can see how some people were frustrated by the lost suspense. I just preferred the main characters being a little more competent.

[@ashleyterry6424]

I feel like it lost something a whole lot more than just action and suspense while doing this. They lose the chance to really showcase the characters strengths and abilities. Percy is not battle strategy smart and he is not expecting for every building he goes in to be a Greek myth. Annabeth is very well rounded but not as adept at thinking on her feet and in the heat of the moment as percy. By having them walk into a place, and just know that this is a place inhabited by monsters causes them to be too much of a Mary Sue type protagonist. They don't fail or stumble which ends up just meaning they don't have to figure out an alternative solution to get out. Then we lose the aspect of what makes percabeth or the golden trio such amazing partners. They complement eachother and are supposed to make up for eachothers short comings, but when there are no short comings to overcome, the characters become lackluster.

[@SlauncherLA]

The best part of the books that both the film and show failed to execute was Rick Riordan’s signature storytelling style of slowly revealing who/what the mythological characters and monsters were. That was always the most fun part of reading the books was trying to figure out who they were dealing with page by page, paragraph by paragraph until the reveal.

[@noobmasterruben5167]

Like I'm pretty sure anyone can agree. The first Percy Jackson movie despite being an awful adaptation did the Lotus scene in a more intriguing way becuz the characters arent dumping expositions for hours

[@maja.z.pszczola]

The book and the show had a lot of “explanations” scenes, but in the book it made sense because Percy didn’t understand this new world he found himself a part of, and Annabeth was there to explain it to him, also showing how smart she was. The show, for whatever reason has Percy already be an expert in all these stories, and just kept Annabeth on the side looking out of place. It does make sense realistically that Sally would try to prepare Percy, but that’s just where you have to suspend your disbelief for the story tone to succeed …

[@Luke101]

I actually felt the opposite. In the book, Annabeth and Grover inform him on certain things, but Percy has a knowledge of Greek mythology. It’s why he really enjoyed Mr. Brunner’s class. Throughout the majority of the series Percy is constantly having stuff told to him when he should have knowledge about some of the stuff anyway. He even says that his mom told him stories as a kid (which is a really stupid change since demigods being aware of the greek myths makes them more vulnerable) he only reveals he knows a couple things towards the end of the show like who Hephestus and Crusty are, and it’s so random. The book is also told in first person, so having Percy say things to the reader, makes sense since it’s his inner monologue. When you’re creating a live action adaptation you need to get more clever with your dialogue and your visuals to communicate things to the audience, instead of just talking to the audience.

[@hcxpl1]

I think it is mainly due to trying to get the audience on the same page as fast as possible, which I find rather disappointing. Aside from a longer running time, there sure were better ways to frame the exposition, like letting the action speak for itself or even have some kind of parallel classic myth storyline

[@tayx1862]

@@Luke101He is knowledgeable about Greek Mythology as the mundane world knows it but is ignorant to the world Rick riordan builds and how Greek mythology is practical in real life. Annabeth is their “Hermione” being that she is not only the daughter of Athena but the most accustomed to demigod life and that world out of anyone at the camp being that she discovered herself earlier than usual at the age of 7.

[@shayshay8650]

​@@Luke101 I though chiron was his Latin teacher.

[@benjrc3611]

I’m still holding out hope for a potential PJ animated series. Want fun action? Bam animation. Want to avoid all your actors aging out of their roles? Bam animation. Want a faithful adaptation? Umm... yeah can't help you there. Edit: punctuation

[@kittycheshire5099]

Plus, with animation, they could show characters that become relevant later earlier on without having to cast them (Nico, Bianca, Reyna, Silena, Drew, Beckendorf, the Stolls, Will, Castor, Pollux, Lee, Michael, etc.)

[@Dcuniverse60]

In your Dreams amination is overated is not gonna happen

[@jessip8654]

I wish, but there's still this weird stigma against animation that it's only for little kids. It's baffling that these giant corporations aren't seeing how huge anime is with teens and haven't thought, "hey let's do something like that!" Would've easily been like half the price to make, too.

[@benjrc3611]

@@jessip8654 wild that Disney of all places would have a stigma against animation… :(

[@akwilson1676]

​@@Dcuniverse60Live action is limited af. Animation is the real deal.

[@artemis2227]

I checked Reddit after each episode and it was so funny because there are two PJO subreddits that kept popping up, one which had the general consensus of loving the show, and the other that absolute hated it. Eventually they started crapping on each other, it was hilarious 😂

[@captainmidnight]

I hope they both watch this video and give me feedback.

[@LuisSierra42]

Reddit being reddit

[@SquareNevada1]

Every niche sub be like

[@EGRJ]

So, like Last of Us 2?

[@Atlantafan21]

Which sub was which?

[@aaronjones8581]

dude. i totally had the same thoughts. on paper the show was accurate but the tension of Medusa, the lotus casino, ares, etc. just wasnt there.

[@jacobchandler7642]

For my money, episodes 4 and 5 were the best. 4 because they played the Echidna showdown pretty straight; our heroes didn't act too smart for the situation, so there was genuine tension as they were hunted. 5 because Edge was a good Ares, and the scene between him and Grover was great. The casting, sets, and costumes were all solid, but some serious improvements need to be made in the writing and (especially) the directing departments.

[@OstianOwl]

The "it was made for existing fans who want something different" excuse is so bizarre to me when we just got something like Scott Pilgrim Takes Off on Netflix that went out of its way to be a different story from the comics/movie and yet retained the writing style, character interactions and energized action sequences that made that series enjoyable to begin with. "Different" doesn't have to mean "abandon the appeal of the source material".

[@gtdc4685]

Agreed

[@Allinox]

I agree. No tension, no excitement, and never ending exposition talk made it a pretty boring watch. Not awful, just.. meh

[@noobmasterruben5167]

I go back and forth between if I like this more than Moon knight or not. Because Moon knight wasnt the best mcu show but it was better paced. This one had a lot better character development but lacked the epicness or urgency

[@gtdc4685]

@noobmasterruben5167 I thought moon knight was good

[@liv97497]

I think my main problem with the whole show was how nothing felt urgent. They see the monsters, and they just... slowly walk away, while watching tensely. This happened so many times I actually found myself saying "why aren't they running?" out loud. Most of their hurdles felt incredibly easy to overcome, things got resolved in just a few minutes, which made the pacing so off - it somehow felt BOTH rushed and dragged out at the same time. I also think a better director could've gotten more out of the kids, and maybe they could've benefitted from some off-screen bonding time to make their relationships more realistic (I get that it's harder for kids to fake chemistry, which is why I say directing children is a very specific skill not all directors have). The trio is carrying so much of the show by themselves; they needed to have a better connection for their scenes and dialogues to feel more realistic, and not as clunky and performed as it did in my opinion. I also think most, if not all, changes made from the book were for the worse. Say what you will about the movie, it's a good film, even if it's not a good adaptation. It's exciting, the actors have chemistry, its thematically cohesive for the most part and it's pretty well paced for all the ground it has to cover. It's a great movie for pre-teens and it's how a lot of us discovered the book series, whereas the show feels much more geared towards people who are already fans. I don't see the first season being a "gateway" for people to discover the series in the same way the movie was.

[@ardwark]

a small detail someone else pointed out but which bares repeating: at no point is percys sword ever properly introduced. Which is a great way to pinpoint one big issue throught the series: The whole thing is made with the assumption that people are familiar with the source material (and made by people familiar with the source material), so it tends to just gloss over and rush through some of the more exciting/fun/fascinating parts

[@abdelali9279]

Disney be like: "Subtlety, what is even that?"

[@samwarren2850]

I found this series so frustrating, because on the surface it looks perfect, they hit all the plot points that i love, the kids they cast were so so so good for their roles, but it takes the suspense and adventure and action out of all of it. I was mostly ok with them figuring out medusa faster, because annabeth's right, a bunch of statues and a big aunty M is pretty obvious. but making them outsmart the lotus hotel and crusty just makes it feel like the kids have too much plot armor and are going through the adventure like, having already read the book and knowing what's coming. it seems like they somehow didn't have the budget for the big action set pieces or weren't able to work out the logistics of it all and decided to just gloss over it. also i HATE how they got rid of gabe at the end. sally was supposed to make the CHOICE to medusa-fy him to free herself and percy from her family's abuser and take back her own agency! it was so important to her story and character. now it's just hur dur jerk guy opened a box and turned into a statue.

[@gavinmitchell1328]

I agree with all your points except the last one. The book kind of ignores the fact that Sally is technically a murderer since being turned to stone is a permanent sentence. The show had Gabe get his comeuppance as a result of his own nastiness which I think is much better than turning a pure-hearted woman into a murderer.

[@islasullivan3463]

^It also ignores how in the series Gabe does not seem to abuse Sally, Sally and Percy do not fear him, he’s just an annoying loser so murdering him just seems a bit to far.

[@rbtorelli1994]

It felt like they were going through the motions of the book, just hitting plot point after plot point, without too much concern on why the plot points were actually pivotal. In the book, they use plot points to show annabeth's fear of spiders, the Grover's hunt for pan, and the character growth and development that comes from them. This show felt like it was just brushing on each of those, but without any of the character development. Also, a lot of the scenes felt very flat aesthetically because it's very obvious when Disney uses the volume stage

[@satisfied656]

Well, i think i will stay by the #PercyJacksonMovies!🤔They are not perfect BUT at least they are not convoluted and boring like this sh*t-show!🥱 I only watched the first episode and had seen enough brain-diarrhea!😳 #SaveYourTime🤗

[@samwarren2850]

@@gavinmitchell1328 i think it comes down to the difference in the type of abuse we see from gabe in the book vs the show. in the book it's explicit that he physically abused sally and percy, literally actually beating them both. in the show he's just kind of a jerk and it's not that big of a point at least physically. i agree that in the show if they'd had sally kill him it would've seemed like an overreaction maybe? and would've felt bad. but my girl sally absolutely deserved to kill him in the book and i stand by that lol

[@lollythefamouscommenter3970]

my brother made a point that i’m inclined to agree with; the thing about percy’s mom and all those flashbacks felt odd to me as well. i think the actress who plays percy’s mom must have had a particular contract (or something) that required her to be in a certain amount of scenes / screen time, which is why the show weirdly keeps coming back to percy childhood flashback scenes. there isnt really any other explanation i have, because my impression of all those flashback scenes were that they just felt really odd.

[@angelsppp11]

Can't agree more with the point about the flashbacks. Like it was cool the first time, but by the last episode I was bordering skipping those scenes entirely because it really did not feel necessary to me at all to spend that much time flashing back to the past.

[@Yopjo]

Not to mention that there were a lot of stuff that should have been shown as a flashback that wasn't, Thalia's, Luke and. Annabeth's back story for example. Luke's betrayal would have had far more impact in the end if we had seen their time together, instead we got exposition 🙄

[@Mobsie23]

thank you!! couldn't quite put my finger on what it was that was missing. The show seemed to actively shy away from action, making it hard to really get into it.

[@shellsterdude]

I watched the show. I didn't hate it, but I kept thinking they aimed a little too low on their target audience. The stakes were never really high, and tension never lasted or seriously built. The characters were very straight-forward in their motives. It seemed like they were aiming for kids the same age as their main character. That's fine, I guess, but I feel like if you are going to reference Greek mythology, you could aim a bit higher.

[@florence_black]

I actuallly felt like they aimed at even Younger Kids. 8-12. That would make sense, Rick IS very vocal about IT being a kids Show. I wish they would aim at 10-14 years olds or so. The Gap between Hannah Montana and Stranger Things

[@CinnamonGrrlErin1]

You'd have thought they'd have gone a bit "Stranger Things" with it, at least as far as the energy of the show goes. Isn't that the type of show all these other studios keep trying to cash in on?

[@justinriley]

I liked this series. But I'm really hoping they fix this in future seasons. I'm willing to be lenient for this first season, but I do agree that this aspect needs to improve.

[@haysmoli]

100% agree - it's like the producers were allergic to suspense

[@FrankieIpp]

They didn't talk about swearing on the river Styx at all, they also didn't explain that the guy in the mattress store isn't a "forbidden demigod child" if I'm not mistaken he's not a demigod at all, so my wife thought he was just a demigod brother of Percy which is confusing because shouldn't be be super powerful and feared?

[@Nikkster855]

I didn't hate it. I found the ending a little anti-climatic, as the fight with Aries is kind of the climax of the novel. The second last episode was great but the final one was very meh. I also thought the ending reveal of Luke felt like it was missing something? Like Luke should have revealed a little more before Percy figured it all out. But whatever. I like the actors, and I look forward to seeing them grow into their roles and get to know their own characters better. This show is ultimately for the kids who read the novels now, not the 30 year olds who read it when the books were released. I was talking to a little guy the other day and he was raving about it. I am optimistic for it going forward and I'm happy they renewed it!

[@jamiegdubois]

This is almost exactly how I felt right down to your feelings on he second to last episode being superior to the finale and the lacklustre Luke reveal. It was really hard for me to judge how I felt about the Luke situation because, at the end of the day, I knew what was going to happen because I read the books, so I feel like I’m a bad judge of how well they pulled off that reveal. But overall, I had a decent time watching it. Could it have been better? Yes. But I have high hopes for the next season and I really do like the actors who played the main trio.

[@GameFreak164X]

I felt the exact same way. There were times during the show where I questioned if maybe the books were never that great either. However, anytime they brought up interesting mechanics and lore of the world in Percy Jackson, I was reminded how fun the books were to read. They just really failed to inject any tension into this show unfortunately.

[@michaelbonet9062]

I think one issue with Disney today is that they focus almost entirely on telling instead of showing. They’re maybe afraid the audience won’t get something, so they feel the need to explain over and over again instead of trusting the audience to figure it out.

[@jonahcox6672]

I’m so glad someone made a video about this! It was weird to me how potentially cool or suspenseful moments were underplayed, something you didn’t mention too was the music, which mostly usually goes fairly unnoticed in its role for adding tension when done right, but for me in the show it was noticeably lacking.

[@elejah4011]

Finally I honestly thought this show was horrible. My sister read all the books and hated it but me and my brother disliked this heavy with only being fans of the films

[@ionaskualexander1255]

Remember how everyone complained that Riordan wasn't involved in the movies? Well he was involved in this crap and it still sucked

[@carternorton2682]

I definitely think the show has plenty of room to improve, particularly in the action department, but the characters feel great to me and as long as they keep that core there’ll always be something to enjoy for me

[@b.h.4249]

This show felt so incredibly bland and lifeless to me, it's almost impressive how they managed to suck out most of the charm and excitement while still sticking to the story beats. I still can't quite pin down what kind of tone they were really going for and their portrayal of certain themes seems very confused. On the one hand, they want to show a darker side of the gods through Medusa's fate and Athena's betrayal, but then they turn around and change most of the gods into tomented parents who actually cared all along with even Percy of all people saying that they're trying their best which is...Wow. Is this really the same Percy who made it his ultimate goal to force the gods to acknowledge their children? These additions also make Luke look even more unreasonable and less sympathetic. It feels like they don't know how they want to portray the gods and the desperation to not show them in anything even resembling a godly form is also pretty irritating. This show may have been more accurate plot-wise, but it feels like the essene of it is simply missing to me.

[@samueltitone5683]

Is so bizarre that some parts of the show are somehow LESS accurate than the movie. How do you fail that badly?

[@anubusx]

I agree.

[@theanimeunderworld8338]

Yeah the show might have added a few more book elements but they still messed up just like the movies did And it's fine why???

[@theanimeunderworld8338]

I hated that they ruined the build up to Hades The fury, hellhound and reasons why Hades would want a war were cut down to minimal to none existing Plus Hades' personality was not like the book either. He was way too nice...

[@colino686]

@@theanimeunderworld8338 the author was the one that made those changes

[@devildolphin2102]

@@colino686 And since BOO we’ve known Rick has lost his Talent as a writer

[@npc_hat]

I remember reading the Percy Jackson books in elementary school and being severely disappointed by the movies. So I was cautiously looking forward to the show but it just ended up feeling weird to me. I mainly blamed nostalgia and not really being the audience for this kind of show and dropped it halfway.

[@sebastian8922]

I liked the show, but the rushed feeling was pretty frustrating and there were probably better child actors out there. I’m hopeful for season 2.

[@thesp1r1tdragon55]

I think that especially fans of the books would prefer if the show stuck way closer to the source material. The great thing about an adaptation like this is that we get to see scenes that we loved in the books in a new medium. If surprise was necessary for a good story people wouldn't reread their favourite books all the time (I probably read the PJO books more than 20 times).

[@paracyntrix]

My wife and I watched the first episode, and we struggled to finish it. Didn't pick up second episode. The moment i turned off was when Percy's mom was shown to be overpowering the husband, instead of other way around. The way they showed, she could have left him anytime, but he wasn't too bad really to begin with. I read the graphic novels. She was staying with him because of his stench as he was a slob, to protect Percy. And he was really overpowering her. She didn't want to be there, but couldn't leave.

[@itsmejb]

the camp halfblood subreddit has has their head in the sand since episode one, im so glad that more and more people like you echo my opinions.

[@aidenbutterfield754]

I hope they think about how to make season 2 better. IMO books 3 4 and 5 are where it could really shine if they get things in order

[@clouded4614]

Totally agree, books 3 4 and 5 are the peak of the series. A lot more at stake and the underlying threat of Kronos is just too good in those. I hope they will make the series continue to finish, because having the 4th book of the labyrinth come to screen will make my inner PJO stan just a happy lil camper.

[@liam-ec-m595]

I was watching this with a few mates, one of them loves this series in book form. We couldnt help but pick it apart after 5 mins in. At first i thought it was an interesting adaption but its so amatuerish its unbelivable, everything is told to the audience rather than hinted at or shown. What makes this so strange is while the movie isn't great they had a working model of how to do this and they still managed to make it worse.

[@justinh4576]

As a casual audience member who thinks the premise itself sounds genuinely epic I have to say, whoever was in charge of this series seemed to go out of their way to make it the complete opposite of epic.

[@Wake.Up.]

It was the author himself hahhaa

[@justinh4576]

@@Wake.Up. that honestly doesn’t surprise me. When you’re adapting something from one medium to another there’s a certain level of liberties that need to be taken so you can capture what makes it worth adapting in that medium.

[@florence_black]

I honestly think that they were really focused on making it a personal/family story and not "just" an epic action-adventure. I'm just sad they didn't go for both things.

[@Wake.Up.]

@@florence_black This show is not about Percy Jackson but about Parry Johnson

[@captainpep3]

Honestly just read the book, it is SO much better in every way. Though if you’re not really into books, then maybe an audio book would be best, or even the visual novel which I heard did a great job at adapting it. The books really deserved so much better

[@onyxsky2304]

The best way to describe the Percy Jackson is like having Soup without Bread, its like yeah I don't mind not having as much action in my adventure show, but I would like still like to have some memorable action moments and conflict to dip into the story instead of just talking and argueing

[@GaranSOI]

Ever heard of show not tell, this show hadn’t

[@CRAZYMUGMAN]

as soon as i saw the bad green screen for the ares fight in the trailer, i knew this show was doa

[@Joecbg100]

Watched a few as a time waster, i loved Edge showing up as Ares because he seemed to be happy to engage with a fellow rebel like Percy. I didn't watch the finale but i think i will. I'm not married to the material so it was fine i guess for a few hours.

[@arlopaden9794]

I can't put my finger on exactly why but I absolutely hated the dialogue in this. Which is a shame because I felt like the rest of it was actually quite good.

[@b.h.4249]

I'm absolutely with you! All their speaking styles seemed so homogenized to me and the sarcastic bite of their conversations was almost completely absent. Just like this show in general, it felt so bland and lifeless to me.

[@liv97497]

I was so weirded out by how unnatural it sounded. I don't know if that's down to the actors (who understandably lack experience), the director or the editing... I kept noticing there was almost an extra half a second between each line, and you could tell that the actors were just waiting for each other to finish their lines so they could recite their own. That made it so clunky to watch.

[@AndreaGarcia-ww4wc]

Thank yooou! I felt like especially (but not only) with Annabeth’s character, everytime they spoke I would say it felt like they were trying to remember their lines or read them off a cue card and it felt so flat. It reminded me of a high school acting class. I could have gotten past a lot of the changes they made, but I had to stop watching because it was such a disappointment, I hated the dialog and it’s delivery, and therefore the characters, which is wild because I LOOOOVE the characters in the books. They felt like shadows of themselves in the series.

[@gtdc4685]

Annabeth sounds like she’s reading

[@MegaKnight2012]

It sounds like they tried to emulate a kid-show version of Game of Thrones, where they remove a lot of the original action, or badly execute it, and focus heavily on people just standing around and talking. Though sadly, a lot of tv-writing focuses on just talking. A show like Netflix's Daredevil felt like an exception with their amazing action pieces. The fact they know so much going into a challenge also sound like 'Ready Player One' writing, where the character has already prepped himself for the specific challenge, killing tension.

[@MikeTheNBAGuy]

"I wanted to like this more than I did" sums it up for me. Still a massive improvement over the movies, and I wouldn't even say that was "bad", but it sucks to see something that has SO MUCH POTENTIAL squander it with poor pacing and some odd changes

[@dudeperson41]

I feel like a big issue is it's only 8 30ish min episodes. They just need more episodes to actually tell a book adapted story.

[@alexm469]

I just hope they can fix and really reflect and make it better instead of just ignoring and missing the potential of this series

[@bernig]

Let's put it this way: I finished it. In today's age of mediocre tv (especially on Disney+) I think that's win enough.

[@Tallglasz]

The show relies so heavily on expositions it’s sad. Ep 6 ruined me when they knew what the lotus casino was right off the bat ! Like where’s the mystery, urgency yo ?

[@1Grumer]

I feel pretty much the same as you, I overall liked the show as a fan of the books, but it was really lacking urgency, like in the first episode, imagine you are being chased by the minotaur, who is like really terrifying and could catch up to you any time, But right up the hill is the border to the save space, so lets just not run or walk up there, but just have an expositional talk and an emotional "goodbye scene", like what? They even missed Zeus' deadline, probably because of more exposition with Hermes, but what was the consequence? They just completed the quest anyways, like I get, that it's meant to empathise, that Percy really thinks this is important, but it just really kills the tension. Idk, I think the ares fight and the Fight with Luke was executed well and better than the book even, but they could have given Annabeth another like than "I heard everything" That line dam tough to deliver good.

[@Artist_ash-is5os]

Im a simple man, i see percy jackson and i click

[@Artist_ash-is5os]

Also barely in and completely agree the show was very frustrating. I enjoyed it but i have many many issues overall

[@Artist_ash-is5os]

Also completely agree about the flashbacks, everyone seemed to love them but i hated almost all of them( i like parts but they could have easily been removed and it wouldnt matter)

[@YaBoyBadger]

As someone who enjoyed the books and now the show, I completely agree. Having the trio know who everybody is at every given point is not a good way to keep people hooked. It could work for some of the more known villains, like I thought it worked well with Medusa, but theres no reason they should've known who crusty was. With the directing I personally felt like it was fine for the most part, just dont overly like how theres barely any weight to some of the fights. Ares is a god of war toying with this kid and even then is still outmatching him and causing Percy to be winded after every hit/block. But there was none of that in the actual fight, if anything there was more of that in the Chimera fight than Ares. I love the cast they've got, and they have a really solid foundation to build upon for S2 which I really hope they do

[@Saphirakii]

Just one, I wanted our characters to fall for at least *one* trap, as a group of two 12 year olds and a very awkward and unconfident 24 year old, to fall into a trap. But no, every single time they arrive at a new set, "look! its a trap!" why are they so damn omniscient

[@csblakeley]

It felt listless. There's this ticking clock, the drive to get to the coast to prevent a divine civil war and I never felt it. I stopped after they got to the coast because I just wasn't engaged.

[@AlexsTheWizard]

I enjoyed it, as a fan of the books when I read them as a kid. I definitely agree it definitely stumbles a bit with its presentation but overall im pretty happy with this first season and excited to see where they go from here.

[@noobmasterruben5167]

If U ask me, they should take notes from Wednesday or The Owl house to know how to do stakes while also not boring the audience with many exposition dumps

[@elijahgilleanrodriguez9242]

From Percy Jackson to PJs. Disney hates suspenders.

[@jacobsimonpietri1609]

I wish they had made the action scenes brighter. I couldn’t see what was going on half the time whenever it was night time

[@deliat7478]

Yeah I was really excited for Crusty's shop cuz Percy and Grover have no idea what's going on until someone gets caught in a bed and Crusty's about to chop off Grover's head or stretch Percy. They had to work together to find a solution while information about the monster is slowly gathered by the monster. Then they use that information to defeat it. And then in the series Percy just walks in and knows what's up. It was so sad, cuz that challenge brought the gang closer together in the book. Another thing I missed was the scene on the truck with the Zebra. They do plan in the truck but Annabeth also opens up to Percy and it's a cute scene of them bonding. Then they work together to work the bubblegum out of the albino lion's and Zebra's mane. I think Percy even realizes he kind of understands the Zebra! I'm not saying I needed these exact scenes, but character stuff was totally missing (especially for Annabeth). I hope they go more into Annabeth's backstory and flaws. I'm really excited for Circe's Island in the Sea of Monsters. The Siren scene is also super important.

[@versacekami20]

While I do really appreciate the more accurate depiction of the book, I’m kinda disappointed they pulled their punches on a lot of things. Also I kind of felt that annabeth didn’t have as good of a chemistry with Percy and grover

[@haydendegrow945]

If there is one thing i always keep in mind when watching these adaptations, it's this: The emotions and thoughts of the characters are not nearly as easy to show in visual media when compared to books. And I know this because I AM a writer,. In books, especially when focusing on one character, you can easily write about their innermost thoughts and feelings, and have them describe parts. Adapting that to visual media is very difficult, and is why over 90% of adaptations fall short in that one category alone. This one, I felt, had a different feel about the story, and was disappointing in some parts but made me cheer in others. Knowing that taking all the points from the book and turning them into a cohesive series is a massive challenge, I think they did... alright? I'm giving a ranking of 7/10... not perfect by any stretch but still pretty good... better than the movies, anyway. I just hope the second season does better, especially as we are about to delve deeper into the relationships between characters in this one.

[@caseycampbell4787]

The part about Crusty made me so mad. They completely rushed through the fight, and in the book it was amazing how they outsmarted him. It was really weird how Grover like forgot everything, and kinda seemed like his memory wasn't gonna come back, and really weird to me how they missed the solstice deadline. The show itself was pretty good though, at least for this being my first time watching it. If I rewatch, IDK if my opinion will change. My favorite episode is still the 3rd one. The concensus song made me laugh.

[@PwnzerProductions]

While I agree that Sea of Monsters has the potential to fix all these issues and be great, I kinda hate using that to excuse the quality of this season. Lots of shows have rough first seasons where they find their rhythm, but when each season of a show is based on a whole book, one dud season is an entire book of potential wasted. The Lightning Thief is so special to me because it opened the door to this amazing world for me, and it really sucks that I can’t seem to have a good adaptation of it after two separate attempts

[@genesisp3884]

You perfectly articulated what I felt about the show. I also wish the set design and CGI were more stylistic. The action definitely needs work, especially since there will be more intense action scenes as we get further into the books. I really hope season 2 improves significantly. There's so much potential that I feel is being squandered. They also need to talk about the MIST!

[@Eva01-jy2qu7pu9r]

This whole series felt like a checklist of scenes and book accurate moments to include for the fans, instead of an actual show that builds up to these events naturally. Rather than try to properly adapt the story, Riordan and Disney took the cheap way out and made an adaptation that has all the beats, but no rhythm to hold them together.

[@maliser8]

And its not even that accurate. Like they seem to have the major story beats, but the journey there and the ways they overcome their obstacles have been changed, sometimes it seems like for no reason. I understand some things need to be changed for a tv medium and I'm ok with some, like I think the arch episode works pretty well, and them knowing medusa is ok because she's so famous (although how they beat her is kinda boring). But they go to Waterland and instead of a fun action piece with the whole trio contributing we get an unnecessarily dramatic sacrifice and speech and weird Hephaestus appearance. Instead of Percy slowing figuring out the Lotus Hotel, they just know right away and then just have Hermes show up to give more info. Its just a ton of small changes that add up, and that imo, don't make the show better. And that's just the story, I feel like some of the characters, mainly Annabeth and Grover, suffer from weird changes.

[@hannahweaver6036]

Yes to everything you mentioned. In addition, to me, the characters in PJO are the focal point. They are distinct and you fall in love with them. And in the show rn they are not very strong in my mind. This is a big reason why the show just does not give me the same visceral, deep feelings the books do. For being a visual show that's extremely disappointing that it can't compare to what the books can conjure in my head, even visually. I'm just not invested.

[@benconnolly9883]

I was waiting for your video on this 😁 I was sad about certain things but really excited about others, and I hope they take some of the major criticisms into account for the second season. For what it's worth, the scene with Annabeth and Hephaestus was really great, probably the best original scene. But don't get me started on Hades and how they made the EXACT SAME mistake as the movie did. He doesn't feel menacing at all, when he's supposed to be the first "godlike" entity Percy meets

[@SuperMoviemaster21]

You state that you want audiences who read the books to “feel surprised” and have something new, with the same kind of thing that’s in the books. Well, that’s what the movies overall did, even with their changes, they certainly accomplished that quite well despite what the majority thinks. Even people on here agreed at the films worked well even if not perfectly, even more satisfyingly

[@Nio744]

Overall I liked it and found certain changes worked better but I hated the blackout everytime a "chapter" ends. Really distracting. I could go further about grover's wierd actions in the beginning or how there are moments where annabeth says something stupid when she's supposed to be the smart one. but I'm not gonna go into that. I had a decent time with it. But this show has things it can improve on.

[@gtdc4685]

Not to sound like a nerd, but the black out weren’t the chapter ending. In the book, there were star thingys in between paragraphs to show time skips. That is what the blackouts are and they are horrible

[@Nio744]

@@gtdc4685 yeah whoever came up with that can go straight to tartarus.

[@gtdc4685]

@@Nio744 agreed

[@CINEMAZE]

I’d never read the books and so this succeeded in getting me interested in the world and the lore, but it felt very exposition heavy with Percy walking into each episode explaining things. It felt like it was skipping chapters of a book and just telling the gaps to us instead of showing it. And I felt like the start with Percy in school could have gone on longer to show us his original life and struggles. And it often felt held back by the Disney young audience rating. Not a great start but I’m interested in seeing more and I think they can fix a few things easily

[@oliviab4079]

I thought the show started off strong but started to fall off about halfway through. I found it weird how the trio kept splitting up to Percy/Annabeth and Grover off to the side by himself, it felt like he was just third wheeling and the show only cared about Percy and Annabeth's relationship.

[@gtdc4685]

The relationship that isn’t supposed to be a thing until TLO

[@JamesLawner]

My biggest issue was how overly dramatic it was (inclusive of the characters). It's been more than a decade since I last read the Lightning Thief, but I'm pretty sure it had a more a comedic tone compared to this show. Also, the whole Lotus Casino was actually better handled in the movie adap than here. I agree, this show lacked a lot of tension and suspense, and there were moments from the book that weren't done in the show at all (like the way the characters entered the Underworld through a building of a record label company that was completely redone on the show that I can only guess was redone because of fear of conspiracy theories??). Also, why wasn't John Stamos cast as Hermes? The show could've used more actors of Greek-descent tbh. Lastly, Ares was the one character on the show I liked that actually had personality.

[@evgenkhersonets880]

The show trades fun and suspence for logic and themes.

[@Theemightyquinn101]

I think for hte most part you nailed it. they do it just like the the book, but there isn't any emotin or intensity, it's just breezed through and we most on the to the next over complicated exposition scene. It's like the creators thought that since it's from the book, people will care about it, they didn't actually try to get the audience to care about things. The only exception to this was percy's relationship to his mom, and sort of his dad. If you only do things like the book and expect us to care because it's in the book, then there is no reason to watch the show, I can just read the book.

[@ashleyterry6424]

It watched the way spark notes reads. You get the major plot points but if your english teacher asked you to give motivations, underlying tones, themes and character development you would have a hard time justifying your position.

[@athenasaber738]

As a person who loved the books, I was so happy with this series. I can't wait for next season to see Tyson. But I'm really looking forward to season three and finally getting The Ghost King.

[@superanxiety261]

This vid was really great man. I fell in love with Percy Jackson during the pandemic so I was kinda disappointed in how this show turned out. Also random aside plus you probably already answered this but you ever doing more my hero?

[@heftyjongle2958]

Percy blocking Ares’ strike while on the ground should have killed him the way Percy held his sword, he needed his other hand on that sword to fully soak Ares’ downward strike

[@WonkyGrub]

I think they really shot themselves in the foot by really punching up the amount that Percy's mom taught him about the gods and all of that. Sure, it is more technically realistic. but when you can clock every threat, an dhow to avoid or defeat it almost instantly every time, tension is just never there, and there barely even seems like any character growth or overcoming an actual obstacle is happening. It just makes the show very flat and takes a lot of the wind out of the best bits of the book. Not sure if that is something other people felt as well.

[@LostCauseClown]

Your thumbnail had me going, 'Wait, which hobbit is that?'

[@AgntSmi7h]

The best way I tell my friends how I felt about this show is that I kinda had to force myself to watch it. If I feel like I have to force my self to watch something then there's something wrong.

[@notyoshi124]

Always exited for an upload lol

[@vianney8127]

I didn’t like the actions scenes at all. Especially in the scene with Medusa, I was really excited the to see the fight between her and Percy, Annabeth, and Grover, because it was my favorite scene in the book and I was so excited to see it on screen, but when the actual scene came up, it felt so scripted, like if they knew what to do and how to stop her. Which really disappointed me, because in the book, Percy had no idea what he was doing, Annabeth was warning the boys to cover their eyes as she was fighting her and Grover was the one who like pushed her off or something and it was so fun to visualize it, but the show kind of took that away. I was so disappointed.

[@jukori]

feel the biggest problem of DPJ is the huge amount of exposition (let the action speak, leave some questions unanswered, show some fun)

[@thitipatwongmek5140]

a lot of moment that they suddenly cut to black screen which feels kind of odd

[@gtdc4685]

In the books, there would be little star thing in between paragraphs. That's what the cut to black represents, and it translates horribly.

[@mplbooks]

I thought it was only fine. There was so little tension or struggle, and the trio didn't gel for me. It felt like going from plot point to plot point, very surface level, not a lot of depth. Not terrible, but it gave me zero feels.

[@nataliesquire969]

The show had no sense of danger when it came it both monsters and gods. The trio immediately sizes up every monster they come across and beat them in a 3 second fight scene (with the exception of the chimera but that scene was also too short imo). When it came to the gods, they never showed any reasons to fear them. In the book, Percy views Dionysus as a pudgy old man that would hang out with gabe, until through a vision, Dionysus shows Percy some of the horrible things he’s done to mortals who disrespected him like turning sailors to dolphins. Ares has empty eye sockets with fucking flames inside and a motorcycle with a seat covered in what Percy describes as “Caucasian human skin”. I’m not saying the show had to do these exact things but the books made SURE to let the readers know that gods were not to be messed with.

[@thegreenthunder5416]

I started watching it and couldn’t finish it. It can’t even hold my interest, it adds stuff that wasn’t in the book, takes away cool moments from the book, the dialogue is flat, and the pacing is way off. There’s no sense of urgency or adventure, and it somehow makes the movie look better in comparison since even the movie knew how to make this cool and tense.

[@caesar98]

I felt like Disney gave them a very limited budget that limited what they could do. Rick Riordan said that the spiders from the amusement park got cut because of the budget which is so sad because that was such a character moment for Annabeth both showing her arachnophobia and intellect with the jump. I wish the episodes were longer or more of them. The Ares fight was so anti-climatic being at the start of ep 8. All in all I like it but I hope they have a bigger budget for season 2, the book is shorter (if I remember correctly) so 8 ep will probably be enough for the story

[@ABoredYoutuber]

They had 15 million per episode. The budget was more then enough

[@caesar98]

@@ABoredKZbinr she-hulk (& most marvel shows) had 25 million per episode when working with primarily adult actors so no restrictions on their workday. I don't know much about budgeting for TV productions so I'm going from what has been said in the media and a lot of changes were due to time or budget constraints. Next season will have to be more CGI reliant as most of it is at sea or magical islands so I hope their budget will increase

[@brit869]

I generally liked the series particularly the relationships between characters, but I definitely agree that the stakes were kinda randomly allocated.. moments of huge importance were turned into low stakes life lessons and the only time I felt really worried was when Percy was speaking to Zeus. I appreciated the notion of creating lots of parallels between characters but at some point it began to take away from the adventure aspect. The show had good sets and good lighting so it's a shame that the framing and shots were so stock standard

[@squishyazalea9970]

I hated how they portrayed the gods, especially hades just being a businessman basically

[@misfits9294]

One of my biggest critiques can be summed up by what I noticed watching the Ares fight; it lasted two minutes. I am NOT joking, I timed it. I had to go back and time it myself, starting from where the actual fight starts about two minutes into the episode, and then by the time Ares had been defeated, it was two minutes in total. This was supposed to be the most badass scene in the book, something Percy's actor was even most excited for! And it lasts two minutes, not even joking.

[@michealboudreaux]

I haven't read the books, but I very much enjoyed the show. It wasn't my favorite thing ever, but it was fun and engaging, and a touch moving at points, which was nice.

[@annissim4]

I did not read the books and kinda felt throughout the entire thing that the show was more of a drama (which was fine by me - a depressed 27 year old). But I also noticed that it did not capture the attention of the target audience - people like my 11 year old sister, who didn't watch the first movie and had no basis of comparison. The lack of excitement really was what killed it for her.