I absolutely agree with your assessment! It really did feel like Rick had gotten bored of what he did originally and he changed so much just for the sake of doing something different, but in doing so they lose a lot of the magic of the original
I generally enjoy this show, I hope Disney can keep collaborating with Rick, and bring all the books in the tv universe, I’m talking all the Percy Jackson and the heroes of Olympus books… so we can get the entire series in a tv show/movie format…
Personally I was a little dissatisfied with Annabeth’s characterization. I don’t think they really captured her softer more vulnerable side, which I think is important to remind you that she isn’t actually a perfectly smart, super badass warrior, she’s really just a kid under all that. The reveal with Luke at the end was the biggest sin. Book Annabeth would’ve been an emotional wreck, probably still in denial, but show Annabeth just kind of… seems a little disappointed but accepts it? And then it doesn’t seem like it really affects her at all after that? Her and Luke’s relationship in the show was just lacking in general tbh
I absolutely agree with this, which is unfortunate because I thought her portrayal was close to perfect in the first few episodes but later when she was coming out of her shell and opening up more, it definitely showed how lacking her softer side is. One of my favorite details about the books is that Annabeth cries at least once in every book. She's a very sensitive kid and it doesn't take away from how badass she is. I felt like the show thought making her too vulnerable would somehow undercut how tough she is, which is a shame. In the books, she was horrified at Percy's impertinence regarding the gods and she was terrified when Ares showed up. She seemed so nonchalant about Ares' presence in the show and was even talking back to him. They also opted not to show us how afraid of spiders she is and had Luke tell us instead. I'm sure they'll elaborate on that in future seasons (which we'll hopefully be getting) but this just further points to the show being averse to showing Annabeth being vulnerable. I think it's something that would be increasingly noticeable if they keep this up because she's one of the most emotional characters in the series. I really hope they amend this because my favorite scene in Sea of Monsters is when she was horribly sobbing in Percy's arms due to the sirens' vision. We learn so much about Annabeth in that scene, it would be a shame if it got cut or underplayed.
The moment annabeth came in ready to kick his ass I just turned the TV off and have already decided the show could have been I hear them talking about how It was a matter of money how they can make the Percy and Aries by anything like how it was in the book like there were no cops all he did was someone in one big wave after getting a light thrashing from the god of war the fight the fight in the book could have been done cheaply they just are stupid like I was disappointed in Rick Riordan for his casting choices plot changes it was all just wrong like why be a producer and let this stuff slide. As far as why wasn't the trident green? What in the hephaestus was the casino like Hermes wasn't in the first book or hephaestus I don't mind the flashbacks
annabeth gets flustered plenty in the books. the spiders in the tunnel of love ride are pretty significant because it's the first time she's really completely out of her depth and paralyzed with fear and it forces percy and the reader to confront the fact that she is literally just some girl going on this quest and is only more competent than percy because of her extensive preparation. she isn't some kind of hardened warrior (not yet anyway)
i think in the case of grover i never really got that sense of how cowardly he is in the books, he often felt like the showrunners forgot him which is a shame i also think that rick was chatting WAY too much shit about the movies for this series to be the way it is
I guess he’s just always hated those books for completely missing a lot of the point, he’s pretty consistent with that hate. it wasn’t just a marketing tactic for the new one.
I agree with that opinion about Rick, especially because most of the marketing for this series was that it was going to be better than the movies and completely faithful to the books, not a dumpster fire it turned out to be. There were so many key plot points that were distorted or removed that make you wonder how Rick even allowed this.
I think both could work for this if done well, but for some reasons creators/studio seem to act like when you make live action adaptation you MUST automatic. go for more dark,gloomy and serious tone. It seems they dont. understand that you can steel be funny, colorful and wondrous too. Good exampl of bad adapt. is Fate Winx - they drained all color and fun out of it. Luck. this Percy show didnt go that far in that direction, but still.. With cartoon it seems easier for them to stay fun and magical, wondrous and colorful.
They probably did but sadly animation isn’t seen as the same level as a live action for some reason. Plus even if we did get it animated in a few years they would make it live action 🙄
Percy jackson just isn't like harry potter in the sense that it doesn't work as well in live action because of how the world is it's not as magical and majestic as hp its more real world solutions but with monsters and Greek mythology which works way better as animation
I feel like people are to obsessed with lore and scare of filler It feels like the shows Just adapt the big events and dont Care about the feels and vibes
Am I the only one who thought Chiron felt really off in this adaptation? He felt really flat and stern, and nothing like the kind-hearted camp counselor from the books, or even the movies. He felt like he was there to do a job, not because he wanted to support the kids.
I felt that too actually, with the exception of his final moments in the show where I got a bit more of that father figure impression. But no he made much less of an impact than book Chiron, and either of the movie Chirons
At least the film felt breezy and easy to watch. The filmmakers knew how to construct a scene even if the scene was destructive to the book. It felt like a chore to watch this show, like having someone read the sparknotes of the book to you with all tension and intrigue ripped out.
Spectacle vs character drama. I'd take character drama any day. The show definitely isn't perfect, especially the pacing, but step back and determine why. Yes, the culprit of that is the number of episodes and the short runtime, and the writers have to work around the runtime they were given. And they definitely made it work albeit not perfectly. And they focused more on the character drama than epic spectacle.
the lack of this is cool, really hurts the show and thanks for putting it in to words. Watching it with kids who havent read the books, we didn't get passed episode 2 because they were so bored and didn't care because the show seems to entirely depend on 'look the scene from the book word for word' to engage adult book fans but for kids, that just doesn't catch them and if the world felt cool, if percy was awed by the lore not just shrugging and going yeah I know, maybe the kids would care too? and thats not a percy's actor thing, it's the whole shows approach of yeah, lack of remembering its cool. Only us adults got to the end, the kids just checked out.
Very interested to hear about the kid perspective because I did spend the whole thing wondering if there was enough here to get new people on board, or if it was just FOR DA FANS
Yea I did enjoy it. Have some critisism but mostly good. But as a fan of the books I probably approach the whole thing very different than someone not familiar. They have to do less work to convince me that the world and the characters are great because I already think that. I'll try to get my friends to watch to get another opinion. It's a good adaptation but the real question is: is it a good story?
"I see tons of fans excusing the flaws of the show with "it is for kids, you are not the target audience." Well, I watched it with two kids who are from the target audience. One left halfway through episode 1, and the second, a little older, sat through the first episode, but when I tried to put on episode 2, he asked me if we could watch something else
I think it was ok, but it seemed like Rick decided to make sure it was utterly different to the previous adaptation and made larger changes, while also speedrunning the story at the same time. The show just felt strange in terms of pacing, and that really hurt the show.
Glad it’s not just me who thinks this, I’ve been really detached from the consensus of this show so it’s nice my criticisms aren’t wildly controversial
Rick made d-mb and very unnecessary changes and actually massacred his own creation. 😥 I can get pass other changes but missing the deadline? How can he be fine with that?!! Didn't he realise how terribly it mess up the characters? Percy is supposed to be the Greek hero. Who fights for others but by missing the deadline ,when he knew this will breakout a catastrophic war, it justs makes him selfish. Furthermore, in the show the trio knew about casino's effect and throughout the quest they apparently knew everything and everyone so they were playing in easy mode. They also had gods to assist them. So technically it should mean they had more time then book version to be on time YET they failed!! Even then Percy couldn't stop Zeus and his father had to surrender! 🤦 (Who approved this ??!) Sure ,it's a tender moment but it's Percy's story, he has to be the one earning respect from everyone. (I am really questioning what actually Percy's character achieves in this adaption?) Whereas in the book despite being clueless and not knowing what the casino does they still managed to do their task! If fans actually start to analysis the show as it is they will soon realise it's actually quite bad adaption which it didn't even give it's lead, the son of Poseidon it's glory. It turned such impactful characters into incompetent and careless ones, who even though had everything handed to them still couldn't do their task! 😭
Oh yes, I like Percy Jackson and have LOTS of opinions, so I’m glad to see your opinion on it. On my part, I think the shows main sin is that….it is boring. And if feels like that bc of the problems you listed. Weird, rushed pacing, short episodes with weird cuts and underwhelming visuals and worldbuilding. I didn’t fell in love with the story, nor it’s world. It all felt incredibly mundane, and I think for a fantasy kids show, that’s kinda of unforgivable. Where is the sense of wonder or adventure? Other than that, although I love the cast (ironically, I think Grover was my favorite), I don’t think the direction let them shine as much as they could, especially Walker. It’s just, they spend so much time being very serious kids, concerned about the mission or whatever…they don’t quite feel like kids or like a group of friends. One of the highlights was the car scene at Cassino Lotus. That was fun and silly and something kids would do. I just needed more, WAY MORE of that. But I do love the cast. In interviews especially, you can see their chemistry, how in tune they are, I just wished we could’ve seen more of their energy on the actual show. I hope we get a season 2 for them only. And to finish this, ppl shit on the movies bc they are bad, but as least they are fun and knew how to sell the sense of wonder of that fantasy world. And that is WAY more important than being faithful to the source material.
Aryan Simhadri’s Grover was my favorite part of the show too! And I loved the vibe of that car scene too, the show really should’ve just had more fun with its own characters
This! They feel so much like their characters _outside_ of the show! But their chemistry and personalities are so suppressed, whether by the writing or directing or both. They don't feel like friends, more like polite classmates.
I have a question for modern tv writers is it too much to ask character based filler episodic serialised shows anymore? Some of my favourite shows from early 90s to early 2010s used this to not only get audiences familiar with the characters but also for the writers themselves to know what kind of show they want. Nowadays writers think filler bad or not prestigious. Imagine if a Chef hates making sandwich because it has some filler in it and just wants customers to eat meat it's great and filling but the customer will forget but if you get simple yet effective filler with a good meat its memorable forever for the customers.
Yeah stripping everything down to what feels like the bare essentials tends to just lead to missing out on supposedly superfluous things that are in reality just as essential
I think streaming services are also to blame. Seasons of television used to be like, 20 episodes long at least. Nowadays it seems like the average first season is 8-10 episodes that we’re meant to binge in a single day, leaving less room to just spend time with the characters.
@@cartoonishidealism582 yeah I read in The Ringer that this is more of less done so that people running the company can show the board of directors some kind of growth.
The word filler lost all meaning, If caracther development its happening its not filler People seem to Just want the big event that can be talk about in TH-cam vídeo with suprise faces
I feel like we should have every character’s background showed. Like Percy had his childhood shown. I think Annabeth and Grover should have something for them shown. Eg. We should have seen Annabeth be called dumb in school by bullies (this in the books was due to her being blonde so… a bit hard to do that now but its still possible it just won’t make as much sense), and thats when we see why Annabeth has the need to prove herself constantly. We need her past shown (even if we see this in the next books) but I need the backstory to get attached to the character when its on screen like this. I need Grover’s past shown to understand why he’s going on the quest. I need to ser Grover’s failure with bringing back Annabeth, Thalia and Luke and his dream of being Pan’s searcher. We see this a shown a bit better though throughout his sequence where he talks to Percy about the environent, but its not enough for us to click to why he wants to search for Pan (cus we have no clue who Pan is) So yeah mainly they seem to talk about things more then showing us. I think Percy was established well and even Sally. I liked the backflashes for us to connect, but if we don’t get it for the rest of the cast… the main character is just not enough to hold us. They’re ruaging things. For eg. Percy and Annabeth don’t start having romantic scenes until book 3. Here we seem to get too much of them, and Annabeth seems to just fall under: she’s there cus she’s the love interest. She’s literally useless in the show cus Percy knows everything and can somehow fight better then her. WHERE IS HER DAGGER? Why is she not the one to figure everything out?
Should’ve been an animated show with longer and more episodes. Sad that either the author or the studio blatantly lied to us about the show being a fully faithful adaptation. I’d even say I kinda prefer the movies in some ways.
I felt really sad about how many times I found myself thinking that the show was at the same level of the movie in regards to quality and storytelling, even thinking that the movie did some things BETTER than the show (the Lotus hotel for example). The characters just know everything that is happening, they know about Medusa, they already know about the hotel so it doesn't affect them, Percy already knows about Crusty's mattress store, etc. They're never surprised by anything because they already know everything, there's no stakes, they never feel like they're in danger and to me nothing really feels earned, the show was just hitting plot points from the book because it had to do it, but everything just ends so fast. I LOVE Percy Jackson and I want to support anything that comes out about this franchise, but this first season disappointed me a lot.
im very glad I didn’t give up on this show because I think it really stuck the landing at the end - the cast was great and it was genuinely very touching in places! - but I honestly don’t know if I would have got that far if I didn’t adore those books when I was twelve 😅 the story was a lot more exposition-y than I picked up on as a kid (hazards of adaptation tbf) and it got very slow in the middle 😅 but the main three are just perfect (especially Walker and Leah!) and i think they got the feel of the world just right! I really hope we get s2 so they get the chance to iron out any issues from the first season and get to the really good bits of this story!
I might be totally misremembering but I feel like the later books might be better suited for a more serialised story, rather than the episodic “a rushed episode for every stop along the way” approach. We’ll have to see I suppose, first about whether it even happens
I didn't read the books so I actually found it could've done with more exposition to explain the world since I was left with loads of questions that I'm sure would've been self explanatory if I understood more of the mythology and world which the show just rushed through too much. Now that exposition should of course be delivered in a natural way so it doesn't feel too exposition-y.
i still think the show should've been animated, Walker talking about his eyes burning after two days of filming underwater, in relation to his anxiousness for filiming scenes in Sea of Monsters, has made this undeniable to me.
@@RabbiB0Ytrolls? Spiderverse? Tangled? Nimona? There’s so many styles it could have emulated and been so charming and whimsical instead of the forced realism despite it being fantasy lol.
An with animation you can allowed yourself to not be that serious because is just that. And the power sequence could be longer and powerful to the eye to see just like anime with all the fantasy franchise they have. But oh well is to late to backout now I guess. (Sorry for my english is nlt my first language)
Honestly those scenes in the movie were way more fun and dynamic than anything in this show. I’m completely confounded how they stripped all the intrigue, tension, and fun out of Percy Jackson in exchange for technical, strict “accuracy” to the books. In doing so, they made a show that is in tonally “inaccurate” and hallow.
joe, i honestly have no interest in percy jackson whatsoever. but your discussions are such a positive breath of fresh air that i just decided to watch this video anyway. keep doing what you do my dude
I appreciate this comment so much, it can be hard branching out into topics that 99% of my audience don’t care about so it’s really nice when people show me this kind of support.
lol, you pretty much summarized my thoughts exactly around this show. I loved the cast, and they nailed the finale (for me) but the middle parts were a little too fast and too much for us to really appreciate what's happening in this world and to these characters. i hope future seasons are a lil slower in pace and longer in duration. this story deserves breathing room! great video from a fellow rian johnson/reylo stan!
Breathing room is exactly the word, it’s in those moments that you really fall in love with the books, the world and the characters. Thank you for the comment!
I recently listened to all 5 books last week and I enjoyed the show. I have some issues, but it's tv. There are going to be issues. I do think 10 episodes, an hour long each would be better. But the children were like 12 when they started filming. The kids are a little older now, so maybe it's possible
@@Joe_Brennan_ my main issue is that the writers are going to have to figure out a way for Percy to figure out what is going on that is not him monologuing. In the books all of this thought was in his head but it doesn't translate to screen very well.
I think that is one of those things that contributed to the feeling that Percy was two knowledgeable about events, even though in the books he did a lot of times figure things out in thought
Yeah I think that's a valid point actually, short of having his narration be omnipresent I think that's a real challenge. It needs to turn internal monologue into natural dialogue in a way that works.
Very much agree on the pacing and exposition issues, but also definitely feel that the show begins to find its feet in those last few episodes. Fingers crossed that in the future seasons there’s a bigger sense of wonder and more character moments.
I've seen a lot of people talk about how the show needed more time and there wasn't enough time to do everything it needed to, but I kind of disagree. The book isn't very long, and I feel like the main issue is the pacing and the stuff they added in. They did so much expo dumping that significantly drew out a bunch of scenes in boring ways, but then they would rush the action scenes. I really agree with your sentiment at the end that this just feels like a typical first season of a show, though. I really feel like season 2 is going to hit it out of the park and improve on the weaker points of season 1.
I was really looking forward to this coming out, watched the first two episodes on release day, the third the weekend after it came out and then genuinely forgot about it for a while which I've never experienced for. It's not that I didn't enjoy it while I was watching, but it held no space in my brain the moment I wasn't watching anymore. I'm going to try and binge it when I get chance as I do want to enjoy it having loved the books, but for some reason or other it just didn't hook me in when watching weekly.
As someone who hasn't read the books (except heroes of Olympus but I barely remember them) I kept wondering "why are we actually meant to be on the side of any of these gods, all of whom are kind of shit" as well as generally questioning the reasons for choices the protagonists made because they were so rushed by the pacing. The show never really took the time to explain enough of the lore or reasoning behind what Percy etc did, so it all seemed a bit impulsive since the internal monologue found in a book just isn't present in a TV show. There are several moments where one of them gets ready to sacrifice themselves for the quest and the desperation of the moment, the reasoning behind that choice etc were never really conveyed. Choosing to sacrifice yourself should be a last option when everything else has failed. Yet it always felt like they arrived at that last option way too early before they'd exhausted all other possibilities, which was probably due to the pacing. I also found it a shame we barely got to see camp half-blood and understand the different houses etc. Overall it would've just needed more time in each individual location and to accommodate that they could've maybe cut one or two of those locations.
That said, the show was enjoyable enough that combined with a weekly release schedule I kept coming back every week for a new episode and I would watch a second season if it gets made
Felt the second episode and last episode were the best of the season, but every other week I couldn't help feeling things were rushed and that the show was lacking the emotional beats neccesary to feel satisfied by how things wrap up. Every moment that was intended to feel emotional felt squandered by awkward pacing. It's also very odd to hear about how much money was put into this show, but not really be able to recall a single memorable set piece? I also think this is due to poor direction and writing as almost every climactic moments wraps up in thirty seconds or so? Also didn't help that some of these episodes were 29 minutes when you exclude credits and the next episode teaser. A lot of the issues with the Medusa or Lotus Casino episodes could have been solved by extending to that 45-50 minute mark. There's plenty of streaming that go well past the 50 minute mark when needed. There shouldn't be a fear of losing attention or an excuse that they're "making a kids show." Plenty of kids still watch the Harry Potter movies in one go and Chamber of Secrets is 160 minutes. I want to see more because I think they have a lot of the right ingredients to make an incredible show, but I hope Rick is being honest when he says they're taking feedback.
I had no idea how widespread the pacing/length criticism would be but the fact it seems pretty unanimous gives me hope for future seasons (if we even get one)
The movies are bad adaptations, but that's the thing: adaptations. They at least understand the basics of creating visual media. This show was more focused on being faithful than making an actually good TV series
I didn't really care about the show because the only Rick Riordan's books that really mean something to me are Trials of Apollon but my mom really liked the show and I'm happy for her.
I don’t have any attachment to this series, so I therefore don’t have a dog in this race. I’m willing to observe from the sidelines how Disney plans to make up all the ground they lost in 2023 from streaming and theatrical flops. If reviving the YA and middle-grade fantasy genres is their next strategy, I’m curious to see what else they will adapt.
I was only somewhat unsatisfied with this show, which was very surprising as I was expecting to be disappointed massively! Thats less of a comment on the show’s quality itself and more to do with the lacklustre output from Disney shows recently. I agreed with almost every point you made, except for saying that it should have cut out elements to make it flow better. Percy Jackson would have been much better serviced if it had more episodes, to flesh out plot points and like you say, give us a better look at characters like Clarissa. This was a fab video essay, the format you use is really enjoyable and I look forward to your uploads!
I very much mean that ideally you’d give the show more time to achieve this stuff properly, but if they were limited to this length by outside restrictions, they should’ve done less. Thank you for the comment, I hope you continue to enjoy.
I've seen the movies from 2010 and 2013, but that is all. As the target audience, the books were a little after my generation. I've watched and enjoyed your channel as much for your style as what the content is. This comment is more thumbs up to Joe Brennan than Percy Jackson.
i see a lot of potential for the show in upcoming seasons. While they didn't always delivered in S1, the times they did, it felt like they understood the material. A lot of people complain about the action, but for me, the drama and the characters' development is where the good stuff is at. I'm sure they can get better at the actions sequences, but come on, Percy is 12. I hope they don't neglect the drama and characters in favor of action. Also, better pacing and a little less exposition (for anyone who doesn't remember Annabeth does explain a lot of things to Percy in the books) although I kinda think the exposition in this season was justified.
I'm a late bloomer to the books due to the fact I wanted to see this show all because of it and understood why the films were so hated (i.e. this paralells my experience with 'Eragon'; a great book turned Hollywood bastardization to which coincidentally Disney Plus also acquired the rights to and wants to adapt with the author's involvement). Then again I enjoyed both the book and the show but also agree they played the show a little too safe at times even if they were targeting pre-teens. I watched it with my girlfriend who hasn't read the books but she enjoyed it quite enough especially to try an catch up to any Greek mythology references.
In the second Harry Potter movie Draco is the immediate suspect as the heir of Slytherin that released the mysterious monster in the school. We suspect him not just cuz he's a Slytherin, but because we've already seen enough of him as an antagonist in the previous film, and even moreso in the second one as someone with motivations that alligned with the heir of Slytherin (the persecution of muggleborn and halfbloods). This works. Clarisse being a suspect is something that actually couldve worked really well. Shes the daughter of Ares whos been involved on the trio's quest, they couldve tapped into her season 2 arc earlier where she desperately wants to prove herself to her dad, and moreso, shes already was an antagonist to Percy. But like you said theres not enough of her in this show that makes her a valid suspect, and thats the problem with this show. If its not that the fun and adventure, and even the subtle grimness of the books that has been watered down, its the fact that nothing in this show takes its time. Everything is moving too fast, in fact, so fast that the audience doesnt really even know where the show is supposed to be going. The percy jackson series is unfortunately just another Disney + show.
I feel like a lot of the ironic issue of the show is that the original lightning thief book was written WITHOUT the knowledge of Kronos and the path to come. But the show is written SPECIFICALLY to get us to that point. I thought the dream of Kronos initially would be like an Easter egg to come. Not the ironic main issue for the the entire main season; with very little surprise for the underlying villain to come 5 seasons later
I liked the show, some episodes were kind of bleh. Wasn't expecting a totally faithful adaptation, that would be a shock. MOst probnlems were in production and squeezing 26 chapters into 8 episodes.
"I Wish the Percy Jackson Show Was Better" You and me both. Not only were there way to many changes to the plot, to the point it wasn't even the same story anymore. But my biggest problem with the show, and this might just be me, was that over half the cast, at least, didn't even look like the character from the books they were supposed to portray. If I went into this without any prior knowledge as to who these actors were playing, I'd have no idea who these characters were without hearing their names first. Contrast this to the Harry Potter Movies, where I at least had an idea of who was on screen, because the actors at least looked similar to who they were portraying from the books. Heck, and I can't believe I'm saying this, despite the age difference, the Percy Jackson Movies at least got most of them correct appearence-wise. Luke looked like his book counterpart aside from the not having his scar. Percy had black hair and Annabeth, at least in the second movie, had blonde hair. Even Zeus looked more like how we generally knows Zeus to look. I don't hate this TV Show, I'm just very disappointed.
Hmmm I think I personally love the casting and while their appearances might not always match the book descriptions I feel like they do embody the VIBE of the role perfectly. Of course I was a bit sad that we didn't get the iconic percy look but I did get over that pretty fast because the kid was doing a great job. I especially love the annabeth actress. The portrayal of annabeth they chose is super interesting and I was fully on board and am excited for future seasons. The problem they changed to much I don't really understand I'm afraid 😅. I was at times quite happy to see some slight chances because it added a bit of suspense for someone like me who knows the book inside and out. I feel like they could've changed even more and I'm curious if later seasons will continue this almost beat for beat retelling or branch of in kind of a alternate universe scenario. Both could be a lot of fun if done well. (I think gabe was the only change I really didn't like that much. In tge book you really see him as a monster and how percy is affected by his awful homelife. Sally sacrificed so much and while I love how the show gave her so many standout moments I'm sad that she wasn't the one to medusa gabe. It's one of her coolest moments imo and her killing the monster in her home is so empowering)
I agree with you, I think certain characteristics especially, if they have plotlines connected to them should not be changed. I know you might get hate for this, but as someone who is relatively new to percy jackson and has seen reviews of the movies getting blasted for not beeing accurate enough (granted the movies hit an even higher level than the series), I feel like it is a bit hypocritical to say for one adaptation the looks are ammsively important and then completely ignore them for the other. This is especially true for main characters. As such I think many fans suffer from a kind of success syndrome commonly found for other streaming shows. What i mean by this, is that often critique points or important details, which have been pointed out in earlier adaptations, are not treated as harshly by fans, because thye just want to have the adaptation continue in fear of maybe terminating the show if they are too harsh or brutally honest.
I think you did a great job providing a balanced critique of the show, highlighting what you thought the producers did well and areas where they dropped the ball. You didn't sit there and trash the show for half an hour like I've seen others do. It was a truly constructive critique. So, thank you for that. Hopefully, the producers read and watch some of these reviews and are taking notes, so they can make necessary changes for Season 2. I hope Disney increases the budget and gives them more episodes to work with. Hell, even two more episodes would help.
I agree with most of the points here but I'd double down on the fact that with an extra 5-10 minutes per episode, the show would have been SO MUCH better. I loved these books dearly growing up, and even I loved some of the changes they made. Giving Percy 4 pearls but making the 4th not matter effectively sells the fact that Poseidon cares for Sally without changing the story at all. I think Annabeth and Percy figuring things out, to a degree, works - because they've learned and lived Greek Mythology for years. Casting on point. Tone was good despite the pacing issue, I think they will dial up the action going into sea of monsters and titans curse. Lightning Thief has always felt like the stepping stones up to the bigger story. I don't think there's a world where Disney doesn't try to make a season 2.
Yesss the sally and poseidon scenes are so great and I love how they did it. Poseidon was great in general (but maybe I'm biased bc i loved toby stephens in black sails)
@@Joe_Brennan_ Sounds like it just got renewed for season 2, so now it's just a matter of hoping they take that into account. I think if they're going to stick to ~35 minutes, there need to be 10 episodes. But 8x45+ minutes would be the sweet spot.
All I can say is that you can tell Disney had a set budget for the show. Disney was playing it safe. The actions could have been longer and more integrited. You can even tell the cgi is used sparingly as they cut some of characters key features. Hopefully Disney will up the budget and put more action for the next season due to the success
So after a bit of research on the showrunners (Rick is actually not one of the show runners than most of us would like to think, but yes, he was still involved with the process. Yet, it means Rick didn't always get the final says or even the changes for the adaption. But more than likely he as given at least say ins during various script meetings and the other processes through each stages of the show's completion). Only one of them has at least experienced with running a couple shows and more. 1 Showrunner has run shows that are historical and drama fiction. But yet, he had no experience of any fantasy shows nor films. May sound not as a big deal, and granted, every showrunner wants to dabble in other areas, however, when it's rather huge IP like PJ, you'll figure that a showrunner at least has an idea of knowing or has an experience of how to run a fantasy show before. The other show runner, this his first time ever running a show. Eh, every show runner starts from somewhere and giving a shot. But to me, I strongly think fantasy is beyond out of their element, yet. Which this PJ show from the start, was honestly feeling like showunners who has never handle something like this before. As with Rick...he's a good novel writer and should really invest his time into going to actual screenwriting workshops or something so that he'll be able to switch his novel writing from screenwriting in whatever he'll write next. He's such a novice at this script thing that it's a hard transition for any novel writers to make that leap. It's a huge adjustments and just how screenwriting has certain ways with writing screenplays, doesn't matter much what genre. And clearly, Rick doesn't understand the filmmaking language (since he's credit for writing 2 episodes, so there's that) and how visual storytelling is so important within the TV medium. And I kind of disagree with you when you said with books, authors can exposition in novels. Show don't tell also applies to even writing books as well and also understanding writing structure for readers to either see the journey unfold along with the characters or the readers knowing certain aspects and waiting for characters to figure it themselves. In a way, it's the author's magic trick. I think, like with TV shows, there needs to be some kind of balance that writers need to handle for a story to flow. Either way, in my opinion, I did found this show and the adaption to be weak and so many times I just frustrated with the show in general. Frustrated with how the filmmaking aspects were subpar; poor scripts, leads to wooden acting, weak directing, CGI is all over the place, pacing is odd, tone tries to emulate this serious tone but wanting to have its fun, yet it doesn't work, flat shots, flat lighting with no depth, and just below average. I don't think it's horrible, no, but just a huge meh. This show was given 12-15 million per episode and for sure with 8, it's going to be more than 100 million (more than what GOT Season 1 got, since that show was also a fantasy, since PJ is also a fantasy show but yes, gear towards a different audience, but both are still consider as fantasy in general) and to me, I think it's not the runtime nor not having enough episodes is the cause to deter the show not feeling as well-developed. No. I think it's down to poor time management and consistency problems. But it's just my opinion though and yes, sorry, this is long and many of you guys will point this out. Anyway, have a good day everyone.
I couldn’t see Annabeth or Percy in the series as them. Grover is amazing. And to me honestly Grover’s arc was to me more interesting cus theres more mystery. Annabeth to me fails to show motive. Like, why does she want to go on this quest? (In the book, at least later on, we find out through her own narration that she’s been bullied for being blonde and she had to prove herself and defy that. I don’t know why they decided that this arc wasn’t important enough to tell. Anyway thats more of my personally disapointement as a blonde girl who grew up with that sterotype and found comfort in her character. But still they didn’t show more of her motive such as her endless need to prove herself to her mother. Perhaps thats enough for a motive without the child trauma moment that sparks that motive.) Anyway they should have showed us more of her contribution. By making both Grover and Percy smart, it takes away from what Annabeth contributes to the trio. She falls into the “I’m here cus I’m the love interest”. She’s usually the Hermione of the group and we aren’t seeing that. Percy and Annabeth’s relationship is rushed. I feel no chemistry between the two characters… because they just met and they’re 12 in the series. I would not ship 12 year olds. They don’t start any romantic feelings until book 3 after Percy realises he needs to go on the quest to find her. The series isn’t building the story enough. It feels like a recap for book readers. My bf has never read the books and he was just confused by the series and didn’t understand the motives of why anything is happening.
It makes me nervous that Disney hasn’t renewed the show yet. Streaming has always been eager to renew the shows while the season was airing. And yet no word yet?!
I think streaming has been a bit less willy nilly with its spending in the last year or so, ever since they all realised it was a business model that earns you zero money
@@Joe_Brennan_ I can’t help feel like the writers strike has also taken its toll on filming, obviously so much of streaming is being renegotiated now, so saving up money is another factor
May I just say how interesting the experience of getting into the criticism on this show is, it's like a bell curve: First, you find whatever polar extreme you are in, then you clash with the other extreme and only when you really force yourself to really get into what all sorts of people think about this, do you eventually find your gold mine of well balanced reviews. I love what you have to say, because I as well love the show, love the story and want to see it as well executed as physically possible and I think it's going to be quite difficult for them to fix certain things without making it feel inconsistent to those types of mistakes made in the first season but I do think that if they really put their all into improving on what has been widely criticised, they could make it happen and if they do it's going to be even better.
Honestly after watching the show and the movies in close susccession. I think the show took the critque of the movies and shot to the other extreme. Yes the movies were lackluster, often not faithful and had stereotypes. But I think the movies were fun, the characters were at least a bit more accurate to the later books appearance wise and the world felt like it was really...well magical. I think the show took this and went let's be extremely faithful plotwise even if that means exposition dumping and acting like we already know anything. Who needs tension when it is accurate, nobody is suprised or awed, because the world should be known. Character interaction or chemistry.. well fun to be sure-- do not need those i need to have 33 more details. I think there should have been a better middle ground so as to solve the pacing and tension building and get better chemistry. Because Rick told us the changes were made because each actor had really good dynamic with each other, but as of now I do not see that enough. And if that is all, then we could have more accuracy for the looks, because the story does not have enough breathing room for good chemistry either way. Anyway this are just my two cents, and I only read a couple of books many years ago, so this is largely based on my experience on the movie and the series as well as possibly a bit of the last Olympian since it was the most recent one with only like 6-8 years that I read.
I feel this show is all of the body and structure of the books without any of the magic or soul that was captured in tne pages. Everything feels so rushed and glossed over. Just think about it when we were watching the Harry Potter movies growing up, some of the best scenes were when they focused on the atmosphere and world building, where they'd stop and show the world around our characters. Dragons, wizards, people flying on brooms in the background. I just finished reading tne book and one scene that stuck out to me was the chapter where Percy goes to Olympus and he's surrounded by hundreds of people, Satyr's, minor gods, and so on and they were all cheering him on for completing his quest even thoughhe didn't feel he quite deserved it...all that was cut from the show. There's so many moments like this that are absolutely missing from the show that could have captured some form of feeling or heart, or even been thought provoking but they are missing and it ultimately makes the show seem bland.
This show for me is disappointing at best. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either and the show is mid for me. I understand people willing to see past flaws because they always want a faithful adaptation at least plot-wise. Although I read the book series I tried so hard to like the show but it just wasn't for me and I felt bad for thinking like this. Also, I just miss the goofiness and comedy that the books have and yes I miss Percy just being dumb but a bit problem solver most unconventionally. Edit: Also Gabe in this show doesn't deserve what he gets in the end. I don't hate him enough to want him dead.
I agree with most of this review except Hades characterization. I did not want to see a "chill" Hades that is like your funny uncle. The gods should be a huge force as they are pretty scarce in the books but when the group encounters them its like oh shit. There was no magic to the Underworld. In the first book, the House of Hades is lined with soldiers from different wars and what not. What we got was the blue volume set with Hades walking across empty space.
I for one find that the first book has a lot of anticlimatic moments in the quest itself, mora than in latter books of the series in which Percy sometimes simply bodies the monsters (at least it is the impression I have). The structure of the book is very “monster of the week”. Eps 1, 2 and 3 are very strong in my opinion, ep 8 as well. The low point for me are eps 6 and 7, the Lotus Casino doesn’t fell treathening enough in my opinion and the underworld feels rushed, I think they could have spend 2 eps there and explored the characther dinamics instead of like hitting points A, B, C and D and that’s it. Otherwise, I think they do a pretty good job, the main theme of the show is family and they set it well for future seasons, on the action side, my main issue is the length of the scenes. Other than the capture the flag scene, everything else seemed like it was on the shorter side. I felt that the show was very imbalanced timewise but I still think that it is miles ahead of the film. Interestly I think that the stronger scenes/parts of the series are happen on the on set locations, it feels that they only take time to breathe on those.
I actually read the book very recently and was looking forward to the show. Honestly I pretty much comoletry agree with your review, it was very faithful almost too much. It definitely rushed through a lot of stuff just so it could be like we did the thing guys. There were some good bits but mostly pretty underwhelming although some high points. I stopped watching halfway through the show and literally forgot to go back to it until a week or two later which I think says it all really.
@@Joe_Brennan_ yeah I get that. On that grind baby 😂 love the content btw I love your very honest and laid back (although I'm sure it doesn't feel laid back from your end haha) just simply sharing opinions on the things you like with some genuinely very insightful thoughts. Have enjoyed much of your content especially as a doctor who fan. Keep the good work up mate!
I think Disney knows that people are getting burnt out with the volume of content (mainly Marvel and Star Wars) and they've been trying to compensate by making everything way shorter. Or it could just be a way to cut costs. Either way, I really feel like this should have been longer. My main complaints were that individual scenes moved too quickly to be impactful, and we didn't spend enough time in these genuinely interesting locations to be immersed. Obviously everyone wishes we could have spent more time in Camp Half-Blood, but it also undercuts the stakes of the quest when they just kind of move from location to location effortlessly.
This makes me wonder something: was the show able to capture new fans? Because to me as a Percy Jackson fan I had trouble even finishing it. Everything seemed to stale and watered down. Not once did I feel that magical wonder I felt when reading the books. The exposition missed the mark and felt so unnatural, and the fight sequences I was excited to see were underwhelming. Like what the hell was that Mrs. Dodds scene? Where’s the iconic: “WHAT HO, PERCY!”? While Chiron threw him the pen just in time for Percy to slice Dodds. They changed things they didn’t need to and it worked against the show. I also hated the fact that the trio already knew everything. oh that’s Medusa watch out! Oh that’s crusty the giant uh oh good thing we didn’t fall for his trap! Like that’s so boring come on 🤣.
t liked the show. i think the pacing is kinda messy. i hope it gets better. my biggest complaint is i think the trio owes Clarissae an apology for accusing her of being a traitor. that could have been another opportunity to give her a chance to shine. overall liked the show but it'd be crazy for them to not renew for another 4 seasons. i think they could learn from the errors of the casino episode and build off the grandeur and cooolness of the world.
I personally liked the show. I totally agree it has to make some improvements for S2 tho. Especially the trio knows everything stuff because while i GET that Grover and Annabeth were trained for this and Percy was raised to know a little of greek mythology, you could totally apply this AFTER the kids face a problem instead of before.. them realizing "Oh this is like that greek mythology story i know!" after they face a monster, could work as well instead of them already knowing before they face it. That said, I think the show has potential to improve. Maybe it is my Black sails fan talking, but J. Steinberg and Dan Shotz are great directors/producers so i do trust them to make a great show if they play their cards right. So yeah, in general, I think it is a show that while not perfect, it has the potential to be great if the writers and even Disney are smart enough to take fans valid criticisms and improve on the 2nd season.
Hello, JOE BRENNAN. Though I have thoroughly enjoyed this video I CANNOT comment on the quality nor the content of this television serial as I have not viewed it (though I hear it was NOT PERFECT). Next time please ask for my thoughts on any other number of topics that I am likely to be informed on.
@@Joe_Brennan_ Top notch. Great stuff. Gripping television. Easily Steve Thompson's best script across both Who and Sherlock. Very cool to me how much the characters' relationship can be tested in just a (super ultra long 90 minute) episode, and how much can be done with them in only 6 (super ultra long 90 minute) episodes! And I like the bit where he says "I am reichenbach falling, John, and I'm going to tell you how I survived"
I wished streaming allowed for more episodes and more "filler" (aka character/world-building over plot). The eight episode, 30-min format is not long enough to tell most stories, so the pacing is wack. PJO is no exception. In order to hit every story beat right without cramming (and change/or add things) it needed 10-12 episodes of 30 mins or even 45 min. And many of action sequences in the show fall flat, they're too short, with not enough suspense or build-up to make them feel dangerous or adventurous. I hope they change this for season two, and learn as it has the potential to be better.
I loved the sweeping look at mount olympos (city itself), i think they did great job at that and i wish they stayed there for little while. What i didnt like was over. feel of show. There are few things missing there, but i want ment. humor - i feel like it was lacking in this version it was almost like they were afraid of it and just sprinkled quips and jokes veeery carefully here and there. I remember books were pretty funny i dont know why in this vers. they all feel so serious. Plus Percy repeatedly being so eager to sacrice himself was really annoying to me - i was just "damn mate at least try someth. else first, make effort to solve issue and if that dont work then go for sacrif." Also him knowing almost everything beforehand didnt helped either - it lowered the stakes and suspense and also took things from Annabeth. She in this version barely shows anything - we dont see her supposed combat skill, we barely see her cleverness or tactical thinking. Yeah we get few nice moments with her later, but it just feels like we are getting scraps (of her real character) instead of proper meal.
It’s really interesting how “main character knows too much” is an issue that trickles down and causes problems in practically every other aspect of the show (pacing, characterisation, drama, tension)
I didn't read the books, but I watched the first movie adaptation and thought it wasn't great, but at least it was very entertaining, with cool visuals and some good action scenes. This show didn't work for me on any level. It felt small in scale, bland and boring, with no suspense or sense of adventure. Lots of heavy exposition instead of showing what they want us to know. Lots of dark scenes to disguise bad quality CGI and lackluster action. We rarely see Percy use his powers more than a second. We are told many times that Annabeth is the best warrior of them all, but we only see her throw a knife. They explain Medusa's story and make a point about how she is not just a monster, but that changes nothing and her end is the same. They don't explain why Percy's mother stays with that horrible man, as she clearly doesn't love him but she seems to be in control of the situation and capable of leaving him whenever she wants to. Hephaestus assures Annabeth one thing and seconds later does the opposite. I coul go on... Sloppy writing or scenes left out during the editing process?
The show definitely isn't perfect, especially the pacing, but step back and determine why. Yes, the culprit of that is the number of episodes and the short runtime, and the writers have to work around the runtime they were given. And they definitely made it work albeit not perfectly. And they focused more on the character drama than epic spectacle.
I totally agree with you. The series is much better than the movie, with good actors, the main trio is cool and it also corrects a lot of inconsistencies from the movies and even the books! But I do agree that they want to put so much in that everything goes too fast sometimes. Like I think the intro to the movie was better. Incoherent, but at least from the start BOOM! Lightning has been stolen. We know what we're talking about. Here, it's "Oh, by the way, lightning's been stolen" and we tell you that quickly at the end of episode 2 :3 Otherwise, I think this Gaby guy was actually really funny 🤣 he's such a jerk and a pathetic one that it's just hilarious. Like when he cries more for his car than for his missing wife. But yeah, he's not so bad that he deserves to die... :/ My biggest disappointment though: Medusa. I find the book and movie version boring, seen and seen again, not original at all, as deep as a footbath. BUT I'd rather that than have a complex, tragic and interesting version of the character dangled in front of me, believing that they're finally going to do her justice and make a GOOD version of her... if it's only to cut off her head anyway, as usual, because she's evil btw and then we need her head to turn Gaby to stone in the end anyway😒 And then I can't appreciate the Poseidon character with what he did to Medusa. Sure, they didn't go with the r*pe version, but what he did to her (screwing her to defile Athena's priestess in order to take revenge on Athena and then abandon Medusa to her fate), that's still a dirty trick! And I'm sorry, but a quick revelation that "actually Medusa is a bitch who kills innocent people too" is not going to fix that! Hey, that could have been addressed and Poseidon could have had a redemption on that as it seems to me that the point is that the gods evolve and MUST change. And if you want to stay true to the books and not stray too far from them with this... well DON'T INCLUDE THIS! Because otherwise it's very frustrating 😁😁😁 Voilà I liked the series a lot apart from this which disappointed me a lot😶 But at least my disappointment with this version of Medusa inspired me to write a fix-it fic of her story in Reylo AU^^ Great video! Thanks for your work!❤️
I was genuinely disappointed by Hades and Sally. Less sally and more her relationship with percy. It seemed at times that they tried to give him Mommy Issues and that jist genuinely baffled me. And while i love James Wood's Hades, i dont think it works for Book 1 Hades. Not even PJO Hades. This guy is like HOO Hades when he and Nico worked on their differences
Solid review, I have to say though I disagree with you on the cast. I felt their were several miscasts, most notably Jay Duplass as Hades. He didn't feel like the Hades of the book at all, Adam Copeland as Ares was decent, but man Manu Bennett would have been a far superior choice in my opinion. The problem with the gods aside from Zeus, Athena (who we don't even see btw) and Poseidon is that they didn't feel godly at all. As for the kids, its honestly too early for me to give my own assessment of them, Walker was fantastic as Percy, but the writing for Annabeth and Grover was so poor I can't really properly evaluate the other 2 actors. I would say the show's biggest problem is Rick Riordan himself. I feel like he was given too much creative control for a man who has zero filmmaking experience, and he is just overthinking and changing too many things. He wrote a fabulous book series that needed no changing. If you want to create a fresh twist and experience for hardcore fans who know the source material extremely well, they add new content here and there. To Riordan's credit he did do this was the additional Sally Jackson scenes. But, don't change events in the book that already exist. Hermes and Hephaestus had zero business being in season 1. Hopefully the upcoming Eragon Tv show on disney plus is better!
Let me know how you feel about the Percy Jackson series!
I absolutely agree with your assessment! It really did feel like Rick had gotten bored of what he did originally and he changed so much just for the sake of doing something different, but in doing so they lose a lot of the magic of the original
I generally enjoy this show, I hope Disney can keep collaborating with Rick, and bring all the books in the tv universe, I’m talking all the Percy Jackson and the heroes of Olympus books… so we can get the entire series in a tv show/movie format…
Personally I was a little dissatisfied with Annabeth’s characterization. I don’t think they really captured her softer more vulnerable side, which I think is important to remind you that she isn’t actually a perfectly smart, super badass warrior, she’s really just a kid under all that.
The reveal with Luke at the end was the biggest sin. Book Annabeth would’ve been an emotional wreck, probably still in denial, but show Annabeth just kind of… seems a little disappointed but accepts it? And then it doesn’t seem like it really affects her at all after that? Her and Luke’s relationship in the show was just lacking in general tbh
That’s true actually, I think because their relationship was so absent I didn’t even notice that the reveal was underplayed.
I absolutely agree with this, which is unfortunate because I thought her portrayal was close to perfect in the first few episodes but later when she was coming out of her shell and opening up more, it definitely showed how lacking her softer side is. One of my favorite details about the books is that Annabeth cries at least once in every book. She's a very sensitive kid and it doesn't take away from how badass she is. I felt like the show thought making her too vulnerable would somehow undercut how tough she is, which is a shame. In the books, she was horrified at Percy's impertinence regarding the gods and she was terrified when Ares showed up. She seemed so nonchalant about Ares' presence in the show and was even talking back to him. They also opted not to show us how afraid of spiders she is and had Luke tell us instead. I'm sure they'll elaborate on that in future seasons (which we'll hopefully be getting) but this just further points to the show being averse to showing Annabeth being vulnerable. I think it's something that would be increasingly noticeable if they keep this up because she's one of the most emotional characters in the series. I really hope they amend this because my favorite scene in Sea of Monsters is when she was horribly sobbing in Percy's arms due to the sirens' vision. We learn so much about Annabeth in that scene, it would be a shame if it got cut or underplayed.
The moment annabeth came in ready to kick his ass I just turned the TV off and have already decided the show could have been I hear them talking about how It was a matter of money how they can make the Percy and Aries by anything like how it was in the book like there were no cops all he did was someone in one big wave after getting a light thrashing from the god of war the fight the fight in the book could have been done cheaply they just are stupid like I was disappointed in Rick Riordan for his casting choices plot changes it was all just wrong like why be a producer and let this stuff slide. As far as why wasn't the trident green? What in the hephaestus was the casino like Hermes wasn't in the first book or hephaestus I don't mind the flashbacks
annabeth gets flustered plenty in the books. the spiders in the tunnel of love ride are pretty significant because it's the first time she's really completely out of her depth and paralyzed with fear and it forces percy and the reader to confront the fact that she is literally just some girl going on this quest and is only more competent than percy because of her extensive preparation. she isn't some kind of hardened warrior (not yet anyway)
@@ishathakor yes, that's my point. I don't think they showed that side of her well in the show
i think in the case of grover i never really got that sense of how cowardly he is in the books, he often felt like the showrunners forgot him which is a shame
i also think that rick was chatting WAY too much shit about the movies for this series to be the way it is
I guess he’s just always hated those books for completely missing a lot of the point, he’s pretty consistent with that hate. it wasn’t just a marketing tactic for the new one.
I agree with that opinion about Rick, especially because most of the marketing for this series was that it was going to be better than the movies and completely faithful to the books, not a dumpster fire it turned out to be. There were so many key plot points that were distorted or removed that make you wonder how Rick even allowed this.
This should have been an animated show. It baffles me how nobody realised this.
I think both could work for this if done well, but for some reasons creators/studio seem to act like when you make live action adaptation you MUST automatic. go for more dark,gloomy and serious tone. It seems they dont. understand that you can steel be funny, colorful and wondrous too. Good exampl of bad adapt. is Fate Winx - they drained all color and fun out of it. Luck. this Percy show didnt go that far in that direction, but still.. With cartoon it seems easier for them to stay fun and magical, wondrous and colorful.
They probably did but sadly animation isn’t seen as the same level as a live action for some reason. Plus even if we did get it animated in a few years they would make it live action 🙄
It’s funny that despite being Disney, they would NEVER consider animation for a project like this
Percy jackson just isn't like harry potter in the sense that it doesn't work as well in live action because of how the world is it's not as magical and majestic as hp its more real world solutions but with monsters and Greek mythology which works way better as animation
Also, they could've easily made the characters look accurate if it was animated
A lot of movies and shows now feel like long trailers for the work instead of actually delivering on the ideas 😭
I think that’s actually a really good way of putting it
In the case of anime adaptations that is literally correct
I feel like people are to obsessed with lore and scare of filler
It feels like the shows Just adapt the big events and dont Care about the feels and vibes
I personally feel like this is just a Disney + problem. Shows on Hulu, HBO, and even Netflix actually produce shows...that still feel like shows.
Am I the only one who thought Chiron felt really off in this adaptation? He felt really flat and stern, and nothing like the kind-hearted camp counselor from the books, or even the movies. He felt like he was there to do a job, not because he wanted to support the kids.
I felt that too actually, with the exception of his final moments in the show where I got a bit more of that father figure impression. But no he made much less of an impact than book Chiron, and either of the movie Chirons
Book Chiron was the fun teacher but here he's a magical negro
I was genuinely baffled how many times I caught myself thinking “maybe the filmmakers knew what they were doing”
Ouch, you don’t want that. Yeah I did find I looked back on some of the scale and wonder of that first film with newfound appreciation.
At least the film felt breezy and easy to watch. The filmmakers knew how to construct a scene even if the scene was destructive to the book. It felt like a chore to watch this show, like having someone read the sparknotes of the book to you with all tension and intrigue ripped out.
@@Termnath as ive always been saying, id rather a good movie and a bad adaptation over bad show and good adaptation
The films were so entertaining. It cought the spirit of the book in the action but didn’t stay accurate.
Spectacle vs character drama. I'd take character drama any day.
The show definitely isn't perfect, especially the pacing, but step back and determine why. Yes, the culprit of that is the number of episodes and the short runtime, and the writers have to work around the runtime they were given. And they definitely made it work albeit not perfectly.
And they focused more on the character drama than epic spectacle.
the lack of this is cool, really hurts the show and thanks for putting it in to words.
Watching it with kids who havent read the books, we didn't get passed episode 2 because they were so bored and didn't care because the show seems to entirely depend on 'look the scene from the book word for word' to engage adult book fans but for kids, that just doesn't catch them and if the world felt cool, if percy was awed by the lore not just shrugging and going yeah I know, maybe the kids would care too? and thats not a percy's actor thing, it's the whole shows approach of yeah, lack of remembering its cool. Only us adults got to the end, the kids just checked out.
Very interested to hear about the kid perspective because I did spend the whole thing wondering if there was enough here to get new people on board, or if it was just FOR DA FANS
Yea I did enjoy it. Have some critisism but mostly good. But as a fan of the books I probably approach the whole thing very different than someone not familiar. They have to do less work to convince me that the world and the characters are great because I already think that. I'll try to get my friends to watch to get another opinion.
It's a good adaptation but the real question is: is it a good story?
"I see tons of fans excusing the flaws of the show with "it is for kids, you are not the target audience." Well, I watched it with two kids who are from the target audience. One left halfway through episode 1, and the second, a little older, sat through the first episode, but when I tried to put on episode 2, he asked me if we could watch something else
I think it was ok, but it seemed like Rick decided to make sure it was utterly different to the previous adaptation and made larger changes, while also speedrunning the story at the same time. The show just felt strange in terms of pacing, and that really hurt the show.
Glad it’s not just me who thinks this, I’ve been really detached from the consensus of this show so it’s nice my criticisms aren’t wildly controversial
8 episode was very little to adapt the whole book
@@kitsunepryde507 I don't think 8 episode is a bad number of episodes to adapt the whole book, the problem is in the runtime.
Rick made d-mb and very unnecessary changes and actually massacred his own creation. 😥
I can get pass other changes but missing the deadline? How can he be fine with that?!! Didn't he realise how terribly it mess up the characters?
Percy is supposed to be the Greek hero. Who fights for others but by missing the deadline ,when he knew this will breakout a catastrophic war, it justs makes him selfish.
Furthermore, in the show the trio knew about casino's effect and throughout the quest they apparently knew everything and everyone so they were playing in easy mode. They also had gods to assist them.
So technically it should mean they had more time then book version to be on time YET they failed!!
Even then Percy couldn't stop Zeus and his father had to surrender! 🤦
(Who approved this ??!)
Sure ,it's a tender moment but it's Percy's story, he has to be the one earning respect from everyone.
(I am really questioning what actually Percy's character achieves in this adaption?)
Whereas in the book despite being clueless and not knowing what the casino does they still managed to do their task!
If fans actually start to analysis the show as it is they will soon realise it's actually quite bad adaption which it didn't even give it's lead, the son of Poseidon it's glory.
It turned such impactful characters into incompetent and careless ones, who even though had everything handed to them still couldn't do their task!
😭
Oh yes, I like Percy Jackson and have LOTS of opinions, so I’m glad to see your opinion on it.
On my part, I think the shows main sin is that….it is boring. And if feels like that bc of the problems you listed. Weird, rushed pacing, short episodes with weird cuts and underwhelming visuals and worldbuilding.
I didn’t fell in love with the story, nor it’s world. It all felt incredibly mundane, and I think for a fantasy kids show, that’s kinda of unforgivable. Where is the sense of wonder or adventure?
Other than that, although I love the cast (ironically, I think Grover was my favorite), I don’t think the direction let them shine as much as they could, especially Walker. It’s just, they spend so much time being very serious kids, concerned about the mission or whatever…they don’t quite feel like kids or like a group of friends. One of the highlights was the car scene at Cassino Lotus. That was fun and silly and something kids would do. I just needed more, WAY MORE of that. But I do love the cast. In interviews especially, you can see their chemistry, how in tune they are, I just wished we could’ve seen more of their energy on the actual show. I hope we get a season 2 for them only.
And to finish this, ppl shit on the movies bc they are bad, but as least they are fun and knew how to sell the sense of wonder of that fantasy world. And that is WAY more important than being faithful to the source material.
Aryan Simhadri’s Grover was my favorite part of the show too! And I loved the vibe of that car scene too, the show really should’ve just had more fun with its own characters
Season 2, which I hope we do get, definitely needs to hone in on the sense of fun and wonder
This! They feel so much like their characters _outside_ of the show! But their chemistry and personalities are so suppressed, whether by the writing or directing or both. They don't feel like friends, more like polite classmates.
I have a question for modern tv writers is it too much to ask character based filler episodic serialised shows anymore? Some of my favourite shows from early 90s to early 2010s used this to not only get audiences familiar with the characters but also for the writers themselves to know what kind of show they want. Nowadays writers think filler bad or not prestigious. Imagine if a Chef hates making sandwich because it has some filler in it and just wants customers to eat meat it's great and filling but the customer will forget but if you get simple yet effective filler with a good meat its memorable forever for the customers.
Yeah stripping everything down to what feels like the bare essentials tends to just lead to missing out on supposedly superfluous things that are in reality just as essential
I think streaming services are also to blame. Seasons of television used to be like, 20 episodes long at least. Nowadays it seems like the average first season is 8-10 episodes that we’re meant to binge in a single day, leaving less room to just spend time with the characters.
@@cartoonishidealism582 yeah I read in The Ringer that this is more of less done so that people running the company can show the board of directors some kind of growth.
The word filler lost all meaning, If caracther development its happening its not filler
People seem to Just want the big event that can be talk about in TH-cam vídeo with suprise faces
I feel like we should have every character’s background showed. Like Percy had his childhood shown. I think Annabeth and Grover should have something for them shown. Eg. We should have seen Annabeth be called dumb in school by bullies (this in the books was due to her being blonde so… a bit hard to do that now but its still possible it just won’t make as much sense), and thats when we see why Annabeth has the need to prove herself constantly. We need her past shown (even if we see this in the next books) but I need the backstory to get attached to the character when its on screen like this. I need Grover’s past shown to understand why he’s going on the quest. I need to ser Grover’s failure with bringing back Annabeth, Thalia and Luke and his dream of being Pan’s searcher. We see this a shown a bit better though throughout his sequence where he talks to Percy about the environent, but its not enough for us to click to why he wants to search for Pan (cus we have no clue who Pan is)
So yeah mainly they seem to talk about things more then showing us. I think Percy was established well and even Sally. I liked the backflashes for us to connect, but if we don’t get it for the rest of the cast… the main character is just not enough to hold us.
They’re ruaging things. For eg. Percy and Annabeth don’t start having romantic scenes until book 3. Here we seem to get too much of them, and Annabeth seems to just fall under: she’s there cus she’s the love interest. She’s literally useless in the show cus Percy knows everything and can somehow fight better then her. WHERE IS HER DAGGER? Why is she not the one to figure everything out?
Should’ve been an animated show with longer and more episodes. Sad that either the author or the studio blatantly lied to us about the show being a fully faithful adaptation. I’d even say I kinda prefer the movies in some ways.
I felt really sad about how many times I found myself thinking that the show was at the same level of the movie in regards to quality and storytelling, even thinking that the movie did some things BETTER than the show (the Lotus hotel for example). The characters just know everything that is happening, they know about Medusa, they already know about the hotel so it doesn't affect them, Percy already knows about Crusty's mattress store, etc. They're never surprised by anything because they already know everything, there's no stakes, they never feel like they're in danger and to me nothing really feels earned, the show was just hitting plot points from the book because it had to do it, but everything just ends so fast. I LOVE Percy Jackson and I want to support anything that comes out about this franchise, but this first season disappointed me a lot.
I feel the same.
The last episode should have been called ‘The Lightning Thief’
I guess that would bury it in the search results
nah they're named after the book chapters
im very glad I didn’t give up on this show because I think it really stuck the landing at the end - the cast was great and it was genuinely very touching in places! - but I honestly don’t know if I would have got that far if I didn’t adore those books when I was twelve 😅 the story was a lot more exposition-y than I picked up on as a kid (hazards of adaptation tbf) and it got very slow in the middle 😅 but the main three are just perfect (especially Walker and Leah!) and i think they got the feel of the world just right!
I really hope we get s2 so they get the chance to iron out any issues from the first season and get to the really good bits of this story!
I might be totally misremembering but I feel like the later books might be better suited for a more serialised story, rather than the episodic “a rushed episode for every stop along the way” approach. We’ll have to see I suppose, first about whether it even happens
I didn't read the books so I actually found it could've done with more exposition to explain the world since I was left with loads of questions that I'm sure would've been self explanatory if I understood more of the mythology and world which the show just rushed through too much. Now that exposition should of course be delivered in a natural way so it doesn't feel too exposition-y.
i still think the show should've been animated, Walker talking about his eyes burning after two days of filming underwater, in relation to his anxiousness for filiming scenes in Sea of Monsters, has made this undeniable to me.
Jesus, that feels like something they should’ve found a way to avoid
Western animation is trash the show would have been terrible if it was animated
@@RabbiB0Ytrolls? Spiderverse? Tangled? Nimona? There’s so many styles it could have emulated and been so charming and whimsical instead of the forced realism despite it being fantasy lol.
An with animation you can allowed yourself to not be that serious because is just that. And the power sequence could be longer and powerful to the eye to see just like anime with all the fantasy franchise they have. But oh well is to late to backout now I guess. (Sorry for my english is nlt my first language)
Yes,and with animation you dont need to worry about the actors growing up to quick!
0/10
it didn't have them do a dance number set to poker face or Uma Therman get killed by looking at the reflection of an iPod nano
It’s like they didn’t even watch the source material!
@@Joe_Brennan_ tbh I never read the books so the movie Percy Jackson is the one I grew up with
Honestly those scenes in the movie were way more fun and dynamic than anything in this show. I’m completely confounded how they stripped all the intrigue, tension, and fun out of Percy Jackson in exchange for technical, strict “accuracy” to the books. In doing so, they made a show that is in tonally “inaccurate” and hallow.
joe, i honestly have no interest in percy jackson whatsoever. but your discussions are such a positive breath of fresh air that i just decided to watch this video anyway. keep doing what you do my dude
I appreciate this comment so much, it can be hard branching out into topics that 99% of my audience don’t care about so it’s really nice when people show me this kind of support.
lol, you pretty much summarized my thoughts exactly around this show. I loved the cast, and they nailed the finale (for me) but the middle parts were a little too fast and too much for us to really appreciate what's happening in this world and to these characters. i hope future seasons are a lil slower in pace and longer in duration. this story deserves breathing room! great video from a fellow rian johnson/reylo stan!
Breathing room is exactly the word, it’s in those moments that you really fall in love with the books, the world and the characters. Thank you for the comment!
I recently listened to all 5 books last week and I enjoyed the show. I have some issues, but it's tv. There are going to be issues. I do think 10 episodes, an hour long each would be better. But the children were like 12 when they started filming. The kids are a little older now, so maybe it's possible
That’s true actually, future seasons don’t have to necessarily stick to the format
@@Joe_Brennan_ my main issue is that the writers are going to have to figure out a way for Percy to figure out what is going on that is not him monologuing. In the books all of this thought was in his head but it doesn't translate to screen very well.
I think that is one of those things that contributed to the feeling that Percy was two knowledgeable about events, even though in the books he did a lot of times figure things out in thought
Yeah I think that's a valid point actually, short of having his narration be omnipresent I think that's a real challenge. It needs to turn internal monologue into natural dialogue in a way that works.
Very much agree on the pacing and exposition issues, but also definitely feel that the show begins to find its feet in those last few episodes. Fingers crossed that in the future seasons there’s a bigger sense of wonder and more character moments.
Yeah I binged episodes 6-8 last week and had a surprisingly good time compared to how the rest of the show had been
I've seen a lot of people talk about how the show needed more time and there wasn't enough time to do everything it needed to, but I kind of disagree. The book isn't very long, and I feel like the main issue is the pacing and the stuff they added in. They did so much expo dumping that significantly drew out a bunch of scenes in boring ways, but then they would rush the action scenes. I really agree with your sentiment at the end that this just feels like a typical first season of a show, though. I really feel like season 2 is going to hit it out of the park and improve on the weaker points of season 1.
I was really looking forward to this coming out, watched the first two episodes on release day, the third the weekend after it came out and then genuinely forgot about it for a while which I've never experienced for. It's not that I didn't enjoy it while I was watching, but it held no space in my brain the moment I wasn't watching anymore. I'm going to try and binge it when I get chance as I do want to enjoy it having loved the books, but for some reason or other it just didn't hook me in when watching weekly.
I had a very similar experience, I binged episodes 4-8 on Wednesday, which I think allowed them to take up more space in my brain
As someone who hasn't read the books (except heroes of Olympus but I barely remember them) I kept wondering "why are we actually meant to be on the side of any of these gods, all of whom are kind of shit" as well as generally questioning the reasons for choices the protagonists made because they were so rushed by the pacing. The show never really took the time to explain enough of the lore or reasoning behind what Percy etc did, so it all seemed a bit impulsive since the internal monologue found in a book just isn't present in a TV show. There are several moments where one of them gets ready to sacrifice themselves for the quest and the desperation of the moment, the reasoning behind that choice etc were never really conveyed. Choosing to sacrifice yourself should be a last option when everything else has failed. Yet it always felt like they arrived at that last option way too early before they'd exhausted all other possibilities, which was probably due to the pacing. I also found it a shame we barely got to see camp half-blood and understand the different houses etc. Overall it would've just needed more time in each individual location and to accommodate that they could've maybe cut one or two of those locations.
That said, the show was enjoyable enough that combined with a weekly release schedule I kept coming back every week for a new episode and I would watch a second season if it gets made
Yeah I hope if Season 2 does happen that they really deliver on the wonder of the worldbuilding. More time at camp would be a good start.
Felt the second episode and last episode were the best of the season, but every other week I couldn't help feeling things were rushed and that the show was lacking the emotional beats neccesary to feel satisfied by how things wrap up. Every moment that was intended to feel emotional felt squandered by awkward pacing. It's also very odd to hear about how much money was put into this show, but not really be able to recall a single memorable set piece? I also think this is due to poor direction and writing as almost every climactic moments wraps up in thirty seconds or so?
Also didn't help that some of these episodes were 29 minutes when you exclude credits and the next episode teaser. A lot of the issues with the Medusa or Lotus Casino episodes could have been solved by extending to that 45-50 minute mark. There's plenty of streaming that go well past the 50 minute mark when needed.
There shouldn't be a fear of losing attention or an excuse that they're "making a kids show." Plenty of kids still watch the Harry Potter movies in one go and Chamber of Secrets is 160 minutes.
I want to see more because I think they have a lot of the right ingredients to make an incredible show, but I hope Rick is being honest when he says they're taking feedback.
I had no idea how widespread the pacing/length criticism would be but the fact it seems pretty unanimous gives me hope for future seasons (if we even get one)
I didn't watch this show or ever read the books but I like hearing Mr Joe Brennan talk
I didn’t either, I just like talking
The movies are bad adaptations, but that's the thing: adaptations. They at least understand the basics of creating visual media. This show was more focused on being faithful than making an actually good TV series
Haven’t seen it yet but I didn’t know Lance Reddick was in it. What a sad loss, I’ll definitely check it out for him.
It’s a very small role but he unsurprisingly makes a huge impact
This is probably the most accurate review I've seen of this show
I didn't really care about the show because the only Rick Riordan's books that really mean something to me are Trials of Apollon but my mom really liked the show and I'm happy for her.
I've never dabbled in Trials of Appollo, maybe I should return to this world
@@Joe_Brennan_I would recommend them. They are the 3 important h's of storytelling: hilarious - heartwarming and heartbreaking...
I don’t have any attachment to this series, so I therefore don’t have a dog in this race. I’m willing to observe from the sidelines how Disney plans to make up all the ground they lost in 2023 from streaming and theatrical flops. If reviving the YA and middle-grade fantasy genres is their next strategy, I’m curious to see what else they will adapt.
Genre-wise this feels in the same sort of family as Willow, but I doubt they’ll ever do anything like that again
I was only somewhat unsatisfied with this show, which was very surprising as I was expecting to be disappointed massively! Thats less of a comment on the show’s quality itself and more to do with the lacklustre output from Disney shows recently. I agreed with almost every point you made, except for saying that it should have cut out elements to make it flow better. Percy Jackson would have been much better serviced if it had more episodes, to flesh out plot points and like you say, give us a better look at characters like Clarissa. This was a fab video essay, the format you use is really enjoyable and I look forward to your uploads!
I very much mean that ideally you’d give the show more time to achieve this stuff properly, but if they were limited to this length by outside restrictions, they should’ve done less. Thank you for the comment, I hope you continue to enjoy.
The excuse that Rick picked the actors aggravated me
The designs weren’t 1 to 1 and the story and they knew about stuff they shouldn’t have
I've seen the movies from 2010 and 2013, but that is all. As the target audience, the books were a little after my generation. I've watched and enjoyed your channel as much for your style as what the content is. This comment is more thumbs up to Joe Brennan than Percy Jackson.
I really do appreciate the support!
i see a lot of potential for the show in upcoming seasons. While they didn't always delivered in S1, the times they did, it felt like they understood the material. A lot of people complain about the action, but for me, the drama and the characters' development is where the good stuff is at. I'm sure they can get better at the actions sequences, but come on, Percy is 12. I hope they don't neglect the drama and characters in favor of action. Also, better pacing and a little less exposition (for anyone who doesn't remember Annabeth does explain a lot of things to Percy in the books) although I kinda think the exposition in this season was justified.
I'm a late bloomer to the books due to the fact I wanted to see this show all because of it and understood why the films were so hated (i.e. this paralells my experience with 'Eragon'; a great book turned Hollywood bastardization to which coincidentally Disney Plus also acquired the rights to and wants to adapt with the author's involvement). Then again I enjoyed both the book and the show but also agree they played the show a little too safe at times even if they were targeting pre-teens. I watched it with my girlfriend who hasn't read the books but she enjoyed it quite enough especially to try an catch up to any Greek mythology references.
In the second Harry Potter movie Draco is the immediate suspect as the heir of Slytherin that released the mysterious monster in the school. We suspect him not just cuz he's a Slytherin, but because we've already seen enough of him as an antagonist in the previous film, and even moreso in the second one as someone with motivations that alligned with the heir of Slytherin (the persecution of muggleborn and halfbloods). This works.
Clarisse being a suspect is something that actually couldve worked really well. Shes the daughter of Ares whos been involved on the trio's quest, they couldve tapped into her season 2 arc earlier where she desperately wants to prove herself to her dad, and moreso, shes already was an antagonist to Percy.
But like you said theres not enough of her in this show that makes her a valid suspect, and thats the problem with this show.
If its not that the fun and adventure, and even the subtle grimness of the books that has been watered down, its the fact that nothing in this show takes its time. Everything is moving too fast, in fact, so fast that the audience doesnt really even know where the show is supposed to be going.
The percy jackson series is unfortunately just another Disney + show.
I like the new Percy Jackson series but I prefer the original anabeth
You did always like her tbf
I feel like a lot of the ironic issue of the show is that the original lightning thief book was written WITHOUT the knowledge of Kronos and the path to come. But the show is written SPECIFICALLY to get us to that point. I thought the dream of Kronos initially would be like an Easter egg to come. Not the ironic main issue for the the entire main season; with very little surprise for the underlying villain to come 5 seasons later
I liked the show, some episodes were kind of bleh. Wasn't expecting a totally faithful adaptation, that would be a shock. MOst probnlems were in production and squeezing 26 chapters into 8 episodes.
I’d have definitely taken a less faithful and less squished adaptation
man i dont know shit about jercy packson bro im just here for the joe brennan
bro nah the ad breaks are always so badd brooo
Me too
It wasn't bad but at the same time it felt like a Cracker Barrel version of Potter.
See that SOUNDS pretty bad
"I Wish the Percy Jackson Show Was Better"
You and me both. Not only were there way to many changes to the plot, to the point it wasn't even the same story anymore. But my biggest problem with the show, and this might just be me, was that over half the cast, at least, didn't even look like the character from the books they were supposed to portray. If I went into this without any prior knowledge as to who these actors were playing, I'd have no idea who these characters were without hearing their names first.
Contrast this to the Harry Potter Movies, where I at least had an idea of who was on screen, because the actors at least looked similar to who they were portraying from the books. Heck, and I can't believe I'm saying this, despite the age difference, the Percy Jackson Movies at least got most of them correct appearence-wise. Luke looked like his book counterpart aside from the not having his scar. Percy had black hair and Annabeth, at least in the second movie, had blonde hair. Even Zeus looked more like how we generally knows Zeus to look.
I don't hate this TV Show, I'm just very disappointed.
Hmmm I think I personally love the casting and while their appearances might not always match the book descriptions I feel like they do embody the VIBE of the role perfectly. Of course I was a bit sad that we didn't get the iconic percy look but I did get over that pretty fast because the kid was doing a great job. I especially love the annabeth actress. The portrayal of annabeth they chose is super interesting and I was fully on board and am excited for future seasons.
The problem they changed to much I don't really understand I'm afraid 😅. I was at times quite happy to see some slight chances because it added a bit of suspense for someone like me who knows the book inside and out. I feel like they could've changed even more and I'm curious if later seasons will continue this almost beat for beat retelling or branch of in kind of a alternate universe scenario. Both could be a lot of fun if done well.
(I think gabe was the only change I really didn't like that much. In tge book you really see him as a monster and how percy is affected by his awful homelife. Sally sacrificed so much and while I love how the show gave her so many standout moments I'm sad that she wasn't the one to medusa gabe. It's one of her coolest moments imo and her killing the monster in her home is so empowering)
I agree with you, I think certain characteristics especially, if they have plotlines connected to them should not be changed. I know you might get hate for this, but as someone who is relatively new to percy jackson and has seen reviews of the movies getting blasted for not beeing accurate enough (granted the movies hit an even higher level than the series), I feel like it is a bit hypocritical to say for one adaptation the looks are ammsively important and then completely ignore them for the other. This is especially true for main characters.
As such I think many fans suffer from a kind of success syndrome commonly found for other streaming shows. What i mean by this, is that often critique points or important details, which have been pointed out in earlier adaptations, are not treated as harshly by fans, because thye just want to have the adaptation continue in fear of maybe terminating the show if they are too harsh or brutally honest.
I think you did a great job providing a balanced critique of the show, highlighting what you thought the producers did well and areas where they dropped the ball. You didn't sit there and trash the show for half an hour like I've seen others do. It was a truly constructive critique. So, thank you for that. Hopefully, the producers read and watch some of these reviews and are taking notes, so they can make necessary changes for Season 2. I hope Disney increases the budget and gives them more episodes to work with. Hell, even two more episodes would help.
I agree with most of the points here but I'd double down on the fact that with an extra 5-10 minutes per episode, the show would have been SO MUCH better.
I loved these books dearly growing up, and even I loved some of the changes they made. Giving Percy 4 pearls but making the 4th not matter effectively sells the fact that Poseidon cares for Sally without changing the story at all. I think Annabeth and Percy figuring things out, to a degree, works - because they've learned and lived Greek Mythology for years.
Casting on point. Tone was good despite the pacing issue, I think they will dial up the action going into sea of monsters and titans curse. Lightning Thief has always felt like the stepping stones up to the bigger story. I don't think there's a world where Disney doesn't try to make a season 2.
Yesss the sally and poseidon scenes are so great and I love how they did it. Poseidon was great in general (but maybe I'm biased bc i loved toby stephens in black sails)
@@sophiaaretuza I haven't seen black sails but I'll definitely be checking it out after seeing his performance here. Dude Poseidon.
You’re absolutely right, multiple episodes are shorter than 35 minutes and that just feels absurd
@@Joe_Brennan_ Sounds like it just got renewed for season 2, so now it's just a matter of hoping they take that into account. I think if they're going to stick to ~35 minutes, there need to be 10 episodes. But 8x45+ minutes would be the sweet spot.
All I can say is that you can tell Disney had a set budget for the show. Disney was playing it safe. The actions could have been longer and more integrited. You can even tell the cgi is used sparingly as they cut some of characters key features. Hopefully Disney will up the budget and put more action for the next season due to the success
So after a bit of research on the showrunners (Rick is actually not one of the show runners than most of us would like to think, but yes, he was still involved with the process. Yet, it means Rick didn't always get the final says or even the changes for the adaption. But more than likely he as given at least say ins during various script meetings and the other processes through each stages of the show's completion). Only one of them has at least experienced with running a couple shows and more. 1 Showrunner has run shows that are historical and drama fiction. But yet, he had no experience of any fantasy shows nor films. May sound not as a big deal, and granted, every showrunner wants to dabble in other areas, however, when it's rather huge IP like PJ, you'll figure that a showrunner at least has an idea of knowing or has an experience of how to run a fantasy show before. The other show runner, this his first time ever running a show. Eh, every show runner starts from somewhere and giving a shot. But to me, I strongly think fantasy is beyond out of their element, yet. Which this PJ show from the start, was honestly feeling like showunners who has never handle something like this before. As with Rick...he's a good novel writer and should really invest his time into going to actual screenwriting workshops or something so that he'll be able to switch his novel writing from screenwriting in whatever he'll write next. He's such a novice at this script thing that it's a hard transition for any novel writers to make that leap. It's a huge adjustments and just how screenwriting has certain ways with writing screenplays, doesn't matter much what genre. And clearly, Rick doesn't understand the filmmaking language (since he's credit for writing 2 episodes, so there's that) and how visual storytelling is so important within the TV medium. And I kind of disagree with you when you said with books, authors can exposition in novels. Show don't tell also applies to even writing books as well and also understanding writing structure for readers to either see the journey unfold along with the characters or the readers knowing certain aspects and waiting for characters to figure it themselves. In a way, it's the author's magic trick. I think, like with TV shows, there needs to be some kind of balance that writers need to handle for a story to flow. Either way, in my opinion, I did found this show and the adaption to be weak and so many times I just frustrated with the show in general. Frustrated with how the filmmaking aspects were subpar; poor scripts, leads to wooden acting, weak directing, CGI is all over the place, pacing is odd, tone tries to emulate this serious tone but wanting to have its fun, yet it doesn't work, flat shots, flat lighting with no depth, and just below average. I don't think it's horrible, no, but just a huge meh. This show was given 12-15 million per episode and for sure with 8, it's going to be more than 100 million (more than what GOT Season 1 got, since that show was also a fantasy, since PJ is also a fantasy show but yes, gear towards a different audience, but both are still consider as fantasy in general) and to me, I think it's not the runtime nor not having enough episodes is the cause to deter the show not feeling as well-developed. No. I think it's down to poor time management and consistency problems. But it's just my opinion though and yes, sorry, this is long and many of you guys will point this out. Anyway, have a good day everyone.
I couldn’t see Annabeth or Percy in the series as them. Grover is amazing. And to me honestly Grover’s arc was to me more interesting cus theres more mystery.
Annabeth to me fails to show motive. Like, why does she want to go on this quest? (In the book, at least later on, we find out through her own narration that she’s been bullied for being blonde and she had to prove herself and defy that. I don’t know why they decided that this arc wasn’t important enough to tell. Anyway thats more of my personally disapointement as a blonde girl who grew up with that sterotype and found comfort in her character. But still they didn’t show more of her motive such as her endless need to prove herself to her mother. Perhaps thats enough for a motive without the child trauma moment that sparks that motive.) Anyway they should have showed us more of her contribution. By making both Grover and Percy smart, it takes away from what Annabeth contributes to the trio. She falls into the “I’m here cus I’m the love interest”. She’s usually the Hermione of the group and we aren’t seeing that. Percy and Annabeth’s relationship is rushed. I feel no chemistry between the two characters… because they just met and they’re 12 in the series. I would not ship 12 year olds. They don’t start any romantic feelings until book 3 after Percy realises he needs to go on the quest to find her.
The series isn’t building the story enough. It feels like a recap for book readers. My bf has never read the books and he was just confused by the series and didn’t understand the motives of why anything is happening.
It makes me nervous that Disney hasn’t renewed the show yet. Streaming has always been eager to renew the shows while the season was airing. And yet no word yet?!
I think streaming has been a bit less willy nilly with its spending in the last year or so, ever since they all realised it was a business model that earns you zero money
@@Joe_Brennan_ I can’t help feel like the writers strike has also taken its toll on filming, obviously so much of streaming is being renegotiated now, so saving up money is another factor
They were waiting for the earnings day to announce season 2 lmao, it’s all about the stock price
Also streaming shows don't know anyone about pacing a season or even an episode as again felt rushed too much but not enough.
Turning on Disney+ to find out that the new episode wasn’t even 35 minutes was a bit rough
May I just say how interesting the experience of getting into the criticism on this show is, it's like a bell curve: First, you find whatever polar extreme you are in, then you clash with the other extreme and only when you really force yourself to really get into what all sorts of people think about this, do you eventually find your gold mine of well balanced reviews.
I love what you have to say, because I as well love the show, love the story and want to see it as well executed as physically possible and I think it's going to be quite difficult for them to fix certain things without making it feel inconsistent to those types of mistakes made in the first season but I do think that if they really put their all into improving on what has been widely criticised, they could make it happen and if they do it's going to be even better.
Honestly after watching the show and the movies in close susccession. I think the show took the critque of the movies and shot to the other extreme. Yes the movies were lackluster, often not faithful and had stereotypes. But I think the movies were fun, the characters were at least a bit more accurate to the later books appearance wise and the world felt like it was really...well magical.
I think the show took this and went let's be extremely faithful plotwise even if that means exposition dumping and acting like we already know anything. Who needs tension when it is accurate, nobody is suprised or awed, because the world should be known. Character interaction or chemistry.. well fun to be sure-- do not need those i need to have 33 more details.
I think there should have been a better middle ground so as to solve the pacing and tension building and get better chemistry. Because Rick told us the changes were made because each actor had really good dynamic with each other, but as of now I do not see that enough. And if that is all, then we could have more accuracy for the looks, because the story does not have enough breathing room for good chemistry either way.
Anyway this are just my two cents, and I only read a couple of books many years ago, so this is largely based on my experience on the movie and the series as well as possibly a bit of the last Olympian since it was the most recent one with only like 6-8 years that I read.
I feel this show is all of the body and structure of the books without any of the magic or soul that was captured in tne pages. Everything feels so rushed and glossed over. Just think about it when we were watching the Harry Potter movies growing up, some of the best scenes were when they focused on the atmosphere and world building, where they'd stop and show the world around our characters. Dragons, wizards, people flying on brooms in the background. I just finished reading tne book and one scene that stuck out to me was the chapter where Percy goes to Olympus and he's surrounded by hundreds of people, Satyr's, minor gods, and so on and they were all cheering him on for completing his quest even thoughhe didn't feel he quite deserved it...all that was cut from the show. There's so many moments like this that are absolutely missing from the show that could have captured some form of feeling or heart, or even been thought provoking but they are missing and it ultimately makes the show seem bland.
I feel like Percy Jackson would have worked better as an entry point to Disney+'s adult streaming service Star.
This show for me is disappointing at best. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either and the show is mid for me. I understand people willing to see past flaws because they always want a faithful adaptation at least plot-wise. Although I read the book series I tried so hard to like the show but it just wasn't for me and I felt bad for thinking like this. Also, I just miss the goofiness and comedy that the books have and yes I miss Percy just being dumb but a bit problem solver most unconventionally.
Edit: Also Gabe in this show doesn't deserve what he gets in the end. I don't hate him enough to want him dead.
Trust me it’s better than the Scott pilgrim anime
That’s something I was hoping to check out- is it not worth my time?
@@Joe_Brennan_ yeah I’m gonna make a small video about it on my another channel. Comparing both shows.
I agree with most of this review except Hades characterization. I did not want to see a "chill" Hades that is like your funny uncle. The gods should be a huge force as they are pretty scarce in the books but when the group encounters them its like oh shit. There was no magic to the Underworld. In the first book, the House of Hades is lined with soldiers from different wars and what not. What we got was the blue volume set with Hades walking across empty space.
I feel like that duffer brother head is staring at me
I for one find that the first book has a lot of anticlimatic moments in the quest itself, mora than in latter books of the series in which Percy sometimes simply bodies the monsters (at least it is the impression I have). The structure of the book is very “monster of the week”. Eps 1, 2 and 3 are very strong in my opinion, ep 8 as well. The low point for me are eps 6 and 7, the Lotus Casino doesn’t fell treathening enough in my opinion and the underworld feels rushed, I think they could have spend 2 eps there and explored the characther dinamics instead of like hitting points A, B, C and D and that’s it. Otherwise, I think they do a pretty good job, the main theme of the show is family and they set it well for future seasons, on the action side, my main issue is the length of the scenes. Other than the capture the flag scene, everything else seemed like it was on the shorter side. I felt that the show was very imbalanced timewise but I still think that it is miles ahead of the film. Interestly I think that the stronger scenes/parts of the series are happen on the on set locations, it feels that they only take time to breathe on those.
big fan of todays shirt. its terrible. love it
How many other shirts contain Wuher
I feel like it would have worked better as an animated show
I actually read the book very recently and was looking forward to the show. Honestly I pretty much comoletry agree with your review, it was very faithful almost too much. It definitely rushed through a lot of stuff just so it could be like we did the thing guys. There were some good bits but mostly pretty underwhelming although some high points.
I stopped watching halfway through the show and literally forgot to go back to it until a week or two later which I think says it all really.
Yeah if I hadn’t been interested in making a video, I think it would’ve been something it took a while to get through
@@Joe_Brennan_ yeah I get that. On that grind baby 😂 love the content btw I love your very honest and laid back (although I'm sure it doesn't feel laid back from your end haha) just simply sharing opinions on the things you like with some genuinely very insightful thoughts. Have enjoyed much of your content especially as a doctor who fan. Keep the good work up mate!
I think Disney knows that people are getting burnt out with the volume of content (mainly Marvel and Star Wars) and they've been trying to compensate by making everything way shorter. Or it could just be a way to cut costs. Either way, I really feel like this should have been longer. My main complaints were that individual scenes moved too quickly to be impactful, and we didn't spend enough time in these genuinely interesting locations to be immersed. Obviously everyone wishes we could have spent more time in Camp Half-Blood, but it also undercuts the stakes of the quest when they just kind of move from location to location effortlessly.
This makes me wonder something: was the show able to capture new fans? Because to me as a Percy Jackson fan I had trouble even finishing it. Everything seemed to stale and watered down. Not once did I feel that magical wonder I felt when reading the books. The exposition missed the mark and felt so unnatural, and the fight sequences I was excited to see were underwhelming. Like what the hell was that Mrs. Dodds scene? Where’s the iconic: “WHAT HO, PERCY!”? While Chiron threw him the pen just in time for Percy to slice Dodds. They changed things they didn’t need to and it worked against the show. I also hated the fact that the trio already knew everything. oh that’s Medusa watch out! Oh that’s crusty the giant uh oh good thing we didn’t fall for his trap! Like that’s so boring come on 🤣.
Me too.
t liked the show. i think the pacing is kinda messy. i hope it gets better. my biggest complaint is i think the trio owes Clarissae an apology for accusing her of being a traitor. that could have been another opportunity to give her a chance to shine. overall liked the show but it'd be crazy for them to not renew for another 4 seasons. i think they could learn from the errors of the casino episode and build off the grandeur and cooolness of the world.
Percy Juice is my new favorite thing that came out of this fandom
I personally liked the show. I totally agree it has to make some improvements for S2 tho. Especially the trio knows everything stuff because while i GET that Grover and Annabeth were trained for this and Percy was raised to know a little of greek mythology, you could totally apply this AFTER the kids face a problem instead of before.. them realizing "Oh this is like that greek mythology story i know!" after they face a monster, could work as well instead of them already knowing before they face it.
That said, I think the show has potential to improve. Maybe it is my Black sails fan talking, but J. Steinberg and Dan Shotz are great directors/producers so i do trust them to make a great show if they play their cards right.
So yeah, in general, I think it is a show that while not perfect, it has the potential to be great if the writers and even Disney are smart enough to take fans valid criticisms and improve on the 2nd season.
this joe brennan guy seems cool
He’s alright
Hello, JOE BRENNAN. Though I have thoroughly enjoyed this video I CANNOT comment on the quality nor the content of this television serial as I have not viewed it (though I hear it was NOT PERFECT). Next time please ask for my thoughts on any other number of topics that I am likely to be informed on.
What do you make of the Sherlock series 2 finale Isaac
@@Joe_Brennan_ Top notch. Great stuff. Gripping television. Easily Steve Thompson's best script across both Who and Sherlock. Very cool to me how much the characters' relationship can be tested in just a (super ultra long 90 minute) episode, and how much can be done with them in only 6 (super ultra long 90 minute) episodes! And I like the bit where he says "I am reichenbach falling, John, and I'm going to tell you how I survived"
I wished streaming allowed for more episodes and more "filler" (aka character/world-building over plot). The eight episode, 30-min format is not long enough to tell most stories, so the pacing is wack. PJO is no exception. In order to hit every story beat right without cramming (and change/or add things) it needed 10-12 episodes of 30 mins or even 45 min. And many of action sequences in the show fall flat, they're too short, with not enough suspense or build-up to make them feel dangerous or adventurous. I hope they change this for season two, and learn as it has the potential to be better.
24:03 “Delete the whole show for Rex reasons” is this a reference to final space? If so can we please get a video on it. Tis the best
Unfortunately I said tax reasons, less of a fun reference and more of a “they keep destroying art” reference
I loved the sweeping look at mount olympos (city itself), i think they did great job at that and i wish they stayed there for little while. What i didnt like was over. feel of show. There are few things missing there, but i want ment. humor - i feel like it was lacking in this version it was almost like they were afraid of it and just sprinkled quips and jokes veeery carefully here and there. I remember books were pretty funny i dont know why in this vers. they all feel so serious. Plus Percy repeatedly being so eager to sacrice himself was really annoying to me - i was just "damn mate at least try someth. else first, make effort to solve issue and if that dont work then go for sacrif." Also him knowing almost everything beforehand didnt helped either - it lowered the stakes and suspense and also took things from Annabeth. She in this version barely shows anything - we dont see her supposed combat skill, we barely see her cleverness or tactical thinking. Yeah we get few nice moments with her later, but it just feels like we are getting scraps (of her real character) instead of proper meal.
It’s really interesting how “main character knows too much” is an issue that trickles down and causes problems in practically every other aspect of the show (pacing, characterisation, drama, tension)
I didn't read the books, but I watched the first movie adaptation and thought it wasn't great, but at least it was very entertaining, with cool visuals and some good action scenes. This show didn't work for me on any level. It felt small in scale, bland and boring, with no suspense or sense of adventure. Lots of heavy exposition instead of showing what they want us to know. Lots of dark scenes to disguise bad quality CGI and lackluster action. We rarely see Percy use his powers more than a second. We are told many times that Annabeth is the best warrior of them all, but we only see her throw a knife. They explain Medusa's story and make a point about how she is not just a monster, but that changes nothing and her end is the same. They don't explain why Percy's mother stays with that horrible man, as she clearly doesn't love him but she seems to be in control of the situation and capable of leaving him whenever she wants to. Hephaestus assures Annabeth one thing and seconds later does the opposite. I coul go on... Sloppy writing or scenes left out during the editing process?
Flipping heck j boi another home run
Thank you, you should tell that to the friggin viewcount!
all the show did was make me want to rewatch the movie ....which is not good sign lmao
As a huge Percy Jackson I couldn’t believe I got BORED watching the series. BORED!!! Even the terrible movies had me entertained. 😂
The show definitely isn't perfect, especially the pacing, but step back and determine why. Yes, the culprit of that is the number of episodes and the short runtime, and the writers have to work around the runtime they were given. And they definitely made it work albeit not perfectly.
And they focused more on the character drama than epic spectacle.
I totally agree with you. The series is much better than the movie, with good actors, the main trio is cool and it also corrects a lot of inconsistencies from the movies and even the books! But I do agree that they want to put so much in that everything goes too fast sometimes. Like I think the intro to the movie was better. Incoherent, but at least from the start BOOM! Lightning has been stolen. We know what we're talking about. Here, it's "Oh, by the way, lightning's been stolen" and we tell you that quickly at the end of episode 2 :3
Otherwise, I think this Gaby guy was actually really funny 🤣 he's such a jerk and a pathetic one that it's just hilarious. Like when he cries more for his car than for his missing wife. But yeah, he's not so bad that he deserves to die... :/
My biggest disappointment though: Medusa. I find the book and movie version boring, seen and seen again, not original at all, as deep as a footbath. BUT I'd rather that than have a complex, tragic and interesting version of the character dangled in front of me, believing that they're finally going to do her justice and make a GOOD version of her... if it's only to cut off her head anyway, as usual, because she's evil btw and then we need her head to turn Gaby to stone in the end anyway😒
And then I can't appreciate the Poseidon character with what he did to Medusa. Sure, they didn't go with the r*pe version, but what he did to her (screwing her to defile Athena's priestess in order to take revenge on Athena and then abandon Medusa to her fate), that's still a dirty trick! And I'm sorry, but a quick revelation that "actually Medusa is a bitch who kills innocent people too" is not going to fix that! Hey, that could have been addressed and Poseidon could have had a redemption on that as it seems to me that the point is that the gods evolve and MUST change. And if you want to stay true to the books and not stray too far from them with this... well DON'T INCLUDE THIS!
Because otherwise it's very frustrating 😁😁😁
Voilà I liked the series a lot apart from this which disappointed me a lot😶 But at least my disappointment with this version of Medusa inspired me to write a fix-it fic of her story in Reylo AU^^
Great video! Thanks for your work!❤️
Thank you for the comment! Looks like there’s nothing Reylo can’t fix.
I was genuinely disappointed by Hades and Sally.
Less sally and more her relationship with percy. It seemed at times that they tried to give him Mommy Issues and that jist genuinely baffled me.
And while i love James Wood's Hades, i dont think it works for Book 1 Hades. Not even PJO Hades. This guy is like HOO Hades when he and Nico worked on their differences
Also this entire season felt off not only from plotwise but pacing wise too again character based beats are just missing.
Solid review, I have to say though I disagree with you on the cast. I felt their were several miscasts, most notably Jay Duplass as Hades. He didn't feel like the Hades of the book at all, Adam Copeland as Ares was decent, but man Manu Bennett would have been a far superior choice in my opinion. The problem with the gods aside from Zeus, Athena (who we don't even see btw) and Poseidon is that they didn't feel godly at all. As for the kids, its honestly too early for me to give my own assessment of them, Walker was fantastic as Percy, but the writing for Annabeth and Grover was so poor I can't really properly evaluate the other 2 actors. I would say the show's biggest problem is Rick Riordan himself. I feel like he was given too much creative control for a man who has zero filmmaking experience, and he is just overthinking and changing too many things. He wrote a fabulous book series that needed no changing. If you want to create a fresh twist and experience for hardcore fans who know the source material extremely well, they add new content here and there. To Riordan's credit he did do this was the additional Sally Jackson scenes. But, don't change events in the book that already exist. Hermes and Hephaestus had zero business being in season 1. Hopefully the upcoming Eragon Tv show on disney plus is better!
Great review they were good things lance reddick as Zeus was really trnde
He’s a real highlight, thank you for the comment
You'd make a great Percy Jackson
Eyes too brown
@@Joe_Brennan_ like the most delicious chocolate
HOORAY
I liked the books, not so much the movies. I dislike much of the YA books.
Sound so fake when you praise Annabeth cast. It's like '' oh I love her , I'm not rasict I swear.
“Wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah I’m a stupid baby” that’s you btw
Can’t fathom someone not being fixated on race and just enjoying a nice enjoyable performance. Sad!
@@Joe_Brennan_ 5 years of mental age. ''that’s you btw''
You put the punctuation in the wrong place in the manner of a dickhead
what a strange thing to say?😭 like why do you want people to be racist what
I wish your videos were better but you don't see me friggin' complaining!!!!!
Yes I do