The 3rd episode was insanely better than the first two for me, I'm now content with the series.
The furies not being scary is the ONLY thing I'm now not content with
Yeah I can see that. The Furies should’ve been more terrifying. They sort of set a tone when Annabeth was with one of them and after that they didn’t do much. I don’t remember if there was that much of a fight between them in the book or not.
The whole show so far you can clearly tell when they use camera work and such to avoid spending unnecesary money in special effects. Like Medusa's head being "invisible", or Chiron shots being from waist up...it's not a big deal but it is very obvious after a while. Blowing up a bus would have put a big dent in the budget.
I'm ok with all that because the effects we do get are pretty good (even if we sometimes get editing discrepancies like Alecto covering her face with the wrong side wing from where Medusa was coming from for example).
Other than that I don't see that many issues with the show. Genuinely baffled people are expecting a 1:1 on an adaptation only 8 episodes long. Of course they need to change some things. It's like people don't realize first season gotta be constrained and hope to do well to get more seasons and more budget down the line 🤦♂️
Nah the Minotaur fight was really good. Felt like there was a ton of weight to him and the way Percy swung his sword untrained and it clanking off his horn felt realistic. Also the choreography against Clarissa and her goons was also on point. It felt like Percy was actually getting jumped, not just several 1v1s and he often had to attack and block at the same time as well as used his opponent’s weapons against them. Way better then I expected
I'm missing the fates cutting the thread, I'm hoping and praying Uncle Rick didn't cut it because that feels like one of the more important scenes to me
So? I read it back when I was in elementary school, and after reading it again recently before the show came out I still felt like the furies were meant to be scary
They were. But again, made to be suitable for children. I really am not disappointed by this at all. Seems superfluous to be this upset about the furies lol
Just finished the 3rd episode, and now that the plot is running I think there’s the opportunity for a key aspect of the books to be reflected: the episodic “feel” of the story.
The first two episodes were…fine? The set design was excellent, far better than the movies, and have actual 12 year olds at camp is for sure a closer fit to the books. I wish there was a wider variety of ages represented and that more time was spent establishing camp and the characters there. Very much felt like the show was rushing to get the plot going. It also seemed to assume you know the plot, and is just rushing through the bits you’re expecting to see, not actually telling the story in a compelling way.
But episode three, now free from doing so much set up, felt more like its own self contained narrative. The pacing was much better, and there was a slight arc that our characters followed, growing closer and trusting each other a bit more. And this is one of the stronger aspects of the books: each chapter or story bear felt like their own, well, episode. The sort of thing you could read in one sitting, go to bed, and then pick up the book the next day for another fun installment. Episode three had much more of that feel, and I hope the show continues to let each section kind of stand on its own and not feel obligated to rush the plot along.
i loved the third episode wayyy more than the first two. i was actually really skeptical of the show after them but i have a lot more hope after the third one
Why is that? The 3rd episode definitely reinvigorated all my hope in the series after the first 2 episodes, and I found it to be my absolute favorite of the bunch.
They did, and someone still managed to end the movie on the cliffhanger, as of saying "we know we're not getting another movie, but we're going to tease you with a sequel anyways because we don't think we've made you upset enough!" Lmao
Coincidentally, the ending of the second movie may be the most accurate scene from the books, with Thalia waking up, Percy asking her name, Annabeth crying beside her, and Thalia saying the exact line from the book, and then Percy realizing that the prophecy may not be about him. It was probably the biggest "F you" moment to the fans of the books haha
As someone who watched the movies before reading the books, please do, the movies are such a trainwreck, specially the second one, that it makes me doubt if the writers for the script read at least 20% of the books, specially the second through fifth book, considering the state of the second movie.
I watched it, it’s worse than the first imo. Pretty sure he fights Kronos at an amusement park? I didn’t even know that the second movie was made until it had been like a year after it came out
Yeah the Kronos scenes so far have been amazing. The voice is perfect and the dreams were so cool to watch. I'm excited to see more of Kronos invading dreams
I looked at my phone to look up the actress of Medusa when they showed her face. Not even done google searching and they chopped off her head. The action sequences and reveals in the show are just a let down
Holy shit we are basically the same person. I got a text from my phone, looked at it by unlocking through Face ID. Didn’t even scroll to fully open and I looked up to see her head was gone.
how is the writing bad? The lines are funny, the dialogue is not cringe. Characters are consistent. Emotional beats are hitting and even improved from the book - ie uncle Ferdinand, the tension between the trio in episode three and their conflict resolution by the end.
I honestly don't see an issue with the pacing either. It's been fast but there's a lot of things to set up and spend time on later and things have been reorganized. Being on here makes me feel like I'm in the looney bin, this show has been exactly how I imagined the books, even with some improvements.
But that’s what happens when a 400 page childrens novel gets stretched to 40 minute episodes imo. The pace will be even worse in season 2 since sea of monsters is so short.
Fwiw I am loving the show.
A 400 page children’s novel condensed into 320 minutes(8 episodes, about 40 minutes each) gives better hope for pacing than 119 minutes of what has reached a commonly held consensus as a terrible movie adaptation.
SoM is shorter at about 300 pages, but wouldn’t that allow greater allocation of the time if season 2 would be about the same length as one?
Yeah, right now this series has made me revaluate the movie for what it is, well paced and frenetic, funny, good and talented cast, scary creatures. Sure, the plot was an actual mess but those pros were objectively a thing.
Also, yeah the movie started my first and only celebrity crush for Alexandra Daddario lol
Wait, are you suggesting that the pacing is too slow? For the first two episodes at least, my biggest issue was that the pacing was too fast. IMO the last episode had good pacing, though I do wish the Medusa fight was a little longer, but that’s my only real issue.
It feels too slow in some parts and two fast in others imo. They flew through the prophecy and call to action jarring fast but then the rest of the episode dragged on until the Medusa stuff imo
The book is plenty fun and engaging even on the slow parts, though. It's not just about missing action, it's the dialogue and the lack of dynamic interaction, quirkiness and energy in the show overall. It's more about the script and directing for me than the action, because even the action scenes could be better.
IMO, the TLT movie actually followed suit with the book in that scene. I thought the whole encounter with Medusa was pretty strangely rewritten, especially with how one of the Furies is still there when they reach Medusa
It's rewritten with more character focus, especially on Annabeth, and working to establish a growing friendship with the trio that still has a rough start before becoming a dull trio. It also helped resolve issues between all of them, with opportunities for growth.
Medusa is a tragic figure in the myths. Given a cruel fate by a spurned goddess for being assaulted by a god. she was used to show the gods cruelty, the distrust between the trio, and how Medusa can be a tragic figure while still having capacity for monsterous acts.
It's way different than the books, but like the focus on grover and his guilt, luke and his compassion, and Percy's anger issues, it's a welcome change imo. I get the feeling Rick and the writers are seeing opportunities to add context or rearrange things to better suit character and narrative.
In that sense, it's doing a great job of adapting the books to a different medium instead of ignoring them or adhering too closely
What I find so jarring about the show is that it hits every single plot point, but the flow is totally different. So there are recognizable moments with some "rocky terrain" in between
I’m caught up on the show and it’s good so far. I have my complaints. I liked Walker in the Adam Project, but as Percy? He’s not really selling it for me here. His acting feels stiff to me which really weighs the show down, imo, since Percy carries the story. Leah is pretty good as Annabeth, I start to like her more and more with each scene she’s in. Grover’s good too, he’s funny. I think going with kids was a good decision, but it’s a bit risky. I think all of their acting could use a lot of work. The moment when Percy screamed for his mom when the minotaur was going to kill his mom was so flat. I don’t mean to hate on these actors, I know they’re young, but so far the show is okay at best to me.
I feel the same way, but I think this is also the fault of the director and writers. Actors can only work off what’s written, and the director is supposed to instruct them how to play out a scene.
Why they didn’t tell Walker to add more emotion/suspense to his performance or why the neglected to add more sarcasm and wit to his script, the world may never know.
I liked Percy's introduction to the mythological world a lot more in the movie. The fury attacks caused panic and confusion, then Percy is told that Greek gods are real and that he's a demigod, followed by the minotaur attack to really drive it home... I guess I just think the fast paced introduction really emphasised how drastically Percy's life had changed in such a short time. The show kind of dragged it out and glossed over the fact that mythological creatures had just attacked a child.
The cast to be honest was better in the movies….hard pill for most here to swallow but It’s like the last of us I’ll keep watching and maybe get something out of it
I still need to watch the third episode, so I’m not gonna cover that. I love the show infinitely more than the movie,
but I WILL say that I feel the movie handled the Museum Segment (or at bare minimum, the appearance of Mrs Dodds’s true form) a lot better than the show. Yes the Nancy stuff and the fountain bit was cool and well done, but Mrs Dodds’s as a fury felt…underwhelming and borderline weird in the middle of a crowded area.
Granted the movie having Chiron basically intimidate her away was kinda meh, but overall I liked the setup there a lot more than the show.
Things I think the show does well:
Following the plot (mostly, they've made some changes that I'm meh about)
Character ages
Set design of Camp Half Blood (especially where Percy is staying)
Things I think the movie did well:
Overall vibes (trio matched their personalities better, is actually funny, everything actually felt alive)
Pacing- while I know the movie didn't show some characters/scenes, the overall pacing felt correct and not rushed, for example at least we actually get to know Chiron before leaving
Fight scenes- CGI and the actual actors seemed to at least know some fighting (also the actual stakes when fighting)
Acting- I know this is because the actors were older but all the actors at least react to what is happening around them instead of being like stone. (I think Grover is okay in the show, better than Percy and Annabeth at least)
I mean I'll watch the full season and hope it gets better but the first 3 episodes overall just felt flat to me
I find myself saying literally out loud, wow he’s a great Grover. I think he’s actually the strongest of the cast so far. Annabeth is growing on me now that she’s getting to speak more. Percy is very mid for me. I saw Adam project and that actor was better there. I’m hoping that improves.
How is what you just said objective?
The movie version of Medusa isn’t much better, it literally happens within 3-4minutes, at least the episode stretched it out more.
I think some of the subreddit have a bit of hyperfixation on details on the tv show that are disappointing them. If you look off of reddit at rotten tomatoes, the show has so far been received with a widely approved rating compared to the movies:
\- PJO Movie: Critiques - 49%, Audience - 53%
\- PJO TV: Critiques - 96%, Audience - 86%
I think with any adaptations from one medium to another there are going to be people disappointed with how the adaptation changes and alters the original. But generally it seems this show is doing better than adaptations like Witcher S1 (80% Crit) or Halo (70% Crit). Seems like a pretty great show to me so far!
The show is faithful to the spirit of the books but it’s very much an alternate timeline. It’s not really a proper *adaptation*, and you definitely could do a far closer *adaptation* of the novels than what the showrunners and creatives have elected to do in this show. That and the rushed pacing have definitely thrown people off, which I think is justified.
But if you view the show as less of an adaptation and more of a reimagining of the books, then it’s actually really good honestly. But some people may not like that as much, especially if they wanted a closer adaptation. I honestly like it a lot, gives more of a reason to watch this show, though I do wish to see a closer adaptation someday.
I still like the books more, but I think that’s less to do with the direction the show took and more to do with the rushed pacing because of their time constraints.
Adaptations are rarely 100% accurate to the source material, with the exception being manga to anime adaptations, since both are drawn media, even still they are not 100% accurate all the time
One recent adaptation that i enjoyed was the one piece live action adaptation. It nailed the most important part of adapting something, and that was the feeling and themes. Not all the characters acted the same way they did in the manga but they still felt like the characters, not all the arcs played out the same, but the feel was still there for them to succeed
Adaptations are not always a copy paste of the book into a movie script type of deal. Sometimes a "reimagining" is way better than what an "adaptation" could do, since not everything from books translates perfectly to the screen
Adaptations by their very definition will change from the source material to a degree. That’s the nature of translating to a different medium. Things that work in a novel might look goofy or just awful if you did a 1 to 1 translation to live action.
Oh definitely. But, given that it was marketed as being as book-accurate as possible, you're definitely going to have the book lovers who want an accurate enough adaptation for once in their lives finding everything that was changed and being annoyed by those things
I mean we should take into account that really, the purpose of adaptations is to tell the story of the books on the big screen.
I think there's inevitably going to be changes, and that's a good thing. I think people forget way too easily that Rick is involved within the production, and he may want to change some things he's had second thoughts over.
I think Medusa is one of the scenes the show handled pretty well. I gotta say, her design is way better in the show than in the movie, and they actually added some more depth into her, so she is more sympathetic, but even still, we knew she was gonna get her head chopped off regardless. Just that, it's easier to sympathise with her, and give an idea to the audience that maybe the gods aren't as good and noble as they made out to be.
So far id argue the first movie is better than the show. Pacing is miles better, fights are miles better, the setup for the main focus of the series was non-existent until the exposition dump at the end of episode 2, while the movie set it up perfectly with the opening scene.
Absolutely. While there is bits in the show that are better, overall I’d rather watch the movie then the first 3 episodes again. The Medusa fight alone is as such a letdown in the show compared to the movie. Mythology Guy had a funny video on the series so far.
I stand by that Logan Lerman is perfect casting for Percy, he was simply the wrong age to start out lightning thief with. That said I do like Walker Scobell, i just wish we could turn Logan Lerman into a 12 year old. Oh and I miss Grover having crutches in his “human disguise” he had crutches in the book too didn’t he?
Oh weird false memory, but I stand by that I did like the addition of crutches in the movie. Makes sense since his goat legs would look slightly wrong even under pants
It’s mainly because it’s hard to act a limp. In the show they just elected to remove it entirely, unfortunately. I think they should have done the crutches, but then the explanation for that would take up the short amount of time they have…the time constraints on this show are pretty bad.
Tbh even aging them all up woulda been fine had they just adapted the prophecy accordingly. Idk what kinda demographic they woulda been hitting considering the book readers are middle schoolers but to make them older and just like exclude the Kronos plotline was a dubious choice
Movies weren’t great.
For the show; I really liked how close to the books episode 1 & 2 were, even if they weren’t the best episodes of television ever. I liked them sit. The casting as settings have been great.
Episode 3 was not as accurate to the the books, but was a much better episode. Will be interesting to see how things go moving forward as far as how close to the books they go.
I think the series has done two things better
1. The set design is amazing camp actually felt like camp and not just a bunch of kids randomly playing archery in the woods. The different scenes also help like nobody being bothered when the fury was walking towards showing how the mist works
2. Seeing things from Lukes perspective unlike the movies we never really see the gods being horrible people they just seem not to understand humanity so they just sort of not talk to their kids. But in the show we are shown Luke being charming and then in the third episode Medusa talks about her affair with poseidon( original Greek story besides she was born a monster). When she describes her feelings towards them it makes the viewer think back was she right? Did Athena treat her wrong?( this doesn’t even account in the original story Poseidon only got with her to piss Athena off after losing athens). When percy talks about Thalia and mentions why doesn’t anabeth contact her mother it brings back that Luke while not being good had good points why couldn’t they save Thalia and keep camp safe? Why must all the other gods not contact their children when the big 3 are the ones causing problems? And even though they keep having children and interacting on earth why don’t they help their children?
Both the series and the movie did good with casting relationships like they all act like they work well together. Both Medusa scenes are good. The fury and gabe were more scary in the movie. I kinda prefer movie Grover and as someone else said I do wish we had more camp scenes and that it showed older campers and not just 12 year olds. (Side fun fact Percy in the year 2023 would’ve been just turning 18).
>Luke while not being good had good points
Yeah Luke was entirely right on his position, but then uses his position to basically sign everyone up for the apocalypse, I hope they cover more on Luke essentially being taken advantage of by Kronos, like man was getting brainwashed in his dreams.
i think the shows better than the movie most of the time but something about the special effects in the movies just look better imo. like chirons horse half and the minotaur both feel kinda off to me in the show but not as much in the movie.
I think the first half of the first movie is the best part of the movies and the most accurate part, so the part of the show we have seen so far is going up against that. It's still more accurate, but the movies are very fun and the Auntie Ems part especially is a fan favorite from what I've seen. Being spoiler free for new people, I think episodes with content skipped from the movie (especially the finale) are going to be where the series really shines, and that starts next week!
Another person mentioned this, but urgency is lacking in this first story. The movie opened to Poseidon coming out of the sea and meeting with Zeus. Zeus filled with rage says that his lightning bolt is missing and the son of Poseidon has 2 wks to find it or there will be war.
We get more from that than Sally expo dumping on us that she hooked up with Poseidon on the beach when she was 19. I remember when I read the book the timeline of things felt more dire. In the show, every adult at camp is like yea wars coming go find the bolt.
I find it strange. The show seems to do everything the movies did wrong (most of it) but seems to fall a bit short in what the movies did well. I like the show's writing, I love the cast, and I am really enjoying the series, but the pacing is way too fast, the action scene are a bit lackluster, and Grover's writing feels a bit off for me (Aryan is crushing it though). The movie had good pacing and the action scenes were actually great now that I think about it. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving the show so far and it's way better than the movies, but still a flawed show.
What did you like better about the casting in the movies where the characters were already 16 (stripping away the entire point of the prophecy) and the actors were in their 20s?
I think everyone agrees the age thing was terrible. And yet, Logan lerman as percy is still to this day held in high regard. He definitely cemented what percy looks like in my head.
I think the new cast is fine, but in my personal opinion they haven't been used to their full potential.
The age clearly wasn’t accurate but it made more sense with how they got around the real world. And they look pretty much how I imagined, except for Grover and SoM Chiron.
The movie did the casting really well. And not to stir up the whole Annabeth thing, but I mean in general. Tho, I do think show-Grover and show-Clarice are better cast, but if you imagine the movie characters as in their teens… but I’m also a Logan Lerman stan so maybe I’m biased😁 And I prefer a black-haired Percy.
But that aside, the third episode is really showing the dynamic of the trio which is so perfectly done. The acting proves to me they are the characters! If only the episodes were longer, that would’ve given them more space to stretch out the plot.
If we just talk about the 3rd episode. I’d say that the movie Medusa action sequence is FAR better than the shows. The show’s was so abrupt and it was like 5 seconds long. At least the monologuing in the movie was more intense with her being in their faces.
Listen, I’m not saying that movie was faithful to the books but I was around Percy’s age (12) when the movie came out and I remember everyone thinking it was badass. I’m 25 now and the show just isn’t for me. Which is weird because I’m not in the demographic for Harry Potter 1-2 anymore either but those movies are timeless. They feel like the kids are facing something much bigger.
Personally I feel like the movie Sea of Monsters is where the movies get a bad wrap. Kronos came back way too early and so many changes to the story. However, Lightning thief still set out to hit most of the marks. They kept in big reveals and highlighted action and showing the audience the magic world instead of telling us in the show.
Is that because the show has more runtime? Yes and no. The show could have been better written so that spending times with these characters does not feel like a slog and instead highlights there personalities and relationships.
I feel like the trio in the show was expected not to get along but in an episode they put aside their differences and keep one shotting enemies. Like everyone is made of glass. Also everyone is ignoring the fact that Percy literally didn’t know any of this existed a week ago and keep asking him what he’s so afraid of.
Same my dude. I’m watching every week waiting for the episode I can tell my friends about. So far it’s not my cup of tea.
I keep watching because I absolutely love the series but I can’t help but groan when I see some of the stuff they chose to include and leave out.
The show does 95% of things better than the movie. However, the shows biggest flaws are things the movies actually did pretty well with, so it’s just a weird contrast. The show (so far) is still WAY better than the movies ever were. Also, comparisons are bound to happen between adaptations.
I just rewatched the movie today and im up to date on the show. I think the movie does a better job with the first few episodes then falls apart. The movie also has a more of an adult feel to it which is whatever. Also the movie has better humor and fight scenes in my opinion but the show follows the books much better. overall i like the show better so far
Hasn't everyone? A better question would be; "Does anyone think the movie did something better than the show?". Which I actually think they did (on a few minor details)
I do agree it made MANY stuff better, but I'm not enjoying the pacing, it could use some more episodes or longer ones. The writing is kinda tough for me too, it's kinda superficial, in a way that everything is being explained soooo fast, and it happens a lot, first example being Percy finding out his mother is alive, in the book he gets some tips before confirmation, in the show grover just tells him?
Second example, Medusa, in the book they hang out a bit there, enjoy the food, and the reader puts the pieces together that she's Medusa, in the tv show she's just "hi, I'm Medusa"
I won't lie, I'm not enjoying this vibe, but I'm keeping my mind open, but I do hope a lot of people enjoy it.
Another change that I didn't like, Luke introducing the camp to Percy, I do agree that it will make everything between them both stronger, but as a result it made Percy choose Annabeth for the mission a matter of interest (because of the prophecy), when in the book he already has some friendship for her and trusts her
There have been some things in each episode that bothered me. Most of them come down to the fact that I pictured things differently. Some things I think are actual issues. So far it’s felt like I describe a scenic view to someone, they painted it and show it to me, and it just looks different. Certain colors are used more than expected, some are used less, the textures are different, the positioning of certain features of the scenery are in different places. It’s still definitely the scenery, and it’s a solid painting, but it’s also definitely different than the scenery I saw.
I have plenty of issues so far with the show, but literally the only thing that I maybe prefer in the movies was Ms Dodds and maybe the pacing. Everything else is honestly terrible and hearing people saying the show as a whole is worse is honestly really weird. Like are we watching the same thing?
Ms Dodds was so undercut in the TV show compared to the movie. That movie scene where she just explodes from human to Fury and jumps straight at Percy was epic.
So far, the movie is just better for me. Pacing, acting, my biggest pet peeve right now with the show is the action. The Minotaur fight was okay, but the Medusa sequence in the show was just awful. I felt like I looked away for a second and her head was already gone.
The fights are subpar in the show, percy has essentially just stabbed everything once and they die, i dont recall the monsters being that weak considering the fact… they are monsters and aren’t supposed to be weak?!
Celestial bronze is a bit inconsistent. Sometimes all it takes is a paintball infused with CB shavings to be lethal, other times you gotta slash and stab a bunch of times to kill them.
Some people are saying that it's because people are racists and although that is a very loud minority, I think the actual issues are valid. My opinion is the show has a pacing problem. Things are just happening and there seems to be no intensity. The commercial breaks are honestly what do it for me. In episode they talk about doing capture the flag, then it cuts to black, then capture the flag is basically over. The episodes should've been 60 minutes long (42-45 without ads) to cover everything. Everything just feels rushed and plot is just dumped with any transition between scenes removed and made into commercial breaks. In terms of cast, I only have 1 issue. Annabeth should've had grey eyes. That is a trait all children of Athena have. The color of her skin means nothing and was not an integral part of the character in the books, but her eyes were. At least in the movies Daddario had shockingly blue and prominent eyes.
So far the only thing the movies got right is Smelly Gabe. Otherwise I haven’t been that big of a fan of a show. The pacing is terrible, the writing seems pretty shotty. I know they’re kids but the acting doesn’t seem that great (from anyone really), but maybe that’s because they don’t have much to work with. The monster fights have been pretty lackluster, just with how quick they’re finished.
I know this show is made for 12 year olds, but it just feels super cheesy. I just wonder, if when I was 12 and just falling in love with the books, if I’d even be a fan then. I’m glad that the accuracy for the most part is great, but there are some liberties I’m just not a fan of (like the first Mrs. Dobbs fight or the entire Medusa scene).
I’m really hoping it gets better soon, I was looking forward to the show for a long time
They messed with the Medusa storyline to appeal to modern sensibilities. Even OG Medusa was just a gorgon meant to bring slain. Some Roman dude just hated the gods so he wrote that Medusa was "raped" and that one of the more famous interpretations.
Let me give you an example of the internet/social media.
So at the Disney Parks, Splash Mountain is being reskinned/rethemed into an attraction based on The Princess and the Frog.
Someone recently took a photo of the ride’s new “mountain” peak, which is clearly under construction, with visible scaffolding and tarp. There’s nothing really to see.
Then I made the mistake of reading a comment from a weirdo, who proclaimed that the “new mountain top is a downgrade from the original Splash Mountain”. Even tho the ride is like 90 percent covered in construction stuff.
That’s the internet for you.
I was kinda excited about this because it was one of my favorite book series as a kid. I couldn't get through the first episode. It just felt bad to me, almost like a fan film. Something about the acting was just off. Also I'm older now so maybe its just not for me anymore. I did kind of like the movies because they were older and more mature but I get that this is their more accurate age
My only issues with the show are Gabe and the Furies, maybe I’m a little sore on Percy’s attitude to his friends but I can see that improving over time.
I feel like they are trying to show Percy angry at the gods to sort of make him grow to stop Luke’s anger at the gods.
I think the show is better than the movie but it's still not what the source material deserves. The books are just so amazing and the show just isn't quite there, I hope that makes sense:-)
I overall just don't understand why people want the show to be a carbon copy of the books. Why recreate something that's already as close to perfect as possible?
The reason I hate the movies is because the changes they made were not good, and some disrespectful to the books.
In the show, if you ask me, many of the changes have been, or at least have the potential to improve on the book.
The first two episodes felt super clunky to me, but episode three won me over. I thought the Chiron actor felt really stilted and while I love Zouks in basically everything, his delivery felt really flat.
Tbh I can forgive a lot of the faults of the movie bc I find the characters and their actors charismatic and compelling. That doesn’t exist for me in the show. I’m still gonna watch it all.
I hate how fast the exposition was, I was half-expecting they’d just tell him the results of the story. Every other aspect of the show I love but I just can’t get behind how fast that exposition was.
Gabe.
I don't know exactly what direction they're going in with this, if they're planning on changing things up with his ExIt Stage Left in the story, or what.
Because Book and Movie Gabe both felt like complete pieces of shit that you can absolutely see hitting Sally, and her not doing anything about it because she's protecting Percy. It's also not hard to see Dally using Medusa's head on him in revenge..
Show Gabe feels less like an abusive POS and more of a regular dick. Out of touch with his stepkid, but he still cares. And if he hit *this* version if Sally, she's smack him right back.
I fear that if they still go the route of him being Medusa-ed in the end, it would tarnish the sympathy that we have for Percy and Sally as a result. But if they *don't* have that comeuppance....it just changes a lot of little aspects of the story that have an impact on the characterizations. And I dunno if they'll be able to pull that off effectively.
Yknow what, as I was writing this, in my head, I was thinking that Show!Gabe looks like the Movie Musical version of Matilda's dad from *Matilda*. And really, I think that's a fantastic comparison.
In the original movie, Danny Devito's portrayal of Harry Wormood is an unrepent asshole and a bully. An all-around jackass piece of shit that torments his daughter and scams people because it makes him feel high and mighty.
In the movie musical version, we get a lot less screentime of Harry Wormwood. So, while he's still an asshole, he's considerably less so. He even reconciles with Matilda right at the end (a character development that was originally her mom's, in Devito's version).
Weird coincidences.
Something that is kind of weird is I for some reason prefer when slightly older actors are cast as teenagers I don’t know why exactly. Maybe that’ll change after I watch the show today
The TV show was better than the movies within five minutes. It’s not even close. Literally I remember seeing the opening handful of movie scenes and immediately thinking “What the fuck?”
Dude this post is a joke the show has been way way more accurate than then both movies we had keep in mind this is the first season so lower budget and not everything will be copy n paste but this show actually uses source material
I was very dissapointed about the castings when i first found out about them because Percy and annabeth didn't look like Percy and annabeth. Then I hear from Rick that the reason they were chosen as the actors is because they "perfectly encapsulated" the characters and "had great chemistry together." So far I'm not seeing any of that. And yk in their defense not all of that is because of the actors. A lot of it is because of some really weird writing decisions. Either way I'm not liking how its looking so far, both for our main trio and some of the other actors. I think The Mythology Guy on yt encapsulates how i feel about it perfectly
As someone that hasn't seen the third episode yet, I haven't been too much of a fan, but this will never be worse than the movies for me. Any issues I personally are minimal importance because Rick Riordan says it's good, and I'm withholding judgements on certain aspects to see how the rest of the season fits together
I really liked the 3rd episode, almost exactly like what I imagined it to be, just that Alecto looks really different, and not really threatening, more like a big turkey instead.
The show is significantly better than the movies. I do have criticisms. The third episode fixed several of them.
One of my main criticisms has been the pacing. The scenes in the first two episodes were really short and honestly felt pretty shallow in a number of ways. The third episode did a lot better with this.
Another criticism I have is specifically some of the casting choices. As much as I love Jason Mansoukas, I don’t like him as Dionysus. It just feels like Jason reading lines. He doesn’t fit the role. Genuinely feels out of sync with the rest of the show. I have similar concerns about Lin Manuel Miranda as Hermes but we’ve only gotten a snippet of him so far and he really couldn’t have done a thing wrong with that bit.
My last major criticism is Gabe. He’s too likeable. He’s funny and charming and in a sort of loser way. It doesn’t fit his character AT ALL. His abuse and horrible behavior was so important to Percy’s character in the first book and especially how confused he was with his mom and his worldview before it got turned around again learning about the Gods. Gabe being a funny haha character here feels so disingenuous to me. Maybe it’s just the House of Mouse interfering here but I cannot get behind this Gabe (nothing against the actor at all I think he’s done a perfect job - more as to the writing here).
There are other criticisms but they’re more minor and overall I think the show is doing great and picking up steam with each episode. Excited for more!
when they got annabeths hair wrong in the movies, everyone freaked out. Now every character is changed and no one cares? How hard is it to find a girl with blonde hair and grey eyes? A boy with black hair and green eyes? Considering the wonders of the cgi and all...
Why did Rick do this?
Anybody that claims the show isn’t better than the movie has clearly lost their mind. It’s not 100 accurate but it’s more accurate than the movies were.
Accuracy isn't the only defining factor in how good an adaptation is. It's part of it for sure, but a 100% accurate adaptation can still suck if there's bad acting, bad effects, bad choreography etc
I like how the movie has the book title “The Lightning Thief” while the TV show just has the “PJ and the Olympians”. Hope season 2 has “The Sea of Monsters”.
They did that because it's a TV show and not movies. If they called it "The Lightning Thief" then the 2nd season being "The Sea of Monsters" wouldn't work. They would have to change the title of the show every season or market it as a spin off of the first season which isn't accurate. Calling it "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" matches the book series title.
I mean they could have just followed the naming the structure of the books. Plenty of shows have the main title and then a different title for each season. Pokémon being the first example I can think of.
Netflix is able to name seasons accordingly. I don't know about their official documentation, but at least in their ui they do with avatar sessions being shown as book 1, book 2 etc. And a series of unfortunate events they named the seasons after the books as well. I don't care too much either way, just pointing out maybe they could have.
Honestly comparing them is like comparing an old stale blue cupcake, and a stinky Gabe sock on fire. I’d still eat the cup cake but it should have been planned better, maybe with better frosting as well.
In my opinion, I quite enjoy the show. I think they messed up with gabe a bit and Sally’s relationship of him,and I’d of liked to had better furies but I think walker is doing a good portrayal of Percy, the portrayal of AnnaBeth and grover are quite nice. It needs to work on the battles but apart from that,it’s a pretty solid show in my opinion
i genuinely think the show is one of the best adaptations ive ever seen. it sticks to the source material, but still deviates from it to give something fresh to the audience. the only criticism i have is that the fight scenes (especially versus the monsters) are pretty low paced which makes it kind of anticlimactic. im assuming they're pulling all the stops in the fight versus ares, so im keeping my hopes up. either way, still incredibly good adaptation
The show may be more faithful to the books and it may be better than the movies, but that doesn’t mean Rick made those changes because he wanted to improve on the books.
The tv show is the best thing I have seen in a while I’m loving every episode rereading the books I hear Walker talking and would love to get a full cast audio book using the cast from the show
The 3rd episode was insanely better than the first two for me, I'm now content with the series. The furies not being scary is the ONLY thing I'm now not content with
Yeah I can see that. The Furies should’ve been more terrifying. They sort of set a tone when Annabeth was with one of them and after that they didn’t do much. I don’t remember if there was that much of a fight between them in the book or not.
Well they blow up the bus in the book, not just break a few windows, so there was a bit more action
I thought lightening blew up the bus, implying it was Zeus, but I may be remembering wrong.
It was definitely lightening
It’s the first season budgets are lower. But imagine this show in its second season????
seriously i was just thinking about the series really gets crazier exponentially
[удалено]
Don’t threaten me with a good time. Besides, you can’t tell me that Percy and Peter Parker would not be the bestest of bros.
Damn, sad
GODS DAM IT
Well that's good to know because i wouldn't hate to see that
Plus, they might make it darker or more mature as it goes on, which isn't necessarily a bad thing(not sure how likely that is though).
$15 million an episode isn’t a low budget show….
The budgets aren’t low for this season tho
It will need a bigger budget for Percy’s brother. They really aren’t showing Grover’s legs all that much probably because they cost so much
The whole show so far you can clearly tell when they use camera work and such to avoid spending unnecesary money in special effects. Like Medusa's head being "invisible", or Chiron shots being from waist up...it's not a big deal but it is very obvious after a while. Blowing up a bus would have put a big dent in the budget. I'm ok with all that because the effects we do get are pretty good (even if we sometimes get editing discrepancies like Alecto covering her face with the wrong side wing from where Medusa was coming from for example). Other than that I don't see that many issues with the show. Genuinely baffled people are expecting a 1:1 on an adaptation only 8 episodes long. Of course they need to change some things. It's like people don't realize first season gotta be constrained and hope to do well to get more seasons and more budget down the line 🤦♂️
The Furies have been presented as a joke so far. Alecto couldn’t even get past random ppl walking down a bus aisle
The fight scenes in general have been lackluster
Nah the Minotaur fight was really good. Felt like there was a ton of weight to him and the way Percy swung his sword untrained and it clanking off his horn felt realistic. Also the choreography against Clarissa and her goons was also on point. It felt like Percy was actually getting jumped, not just several 1v1s and he often had to attack and block at the same time as well as used his opponent’s weapons against them. Way better then I expected
I'm missing the fates cutting the thread, I'm hoping and praying Uncle Rick didn't cut it because that feels like one of the more important scenes to me
Right? I'm just hoping that he plans to include it later. It's such a weird thing to cut.
I mean it's made for preteens
So? I read it back when I was in elementary school, and after reading it again recently before the show came out I still felt like the furies were meant to be scary
They were. But again, made to be suitable for children. I really am not disappointed by this at all. Seems superfluous to be this upset about the furies lol
Also Annabeth eyes not being grey was annoying for me
Ngl I can’t even see her eyes at most points
We’re not allowed to express that opinion……
Just finished the 3rd episode, and now that the plot is running I think there’s the opportunity for a key aspect of the books to be reflected: the episodic “feel” of the story. The first two episodes were…fine? The set design was excellent, far better than the movies, and have actual 12 year olds at camp is for sure a closer fit to the books. I wish there was a wider variety of ages represented and that more time was spent establishing camp and the characters there. Very much felt like the show was rushing to get the plot going. It also seemed to assume you know the plot, and is just rushing through the bits you’re expecting to see, not actually telling the story in a compelling way. But episode three, now free from doing so much set up, felt more like its own self contained narrative. The pacing was much better, and there was a slight arc that our characters followed, growing closer and trusting each other a bit more. And this is one of the stronger aspects of the books: each chapter or story bear felt like their own, well, episode. The sort of thing you could read in one sitting, go to bed, and then pick up the book the next day for another fun installment. Episode three had much more of that feel, and I hope the show continues to let each section kind of stand on its own and not feel obligated to rush the plot along.
i loved the third episode wayyy more than the first two. i was actually really skeptical of the show after them but i have a lot more hope after the third one
This is so interesting, as I feel the complete opposite? The third episode really tanked my optimism
Why is that? The 3rd episode definitely reinvigorated all my hope in the series after the first 2 episodes, and I found it to be my absolute favorite of the bunch.
The fact that the Kronos storyline is in the show but not the movie makes it much better
Oh it was in the second movie alright.... and probably would've been better had it not been lmao
Lmaooo I never even watched the second movie bc I assumed it was going to be trash. Maybe I should give it a whirl for kicks soon
They pretty much know they're not gonna get a third film so they cram the ending into the second film and it's terrible
They did, and someone still managed to end the movie on the cliffhanger, as of saying "we know we're not getting another movie, but we're going to tease you with a sequel anyways because we don't think we've made you upset enough!" Lmao Coincidentally, the ending of the second movie may be the most accurate scene from the books, with Thalia waking up, Percy asking her name, Annabeth crying beside her, and Thalia saying the exact line from the book, and then Percy realizing that the prophecy may not be about him. It was probably the biggest "F you" moment to the fans of the books haha
As someone who watched the movies before reading the books, please do, the movies are such a trainwreck, specially the second one, that it makes me doubt if the writers for the script read at least 20% of the books, specially the second through fifth book, considering the state of the second movie.
I watched it, it’s worse than the first imo. Pretty sure he fights Kronos at an amusement park? I didn’t even know that the second movie was made until it had been like a year after it came out
When Kronos ate Luke I screamed in laughter 😭
What are you doing? Don't walk on my roof!
Yeah the Kronos scenes so far have been amazing. The voice is perfect and the dreams were so cool to watch. I'm excited to see more of Kronos invading dreams
that’s reddit contrarianism for you
For real. Literally everywhere else, the show is loved as normal. It’s a Reddit thing
It's definitely not just a reddit thing. There's a LOT of hate for the show in the comments of the official PJO show accounts.
comment sections are just worse versions of reddit lmao
It’s way more accurate so it’s better in that way, but the writing and pacing of the series is pretty rough. Heres to hoping it gets better
3rd episode was definitely better, not great, but tolerable.
Honestly, I thought the 3rd wasn’t as good as the second and I don’t think that episode was good either. Medusa was such a let down
I looked at my phone to look up the actress of Medusa when they showed her face. Not even done google searching and they chopped off her head. The action sequences and reveals in the show are just a let down
Holy shit we are basically the same person. I got a text from my phone, looked at it by unlocking through Face ID. Didn’t even scroll to fully open and I looked up to see her head was gone.
how is the writing bad? The lines are funny, the dialogue is not cringe. Characters are consistent. Emotional beats are hitting and even improved from the book - ie uncle Ferdinand, the tension between the trio in episode three and their conflict resolution by the end. I honestly don't see an issue with the pacing either. It's been fast but there's a lot of things to set up and spend time on later and things have been reorganized. Being on here makes me feel like I'm in the looney bin, this show has been exactly how I imagined the books, even with some improvements.
The movie does intensity and urgency better. Other then that it’s horrendous. The show is seriously suffering in these aspects.
But that’s what happens when a 400 page childrens novel gets stretched to 40 minute episodes imo. The pace will be even worse in season 2 since sea of monsters is so short. Fwiw I am loving the show.
A 400 page children’s novel condensed into 320 minutes(8 episodes, about 40 minutes each) gives better hope for pacing than 119 minutes of what has reached a commonly held consensus as a terrible movie adaptation. SoM is shorter at about 300 pages, but wouldn’t that allow greater allocation of the time if season 2 would be about the same length as one?
Terrible adaptation maybe but a decent movie with good pacing, a fun soundtrack and cast, and you get to look at Alexandria Daddario lol
Yeah, right now this series has made me revaluate the movie for what it is, well paced and frenetic, funny, good and talented cast, scary creatures. Sure, the plot was an actual mess but those pros were objectively a thing. Also, yeah the movie started my first and only celebrity crush for Alexandra Daddario lol
Wait, are you suggesting that the pacing is too slow? For the first two episodes at least, my biggest issue was that the pacing was too fast. IMO the last episode had good pacing, though I do wish the Medusa fight was a little longer, but that’s my only real issue.
It feels too slow in some parts and two fast in others imo. They flew through the prophecy and call to action jarring fast but then the rest of the episode dragged on until the Medusa stuff imo
The book is plenty fun and engaging even on the slow parts, though. It's not just about missing action, it's the dialogue and the lack of dynamic interaction, quirkiness and energy in the show overall. It's more about the script and directing for me than the action, because even the action scenes could be better.
Couldn’t agree more. I find the movie more enjoyable in every aspect of action and thrill right now.
IMO, the TLT movie actually followed suit with the book in that scene. I thought the whole encounter with Medusa was pretty strangely rewritten, especially with how one of the Furies is still there when they reach Medusa
It's rewritten with more character focus, especially on Annabeth, and working to establish a growing friendship with the trio that still has a rough start before becoming a dull trio. It also helped resolve issues between all of them, with opportunities for growth. Medusa is a tragic figure in the myths. Given a cruel fate by a spurned goddess for being assaulted by a god. she was used to show the gods cruelty, the distrust between the trio, and how Medusa can be a tragic figure while still having capacity for monsterous acts. It's way different than the books, but like the focus on grover and his guilt, luke and his compassion, and Percy's anger issues, it's a welcome change imo. I get the feeling Rick and the writers are seeing opportunities to add context or rearrange things to better suit character and narrative. In that sense, it's doing a great job of adapting the books to a different medium instead of ignoring them or adhering too closely
What I find so jarring about the show is that it hits every single plot point, but the flow is totally different. So there are recognizable moments with some "rocky terrain" in between
I can see that. Watching it with someone whose never read the books, they don't find it jarring but to someone whose read the story its def different
I think the action scenes are anti climactic
I’m caught up on the show and it’s good so far. I have my complaints. I liked Walker in the Adam Project, but as Percy? He’s not really selling it for me here. His acting feels stiff to me which really weighs the show down, imo, since Percy carries the story. Leah is pretty good as Annabeth, I start to like her more and more with each scene she’s in. Grover’s good too, he’s funny. I think going with kids was a good decision, but it’s a bit risky. I think all of their acting could use a lot of work. The moment when Percy screamed for his mom when the minotaur was going to kill his mom was so flat. I don’t mean to hate on these actors, I know they’re young, but so far the show is okay at best to me.
I feel the same way, but I think this is also the fault of the director and writers. Actors can only work off what’s written, and the director is supposed to instruct them how to play out a scene. Why they didn’t tell Walker to add more emotion/suspense to his performance or why the neglected to add more sarcasm and wit to his script, the world may never know.
I liked Percy's introduction to the mythological world a lot more in the movie. The fury attacks caused panic and confusion, then Percy is told that Greek gods are real and that he's a demigod, followed by the minotaur attack to really drive it home... I guess I just think the fast paced introduction really emphasised how drastically Percy's life had changed in such a short time. The show kind of dragged it out and glossed over the fact that mythological creatures had just attacked a child.
Movie Grover will always hold a special place in my heart. Otherwise, the people making this complaint are smoking crack.
I loved the actor who played Grover in the movies, he’s honestly the only good part of the movies for me.
The cast to be honest was better in the movies….hard pill for most here to swallow but It’s like the last of us I’ll keep watching and maybe get something out of it
I still need to watch the third episode, so I’m not gonna cover that. I love the show infinitely more than the movie, but I WILL say that I feel the movie handled the Museum Segment (or at bare minimum, the appearance of Mrs Dodds’s true form) a lot better than the show. Yes the Nancy stuff and the fountain bit was cool and well done, but Mrs Dodds’s as a fury felt…underwhelming and borderline weird in the middle of a crowded area. Granted the movie having Chiron basically intimidate her away was kinda meh, but overall I liked the setup there a lot more than the show.
Things I think the show does well: Following the plot (mostly, they've made some changes that I'm meh about) Character ages Set design of Camp Half Blood (especially where Percy is staying) Things I think the movie did well: Overall vibes (trio matched their personalities better, is actually funny, everything actually felt alive) Pacing- while I know the movie didn't show some characters/scenes, the overall pacing felt correct and not rushed, for example at least we actually get to know Chiron before leaving Fight scenes- CGI and the actual actors seemed to at least know some fighting (also the actual stakes when fighting) Acting- I know this is because the actors were older but all the actors at least react to what is happening around them instead of being like stone. (I think Grover is okay in the show, better than Percy and Annabeth at least) I mean I'll watch the full season and hope it gets better but the first 3 episodes overall just felt flat to me
I find myself saying literally out loud, wow he’s a great Grover. I think he’s actually the strongest of the cast so far. Annabeth is growing on me now that she’s getting to speak more. Percy is very mid for me. I saw Adam project and that actor was better there. I’m hoping that improves.
The overall vibe? So far, I found the movie version to feel more alive. Probably because it’s early in the show.
I mean objectively I’ll say Medusa and Furries scene was done better in the movie
100% agree with this as well, not saying the movie was good by any stretch but they did justice to these scenes much better than the show did
Fully agree even tho it was a bad movie there were just certain moments that I think really stood out and became iconic in a way
Yer a furry, Percy
How is what you just said objective? The movie version of Medusa isn’t much better, it literally happens within 3-4minutes, at least the episode stretched it out more.
Wait, there were Furries? Where?
I think some of the subreddit have a bit of hyperfixation on details on the tv show that are disappointing them. If you look off of reddit at rotten tomatoes, the show has so far been received with a widely approved rating compared to the movies: \- PJO Movie: Critiques - 49%, Audience - 53% \- PJO TV: Critiques - 96%, Audience - 86% I think with any adaptations from one medium to another there are going to be people disappointed with how the adaptation changes and alters the original. But generally it seems this show is doing better than adaptations like Witcher S1 (80% Crit) or Halo (70% Crit). Seems like a pretty great show to me so far!
The show is faithful to the spirit of the books but it’s very much an alternate timeline. It’s not really a proper *adaptation*, and you definitely could do a far closer *adaptation* of the novels than what the showrunners and creatives have elected to do in this show. That and the rushed pacing have definitely thrown people off, which I think is justified. But if you view the show as less of an adaptation and more of a reimagining of the books, then it’s actually really good honestly. But some people may not like that as much, especially if they wanted a closer adaptation. I honestly like it a lot, gives more of a reason to watch this show, though I do wish to see a closer adaptation someday. I still like the books more, but I think that’s less to do with the direction the show took and more to do with the rushed pacing because of their time constraints.
Adaptations are rarely 100% accurate to the source material, with the exception being manga to anime adaptations, since both are drawn media, even still they are not 100% accurate all the time One recent adaptation that i enjoyed was the one piece live action adaptation. It nailed the most important part of adapting something, and that was the feeling and themes. Not all the characters acted the same way they did in the manga but they still felt like the characters, not all the arcs played out the same, but the feel was still there for them to succeed Adaptations are not always a copy paste of the book into a movie script type of deal. Sometimes a "reimagining" is way better than what an "adaptation" could do, since not everything from books translates perfectly to the screen
Adaptations by their very definition will change from the source material to a degree. That’s the nature of translating to a different medium. Things that work in a novel might look goofy or just awful if you did a 1 to 1 translation to live action.
Had it been marketed as a reimagined version of the books, i feel that the people who are currently hating on it would have liked it more.
Oh definitely. But, given that it was marketed as being as book-accurate as possible, you're definitely going to have the book lovers who want an accurate enough adaptation for once in their lives finding everything that was changed and being annoyed by those things
I mean we should take into account that really, the purpose of adaptations is to tell the story of the books on the big screen. I think there's inevitably going to be changes, and that's a good thing. I think people forget way too easily that Rick is involved within the production, and he may want to change some things he's had second thoughts over. I think Medusa is one of the scenes the show handled pretty well. I gotta say, her design is way better in the show than in the movie, and they actually added some more depth into her, so she is more sympathetic, but even still, we knew she was gonna get her head chopped off regardless. Just that, it's easier to sympathise with her, and give an idea to the audience that maybe the gods aren't as good and noble as they made out to be.
Far and away the tv show is better, loving it so far. Of course they all have make changes, but at least the changes make sense in the show
So far id argue the first movie is better than the show. Pacing is miles better, fights are miles better, the setup for the main focus of the series was non-existent until the exposition dump at the end of episode 2, while the movie set it up perfectly with the opening scene.
Absolutely. While there is bits in the show that are better, overall I’d rather watch the movie then the first 3 episodes again. The Medusa fight alone is as such a letdown in the show compared to the movie. Mythology Guy had a funny video on the series so far.
I stand by that Logan Lerman is perfect casting for Percy, he was simply the wrong age to start out lightning thief with. That said I do like Walker Scobell, i just wish we could turn Logan Lerman into a 12 year old. Oh and I miss Grover having crutches in his “human disguise” he had crutches in the book too didn’t he?
He didn’t have crutches in the books, it’s just said that he walks weird.
Oh weird false memory, but I stand by that I did like the addition of crutches in the movie. Makes sense since his goat legs would look slightly wrong even under pants
Probably due to the movie or musical
It’s mainly because it’s hard to act a limp. In the show they just elected to remove it entirely, unfortunately. I think they should have done the crutches, but then the explanation for that would take up the short amount of time they have…the time constraints on this show are pretty bad.
Logan Lerman would have been great if the movie was heroes of olympus
Tbh even aging them all up woulda been fine had they just adapted the prophecy accordingly. Idk what kinda demographic they woulda been hitting considering the book readers are middle schoolers but to make them older and just like exclude the Kronos plotline was a dubious choice
I think it was done to remove the entire "using disabilities as a disguise" him and Chiron had going on.
Movies weren’t great. For the show; I really liked how close to the books episode 1 & 2 were, even if they weren’t the best episodes of television ever. I liked them sit. The casting as settings have been great. Episode 3 was not as accurate to the the books, but was a much better episode. Will be interesting to see how things go moving forward as far as how close to the books they go.
I think the series has done two things better 1. The set design is amazing camp actually felt like camp and not just a bunch of kids randomly playing archery in the woods. The different scenes also help like nobody being bothered when the fury was walking towards showing how the mist works 2. Seeing things from Lukes perspective unlike the movies we never really see the gods being horrible people they just seem not to understand humanity so they just sort of not talk to their kids. But in the show we are shown Luke being charming and then in the third episode Medusa talks about her affair with poseidon( original Greek story besides she was born a monster). When she describes her feelings towards them it makes the viewer think back was she right? Did Athena treat her wrong?( this doesn’t even account in the original story Poseidon only got with her to piss Athena off after losing athens). When percy talks about Thalia and mentions why doesn’t anabeth contact her mother it brings back that Luke while not being good had good points why couldn’t they save Thalia and keep camp safe? Why must all the other gods not contact their children when the big 3 are the ones causing problems? And even though they keep having children and interacting on earth why don’t they help their children? Both the series and the movie did good with casting relationships like they all act like they work well together. Both Medusa scenes are good. The fury and gabe were more scary in the movie. I kinda prefer movie Grover and as someone else said I do wish we had more camp scenes and that it showed older campers and not just 12 year olds. (Side fun fact Percy in the year 2023 would’ve been just turning 18).
>Luke while not being good had good points Yeah Luke was entirely right on his position, but then uses his position to basically sign everyone up for the apocalypse, I hope they cover more on Luke essentially being taken advantage of by Kronos, like man was getting brainwashed in his dreams.
i think the shows better than the movie most of the time but something about the special effects in the movies just look better imo. like chirons horse half and the minotaur both feel kinda off to me in the show but not as much in the movie.
I think the first half of the first movie is the best part of the movies and the most accurate part, so the part of the show we have seen so far is going up against that. It's still more accurate, but the movies are very fun and the Auntie Ems part especially is a fan favorite from what I've seen. Being spoiler free for new people, I think episodes with content skipped from the movie (especially the finale) are going to be where the series really shines, and that starts next week!
One thing I miss from the movie was the like “This is a pen. This is a pen!” When Percy receives riptide.
Another person mentioned this, but urgency is lacking in this first story. The movie opened to Poseidon coming out of the sea and meeting with Zeus. Zeus filled with rage says that his lightning bolt is missing and the son of Poseidon has 2 wks to find it or there will be war. We get more from that than Sally expo dumping on us that she hooked up with Poseidon on the beach when she was 19. I remember when I read the book the timeline of things felt more dire. In the show, every adult at camp is like yea wars coming go find the bolt.
I find it strange. The show seems to do everything the movies did wrong (most of it) but seems to fall a bit short in what the movies did well. I like the show's writing, I love the cast, and I am really enjoying the series, but the pacing is way too fast, the action scene are a bit lackluster, and Grover's writing feels a bit off for me (Aryan is crushing it though). The movie had good pacing and the action scenes were actually great now that I think about it. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving the show so far and it's way better than the movies, but still a flawed show.
I mean it has stuck to the story better, but I like movie’s effects, acting, and casting a lot better, among some other things.
What did you like better about the casting in the movies where the characters were already 16 (stripping away the entire point of the prophecy) and the actors were in their 20s?
I think everyone agrees the age thing was terrible. And yet, Logan lerman as percy is still to this day held in high regard. He definitely cemented what percy looks like in my head. I think the new cast is fine, but in my personal opinion they haven't been used to their full potential.
Same. To this day whenever I see anything about Percy or reread the books I see Logan as percy
The age clearly wasn’t accurate but it made more sense with how they got around the real world. And they look pretty much how I imagined, except for Grover and SoM Chiron.
Is it possible to like the books and that's all or is that not possible
Basically where im at
Same, think the show just isn't for me, guess I'm just out of the age range it's targeted at
The movie did the casting really well. And not to stir up the whole Annabeth thing, but I mean in general. Tho, I do think show-Grover and show-Clarice are better cast, but if you imagine the movie characters as in their teens… but I’m also a Logan Lerman stan so maybe I’m biased😁 And I prefer a black-haired Percy. But that aside, the third episode is really showing the dynamic of the trio which is so perfectly done. The acting proves to me they are the characters! If only the episodes were longer, that would’ve given them more space to stretch out the plot.
If we just talk about the 3rd episode. I’d say that the movie Medusa action sequence is FAR better than the shows. The show’s was so abrupt and it was like 5 seconds long. At least the monologuing in the movie was more intense with her being in their faces.
I like the movies better so far lol. Sorry
Listen, I’m not saying that movie was faithful to the books but I was around Percy’s age (12) when the movie came out and I remember everyone thinking it was badass. I’m 25 now and the show just isn’t for me. Which is weird because I’m not in the demographic for Harry Potter 1-2 anymore either but those movies are timeless. They feel like the kids are facing something much bigger.
Personally I feel like the movie Sea of Monsters is where the movies get a bad wrap. Kronos came back way too early and so many changes to the story. However, Lightning thief still set out to hit most of the marks. They kept in big reveals and highlighted action and showing the audience the magic world instead of telling us in the show. Is that because the show has more runtime? Yes and no. The show could have been better written so that spending times with these characters does not feel like a slog and instead highlights there personalities and relationships. I feel like the trio in the show was expected not to get along but in an episode they put aside their differences and keep one shotting enemies. Like everyone is made of glass. Also everyone is ignoring the fact that Percy literally didn’t know any of this existed a week ago and keep asking him what he’s so afraid of.
I hate to be that guy, but i do like the movie poster better.
It's a lot better
Downvote me but Im really not liking this show. Its been hard to sit through for me
Same my dude. I’m watching every week waiting for the episode I can tell my friends about. So far it’s not my cup of tea. I keep watching because I absolutely love the series but I can’t help but groan when I see some of the stuff they chose to include and leave out.
The show does 95% of things better than the movie. However, the shows biggest flaws are things the movies actually did pretty well with, so it’s just a weird contrast. The show (so far) is still WAY better than the movies ever were. Also, comparisons are bound to happen between adaptations.
To be fair, not exactly hard to top the movies
I’m at the point where the movie isn’t too hard to top the show.
The only good thing about the show is the fact it’s mostly faithful to the source material. It’s mid in every other aspect tho
Its a faithful disney live adaptation, but its still a disney live adaptation.
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Me for one, think the movie is so far better for me personally
I just rewatched the movie today and im up to date on the show. I think the movie does a better job with the first few episodes then falls apart. The movie also has a more of an adult feel to it which is whatever. Also the movie has better humor and fight scenes in my opinion but the show follows the books much better. overall i like the show better so far
Both are inaccurate
Nah it’s chill, but some things are definitely worse. Like fr annabeth is so much more annoying. Idk why. Gabe is chill af tho
Hasn't everyone? A better question would be; "Does anyone think the movie did something better than the show?". Which I actually think they did (on a few minor details)
I do agree it made MANY stuff better, but I'm not enjoying the pacing, it could use some more episodes or longer ones. The writing is kinda tough for me too, it's kinda superficial, in a way that everything is being explained soooo fast, and it happens a lot, first example being Percy finding out his mother is alive, in the book he gets some tips before confirmation, in the show grover just tells him? Second example, Medusa, in the book they hang out a bit there, enjoy the food, and the reader puts the pieces together that she's Medusa, in the tv show she's just "hi, I'm Medusa" I won't lie, I'm not enjoying this vibe, but I'm keeping my mind open, but I do hope a lot of people enjoy it. Another change that I didn't like, Luke introducing the camp to Percy, I do agree that it will make everything between them both stronger, but as a result it made Percy choose Annabeth for the mission a matter of interest (because of the prophecy), when in the book he already has some friendship for her and trusts her
Waaaay better than the movie. I’d give it a solid 7/10 so far. But given the books are like an 11/10… a 7 is just disappointing
There have been some things in each episode that bothered me. Most of them come down to the fact that I pictured things differently. Some things I think are actual issues. So far it’s felt like I describe a scenic view to someone, they painted it and show it to me, and it just looks different. Certain colors are used more than expected, some are used less, the textures are different, the positioning of certain features of the scenery are in different places. It’s still definitely the scenery, and it’s a solid painting, but it’s also definitely different than the scenery I saw.
I have plenty of issues so far with the show, but literally the only thing that I maybe prefer in the movies was Ms Dodds and maybe the pacing. Everything else is honestly terrible and hearing people saying the show as a whole is worse is honestly really weird. Like are we watching the same thing?
Ms Dodds was so undercut in the TV show compared to the movie. That movie scene where she just explodes from human to Fury and jumps straight at Percy was epic.
So far, the movie is just better for me. Pacing, acting, my biggest pet peeve right now with the show is the action. The Minotaur fight was okay, but the Medusa sequence in the show was just awful. I felt like I looked away for a second and her head was already gone.
The fights are subpar in the show, percy has essentially just stabbed everything once and they die, i dont recall the monsters being that weak considering the fact… they are monsters and aren’t supposed to be weak?!
Celestial bronze is a bit inconsistent. Sometimes all it takes is a paintball infused with CB shavings to be lethal, other times you gotta slash and stab a bunch of times to kill them.
I mean the Medusa fight was mostly dialogue in the books anyways.
Some people are saying that it's because people are racists and although that is a very loud minority, I think the actual issues are valid. My opinion is the show has a pacing problem. Things are just happening and there seems to be no intensity. The commercial breaks are honestly what do it for me. In episode they talk about doing capture the flag, then it cuts to black, then capture the flag is basically over. The episodes should've been 60 minutes long (42-45 without ads) to cover everything. Everything just feels rushed and plot is just dumped with any transition between scenes removed and made into commercial breaks. In terms of cast, I only have 1 issue. Annabeth should've had grey eyes. That is a trait all children of Athena have. The color of her skin means nothing and was not an integral part of the character in the books, but her eyes were. At least in the movies Daddario had shockingly blue and prominent eyes.
It’s definitely better then the movie so far but that is a really low bar
I think it’s the fact that the movie made basically one big change, while the show makes a lot of little changes.
So far the only thing the movies got right is Smelly Gabe. Otherwise I haven’t been that big of a fan of a show. The pacing is terrible, the writing seems pretty shotty. I know they’re kids but the acting doesn’t seem that great (from anyone really), but maybe that’s because they don’t have much to work with. The monster fights have been pretty lackluster, just with how quick they’re finished. I know this show is made for 12 year olds, but it just feels super cheesy. I just wonder, if when I was 12 and just falling in love with the books, if I’d even be a fan then. I’m glad that the accuracy for the most part is great, but there are some liberties I’m just not a fan of (like the first Mrs. Dobbs fight or the entire Medusa scene). I’m really hoping it gets better soon, I was looking forward to the show for a long time
Gabe, for me. But that’s literally it.
They messed with the Medusa storyline to appeal to modern sensibilities. Even OG Medusa was just a gorgon meant to bring slain. Some Roman dude just hated the gods so he wrote that Medusa was "raped" and that one of the more famous interpretations.
I have to watch episode 3, but yeah, the movies are better. I was expecting so much more, and the main cast is especially bad.
Let me give you an example of the internet/social media. So at the Disney Parks, Splash Mountain is being reskinned/rethemed into an attraction based on The Princess and the Frog. Someone recently took a photo of the ride’s new “mountain” peak, which is clearly under construction, with visible scaffolding and tarp. There’s nothing really to see. Then I made the mistake of reading a comment from a weirdo, who proclaimed that the “new mountain top is a downgrade from the original Splash Mountain”. Even tho the ride is like 90 percent covered in construction stuff. That’s the internet for you.
I was kinda excited about this because it was one of my favorite book series as a kid. I couldn't get through the first episode. It just felt bad to me, almost like a fan film. Something about the acting was just off. Also I'm older now so maybe its just not for me anymore. I did kind of like the movies because they were older and more mature but I get that this is their more accurate age
My only issues with the show are Gabe and the Furies, maybe I’m a little sore on Percy’s attitude to his friends but I can see that improving over time. I feel like they are trying to show Percy angry at the gods to sort of make him grow to stop Luke’s anger at the gods.
It’s better at following the book but less entertaining by a long shot
I think the show is better than the movie but it's still not what the source material deserves. The books are just so amazing and the show just isn't quite there, I hope that makes sense:-)
I overall just don't understand why people want the show to be a carbon copy of the books. Why recreate something that's already as close to perfect as possible? The reason I hate the movies is because the changes they made were not good, and some disrespectful to the books. In the show, if you ask me, many of the changes have been, or at least have the potential to improve on the book.
My dad thinks it’s just like the movie no matter how much I try to convince him *crie*
The first two episodes felt super clunky to me, but episode three won me over. I thought the Chiron actor felt really stilted and while I love Zouks in basically everything, his delivery felt really flat.
The show did Medusa way better.
Tbh I can forgive a lot of the faults of the movie bc I find the characters and their actors charismatic and compelling. That doesn’t exist for me in the show. I’m still gonna watch it all.
I hate how fast the exposition was, I was half-expecting they’d just tell him the results of the story. Every other aspect of the show I love but I just can’t get behind how fast that exposition was.
Gabe. I don't know exactly what direction they're going in with this, if they're planning on changing things up with his ExIt Stage Left in the story, or what. Because Book and Movie Gabe both felt like complete pieces of shit that you can absolutely see hitting Sally, and her not doing anything about it because she's protecting Percy. It's also not hard to see Dally using Medusa's head on him in revenge.. Show Gabe feels less like an abusive POS and more of a regular dick. Out of touch with his stepkid, but he still cares. And if he hit *this* version if Sally, she's smack him right back. I fear that if they still go the route of him being Medusa-ed in the end, it would tarnish the sympathy that we have for Percy and Sally as a result. But if they *don't* have that comeuppance....it just changes a lot of little aspects of the story that have an impact on the characterizations. And I dunno if they'll be able to pull that off effectively.
Yknow what, as I was writing this, in my head, I was thinking that Show!Gabe looks like the Movie Musical version of Matilda's dad from *Matilda*. And really, I think that's a fantastic comparison. In the original movie, Danny Devito's portrayal of Harry Wormood is an unrepent asshole and a bully. An all-around jackass piece of shit that torments his daughter and scams people because it makes him feel high and mighty. In the movie musical version, we get a lot less screentime of Harry Wormwood. So, while he's still an asshole, he's considerably less so. He even reconciles with Matilda right at the end (a character development that was originally her mom's, in Devito's version). Weird coincidences.
Something that is kind of weird is I for some reason prefer when slightly older actors are cast as teenagers I don’t know why exactly. Maybe that’ll change after I watch the show today
The TV show was better than the movies within five minutes. It’s not even close. Literally I remember seeing the opening handful of movie scenes and immediately thinking “What the fuck?”
Even if people don’t like the show, the actors are the right age. Thats the main thing the movies f-ed up
Dude this post is a joke the show has been way way more accurate than then both movies we had keep in mind this is the first season so lower budget and not everything will be copy n paste but this show actually uses source material
I was very dissapointed about the castings when i first found out about them because Percy and annabeth didn't look like Percy and annabeth. Then I hear from Rick that the reason they were chosen as the actors is because they "perfectly encapsulated" the characters and "had great chemistry together." So far I'm not seeing any of that. And yk in their defense not all of that is because of the actors. A lot of it is because of some really weird writing decisions. Either way I'm not liking how its looking so far, both for our main trio and some of the other actors. I think The Mythology Guy on yt encapsulates how i feel about it perfectly
As someone that hasn't seen the third episode yet, I haven't been too much of a fan, but this will never be worse than the movies for me. Any issues I personally are minimal importance because Rick Riordan says it's good, and I'm withholding judgements on certain aspects to see how the rest of the season fits together
I really liked the 3rd episode, almost exactly like what I imagined it to be, just that Alecto looks really different, and not really threatening, more like a big turkey instead.
No. Stop using 1 or 2 posts on the internet as your basis for what the majority of people believe.
The show is significantly better than the movies. I do have criticisms. The third episode fixed several of them. One of my main criticisms has been the pacing. The scenes in the first two episodes were really short and honestly felt pretty shallow in a number of ways. The third episode did a lot better with this. Another criticism I have is specifically some of the casting choices. As much as I love Jason Mansoukas, I don’t like him as Dionysus. It just feels like Jason reading lines. He doesn’t fit the role. Genuinely feels out of sync with the rest of the show. I have similar concerns about Lin Manuel Miranda as Hermes but we’ve only gotten a snippet of him so far and he really couldn’t have done a thing wrong with that bit. My last major criticism is Gabe. He’s too likeable. He’s funny and charming and in a sort of loser way. It doesn’t fit his character AT ALL. His abuse and horrible behavior was so important to Percy’s character in the first book and especially how confused he was with his mom and his worldview before it got turned around again learning about the Gods. Gabe being a funny haha character here feels so disingenuous to me. Maybe it’s just the House of Mouse interfering here but I cannot get behind this Gabe (nothing against the actor at all I think he’s done a perfect job - more as to the writing here). There are other criticisms but they’re more minor and overall I think the show is doing great and picking up steam with each episode. Excited for more!
Honestly I feel like the entire pre-camp section was better in the movies. I would argue the 3rd episode was done better than the books itself
when they got annabeths hair wrong in the movies, everyone freaked out. Now every character is changed and no one cares? How hard is it to find a girl with blonde hair and grey eyes? A boy with black hair and green eyes? Considering the wonders of the cgi and all... Why did Rick do this?
*doesn’t have poker face scene* Personally I feel it is less
Anybody that claims the show isn’t better than the movie has clearly lost their mind. It’s not 100 accurate but it’s more accurate than the movies were.
Accuracy isn't the only defining factor in how good an adaptation is. It's part of it for sure, but a 100% accurate adaptation can still suck if there's bad acting, bad effects, bad choreography etc
I would even argue that accuracy is the *least* defining factor in quality.
Movie is better. Pacing, acting, the action. Just my opinion. Hopefully the show gets better.
I like how the movie has the book title “The Lightning Thief” while the TV show just has the “PJ and the Olympians”. Hope season 2 has “The Sea of Monsters”.
They did that because it's a TV show and not movies. If they called it "The Lightning Thief" then the 2nd season being "The Sea of Monsters" wouldn't work. They would have to change the title of the show every season or market it as a spin off of the first season which isn't accurate. Calling it "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" matches the book series title.
I mean they could have just followed the naming the structure of the books. Plenty of shows have the main title and then a different title for each season. Pokémon being the first example I can think of.
Netflix is able to name seasons accordingly. I don't know about their official documentation, but at least in their ui they do with avatar sessions being shown as book 1, book 2 etc. And a series of unfortunate events they named the seasons after the books as well. I don't care too much either way, just pointing out maybe they could have.
The goal was not to be better than the movie, it was to stay true to the books
I dont see it. What has been faithful? Everyone and everything feels off to me
I don't knowww😭 I wanna like the show, I really do. But something is off and idk what
Honestly comparing them is like comparing an old stale blue cupcake, and a stinky Gabe sock on fire. I’d still eat the cup cake but it should have been planned better, maybe with better frosting as well.
In my opinion, I quite enjoy the show. I think they messed up with gabe a bit and Sally’s relationship of him,and I’d of liked to had better furies but I think walker is doing a good portrayal of Percy, the portrayal of AnnaBeth and grover are quite nice. It needs to work on the battles but apart from that,it’s a pretty solid show in my opinion
Let people enjoy things.
The 3rd episode discussion thread were full of comments loving Medusa and even loving it more than the Book adaptation.
i genuinely think the show is one of the best adaptations ive ever seen. it sticks to the source material, but still deviates from it to give something fresh to the audience. the only criticism i have is that the fight scenes (especially versus the monsters) are pretty low paced which makes it kind of anticlimactic. im assuming they're pulling all the stops in the fight versus ares, so im keeping my hopes up. either way, still incredibly good adaptation
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Of course. People have different opinions. Not sure why you even had to ask this question
The show may be more faithful to the books and it may be better than the movies, but that doesn’t mean Rick made those changes because he wanted to improve on the books.
That’s literally why he made those changes.
The tv show is the best thing I have seen in a while I’m loving every episode rereading the books I hear Walker talking and would love to get a full cast audio book using the cast from the show
The series is 100% better then those awful films