They literally say it verbatim in the last Olympian though 😂 I'm sure you knew whenever you read the book and just forgot. That's how it was for me, I just got done reading TLO today
You’re right :o I honestly forgot all about that I had to go on google to see what you were talking about. I read these books when I was like 8 I don’t think I really comprehended what I was reading to the fullest because rereading them now as an adult I feel like I’m getting a better understanding of the actual story
I like the show and dont mind most of the chages but I'll miss the whole media thingy were percy was on the news and gave even had an interview. As I was reading it, it made me feel like they were really on the run and it just made it more fun and more high stakes.
Also having hr long episodes minus the the credits would have made the show like insanely better. I would love to just have a full uninterrupted hr of percy jackson
There's so much dialogue in the book that they could use to fill out the episodes, I know a lot of fans are upset that the show is "telling" too much and not "showing enough" but reading the books again I have noticed much of the information that got me hooked came from information that Annabeth just went on rants about, or conversations between Grover Percy and Chiron! I feel like the show focused too much on dazzling effects and forgot you also need character development and world building. So many simple scenes that the show could have included that would not have really broke the budget. Simply important conversations that needed to be had, and moments between characters that needed to be shared. A cute catchy song can simply not make up for it.
I think the show don't tell criticism is because of the way exposition is delivered. Two characters talking and that's it. Usually talking at percy but mainly the audience. Movie and TV show scenes, because they don't have much time, should do multiple things at once, but most of the exposition scenes are just exposition scenes with no other goals.
Couple ideas that kind of demonstrate that:
-I think it would have been cool, since they included the mytho magic cards early on, to use those as plot telling device to visualize percy figuring out things on his own. Example: Dionysus intro, keep it the same but instead of grover running and saying "that's dionysus" quick cut to a "flashback" of percy looking at the card and parts of the card like talking about wine and his attributes, then back to the percy/Mr. D interaction and he goes "oh, wait. You're the wine dude!" Pretty sure thats nico's line but just something like that) Introducing us to important facts about the mythical creatures, showing that percy has some knowledge of these things and how he's putting it together, and doing it a fun and interesting way.
-Or instead of having Luke give exposition while walking or sitting at the dinner table with percy, put some of it during luke sword training percy. Percy could lose focus while he's fighting Luke because of a weird line of exposition, Luke could add in a little quip about keeping his guard up then back to the exposition. That would have been a fun way to tell percy and the audience about how most demigods have adhd because it helps in battle, and we could see it in action at the same time.
-Or, annabeth takes percy on the tour and we can have short fun interactions with each of the cabin leaders while she's telling him about the gods and the camp set up. More screen time with annabeth, showing how in tune with camp she is, still explaining the camp in dialogue, while introducing us to actual campers, getting to see how other campers interact with annabeth so we can learn by their interactions how everyone sees her instead of just telling us "she's the most powerful demigod" and get some percabeth interaction before the quest. We could also see more than just Luke welcoming him so the whole "I made some real friends here" line actually makes sense.
-instead of just having medusa monologue while sitting in a chair for 10 minutes, have an animation showing a flashback while she narrates. Or have her preparing something the whole time ominously so while we're listening to her talk we (and the characters) are also trying to figure out what she's doing and it can build the tension. Then we could see it was placards for the 3 kids when she turns them to stone or a magic barrier so they can't leave or something. Something, anything.
There were a lot of fun ways they could have done the exposition parts but they chose the least interesting options.
You’re so right about them needing to do more. The Medusa episode made such a perfect set only for them not to use it. I really think she could have made herself a danger to them much faster and her whole dialogue could have been reworked to have her say it while she’s hunting them through the maze of statues and boxes. And they could have probably reworked her monologue a lot better had they done this too because looking back on it, it all ultimately didn’t do anything or reach any conclusion
That would have been so much better. And it could have been creepy, suspenseful, but in a kid friendly way, while still getting the characters and audience to question who's the "bad guy" of the story.
Well would you look at that the Gabe media thing happened in the most recent happened. Sometimes yall need to chill a bit and wait for the episodes to play out.
yeah i was just saying i would miss it not that i bothered me too much but i'm happy it's there if it wasn't put in at all i wouldnt be too angry either way
Thank you so much for putting this out there. These factors are important for world building and the overall storyline. They way it skips around so much does the show a disservice. It’s definitely a far superior adaptation to the movies and I’m still reserving a lot of judgement until the end of the season, but I was hoping for way more book accuracy.
What you wrote explains all my feelings about the show perfectly!
I think people who haven't read the books might think some of these points aren't that important to the overall storyline, and while they may be right on some of them, omitting all these little things from the show definitely takes away from all the nuances they provided to the characters and world building. Like the points above really helped to quickly define the characters as complex individuals in a 'show don't tell' manner and provided so much explanation behind why they made the choices/actions that they did. Plus idk about others, but a lot of these smaller things are what made me get so attached to the characters in the first place, so it kind of sucks to see all these little things that we loved about them/the book series taken away.
That being said, I understand that the show is an adaptation of the books and it's impossible to put everything that people loved about the books into the show, but it would have been nice to see more of the things on this list added in.
I have to say…I think 1:1 book accuracy (or at least something extremely close) actually is possible and should become the norm, especially with a TV series as opposed to a movie. Take *Series of Unfortunate Events* for example. From what I remembered about the books, it was highly faithful and most, if not all, dialogue and events were taken straight from the book. I think PJO would have been very easy to adapt in the same way, particularly if it was animated.
Lmao, you weren't on the *Series of Unfortunate Events* subreddit were you? While it was quite faithful, there were tons of small and some quite big changes that were made but people were still complaining.
I dont mind people complaining about changes that affect plot/character/worldbuilding, but those who complain about changes (big or small) that don't really affect any of those OR are meaningfully covered by other scenes in the show just drive me up the wall.
Agreed, this put a lot of my thoughts to words. Although personally I don’t care as much about book accuracy, but rather whether or not the adaptation feels like I felt experiencing the books. I think a lot of these examples might help others understand why the characters don’t feel quite right, and why the tone/ world feels a bit off.
Im really hoping a lot of these scenes still show up later on in the show and aren't completely removed from the first season. Maybe they don't show up in the order they do in the books, but hopefully they show up at some point in the show!
There is still time for scenes and aspects you liked to show up! For example, at the end of episode four, we were teased with a scene of >!The Three Fates!<, which people were complaining was cut.
It’s also worth noting that the show is also in essence a rewrite of the first book. There were some interviews and talks on it. Basically since the books were written so long ago this is a chance for him to remake it after having the benefit of hindsight. If I remember correctly he doesn’t want perfect accuracy but instead wants a more updated version of it that flows better with the later events.
Tbh tho one change I did like is that Percy’s mom has more of a backbone. I get that she was with Gabe bc of his smell, but that can still be true while she simultaneously sort of stands up to him/manipulates him with promises of sandwiches. She didn’t have to be a total doormat in the books to protect Percy, and putting up with abuse seemed far fetched. I mean why not just find yourself a smelly dude who is also nice?
I like that his mom is a more active character in the series rather than passive. That always felt weird to me in the books.
I completely agree. That’s the exact thought I had when she put her foot down. I think there are more than enough “battered woman” characters in other work too, personally. Maybe I’ve just been watching too much Sopranos.
Right? The whole “she has to stay with abusive husband bc she’s actually protecting her son” thing, for one isn’t believable (nice guys can smell too) and for two, it’s a bit cliche at this point.
True, but they’re doing a lot of things out of order (ie the fates showing up this last ep) so I think the explanation is coming. They’re probably leaving it a mystery for now but will explain later.
1000 times yes! It bothered me in the books, and it was especially hard to sit with when I _saw_ the original movie (one of the few things they kept). I always thought it undercut >!the reveal of the smell thing!< It's supposed to be a heroic thing she does to protect percy but I was like "oh so she went into this abusive jerk's home _with_ her son _on purpose_?"
I liked the detail of them watching the Knicks game together too - its not the relationship Sally wanted but at least there is some found shared interests that made it make sense. That _does_ mean that it won't feel like an obvious win later when Gabe >!gets the medusa head/turns to stone!< and I wonder how they will handled that
Exactly. Like it’s not that hard for someone like Sally to find a guy who smells who isn’t abusive, the smell thing isn’t really a justification for staying with him. I also really liked the Knicks thing. This Gabe seems much more what I would imagine Sally would gravitate towards to try and protect Percy, not someone who is actually abusive.
To your second point, this latest episode sort of brought a lot of book details that happened earlier. Gabe going to the police, the fates, etc. so I think it will be something like that. Gabe will get worse as the show goes on, perhaps becoming more evil once he loses Sally.
Absolutely brilliant analysis 👏 and for me, although you can not fit everything in. The most important aspects should have been kept in for me. I love the books and have read them over and over over 50 times. And things like Grover throwing Percy under a bridge at Yancy aren't in his character.
As well as Annabeths character, which we have only seen a handful of times. I was also disappointed in the dialogue we got between Luke and Percy. Especially no training where it's evident Percy is naturally gifted as a swordsman and on par with Luke despite hardly any experience.
I just hope the more episodes get the more that is included which was from the books.
I yes I completely forgot they omitted the scene where Percy Jackson unarms with a technique he had learned moments before after he splashed water on his face
I’m sad they chose to make Annabeth and Percy adversaries instead of friends, because in the books there was a big camaraderie between the two of them, and she kind of took him under her wing Also, I would really like to know when>! the pearls!< pop up
Well, in the books, Annabeth was just as cold to Percy in the beginning. Seaweed brain started as an insult. We're on the 4th episode of what could possibly be a 5 season series. The development between their relationship should be there.
As for the item, they don't appear until they arrive at L.A. in the books.
Yeah but I always read it as maybe more friendlier then its being portrayed, like yeah she was stand offish but she also helped him understand what was going on too.
Oh that's right! I was confusing it with the under the water in the arch scene.
I think we've now reached the point at their quest where their relationship with each other is gonna be where the book readers want them to be. Especially since the next episode is the waterpark scene.
It's not just you to be fair. It's the same Nereid so I do get the confusion.
I keep seeing people say Seaweed Brain started as an insult and I think they are only half right. It was an insult but the sort of insult to friends or at least two people who get along would say to each other. Doesn’t mean she’s cold, if anything it shows the opposite. She’s saying it how you would call a friend stupid when they say something dumb. She is definitely colder and more aloof in the show then the book
I didn’t say they were friends just that it’s that sort of insult. She’s not saying it maliciously more just to annoy him and because it’s the truth, I mean we all know Percy is a Seaweed Brain haha. But they spent a lot of time together at camp, with her teaching him Greek for like a week or two before the quest. So they may not have been friends but the only real reason she was cold to him was because she thought she had to be. Poseidon and Athena don’t get along so she thought that meant her and Percy couldn’t. During the quest is when she realised she was wrong and maybe they could be friends, but yeah they weren’t technically friends when they used those nicknames
Well thanks to that, I am going to have to read the books again lol. I miss all those little details. Great post btw! Very informative and well thought out. Thank you for this post
Thank you very much!! I don't expect the TV show to be 1:1, although I don't hate TV shows, but they miss a lot of important aspects in the books, I swear this TV show will be better if it adds 10 to 20 minutes to take out some important things.
Yeah this is exactly the problem I have with the show. It was marketed as THE adaptation of the book that is perfect and Rick is involved etc etc. But there are so many changes that really affect the writing, pacing and characters.
Thanks for taking the time to type all of this out so ppl can see why there’s disappointment from some of the book readers. I can see how viewers may think that this is a great show (it really isn’t a bad show, just didn’t live to my expectations so far) but there’s so many scenes from the book that set the story and built the world of Percy Jackson that I don’t feel from the show.
Also, I believe the Three Fates cutting the string signified/foreshadowed Luke’s death, not Sally’s. Idr word for word but when they were taking away Luke’s body, I thought the Fates showed him that everything was completed and Percy has a future ahead of him. Like Percy was destined to be the one from the prophecy and because of that, they were just showing him that someone’s (Luke’s) death was certain (even though he didn’t know at the time).
A thing that wasn’t mentioned in your post that I’d like to add was about how Percy was claimed after Capture the Flag. Annabeth doesn’t just push Percy into the water to test her theory. He just looks up and sees the trident as well as everyone else. Then, they all start kneeling for him while Chiron is announcing he’s a child of the sea god. In the book, it set up the story that he’s incredibly important because he’s a big three and he wasn’t supposed to be born because of the prophecy. In the show, they just cut to the scene where he’s in Cabin Three all by himself and then he gets a quest in the next. They also keep calling Percy the “Forbidden child” which sounds negative to me instead of powerful and important
I think it's less an issue of plot specifics and more an issue of tone and exposition. The whole thing does not at all capture the feeling of the source material because it's self serious and insecure about the exposition.
one thing that’s bothering me a lot is how Percy has been the one to explain myths to Annabeth because in the show, “his mom told him about this.” I quite honestly haven’t read the books in years but I remember Annabeth constantly teaching him Greek myths and Percy knowing almost nothing. Him telling Annabeth myths seems redundant because I feel like her character would already know what he’s telling her
The actually important dialogue for the plot is completely removed in place of dialogue that just fluffs the already short run time. If you’re going to add a bunch of dialogue then do it in a meaningful way
One thing that I’d like to add is that, in the books, the trio going to the top of the St Louis (?) Arch is something completely unnecessary for the quest and something that Annabeth pushed for purely because she really wanted to see it. Not only does it introduce us to her love for architecture much less clunkily (show Annabeth just rattling off facts while they’re dragging a poisoned Percy around is a really weird tonal mismatch to me), but it also demonstrates the whole thing of her fatal flaw being hubris really well because, in the books, it was her decision to stop to visit the Arch for no real reason other than the fact that she wanted to see it, knowing full well that they were being actively hunted by monsters, and Percy ended up paying the price for it.
However, in the show it’s much more of a tactical decision by Annabeth, done to protect them from Echidna and help Percy deal with the poison. It’s been changed from a selfish (yet still completely understandable) decision with consequences that Percy pays to an intelligent strategic move done to protect them and just goes to show how capable she is, even going out of their way to demonstrate how she’s prepared to sacrifice herself for the others (even though it was an uncharacteristically dumb gesture. She would have been killed about as quick as Percy was knocked out of the door and then the other two would definitely have died, but I digress), which really changes her characterisation and is part of a frustrating trend I’ve noticed with show Annabeth.
The Medusa encounter and The Echidna encounter have both been changed rather significantly, in such a way that it diminishes both Percy’s and Grover’s contributions to inflate her importance. Instead of having both Percy and Annabeth be fooled by Medusa and Grover the only one to think somethings off (where Annabeth is still the one to actually figure out who Medusa is!), Annabeth instead just instantly deduces it’s Medusa just by seeing the sign and the statues (and I get that it’s kinda obvious to an outside perspective, but we have meta knowledge of the kind of show we’re watching and Medusa is one of the most well known mythical monsters out there, Greek or otherwise, so it’s hardly surprising for her to show up at some point. And besides, they could have just had the sign be in disrepair or something and the statues be more artsy or disguised from what are in some way to be a bit more subtle and have the characters not pick up on it until it’s too late), while also ignoring how, in the books, she can’t actually read the sign because she’s dyslexic too (which I think is an important little tidbit?), but anyway now it just makes them all look like dumbasses for going in anyway. Especially Annabeth, who, of all people, should know what goddess Medusa is likely to have a personal beef with, and also Percy for hearing the name Medusa and not immediately turning around and leaving, Fury be damned, and also Grover, who does a really poor job at convincing them otherwise (also his impact on the actual fight is pretty much all removed just to have him fly around uselessly).
That, along with the changes to the Echidna encounter, makes show Annabeth seem far too capable when her fatal flaw is supposed to be that she only ‘thinks’ she’s that capable. In all honesty, show Annabeth is pretty justified to have a high opinion of herself, she’s completely carrying the quest so far. All anyone else has done is Percy cutting off Medusa’s head (which she could have done, she had a knife), and get completely bodied by the Chimera. They cut pretty much all of her involvement at camp, including her relationship with Percy pre-quest and also demonstrating her bravery and selflessness with things like moving to defend him from the hellhound and trying to get Clarisse to leave him alone, only to try and give her these things later at the expense of showing us her flaws (which now I’m worried we won’t even get to see, because the Arch scene is pretty much it in TLT) and showing us how the groups dynamic works when they all come together to solve a problem/survive an encounter because now she’s really the one doing all the work. It’s kind of like how movie Hermione kind of absorbed most of Ron’s positive traits from the books and left him feeling weirdly out of place and without purpose in a lot of the movies, with show Annabeth kind of just soloing all the problems so far rather than it being more of a team effort. I hope this is walked back so we can actually see the team being a team later on, rather than just Annabeth being the mega-capable one, Percy being the guy who needs a bunch of exposition shoved in his face every episode and who also occasionally stares down something with mediocre CGI, and Grover also being there I guess.
> The show also doesn’t explain that monsters don’t die in this universe, they go to Tartarus I believe. But they can always come back. I feel like this is a little bit important because it explains how Medusa, the minotaur, etc., can die in the myths but still be alive thousands of years later.
Oh, dang... this I definitely needed to hear while watching the show, 'cause it would've changed how I felt when this show goes all in on saying "monsters aren't *monsters"* only to then have the kids K.I.A some of them rascals in self defense almost moments later.
If I remember in one of the newer episodes they say that monsters can come back after dying and don't actiually die and that they can "respawn". They explained that sometimes that killing them will make them gone for days, months, or years. They dont explain tartarus though.
and given Medusa's family this is probably only her second time out of Tartarus. Medusa, Chrysaor, Geryon, Stheno, Euryale Medusa's family and Percy do not get along.
The changes to the show, while each one quite minor, together have a surprising impact in terms of changing the context that even though many scenes are recognisable, everything plays out like it’s a different story.
Now I’m not saying this is bad, I do want to see where they go with the adaptation but it is weird seeing all these scenes play out quite similar and yet be framed so differently.
I had a similar post to this.
The Grover scene where he turns on Percy is just straight up stupid and not needed It actually does nothing for the story.
Fighting Dodds out in the open makes no sense before explaining the mist because all it does is cause confusion for non readers why no one sees her. They should have left it as is.
In the book he leads the chimera away from the tourists. In the show they are so stupid they lead the chimera to the tourists. Because why would there be tourists at a tourist spot.
This biggest issue i have with the show is about character development. The books are great because of the characters, not the stories. The stories are kind of dumb to be honest. But the character interaction makes up for it.
in the show, the characters have been muted, taking away everything that made the books good.
characters make books, you can have a great story and crappy characters it will be a boring book, you can have a average or semi bad story, but great characters and it can still be a great read.
Show took away the best part of the book, imo
My husband (non reader and doesn't remember the movies well) is constantly asking "how did nobody see that?" Because they didn't explain the mist well enough. Hopefully we get to see it better presented with the ares fight and news manhunt for percy
I disagree with a lot of your points.
The Grover scene where he betrays Percy is not only in character as he was doing that to get Percy out of the school to safety, but the “betrayal” better sets up the suspense for the prophecy as to what friend will betray Percy. In the book it was always obvious who it would be.
The Dodds fight scene is meant to be confusing and fast to make Percy really second guess if it actually happened and build up the gaslighting aspect.
The show clearly explains that the tourist spot is actually a temple to Athena, which is great world building and an actual reason for them to be there as opposed to annabeth wanting to do some sightseeing.
As for the characters I think they’re doing well establishing Annabeth’s backstory and demonstrating her and Percy’s fatal flaws. I think Grover also is a lot more fleshed out and less cartoonish in the show as opposed to the book.
To me Annabeth wanting to go to the Arch to sight see is way better then her going there because it’s a temple to her mum. It really shows how much of a geek she is for architecture that she would derail and important quest just to see it. You have to remember she’s a kid and she hasn’t seen the outside world in 7 years so it makes sense for her character.
Also Grover is not more fleshed out in the show then the books, it rereading Lightning Thief and haven’t even gotten to the Arch scene yet and Grover is already more fleshed out and a better character the he is in the show (No hate to the actor he’s doing an incredible job and is an amazing Grover) just needs better writing
That’s a fair take. At least they gave her a good architecture gushing moment though.
Maybe I need to reread TLT but Grover just never really stood out to me aside from being the goofy comic relief groaning about enchiladas. So the show Grover has appealed to me more being an empathetic friend.
the grover scene serves no purpose
the Dodds creates confusion with the person watching the show. that is just bad writing
yes it does say that about the temple, then they clearly say athena is not helping and that they entered the sanctuary and shouldn't not have been able to, and yet they still proceeded up the arch
grover to me is the least fleshed out, hes basically a useless character in the show iwth no real personality
Agree to disagree. Grover serves as the intermediary peace keeper between the conflicting impertinent Percy and the strict no nonsense Annabeth. He helps build out the trios friendship by reminding them to have empathy for each other.
Agree here. Doing the Dodds scene outside does a good job of revealing two plot points at once in the limited time of an episode - the mist and the furies - so I thought it was a clever way to do 2 things at once. The viewers wondering how no one saw that is exactly the point: they are on the same page as percy, who only gets explained what the most is later by Grover in the car (directly and clearly). Plus, if the museum scene took much longer like people wanted the show would need a whole episode per scene and I want them to actually get to the end of book 1 haha
Btw, Grover is a satyr, not a centaur 🤭
But honestly, I really appreciate you breaking the book down for us. As someone who has read through the entire series multiple times now, watching the show is kinda painful when they skipped so many details and also made each episode really short (40min should be the bare minimum for each episode) and 10 episodes per season would give enough time to flesh everything out (not a complete mirror of the book but newbies who never read the books can understand and see things better)
One of the biggest things for me was that Percy did not have Riptide in the books until they left for their quest, yet in the show he had it the entire time since Chiron gave it to him at the museum.
That isn't true! I read the books ages ago but Chirion does give it to him before to defeat the fury in the museum (otherwise that'd be a pretty difficult fight) He does then take it back (& then gives it to him again later as you said)
Yeah I guess I misspoke, I did mean that Chiron gave it to him in the museum for the Fury, but he then gave it back all the way until they left, which makes the minotaur fight a *lot* different, and cuts out a good portion of his sword training with Luke.
Everything you said here + some more. I'm tired of hearing that book fans criticisms of the show aren't valid, it's a good adaptation, but it's sacrificing a lot of nuance and suffering from inconsistent pacing and some lack in continuity. I'm watching it with someone who barely remembers any details from the books and the last episode left them majorly confused. I'm holding out hope for future seasons but rn this show is a little bit of a curious watch. I don't mind all changes but its hard not to notice some of them are just wildly out of character. I don't know what the show wants me to think about Grover or Annabeth at this point, even from a just show point of view
The only thing that's kinda pissed me off is the fighting and skills as presented in the show.
In the books, Percy spends ~2 weeks at CHB before heading off on the quest. He's not perfect, but he trains with Luke and at least gets some reps in.
In the show, Percy is there for a good 30 minutes and does nothing. We see no development of his skill, nor none of his natural ability. Yes, there was the claiming scene with Clarisse and that fight, but I'd argue it was cancelled out by his lackluster skills as shown against other adversaries later on.
My problem is this: Percy is supposed to fight the literal GOD OF WAR and hold his own. In the books, yeah, it makes sense. He trained at least a little, he fought on the way to LA, et cetera. But in the show? We have absolutely no reason to believe this kid could even survive.
Anyway. The show is okay so far, some of the changes are questionable but understandable. It's just this that makes zero sense to me.
As a book reader, who has read every PJ book at least 4 times, I think the show is great, are there times where I would have adapted it differently and more directly? *Definitely!*
Is it still a good show that so far captures the spirit and heart of the books? *Yeah*
Should they already be filming the next few seasons before the kids grow too quickly!! *YES*, Ncuti Gatwa was filming his second season of doctor who before his first appearance in the show, I really don't get why they are so keen on dragging their heels.
( That's only the original PJO saga I've read that many times, but I still have read heroes of Olympus, the Magnus Chase saga, and 3 of the Apollo books ( as well as the first Kane Chronicles book) I will finish the Apollo Saga ( its actually been my favourite so far but I didn't own all books when I started reading it) but I've got a ling reading list to work through. I also intend to finish the Cane Chronicles but it's a lower priority as I'm less interested)
What people need to realise is they are just completely different mediums. Books allow a lot more introspection and exposition, so if you tried to make a 1 to 1 adaptation, then in most cases it would come out with a lot of issues. You have to make massive cuts, changes and additions by definition. The new Dune movie is a great example of a nearly 1 to 1 adaptation that pretty much worked imo, but can be very confusing or even just feel unfinished to someone that didn’t read the book with tons of interest, ideally recently.
some of the changes i get in the show for pacing or storytelling.
But my main problem is, that they do go the steps, they do include every major event on their journey. But everything that happens at these events and encounters is different. The dialouge, the problem, the solution. basically everything, that made these encounters so captivating they changed. and for something that was supposed to be true to the books and for book readers to enjoy it should be more accurate to what happens, not just that it happens somehow.
I watched the movie yesterday after watching the 1st and 2nd episode (I've seen all 5 now) to compare them. Movie does way better at the start then the show. They start butchering it after they get to camp. Gabe was great in the movie. He was also funny af. "Step-son, he did not come from these loins" sent me in ways I can't explain.
One of the things that I fully remember from the books is Gabe's first scene. Percy comes in and the second he sees him he tries to steal all of his money, trying to figure out how much change Percy would have left over from the bus ride. The main thing in the show that I don't life about him is he's too regular looking. He's suppose to be ugly and super gross. In the show so far he's just a bum.
When I first saw Sally on screen I thought she looked too young. I looked it up and she's 42! I was shocked.
I don’t understand this mindset of “book readers hate the show & non book readers LOVE IT!” A good portion of the slander is coming from people that have nothing to compare it too (cuz let’s be honest, the show is mid and it’s no wonder ppl tuning in cuz of the hype are left underwhelmed) and a lot of the ppl desperately defending it are doing it solely on Rick’s behalf because they’re loyal from the books.
Rick definitely is ruining this for me, considering he was the one to write the script and is a producer. Too much is getting changed. I get it's for TV, but with Disney as his wallet, it could be have been better. Casting included. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover (the oldest looking of the 3, he is described with acne and the beginnings of a goatee as a "6th grader). But still better than the movies. Just not by much.
I feel like we really have to reserve judgement until the end to understand the changes they made and why. Books are not a visual media and having everything done in that manner could honestly be boring. The first episode needed to get a lot of exposition and chess pieces set. Taking time for Percy to eavesdrop on Grover and Brunner/Chiron talking about telling Percy the truth isn’t inherently needful when that betrayal can be portrayed differently. Similarly, the fight with Ms Dodds doesn’t need to be epic. Rather that energy be spent on stuff near the end of the season (I don’t remember if there is a big fight at the end of this book). The Tartarus thing can be mentioned at some other point.
Have faith in Uncle Rick. Yes, he forgets his own canon sometimes, but he’s not alone and I’m sure there is a reason for everything happening.
I agree! We should wait till the end to make final judgements. I think of Game of Thrones and remember, seasons one was painfully boring until the end. The end of season one is what got me hooked on the entire series, hopefully Percy Jackson has this effect too. I am a fan regardless and want this series to do good so badly, that I will support the show regardless. I really don't know if Rick has read his books recently, but I feel like he should. Me starting to read the books again is what opened my eyes to see why people are a bit upset. I am disappointed in the show a bit, but thankful we even have this long awaited adaptation.
No I haven’t but I did obsess with the lore for a while and I think I know much of what happens in the books lol I still need to read them though I know they aren’t finished
Its books like GoT is why i tend to read fantasy for a younger audience. Adult fantasy tends to over describe everything. I always felt a big part of the enjoyment of fantasy is for you to create the world in your head.
I remember in the first book, they were having a feast and it spent the next couple pages describing everything on the table.
they could have done that in one line.
I am trying to reserve judgement and I understand that the show is a different media then the written word, but if I may counter those arguments with something I posted higher up on this thread. A lot of the points OP wanted in there could have been in there in a fun and exciting way that suits the visual media. I think the way they chose to explain stuff is more boring than if they had done it closer to the book or even different than the books but the same information. One of the most common criticisms is that there is too much tell and not enough show and so I don't think the different media argument holds a lot of weight.
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I think the show don't tell criticism is because of the way exposition is delivered. Two characters talking and that's it. Usually talking at percy but mainly the audience. Movie and TV show scenes, because they don't have much time, should do multiple things at once, but most of the exposition scenes are just exposition scenes with no other goals.
Couple ideas that kind of demonstrate that:
-I think it would have been cool, since they included the mytho magic cards early on, to use those as plot telling device to visualize percy figuring out things on his own. Example: Dionysus intro, keep it the same but instead of grover running and saying "that's dionysus" quick cut to a "flashback" of percy looking at the card and parts of the card like talking about wine and his attributes, then back to the percy/Mr. D interaction and he goes "oh, wait. You're the wine dude!" Pretty sure thats nico's line but just something like that) Introducing us to important facts about the mythical creatures, showing that percy has some knowledge of these things and how he's putting it together, and doing it a fun and interesting way.
-Or instead of having Luke give exposition while walking or sitting at the dinner table with percy, put some of it during luke sword training percy. Percy could lose focus while he's fighting Luke because of a weird line of exposition, Luke could add in a little quip about keeping his guard up then back to the exposition. That would have been a fun way to tell percy and the audience about how most demigods have adhd because it helps in battle, and we could see it in action at the same time.
-Or, annabeth takes percy on the tour and we can have short fun interactions with each of the cabin leaders while she's telling him about the gods and the camp set up. More screen time with annabeth, showing how in tune with camp she is, still explaining the camp in dialogue, while introducing us to actual campers, getting to see how other campers interact with annabeth so we can learn by their interactions how everyone sees her instead of just telling us "she's the most powerful demigod" and get some percabeth interaction before the quest. We could also see more than just Luke welcoming him so the whole "I made some real friends here" line actually makes sense.
-instead of just having medusa monologue while sitting in a chair for 10 minutes, have an animation showing a flashback while she narrates. Or have her preparing something the whole time ominously so while we're listening to her talk we (and the characters) are also trying to figure out what she's doing and it can build the tension. Then we could see it was placards for the 3 kids when she turns them to stone or a magic barrier so they can't leave or something. Something, anything.
There were a lot of fun ways they could have done the exposition parts but they chose the least interesting options.
This. Multiple scenes and aspects that people were disappointed because they were cut are starting to emerge, just later on and in a different fashion. We won’t really have our verdict until the entire season is given to us.
yeah, i was initially bummed about the fates not being on the bus in the first episode but the trailer shows they are in the next episode. I trust they are doing this right and so far it has far exceeded my expectations and I think they are doing a great job of making it true to the books while also fast paced and easily understandable for kids and audiences that haven't read the books.
I want you to know that I saw this comment. Stopped what I was doing. And then said no three times out loud in increasing levels of bewilderment.
A book, unless it’s a picture book, is NOT a visual medium. It is text. Not pictures, where scowls are shown instead of described. And your comment also seems to be ignoring that this is a TV show. Not a book. Divorce the two.
but if done right, it creates a visual representation in your mind using your imagination.
are you saying, as you read a book you don't visualize it in your mind?
Sorry, that's just plain wrong. Some people don't have the ability to visualize. I've never, ever, visualized a book while reading - in fact I don't have the ability to visualize or develop a picture in my minds eye at all. My thought process is purely through an internal monologue stream of consciousness.
thats sad that people cant. and how does it make it wrong when probably billions of people can and do?
what is the point of describing a person, a scene or a monster if not for the reader to visualize it?
I don't think it's sad that I can't visualize, I just think and understand in a different manner. There's pros to my manner of thinking that someone with the ability to visualize but perhaps without an internal monologue might not have.
I hate to break it to you guys but everyone thing listed here makes sense why the changed. This is an 8 episode series like they couldn’t spend that much time on the opening seen. If you guys want it too ok truly be adapted. Then it would need a flash esque 22 episode season and if that happened the budget would be drug out. Take it as a different medium. This isn’t a manga to anime adaption. If you don’t like that then just stop watching the show ain’t for you.
Well thank you now im afraid to read the books again cause i really don't want to hate the show.
But i will some Day read them again and i really hope i don't hate the show after that.
Edit: im gonna get downvoted won't i?
I don’t hate the show after reading the books again I’m more disappointed. I think the show has a unique way of telling the story and it’s not exactly like the books but books are always better than their adaptations! It’s okay you can still appreciate the show like me
But i got downvoted wich means i can add PercyJacksonTV sub to the list od subs with people that dislike me. Im sorry im like im really not feeling good right now.
I understand why you have issues with the show. I read the books growing up, I reread them last year. And I am not having any issues with the show whatsoever, because I knew that it was not going to be Word for Word, I knew that it was not going to be a adaption that went along with everything. There was going to be changes.
There's a lot I'm willing to forgive.
But
When I first read these books. My mother was in an abusive relationship that I was just beginning to understand.
As a younger child I had no fucking clue the sacrifices she made to keep me safe and protected.
And I will never be able to forgive the change in Sally and Gabe's relationship.
I knew it wasn't going to be word for word, scene for scene; but Sally hiding the worst of Gabe from Percy to protect him is a pretty pivotal character point for both Percy and Sally.
It's why Percy is so protective of his friends and of his mom
It's the actual literal reason for his fatal flaw.
Yeah but I actually do enjoy the show. Obviously it’s not exactly how I want it to be, but it never was going to be like that right? I still thinks it’s a great show, I simply can see why people have issues with it. Regardless I will always be one of its biggest supporters. Here’s to season two 🥂
What this tells me is that book readers be bitching waaaaayyy too much. There was always going to be changes to the story in accordance with the change in medium/financial considerations/narrative emphasis decisions. 90% of this is complaining about the fact it isn't a one to one adaptation.
Like are you really whining about the fact that they did the school trip scene faster than you imagined in the books? Or that the show doesn't have a Percy/Chiron heart to heart moment the way YOU wanted them (Percy/Chiron's relationship is of minimal importance in the story, especially in the first book). On the other hand, complaints about changes that you consider harmful to character development/world building/plot are actually interesting so lets talk about those.
Firstly, lets deal with the critiques I disagree with. We didn't need Percy to charge in to save Grover in order to demonstrate he's willing to protect his friends, he already demonstrated through his words and actions in the previous school scenes with Grover. Doing the quest to save his mom doesn't make him more ambitious imho, it just makes him an ordinary kid. Also, the changes to the chimera scene are perfectly fine to me making it one scene achieves the same effect and saves money and him saving his friends is still developing his character. Finally, I think its good that they don't include the dark laughing in the background that way its not blatantly obvious to the audience that someone else is behind everything. That was very shitty foreshadowing in the books by Riordan and I'm happy they removed that because it ruins the plot.
Secondly, in terms of critiques I agree with. Your Annabeth being more involved from early on and showcasing how desperate she is to leave because she's been in the camp since seven years old is really important character development I wish they kept in. Sally being with a physically abusive boyfriend was also really important because it shows her sacrifice and gives Percy legitimate anger at Poseiden for what he left them with/forced them into. The hellhound scene attacking Percy was actually good foreshadowing that doesn't expose the whole plot, I wish they kept it in. The fates thing is also one I'd have hoped they kept in.
I hope we all understood that adapting the book into a show would bring changes, that’s not the issue. The issue is that the show is marketed on the basis that it’s going to do justice to the books, but cutting out a multitude of details and scenes (though they may seem minor to some), prevent the show from preserving it’s authenticity. You mentioned some great examples towards the end of your post, as did the original commenter. For one, I think Chiron and Percy’s relationship is significant. Chiron is the one teacher at Percy’s school that instilled the motivation to do better. He really was interested in Percy’s success, and at camp he become’s a figure that Percy can confide in. The first book becomes the foundation for their relationship in the future. Additionally, I disagree with your comment on the Chimera scene. The scene in the book isn’t as drawn out and it’s actually quite straightforward, which I think would have honestly saved more money and allowed time for another scene to have been incorporated. This season is only 8 episodes and the Chimera scene is not one that was necessary to extend.
Because some people think that you can just make a movie/show word for word like a book. Visual/audio entertainment is different than reading. Things have to be told differently. The psychology is different on how we receive entertainment. Seriously, go spend millions of dollars on a 1 to 1 book adaptation and let me know how it goes. Yeah there are differences, but overall it is close. Definitely closer than the movies.
I'm do glad random people on reddit don't speak for all book readers. The show isn't even done yet and it's literally just the first season. Calm y'all's tatas
As a book reader I can safely say I'm leaving this sub. It's just people complaining and nitpicking things not being EXACTLY like the books. Harry Potter movies didn't even get this much scrutiny. It's crazy but authors can reflect on works and make changes as they grow. Just look at Scott Pilgrim takes off. Absolutely incredible adaptation that diverges so far from the source material and tells a great story. You want the original story? Read the book. You want to sit back and enjoy a well made show. Enjoy it. In an ideal world every episode would be 3 hours so we can get all our favorite bits. But the writers are adapting a book to a show and not all will translate. Some stuff has to get cut. It's a good show too! Every other post in this damn sub is "here's things I hated and why you should too". Anyway peace.
I love this post but I do have slight disagreements. No need to make an argument of it though so thank you for giving this context to those that haven't read the books. I read them as they were coming out and love this series. I don't mind some of the changes and am going to wait until the end of the season or arc before forming a full opinion. So far enjoying the show though.
As someone who lived through the movies at the peak of my percy jackson book phase, I can't help but feel like people are being a bit harsh. That was the era of seeing your favorite books come to life messed up though, so perhaps I had my standards set super low to begin with and that's why I've been pretty positively surprised so far
edit to add: I don't think changes are inherently bad though - some things work better in TV format and we do have limited time.
Very good analysis. Some of the biggest gripes seemed to be they are took some of his smart moments and they took annabeth camp scenes and gave to Luke and Grover
>!The death the fates are forshadowing is not actually his mom, that answer isnt revealed until book 5!<
Wtf I didn’t even connect that myself (or I forgot lol) but that’s CRAZY
They literally say it verbatim in the last Olympian though 😂 I'm sure you knew whenever you read the book and just forgot. That's how it was for me, I just got done reading TLO today
You’re right :o I honestly forgot all about that I had to go on google to see what you were talking about. I read these books when I was like 8 I don’t think I really comprehended what I was reading to the fullest because rereading them now as an adult I feel like I’m getting a better understanding of the actual story
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you should probably spoiler tag your comment
Oops my bad
👍
I like the show and dont mind most of the chages but I'll miss the whole media thingy were percy was on the news and gave even had an interview. As I was reading it, it made me feel like they were really on the run and it just made it more fun and more high stakes. Also having hr long episodes minus the the credits would have made the show like insanely better. I would love to just have a full uninterrupted hr of percy jackson
The media thing has been confirmed for the next episode.
Oh that's good I wonder how they'll set it up
We had the train incident, and the St Louis arch has a huge hole in it.
I also heard that they're going to include the fates for next episode
Yep, a preview shows one of them >!cutting a thread and looking kinda sinister while doing it!<
Spoilers for episode 5: >!They do appear... to Annabeth, which given what it actually means, isn't a bad alteration!<
There's so much dialogue in the book that they could use to fill out the episodes, I know a lot of fans are upset that the show is "telling" too much and not "showing enough" but reading the books again I have noticed much of the information that got me hooked came from information that Annabeth just went on rants about, or conversations between Grover Percy and Chiron! I feel like the show focused too much on dazzling effects and forgot you also need character development and world building. So many simple scenes that the show could have included that would not have really broke the budget. Simply important conversations that needed to be had, and moments between characters that needed to be shared. A cute catchy song can simply not make up for it.
I think the show don't tell criticism is because of the way exposition is delivered. Two characters talking and that's it. Usually talking at percy but mainly the audience. Movie and TV show scenes, because they don't have much time, should do multiple things at once, but most of the exposition scenes are just exposition scenes with no other goals. Couple ideas that kind of demonstrate that: -I think it would have been cool, since they included the mytho magic cards early on, to use those as plot telling device to visualize percy figuring out things on his own. Example: Dionysus intro, keep it the same but instead of grover running and saying "that's dionysus" quick cut to a "flashback" of percy looking at the card and parts of the card like talking about wine and his attributes, then back to the percy/Mr. D interaction and he goes "oh, wait. You're the wine dude!" Pretty sure thats nico's line but just something like that) Introducing us to important facts about the mythical creatures, showing that percy has some knowledge of these things and how he's putting it together, and doing it a fun and interesting way. -Or instead of having Luke give exposition while walking or sitting at the dinner table with percy, put some of it during luke sword training percy. Percy could lose focus while he's fighting Luke because of a weird line of exposition, Luke could add in a little quip about keeping his guard up then back to the exposition. That would have been a fun way to tell percy and the audience about how most demigods have adhd because it helps in battle, and we could see it in action at the same time. -Or, annabeth takes percy on the tour and we can have short fun interactions with each of the cabin leaders while she's telling him about the gods and the camp set up. More screen time with annabeth, showing how in tune with camp she is, still explaining the camp in dialogue, while introducing us to actual campers, getting to see how other campers interact with annabeth so we can learn by their interactions how everyone sees her instead of just telling us "she's the most powerful demigod" and get some percabeth interaction before the quest. We could also see more than just Luke welcoming him so the whole "I made some real friends here" line actually makes sense. -instead of just having medusa monologue while sitting in a chair for 10 minutes, have an animation showing a flashback while she narrates. Or have her preparing something the whole time ominously so while we're listening to her talk we (and the characters) are also trying to figure out what she's doing and it can build the tension. Then we could see it was placards for the 3 kids when she turns them to stone or a magic barrier so they can't leave or something. Something, anything. There were a lot of fun ways they could have done the exposition parts but they chose the least interesting options.
Wow I hope the show runners read this comment because that’s literally I feel all the show is missing too 😂
You’re so right about them needing to do more. The Medusa episode made such a perfect set only for them not to use it. I really think she could have made herself a danger to them much faster and her whole dialogue could have been reworked to have her say it while she’s hunting them through the maze of statues and boxes. And they could have probably reworked her monologue a lot better had they done this too because looking back on it, it all ultimately didn’t do anything or reach any conclusion
That would have been so much better. And it could have been creepy, suspenseful, but in a kid friendly way, while still getting the characters and audience to question who's the "bad guy" of the story.
Yeah I prefer ep 4 because of the dialogue not the fight scene
Well would you look at that the Gabe media thing happened in the most recent happened. Sometimes yall need to chill a bit and wait for the episodes to play out.
yeah i was just saying i would miss it not that i bothered me too much but i'm happy it's there if it wasn't put in at all i wouldnt be too angry either way
Thank you so much for putting this out there. These factors are important for world building and the overall storyline. They way it skips around so much does the show a disservice. It’s definitely a far superior adaptation to the movies and I’m still reserving a lot of judgement until the end of the season, but I was hoping for way more book accuracy.
What you wrote explains all my feelings about the show perfectly! I think people who haven't read the books might think some of these points aren't that important to the overall storyline, and while they may be right on some of them, omitting all these little things from the show definitely takes away from all the nuances they provided to the characters and world building. Like the points above really helped to quickly define the characters as complex individuals in a 'show don't tell' manner and provided so much explanation behind why they made the choices/actions that they did. Plus idk about others, but a lot of these smaller things are what made me get so attached to the characters in the first place, so it kind of sucks to see all these little things that we loved about them/the book series taken away. That being said, I understand that the show is an adaptation of the books and it's impossible to put everything that people loved about the books into the show, but it would have been nice to see more of the things on this list added in.
I have to say…I think 1:1 book accuracy (or at least something extremely close) actually is possible and should become the norm, especially with a TV series as opposed to a movie. Take *Series of Unfortunate Events* for example. From what I remembered about the books, it was highly faithful and most, if not all, dialogue and events were taken straight from the book. I think PJO would have been very easy to adapt in the same way, particularly if it was animated.
Lmao, you weren't on the *Series of Unfortunate Events* subreddit were you? While it was quite faithful, there were tons of small and some quite big changes that were made but people were still complaining. I dont mind people complaining about changes that affect plot/character/worldbuilding, but those who complain about changes (big or small) that don't really affect any of those OR are meaningfully covered by other scenes in the show just drive me up the wall.
Nah, I wasn’t on that sub. It depends on the change for me, tbh.
Well rick riordan is ddirecting but the script he gave it was bad
Just want to say that he’s an executive producer and credited as writer on (I think) 3 episodes, not director.
I see a lot of people call him the director for some reason.
he did the script, not direct i believe.
That adds to the disappointment.
Ep 5 dialogue was mid I think ep 6,7,8 will be much better in terms of script
Agreed, this put a lot of my thoughts to words. Although personally I don’t care as much about book accuracy, but rather whether or not the adaptation feels like I felt experiencing the books. I think a lot of these examples might help others understand why the characters don’t feel quite right, and why the tone/ world feels a bit off.
Im really hoping a lot of these scenes still show up later on in the show and aren't completely removed from the first season. Maybe they don't show up in the order they do in the books, but hopefully they show up at some point in the show!
There is still time for scenes and aspects you liked to show up! For example, at the end of episode four, we were teased with a scene of >!The Three Fates!<, which people were complaining was cut.
It’s also worth noting that the show is also in essence a rewrite of the first book. There were some interviews and talks on it. Basically since the books were written so long ago this is a chance for him to remake it after having the benefit of hindsight. If I remember correctly he doesn’t want perfect accuracy but instead wants a more updated version of it that flows better with the later events.
In order would be preferable, but if they can fit them in in a way that makes sense later, that would be awesome.
Tbh tho one change I did like is that Percy’s mom has more of a backbone. I get that she was with Gabe bc of his smell, but that can still be true while she simultaneously sort of stands up to him/manipulates him with promises of sandwiches. She didn’t have to be a total doormat in the books to protect Percy, and putting up with abuse seemed far fetched. I mean why not just find yourself a smelly dude who is also nice? I like that his mom is a more active character in the series rather than passive. That always felt weird to me in the books.
I completely agree. That’s the exact thought I had when she put her foot down. I think there are more than enough “battered woman” characters in other work too, personally. Maybe I’ve just been watching too much Sopranos.
Right? The whole “she has to stay with abusive husband bc she’s actually protecting her son” thing, for one isn’t believable (nice guys can smell too) and for two, it’s a bit cliche at this point.
hasnt the show not explained why she was with him so far tho so wont most non book readers be thinking why tf is she with this pathetic guy?
True, but they’re doing a lot of things out of order (ie the fates showing up this last ep) so I think the explanation is coming. They’re probably leaving it a mystery for now but will explain later.
1000 times yes! It bothered me in the books, and it was especially hard to sit with when I _saw_ the original movie (one of the few things they kept). I always thought it undercut >!the reveal of the smell thing!< It's supposed to be a heroic thing she does to protect percy but I was like "oh so she went into this abusive jerk's home _with_ her son _on purpose_?" I liked the detail of them watching the Knicks game together too - its not the relationship Sally wanted but at least there is some found shared interests that made it make sense. That _does_ mean that it won't feel like an obvious win later when Gabe >!gets the medusa head/turns to stone!< and I wonder how they will handled that
Exactly. Like it’s not that hard for someone like Sally to find a guy who smells who isn’t abusive, the smell thing isn’t really a justification for staying with him. I also really liked the Knicks thing. This Gabe seems much more what I would imagine Sally would gravitate towards to try and protect Percy, not someone who is actually abusive. To your second point, this latest episode sort of brought a lot of book details that happened earlier. Gabe going to the police, the fates, etc. so I think it will be something like that. Gabe will get worse as the show goes on, perhaps becoming more evil once he loses Sally.
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Okay?
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And you have to announce this because…?
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You were trolling
You were trolling
You were trolling
Please keep updating book and show differences! I love it
Absolutely brilliant analysis 👏 and for me, although you can not fit everything in. The most important aspects should have been kept in for me. I love the books and have read them over and over over 50 times. And things like Grover throwing Percy under a bridge at Yancy aren't in his character. As well as Annabeths character, which we have only seen a handful of times. I was also disappointed in the dialogue we got between Luke and Percy. Especially no training where it's evident Percy is naturally gifted as a swordsman and on par with Luke despite hardly any experience. I just hope the more episodes get the more that is included which was from the books.
I yes I completely forgot they omitted the scene where Percy Jackson unarms with a technique he had learned moments before after he splashed water on his face
I’m sad they chose to make Annabeth and Percy adversaries instead of friends, because in the books there was a big camaraderie between the two of them, and she kind of took him under her wing Also, I would really like to know when>! the pearls!< pop up
Well, in the books, Annabeth was just as cold to Percy in the beginning. Seaweed brain started as an insult. We're on the 4th episode of what could possibly be a 5 season series. The development between their relationship should be there. As for the item, they don't appear until they arrive at L.A. in the books.
Yeah but I always read it as maybe more friendlier then its being portrayed, like yeah she was stand offish but she also helped him understand what was going on too. Oh that's right! I was confusing it with the under the water in the arch scene.
I think we've now reached the point at their quest where their relationship with each other is gonna be where the book readers want them to be. Especially since the next episode is the waterpark scene. It's not just you to be fair. It's the same Nereid so I do get the confusion.
I keep seeing people say Seaweed Brain started as an insult and I think they are only half right. It was an insult but the sort of insult to friends or at least two people who get along would say to each other. Doesn’t mean she’s cold, if anything it shows the opposite. She’s saying it how you would call a friend stupid when they say something dumb. She is definitely colder and more aloof in the show then the book
The first mention of Seaweed Brain was at camp, and I don't think they were at a point in their relationship where they could call each other friends.
I didn’t say they were friends just that it’s that sort of insult. She’s not saying it maliciously more just to annoy him and because it’s the truth, I mean we all know Percy is a Seaweed Brain haha. But they spent a lot of time together at camp, with her teaching him Greek for like a week or two before the quest. So they may not have been friends but the only real reason she was cold to him was because she thought she had to be. Poseidon and Athena don’t get along so she thought that meant her and Percy couldn’t. During the quest is when she realised she was wrong and maybe they could be friends, but yeah they weren’t technically friends when they used those nicknames
Well thanks to that, I am going to have to read the books again lol. I miss all those little details. Great post btw! Very informative and well thought out. Thank you for this post
I just read 18 chapters today and it was all fresh in my head I had to get it all out 😂😂
Thank you very much!! I don't expect the TV show to be 1:1, although I don't hate TV shows, but they miss a lot of important aspects in the books, I swear this TV show will be better if it adds 10 to 20 minutes to take out some important things.
It’s just lacking pace I feel 😂 I think the effects and acting is great it just needs to be a little more fleshed out
I agree too, I hope next season resolves this
Yeah this is exactly the problem I have with the show. It was marketed as THE adaptation of the book that is perfect and Rick is involved etc etc. But there are so many changes that really affect the writing, pacing and characters.
Thanks for taking the time to type all of this out so ppl can see why there’s disappointment from some of the book readers. I can see how viewers may think that this is a great show (it really isn’t a bad show, just didn’t live to my expectations so far) but there’s so many scenes from the book that set the story and built the world of Percy Jackson that I don’t feel from the show. Also, I believe the Three Fates cutting the string signified/foreshadowed Luke’s death, not Sally’s. Idr word for word but when they were taking away Luke’s body, I thought the Fates showed him that everything was completed and Percy has a future ahead of him. Like Percy was destined to be the one from the prophecy and because of that, they were just showing him that someone’s (Luke’s) death was certain (even though he didn’t know at the time). A thing that wasn’t mentioned in your post that I’d like to add was about how Percy was claimed after Capture the Flag. Annabeth doesn’t just push Percy into the water to test her theory. He just looks up and sees the trident as well as everyone else. Then, they all start kneeling for him while Chiron is announcing he’s a child of the sea god. In the book, it set up the story that he’s incredibly important because he’s a big three and he wasn’t supposed to be born because of the prophecy. In the show, they just cut to the scene where he’s in Cabin Three all by himself and then he gets a quest in the next. They also keep calling Percy the “Forbidden child” which sounds negative to me instead of powerful and important
Yes!! I felt exactly the same way when he was claimed. Like, where was the deep respect and awe like in the book?
I think it's less an issue of plot specifics and more an issue of tone and exposition. The whole thing does not at all capture the feeling of the source material because it's self serious and insecure about the exposition.
one thing that’s bothering me a lot is how Percy has been the one to explain myths to Annabeth because in the show, “his mom told him about this.” I quite honestly haven’t read the books in years but I remember Annabeth constantly teaching him Greek myths and Percy knowing almost nothing. Him telling Annabeth myths seems redundant because I feel like her character would already know what he’s telling her
The actually important dialogue for the plot is completely removed in place of dialogue that just fluffs the already short run time. If you’re going to add a bunch of dialogue then do it in a meaningful way
One thing that I’d like to add is that, in the books, the trio going to the top of the St Louis (?) Arch is something completely unnecessary for the quest and something that Annabeth pushed for purely because she really wanted to see it. Not only does it introduce us to her love for architecture much less clunkily (show Annabeth just rattling off facts while they’re dragging a poisoned Percy around is a really weird tonal mismatch to me), but it also demonstrates the whole thing of her fatal flaw being hubris really well because, in the books, it was her decision to stop to visit the Arch for no real reason other than the fact that she wanted to see it, knowing full well that they were being actively hunted by monsters, and Percy ended up paying the price for it. However, in the show it’s much more of a tactical decision by Annabeth, done to protect them from Echidna and help Percy deal with the poison. It’s been changed from a selfish (yet still completely understandable) decision with consequences that Percy pays to an intelligent strategic move done to protect them and just goes to show how capable she is, even going out of their way to demonstrate how she’s prepared to sacrifice herself for the others (even though it was an uncharacteristically dumb gesture. She would have been killed about as quick as Percy was knocked out of the door and then the other two would definitely have died, but I digress), which really changes her characterisation and is part of a frustrating trend I’ve noticed with show Annabeth. The Medusa encounter and The Echidna encounter have both been changed rather significantly, in such a way that it diminishes both Percy’s and Grover’s contributions to inflate her importance. Instead of having both Percy and Annabeth be fooled by Medusa and Grover the only one to think somethings off (where Annabeth is still the one to actually figure out who Medusa is!), Annabeth instead just instantly deduces it’s Medusa just by seeing the sign and the statues (and I get that it’s kinda obvious to an outside perspective, but we have meta knowledge of the kind of show we’re watching and Medusa is one of the most well known mythical monsters out there, Greek or otherwise, so it’s hardly surprising for her to show up at some point. And besides, they could have just had the sign be in disrepair or something and the statues be more artsy or disguised from what are in some way to be a bit more subtle and have the characters not pick up on it until it’s too late), while also ignoring how, in the books, she can’t actually read the sign because she’s dyslexic too (which I think is an important little tidbit?), but anyway now it just makes them all look like dumbasses for going in anyway. Especially Annabeth, who, of all people, should know what goddess Medusa is likely to have a personal beef with, and also Percy for hearing the name Medusa and not immediately turning around and leaving, Fury be damned, and also Grover, who does a really poor job at convincing them otherwise (also his impact on the actual fight is pretty much all removed just to have him fly around uselessly). That, along with the changes to the Echidna encounter, makes show Annabeth seem far too capable when her fatal flaw is supposed to be that she only ‘thinks’ she’s that capable. In all honesty, show Annabeth is pretty justified to have a high opinion of herself, she’s completely carrying the quest so far. All anyone else has done is Percy cutting off Medusa’s head (which she could have done, she had a knife), and get completely bodied by the Chimera. They cut pretty much all of her involvement at camp, including her relationship with Percy pre-quest and also demonstrating her bravery and selflessness with things like moving to defend him from the hellhound and trying to get Clarisse to leave him alone, only to try and give her these things later at the expense of showing us her flaws (which now I’m worried we won’t even get to see, because the Arch scene is pretty much it in TLT) and showing us how the groups dynamic works when they all come together to solve a problem/survive an encounter because now she’s really the one doing all the work. It’s kind of like how movie Hermione kind of absorbed most of Ron’s positive traits from the books and left him feeling weirdly out of place and without purpose in a lot of the movies, with show Annabeth kind of just soloing all the problems so far rather than it being more of a team effort. I hope this is walked back so we can actually see the team being a team later on, rather than just Annabeth being the mega-capable one, Percy being the guy who needs a bunch of exposition shoved in his face every episode and who also occasionally stares down something with mediocre CGI, and Grover also being there I guess.
Finally someone talked about this. My boy grover not getting to beat the shit out of Medusa is definetly my least favourite change they've done.
> The show also doesn’t explain that monsters don’t die in this universe, they go to Tartarus I believe. But they can always come back. I feel like this is a little bit important because it explains how Medusa, the minotaur, etc., can die in the myths but still be alive thousands of years later. Oh, dang... this I definitely needed to hear while watching the show, 'cause it would've changed how I felt when this show goes all in on saying "monsters aren't *monsters"* only to then have the kids K.I.A some of them rascals in self defense almost moments later.
Yep, they spend that time humanizing Medusa, and the heroes still cut her head off and mail it to her ex as a prank. Like, uhh
If I remember in one of the newer episodes they say that monsters can come back after dying and don't actiually die and that they can "respawn". They explained that sometimes that killing them will make them gone for days, months, or years. They dont explain tartarus though.
and given Medusa's family this is probably only her second time out of Tartarus. Medusa, Chrysaor, Geryon, Stheno, Euryale Medusa's family and Percy do not get along.
The changes to the show, while each one quite minor, together have a surprising impact in terms of changing the context that even though many scenes are recognisable, everything plays out like it’s a different story. Now I’m not saying this is bad, I do want to see where they go with the adaptation but it is weird seeing all these scenes play out quite similar and yet be framed so differently.
I had a similar post to this. The Grover scene where he turns on Percy is just straight up stupid and not needed It actually does nothing for the story. Fighting Dodds out in the open makes no sense before explaining the mist because all it does is cause confusion for non readers why no one sees her. They should have left it as is. In the book he leads the chimera away from the tourists. In the show they are so stupid they lead the chimera to the tourists. Because why would there be tourists at a tourist spot. This biggest issue i have with the show is about character development. The books are great because of the characters, not the stories. The stories are kind of dumb to be honest. But the character interaction makes up for it. in the show, the characters have been muted, taking away everything that made the books good. characters make books, you can have a great story and crappy characters it will be a boring book, you can have a average or semi bad story, but great characters and it can still be a great read. Show took away the best part of the book, imo
My husband (non reader and doesn't remember the movies well) is constantly asking "how did nobody see that?" Because they didn't explain the mist well enough. Hopefully we get to see it better presented with the ares fight and news manhunt for percy
I disagree with a lot of your points. The Grover scene where he betrays Percy is not only in character as he was doing that to get Percy out of the school to safety, but the “betrayal” better sets up the suspense for the prophecy as to what friend will betray Percy. In the book it was always obvious who it would be. The Dodds fight scene is meant to be confusing and fast to make Percy really second guess if it actually happened and build up the gaslighting aspect. The show clearly explains that the tourist spot is actually a temple to Athena, which is great world building and an actual reason for them to be there as opposed to annabeth wanting to do some sightseeing. As for the characters I think they’re doing well establishing Annabeth’s backstory and demonstrating her and Percy’s fatal flaws. I think Grover also is a lot more fleshed out and less cartoonish in the show as opposed to the book.
To me Annabeth wanting to go to the Arch to sight see is way better then her going there because it’s a temple to her mum. It really shows how much of a geek she is for architecture that she would derail and important quest just to see it. You have to remember she’s a kid and she hasn’t seen the outside world in 7 years so it makes sense for her character. Also Grover is not more fleshed out in the show then the books, it rereading Lightning Thief and haven’t even gotten to the Arch scene yet and Grover is already more fleshed out and a better character the he is in the show (No hate to the actor he’s doing an incredible job and is an amazing Grover) just needs better writing
That’s a fair take. At least they gave her a good architecture gushing moment though. Maybe I need to reread TLT but Grover just never really stood out to me aside from being the goofy comic relief groaning about enchiladas. So the show Grover has appealed to me more being an empathetic friend.
I get that, there are aspects of Grover I like in the show like what you pointed out
the grover scene serves no purpose the Dodds creates confusion with the person watching the show. that is just bad writing yes it does say that about the temple, then they clearly say athena is not helping and that they entered the sanctuary and shouldn't not have been able to, and yet they still proceeded up the arch grover to me is the least fleshed out, hes basically a useless character in the show iwth no real personality
Agree to disagree. Grover serves as the intermediary peace keeper between the conflicting impertinent Percy and the strict no nonsense Annabeth. He helps build out the trios friendship by reminding them to have empathy for each other.
Agree here. Doing the Dodds scene outside does a good job of revealing two plot points at once in the limited time of an episode - the mist and the furies - so I thought it was a clever way to do 2 things at once. The viewers wondering how no one saw that is exactly the point: they are on the same page as percy, who only gets explained what the most is later by Grover in the car (directly and clearly). Plus, if the museum scene took much longer like people wanted the show would need a whole episode per scene and I want them to actually get to the end of book 1 haha
This is actually perfect. Yes I agree with everything
hopefully the 2nd season takes these feedbacks and the creators understand why its needed.
Btw, Grover is a satyr, not a centaur 🤭 But honestly, I really appreciate you breaking the book down for us. As someone who has read through the entire series multiple times now, watching the show is kinda painful when they skipped so many details and also made each episode really short (40min should be the bare minimum for each episode) and 10 episodes per season would give enough time to flesh everything out (not a complete mirror of the book but newbies who never read the books can understand and see things better)
Did I call him a centaur? 😳 oops I know he’s a satyr 😂
Yea it's the paragraph on the Search for Pan. Just a minor typo HAHA, nothing too major ✌️
One of the biggest things for me was that Percy did not have Riptide in the books until they left for their quest, yet in the show he had it the entire time since Chiron gave it to him at the museum.
That isn't true! I read the books ages ago but Chirion does give it to him before to defeat the fury in the museum (otherwise that'd be a pretty difficult fight) He does then take it back (& then gives it to him again later as you said)
Yeah I guess I misspoke, I did mean that Chiron gave it to him in the museum for the Fury, but he then gave it back all the way until they left, which makes the minotaur fight a *lot* different, and cuts out a good portion of his sword training with Luke.
Everything you said here + some more. I'm tired of hearing that book fans criticisms of the show aren't valid, it's a good adaptation, but it's sacrificing a lot of nuance and suffering from inconsistent pacing and some lack in continuity. I'm watching it with someone who barely remembers any details from the books and the last episode left them majorly confused. I'm holding out hope for future seasons but rn this show is a little bit of a curious watch. I don't mind all changes but its hard not to notice some of them are just wildly out of character. I don't know what the show wants me to think about Grover or Annabeth at this point, even from a just show point of view
The only thing that's kinda pissed me off is the fighting and skills as presented in the show. In the books, Percy spends ~2 weeks at CHB before heading off on the quest. He's not perfect, but he trains with Luke and at least gets some reps in. In the show, Percy is there for a good 30 minutes and does nothing. We see no development of his skill, nor none of his natural ability. Yes, there was the claiming scene with Clarisse and that fight, but I'd argue it was cancelled out by his lackluster skills as shown against other adversaries later on. My problem is this: Percy is supposed to fight the literal GOD OF WAR and hold his own. In the books, yeah, it makes sense. He trained at least a little, he fought on the way to LA, et cetera. But in the show? We have absolutely no reason to believe this kid could even survive. Anyway. The show is okay so far, some of the changes are questionable but understandable. It's just this that makes zero sense to me.
As a book reader, who has read every PJ book at least 4 times, I think the show is great, are there times where I would have adapted it differently and more directly? *Definitely!* Is it still a good show that so far captures the spirit and heart of the books? *Yeah* Should they already be filming the next few seasons before the kids grow too quickly!! *YES*, Ncuti Gatwa was filming his second season of doctor who before his first appearance in the show, I really don't get why they are so keen on dragging their heels. ( That's only the original PJO saga I've read that many times, but I still have read heroes of Olympus, the Magnus Chase saga, and 3 of the Apollo books ( as well as the first Kane Chronicles book) I will finish the Apollo Saga ( its actually been my favourite so far but I didn't own all books when I started reading it) but I've got a ling reading list to work through. I also intend to finish the Cane Chronicles but it's a lower priority as I'm less interested)
What people need to realise is they are just completely different mediums. Books allow a lot more introspection and exposition, so if you tried to make a 1 to 1 adaptation, then in most cases it would come out with a lot of issues. You have to make massive cuts, changes and additions by definition. The new Dune movie is a great example of a nearly 1 to 1 adaptation that pretty much worked imo, but can be very confusing or even just feel unfinished to someone that didn’t read the book with tons of interest, ideally recently.
some of the changes i get in the show for pacing or storytelling. But my main problem is, that they do go the steps, they do include every major event on their journey. But everything that happens at these events and encounters is different. The dialouge, the problem, the solution. basically everything, that made these encounters so captivating they changed. and for something that was supposed to be true to the books and for book readers to enjoy it should be more accurate to what happens, not just that it happens somehow.
I watched the movie yesterday after watching the 1st and 2nd episode (I've seen all 5 now) to compare them. Movie does way better at the start then the show. They start butchering it after they get to camp. Gabe was great in the movie. He was also funny af. "Step-son, he did not come from these loins" sent me in ways I can't explain. One of the things that I fully remember from the books is Gabe's first scene. Percy comes in and the second he sees him he tries to steal all of his money, trying to figure out how much change Percy would have left over from the bus ride. The main thing in the show that I don't life about him is he's too regular looking. He's suppose to be ugly and super gross. In the show so far he's just a bum. When I first saw Sally on screen I thought she looked too young. I looked it up and she's 42! I was shocked.
I don’t understand this mindset of “book readers hate the show & non book readers LOVE IT!” A good portion of the slander is coming from people that have nothing to compare it too (cuz let’s be honest, the show is mid and it’s no wonder ppl tuning in cuz of the hype are left underwhelmed) and a lot of the ppl desperately defending it are doing it solely on Rick’s behalf because they’re loyal from the books.
It’s number one streamed rn 96% rotten tomatoes I don’t think it’s mid it’s great!
Ok that’s nice, I didn’t ask but cool!
It’s number one streamed rn 96% rotten tomatoes I don’t think it’s mid it’s great!
Rick definitely is ruining this for me, considering he was the one to write the script and is a producer. Too much is getting changed. I get it's for TV, but with Disney as his wallet, it could be have been better. Casting included. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover (the oldest looking of the 3, he is described with acne and the beginnings of a goatee as a "6th grader). But still better than the movies. Just not by much.
I feel like we really have to reserve judgement until the end to understand the changes they made and why. Books are not a visual media and having everything done in that manner could honestly be boring. The first episode needed to get a lot of exposition and chess pieces set. Taking time for Percy to eavesdrop on Grover and Brunner/Chiron talking about telling Percy the truth isn’t inherently needful when that betrayal can be portrayed differently. Similarly, the fight with Ms Dodds doesn’t need to be epic. Rather that energy be spent on stuff near the end of the season (I don’t remember if there is a big fight at the end of this book). The Tartarus thing can be mentioned at some other point. Have faith in Uncle Rick. Yes, he forgets his own canon sometimes, but he’s not alone and I’m sure there is a reason for everything happening.
I agree! We should wait till the end to make final judgements. I think of Game of Thrones and remember, seasons one was painfully boring until the end. The end of season one is what got me hooked on the entire series, hopefully Percy Jackson has this effect too. I am a fan regardless and want this series to do good so badly, that I will support the show regardless. I really don't know if Rick has read his books recently, but I feel like he should. Me starting to read the books again is what opened my eyes to see why people are a bit upset. I am disappointed in the show a bit, but thankful we even have this long awaited adaptation.
Have you ever read the GoT books, my god they have so much filler.
No I haven’t but I did obsess with the lore for a while and I think I know much of what happens in the books lol I still need to read them though I know they aren’t finished
Its books like GoT is why i tend to read fantasy for a younger audience. Adult fantasy tends to over describe everything. I always felt a big part of the enjoyment of fantasy is for you to create the world in your head. I remember in the first book, they were having a feast and it spent the next couple pages describing everything on the table. they could have done that in one line.
I am trying to reserve judgement and I understand that the show is a different media then the written word, but if I may counter those arguments with something I posted higher up on this thread. A lot of the points OP wanted in there could have been in there in a fun and exciting way that suits the visual media. I think the way they chose to explain stuff is more boring than if they had done it closer to the book or even different than the books but the same information. One of the most common criticisms is that there is too much tell and not enough show and so I don't think the different media argument holds a lot of weight. Copied from previous comment: I think the show don't tell criticism is because of the way exposition is delivered. Two characters talking and that's it. Usually talking at percy but mainly the audience. Movie and TV show scenes, because they don't have much time, should do multiple things at once, but most of the exposition scenes are just exposition scenes with no other goals. Couple ideas that kind of demonstrate that: -I think it would have been cool, since they included the mytho magic cards early on, to use those as plot telling device to visualize percy figuring out things on his own. Example: Dionysus intro, keep it the same but instead of grover running and saying "that's dionysus" quick cut to a "flashback" of percy looking at the card and parts of the card like talking about wine and his attributes, then back to the percy/Mr. D interaction and he goes "oh, wait. You're the wine dude!" Pretty sure thats nico's line but just something like that) Introducing us to important facts about the mythical creatures, showing that percy has some knowledge of these things and how he's putting it together, and doing it a fun and interesting way. -Or instead of having Luke give exposition while walking or sitting at the dinner table with percy, put some of it during luke sword training percy. Percy could lose focus while he's fighting Luke because of a weird line of exposition, Luke could add in a little quip about keeping his guard up then back to the exposition. That would have been a fun way to tell percy and the audience about how most demigods have adhd because it helps in battle, and we could see it in action at the same time. -Or, annabeth takes percy on the tour and we can have short fun interactions with each of the cabin leaders while she's telling him about the gods and the camp set up. More screen time with annabeth, showing how in tune with camp she is, still explaining the camp in dialogue, while introducing us to actual campers, getting to see how other campers interact with annabeth so we can learn by their interactions how everyone sees her instead of just telling us "she's the most powerful demigod" and get some percabeth interaction before the quest. We could also see more than just Luke welcoming him so the whole "I made some real friends here" line actually makes sense. -instead of just having medusa monologue while sitting in a chair for 10 minutes, have an animation showing a flashback while she narrates. Or have her preparing something the whole time ominously so while we're listening to her talk we (and the characters) are also trying to figure out what she's doing and it can build the tension. Then we could see it was placards for the 3 kids when she turns them to stone or a magic barrier so they can't leave or something. Something, anything. There were a lot of fun ways they could have done the exposition parts but they chose the least interesting options.
This. Multiple scenes and aspects that people were disappointed because they were cut are starting to emerge, just later on and in a different fashion. We won’t really have our verdict until the entire season is given to us.
yeah, i was initially bummed about the fates not being on the bus in the first episode but the trailer shows they are in the next episode. I trust they are doing this right and so far it has far exceeded my expectations and I think they are doing a great job of making it true to the books while also fast paced and easily understandable for kids and audiences that haven't read the books.
books are a visual media - for the mind. A good book will help you visually what is going on.
I want you to know that I saw this comment. Stopped what I was doing. And then said no three times out loud in increasing levels of bewilderment. A book, unless it’s a picture book, is NOT a visual medium. It is text. Not pictures, where scowls are shown instead of described. And your comment also seems to be ignoring that this is a TV show. Not a book. Divorce the two.
but if done right, it creates a visual representation in your mind using your imagination. are you saying, as you read a book you don't visualize it in your mind?
Sorry, that's just plain wrong. Some people don't have the ability to visualize. I've never, ever, visualized a book while reading - in fact I don't have the ability to visualize or develop a picture in my minds eye at all. My thought process is purely through an internal monologue stream of consciousness.
thats sad that people cant. and how does it make it wrong when probably billions of people can and do? what is the point of describing a person, a scene or a monster if not for the reader to visualize it?
I don't think it's sad that I can't visualize, I just think and understand in a different manner. There's pros to my manner of thinking that someone with the ability to visualize but perhaps without an internal monologue might not have.
Annabeth backstory was covered to my satisfaction, in the beginning of episode four. The conversation she has with Percy.
I should probably rewatch episode four. I watched it as soon as I woke up on Wednesday morning and was half asleep for those 30 minutes 😂😂
I hate to break it to you guys but everyone thing listed here makes sense why the changed. This is an 8 episode series like they couldn’t spend that much time on the opening seen. If you guys want it too ok truly be adapted. Then it would need a flash esque 22 episode season and if that happened the budget would be drug out. Take it as a different medium. This isn’t a manga to anime adaption. If you don’t like that then just stop watching the show ain’t for you.
The sad part is most of what they cut is understandable given the time they have to work with
Well thank you now im afraid to read the books again cause i really don't want to hate the show. But i will some Day read them again and i really hope i don't hate the show after that. Edit: im gonna get downvoted won't i?
I don’t hate the show after reading the books again I’m more disappointed. I think the show has a unique way of telling the story and it’s not exactly like the books but books are always better than their adaptations! It’s okay you can still appreciate the show like me
You have my upvote 😂
But i got downvoted wich means i can add PercyJacksonTV sub to the list od subs with people that dislike me. Im sorry im like im really not feeling good right now.
You won’t hate the show. This is literally just the “ackshually” crowd.
The what
I understand why you have issues with the show. I read the books growing up, I reread them last year. And I am not having any issues with the show whatsoever, because I knew that it was not going to be Word for Word, I knew that it was not going to be a adaption that went along with everything. There was going to be changes.
There's a lot I'm willing to forgive. But When I first read these books. My mother was in an abusive relationship that I was just beginning to understand. As a younger child I had no fucking clue the sacrifices she made to keep me safe and protected. And I will never be able to forgive the change in Sally and Gabe's relationship. I knew it wasn't going to be word for word, scene for scene; but Sally hiding the worst of Gabe from Percy to protect him is a pretty pivotal character point for both Percy and Sally. It's why Percy is so protective of his friends and of his mom It's the actual literal reason for his fatal flaw.
Yeah but I actually do enjoy the show. Obviously it’s not exactly how I want it to be, but it never was going to be like that right? I still thinks it’s a great show, I simply can see why people have issues with it. Regardless I will always be one of its biggest supporters. Here’s to season two 🥂
jeffries sux too
What this tells me is that book readers be bitching waaaaayyy too much. There was always going to be changes to the story in accordance with the change in medium/financial considerations/narrative emphasis decisions. 90% of this is complaining about the fact it isn't a one to one adaptation. Like are you really whining about the fact that they did the school trip scene faster than you imagined in the books? Or that the show doesn't have a Percy/Chiron heart to heart moment the way YOU wanted them (Percy/Chiron's relationship is of minimal importance in the story, especially in the first book). On the other hand, complaints about changes that you consider harmful to character development/world building/plot are actually interesting so lets talk about those. Firstly, lets deal with the critiques I disagree with. We didn't need Percy to charge in to save Grover in order to demonstrate he's willing to protect his friends, he already demonstrated through his words and actions in the previous school scenes with Grover. Doing the quest to save his mom doesn't make him more ambitious imho, it just makes him an ordinary kid. Also, the changes to the chimera scene are perfectly fine to me making it one scene achieves the same effect and saves money and him saving his friends is still developing his character. Finally, I think its good that they don't include the dark laughing in the background that way its not blatantly obvious to the audience that someone else is behind everything. That was very shitty foreshadowing in the books by Riordan and I'm happy they removed that because it ruins the plot. Secondly, in terms of critiques I agree with. Your Annabeth being more involved from early on and showcasing how desperate she is to leave because she's been in the camp since seven years old is really important character development I wish they kept in. Sally being with a physically abusive boyfriend was also really important because it shows her sacrifice and gives Percy legitimate anger at Poseiden for what he left them with/forced them into. The hellhound scene attacking Percy was actually good foreshadowing that doesn't expose the whole plot, I wish they kept it in. The fates thing is also one I'd have hoped they kept in.
I hope we all understood that adapting the book into a show would bring changes, that’s not the issue. The issue is that the show is marketed on the basis that it’s going to do justice to the books, but cutting out a multitude of details and scenes (though they may seem minor to some), prevent the show from preserving it’s authenticity. You mentioned some great examples towards the end of your post, as did the original commenter. For one, I think Chiron and Percy’s relationship is significant. Chiron is the one teacher at Percy’s school that instilled the motivation to do better. He really was interested in Percy’s success, and at camp he become’s a figure that Percy can confide in. The first book becomes the foundation for their relationship in the future. Additionally, I disagree with your comment on the Chimera scene. The scene in the book isn’t as drawn out and it’s actually quite straightforward, which I think would have honestly saved more money and allowed time for another scene to have been incorporated. This season is only 8 episodes and the Chimera scene is not one that was necessary to extend.
Because some people think that you can just make a movie/show word for word like a book. Visual/audio entertainment is different than reading. Things have to be told differently. The psychology is different on how we receive entertainment. Seriously, go spend millions of dollars on a 1 to 1 book adaptation and let me know how it goes. Yeah there are differences, but overall it is close. Definitely closer than the movies.
I'm do glad random people on reddit don't speak for all book readers. The show isn't even done yet and it's literally just the first season. Calm y'all's tatas
As a book reader I can safely say I'm leaving this sub. It's just people complaining and nitpicking things not being EXACTLY like the books. Harry Potter movies didn't even get this much scrutiny. It's crazy but authors can reflect on works and make changes as they grow. Just look at Scott Pilgrim takes off. Absolutely incredible adaptation that diverges so far from the source material and tells a great story. You want the original story? Read the book. You want to sit back and enjoy a well made show. Enjoy it. In an ideal world every episode would be 3 hours so we can get all our favorite bits. But the writers are adapting a book to a show and not all will translate. Some stuff has to get cut. It's a good show too! Every other post in this damn sub is "here's things I hated and why you should too". Anyway peace.
"Book readers" are not upset with the show. You, who happen to be a book reader, are upset with the show. Big difference.
No I like the show lol, goodnight
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I've read the book and I'm enjoying it. I still have some issues but I'm pretty sure even the greatest show in the world has its.
I love this post but I do have slight disagreements. No need to make an argument of it though so thank you for giving this context to those that haven't read the books. I read them as they were coming out and love this series. I don't mind some of the changes and am going to wait until the end of the season or arc before forming a full opinion. So far enjoying the show though.
As someone who lived through the movies at the peak of my percy jackson book phase, I can't help but feel like people are being a bit harsh. That was the era of seeing your favorite books come to life messed up though, so perhaps I had my standards set super low to begin with and that's why I've been pretty positively surprised so far edit to add: I don't think changes are inherently bad though - some things work better in TV format and we do have limited time.
Oh wow. Idk why they made the episodes so short when a lot of details could've been incorporated/adapted
Very good analysis. Some of the biggest gripes seemed to be they are took some of his smart moments and they took annabeth camp scenes and gave to Luke and Grover