How ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ season one by Disney+ compares to ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lighting Thief’ by Rick Riordan

Courtesy of DISNEY/DAVID BUKACH

Warning: Contains spoilers for “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” novel and television series

In 2005, author Rick Riordan published a book that would soon spearhead one of the most beloved young adult (YA) series of all time. 

“Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” follows Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell), a 12-year-old dyslexic and ADHD troublemaker who gets thrown into the world of Greek mythology, one monster after another, until his mom is “killed” by the Minotaur on their way to Camp Half Blood — a sanctuary for demigods.

When he arrives at camp, he finds out that not only are the Greek myths real, but that he is the child of one of the Greek gods — Poseidon, god of the sea — who is forbidden from having children. If that wasn’t a big enough shock, Percy also finds out that Olympus is on the brink of war, and it’s all his fault.

Zeus’ master lightning bolt has been stolen, and now that word’s out that he’s a forbidden child, all fingers are pointing at Percy as the thief. One problem — he didn’t steal it. 

With the help of Annabeth Chase (Leah Jefferies) daughter of Athena, and Grover Underwood (Aryan Simhadri) a satyr, the trio must embark on a quest to Los Angeles, where Hades resides in the Underworld, in efforts to convince him to return the bolt.

But of course, nothing will go as easy as we all hope. The trio must face monsters, gods and the police on their quest to retrieve the  master bolt and save the mortal world from a battle between gods.

The new Disney+ series has some big shoes to fill and some high standards to meet. After the disastrous movie adaptations in 2010 and 2014, both fans and Riordan were hopeful that tv series would bring the books justice. And fortunately, it did.

If you’re a fan of the books, the television series closely mirrors the structure of the books. From chapter to chapter, almost everything vital to the plot and characters is included in the show. Seeing places like The Lotus Hotel and Casino, Camp Half-Blood and the Underworld brought to life was like a dream come true. 

There was a lot of controversy when the casting of the series was released, primarily because none of the actors fit their character descriptions in the novel. With that being a huge issue in the films, fans were looking for redemption in the show — which didn’t happen.

But I think Riordan and the casting directors made the right choice in their casting. Although none of the characters looked how they were originally described, each actor embodied their role perfectly. 

There’s no denying that Walker Scobell was Percy, that Leah Jefferies was Annabeth and that Aryan Simhadri was Grover. Each actor brought all of the right quirks and personality traits to their character. If given the opportunity to choose between a book accurate casting or recasting these actors, I would absolutely keep Scobell, Jefferies and Simhadri. 

But with any child actor, you run the risk of underdeveloped acting — which was unfortunately the case for this season. Lines were delivered poorly, reactions were underwhelming and there were several throw away lines.

But as the season went on, improvements were made. It was like you could see the actors grow, develop and become more comfortable in their roles as the show continued. If the show is renewed for more seasons, this trio is sure to blossom into pros in no time.

The visuals in this movie were absolutely amazing, and after watching the behind the scenes documentary “A Hero’s Journey: The Making of Percy Jackson and the Olympians”, I have a newfound appreciation for how they brought this world to life. 

The scenes of the Underworld and Olympus were so regal in contrasting ways and it was clear that a lot of thought was put into how each realm of the gods would look. From towering buildings in Olympus to Hades’ upside down castle surrounded by sand dunes, nothing was how I originally pictured — it was better.

But unfortunately, every show has its downsides, and when it’s an adaptation, those downsides are always more prevalent because you have something to compare it to.

The biggest two for me was the lack of humor and action in the episodes. 

Percy Jackson was coined as “persassy” in the books due to his attitude and sarcastic sense of humor. This was an important element that just wasn’t included enough in the show. We get some funny quips, like saying Thalia — Zeus’ daughter who was turned into a tree — “met a pinecones fate”, but not nearly enough to really bring Percy’s character to life.

Scobell is almost under utilized in this way. In his role as young Adam in “The Adam Project”, he played a younger Ryan Reynolds and quickly became famous for his humor. And again when a funny parody for a Kraft Mac N Cheese commercial was released by Reynolds. It’s clear Scobell has a gift for comedy, so why limit his humor in the show?

Action was another disappointing factor. 

A demigod fighting monsters like Medusa, the Chimera and even the god Ares (Adam Copeland), is sure to lead to come pretty action-packed moments. But unfortunately, they were short lived and if it wasn’t for the stunning visuals and CGI, they’d be extremely underwhelming.

Some predict the shortness of action scenes is due to the shortness of the episodes (ranging 30-45 minutes), and some predict they’re short because unlike the books, we don’t have a window into Percy’s inner monologue, which is where most of the length came from in the books.

Although these are decent points, I don’t think it justifies the limitations of such a vital part to the Percy Jackson series. Perhaps as the show continues, their budget will grow and they will be able to opt in for longer episodes and longer action sequences.

If you haven’t read the books, or if it’s been a long time since your last read, there may be some instances where you feel you’re missing some information.

There’s several scenes in the show where entire conversations seemed to be skipped over, leaving the audience with more questions than answers. It’s almost as if the scenes were filmed, and then deleted, because the characters will reference the conversations, but the audience never once got to experience them.

If you’ve read the books, you can fill in the gaps yourself, but if you haven’t, you might be grasping at straws, which isn’t a great thing to do to your viewers.

Hopefully, like the action sequences, more will be able to be included as their budgets grow and their time constraints expand.

If you’re an avid fan of the books looking for the television series to be a verbatim copy of the novel, you’re going to be disappointed — I know I was. But after rewatching the episodes over and over, I was able to appreciate them in a new way. 

Although I disagreed with some of the changes — like the entirety of episode five — it’s still a faithful adaptation that brings the world of Percy Jackson to life in a way we haven’t seen before.

In the end, it’s a fun show full of moments from the book we’ve never seen brought to life before, and with the author heavily involved in all elements of the show, it’s near impossible to not like — even if it’s different from your initial expectations.

From capture the flag to Waterland, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is a long-awaited adaptation. Whether you’re a die hard fan of the book series, or a first time fan, season one is absolutely worth the watch.

I know myself and fans everywhere are already eager for the announcement of a series renewal, which will follow the second novel: “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters”.

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