Happy January, friends, and welcome to the start of something that might be wonderful, who knows? After literal years of waiting and anticipation, the new Percy Jackson and the Olympians show has finally come out on Disney+, and of course we’re all diving straight into the over-analyzing, critiquing and appreciating that fan-people do best. This will be my review of the first episode of the show, where I’m withholding judgement, but they did, in fact, do a little too much talking for my taste. Hope you enjoy!
My first impression of the series: “This had better be good…”
Words cannot describe how eager I was to watch this first episode of the PJO series! And the first lines were absolutely ON POINT! Word-for-word, straight from the book, “Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood” on point. It set a very high standard for how accurate the rest of the series is going to be.
Characters
In spite of the show characters not looking exactly the same as the books describe them, most of the cast of the PJO Disney+ show fulfill their roles in exactly the way I hoped they would. Percy has the innocent-but-sassy attitude, and Chiron sounds exactly how I imagined him, the booming, resonant professor voice with supportive wise-elder lines. We get to see more of Percy’s mom in the show too, and the scenes from his childhood are touching and give some good background to why he cares so much about her. Other than the fact that she’s his only real parental figure, I mean.
One thing they’ve done 100% WRONG in my opinion: SMELLY GABE ISN’T MEAN!! He’s barely even rude to Percy, just seems like they don’t get along that well. And he actually seems to have something in common with Sally Jackson??? What are they doing??? What happened to the whole “I only married him because the smell keeps the monsters away” thing??? I don’t get it!!
Also yes also, they’ve done Grover dirty in this show. Instead of being the concerned friend-cum-Protector that he is in the books, he SELLS PERCY OUT after he *accidentally* throws Nancy Bobofitt in the fountain!! And they never explained why. So Percy ends up expelled from school, and instead of Grover being with him, wanting to escort him safely home, they’ve had a falling-out and Percy doesn’t want to see Grover again. Again, Disney, whyyyyy??? What was the reason???
Soundtrack: 100, Effects… 50?
I’ve been watching with my MMC (significant other) who pays more attention to the CGI effects than I do (he’s a different breed of nerd lol), and he pointed out that some of the effects could’ve been better? IDK, but it looked fine to me XD. Both of us noticed, though, that the fight scenes in this first episode were ridiculously short. How did Percy just dissolve the Fury in one stroke? Like they could’ve spent more time on the epic fight with the Minotaur and less on just Percy + mom talking ON THE COUCH IN THEIR CABIN, but hey, what do I know? They said what they needed to say, and Percy still fought the monsters he needed to fight to move the plot along.
One thing I did notice that was really cool is the way that they animated Riptide, and the way that it shifts between Celestial Bronze sword and BIC ballpoint pen. The little elements of effects are cool, I think it’s just the bigger and more noticeable things that could’ve been better.
The soundtrack, though, is absolutely EPIC! I’m loving the slight nod to the Avengers-type cinematic sounds. Bear McCreary, who wrote the (probably) more recognizable themes of the show, has also worked on Lord of the Rings, The Walking Dead, and others. I kind of wish they’d thrown in the super-cool “Riptide” remake that was in some of the trailers, but it’s okay that they didn’t. I found that song on Spotify, btw : ).
Some of my favorite quotes/moments
Here are some of my quotes/favorite moments from the first episode of PJO on Disney+:
(Percy as a younger kid) Hey fellas, wanna hear about the imaginary stuff I see?
Lol, Persassy
Not everyone who looks like a hero is a hero, and not everyone who looks like a monster is a monster
Percy’s mom in a memory, transitioning to Chiron’s voice
“I know for certain that there’s no such thing as demigods” *Grover shows up with goat legs*
“He is brutal. He is relentless–“
“He is wearing underpants.”
Percy and Grover talking about the Minotaur
Perseus… You are not broken. You are singular. You are a miracle. And you are my child.”
Percy’s mom, right before being choked almost to death by the Minotaur
Conclusion
Did I enjoy the first episode? Yes, yes I did. Do I have high hopes for the series going forward? I do. Hope springs eternal, as they say. I think they’ve done a good job adapting the books into a show that people can enjoy even if they haven’t read the books, and that’s really all we can ask for.
Want some more PJO related content? Check out this post with all of my best works on the subject : ).
Have you seen the new Percy Jackson show on Disney+? What are your thoughts? I’d love to know!
Happy fangirling!
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