I consider myself a big Percy Jackson fan and still hold them to be one of the best book series I’ve read. Sadly, I received my introduction through the first movie before reading the books. Needless to say, the books are always better than the live action adaptation (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is the one exception I can think of). I’m going on my third time reading all the way through the series so I’m fairly informed on the material. The live action trailer for the Percy Jackson show had some promise, at least the ages were accurate. As with every live action adaptation there's room for originality so the fans don’t feel they’re getting the same thing, but the heart and theme should be the same regardless of portrayal. After watching the first two episodes of the Percy Jackson show I side with the opinion of several others who found the T.V. show even worse than the movies. 

Time Wasted: The first two episodes are about an hour each and they felt very long without much actually happening. The reason for this occurred to me when I discovered that each episode bore the name of two chapters directly out of the first book. A chapter is about twelve pages or under, and when you stretch it to create an hour of material you end up finding uninteresting ways to fill up the extra time.

 Episode One Examples:

• The first ten minutes we show Percy seeing things that are supposedly not there. This could have been established in one scene, closer to the way the movie actually does it. Television shows sometimes feel they have more time to kill than movies do, but it’s an unnecessary addition. If something wasn’t included in the book, or was breezed over there was probably a reason for it.

• We get a flashback of Percy’s mother explaining to him why she named him after the Greek hero Perseus. This conversation went around in a circle before just going with the short explanation she gives in the book–Perseus is the only hero who got a happy ending. Simply staying with the book would have been more to the point and simpler in this situation. Instead we get a lengthy wishy washy talk about monsters not being what they seem, and people fighting monsters…I honestly don’t remember the extra dialogue it was forgettable and went on too long.

•   Two more unnecessarily drawn out conversations occur with Percy and his mother. She takes forever to explain his father to him and says goodbye to him for over five minutes when the minotaur is coming before wasting time telling Grover to take care of Percy. 

All of this slowed things way down and reduced any tension or urgency. It didn’t feel like they were running for their lives, because his mother is talking to him for so long that I would imagine the minotaur has a limp or went to lunch while they were having it. The after talking to Percy she spends five minutes telling Grover he has to swear to protect her son. This has the opposite affect of what was intended—we don’t feel rushed or sad or in danger. In an accurate portrayal of a character’s last moments, it’s sad and harsh because characters don’t have the time to say everything they want in the moment. They’re too flustered, scared and out of breath to relate everything their feeling and thus the moment is a sad one because like any well written tragic moment, it comes too fast and without warning taking our characters completely aback. Spending time talking in the drama makes it feel less life threatening.

Episode Two Examples:

• Percy has a drawn out conversation with Mr. D about if he can help him find his father, which was intended for comedy but was simply another scene we didn’t need. And no one laughed.

• Luke has a conversation with Percy about Annabeth that isn’t in the books (this show did not do a good example of showing instead of telling. It told us EVERYTHING. And some of the stuff it told us was not accurate to the books either, like Luke saying Annabeth is the best fighter at camp. The movie made this same mistake–Annabeth is a thinker, NOT a fighter. The show also implies that Athena has won Capture the Flag before but the book makes no such claim.) 

• Percy talks to his father when he makes his food offering alone in the forest, which was another unnecessary scene.

• Grover talks to Mr. D in the forest (a scene not in the books to seemingly stall for time).

• We also had time for Percy to dance and goof off in the woods during Capture the Flag but we neglected the pivotal scene of him being trained by Luke to actually use a sword! (In the book, this scene establishes, despite Luke being the better swordsman, that Percy has natural talent and strength coming from his Father). Without this, it makes no sense how he defeats Clarisse and her goons. The movie has it closer to the book where Percy is getting creamed until he touches water. In the show, Percy somehow wins without any sword training or extra boost. He fights Clarisse and her guys, managing not to die and to give them a good run for their money before he ever touches water.

Charater’s lacked the ability to emote:  Energy levels for this show were at an all time low. It’s as if the actors were told to keep things at a 30% capacity for everything. I didn’t feel any emotion from the characters or see any attempt to raise the stagnant lack of tension. 

• Percy has no human reaction to his teacher turning into a Fury and trying to kill him (he’s twelve but he doesn’t scream or act afraid. His reaction resembles one who’s waking up from a peaceful nap). His best friend stabs him in the back and all he does is repeat Grover’s name in a monotone fashion. Percy’s mother gets killed by the minotaur but he can’t convey anger. 

• Annabeth’s lines almost entirely consisted of “yes” and “no.” She doesn’t talk back to Percy or seem to have a crush on Luke. She gives Percy no instructions in Capture the Flag, just walks him out in the middle of nowhere and leaves him. In the book, he’s at least told to guard the creek. What if Percy had left his spot in the show being given no instruction to stay put? There goes Annabeth’s so-called brilliant strategizing. Luke praises her to the hilt on this point but we don’t see any of it. They also have Annabeth learn Percy’s parentage early on but we don’t know it until she pushes him into the lake. This was supposed to make her look smart but we should have seen her emote curiosity in him before pushing him in the water rather rudely. 

• Luke is one of my favorite characters in the books (In the top three to be exact, falling into the same order I’ve presented here). The show’s portrayal was yet another thing they did worse than the movies. He has no scar (my sister and I paused the screen to try and find it but we were unsuccessful). He emotes no bitterness or charm, only deadpan disney channel levels of emotion.   

• Clarisse was in the show (they got that right where the movie failed, trying to turn Annabeth into a Clarisse/Annabeth hybrid), but she was restrained from bringing up the energy too. Clarisse was at best, a mild, almost flirty mean girl. In the book she is literally a brute and tries to kill Percy for humiliating her in the bathroom. In the show she simply wants Percy to recant his killing of the minotaur because she doesn’t believe his story. 

Afraid to go to the dark places:  The show veered away from anything that was dark in the books. Even the movies went to places the show did not. 

• The show tells us all about Percy’s issues: ADHD, Dyslexia, Bullies etc. (Yet another example of telling instead of showing). We don’t see Percy struggle with any of these. The worst bullying we get is Nancy calling him special and throwing one salami at Grover. As viewers, my sister and I got bored instead of feeling sympathetic. (The flat tone of every scene didn’t help with stirring our emotions either.) 

-The movie at least shows us Percy’s frustration with school and the problems his ADHD and dyslexia present. 

• The worst example was the show’s handling of Percy’s abusive stepfather who reads more like a retarded lazy Disney Channel dad. He isn’t an alcoholic or abusive to either Percy or his mother. Percy’s mother even stands up to him and gives him orders. Why should we feel sorry for Percy’s circumstances when they aren’t that bad? His mom is in not in any danger and neither is he. Sure it’s annoying they live with a deadbeat but not nearly as terrible as his situation in the books. In the movie, Percy’s stepfather is an alcoholic abusive pig and we do pity Percy for it. 

Overall, the Percy Jackson movie stuck closer to the book than the show (other than the discrepancy in ages and the removal of Clarisse). The movie wasted less time, the characters emoted more and you weren’t put to sleep by the lack of tension and energy.  In the show character’s don’t feel like fun, lively three dimensional people—but rather actors told to be blocks of wood and not raise any emotions or have personalities. Basically, read the books.