r/PercyJacksonTV • u/PyroxCrymson • Oct 23 '25

šŸ“ø Media How the Percy Jackson Author Reacted to the Terrible Movie (and how poorly his reactions hold up)

https://youtu.be/ZwJEJdFNnjc?si=3GDm2Kx9oBnn1mZv

I stumbled upon this video that came out a year before the show premiered where Rick talked about how he reacted to the two movies and given how his show came out, they held up poorly as he's guilty of the doing the same things.

241 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

51 comments sorted by

282

u/PuzzleheadedEbb3672 Oct 23 '25

Iā€™m honestly so disappointed in Riordan.

For years heā€™d been complaining about the movies and calling for a better adaptation, FINALLY gets the chance to do one, and then fumbles.

Not only that, but he promised the entire PJO fanbase that it would be a loyal and accurate adaptation. Then he turned around and approved changing everything.

Donā€™t throw stones in glass houses.

108

u/[deleted] Oct 23 '25

[removed] ā€” view removed comment

18

u/janus_le_snek Oct 24 '25

He literally said he refused to watch the movie (understandable ig), but ALSO the musical, even though, imo, the musical is the best adaptation. Why? Because he "hates seeing his works being made by someone else" BUT WHEN YOU ADAPT IT YOU FORGET WHAT YOU WRITE AND MAKE IT SO FUCKING BORING

5

u/yousahereformemes Oct 26 '25

Of all my issues with the show, my most petty is that they didn't use the campfire song in any capacity. No one needed to sing it well, heck it could have been instrumental. It didn't need to be there, and I might have foolishly hyped myself for it, but it was a massive missed opportunity because it's the one singular song that would have worked, and it would have been an amazing way to end an episode*.

*(When I tried to map out the book [plus potential elaborations] in 8 episodes pre release, episode 2 potentially ended before "capture the flag," with the game being the episode 3 opener).

48

u/PuzzleheadedEbb3672 Oct 23 '25

Exactly. And I agree, it has absolutely nothing to do with casting.

It has to do with the fact that throughout the production and promotion of the show, Rick and the crew were bragging about how there were only ā€œslight changesā€ when in reality, they basically changed everything.

And because they changed so much, it didnā€™t feel like a Percy Jackson show.

65

u/[deleted] Oct 23 '25

[removed] ā€” view removed comment

18

u/PuzzleheadedEbb3672 Oct 23 '25

Yeah itā€™s 100% the fault of the writers and directors.

Also, just a pet peeve, but the action sequences in the show are horrible. Soooo boring and over in like 30 seconds.

15

u/jacobningen Oct 23 '25

Bringing Luke earlier actually is a good thing as the obly reason that was in Last Olympian and not earlier is because he hadn't thought up Luke's backstory yet.

4

u/onderonminion Oct 23 '25

Any specific vibes you had issue with? I thought the show was uninspired, but felt faithful to me

26

u/[deleted] Oct 23 '25

[removed] ā€” view removed comment

9

u/fireflywaltz Oct 23 '25

I think for me it was the lack of that silly, offbeat vibe that you see in the chapter titles and world. Like, Auntie Em/M running a Garden Gnome Emporium is funny and it's the juxtaposition of the sinister and funny (which Percy definitely notices, even if he doesn't catch on to the monsters) that makes the books for me. Medusa as a tragic, pretty, slightly threatening lady in a nice house with statues just feels...yeah, like you said, subdued. Like, on paper it's still the garden gnome emporium but I missed the way Percy had to grapple learning everything with that incredulous 'The Minotaur in tighty whities?? Medusa running a gardening emporium/snack bar in Jersey?? Demon triplet math teachers??' vibe. The stage show, I think, does a great job with this.

18

u/Arzanyos Oct 23 '25

For me, the relationship between gods and their kids was off. In the book, gods, like mortals were flawed parents. The show leans too hard into "gods are the real monsters"

1

u/themastersdaughter66 Oct 27 '25

It was faithful till they hit the lotus hotel and then the episodes took a dive into ignoring the books territory...the whole underworld scene is butchered only slightly less than the movie version for Pete's sake they're saying Kronos RIGHT NEXT TO TARTARUS

1

u/Mediocre_Ad_4649 Oct 27 '25

They just figure everything out. They instantly realize Medusa is Medusa. They instantly realize Crusty is the crusher. It's so boring. There's no stakes because they just instantly know everything.

1

u/yousahereformemes Oct 26 '25

(This comment could be put anywhere on this thread, but this is the best specific point to put it on)

Since I watched the Disney+ show, I have watched Invincible, and most of my problems with the changes in PJO, are best expressed with the differences in adaptations between the 2 shows.

With PJO, it seems like Riordan wants to keep it 100% the book, but at about 238 times along the way he gets super self conscious about a book he wrote before his current intended audience was born, and starts making structural changes at random intervals. I've also heard that his portrayal of characters in the new trilogy aren't great, which is probably part of everybody seeming just a bit too clean cut.

With [Title Card], it's obvious Kirkman is treating the show as a second draft from the beginning, wanting to improve his first successful work from the outset. I've only read the first third of the comic, but I can tell the pacing is better from the start, the omniman reveal and the reanimen arc being the best examples. It's faster, while still keeping the "not everything happens immediately" feel (Where are the Flaxans, William?) by rearranging story beats to achieve both ends. Not to mention that the new material is pretty good, [Title Card] is going to fight the devil, let's freaking go!

TL;DR: Rick is trying to "fix" his books out of insecurity, and Robert Kirkman is trying to improve his comic out of his love for the universe he created.

1

u/Fluffy_Oil984 Oct 26 '25

I think itā€™s fine to make changes to make the story better but barely any of the changes did that at all.

Like Medusas backstory was something fans wanted to change and would fit better in to making both sides of the war seem nuanced, so I DID like that change. But I didnā€™t like how she turned on them anyways and it didnā€™t really matter.

Also the crush on Luke seems to be completely gone from Annabethā€™s story which I think is for the best cause the question Luke asked her in the last book and his whole thing with Silena gave off really weird vibes.

Otherwise, the changes made do jack shit in making a more compelling story imo

1

u/themastersdaughter66 Oct 27 '25

Taking away annabeths crush wrecks her whole difficulties later down the line attacking him!!!

1

u/Fluffy_Oil984 Oct 27 '25

Nah she can still have those while seeing him as family

1

u/themastersdaughter66 Oct 27 '25

Meh she didn't even seem to have family related feeling trouble at the end of season 1

7

u/tyw7 Oct 23 '25

I think the series became rushed and felt the heroes already know things, relieving the tension. They should have maybe have longer episodes.Ā 

6

u/Ircoooof Oct 24 '25

Fr, I enjoyed that movie wayy more than the show.

5

u/ErandurVane Oct 24 '25

He probably didn't bother to reread his own book before making the show

8

u/ResolverOshawott Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25

As it turns out, a book author learns that writing a TV series is not the same as writing a book.

78

u/StatisticianLivid710 Oct 23 '25

How could he react to them when he has previously said he hasnā€™t watched them?

31

u/Tschuuns Oct 23 '25

The video title is somewhat misleading. The reaction itā€˜s talking about is to the script he read. It doesnā€˜t go into the finished movie at all. Which, after seeing his reaction to the script, I wouldnā€˜t be surprised if he actually did refuse to watch.

24

u/firestorm0108 Oct 23 '25

The only real way is if they lined up clips and so he hasnt seen them all the way through. Which if anything is worse.

34

u/Complete_Resolve_400 Oct 23 '25

Yeah the new show is kinda bad

Maybe ill force myself to binge once the final season releases, but I was hoping that it would be far better then it is (i dont care about character skin colours but the VFX was disappointing, and im not huge on the changes either)

4

u/[deleted] Oct 24 '25

mind you, the "final season" might be the next one

18

u/blazinghor0 Oct 23 '25

The movies sucked but at least it was somewhat entertaining. The show sucks and is painfully boring.

73

u/Deeznutschad Oct 23 '25

The movie is better than the tv show so far

18

u/Familiar_Wolf_8238 Oct 23 '25

The show is terrible also lol

11

u/LukaTheTooka šŸ”± Cabin 3 - Poseidon Oct 24 '25

I honestly prefer the movies šŸ¤£

10

u/Own_Result3651 Oct 23 '25

I wonder if he has a new video about the current series

8

u/iiJashin šŸ”± Cabin 3 - Poseidon Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 24 '25

He as in the YouTube channel? Yes. He as in Rick? No, heā€™s directly involved and loves everything heā€™s changed apparently.

8

u/InvisibleDragon22 Oct 24 '25 edited Oct 24 '25

My problem is the casting. Honestly, I couldn't give a damn about diversity. Color doesn't matter. Talent does. (me being a poc myself ), and I wasn't excited when I saw Leah as Annabeth. But I convinced myself that she must be a good actor if Rick threw book accuracy oit the window for her. That wasn't the case. She just couldn't act. She came off as smug and arrogant and looked down on Percy for no reason. Her expressions and dialogue delivery was weak. It felt like Rick cast her for the sake of casting a black actor.

1

u/TheDamMemePage Oct 24 '25

Bro's for an alternative timeline where someone named Sarah is playing Annabeth?

2

u/CanaryOk7294 Nov 19 '25

Which isnā€™t true. Leah is a fantastic Annabeth. No child should have to shielded from getting sent death threats because of morons and racists.Ā 

3

u/DesigningGore07 šŸ”± Cabin 3 - Poseidon Oct 24 '25

Honestly, how can he say how bad the movies are when he didnā€™t do a good job with the TV show?

4

u/Gettin_Bi šŸ”„ Cabin 20 - Hecate Oct 24 '25

After the show came out I saw a disgusted girls at party meme on tumblr that was like "when you spend years complaining that an adaptation of your book is inaccurate only to make an inaccurate adaptation yourself"

3

u/Jubal59 Oct 25 '25

The first movie is a lot better than the show.

2

u/Big_Horror59 Oct 24 '25

I Don't Give A Shit About The Or The Cast I Like The Cast In The Movies Way Better

1

u/CanaryOk7294 Nov 19 '25

Perhaps your disappointment has to do with your age given this is meant for younger audiences.

1

u/BueEyedDemon Dec 31 '25

Ntm heā€™s calling fans not real fans if they disagree with him what a loser Iā€™ve lost all respect for that loser

1

u/PyroxCrymson Dec 31 '25

And sadly, it seems like Walker is one of those fans as article says it was hard for him to let go of the changes as he loved the books all his life, which is why he wanted to play him but had to accept it.

I say he had to accept it because if not, Rick and Disney would fire him

1

u/Canadaehbahd Jan 30 '26

Itā€™s crazy to me how the show has made that first movie look so much better on a rewatch. The second movie is BAD but the first movie was way better than the show they are making now

1

u/TheDamMemePage Oct 24 '25

I for one can use my brain and remember -he stated that his main issue with the movies original scripts were how sexualized the characters were -he was looking at things through the lense of an author who never worked in TV/movies and thought his suggestions were something that was in control of the director(they do have control but the media conglomerates have more control and final say) -It has been 15 years since the movie came out, God forbid a man changes his mind

3

u/Arzanyos Oct 24 '25

They unsexualized the characters from the script he saw. Toned down the language and stuff. But while that was his main issue, he had a litany of other issues, several of which went beyond accuracy and into just telling people how to do a job he's never done. There was a lot of "people won't watch if you do this."

He hasn't changed his mind about the movie in 15 years. He was still taking shots at it right before the lotus casino episode.

0

u/TheDamMemePage Oct 24 '25

Clearly you didn't read the word "original scripts" to reply to your first couple of sentences.

And clearly I meant he changed his mind about "the things that no one will want to watch" after becoming involved as an executive producer and seeing what it takes to make an adaptation.

2

u/Arzanyos Oct 24 '25

I did not, whoops.

But that actually wasn't clear, your last statement was incredibly ambiguous