This Wednesday the Percy Jackson and The Olympians released on Disney plus and it is very much worth a watch. It’s a show directed by Johnathon E. Steinburg who is most known for directing Old Man and he has help from Rick Riordan the creator of the Percy Jackson and many other mythological series who not only gave him good faith with the production but also gave some of his own input on how the books should be adapted. If you’re going in expecting it to be similar to movies you’ll be glad to hear that so far it’s a much better experience compared to the movie.
The story in the first episode is very intriguing if you have not read the book but it also still great to watch if you have read the books since they still make the build up to Percy being an half blood perfectly with a lot of unexplainable things happening in the beginning of the episode like the Pegasus showing up on the roof or the furie pre algebra teacher which they made look actually weird to look at in a good way and not in a bad CGI way and the fight scene at the end against the Minotaur was hard to see at times but thanks to the constant lighting strikes it made the most important parts of the fight visible and really cinematic.
The story in the second episode also has another great buildup to revealing that Percy Jackson is the son of Poseidon and it has a great fight between Percy and Clarisse and her goons on the beach that feels exciting and tense. Another great thing about this episode is the giving of the quest that will be taking up most of the show’s first season which doesn’t just have the risk of failure causing a war between Zeus and Poseidon but also Percy losing his mom to hades. Also the introduction of Luke feels perfect for the character with him immediately telling him he’s sorry for what happened to his mom and also helps set up Luke’s more impactful and emotional moments later on with him explaining to Percy his backstory.
The CGI looks very good with the Minotaur and other mythical creatures looking out of place not due to the bad CGI but them looking so mythical and otherworldly. Also Chiron looks very naturally connected to his lower horse half causing it to not look as off as it could have been. But the transitions to other scenes are kind of weird with everything just going black for a few seconds which just seems like an odd decision to make multiple times. Although this show is great to watch so far if your a fan or a newcomer and lets just hope it stays this good.
