#i think about this and the pjo adaptation and christ

[elderwisp]

The Netflix adaptation of ATLA kali-ma’d the heart and soul of the animated series then slapped a pretty picture over it and called it good

I adore the casting choices and stylistically, it’s beautifully shot (I love the bending) but man, I really wish the storyline felt stronger

Anyways I might go rewatch the animated series so I can ugly sob over Zuko’s final fight with Azula

[paper-nihilist]

i’m starting to think that no pjo adaptation will ever be good enough for this fandom.

i’ve seen people complaining that the show “lost the meaning” of the series. the series that retold greek mythology by changing and adapting it to modern situations now can’t handle having its own author change stuff to tell a story in a shorter amount of time and in a better way.

there is simply no way that any pjo adaptation can include everything from the book; that’s the nature of adaptations. i was bummed that disney decided to go with only eight episodes, but that seems standard for disney’s originals; it’s not them just targeting pjo. so, they had to cut stuff, the same way that the movies, and the broadway musical, and the graphic novels all had to do. jesus christ, that’s why we have the original books in the first place, to have all the detail and nuance the show will never have the ability to touch on.

but more importantly, the changes to the plot all make sense. the st. louis arch episode now foreshadows the ways that Athena treats Annabeth and all of her other kids in MoA. Poseidon actively saving Percy by reaching out with the water fixes a notorious plot hole AND adds depth to Poseidon’s character.

(I am writing this before ep 8 comes out so i have to admit i might be proven wrong about plot changes making the show better. grover loses one of the pearls in ep 7, which absolutely felt stupid and like a throw away plot point. Having posidon give percy four pearls is a change that adds depth to Poseidon, but it makes sense that a pearl had to be lost somehow. it just seems rushed in how they lost it. i’m hoping that they follow through and do something with that set up in ep 8, in which case, the rushed aspect of the set up could be forgiven. but if the show runners don’t do that, rip me)

Also i can write a whole separate thing about sally jackson but every change and addition to her character makes sense and adds to percy’s background. for example, i think that percy being kept away from camp makes more sense with this sally and her stronger attitude against the gods’ way of doing things. i think people don’t like her because her additions take up run time, but i think that her scenes make the show more accessible to an older audience by making it relatable. pjo is suppose to be relatable for neurodivergent kids, so why shouldn’t it more heavily focus on the struggles that our parents make, especially considering the author is one. the show isn’t told in percy’s pov, and this allows for new perspectives to be explored that add to the overall meaning.

ultimately, does the show feel rushed in places? absolutely. i’d argue that some of that rushedness is from how many focuses the show wants to take. the show focuses much more heavily on the attitudes and motivations of the gods and how that effects their kids than anything else. the fun Quest Scenes necessarily take a backseat to setting up the rest of the series. the mattress store chapter should not take precedence over Sally struggling with parenting a neurodivergent child. i think one of those adds more in the limited run time of the show.

in a dream world, the pjo series would be 24 episodes per season and pay homage to every detail possible. but that’s never going to happen and this disney plus show is already more than any of us ever expected and is a really good show in its own rights. it first and foremost focuses on how Being Different is good and challenging existing unfair systems is good and i think that is the spirit of pjo. the book was not a well thought out masterpiece and changing plot points to save time or to more explicitly show themes should be applauded. yall will just never be happy.