La Ron S. Readus
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Why I'm Excited for a Percy Jackson TV Show (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2020-05-18 20:05:59 +0000 UTC
Readers, just because I took a few days off from the channel to get some writing and relaxation done doesn’t mean I was completely out of the loop regarding certain things that happened
I know about Robert Pattinson and his active rebellion against his personal trailer for The Batman
I know about everyone getting excited about the complete series of Avatar The Last Airbender hitting Netflix this past weekend, more than likely as a partial result of the deal Netflix and Nickelodeon recently made with each other.
And I also know about the news regarding Rick Riordan; Percy Jackson author and herald of the Demigod Universe.
Demi...Demigod-iverse? Demi-universe? Camp Half-Blood-iverse? (Pause) NO, I’M NOT JUST CALLING IT THE PERCY JACKSON UNIVERSE AND CALL IT A DAY, BECAUSE THAT’S BORING!
/Anyways, after a lot of talks with them, it was recently announced that Percy Jackson was picked up and is going to be rebooted on screen in the form of a live-action series for Disney+/
Well, I can’t really say “picked up” like they won the film and television rights for the franchise.
After all, the publisher of the Camp Half-Blood universe is owned by Disney...
And the studio that adapted the first two Percy Jackson and the Olympians books into live-action movies...is now owned by Disney...
So I guess it’s more along the lines of “Disney is focusing on this IP that they had for a while in order to make exclusive content for their streaming service, but didn’t immediately work on because how the studio they acquired it from previously handled it was too fresh on people’s minds for it to be profitable.”
Which, let’s just face it, is TOTALLY not gonna happen with another property THEY’RE gonna adapt for the first time... (Artemis Fowl Poster)
So while there are a lot of reasons as to why I’m personally excited for this series to happen, there are 3 that matter to me the most
And the number three reason -- but still very important -- is that not only is the series going to cover the original “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” books, but season 1 is only gonna be about the retelling of The Lightning Thief.
I’m personally a HUGE fan of this method when it comes to adapting book series into television. Especially if the books IN said series are big enough or have enough content in them to properly adapt into an appropriate amount of episodes for a singular season.
/I can only say it about the first season and the first book -- mostly because I’ve only READ the first book and seen the first season in its entirety -- but that practice was one of the main things I appreciated about season 1 of Game of Thrones/
I already believe that television is a better medium when it comes to adapting longer forms of fiction to live-action...
...Mostly because it allows studios and showrunners the opportunity to display portions of the book that wouldn’t make the final cut if they weren’t allowed a 3 and a half-hour runtime, or a 350 million dollar budget to tell it in one singular movie.
/So considering how big The Lightning Thief is -- not to mention the other four installments of Percy Jackson and the Olympians -- and considering how they were able to make The Mandalorian work as well as it did -- both in effects and cinematography -- this first season of Percy Jackson could be as long as The Mandalorian’s first season. Maybe add 1 or 2 more episodes./
Of course, that level of quality all depends on who they get to show-run the series and who they get to write and direct the episodes, which leads to my second reason why I’m excited this show is happening the way that it is.
/And that’s because Rick and his wife Becky are going to be involved in every aspect of the show./
That involves overlooking and approving the scripts, finding a proper showrunner, having a say in the casting, everything
Now a lot of you may not know this, but Rick Riordan didn’t really have that big of a say when 20th Century Fox adapted The Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters
This is pretty common when it comes to movie studios acquiring the film and television rights to properties based on books
Not every author is going to have a say in how things are handled if their work is gonna be made into a film or tv show, unless certain things are either arranged in the contract when the studio is in the midst of buying the rights...
...or talks are had before an agreement can be made like the ones Riordan had with Disney for this show.
/A perfect example is Stephen King’s depiction of The Shining versus Stanley Kubrick’s version of The Shining. It’s VASTLY different from King’s original, whether or not you prefer it/
Then you have instances like the second Fantastic Beasts movie, where it was 100% written by JK Rowling and was just...Mmm...
Then again, there are always gonna be instances in which the movie or tv series in question BENEFITS from having the author involved in the production.
/Like George R.R. Martin in the early days of Game of Thrones, for example./
It’s pretty much a gamble deciding whether or not it's worth it to involve the author in any aspect of the production of an adaptation of their work.
However after reading it and his other works, in the case of Rick Riordan’s Lightning Thief versus how 20th Century Fox adapted Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters, I’m kinda on Team Riordan here when it comes to this Disney+ show.
I’m absolutely confident that he’s gonna bring everything to the table as far as making this series as fun, entertaining and faithful to his original works and universe as possible.
While at the same time making sure the writing team for the show is filled with the same diverse faces and voices he’s helped promote since creating his Camp Half-Blood Universe
Because the way Rick Riordan has utilized his privilege over the years since Percy Jackson and the Olympians to amplify the voices of marginalized minority YA fantasy authors is the number 1 reason why I’m excited that this show is happening the way that it is.
Rick Riordan is one out of a small handful of non-problematic white YA fantasy authors out there. Hell, maybe in all of fiction.
We can’t say the same thing about JK Rowling. We SURE as Hell can’t say the same thing about Orson Scott Card
/But Rick Riordan has been constant in helping boost up YA authors of color to tell stories based on their religions and mythologies through his label Rick Riordan Presents that would be a complete injustice if he attempted to write them himself./
And if he’s willing to do this for authors, I have no doubt he’s gonna be willing to do this for the writers, directors, and actors that are brought on board for his Percy Jackson series, and I can’t wait to see that amalgamation of creativity on Disney+.
But, I digress, Readers; your homework assignment for the day.
Write in the comment section below why YOU’RE excited for the recently announced live-action Percy Jackson television series
Or if you feel like sharing with the rest of the class, what YOU think the name of the Percy Jackson Universe is. And no, you cannot use “The Percy Jackson Universe” as your answer; that’s cheating
Nevertheless, I’d LOVE to know your thoughts.
