And two episodes scheduled in February after the Stevenbomb:
“The New Crystal Gems” on Feburary 16
“Storm in the Room” on Feburary 23
I’m surprised no one commented on it yet, but last Stevenbomb 5 dropped last week. Titled “Out of This World”, it’s a five episode event that’s the tightest-plotted Stevenbomb yet, as the episodes create a five-part story. The first episode is the set-up, the second is the journey to their destination, and the next three are the resolution leading to a highly-satisfying conclusion.
“Out of This World” featured a LOT of stuff that I had hoped to see: Steven visits a foreign country (Korea), speaking parts for Blue Diamond and Blue Pearl, the Crystal Gems firing up the Ruby ship and going off into space (with cameos from Army, Navy, and Doc), Yellow Diamond’s anticipated song (with Yellow Pearl and Blue Pearl), and a whole bunch of new characters both Gem and Human. We get a cathartic moment for Steven when he realizes that his rush to get into space to rescue Greg (without bothering to listen to Peridot’s warning about the Gravity Engine) might doom everyone, Amethyst at last meets other Amethysts and is accepted by them, and Pearl gets one of her best moments in the series when she gives Holly Blue Agate (hisss!) her comeuppance at the end of the arc.
Memorable moments from this Steven Bomb:
-Angry Steven! He’s never gotten this angry at Pearl and Garnet.
-Salty Pearl after Holly Blue treats her like a dimwitted servant.
-Palan-KEEN. I’ve actually always thought it was Palan-KWIN.
-“Why doesn’t Peridot tell us anything? This is why we don’t listen to her!”
-The Crystal Gems have gotten a little better act acting and lying, but only succeed because -Holly Blue is so oblivious
-Sapphire winking, and Steven and Pearl not getting it initially.
-“Shoulders squared! Minds cleared! Backs straight!”". Holly Blue’s like a PE teacher at a school for delinquent girls…
-“There’s always a catch to these Utopias.” Greg seemed pretty chill with the Zoo until the Choosening.
-“Famethyst for Life”. Really want to see them again.
-Kudos to Deedee Magno Hall and Michaela Dietz for playing so many roles.
-This was only Greg’s third wildest weekend?
-I guess Greg lost his spiffy new watch in space.
Same…this is the second thing I have learned because of SU (the other being that amethyst and jasper are types of quartz).
The Choosening cracked me up, until Greg’s rejection made all the Zoomans sad. This show is so good at turning on an emotional dime. (Also, I called them Zoomans immediately before Greg did, so that made me laugh even more.)
The problem with these episodes having been leaked …
Very well done bomb.
So who exactly was the cartoonist drawing Greg in Korea?
The best part of that sequence was the Amethysts trying to console the distraught Zoomans.
“I’ll never choosen again!”
“Sure you will.”
Also, Cartoon Network has put Steven Universe back on weekly schedule, with episodes scheduled for the next four weeks. They’ve also moved Steven Universe to FRIDAY, with the first episode schedule to air TOMORROW (Feb 10th).
Scheduled episodes are:
-The New Crystal Gems
-Storm in the Room
-Rocknaldo
-Tiger Philantrhopist
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The temple entrance is also where Rose’s gem would be.
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Yep. Steven spent a lot of time from the Summer of Steven on healing rifts and solving problems for the people of Beach City and he has about a 100% approval rating. I’m thinking Steven (or Stevonnie) and the human cast will fuse into a giant fleshy Voltron and hopefully punch Yellow Diamond in the face.
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Did you see Three Gems and a Baby, where Greg, wrapped in a light blue blanket, holds Baby Steven and The Three Wise Gems bring Baby Steven gifts?
Running behind on these. When I read the one line preview episode description, I pretty much predicted that “The New Crystal Gems” would feature Peridot pushily taking charge because Connie is deferential to Gems and Lapis is indifferent, but this would lead to conflict and/or disaster before they make up and resolve.
Surprisingly, a lot of the fandom hated this episode, mostly because of how Lapis was characterized, but I liked it a lot. I’m willing to cut the staff some slack on bending characterizations for the sake of comedy/parody, as they have made it clear they are making a cartoon and will go off plot or characterization for the sake of humor. Also, I, for one, don’t expect every appearance of a character over a long series to be part of a progressing arc of character development. I also don’t expect every appearance of a character with a traumatic past to be about dealing with the trauma.
Addressing some specific complaints the fandom has had about this episode:
-Lapis being callous towards Connie: I wouldn’t consider them as actually having “met” in Ocean Gem, as Lapis was technically miles away on top of a column of water. Lapis is famously aloof towards towards others and hostile towards those she sees as invading her space. I can also see her being frosty towards other friends of Steven. She’s willing to share him with Peridot ad his family (The Crystal Gems & Greg) but she seems to see Steven as HER true, special friend. I took “I almost drowned a lot of people” as one of Lapis’ off-putting jokes rather than a callous statement.
-Lapis and Peridot fighting: Just because they have been shown getting along well doesn’t mean they will always get along. I got along well with my sister growing up, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have spats. Even in “Beta/Earthlings”, I thought Lapis was partially humoring Peridot.
-Lapis is aloof! She would never act silly!: I would say that because she is so aloof is why she got carried away once she lowered her inhibitions.
I thought this was the funniest episode since “Restaurant Wars” or even “Hit The Diamond”
Highlights:
-“There is no Amethyst, only Garnet.”
-Connie is Steven’s third best firend
-Peridot’s horror at being compared to Pearl.
-Everything Pumpkin does.
-Connie calling them out as superpowered children.
-Lapis’ Amethyst impression
-“She didn’t even cry.”
-Peridot’s metal bending has come a long way.
-Peridot not realizing that being called bossy is not a compiiment.
“The New Crystal Gems” was a lightweight comedic reprieve. Peridot in toilet bowl was cute. But it was the fluff tension reliever after the major arc building bomb.
And tension release fluff was needed before moving into the moody psychological set piece of “Storm in the Room”. Rose in the room … is how Steven thinks of his mother in all of its conflicted confusion … but since, as Rose in the room pointed out, she (her gem, her essence) is within him, Rose in the room is perhaps somewhat more than that?
Aand another filler ep, this one without much merit on its own. Maybe setting up something for the future?
Been a while since I’ve updated the thread, so I’m not going to give a complete overview of the last several episodes. I will note that the first four episodes after the “Out of This World” Stevenbomb (“The New Crystal Gems”, “Storm In The Room”, “Rocknaldo”, and “Tiger Philanthropist”), despite seeming a disconnected lot, are all very meta.
-“The New Crystal Gems” is an entire episode about Peridot, Lapis, and Connie pretending to be the Crystal Gems and and trying to act like how they think Garnet, Amethyst, and Steven would act. The bonus is that Shelby “Peridot” Rabara initially auditioned to play Garnet and Jennifer “Lapis Lazuli” Paz originally auditioned to play Amethyst.
-“Storm In The Room” is meta in the sense that the room creates Stevens perception of something, not what it actually is. It originally created a Rose Quartz that was almost a pastiche of what Steven believed a mother should be (and off-model to boot). Only after Steven tells Rose she’s not his mother does the room provide any insight ( and is on-model after the storm), although that comes from Steven himself.
-“Rocknaldo” was partially a commentary on toxic fandom, with Ronaldo insisting that he is more of a Crystal Gem than Steven as a commentary on fans who insist they understand a work more than creators.
-“Tiger Philanthropist” is a gentler commentary on fandom, with Lars standing in for the fan who doesn’t know what he really wants, but whatever you got, he’s against it.
You forgot “Room for Ruby”, in which we discover that just because Rubies are dumb doesn’t mean they’re stupid.
And brings up the question, “how do gems steer in space?”, since they seem to be able to target locations on earth very precisely without the help of a spaceship.
Didn’t forget about it, but it didn’t really fit in with the other four episodes as meta. I’m torn about this episode, as Steven could really have used a victory in recruiting a new Crystal Gem after his failures. However, while Navy is a cutie-patootie, she would be very grating as a regular character.
I wonder if Navy was lying about everything. Did she really like playing baseball? Was she really impressed by rain?
Of course, this episode has implications far beyond the events of this episode. Assuming Navy can find the rest of her squad and report back to homeworld, the Diamonds will soon find out that a) There are still Crystal Gems on Earth b) Exactly where they are on Earth and c) Steven has Rose Quartz’ gem.
For all we know, navy could have been aiming for the barn and hit the beach. Actually, I suspect that gems have a sort of internal navigation ability. Gems already have a lot of latent sensory abilities, such as sensing gravity and the sensory input they would need for shapeshifting.
Which was creepier?
Eyeball’s leering expression when she said she was going to get her own Pearl OR
Navy’s expression when she explains her ruse to Steven.
Well, “Lion 4: Alternate Ending” was supposed to air this week, but Cartoon Network pulled it and put Steven Universe back on hiatus. CN probably has an important Teen Titans Go marathon to air.
Cartoon Network has alos expressed concern about Steven Universe’s declining ratings, which I’m sure have nothing to do with the constant scheduling jerk-around the show gets
“Look there’s a new Stephen Universe in the DVR! When did that show up?” isn’t doing their Live+3 rating any favors.
Yes, yet another episode has been leaked in its entirety. “Lion 4: Alternate Ending”, which doesn’t even have an airdate scheduled yet, is up on Youtube.
Meanwhile, the show’s ratings have been dropping like a rock, enough that Cartoon Network is very concerned and people are starting to worry about cancellation.
Gee, you think that between the constant episode leaks, constant long hiatuses followed by bombs, and constant screwing with the scheduling (My recent favorite is arbitrarily pushing back “Room for Ruby” by half-an-hour to show more Teen Titans Go! reruns. Cuz Cartoon Network just doesn’t show enough Teen Titans Go!) could have something to do with the ratings?
Yes, we have yet another Steven Bomb on the horizon, starting on May 15.
Here are the dates, episode titles, and summaries:
“Lion 4: Alternate Ending” - (5/15/2017)
“Doug Out” - (5/16/2017) - Steven and Connie join Connie’s father on a stake out.
“The Good Lars” - (5/17/2017) - Steven, Lars and Sadie get invited to a party with the Cool Kids.
“Are You My Dad?” - (5/18/2017) - People disappearing from Beach City, and Steven tries to solve the mystery.
“I Am My Mom” - (5/19/2017) - Steven struggles to fix his mistakes.