By Sasha Moedt (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: July 2, 2014
I am at a stage where I have to be coaxed into watching new TV shows — especially cartoons. I don’t like the idea that I could be wasting my time staring at something I end up hating. I have the same problem with films.
It took two things to convince me to start watching Steven Universe: the creator of the show, Rebecca Sugar, was Cartoon Network’s first solo female creator, and was a former storyboard artist, writer, and composer for the cartoon that started it all for me, Adventure Time.
Steven Universe is about a boy who lives in Beach City with the powerful Crystal Gems — Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, who are intergalactic female warriors. The Crystal Gems summon their power from gem stones embedded in their bodies.
Steven also has a gem, but has no idea how to use it. He inherited it from his mother, Rose Quartz, who died before Steven knew her. Besides that, Steven is an average boy. He likes playing video games, eating doughnuts, and going on adventures to save the world with the Crystal Gems.
One thing that I love about Steven Universe that carried over from Adventure Time is the amount of downtime given to the characters. Steven is just a kid. He lolls around and does nothing, just like any other kid. The episodes are only 11 minutes long, but the pacing isn’t the constant bam-bam-bam of a lot of other cartoons.
The episodes are clever. There is a constant dichotomy between the Crystal Gems’ battles in other realms — and in Beach City — with evil, and Steven’s mundane world. For example, when Steven stumbles across a dark, powerful tool that can only be used for one power, Steven uses it for really good witty comebacks.
The Crystal Gems love Steven like a family, and watching these goddess-like figures get sucked into Steven’s problems — problems that a 10-year-old boy would have — is funny. Steven’s father is an irresponsible beach bum who drifts in and out of Steven’s life. He tends to mess things up more than help, but he can throw a great beach barbeque, and Steven doesn’t notice the incompetence. Steven has no mother or father figure — the Crystal Gems are more like friend guardians — but he gets along just fine. When Steven gets lonely, there is always an adventure in a dangerous universe to go on. School doesn’t seem to exist, as it’s apparently perpetually summer in Beach City. That fact makes it the perfect summer show.
Steven Universe’s first season began in November 2013, and ended this spring with 26 episodes under its belt. It is renewed for a second season.
Steven Universe is well worth watching. Its animation is very cartoonish, but the content is worthy of any university student, especially during the summer. Give it a watch on a rainy day!
