Steven Universe: Steven And The Stevens Rewatch

January 30, 2015 4:41 AM - Season 1, Episode 22

On a mission Steven rescues a Gem artifact, an hourglass that allows him to travel in time, and create duplicates of himself in the process.
posted by JHarris (7 comments total)

• It's pretty much a throwaway episode continuity-wise. Most of the events get wiped out of existence due to time travel shenanigans.
• "What about this one here? It's adorbable."
• Pearl's awfully dismissive about the tiny hourglass. Seems uncharacteristic, is what I'm saying. In fact all the Gems are pretty off the mark on which hourglass is the magic one -- Pearl goes for grandness, Garnet bigness and Amethyst weirdness. All except, of course, Steven, giving us our premise.
• Moment to notice weird Gem architecture. C'mon now, air-filled underwater structures? Note, a later episode has Steven unable to accompany the elder Gems on a mission because it's really underwater and he needs air to breathe. Evidently the ancient Gems built this one for comfort.
• P: "How are you going to get that back to the warp pad?" G (cracking knuckles): "I can carry it!" The sound in her voice there -- she's having fun.
• P: "You remember what happened the last time we were here!" Apparently that was 100 years ago. Evidently this Gem site rebuilds itself, somehow, periodically. We don't know how this happens. We've encountered two prior bits of Gem construction magic. The Lunar Sea Spire was supposed to have been renewed once the statue was placed (but Steven forgot it). The Sand Pillow was a Gem construction artifact that had gone out of control. Whatever rebuilds this place, its magic remains intact. (Hey, why didn't they build the Sea Spire the same way?)
• Notice: after the events of Serious Steven where the kid got them all in trouble by touching something he shouldn't have, the Gems are trusting him not to do that here, and he doesn't! The kid does learn after all! Instead....
• AMETHYST MESSES IT UP THIS TIME. Of course the elder Gems can survive underwater, but getting crushed by the water flooding the chamber might not be so survivable even to Gems.
• Steven runs, the water gushes behind him, and he stops in surprise. Don't stop kid, run! Pearl nearly has a breakdown here. Garnet rescues Steven with a new trick: she shapeshifts her arm to grab him from far away.
• They warp back with a column of water. In Warp Tour though it seems that warping isn't instantaneous, so Steven had to have held his breath on the way back.
• Upon return: Pearl's draped with kelp (and has a lobster on her butt), Garnet has an octopus on her head, and Amethyst has a fish sticking out of her mouth -- which she eats. That's our Amethyst, g'huck!
• Pearl's hair doesn't hold its shape when wet. Garnet's, however, does.
• Steven's a busy kid. Mornings: exploring weird Gem places. Afternoons: practicing for a musical act. He knows how to fill his day. Going down the sidewalk he has a scooter; I think this is the only episode it appears in?
• At the car wash we see Onion and Sour Cream's dad Yellowtail for the second time. Another cool character design.
• Washing a boat in a car wash? Oh come on! Even if it fit, the machines inside have lower clearance than the entry! They didn't need Steven to tell them this was a bad idea is what I'm sayin'. (What's that you say? A kids show? Don't be so critical? Oh if you insist....)
• S: "Why does a boat need a car wash?" Yellowtail: (unintelligable) Well, cleared that right up.
• S: "You're bailing on Beachapalooza? But the whole town's gonna be there!" Greg: "Steven, that's like fifteen people." Ha ha, that's so funny I WAIT A MINUTE REALLY? That's not a Beach "City," it's not even a "town!" When we go there at the end, it turns out about that many people showed up. I assume it's not literally true, the parade Steven was in last year had more than that watching in extras alone. But overhead shots of Beach City (like the popular one with it behind the big Crystal Temple) don't actually show a lot of town there, just a few blocks. I've assumed that this is just one part of the city -- the fact that Steven and Connie couldn't just walk to the movies implies that, too. You are keeping notes on this stuff in your official star-embossed Steven Universe Obsessive's Notebook, aren't you?
• S: "Dad! Dad! It's fat! Fat fat fat!" Greg: "Rude!"
• Yellowtail, in addition to a boat, has a pickup truck. That's the fourth (land) in-motion motor vehicle seen on the show. The others are: Greg's Van, Jenny's pizzamobile and Dewey's campaign wagon. (Other cars have been seen as scenery, gotten damaged by Red Eye chunks and Shooty Robot blasts, thrown at Gems by Onion, etc.)
• So, why did the Gems want the time travel hourglass? To stop other people from maybe getting it? Does it have a range? Could one of them conceivably go back thousands of years with it? Did the ancient Gems (which, need I remind you, could include our modern day Gems) get into similar time travel messes as Steven? As we see with Amethyst, being a Gem doesn't necessarily mean you have any kind of great wisdom, or common sense, or....
• Two-minutes-ago Steven pieces together why there's another him very quickly, considering.
• The song: "Can't you see it in my eyes? I'm the one, I'm the one two three four!/ I'm not like the other guys. (He's not like anybody, well)/ That's not completely right, there's a few that I'm just like!/ Steven and the Stevens! We're gonna make you smile!/ Me, myself and I and him, we're all the same guy./ Steven and the Stevens! C'mon now don't be shy!/ Me, myself and I and him (that's me!), we're all the same guy."
• Think about this for a second. Here, Steven recruits three other hims for bandmates. At the end, he gets the Gems to help him. The fact that three people are needed to replace his one father seems odd until you remember, from Laser Light Cannon, Greg Universe toured the country as a one-man band. I wonder if we'll get to see him play multiple instruments at once in a later episode?
• "I can't believe it... I'm so annoying!" Self-realization can often be painful.
• The Stevens are rather quick to get into an argument with themselves. It seems funny here, sure, but at the end it's kind of grim....
• "I thought we agreed that Steven and the Stevens was gonna be a light-hearted throwback to early rock-and-roll!" Hey, that kid knows more about music than most youngin's. (What's that? A joke? Funny? Are you suggesting that Steven Universe is anything but a serious drama? Wow.)
• "Wait, who's playing drums?" "Amethyst said she'd do it!" NOT HELPING THERE PURPLE.
• Steven 1's idea to eliminate the others using time travel is kinda dark for the kid... although if they never existed, then it's not like they were killed, right? But later on when all the multiples get obliterated before (really-original) Steven's eyes, it doesn't seem that way....
• Things get crazy fast. Here are the places the Stevens go on their multiple jaunts through time: 1. to Steven coming back lamenting he couldn't prevent the boat getting stuck, 2. to the end of (the first episode) Gem Glow, by the grave of Cookie Cat, 3. Rose's Room (before real-Steven appears) 4. Rose's Room again, before the first set even leaves. Oh, and ONE MORE PLACE
• 5. not a lot is made of this, it's just used as a background, but this place had not been seen up to that point in series. It's like a desert, but there's a ship resting on the sand. Figure it out yet? THE STEVENS TIME TRAVELLED INTO THE FUTURE -- THIS IS THE SEA FLOOR FROM WHEN LAPIS LAZULI STEALS THE OCEAN. That's some pretty awesome foreshadowing....
• Gem reactions to the mayhem. Pearl and Garnet: mouth agape. Amethyst: counting. Okay Purple, yer forgiven. Steven: very confused.
• "Steven! Dad can't play Beachapalooza with you, the boat's fat, you gotta find another way! Stay cool forever, Steven!" (kiss on the cheek) "Arrivederci!" (disintegrates)
• At Beachapalooza: Kiki, Ronaldo, Sadie and Lars. Mayor Dewey is at the ticket table. A number of extras are in the audience though, no others from the regular cast. 13 audience members and 1 ticket taker. I guess that's "like 15 people."
• The song, revised: "Can't you see it in our eyes? We're the one, we're the one two three four!/ We're not like the other guys (we're not like anybody--)/ By the way, don't go back in time,/ or you'll destroy yourselves!/ Steven and the Crystal Gems, we're gonna make you smile!/ I accidentally created an alternate timeline! (Pearl looks worried...)/ Steven and the Crystal Gems, c'mon now don't be shy!/ I learned to stay true to myself by watching myself die...."

posted by JHarris at 5:04 AM on January 30, 2015

Love this episode, especially the song. "I'm the one two three four!"

I also liked the metal version. "Steven! Ste- Ste- Ste- Steven!"
posted by isthmus at 8:41 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

This is the last of the episodes I'm posting to FanFare, at least for now. Small Dollar is ably on the task of doing the weekly ones, and now we're all caught up with the older ones. If he ever drops out I might consider doing more, but am glad not to have to do so at the moment. I am considering rolling through with the "geeklists" of notes I've been doing for my posts, and have been updating older posts as I've discovered new things, but not at the rate of one every few days, especially since Last Week Tonight is resuming shortly.

Steven Universe, like Steven himself, is something special. Some people here had noticed that the fanbase on the internet is abuzz about the possibility that Cartoon Network might be thinking about ending the show. Apparently the major fuel for this rumor is the show's being taken to weekly instead of week-daily.

It's a mistake to read too much into the actions of network executives. Maybe it's an effort to preserve longevity, since viewers will get less burnt out on the show if their exposure to it is more limited. Maybe it's a recognition that Steven Universe is a different kind of show from others on the network -- there is strong continuity there, a more thoughtful approach to the storytelling than, say, Dexter's Laboratory, Grim Adventures or Codename: Kids Next Door (although one that won't be a surprise to anyone familiar with Adventure Time), and a strong backstory that's revealed slowly, while remaining funny and accessible.

But it's also a mistake to not to be wary. Fans of animation have been burnt before by Cartoon Network. A lot of fans were irked by their decision not to renew Sym-Bionic Titan, and several of other shows that seemed like sure things have been cancelled by the channel, like the reboots of He-Man and Thundercats. There has been a sense that the channel has been getting better though, and it's got to look nice for them to finally have a show with a female creator. SU being unique, it may not be easy for Cartoon Network to decide what to do with it. The show has already had its first season extended, and also been renewed for a second of 52 quarter-hours, and in a lineup that includes Adventure Time -- now in its sixth extended season -- it's not hard to see it being renewed again.

Without access to Garnet's future vision, fan clamoring and, of course, ratings are the only things we have to convince Cartoon Network to keep the show going. The show is really nice, and barring executive weirdness should rightfully have a long life.
posted by JHarris at 11:04 AM on January 30, 2015

I love the music in the show generally, but the song in this one is especially great. “I learned to stay true to myself by watching myself die.” Brilliant and hilarious.

JHarris: “Steven Universe, like Steven himself, is something special. Some people here had noticed that the fanbase on the internet is abuzz about the possibility that Cartoon Network might be thinking about ending the show. Apparently the major fuel for this rumor is the show's being taken to weekly instead of week-daily.”

I don't think this means to much. That's just how they do. They run a show in a two hour block for a while, then they put in another show. Over the summer they ran mostly Adventure Time and Regular Show. This winter it's been lots of Teen Titans Go and The Amazing World of Gumball. They've added in a few more Steven Universe episodes lately. It just comes in cycles.
posted by ob1quixote at 9:29 PM on February 5, 2015

"You're bailing on Beachapalooza? But the whole town's gonna be there!" Greg: "Steven, that's like fifteen people." Ha ha, that's so funny I WAIT A MINUTE REALLY? That's not a Beach "City," it's not even a "town!" When we go there at the end, it turns out about that many people showed up. I assume it's not literally true, the parade Steven was in last year had more than that watching in extras alone. But overhead shots of Beach City (like the popular one with it behind the big Crystal Temple) don't actually show a lot of town there, just a few blocks. I've assumed that this is just one part of the city -- the fact that Steven and Connie couldn't just walk to the movies implies that, too. You are keeping notes on this stuff in your official star-embossed Steven Universe Obsessive's Notebook, aren't you?

I know Beach City is supposed to be on the Delmarva Peninsula, but to me, it's an alternate universe version of Seaside Heights, on the Jersey Shore. Seaside Heights has a couple thousand people who live there year-round, not just 15, but it really is a boardwalk, an amusement park, and not much else. In the summer, it's full of beachgoers, but the rest of the year, there's not a whole lot going on. When Steven, Connie, and Lion go to the movies, I imagine that they're leaving the shore town of Beach City and going to the adjacent town on the mainland (just like folks in Seaside Heights would have to go to Toms River to get to the nearest movie theater, or proper grocery store for that matter). Or maybe Beach City includes both the shore and the mainland, but it's only the shore part that we see on the show.
posted by ocherdraco at 2:14 PM on May 22, 2015 [4 favorites]

So much to enjoy in this episode. Bill & Ted time travel shenanigans done right, this is what I imagine Doctor Who's Time War looked like, but with more sink plungers. The raucous rock Steven song is great, that's my new ringtone sorted. I loved the way that Steven kissed himself goodbye, like one would with any other close (closest!) family member. Amethyst embracing whatever seems most fun and taking over on drums was spot-on. That part gave me serious Scott Pilgrim vibes, imagine:

Lead Steven: "Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, we are Steven and The Stevens!"
Heckler: "Is that Amethyst a Steven too?"
Lead Steven: "YES!"
posted by comealongpole at 1:46 PM on August 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm assuming there's fanfic somewhere of all the time-traveling Stevens creating a mega-Steven fusion.
posted by duffell at 10:28 AM on August 3, 2017