Steven Universe: Joy Ride
March 27, 2015 12:26 PM - Season 1, Episode 52 - Subscribe
Steven goes for a ride with the cool kids.
By singing the themesong softly while watching dead air.
Also r/stevenuniverse surfaces cool fan-art from Tumblr, and it turns over basically daily.
posted by books for weapons at 6:57 PM on March 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
Also r/stevenuniverse surfaces cool fan-art from Tumblr, and it turns over basically daily.
posted by books for weapons at 6:57 PM on March 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
I had a lot of things typed up but then Firefox crashed and I LOST IT AAAALL, heh. Well, here's some of it:
- The cool kids really are cool! I like how the show toys with them being like the jerk teens you see in a lot of media, but also being decent people too. I think Sour Cream is my favorite. It's confirmed that he's Yellowtail's stepson, and there's friction between him and dad. Is he bilingual? All the teens are great though. My favorite thing about the episode is how much they love the little guy. They're so readily accepting of him and his weird life. It seems like they have prior knowledge of the Gems and the kinds of stuff they do generally. Well Jenny would, from Beach Party. Maybe she told the others?
- The way Steven lifts Jenny up seems to indicate that his gem strength is coming into its own in casual situations.
- Jenny says "I got bunny stickers" and Steven's brain turns off. He really should pick a better password.
- "Just let him be a D.J.!"
- It looks like the heavy weights of Maximum Capacity and Rose's Scabbard are not forgotten. This is the first time we've seen Steven actually admit out loud that he kind of is Rose Quartz.
- The teens and Steven having fun with the pod, the whole sequence is so much fun. It's the kind of thing we'd see earlier in the series, and I'm glad to see he can still have fun after his harrowing encounter.
- The liquid in the pod, oddly, Steven can breathe. But why should this liquid be breathable at all, gems don't need air.
- The Gems show up amazingly fast after the flare goes up. There must be a warp pad nearby.
- Jenny is the star of this episode, the way she fearlessly interposes herself between the GREAT FIST OF GARNET and the pod.
- "He did save us from space jail." Steven's ungrounded! Hooray!
- In the photos at the end, the first shot is brilliant, putting each of the Gems alongside a teen she's a lot like: Garnet next to stoic Buck (whose sunglasses are styled like Garnets just for this shot; did he have a spare pair?), Pearl with Sour Cream, both sensitive and tall, and the two wild children Amethyst and Jenny.
I've got another large roundup of Steven Universe fan comics and memes, scavenged from Tumblr, but am starting to think this might be worth a FPP. I've been planning a SU post for a long time and have also collected a pile of both Rebecca Sugar and Ian Jones-Quartey's student work to supplement. What do you guys think?
posted by JHarris at 10:00 PM on March 27, 2015 [4 favorites]
- The cool kids really are cool! I like how the show toys with them being like the jerk teens you see in a lot of media, but also being decent people too. I think Sour Cream is my favorite. It's confirmed that he's Yellowtail's stepson, and there's friction between him and dad. Is he bilingual? All the teens are great though. My favorite thing about the episode is how much they love the little guy. They're so readily accepting of him and his weird life. It seems like they have prior knowledge of the Gems and the kinds of stuff they do generally. Well Jenny would, from Beach Party. Maybe she told the others?
- The way Steven lifts Jenny up seems to indicate that his gem strength is coming into its own in casual situations.
- Jenny says "I got bunny stickers" and Steven's brain turns off. He really should pick a better password.
- "Just let him be a D.J.!"
- It looks like the heavy weights of Maximum Capacity and Rose's Scabbard are not forgotten. This is the first time we've seen Steven actually admit out loud that he kind of is Rose Quartz.
- The teens and Steven having fun with the pod, the whole sequence is so much fun. It's the kind of thing we'd see earlier in the series, and I'm glad to see he can still have fun after his harrowing encounter.
- The liquid in the pod, oddly, Steven can breathe. But why should this liquid be breathable at all, gems don't need air.
- The Gems show up amazingly fast after the flare goes up. There must be a warp pad nearby.
- Jenny is the star of this episode, the way she fearlessly interposes herself between the GREAT FIST OF GARNET and the pod.
- "He did save us from space jail." Steven's ungrounded! Hooray!
- In the photos at the end, the first shot is brilliant, putting each of the Gems alongside a teen she's a lot like: Garnet next to stoic Buck (whose sunglasses are styled like Garnets just for this shot; did he have a spare pair?), Pearl with Sour Cream, both sensitive and tall, and the two wild children Amethyst and Jenny.
I've got another large roundup of Steven Universe fan comics and memes, scavenged from Tumblr, but am starting to think this might be worth a FPP. I've been planning a SU post for a long time and have also collected a pile of both Rebecca Sugar and Ian Jones-Quartey's student work to supplement. What do you guys think?
posted by JHarris at 10:00 PM on March 27, 2015 [4 favorites]
"I only wanted to see you laughing...in the pizza rain." Oh my god I love this show.
Ugh, everything about it is so CHARMING and SWEET.
posted by yasaman at 10:57 PM on March 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
Ugh, everything about it is so CHARMING and SWEET.
posted by yasaman at 10:57 PM on March 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
"I think they kind of blame me for my mom not being around."
Most heartbreaking line of the entire series. I really hope Steven gets to talk that out with the Gems sometime soon, because that's not a thought the little guy should have to carry with him.
Also, now that the first season's over, I like the idea of a roundup post on the main site. I think there's enough there, especially in terms of the cultural context of the show, to discuss.
posted by Wandering Idiot at 11:18 PM on March 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
Most heartbreaking line of the entire series. I really hope Steven gets to talk that out with the Gems sometime soon, because that's not a thought the little guy should have to carry with him.
Also, now that the first season's over, I like the idea of a roundup post on the main site. I think there's enough there, especially in terms of the cultural context of the show, to discuss.
posted by Wandering Idiot at 11:18 PM on March 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
JHarris, if an FPP can get more thoughtful mefites to come over to these threads and talk about SU then I'm all for it! I hope you include some stuff about the music of the show because not talking about it is like discounting an entire main character.
"You're your own mom, you can do whatever you want!" I just love that that is what they make of the weird and scary things Steven told the cool kids.
I liked the Yellow Diamond distress flare pattern that Steven accidentally set off. I'm sure Peridot saw it too - and it seems like she's probably nearby if that really was her escape pod. I wonder about the weird liquid too, but are we sure Gems don't need to breathe? Wasn't there something about that in the episode with the teleport pad shenanigans? Even if they don't, they are still subject to force. And if I recall my scifi, the whole liquid air thing has to do with force-absorption for high speed travel. I have no doubt that that pod was capable of escaping orbit.
posted by Mizu at 12:46 AM on March 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
"You're your own mom, you can do whatever you want!" I just love that that is what they make of the weird and scary things Steven told the cool kids.
I liked the Yellow Diamond distress flare pattern that Steven accidentally set off. I'm sure Peridot saw it too - and it seems like she's probably nearby if that really was her escape pod. I wonder about the weird liquid too, but are we sure Gems don't need to breathe? Wasn't there something about that in the episode with the teleport pad shenanigans? Even if they don't, they are still subject to force. And if I recall my scifi, the whole liquid air thing has to do with force-absorption for high speed travel. I have no doubt that that pod was capable of escaping orbit.
posted by Mizu at 12:46 AM on March 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
JHarris, go for it! 'Alone Together' itself practically has enough content to be worthy of a cool discussion, let alone the everything else.
I was surprised by how... aware Steven was of how the Gems might feel about him. Some of the best bits about their relationship has been how touching it gets when it goes beyond 'older sisters / younger brother' dynamic, like in 'The Test'. Seeing the Gems struggle and seeing Steven see them struggle is really interesting. He must have been processing it all along but to see him vocalise it in this episode... man.
It was also nice to see the cool teens deal with it so well. Not freak out at the weird magical side of things (if they even understand it; only Greg seems to have a decent idea of Gem business but he mostly takes it in his stride) but to offer sincere condolences . They saw Steven's problems as heavy but on the same spectrum as theirs. It was sweet. Good to see cool rambunctious teens with good hearts.
posted by ocular shenanigans at 1:20 PM on March 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was surprised by how... aware Steven was of how the Gems might feel about him. Some of the best bits about their relationship has been how touching it gets when it goes beyond 'older sisters / younger brother' dynamic, like in 'The Test'. Seeing the Gems struggle and seeing Steven see them struggle is really interesting. He must have been processing it all along but to see him vocalise it in this episode... man.
It was also nice to see the cool teens deal with it so well. Not freak out at the weird magical side of things (if they even understand it; only Greg seems to have a decent idea of Gem business but he mostly takes it in his stride) but to offer sincere condolences . They saw Steven's problems as heavy but on the same spectrum as theirs. It was sweet. Good to see cool rambunctious teens with good hearts.
posted by ocular shenanigans at 1:20 PM on March 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think one of the most interesting things of the show is the unfolding Rose/Steven arc. Rose was a prime nurturing spirit, practically a literal fertility goddess that loved to nuture life in general and her small band of Crystal Gems in particular, and in turn they relied heavily on her leadership and love. Then she inexplicably decides to sacrifice herself to create an entirely new being, and the Crystal Gems decide it is now their responsibility to nurture this new life the way Rose Quartz nurtured them. Instead, it's becoming apparent that the Crystal Gems are ultimately not up to the task of nurturing him, and he seems destined to assume the role of the nurturing heart of the Crystal Gems.
Also, given the two storylines heavily featuring the Cool Kids have both involved them poking around in Gem-related locations I feel like poking around weird Gem nonsense is a standard teen activity in this world, at least in the Gem-heavy Delmarva area. I suspect there's something about the Gem temple that attracts Gem nonsense, to better protect the earth from their legacy.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 10:39 PM on March 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
Also, given the two storylines heavily featuring the Cool Kids have both involved them poking around in Gem-related locations I feel like poking around weird Gem nonsense is a standard teen activity in this world, at least in the Gem-heavy Delmarva area. I suspect there's something about the Gem temple that attracts Gem nonsense, to better protect the earth from their legacy.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 10:39 PM on March 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
Guys guys guys. Tomorrow's episode is going to be awesome.
posted by JHarris at 3:46 PM on April 1, 2015
posted by JHarris at 3:46 PM on April 1, 2015
The breathable liquid inside the pod is pure NGE, err, LCL.
posted by comealongpole at 11:03 AM on August 25, 2016
posted by comealongpole at 11:03 AM on August 25, 2016
Something I love about the cool kids is that they show off the reality of peer pressure, which is that it's more likely to come from nice people having fun than from assholes in a dark alley insisting you take a puff off their funny cigarette. And the cool kids don't stop being nice and pretty great, actually, but they should listen to what Steven is trying to tell them more.
posted by Navelgazer at 4:07 PM on July 11, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Navelgazer at 4:07 PM on July 11, 2019 [1 favorite]
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I am having difficulty adapting to this 11 minutes a week bullshit after mainlining the first seasons(s) in about four days. How do you people survive this?
posted by restless_nomad at 5:55 PM on March 27, 2015 [2 favorites]