Steven Universe: Historical Friction
July 16, 2015 5:12 PM - Season 2, Episode 17 - Subscribe
Jamie and Steven put on a play about the founding of Beach City.
Also: I can't wait to see people do cosplay of the play versions of the Gems.
posted by ocherdraco at 5:25 PM on July 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by ocherdraco at 5:25 PM on July 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's good to have confirmation that a town settled right next to the crystal temple because humans are stupid. It's always low-level bothered me that people would settle on such a tiny peninsula with no visible source of fresh water, now we know. Curious that Beach City has a plymouthesque origin story and yet has zero historic sites and remains a sleepy New England beach town. I'm sure crystal monsters are responsible for the lack of any historic buildings, and I sort of feel like they've also discouraged any expensive resorts from encroaching. You'd think a massive ancient temple predating human civilization would be a tourist attraction, but humanity seems so blasé about gem artifacts it seems almost magical.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:41 PM on July 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:41 PM on July 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's kinda weird that there weren't any Native Americans there, right?
posted by Small Dollar at 6:01 PM on July 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Small Dollar at 6:01 PM on July 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
also it's said the play is set 200 years in the past, putting it sometime around 1800. Since this is well after the era of intrepid colonists sailing to the new world I'm going with the idea that founder Dewey was exiled from an American city and sailed along the coast to find a new home. This doesn't really fit the facts, but it makes the months at sea with no sign of land extra funny.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:12 PM on July 16, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:12 PM on July 16, 2015 [10 favorites]
Were they saved by the Temple Fusion? Did they build her a temple in gratitude? Not unless they had a team of talented sculptors on board. Which..who knows?
ACTING! (high five)
Possibly the Native Americans had left after centuries of Gem warfare/monsters? The Gems did try to warn off Dewey.
The monster looked a lot like Centepeedle. Maybe they hadn't figured out how to bubble it yet.
Pearl: a smidge of redemption, doing something right? Also, yelling out "THERE HE IS!!" like an overexcited mom. Poor Pearl.
Did Mayor Dewey's ancestor ALSO have a crush on Pearl? I would like to think so.
Jamie gets his dream; director of a community theater! I look forward to future productions.
posted by emjaybee at 6:28 PM on July 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
ACTING! (high five)
Possibly the Native Americans had left after centuries of Gem warfare/monsters? The Gems did try to warn off Dewey.
The monster looked a lot like Centepeedle. Maybe they hadn't figured out how to bubble it yet.
Pearl: a smidge of redemption, doing something right? Also, yelling out "THERE HE IS!!" like an overexcited mom. Poor Pearl.
Did Mayor Dewey's ancestor ALSO have a crush on Pearl? I would like to think so.
Jamie gets his dream; director of a community theater! I look forward to future productions.
posted by emjaybee at 6:28 PM on July 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
I loved Jamie's impression of Pearl.
emjaybee: this promo suggests maybe yes?
posted by glass origami robot at 6:54 PM on July 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
emjaybee: this promo suggests maybe yes?
posted by glass origami robot at 6:54 PM on July 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
Since this is well after the era of intrepid colonists sailing to the new world I'm going with the idea that founder Dewey was exiled from an American city and sailed along the coast to find a new home.
I mean, do we really know that Beach City is in America? All we know is that whatever country it's in has states, and one of them is (maybe) called Keystone. Plenty of countries have states. It could be India.
I mean, it almost definitely isn't, but it could be!
posted by Itaxpica at 7:22 PM on July 16, 2015
I mean, do we really know that Beach City is in America? All we know is that whatever country it's in has states, and one of them is (maybe) called Keystone. Plenty of countries have states. It could be India.
I mean, it almost definitely isn't, but it could be!
posted by Itaxpica at 7:22 PM on July 16, 2015
From Ronaldo's blog (and things Rebecca Sugar has said in interviews) we know that Beach City is on the Delmarva Peninsula (you know, the one shared by DELaware, MARyland, and VirginiA). From the same sources, we know that in the show, Delmarva is a state (like Keystone!). So it's still the US, just an alternate one.
posted by ocherdraco at 7:49 PM on July 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ocherdraco at 7:49 PM on July 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
Were they saved by the Temple Fusion? Did they build her a temple in gratitude?
Jasper referred to the temple as the Gems' "base," which may mean it was around during the war, putting it at 5,000+ years old. And it has a sword accessory that fell off, and currently rests in the water off the coast a bit.
I think that the shape of a giant woman indicates gem architecture. Remember the homeworld ship was hand-shaped. Apparently big bodies or parts is a major theme with gems. We don't know yet if there's some important significance to that.
posted by JHarris at 12:09 AM on July 17, 2015
Jasper referred to the temple as the Gems' "base," which may mean it was around during the war, putting it at 5,000+ years old. And it has a sword accessory that fell off, and currently rests in the water off the coast a bit.
I think that the shape of a giant woman indicates gem architecture. Remember the homeworld ship was hand-shaped. Apparently big bodies or parts is a major theme with gems. We don't know yet if there's some important significance to that.
posted by JHarris at 12:09 AM on July 17, 2015
It might be a neato inversion: humans use rocks to make buildings, rocks make buildings in human shapes.
posted by Mizu at 1:53 AM on July 17, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Mizu at 1:53 AM on July 17, 2015 [5 favorites]
I think that the shape of a giant woman indicates gem architecture. Remember the homeworld ship was hand-shaped
My pet WILD THEORY has been that it's not just shared architectural design, it's actually the same technology. There are still plenty of mysteries to the temple. Maybe the temples are hubs/bases of some sort; the temple statue has plenty of hands, and I wonder if the hand ship was attached to a Homeworld temple, which it was launched from. We know the Crystal Gems' temple can't do that, but that may be because it's damaged or it's a newer Homeworld technology.
posted by Itaxpica at 6:37 AM on July 17, 2015
My pet WILD THEORY has been that it's not just shared architectural design, it's actually the same technology. There are still plenty of mysteries to the temple. Maybe the temples are hubs/bases of some sort; the temple statue has plenty of hands, and I wonder if the hand ship was attached to a Homeworld temple, which it was launched from. We know the Crystal Gems' temple can't do that, but that may be because it's damaged or it's a newer Homeworld technology.
posted by Itaxpica at 6:37 AM on July 17, 2015
Watching this one again....
When Steven walks in the house and says "Hey Pearl," it's weird to think that originally, "Pearl" was a designation more than a name. Of course there's only one Pearl on Earth so it's not ambiguous, here but back in the homeworld days, did they refer to Pearl with some other identifier? Or was she just "the Pearl," the one Rose had? In Friend Ship, Pearl bemoans that she's just a Pearl. Does Pearl still think of that name, of herself, like that?
posted by JHarris at 4:43 AM on July 19, 2015
When Steven walks in the house and says "Hey Pearl," it's weird to think that originally, "Pearl" was a designation more than a name. Of course there's only one Pearl on Earth so it's not ambiguous, here but back in the homeworld days, did they refer to Pearl with some other identifier? Or was she just "the Pearl," the one Rose had? In Friend Ship, Pearl bemoans that she's just a Pearl. Does Pearl still think of that name, of herself, like that?
posted by JHarris at 4:43 AM on July 19, 2015
Just rewatched this. Never noticed Nanafua patting Jamie's tush after getting his autograph. Amazing.
posted by duffell at 5:51 PM on September 10, 2017
posted by duffell at 5:51 PM on September 10, 2017
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posted by ocherdraco at 5:20 PM on July 16, 2015 [4 favorites]