Steven Universe Wiki

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This article is about the series. You may be looking for the character or the comic series.

Steven Universe is a coming-of-age story told from the perspective of Steven, the youngest member of the Crystal Gems, a team of magical guardians who protect the Earth.

The Pilot was released on May 21, 2013 on Rebecca Sugar's father's YouTube channel (but has since been removed). The show premiered on Cartoon Network on November 4, 2013 in the US, on January 6, 2014 in some parts of Asia, and April 7, 2014 in South America. On July 25, 2014, it was announced that Steven Universe has been renewed for Season 2,[3] and on July 7, 2015, it was announced that the series had been renewed for a third season.[4] On March 30, 2016, the series was renewed for Season 4 and Season 5,[5] each season after the first now being a total of 26 episodes instead of 52.[6] A sixth season consisting of 32 episodes[7], while not officially announced, was alluded to by Cartoon Network in the comments section of an Instagram post in June 2018.[8]

It was announced on July 21, 2018 at San Diego Comic Con that a television adaptation of the series is in the works and will premiere on Cartoon Network soon.

Plot

Main article: Episode Guide

In Steven Universe, the world is protected from evil threats by the Crystal Gems, a movement of Gems sworn to protect the Earth from the Homeworld Gems. Their powers flow from their gemstones; magical gems embedded somewhere on the host's body. The four Crystal Gems are: Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Steven. A Gem named Peridot has also joined the team. Steven is a young half-human, half-Gem boy who inherited a gemstone from his mother, a Crystal Gem named Rose Quartz, who gave up her form to create Steven. As Steven tries to figure out the secrets to using his gem, he spends his days in Beach City doing activities with the other Crystal Gems, whether it's helping them save the universe or just hanging out.

Voice Cast

Main Cast

Major Supporting Cast

Supporting Cast

"Say Uncle" Cast

Development

Concept and Creation

The titular character, Steven, is roughly based on Sugar's younger brother Steven Sugar,[9] who is now a background artist for the online web series, Bravest Warriors, created by Pendleton Ward of Adventure Time fame (he is also a background artist for Steven Universe as well). Growing up, Sugar would create miscellaneous comics between herself and Steven, as well as with other friends.[10] In an interview with The New York Times, she commented on the development of the titular character's background, expressing her desire to base the character from the viewpoint of her brother growing up "where you're so comfortable in your life because you get all the attention, but you also want to rise up and not be the little brother."[11] The show is set in the fictional Beach City, which is loosely based on Rehoboth Beach, Bethany Beach, and Dewey Beach, Delaware, all places that Sugar visited as a child.[9]

Production

According to Sugar, production began on the show concurrently while working on Adventure Time. Her last episode for the series was "Simon & Marcy", in which working on both simultaneously "became impossible to do". Similarly, she would encounter difficulty around the production of the episode "Fionna and Cake".[12]

Music

The series features songs and musical numbers produced by Sugar along with her story writers, who collaborate on the lyrics for each song. According to Sugar, not every episode will feature a song, instead opting to feature one every couple episodes "where it always feels right".[12] The series premiere, "Gem Glow", features a rap song written by storyboard artist Jeff Liu, who programmed the beat into his Game Boy using Little Sound DJ.[13] The soundtrack for all of the episodes is composed by Aivi & Surasshu with some demos by Jeff Liu.

Broadcast History

The pilot episode for Steven Universe, along with a few other pilots, were released on Cartoon Network's video platform on May 21, 2013.[14] They were taken down and redirected to a 404 page shortly after.[15]

On July 20, 2013, Cartoon Network uploaded an edited version of the pilot to both their official website and Facebook page.[16] The pilots were also exhibited at the San Diego Comic-Con,[17] and from July 27 to July 28, 2013, Cartoon Network aired a sneak peek of the pilot as part of Big Fan Weekend, along with the pilots for Clarence and Uncle Grandpa. A 30-minute panel dedicated to the series was hosted at the New York Comic Con on October 13, 2013, with Rebecca Sugar hosting.[18]

The series premiered on November 4, 2013 on Cartoon Network, with two episodes. Season 1B's last episode aired on March 12, 2015 during the first StevenBomb, with Season 2 beginning on March 13, 2015 (however, Season 1B did not officially end until April 16, 2015). Season 2 ended on January 8, 2016 during the fourth StevenBomb. Season 3 premiered with two episodes on May 12, 2016 and ended during Summer of Steven on August 10, 2016. Season 4 premiered during Summer of Steven on August 11, 2016 and ended with two episodes on May 11, 2017 during the sixth StevenBomb. The fifth season began on May 29, 2017 with Wanted, an hour long special consisting of four episodes. The season is currently ongoing and there is a sixth season and television film on the way.

The show is also available online internationally on iTunes, Google Play and Amazon Instant Video, and in America on Hulu.

Reception

Initial announcements of the series have attained positive press for Sugar being the first female creator for any show produced by Cartoon Network Studios.[19] When asked about her role as a solo female creator, she responded with gratitude towards the feedback, ultimately voicing her passion to be a role model "just in the sense that I get to make what the ultimate cartoon should be. I tried to be a role model [by showing that] anyone who wanted to could take really traditional ideas of animation and bring them into the present but keep all the trappings of what [was] used [to make cartoons great] in the past."[20]

Steven Universe has received critical acclaim for its music and voice performances, storytelling, its characterization, and the "breathtaking beauty", "intriguing, immersive environments" and "lovably goofy aesthetic" of its art.[21]

Trivia

  • According to Matt Burnett and Joe Johnston, each episode takes approximately 9 to 12 months to make and release.[22]
    • After being pitched, approved and storyboarded, the phases of production are voice recording, animatics, design, overseas animation, editing, music and sound design.[23]
  • As a "board-driven" show, Steven Universe does not rely on traditional scripts. Instead, the writers write up episode outlines which cover the story framework, and then the outlines are given to teams of storyboard artists who do the storyboarding and write the dialogue.[24]
    • After the storyboards have been completed, a member of the production staff writes out the actual script for the recording session. Instead of scene headings or action descriptions like a traditional live action script, there are numbers corresponding to the numbered storyboard panels. During the recording sessions, showrunner Rebecca Sugar and voice director Kent Osborne pitch the scene to the actors using the storyboards as references.[25]
    • Storyboards are made with ToonBoom's Storyboard Pro software.[26]
  • According to various Crewniverse members, Steven Universe isn't supposed to be about heroes or villains.[27][28]
  • During NYCC 2016, Rebecca revealed that she does have plans for how the series will end.[29]
  • During a Q&A at a Toonami Panel at Mono Con 2015, someone asked "Because of the dark hints in Steven Universe...it may get dark later on and you might take it over?" and it was confirmed Toonami would appreciate the idea of having Steven Universe on their network, but they cannot because too many kids are watching.[30]

Gallery

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External Links

Official Links

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Digital Distribution

Unofficial Links

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Interviews

Other Articles

References

  1. http://www.amazon.com/Gem-Glow-Laser-Light-Cannon/dp/B00G90794U
  2. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/steven-universe-tv-review-article-1.1504338
  3. http://www.nickandmore.com/2014/07/25/cartoon-network-renews-5-series/
  4. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/adventure-time-regular-show-3-807037
  5. http://www.ew.com/article/2016/03/30/steven-universe-uncle-grandpa-renewed-season-5-cartoon-network?xid=entertainment-weekly_socialflow_twitter
  6. https://twitter.com/mcburnett/status/715267280200998912
  7. At 03:28 of episode 8 of The Steven Universe Podcast, Jackie Buscarino says "So like, Season 4 was 16 half-hours, so that's 32 episodes all overlapping." Season 2and Season 3 were originally formatted as a single 52-episode season. However, for unknown reasons, Cartoon Networkrelabeled the second half of the second season as Season 3 and then split the original third season into Season 4 and Season 5. This had no effect on production, meaning that the Season 5 episodes were/are still in production for Season 3. So for fans, Season 6 is the season after Season 5, but for producers, it would be Season 4. The 32-episode count doesn't line up with any other season.
  8. https://www.instagram.com/p/BkLxe5mnLEm/
  9. 9.0 9.1 http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/steven-universe-creator-rebecca-sugar-is-an-idealistic-trailblazer/2013/11/01/fe622da2-4338-11e3-a751-f032898f2dbc_story.html
  10. http://www.verbicidemagazine.com/2013/07/27/sdcc-2013-press-roundtable-interview-series-uncle-grandpa-clarence-steven-universe/
  11. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/28/movies/rising-animators-spring-into-motion.html
  12. 12.0 12.1 http://www.indiewire.com/article/television/adventure-time-writer-rebecca-sugar-on-steven-universe
  13. http://stevencrewniverse.tumblr.com/post/66209062744/jeff-liu-says-the-instrumental-track-for-the
  14. Amidi, Amid (2013-05-21). Sneak Peek: Cartoon Network's Steven Universe by Rebecca Sugar. Cartoon Brew. Retrieved on 2013 August 11.
  15. http://io9.com/watch-the-amazing-fantastic-and-stupendous-pilot-of-st-509351010
  16. http://io9.com/the-first-look-at-rebecca-sugars-amazing-new-cartoon-s-853310801
  17. http://www.awn.com/news/cartoons/cn-sneak-peeks-rebecca-sugar-s-steven-universe
  18. http://nycc13.mapyourshow.com/5_0/sessions/sessiondetails.cfm?ScheduledSessionID=18ABC9C6
  19. http://www.cartoonbrew.com/ideas-commentary/rebecca-sugar-is-cartoon-networks-first-solo-woman-show-creator-71157.html
  20. http://comicsbeat.com/cartoon-network-shows-to-watch-out-for-steve-universe-uncle-grandpa-and-clarence/
  21. wikipedia:Steven Universe#Reception
  22. https://twitter.com/mcburnett/status/622237562824953856
  23. https://twitter.com/mcburnett/status/624357912077598720
    "After storyboard, voice record->animatic->design->animated overseas->editing->music->sound design all have to happen."
  24. http://ben-levin.tumblr.com/post/128851455980/hi-ben-i-know-steven-universe-doesnt-use
    "As some of you know, Steven Universe is a storyboard-driven show, meaning a team of storyboard artists are given an outline off of which they write all of the dialogue and storyboard the episode. The job of the outline, and my job, is to give them the basic framework for the episode – the story."
  25. http://stevencrewniverse.tumblr.com/post/129380055032
  26. https://twitter.com/mcburnett/status/647967286788231168
  27. http://io9.gizmodo.com/steven-universe-is-a-show-about-fantasys-love-affair-1458060916
  28. "SU doesn't deal in antagonists or protagonists. Characters much more complicated than that."
    https://twitter.com/mcburnett/status/706654478309597184
  29. http://fandom.wikia.com/articles/nycc-steven-universe-gem-harvest
  30. "The Official Toonami Panel 2015: Extended Edition" – Geek E Inc. Productions on YouTube
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