Steven Universe

Most of Steven's explanations of his trip were offscreen to save screentime, but I wonder exactly how detailed they got.

Steven could probably leave out the part where Lars took his pants off, but I do wonder if he mentioned things like Topaz trying to help, what Homeworld looks like now, or if anyone could recognize the Off Colors by sight. Sadie apparently knows Lars came Back from the Dead, but I wonder if she told his parents that exactly, or heard details like "He doesn't need to eat, and might have stopped aging." (Steven's poster for Lion describes him as "old??", so the thought probably crossed his mind.)

@52313 I know that it's possible, but Rose was hardly infallible at converting others to her cause. After all, if she had been, she probably could have led a velvet revolution and never crossed swords with anyone. And given that Lapis seems conflict-averse, I'm not so sure that she would have joined up with the rebellion. Again, I think studied neutrality (unless forced to be Neutral No Longer) would have been most likely.

@52316 I'm with you in liking "Sadie Killer" the most. There were a lot of little touches I liked - in particular, it felt a little bit like Sadie was latching onto Steven and the cool kids as a surrogate for Lars, and that felt very real to me.

I'm a bit torn on "Kevin Party" - I feel like they're trying their best to suggest that maybe Kevin isn't such a Jerkass and that he isn't nearly as bad as first presented, but it still comes off wrong based on his first appearance (and not really helped by his second). That said, I do like how Connie and Steven finally screwed on their heads right and just talked it out.

Honestly, I really liked "Back to the Kindergarten" for a couple of reasons. One, Peridot was able to show some real growth, which was nice. Two, I liked how it hammered home just what the stakes were regarding the rebellion in the first place - I mean, five millennia later and the ground will kill plants in 24 hours? Whoa. That said, I think they should have figured out a minor key version of Smoky Quartz's theme; it felt out of place given the timbre of the scene and episode.

@52318 Personally, I'm of the belief that Lapis ran in part so that they could hold her back to produce more tension in upcoming battles until she pulls off a Big Damn Heroes moment. That said, it does perfectly fit her character to do this, so I'm fine (if not exactly happy; I always want more Lapis) with this turn of events.

Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.

> - I mean, five millennia later and the ground will kill plants in 24 hours?

Some people take that as evidence that the Kindergaten is still incubating gems somehow,although when life is literally taken from the soil to grow gems it shouldn't surprise anyone that literally nothing can survive there,on a smaller scale it's like how humans will over exploit environments for the resources,in the worst case it causes long lasting ecological damage.

edited 22nd Nov '17 7:22:12 AM by Ultimatum

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Gems seem to need "life energy" to grow in the ground and eventually emerge in a kindergarten.

Not stuff like soil composition or whatever.

I get the impression something much more nebulous than normal ecological damage is happening there.

Oh really when?

Well yeah,it's basically extreme desertification

New theme music also a box

Sadie seemed to have hit if off with them back in "The Good Lars"—which is a big step up from being "Donut Girl".

I completely disagree. He showed some capacity for kindness, but it was still overwhelmed by his narcissism. He was only even anything besides an antagonist because specific circumstances motivated him to help the protagonists.

It's pretty similar in practice to human land development—it's arguable the Platonic version of it. Humans attempt to permanently convert land from supporting natural life to supporting a human population for an indefinite time. Gems directly convert the land's ability to support life into their population, with each individual living indefinitely long without need.

It really wouldn't be that bad if Homeworld wasn't doing it to entire ecosystems, treating other sapient organism as equivalent to the dirt they stand on, and being far too loose with the lives of their own (shattering a gem is like executing a human even if that'd salt the earth that provided their food).

Granted, gem technology and/or the universe's laws of physics are pretty clearly contrived for the sake of maintaining moral conflict. People who can make and control miniature black holes really ought to be able to reproduce with any source of matter and energy, not just ones that are already in-use by other life forms.

That Peridot specifically said it was "energy" taken from surrounding "life" and not the soil or something makes me think that whatever lets Gems exist isn't something material that can be replicated.

Oh really when?

I still think one or two gems growing in an area won't damage the surrounding ecosystem, it's just that they planted way too many in the same place that it has such unnatural side-effects.

The scale of the desolation clearly depends on how many gems are made, but I don't see how the permanence or severity would.

Whatever is being taken is clearly a non-renewable resources (even on a gem timescale), not just a renewable one taken too fast. Otherwise Homeworld would just "farm" the same places forever instead of burning them out and losing out in the long-run. It's mining, not farming/logging/fishing. Although we can recycle minerals without necromancy.

edited 22nd Nov '17 3:05:28 PM by thatother1dude

That also likely explains why they don't just colonize worlds without life on them.

The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.

Yeah, otherwise the kindergartens would be on Mars or something.

It seems like they need life itself more than any sort of geological features or soil composition.

Oh really when?

Yeah, whatever it is they take from the environment to breathe life into rocks is clearly something that is irreplaceable.

Disgusted, but not surprised

They need planets currently containing organic life or at least capable of supporting it. So I guess it makes a little sense that Homeworld is human-inhabitable.

Which gets weird when you consider terraforming (as in making planets Earth-like, not Homeworld's Hostile Terraforming). Is Homeworld missing a big opportunity to spread organic life, and thus have more planets to make gems from? Is terraforming somehow impossible in this universe?

Yellow Diamond at least seems to have genuine disdain for organic life. Chances are that has influenced Homeworld policy on the matter. Even if Homeworlders could "farm" worlds by seeding them with the necessary elements to cause organic life to develop on them so they could support Kindergartens, they would probably be too revolted by the idea of spreading organic life.

Disgusted, but not surprised

new podcast entry

Next week's is about Steven's Dream

edited 23rd Nov '17 8:38:28 AM by Ultimatum

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Ultimate Crossover.

Oh God! Natural light!

This was getting a lot of attention on Reddit so it's probably worth posting here,basically Susan Egan (who voices Rose) was at Equestria LA said that upcoming episodes would deal with origins of Rose and Pearl

Link

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I hope nobody minds this technically a double post buuuuut

A new storyboard artist named Chris Pianka has joined Steven Universe!

New theme music also a box

That post was liked by other staffers, so it's safe to say it's legit.

I'm very confused. There are 16 episodes left of season five, and this is after an unusually slow year (26 half-hours), so I had figured like ten of them were already finished. Yet, they're still doing storyboards right now—and not just revisions, initially storyboarding. Storyboarding finishes like nine months before the episode overall.

So I'm seeing a few possible explanations, all some level of weird:

1. The fifth season is the last, but production has slowed down massively.
2. The fifth season is the last, and production has not been delayed (as much) because Pianka is doing some really late additions.
3. A sixth season was already greenlit and started production without an announcement.

Ah yes, more indirect Season 6 confirmation

Woo, new boarder! I wasn't expecting that. I wonder what his style's gonna be like? Who his boarding partner is? This is really neat.

Also, here's a tweet from yesterday where he found some random nun dolls.

edited 28th Nov '17 5:55:59 PM by Crossover-Enthusiast

Jawbreakers on sale for 99¢

Pianka had previously worked on Harvey Beaks, storyboarding and writing two episode and doing board revisions for ten others. He also has credits on several different shows as an... archivist?

Yeah there pretty much has to be a Season 6 at this point. I'm guessing they're moving into territory where it might increase the tension to not be assured another season or something. Is there any other reason that they'd keep this under wraps this long?

The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.

Supposedly Gemcation was recorded a full year ago.

Which means that either production has fallen way behind it's normal pace or these more recent recordings mean another season.

Oh really when?

Maybe they've renewed it for Season 6, but are still mulling it over for Season 7? Seasons 2 and 3 were announced at the same time, so them doing another double season renewal announcement isn't that far fetched.

Edit: or maybe CN's planning on doing this big announcement thing after the season 5 finale. Like:

edited 28th Nov '17 7:19:36 PM by Crossover-Enthusiast

Jawbreakers on sale for 99¢

Source?

That's because they were originally greenlit as one season—the same with seasons four and five. Both happened back when CN was in the habit of making 52 episode seasons (also why the first season was extended to that length mid-way), then after they went back to renewing twenty-something at a time, they reclassified seasons 2 & 3 into 2-5.

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I don't really see how keeping a new season a secret would be an ad campaign; the advertisements never even mention seasons (because they have no effect on when episodes air).