Oddly enough, it kind of already is. A lot of the episodes tie directly into another instead of being their own experience, particularly in seasons 2, 3, and 5. The Wanted arc, the Beta/Earthlings arc, the Peridot redemption arc, the Malachite/Cluster 2-parter, etc.
My point is that a lot of the show is not episodic, especially when it comes to the main plot. The show does serialized drama well, but it also A) has a lot of unnecessary filler (see: Season 4), B) has great episodes that could have been longer (i.e Mr. Greg, Rose's Scabbard, Mindful Education, On The Run, etc), or C) just merged many of the "half-episodes" together into full ones.
Personally, I think one of the most structurally perfect episodes of Steven Universe is "Bismuth". Terrible politics of the episode aside, we meet a new character, she's interesting, we get backstory, great character interactions, a reveal, a climactic battle, and a bittersweet ending. It's great.
Edited by deuteragonist on Mar 27th 2020 at 11:38:15 AM
Not to mention lower budget, especially when it’s a new IP.
@deuteragonist: I remember a crewmember stating the show couldn’t be storyboard-driven if most episodes were half-hour.
Edited by thatother1dude on Mar 27th 2020 at 1:40:45 PM
That's kind of what I expected. On the other hand, "Killing is bad m'kay." is political now?
At first glance that's up there with "bubbling is worse than shattering"
Edited by sgamer82 on Mar 27th 2020 at 1:23:24 PM
Okay, "terrible politics" is probably overkill, but there are Unfortunate Implications in that episode.
Bismuth, a black-coded character, develops a weapon to save her friends and fellow-oppressed gems that could defeat the genocidal oppressors that they're fighting and turn the tide in their fight for freedom. The show somehow portrays this as an awful and harmful thing (at least it did at the time) and Bismuth gets gaslighted and imprisoned for it. TWICE. It's also not hard to see her portrayal akin to an angry black woman stereotype by the end of the episode as she tries to kill our beloved Steven, portraying her tragedy as though she brought it on herself.
It's really sad, both in and out of context. But I still kind of love the episode because Bismuth is such a great character that eventually comes back. Also, the implications are somewhat alleviated when you realize Rose Quartz was a bit of a jerk and probably had ulterior motives when imprisoning her. Oh and Future plays with the shattering thing too.
It's pretty hard to see that myself, since the extremes of stereotypes tend to get disassociated from real life examples.
Also the way she acts beforehand just doesn't jive.
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.The only half-hour storyboard-driven shows I know of are Samurai Jack and Primal, both of which have minimal dialogue.
Its too late now,but I would have loved it if they did an episode that was entirely Mickey Mousing
ignore the title this was taken from a promo for everything is fine
Edited by Ultimatum on Mar 27th 2020 at 10:52:43 AM
have a listen and have a link to my discord serverAnyone else think Stephen would've felt better faster if he got an imaginary hair-cut from Finn & Jake?
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.Alright, that's my cue to avoid this thread until I've watched the final episodes. See ya then!
I assure you, I'm perfectly trustable personSo Steven basically tried to play his child-self again to cope but with his growing power + the joys of maturity he's unable to cope or keep down the small voice in the back of his head that knows better is what I generally get from this.
Currently playing/Watching: Urusei Yatsura, Pokemon Violet, Sonic Frontiers

So, would the show have been better if it was made for streaming right from the start instead of tv? Shows on streaming services have less restrictions.