Steven Universe

American animated television series

Steven Universe, or simply Steven, is an animated series on Cartoon Network. It is about a young boy called Steven Universe, who is half gem (an alien race who are made of gem crystals) and half human, and follows his story with the Crystal Gems, a rebel group against the Gem Homeworld.

Steven Universe
GenreAdventure
Action
Comedy-drama
Science Fantasy
Surreal
Musical
Created byRebecca Sugar
Directed bySupervising Director:
Ian Jones-Quartey
Art Direction:
Kevin Dart (season 1, episodes 1-12 (2013-2014))
Elle Michalka
Animation Director:
Nick DeMayo
Voices ofZach Callison
Estelle
Michaela Dietz
Deedee Magno Hall
Matthew Moy
Kate Micucci
Tom Scharpling
Grace Rolek
Opening theme"We Are the Crystal Gems", written by Rebecca Sugar & arranged by Jeff Liu
Ending themeEnding Theme (Love Like You) written by Rebecca Sugar and composed by Aivi & Surasshu
ComposersAivi Tran
Steven "Surasshu" Velema
Additional Music:
Nick DeMayo
Rebecca Sugar
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes160 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerRebecca Sugar
ProducersJackie Buscarino
Supervising Producer:
Chuck Austen
Running time11 minutes
Production companyCartoon Network Studios[1]
Original release
NetworkCartoon Network
ReleaseNovember 4, 2013 (2013-11-04) –
January 21, 2019 (2019-01-21)

Context

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Gem Society

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Gems are an all-female-appearing alien race made up of a gem crystal and a "hard light" form that makes up their personal appearance. Gem society is divided in such a way that each type of Gem, such as diamonds, pearls, and so on, have a role in society that they were made for.

Diamonds are the ruling class of the Gem Homeworld, served by servant Pearls. There are four known diamonds: Pink Diamond, Blue Diamond, Yellow Diamond and White Diamond. All other Gems are either assigned to a Diamond (apart from Pink Diamond, because she is not present on Homeworld), or unaligned. Unaligned gems are either rebels or corrupted (corruption is the corruption of a Gem's hard light form, forcing the Gem to take on the appearance of a monster).

Homeworld colonises other planets so that new Gems can be formed from the minerals found in the ground; this had a devastating impact when Earth was in the process of colonisation.

The Crystal Gems

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The Crystal Gems are a rebel group led by Rose Quartz . They previously fought Homeworld because Rose Quartz wanted to protect the life on Earth. After the Diamonds (Yellow, Blue, and White) forced the end of the war with the corruption of all Gems on Earth (aside from the main cast of Crystal Gems, because of Rose's shield), the rebel group went into hiding, although since the birth of Steven, they have had more contact with Homeworld. Rose gave up her physical form to make Steven, so she was never really in the show other than memories from the Crystal Gems and Greg ( Steven's dad).

The Crystal Gems are currently composed of Steven, Connie, Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst, Lapis Lazuli, Peridot and occasionally Bismuth at times.

Fusion

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Fusion is the process in which the hard light forms of two gems are mixed together by choice to create a new form, and a new personality of the Gem. It can only be achieved by perfect synchronisation of two Gems. Steven is an exception to this rule - because he possesses Pink Diamond's Gem in his body, he is capable of fusing with both humans and Gems, for example, with Connie to form Stevonnie.

Fusion between different Gem classes is strongly discouraged on the Gem Homeworld.

Characters

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  • Steven "Cutiepie" Universe (Gem-human hybrid, the main character)
  • Garnet (fusion of Ruby and Sapphire, one of Steven's aunts)
  • Amethyst (Crystal Gem from Earth, Steven's mother or sister aunts)
  • Pearl (Crystal Gem, served on Homeworld before she met Rose Quartz) (one of Steven's aunts)
  • PE-2F5L-5XG "Peridot" (A Homeworld gem, friend of Steven and Lapis Lazuli)
  • L.L. "Lapis Lazuli" (A Homeworld gem, friend of Steven and Peridot)
  • Connie Maheswaran (Steven's best friend, and her husband Keoni)
  • Lars Barriga of the Stars (Worker at the Big Donut) (Steven and Lars have a complicated relationship)
  • Sadie Miller (Worker at the Big Donut) (Steven's friend)
  • Leon the Lion (Steven's magical pet lion)
  • Gregory "Um Greg" DeMayo-Universe (Steven's father)
  • P.D. "Pink Diamond"/R.Q. "Rose Quartz" (A Diamond who ruled on Earth and on Homeworld)
  • RU-1F4-4N "Ruby Handy" (A Crystal Gem who fuses with Sapphire to form Garnet)
  • SA. "Sapphire Sophie" (A Crystal Gem who fuses with Ruby to form Garnet)
  • Y.D. "Yellow Diamond" (A Diamond from Homeworld)
  • B.D. "Blue Diamond" (A Diamond from Homeworld)
  • W.D. "White Diamond" (A Diamond from Homeworld)
  • JA. "Jasper" (A Homeworld gem and rival of the Crystal Gems)
  • Doug Maheswaran (Connie's father)
  • Dr. Priyanka Maheswaran (Connie's mother)
  • Mr. Fryman (Owner of the local fries shop, Beach City Beachwalk Fries)
  • Peedee (Son of Mr. Fryman, Beach Citywalk Fries worker, younger brother of Ronaldo)
  • Ronaldo (Beach City's local conspiracy theorist, son of Mr. Fryman, older brother of Peedee)
  • Harold Smiley (Manager of Beach City's fair, Funland, and arcade)
  • Mayor Bill Dewey (Beach City's mayor)
  • Buck Dewey (Bill Dewey's son)
  • Yellowtail (Fisherman, Onion's father and Sour Cream's Step Father)
  • Sour Cream (Steven's friend) (Step-son to Yellowtail)
  • Onion (Steven's friend) (mysterious)
  • Kofi Pizza (Owner of Fish Stew Pizza, the local pizza shop)
  • Kiki Pizza (Daughter of Kofi, twin sister of Jenny)
  • Jenny Pizza (Daughter of Kofi, twin sister of Kiki)
  • Gunga "Nanefua" Pizza (Mother of Kofi)
  • The Cool Kids (Steven's friends, they are Sour Cream, Buck Dewey, and Jenny and Kiki Pizza)

References

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  1. McLean, Thomas J. (2012-09-11). "Cartoon Network Greenlights Steven Universe, Uncle Grandpa Series". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 2013-08-11.