Series Retrospective (S1 E1 - 4)

Hello all!~

Welcome to the first of many of my retrospective posts! This is a series where I'll be going through every single episode of Steven Universe and sort of giving my thoughts on them. Below is the post explaining this!

Explanation Post!

Today I'm going to go over the first 4 episodes of the series, those being:

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Gem Glow

Laser Light Cannon

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

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I am not the best at articulating my words, so don't expect some crazy good writing/thoughts. For the most part, these will just be simple thoughts and ideas with the occasional interesting moments. For these first four, I don't expect too much to be said, but they should still be interesting nonetheless. Without further ado, let's dive into this.

1. Gem Glow

Having watched this episode again, I was kind of reminded that this is an episode I haven't seen after first watching it. It was honestly kind of weird to see how different the characters were then. I mean, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl's differences feel a little subtle but they are there. I don't have much to say about this episode, really, but I would like to point out one weird thing that I don't know if others have noticed that probably doesn't mean anything.

In the scene where Garnet is explaining to Steven how to summon his weapon, music begins to play. Does it sound familiar? This music sounds almost exactly like the track "Synchronize" which is the music used for Sugilite's fusion dance. I'm thinking it's mainly because Garnet sort of explains it as synchronizing your mind with your gem or something like that.

Synchronize in Gem Glow

Synchronize/Sugilite from the OST

For this retrospective, I specifically wanted to select a single screenshot from each episode that I think encapsulate the entire episode. I think it's fun to come up with a little "challenge" for me to find the perfect screenshot for each episode. I'd love to see if any of you disagree with the screenshots I select, because I bet there's plenty that can symbolize a single episode.

:cookie: ~~~~~ :cookie:

:cookie: ~~~~~ :cookie:

2. Laser Light Cannon

The animation in this episode was a little weird, but it's honestly sort of charming. This episode here basically has everything I love about Greg, my favorite human character. We see here that he's a goofy dad, but it's not super stereotypical of other dopey, lazy fathers I think. In this episode, maybe, but later definitely not.

The one thing I wanted to comment about here was that the activation code for the cannons being "if every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn't have hotdogs." It's a little odd to me, but it also makes perfect sense. I feel like Rose would've used this silly saying Greg said as a code since it probably needed an activation code to begin with. I do think it's a bit weird to use this silly quote as the code though, since in battle it's not only kind of long, but it's also really goofy to say in a battlefield. I initially thought that the cannon in this episode activated because of Steven's emotional powers, but we later see in "The Return" that that wasn't the case when Steven says the quote and the cannons activate.

:rose: ~~~~~ :rose:

:rose: ~~~~~ :rose:

3. Cheeseburger Backpack

Now this is the quintessential example of weird animation I'd say. The animation was pretty weird here, but again, it's kind of charming. Watching this episode back was just fun. Early Steven Universe is just fun and goofy for the purpose of being fun and goofy, and this episode sort of encapsulates that.

I really love that this episode was actually just a big test for Steven as revealed in "The Test." I am also glad that he failed this test because it goes to show that Steven couldn't always save the day back then, with him being able to save the day in the previous two episodes. It just really helped Steven in his development, as he strived to really be the hero. Rest in peace Mr. Queasy.

:hamburger: ~~~~~ :hamburger:

:hamburger: ~~~~~ :hamburger:

4. Together Breakfast

This one is probably the weakest of the bunch, but it's still fun. My brother and I actually made our own together breakfast for his birthday a few years ago. I forget if I made a post about it or not on my old . Feel free to search for it, but I'm not gonna bother lmao. It's the first time we get a good look at each of the gems' rooms and brings up some interesting thoughts.

Garnet herself doesn't technically have a room, as her room is just the bubble room. This brings into question Ruby and Sapphire. What kind of things would be in their rooms?

As for the threat in this episode, it's kind of cool actually, and we don't even know what it was really. The SU Wiki doesn't seem to think that it's a gem, so what is it? It's one of the few times that the Crystal Gems fight a creature that isn't a gem. This episode sort of starts a theme in the early episode of introducing weird gem tech that is never really seen again (the gem shards in "Frybo," the replicator wand in "Onion Trade," etc.)

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That wraps up my thoughts!

I'm going to try and do these weekly, and I'll try and aim for the same day (so Thursdays ig). I think this one might be a little too short, but it is early SU so I don't have a ton to say, not that I really have a ton to say about a lot of things to begin with lol. Next time I might tackle E5 - 10. Let me know your thoughts on this!

See you next time!~