Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Steven Universe Episode Reviews: Season 1A

Episode 2: "Laser Light Cannon"
Plot: "When a menacing "Red Eye" is about to hit Beach City, the only thing that can destroy it is a Laser Light Cannon that once belonged to Steven's mother, Rose Quartz. Steven and his father, Greg, search through Greg's storage for the cannon." 

Comments: Mediocre first impressions. On the plus side, the story in itself was intriguing enough, and made nice use of tension in the right spots. And the final climax scene with them stopping the "red eye" was very nicely done, with very cool, artsy animation. As well, I am very fond of the scene of Steven dancing in the car. On the minus side, the pacing of the episode felt, for lack of a better word, thin. At this time it seems that the show hasn't yet made the best use of it's 11-minute runtime, and thus it felt pretty rushed and kinda flat. As well, I really didn't like the song ("Let Me Drive My Van Into Your Heart"), though maybe it was kind of the point.

As a whole, the episode gets a 6/10, as while the pacing was quite off, the story and very nice ending scene are good, and with the improved pacing of the later episodes it would likely get a much higher grade.

Episode 3: "Cheeseburger Backpack"
Plot: "The Crystal Gems go on a mission to place a Moon Goddess statue on top of the ruined Lunar Sea Spire, and Steven tries to prove he can be useful with the help of his new novelty Cheeseburger Backpack."

Comments: This was significantly better. The story was once again quite good, and unlike the last episode the pacing did not feel very rushed, which made it quite a bit more enjoyable, and had nice tension and excitement throughout. The animation was very good in this episode as well, the wacky facial expressions provided a good amount of humor throughout. The episode also made good use of music to enhance the atmosphere at some parts. 

Overall, not spectacular, but quite good. 7.5/10.

Episode 7: "Bubble Buddies"
Plot: "Steven forms a magic bubble around himself and a girl named Connie to save her from a falling rock, but he has no idea how to make it disappear."

Comments: Overall, this episode was mostly mediocre. I can't really say much more than that. There were some funny bits (E.g Steven's horrified reaction to Connie's donuts having Trans Fats) and nice emotion at the end, but as a whole, the episode didn't really do much for me.

Overall, it worked nicely as an introduction to Connie, plus Steven's bubbling abilities, but not much more. 5/10.

Episode 10: "Steven's Lion"
Plot: "Steven befriends a magical lion he finds in the desert during a mission."

Comments: This episode was quite similar to the last one, in that it served well as a character introduction (in this case, Lion) but not much more. But it was somewhat better than the last one. There were some funny bits, such as Steven making Lion say "I love you" or Ronaldo's "Steven's PREGNANT!" line, the background music was quite good, and there was a nice action sequence at the end.

But these nice parts weren't really enough to bring the episode to a good grade. 6/10.

Episode 12: "Giant Woman"
Plot: "Steven encourages Amethyst and Pearl to fuse together into a four-armed "giant woman" named Opal, but Amethyst and Pearl keep quarrelling."

Comments: This episode was good, though with one notable flaw. Said flaw is that Steven was really grating throughout the episode. His constant nagging for Amethyst and Pearl to fuse was quite annoying, even if it was the point? I dunno. But there were quite a few plusses. The main plot was entertaining, Steven's song "Giant Woman" was quite pleasant, the first of many nice ukulele numbers that would pop up in the show, even if Steven's singing sounds quite strained. The music was quite nice, as well, particularly the piano music that plays when Amethyst and Pearl finally fuse. The climactic action scene was quite nicely done, with good music in the background. And things also got entertainingly bizarre at the end, with Steven getting swallowed by a bird, and Pearl and Amethyst trying to bust him out.

While not one of my very favorite SU episodes, it was quite decent overall. 7/10.

Episode 16: "Steven The Swordfighter"
Plot: "Pearl's attempt to teach Steven the art of sword-fighting using a holographic version of herself goes awry when she gets injured and has to retreat into her gem to heal."

Comments: This was another mediocre episode. Once again it worked nicely as an introduction to a concept (namely, what happens to gems when they get injured) but as an episode it did not really rise above mediocre. There were some good bits. I liked some of the scenes of Steven doing activities with Pearl inside her gem (it reminded me in a good way of the scenes in Wall-E where Wall-E does activities with Eve despite her being inactive). Steven had some good facial expressions, and Pearl's return was nicely emotional.

Overall, far from the worst the show has to offer, but far from the best as well. 6/10.

Episode 17: "Lion 2: The Movie"
Plot: "Steven and Connie try to ride Lion to the movie theater, but Lion instead takes them to a mysterious Gem armory."

Comments: Not good as a whole. The story was once again really thin, and didn't really contain much that was engaging. But it had a few saving graces that kept it from getting a lower score. The action scenes at the end were very nice, as is the standard for the show. The opening "Dogcopter" movie trailer was quite funny, it parodied many movie trailer cliches very well. And there was also some nice instances of facial expression humor.

But once again these nice moments weren't able to lift the episode too high, so I could only give it a 5/10.

Episode 24: "An Indirect Kiss"
Plot: "Steven tells Connie about his mission with the Gems to heal Amethyst when she cracked her gem."

Comments: Now this is the kind of episode that makes me keep watching the show. The premise was very interesting throughout, with a lot of tension and a "race-against-the-clock" plot that kept me engaged. Amethyst was on top form, providing some good laughs in the first part and her getting more and more messed up due to her gem cracking was super-nicely done, and aside from providing some funny moments also provided some really creepy ones. Her screams at one point in the episode were almost legitimately scary, something that I don't really say about shows often. It also did a nice job with emotional weight, with some nice scenes of Steven questioning his power and ability, and the climax was also quite emotional as well.

Overall, the best episode to that point of the show. 8.5/10.

Episode 25: "Mirror Gem"
Plot: "Steven befriends a magical mirror that can mysteriously communicate with him, and ends up freeing its prisoner: Lapis Lazuli, another mysterious Gem."

Comments: An average episode, but it makes sense, since it was mostly a table-setter for the following "Ocean Gem". The first half of the episode was quite dull, and was also marred by a few fart jokes (I think?) at one point, which I was not fond of. However, things really picked up around 6 minutes in, with Steven obtaining a magic mirror, which starts communicating with him and leads to some wonderfully creepy bits with the faces in the mirror going "no!" over and over again, and things got very interesting from that point on. There was also some nice facial expression humor throughout.

But as a whole, mostly an average episode, and worthy of a 6.5/10. But while this was average, the next episode was far, far, FAR from it...

Episode 26 "Ocean Gem"
Plot: "Lapis Lazuli disappears after reigniting a past conflict with the three Crystal Gems and takes the ocean with her, leaving Beach City in a panic on the first day of summer. Steven, Connie, Greg, Lion and the Gems go on a mission to confront Lapis and set things right."

Comments: Well, here it is, the absolute BEST episode the entire show has to offer. The beginning of the episode, with the oceans being drained, sucked me in right away, and the high stakes did not let up throughout the entire episode. We also got some good jokes in the opening bit, such as Garnet rolling out of the car because she didn't like the song being played, and Greg's "This is a good idea for an album cover" line. And then, we got a great fight scene, the animation and music combining exquisitely to create a very exciting moment. And if that wasn't enough, the scene where Steven meets Lapis, and she explains the situation, was possibly the best scene in the show, ever. The music, action, animation, dialogue, and the overall atmosphere and "epic" aura surrounding not just this but the episode as a whole were all amazingly well-done, and the way they all combined together was pretty much perfect. By the time the credits were rolling, I had been completely sold on the show.

While the later seasons of the show were much better than this, and there would be many more awesome episodes, this, the first truly excellent ep, is still the best. 10/10. 


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