Steven Universe facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Steven Universe |
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| Genre |
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| Created by | Rebecca Sugar |
| Directed by | Supervising Directors: Ian Jones-Quartey (S1-2) Kat Morris (S2-5) Joe Johnston (S2-5) Art Directors: Kevin Dart (S1) Elle Michalka (S1-2, 4) Jasmin Lai (S2-3) Ricky Cometa (S3-4) Liz Artinian (S5) Animation Director: Nick DeMayo |
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| Opening theme | "We Are the Crystal Gems", (performed by Zach Callison, Estelle, Michaela Dietz, and Deedee Magno Hall) |
| Ending theme | "Love Like You", (performed by Rebecca Sugar) |
| Composer(s) | Aivi & Surasshu |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 160 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
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| Producer(s) |
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| Editor(s) | Mattaniah Adams Paul Douglas |
| Running time | 11 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Cartoon Network Studios |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | Cartoon Network |
| Picture format | 1080i ( HDTV) |
| Audio format | Dolby Surround |
| First shown in | May 21, 2013 (pilot) |
| Original release | November 4, 2013 – January 21, 2019 |
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| Followed by |
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Steven Universe is a popular American animated TV show created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It was the first animated series on Cartoon Network made entirely by a woman! The show tells the story of a young boy named Steven Universe (voiced by Zach Callison). He lives with the Crystal Gems, who are magical, human-like aliens. Their names are Garnet (Estelle), Amethyst (Michaela Dietz), and Pearl (Deedee Magno Hall). They live in the made-up town of Beach City.
Steven is half-human and half-Gem. He goes on exciting adventures with his friends. He also helps the Crystal Gems protect Earth from other Gems who might cause trouble. The first short episode was shown in May 2013. The main series ran for five seasons, from November 2013 to January 2019. After the series, a TV movie called Steven Universe: The Movie came out in September 2019. Then, a short follow-up series, Steven Universe Future, aired from December 2019 to March 2020.
The show explores important ideas like love, family, and how important it is to have healthy relationships with others. Rebecca Sugar based the main character, Steven, on her younger brother, who also worked on the show. She started creating Steven Universe while working as a writer and artist for another show called Adventure Time. She left Adventure Time when Cartoon Network decided to make Steven Universe into a full series. The show is made using a "storyboard-driven" method. This means the artists who draw the storyboards also write the dialogue and plan the action. Many books, comics, and video games have also been made based on the series.
Steven Universe has a huge fanbase and has received lots of praise. People love its art style, music, voice acting, and interesting characters. It won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Kids & Family Program in 2019. This made it the first animated series to win that award. It also received a Peabody Award for Children's & Youth Programming in 2019. The show was nominated for five Emmy Awards and five Annie Awards.
Contents
What is Steven Universe About?
Steven Universe is set in the fictional place called Beach City, in Delmarva. The Crystal Gems live in an old temple by the beach. They protect people from monsters and other dangers. The Gems are ancient alien warriors. They create human-like bodies from magical gemstones located in their core. The Crystal Gems are Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven. Steven is a young boy who is half-human and half-Gem. He got his gemstone from his mother, Rose Quartz, who used to lead the Crystal Gems.
As Steven learns about his growing powers, he spends time with his dad Greg, his best friend Connie, his magical pet lion, and other people in Beach City. He explores the special abilities he got from his mother. One of these is fusion. This is when Gems can combine their bodies and powers to create new, stronger personalities.
The first season of the series slowly reveals that the Crystal Gems are the last members of a huge space empire. During their missions, they visit old ruins that were once important to Gem culture. Steven learns that many of the monsters and objects they find are actually Gems. These Gems were changed by a powerful Gem weapon and can no longer look like humans or think clearly. By the end of the first season, Steven discovers that thousands of years ago, the Gem empire wanted to use Earth to create new Gems. This plan would have destroyed Earth. But Rose Quartz led her followers, the Crystal Gems, in a fight to stop this plan.
In the second season, a Gem named Peridot joins the Crystal Gems. She helps them stop a giant Gem "geo-weapon" buried inside Earth from destroying the planet. In the third season, Lapis Lazuli, another Gem, decides to live on Earth with Peridot. Jasper, a powerful enemy Gem, is defeated. Steven also learns that his mother, Rose Quartz, was involved in the disappearance of one of the Gem empire's leaders, Pink Diamond.
In the fourth season, Steven struggles with his feelings about what his mother did. The leaders of the Gem empire, Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond, start to focus their attention on Earth. In the fifth and final season, Steven finds out that his mother was actually Pink Diamond! She pretended to be Rose Quartz. Steven uses this discovery to convince the other Diamonds to take responsibility for the damage they caused and try to fix things.
How the Show Was Made
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In 2011, a Cartoon Network executive asked for new show ideas. Rebecca Sugar, who was working on Adventure Time, shared her first ideas for Steven Universe. Her project was chosen to be developed. While working on her new show, Sugar also continued to work on Adventure Time. The series grew from a short story Sugar wrote called "Ballad of Margo and Dread". It was about a sensitive child helping teenagers with problems they couldn't talk about.
Cartoon Network decided to make the show after seeing the crew's art presentation. Rebecca Sugar became the first woman to create a show by herself for the network. Before a production team was even chosen, Sugar tried to change parts of the show's story. She also developed the characters' identities. This was so her team would have the same creative freedom she had on Adventure Time.
Designing the World and Characters
When making the pilot episode of Steven Universe, Sugar paid a lot of attention to how the world looked. She added notes to her drawings. She was inspired by the idea of alien figures (Gems) living human lives. She drew many sketches showing their world and history. The show's design was also inspired by her and her brother's love for video games, comics, and animation. After the show was approved, Sugar decided to redesign everything. She wanted the series to be "flexible and simple" for future staff to add their own ideas.
The art directors who worked on the show included Kevin Dart, Jasmin Lai, Elle Michalka, and Ricky Cometa. Kevin Dart's art style greatly influenced the show even after he left. Steven Sugar, Rebecca's brother, praised Dart's work and was inspired by him in college.
In the pilot episode, there were only two places: the Temple and the Big Donut. The Temple was designed by Ian Jones-Quartey, Steven Sugar, Ben Levin, Matt Burnett, and Andy Ristaino. Its two faces were based on ideas from Guy Davis. Steven Sugar designed the rest of Beach City for the series. He was very careful with details. He also designed people, houses, cars, buildings, and restaurants. Because Rebecca Sugar redesigned many things, the two original locations had to be redrawn.
To get ideas for the show's backgrounds, the Sugars and Jones-Quartey visited their favorite beaches. Beach City, where the show is set, is loosely based on Delaware beaches like Rehoboth Beach, Bethany Beach, and Dewey Beach. Rebecca Sugar visited these beaches as a child. Steven Sugar drew Beach City with a boardwalk full of different shops. He wanted it to have a "specific style" so viewers would believe it was a real place. He drew the roads and shops always facing the Temple and a water tower. The idea for the main setting was inspired by Akira Toriyama's Dr. Slump. That show features a small town where the characters live and work. Steven Sugar made the boardwalk the main focus of the human world in Steven Universe.
Creating the Characters
In the early stages of making the show, Sugar worked on how characters looked and their personalities at the same time. She was very inspired by fantasy TV characters she and her brother used to draw when they were younger. The lead character designer, Danny Hynes, wanted the characters to be simple and easy to recognize. He was influenced by how Mickey Mouse was designed by Disney artists. He suggested 24 human characters to the team. Rebecca and Steven Sugar drew 22 designs, and 13 of them became official. Ian Jones-Quartey did the coloring.
Rebecca Sugar combined several characters while making the pilot. Supporting characters Lars and Sadie were first created when she was in college. The Pizza family was based on Ian Jones-Quartey's Ghanaian family. Ronaldo was created by Ben Levin and Matt Burnett. Guy Davis, a childhood friend of the Sugars, designed the early monsters and Gem buildings.
Making a character "look alive" was always important. According to Jones-Quartey, a character's feelings should be very clear. The character design team wanted the characters to look like classic cartoons, such as 1940s Disney cartoons, Dragon Ball Z, or the works of Osamu Tezuka and Harvey Kurtzman. The team had two weeks to make changes to the characters for each episode. Some character names and designs were inspired by types of food. Some characters were redesigned because their looks in the pilot didn't match their personalities. Sugar planned for the characters' designs to have visual guides. This would help the show's artists draw them consistently. Sugar wanted her characters' designs to be simple, flexible, and consistent. This way, the production team wouldn't get stuck on too many complex details. Because of these redesigns, the characters in the pilot episode look quite different from how they appear in the TV series.
Sugar wanted the Gems to look like humans. She wanted the Crystal Gems to experience family life with Steven, treating him like a brother. She wanted their gems to show their personalities. Pearl's gem is perfectly smooth, Amethyst's is rough, and Garnet's has a mysterious feel. According to Sugar, the Gems are "some version of me ... neurotic, lazy, decisive." Their faces were influenced by Wassily Kandinsky. He taught at the Bauhaus and encouraged students to pair three main colors (red, yellow, blue) with three basic shapes (square, triangle, circle). Because of their personalities, Garnet is a square, Amethyst is a circle, and Pearl is a cone. Sugar wanted to give the Gems superpowers like classic cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny. The Gems' ability to change shape is a nod to older cartoons like Tex Avery's work for MGM, where characters could change whenever they wanted. Even though the Crystal Gems are meant to be serious, the writers also wanted them to be "funny and weird."
When and Where Steven Universe Aired
The pilot episode of Steven Universe was first released online on Cartoon Network's video platform on May 21, 2013. An edited version came out on July 20. The pilot was also shown at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con. Rebecca Sugar hosted a 30-minute discussion about the series at the 2013 New York Comic Con on October 13.
At first, Cartoon Network ordered thirteen half-hour episodes (26 episodes) for the first season. On November 14, they ordered another thirteen half-hours. The series was renewed for a second season of 26 half-hours on July 25, 2014. This season started airing on March 13, 2015. A third season of 26 half-hours was ordered in July 2015. In March 2016, the second and third seasons were split up to create four seasons of 13 half-hours each. This made a total of five seasons. Finally, in 2016, after the decision to end the series, Sugar asked Cartoon Network to add three more half-hours to the fifth season. This helped wrap up the story, making it 16 half-hours total.
The series first aired in the United States on November 4, 2013, on Cartoon Network with two episodes. In Canada, it started airing on Cartoon Network on November 11, 2013, and on Teletoon on April 24, 2014. It began airing on Cartoon Network channels in Australia on February 3, 2014. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it started on May 12 of that year.
Starting in 2015, Cartoon Network often showed new episodes in groups of five over one week. These were called "Stevenbombs." This was different from showing one episode per week. The long breaks between these groups sometimes made fans upset. This format, also used for other Cartoon Network shows, helped the network get big spikes in online interest. This is because Steven Universe has a continuous story, which is unusual for a kids' cartoon. This creates "massive swells of online interest," similar to how adult TV series are released. This is very important for a network in today's internet-focused TV world.
In May 2018, Cartoon Network apologized to fans. One of their promotional videos showed unaired footage that contained big spoilers for future episodes. In response, former series producer Ian Jones-Quartey joked that "being a Steven Universe fan is suffering." This was a reference to the show's irregular and unpredictable airing schedule.
From June 2 to July 29, 2018, Steven Universe reruns aired on Cartoon Network's sister channel, Boomerang.
Special Episodes and Crossovers
"Say Uncle" was a special episode that crossed over with Uncle Grandpa. It aired on April 2, 2015. In this episode, Uncle Grandpa helps Steven use his Gem powers when he can't summon his shield. The episode even has Uncle Grandpa saying that it's not part of the main story. Steven, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and other Cartoon Network characters also made short appearances in the Uncle Grandpa episode "Pizza Eve."
Also, Garnet appeared in "Crossover Nexus," an episode of OK K.O.! Let's Heroes. This episode aired on October 8, 2018. In it, Garnet teamed up with K.O., Ben Tennyson from Ben 10, and Raven from Teen Titans Go! to stop a villain named Strike.
Mini-Episodes
Cartoon Network released two sets of mini-episodes. The first set included the longer version of the theme song, "We Are the Crystal Gems." It also had shorts where the Crystal Gems taught Steven about Gems. There was an "unboxing" video of Steven's new bag and a short where Steven's pet lion played with a cardboard box. The second set had five mini-episodes showing Steven cooking, singing karaoke, reacting to "Crying Breakfast Friends!", video chatting with Lapis and Peridot, and playing a new song.
The End and What Came Next
According to Rebecca Sugar, she was told in 2016 that the series would end after its fifth season. She convinced Cartoon Network to make the fifth season longer, to 32 episodes. This gave her enough room to finish the story. They also approved a follow-up TV movie, Steven Universe: The Movie. Along with the film, Cartoon Network also approved another season of 20 episodes. This became the sequel series Steven Universe Future, which takes place after the movie. Even though the show ended, Sugar has said that more stories could exist. However, she needs a long break before deciding how to continue.
The Movie Adventure
The follow-up TV movie, Steven Universe: The Movie, was announced on July 21, 2018, at San Diego Comic-Con. A short preview was shown and uploaded to the Cartoon Network YouTube channel. It was released on Cartoon Network without commercials on September 2, 2019. The movie is 82 minutes long and takes place two years after the main series ended. Its story is about a Gem named Spinel who is upset. She erases the Crystal Gems' memories to get revenge because Steven's mother left her. The movie received great reviews, with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8/10 on IMDb.
The Future Series
The limited series Steven Universe Future was announced at the 2019 New York Comic Con. It was meant to be like an extra chapter to the main series. Steven Universe Future started on December 7, 2019. It had 20 episodes, each 11 minutes long, including a four-part finale that aired on March 27, 2020. The story focuses on Steven dealing with his own emotional challenges after everything that happened in the main series.
Other Ways to Enjoy Steven Universe
Books to Read
Many companion books have been published for Steven Universe:
- Steven Universe's Guide to the Crystal Gems (October 2015, ISBN: 978-0843183160) by Rebecca Sugar. It has information about the Crystal Gems.
- Quest for Gem Magic (October 2015, ISBN: 978-0843183177) by Max Brallier. It's a colorful journal and activity book for kids aged 8 to 12.
- Steven Universe Mad Libs (October 2015, ISBN: 978-0843183092) by Walter Burns. It's a Mad Libs word game book.
- Steven Universe: Live from Beach City (February 2016, ISBN: 978-0843183498). This music and activity book has chord charts and sheet music for the first season's main songs.
- What in the Universe? (February 2016, ISBN: 978-0843183481) by Jake Black. It's a collection of fun facts about Steven and the Gems.
- Best Buds Together Fun (June 2016, ISBN: 978-1101995167) by Jake Black. It's a quiz and activity book for kids aged 8 to 12.
- The Answer (September 2016, ISBN: 978-0399541704) by Rebecca Sugar. This is a children's book version of the episode "The Answer". It was number seven on The New York Times Best Seller list on October 2, 2016.
- The Tale of Steven (October 2019, ISBN: 978-1419741487) by Rebecca Sugar. This children's book goes along with the episode "Change Your Mind". It tells the story of Pink Diamond's decision to become Rose Quartz and create Steven. You can read it from different perspectives by turning the book.
Books about how the show was made and collections of artwork have also been published:
- Steven Universe: Art and Origins (July 2017, Abrams Books, ISBN: 978-1419724435) by Chris McDonnell. It includes concept art, early sketches, storyboards, and comments from the show's crew.
- The Art of Steven Universe The Movie (March 2020, Dark Horse, ISBN: 978-1506715070) by Ryan Sands. This book has early character designs and storyboards from the movie.
- Steven Universe: End of an Era (October 2020, Abrams Books, ISBN: 978-1419742842) by Chris McDonnell.
Video Games to Play
- The tactical role-playing video game Steven Universe: Attack the Light! was released on April 2, 2015, for iOS and Android phones and tablets. It was made by Grumpyface Studios with Rebecca Sugar. Players control Steven and three Crystal Gems to fight light monsters.
- A sequel, Steven Universe: Save the Light, came out for consoles in October 2017.
- Another sequel, Steven Universe: Unleash the Light, was released only on Apple Arcade in November 2019. It was later released on PC (Steam) and other consoles in February 2021.
- A rhythm-based mobile game, Steven Universe: Soundtrack Attack, was released on July 21, 2016. In this game, a Gem created by the player runs away from a pursuer through levels set to remixes of the show's music.
- Another mobile game, Steven Universe: Dreamland Arcade, came out in 2017. It's a collection of arcade games with characters from the series.
Steven Universe characters also appear in Cartoon Network's kart racing game Formula Cartoon All-Stars. They are also in the side-scrolling fighting game Battle Crashers. Like other Cartoon Network shows, several online games are available on the channel's website, including Heap of Trouble, Goat Guardian, and Gem Bound.
On February 26, 2019, Minecraft released a Mash-Up Pack based on Steven Universe. This was the second Cartoon Network series to get one after Adventure Time.
On December 4, 2019, Brawlhalla, a free-to-play fighting game, added Steven Universe characters.
Comics to Read
BOOM! Studios has published several comic series based on Steven Universe:
- A monthly comic series, written by Jeremy Sorese and drawn by Coleman Engle, started in August 2014 and ended in March 2015.
- A graphic novel, Too Cool for School, was published by KaBOOM! on April 6, 2016. It's about Steven going to school with Connie.
- A four-part comic miniseries called Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems was published in 2016.
- A new comic series written by Melanie Gillman and drawn by Katy Farina began in January 2017.
- A second graphic novel called Anti-Gravity was released in July 2017.
- A five-issue miniseries called Steven Universe: Harmony was first released in August 2018.
Toys and Merchandise
In October 2015, Cartoon Network announced a line of toys based on Steven Universe. These toys were sold by special stores. For the 2015 holiday season, Funko made "Pop!" vinyl figures. Just Toys offered "blind bag" surprise products. PhatMojo sold soft plush figures and foam weapons. Zag Toys released collectible bobbleheads and other mini-figures in early 2016. The next year, Toy Factory planned to sell plush toys and other novelty items. Cartoon Network also sells many products like mugs, blankets, and clothes based on the show's episodes and characters.
Soundtracks to Listen To
The first album of songs from the first four seasons, Steven Universe Soundtrack: Volume 1, was released on June 2, 2017. This soundtrack did very well, reaching number 22 on the Billboard 200 chart. It was also number two on the Soundtracks chart and number one on the Independent Albums chart.
An album of songs from the fifth and final season, Steven Universe: Volume 2 (Original Soundtrack), and a karaoke album were released on April 12, 2019. Volume 2 reached number 24 on the Soundtracks chart and number 14 on the Kid Albums chart.
A soundtrack for the movie, with its songs and music, was released on September 3, 2019. It reached number 57 on the Billboard 200 and number two on the Kid Albums chart. The soundtrack for Steven Universe Future was released on October 23, 2020.
Five albums featuring the show's background music were released on May 29, June 26, July 31, August 28, and September 25, 2020.
Images for kids
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Rebecca Sugar, the creator of Steven Universe
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Ian Jones-Quartey, a supervising director for Steven Universe
See also
In Spanish: Steven Universe para niños
