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Also written by Sorese, drawn by Asia Kendrick Holton, and illustrated by Rosemary Valero-O'Connell, and based on a story by Ian Jones-Quartey, Too Cool for School is about Steven accompanying Connie to school. On February 26, 2019, Minecraft released a Mash-Up Pack based on Steven Universe, making it the second Cartoon Network series to receive one after Adventure Time. The series premiered in the United States on November 4, 2013, on Cartoon Network with two episodes. In Canada, it began 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, and in the United Kingdom and Ireland on May 12 of that year. Most of the show's incidental music is composed by the chiptune piano duo Aivi & Surasshu, with guitars by Stemage.
Sugar and voice director Kent Osborne attend the sessions, advising the actors about voicing the characters in specific situations. If they like a take, the production assistant marks it and gives it to the animation editor for the episode's rough cut. When a recording session begins, Sugar explains the storyboards and describes the sequences, character intention and the relationship between them; Osborne does the recording.
How many seasons are there of Steven Universe future?
Sadie's romantic interest, Shep, is a non-binary person of color, voiced by nonbinary actor Indya Moore. Unlike Stevonnie, Shep is the show's first non-binary character who is fully human. Den of Geek states, "Straight people can obviously date non-binary people but...Sadie is more than likely queer and that’s incredible." The series consisted of a total of minute episodes, with a four-part finale that aired on March 27, 2020.
A four-part comic miniseries titled Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems was published in 2016. It is written by Josecline Fenton and illustrated by Chrystin Garland, and the covers are illustrated by Kat Leyh. In the second season, Peridot allies with and eventually joins the Crystal Gems to prevent Earth's destruction by a Gem "geo-weapon" buried in the planet. During the third season, Lapis Lazuli decides to live on Earth with Peridot; Jasper is defeated and captured; and Steven learns that his mother assassinated one of the Gem empire's matriarchs, Pink Diamond. In the fourth season, as Steven wrestles with his conflicted feelings about his mother's actions, the Gem empire leaders Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond begin to turn their full attention to Earth.
"Coach Steven"
Madame Sugar herself said that Ruby is a female also, looking at you Masques, the same goes for Jasper and all other Gems in existence, they are all female. As in Adventure Time, Steven Universe is a cartoon that isn’t really meant for younger kids, thanks to some mild sexual innuendo and general crudity, among other snags. Presumably, it’s because both of them can’t have a gem at the same time, so Rose gave up her physical form for Steven to exist.
All episodes were supervised directed by Kat Morris and Alonso Ramirez Ramos, with Liz Artinian directing all of the art. The art was also co-directed by Patrick Bryson for the first four episodes. Steven was missing a baby tooth in the extended intro, which usually begins when children are five to seven years old. Steven and Garnet spend part of the episode together, with Steven learning of Garnet’s future vision. Steven and Garnet spend some time together in the house in the beginning of the episode. The original house was a modest-sized dwelling with one large interior room and an upper level.
"Beach Party"
Sugar composed the extended theme song while waiting in line for a security check at Los Angeles International Airport. The series relies on leitmotifs for its soundtrack; instruments, genres and melodies are allotted to specific characters. The music is influenced by the works of Michael Jackson and Estelle; and Sugar has cited Aimee Mann as "a huge influence".
Steven spends much of the episode inside the house, having a battle within it at the end of the episode against a poorly programmed Holo-Pearl. Lion spends much of the episode trying to get into the house, more specifically to try to get to see Steven. Steven spends much time inside of the Beach House as he begins to start growing cat fingers. All Gems are genderless for the sake of convenience they take the form of female humanoids and use female pronouns.
The Ruby Gems are voiced by Charlyne Yi, to whom Sugar wrote to say she was confident Yi would be perfect for the role. Grace Rolek, who voices Steven's friend Connie, was 16 years old when the series began; Rolek has been a voice actor in animated productions since the age of five or six. Each character has a leitmotif expressing their personality, which changes slightly depending on the situation. Pearl is often accompanied by a piano, Garnet by a synth bass, Amethyst by a drum machine with electric bass and synths, and Steven with chiptune tones. Sound palettes were produced for the human characters to represent the evolution of the series, its characters and their relationships. Sound motifs and palettes were also created for locations, objects and abstract concepts.
During this period of development, Sugar and her team were moved to a building behind the main Cartoon Network studio and based on the same floor as the crew of The Powerpuff Girls CGI special. Some artists who had worked on the special, such as colorist Tiffany Ford and art directors Kevin Dart, Ellie Michalka and Jasmin Lai, were later invited to join the Steven Universe team. Cartoon Network also provided Sugar with a list of suggested writers; when she saw Ben Levin and Matt Burnett on the list she immediately asked them to join her team because she was familiar with their work. Freelance artist Danny Hynes, whom the former supervising director Ian Jones-Quartey knew from his own project Lakewood Plaza Turbo, became the show's lead character designer. Steven Sugar was assigned as the background designer after his work on the original pilot, and was assisted by Dart, Michalka, Lai, background painter Amanda Winterston and others.
Jones-Quartey wanted to work with something new, retaining elements of the show's previous project. He worked with Elle Michalka, who later took over his role as background painter for the presentation, to create concept art for an "action-comedy" series. Around this time, Jones-Quartey added stars to the series' logo because he saw them as a versatile symbol. He later said he over-used them, and they were criticized at the art presentation.
Steven argues with the Crystal Gems in the house throughout the episode. Steven brings the corrupted Nephrite, at the time Centipeetle, into the house. She then proceeded to destroy everything and spit corrosive acid everywhere, much to the annoyance of the Crystal Gems. The Crystal Gems leave their house and go on the beach to play a friendly volleyball game with the Pizza Family.
Without the threats of the Diamonds or corrupted Gems, Steven must deal with the everyday challenges that still come with his now relatively peaceful life, and question his new life objectives. The house was temporarily home to a restaurant known as "Steven's" as shown in the episode "Restaurant Wars" where the business both opened and closed. The Crystal Gems spend the start of the episode trying to receive a message from the Wailing Stone. Steven spends part of the episode with the Crystal Gems within the episode.
The series' reputation as "one of the most unabashedly queer shows on TV" generated controversy in 2016 when Cartoon Network UK removed an embrace between Rose and Pearl but did not remove a kiss between Rose and Greg from its British broadcast. The network, which said the decision was intended to make the episode "more comfortable for local kids and their parents", was criticized as homophobic by fans and the media. In 2017, the Kenya Film Classification Board banned Steven Universe and other cartoon series from being broadcast for "glorifying homosexual behavior".
When Sugar's show was commissioned, she resigned from her role as a storyboard artist on Adventure Time to focus on her own series. Sugar focused the pilot short on the main characters and their personalities to demonstrate the series' humor. The pilot is a slice-of-life episode that does not involve major events because the series' world was still in development. Sugar and her production team focused the plot on interaction between the Crystal Gems and Steven.
