I remember the exact moment that Steven Universe became my second favourite television series, deftly accelerating past Columbo. (I suppose that means I'd better induct it as my Twenty-First Telly Recommendation). Like a lot of animated shows, there had been a slow drip feed of new episodes, so Cartoon Network had taken to using a 'Steven Bomb' - a week's worth of episodes shown after a long gap from the last lot. 'Steven Bomb 2' took place in June.
Hold on. I'd better do a quick introduction to what I'm talking about (I always forget to do that). Steven Universe is a Cartoon Network show created by Rebecca Sugar, an animator probably best know for her work on Adventure Time. She's also a songwriter and responsible for some of the best tunes from that series. Which explains why Sugar managed to crack one of the most important facets of any TV series - the theme music. Since I seem to be making arbitrary lists at the mo, I'll go so far as to say Steven Universe has the Third Best theme in television. That's the music that plays over the end credits. The First Best is Doctor Who (obvs). The Second Best is Steven Universe's opening theme.
Steven Universe follows a well-worn path for an adventure serial. Essentially we join the story in the middle. Steven is a young boy who lives with three magical beings: Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl - the Crystal Gems of the song. It's quickly established that they fight threats to humanity - so far, so super-hero. We discover that Steven is half-gem. His earthly father fell in love with a fourth Gem, Rose Quartz. We're joining Steven at a familiar point in a familiar story - a would-be hero growing up to fulfil their destiny. There are early hints as to the history that led us to this point and subtle set-ups for stories to come, but the first few episodes are about introducing the characters and establishing the world of Beach City where Steven lives.
The format is the usual Cartoon Network one of 11 minute episodes, like Adventure Time, Gumball and Regular Show and we're now about 70 episodes in to what has unravelled to be a complex story with lots of twists and surprises. A quick scoot on a Wiki or two would reveal everything but I'm going to ask you to trust me and start at the beginning. All the episodes are available at the World of Steven Universe. It doesn't take too long before you see how bit by bit the story is beginning to build and build.
And the songs! Funny, clever, heartbreaking and sometimes just flat out awesome (sorry for using that word, but it really is the most appropriate). They're beautifully arranged too. The makers of the show post lots of behind the scenes material and it's fascinating hearing the demos of the songs and comparing them to the finished versions. There are links to downloads on the World of Steven Universe site.
Here's a one of the lighter ones that isn't too spoilerific. From the episode 'Giant Woman' it's called, er, 'Giant Woman'.
The goat is called 'Steven Junior', by the way.
Anyway, I can't be too specific about why this strange cartoon is so fabulous without going into details that would spoil the story, so I'll just vaguely allude to such things as love, feels, female sexuality, parenthood, 8 bit videogaming, anime, self-worth and breakfast. And the fact that that brilliant end music I mentioned develops as the first season progresses, matching the intensity of the episodes that lead up to the superb finale before serving up a sweet sucker punch right after you've already been on an emotional rollercoaster.
So anyway, 'Steven Bomb 2' was airing. I'd starting getting episodes on US iTunes so they came with subtitles so No2 son could enjoy them more fully. We were about to watch the first of those episodes 'Sworn to the Sword' round at his house, so I was connecting my iPad to his telly. I set it off before switching on the subtitles and paused it as it was a second into the theme song. We all called out excitedly 'New titles!' and No1 son started berating me for my tech incompetence and interrupting the purity of this thrilling moment.
It reminded me of when, as a young man, I had been round at my best man's house when the new series of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon started. There was an exciting new title sequence then too, followed by a brilliant, confident episode with all the characters well-established and flying (the episode was 'The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow' if you're wondering).
That's how I felt as this ep unfolded. It is a soaring, fabbo installment with the rare treat of two great songs in it. And as it closed Columbo politely moved out of the way.
More soonliest.
