Describing the premise of Cartoon Network series “Steven Universe” doesn’t do it justice. It’s about a half-alien 14-year-old that looks like a 10-year-old whose raised by three renegade warrior aliens exiled from their home world, where conflicts range from revolution against a twisted totalitarian government to settling petty disputes between small businesses.
And yet, this awesome premise still undersells what is so great about “Steven Universe,” the little show that could do anything and everything TV has to offer, including the occasional original song. Since its return on Jan. 30, here are five great things “Steven Universe” does.
1. It has a sophisticated mythology
It isn’t so rare nowadays for what is ostensibly a kid’s show to feature world-building as seismic as that on “Steven Universe.” Contemporaries like “Adventure Time” and “Gravity Falls” show this to be true. But that doesn’t undercut how complex and meaningful the backstory crafted for its centuries-old alien characters is, or how tightly wound the arc builds around it are.
Four seasons in, “Steven Universe” is a series that has a lot up its sleeves still when it comes to the pasts of the Crystal Gems (the three aliens that raise Steven), and the great war against their own people that left them stranded on Earth.
2. Anything can happen any week
Despite its main storyline featuring space wars and the downfalls of totalitarianism, “Steven Universe” is a remarkably down-to-earth show with plenty of episodes featuring an expansive cast of characters within the townsfolk of Beach City. This broad spectrum of characters, along with the history and properties of the Crystal Gems, allows for the series to wear the guise of any genre it wants.
Racing drama a la “The Fast and the Furious”? Sure. Teen-comedy? Why not? Homage to chintzy Broadway musicals? You get where this is going. Not only does it play into the tropes of these sorts of genres, but it utilizes them to progress themes and plot points specific to the series itself. In other words, “Steven Universe” makes them its own.
3. It’s one of TV’s most progressive shows
It’s a good time for progressive television. It’s a time where a show about a transgender parent can win multiple Emmys (“Transparent”), and a show featuring queer relationships can be one of its most popular (“Orange is the New Black”). “Steven Universe” stands tall among the rest of television in terms of progress. Through the Crystal Gems, the show embraces genderfluidity, the deconstruction of masculinity as a property for male heroes, and complicated, richly defined queer relationships.
4. It’s hilarious
The success of humor in a TV series varies on the mileage of the viewer, but “Steven Universe” is packed full of enough visual and verbal gags, wordplay and self-awareness toward the seriousness of its own epic plotting. Few kids’ shows have the capacity to employ a character as unusual as Steven and allow others to comment on this matter, but “Steven Universe” understands where the funny is at.
5. It does all of this within 11 minutes
That might be the most impressive thing about this series. It’s able to pack arc-defining plot points, hilarious comedy, non-smug social commentary, winks to its influences and character growth within the span of 11 minutes. Occasionally it features two-part or half-hour episodes, but for the most part “Steven Universe” operates in 11 minutes bursts more deep, compassionate and action-packed than shows that run four times that length.
10 out of 10
“Steven Universe” returned Jan. 3o with two new episodes at 7/6 central on Cartoon Network, followed by a new episode at the same time every day of the week that follows. The first two seasons are available on Hulu.
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