Steven and the Stevens (episode)


 * This article is about the episode. For the song, see here, and for the band, see here.

"I'll be the handsome one!"

"Steven and the Stevens" is the 22nd episode of the first season of Steven Universe and the 22nd episode overall.

Official Synopsis
Steven needs a musical partner for an upcoming show, and uses a time travel device to recruit the perfect bandmate: HIMSELF!

Plot
The episode begins with the Gems in the Sea Shrine, looking for The Hourglass. Steven picks out the smallest hourglass. Pearl tells him that the hourglass would not be "so small and insignificant", it would be "beautiful and grand." Garnet chooses the biggest hourglass in the sea shrine. Pearl asks how they will transport it to the warp pad, and Garnet claims she can carry it. Pearl stops her, saying that they need to be careful which one they touch, reminding her what happened "last time." Amethyst then makes the call by grabbing an abstract designed hourglass. After she grabs it, the sea shrine's roof breaks, resulting in a huge amount of water pouring into the shrine. The Gems are about to leave, but Steven wants to get the small hourglass that he picked earlier, because Amethyst got to keep hers. He runs and gets the hourglass, and as he runs back, a huge wave of water flows towards him. Garnet shapeshifts her hand, making it large enough to pull Steven away from the danger. The Gems then warp out of the sea shrine and back to the Beach House. When the Gems get back to the house, Steven asks if they will return to the Sea Shrine. Pearl then angrily says that they unfortunately have to wait another 100 years for the Sea Shrine to reform. Garnet then changes the subject by telling her that there is a lobster on her butt, to Pearl's dismay. A Cookie Cat-shaped alarm clock starts to ring and Steven is reminded of the upcoming Beach-A-Palooza, which he is to be performing in with his father. He leaves the house, saying goodbye to the Gems and that it was fun on the mission.

Steven goes to "It's A Wash" to meet his father for their rehearsal, but cannot rehearse with him, as Yellowtail's boat is stuck in the car wash. Steven leaves, disappointed, saying that he wishes that the "stupid" boat was not stuck there in the first place. He suddenly gets teleported back in time, confused at first but soon glad to realize that he can prevent the boat from getting stuck. He runs to his father, calling, "It's fat! It's fat!" Greg stops Yellowtail from reversing it into the car wash. Steven realizes The Hourglass took him back in time with joy.

But while Greg tries to explain to Yellowtail that the boat was "fat", the truck pulling the boat moves backwards and hits a pole, which breaks and crashes onto the truck, setting it on fire. The fire quickly spreads to the telephone wire, and sets the car wash ablaze. Steven then wishes he could go back in time to stop himself from stopping his father. He goes back and manages to stop himself, both Stevens then deciding to create a band and go back in time to get more Stevens.

The scene cuts to four Stevens singing the song "Steven and the Stevens". After the song, they decide the "original Steven" should be the leader of the band. Steven 1 then labels the other three Stevens 2, 3, and 4. He states that Steven 2 is "the smart one", while 3 is "the funny one" and Steven 4 is "the sensitive one." Steven 1 then brushes his hair up, and labels himself "the handsome one."

Steven 4 then says something funny. Steven 1 tells 4 that Steven 3 is "the funny one", but then Steven 3 says they are all equally prone to being hilarious. Steven 1 then says that was too smart of an observation. 2 then asks who he was again, and 1, getting rather frustrated, tells him he's supposed to be the smart one. Steven 4 then asks if they are all not good looking, since 1 is the handsome one. The other two Stevens disagree and suggest they all get jobs as models. Steven 1 then says that none of them are the handsome one, making all the other Stevens feel sad. Steven 1 then decides they take a five-minute break.

Steven goes outside and says he cannot believe that he is so annoying. He considers quitting the music business, when suddenly he hears a loud racket. He enters the house to see that all 3 Stevens are playing loud music and asks them to stop. The other three Stevens decide to kick him out of the band, saying his attitude was not working for them. Steven 1 angrily objects about him being kicked out and tells the other Stevens that without him they would be nothing. This suddenly gives 1 the idea to go back in time to stop himself from ever creating the band.

The other three Stevens pursue him to different time lines, as far as back to "Gem Glow", and to "Rose's Room" which created more Stevens. Then they go to "Ocean Gem" where Steven 1 asks the hourglass to go back to the beginning. Steven gets teleported to the beginning of the episode and asks the Steven there to give him the hourglass. Suddenly, all the other clones teleport to exactly the same place. Steven finally gets the hourglass, but stops laughing manically when he sees how scared his past self is. He sees the chaos he had created, and shouts to all the other Stevens to stop. They all stop and realize their mistakes, and Steven destroys the hourglass of time in order to bring things back to where they were. All the copies of the hourglass gets destroyed along with the Stevens, and before all the Stevens disappear, the last Steven tells the Steven of the beginning that Greg can't play in the BEACH-A-PALOOZA because of the boat being fat. He kisses Steven and tells him to stay cool, leaving a very confused and shocked Steven. Steven still participates in the concert, except with the Crystal Gems this time singing "Steven and the Crystal Gems".

Characters

 * Steven
 * Pearl
 * Garnet
 * Amethyst
 * Greg
 * Yellowtail
 * Ronaldo Fryman (non-speaking cameo)
 * Lars (non-speaking cameo)
 * Sadie (non-speaking cameo)
 * Kiki (non-speaking cameo)
 * Bill Dewey (non-speaking cameo)
 * Rose Quartz (pictured)
 * Butt Lobster (debut, cameo)
 * Blue Crab (debut, cameo)
 * Head Octopus (debut, cameo)

Objects

 * The Hourglass
 * Steven's Bike
 * Cookie Cat (Alarm Clock)
 * Beach-a-Palooza (Poster)
 * Yellowtail's Boat

Locations

 * Sea Shrine
 * Beach City
 * It's A Wash
 * Crystal Temple
 * Beach House
 * Beach-a-Palooza

Music

 * Steven and the Stevens
 * Steven and the Crystal Gems
 * Big Fat Zucchini
 * Ste-Ste-Ste Steven


 * Underwater Temple
 * Battle at the Underwater Temple
 * Time Thing

Trivia

 * As past Steven went back in time for his own selfish reasons, this would be the first time Steven has technically been an antagonist.
 * This episode's title is the third longest in the show, behind "Steven the Sword Fighter" and "Rising Tides, Crashing Skies".
 * This is the second appearance of Yellowtail.
 * This is the first episode since Steven the Sword Fighter that Pearl is seen in her original outfit, in the "Gem Glow" flashback.
 * Some parts of this episode are based on elements from the Pilot such as the hourglass.
 * Greg Universe and Yellowtail were seen together for the first time, both having the same voice actor, Tom Scharpling.
 * The Hourglass makes an appearance again in this episode, but with a slight appearance change.
 * Because Pearl describes it differently in this episode than in the Pilot, it's questionable if The Hourglass is the same object in both episodes.
 * Greg jokingly states that Beach City's town population "is like 15 people".
 * Only 13 people appeared at BEACH-A-PALOOZA, including Mayor Dewey, who didn't seem to be watching the Crystal Gems' performance.
 * This is the first time all the Gems sing together in an episode.
 * All the Gems seem to know how to play musical instruments.
 * Pearl plays the violin.
 * Garnet plays a keytar.
 * Amethyst plays the drums.
 * Steven also knows how to play the electric guitar.
 * This is the fourth episode not to end with a single star-shaped iris, as a shot with the words "the end" is shown instead.
 * If you look closely before the Steven and the Stevens song starts, you can see the facets on the stones on the temple door.
 * Steven says, in Italian, "Arrivederci" to his past-self, which in English translates to "Goodbye".
 * In the Italian version, he says "Adios, amigo", which in English translates, from Spanish, to "Goodbye, friend".
 * The first time Steven is seen in the Sea Shrine a giant wave appears quickly after he grabbed the Hourglass. However, when all of the alternate timeline Stevens appear it appears much later, although none of the events that led to it were changed.
 * This is the fifth episode that has Steven's name in the title.
 * The first was "Serious Steven", the second was "Steven's Lion", the third was "Steven the Sword Fighter", the fourth was "Coach Steven", the sixth was "Watermelon Steven" and the seventh was "Story for Steven".

Cultural References

 * The fact that the correct Glass of Time was something "small and insignificant" may be a reference to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where the Holy Grail was a simple wooden cup rather than a grand chalice.
 * The line "No time to explain" is a reference to No Time to Explain, a video game where in the main character is visited by multiple versions of his future self.
 * This episode contains numerous references to the history of music.
 * Steven says that Steven and the Stevens was supposed to be "a lighthearted throwback to early rock & roll". The song Steven and the Stevens resembles the style of early rock songs from the fifties and sixties, and Steven 1's pompadour hairstyle resembles the hairstyles which were popular in the 1950s and early 1960s.
 * The way the Stevens as "the smart one", "the funny one", "the sensitive one" and "the handsome one" resembles the sort of themed stage personas which are common among boy bands.
 * Ste-Ste-Ste Steven and Big Fat Zucchini resemble hard rock, grunge, punk rock and early metal.
 * The way Steven 1 is kicked out of the band over creative differences resembles the sort of backstage drama which has often affected popular, long-running bands.

Continuity

 * Garnet is seen shapeshifting for the first time. She is shown to shapeshift by changing the malleability and size of certain parts of her body, a form of shapeshifting Pearl talked about in the episode "Cat Fingers."
 * This episode has multiple past episode references, the references being "Gem Glow" and "Rose's Room".
 * As the Stevens chase each other through time, they fast-forward to "Ocean Gem" when the ocean is missing. Since "Steven and the Stevens" aired before "Ocean Gem", this went unnoticed.

Errors

 * After Steven pulls the plug on the rest of the band while playing a song, the next shot shows the cord was, indeed, never pulled out of the outlet.
 * When Steven is singing Steven and the Crystal Gems, the microphone disappears, and reappears, most commonly when it shows all the gems playing.
 * After Steven gets tackled, his scooter and helmet disappear.Error 1.jpg
 * When Pearl is removing algae, you can see that two of the fingers on her left hand are not colored in.
 * During the song Steven and the Stevens, a short frame of original Steven singing shows before quickly switching to the Steven playing the guitar.
 * During the song Ste-Ste-Ste Steven Steven 2 has a bass and Steven 4 a guitar, but when the original Steven disconnects the instruments, the bass and guitar change places.
 * After the Stevens go to the beginning, all of their numbers disappear.
 * When the Stevens go back to the beginning, the sanctuary did not completely fill with water like it should have.