Lars of the Stars

"You love this ship, it's your best friend. You'd much rather let it get away than destroy it."

"Lars of the Stars" is the 11th episode of the fifth season of Steven Universe and the 139th episode overall.

Official Synopsis
Lars rises to the occasion.

Plot
Steven and Connie are at the Crystal Temple's front porch, are about to take a care package made by Dante and Martha Barriga to their son Lars Barriga, currently stranded in space on Homeworld. Steven and Connie go inside the mane of Lion, and enter the pocket dimension accessible through Lion's mane and Lars' hair. The two traverse the pocket dimension and exit through Lars' area.

Upon emerging from Lars' hair, they discover that Lars is now wearing a captain's uniform and seems to be on a spaceship. While Steven, Connie, and Lars are confused, a Gem known as Emerald appears on a large screen in the spaceship. Angrily, she taunts the "Off Colors", and Lars confidently responds that she'll "never take them alive". The four Gems comprising the group known as the Off Colors are seen to be piloting and running the ship.

It is explained that the Off Colors, led by Lars Barriga, had escaped the Homeworld Kindergarten and have been on the run. They had stolen an Emerald's personal shuttle before crashing it on the planet Upsilon-9, had travelled to various planets, impersonated imperial officers during a "public jubilee", and had later snuck past sixty-seven elite Citrine guards to steal Emerald's fastest ship (the "Sun Incinerator") from a docking bay on the planet Klavius 7.

While Emerald contacts them through the ship, Padparadscha (now a "technical advisor" under "Captain Lars") makes an oblivious late prediction that Emerald will discover and contact them. Fluorite (now a "chief engineer") checks on the engine. The Rutile Twins (now pilots) fire up the ship's Nova Thrusters and keep them on their way. Rhodonite (now the "head of strategic operations") informs Lars that everything is clear up ahead. After Emerald threatens them, Fluorite tells Lars that the engines are all set, and Lars has the Rutile Twins pilot the ship into hyper-speed.

Once safe in hyperspace, Connie is introduced to the Off Colors and presents Lars his care package while Steven brings him up to speed with events on Earth. Saddened with the fact that Sadie has been doing well without him, Lars barely notices as several warning signs begin to flash around the ship. Only with some pep talk from Steven and Connie and their subsequent transformation into Stevonnie does Lars finally get his confidence back.

Sure enough, Emerald quickly catches up in her imperial warship, the Destiny Destroyer, having tracked them through hyperspace using the Sun Incinerator's unique energy signature. She threatens to destroy them, but Lars calls her bluff, knowing she'll never destroy her favorite ship. As expected, Emerald refuses to fire on the Incinerator, but cripples its weapons and engines. In order to buy time to escape, Lars suggests piloting his personal custom starfighter, the Star Skipper, and Stevonnie quickly volunteers for the mission. Stevonnie is successful in piloting the Skipper and takes out the Destroyer's main guns. Unfortunately, an explosion from a missile sends them spiraling towards a nearby planet.

Characters

 * Steven
 * Connie
 * Lars Barriga
 * Padparadscha
 * Fluorite
 * Rhodonite
 * Rutile Twins
 * Emerald (debut)
 * Lion
 * Stevonnie
 * 67 Elite Citrines (mentioned)
 * Dante and Martha Barriga (mentioned)
 * Sadie Miller (mentioned; pictured)
 * Sadie Killer and the Suspects (mentioned; pictured)
 * Jenny Pizza (mentioned; pictured)
 * Buck Dewey (mentioned; pictured)
 * Sour Cream (mentioned; pictured)

Objects

 * Emerald's Personal Shuttle (mentioned) (debut)
 * Sun Incinerator (debut)
 * MC Bear Bear
 * Destiny Destroyer (debut)
 * Star Skipper (debut)

Locations

 * Crystal Temple
 * Beach House
 * Gem Homeworld (mentioned)
 * Homeworld Kindergarten (mentioned)
 * Pocket Dimension
 * Klavius-7 (mentioned)
 * Upisilon-9 (mentioned)
 * Outer Space
 * Sector 4 and other three sectors (mentioned)
 * Jungle Moon (seen; debut)

Instrumental Songs

 * TBA

Trivia

 * This is the first episode to air in 2018.
 * A clip from this episode was shown at San Diego Comic-Con in 2017.
 * This is the first time someone other than Steven is shown inside Lion’s mane willingly, and the second time overall after Bismuth.
 * This episode confirms that humans can enter Lion's mane.
 * The name of Sadie's band with the Cool Kids is revealed to be "Sadie Killer and the Suspects".
 * This is the first time Connie and Lars have interacted (on-screen) since Connie’s debut in "Bubble Buddies".
 * The fact that Steven and Connie fused shows that (since the events of "Kevin Party") they have reconciled enough to fuse and maintain it for an extended period of time.

Cultural References

 * Lars' outfit takes resemblance to the outfit of the titular main character of the manga/anime 'Space Captain Pirate Harlock'. His iconic cape in specific is identical to Lars'.
 * Additionally, the several skull imagery in Lars' gages and the Star Skipper are an allusion to the series.
 * The warning signs on the ship's walls that appear bear a striking resemblance to a similar sequence in the anime "Neon Genesis Evangelion".
 * Rhodonite's line "a huge battleship is approaching fast" may be a reference to the video game Darius, in which the same line appears whenever a boss enemy approaches.

Continuity

 * Steven mentions the events of "Off Colors" and "Lars' Head".
 * Additionally, Lars continues to be in the same predicament as he was left off in said episodes: stuck in space with the Off Colors.
 * Stevonnie mentions being comfortable with driving a car, a callback to "Beach City Drift".
 * Lars' skull gauges from the episodes "Horror Club" and "Tiger Philanthropist" are part of his parents' care package.
 * MC Bear Bear also makes a return from the previous said episodes.
 * Sadie is still the lead singer of the band she began in "Sadie Killer".
 * The band is now confirmed to have the name "Sadie Killer and the Suspects".
 * When Stevonnie is formed, they're labeled as an experience, a callback to "Alone Together".
 * Connie's hair is shown to have regrown to shoulder-length, though she keeps it in a ponytail throughout the episode.
 * This indicates that at least two months have passed since the events of "Kevin Party".

Errors

 * 09:23: Emerald's gemstone is reversed to the left side.
 * When Emerald says "Very well, prepare yourselves for destruction!", her eyelashes are missing.
 * The lighter and darker sections of Rhodonite's hair switch places.
 * There are several spelling mistakes in the Cartoon Network version of the ending credits of this episode:
 * "Fluorite" is written as "Fourite".
 * "Emerald" is written as "Merald".
 * Jinkx Monsoon is credited as "Jinkx Monsoone".

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