Cheeseburger Backpack (episode)

"It's a novelty backpack, shaped like a cheeseburger!"

"Cheeseburger Backpack" is the 3rd episode of the first season of Steven Universe, and the 3rd episode overall.

Official Synopsis
A mission to the Lunar Sea Spire takes a treacherous turn, but Steven has packed his totally amazing Cheeseburger Backpack with anything they could ever need!

Plot
The episode begins with Steven sitting on top of his mail box, singing Hey Mr. Postman about the postman. He starts talking to Jamie, a postman, when he walks up and asks him if he has a package for him. After he takes numerous objects out of his bag, Jamie finds Steven's package from a company called Wacky Sacks Supply Company.

Steven eagerly runs into the house and sees Garnet covered in feathers. Amethyst is trying to get a gigantic egg into the fridge while Pearl is discouraging her. Pearl begins to tell Steven about how they are only in for a minute because they need to put the Moon Goddess Statue at the top of the Lunar Sea Spire before midnight or the whole place will be destroyed. She goes on to talk about how beautiful of a place it was in its day. She explains how it was an oasis for Gems on Earth, but is currently abandoned. When Steven realizes they need to carry the statue there, he finds this a suiting time to debut his newest piece of gear, his Cheeseburger Backpack. Amethyst wants to bring him along under the pretext of education. The other Gems agree and decide it would be a good educational trip for him.

After packing as many things as he can fit in the backpack, Steven and the Gems take the crystal warp pad in the living room to the Lunar Sea Spire. They witness the Spire falling apart at the seams, with Pearl stating that "it wasn't like this 100 years ago". Their first obstacle is getting into the Spire. They have to jump a gap that Garnet says is magically protected with a gravitational force pulling down towards the water. Steven goes into his backpack and pulls out the first of his odd items he brought along with him: sweaters. He ties them together and throws them towards the Spire, using them as a rope swing. After he succeeds, Amethyst pulls out her whip and brings her and the rest of the Gems over. Shocked, Pearl angrily tells Steven to never do it again, but claims it was a pretty good idea.

They head to the top where the statue needs to be placed and Pearl is distressed at the sight of all the crumbling statues and walls. Pearl tells Steven the possibility that the place will all be repaired once the Moon Goddess Statue is placed, but is interrupted as some Crystal Shrimp are seen crawling around. Panicking her, Pearl summons her weapon and destroys a nearby statue. Suddenly they come face to face with an infestation of Crystal Shrimp. Steven wonders if he can just squish them, but Pearl stops him, saying that their shards are deadly. Pearl comes up with a complex plan and starts to explain it, but Steven simply throws some bagels from his backpack into the room and the shrimp clear a path for them. The Gems are so impressed with his ingenuity that when a ravine forms in front of them and fills with water, they immediately look to him for a plan. Steven reaches into the backpack and pulls out the first sensible item he packed: a raft. Unfortunately, as soon as he tosses it into the water, it is carried down a waterfall. Garnet kicks over a column to use as a bridge, but says that Steven had a nice idea anyway.

They pass over the bridge that Garnet had made for them and begin to trek up to the top of the spire. Once they are at the top, they see a beautiful view of the sky and realize that it is still before midnight and they still have time to place the statue and save the spire. Garnet asks Steven for the statue from his bag. He begins to rummage through it and look more nervous with every second. Disappointed, he tells the Gems he doesn't have the statue, but has an alternative. He proceeds to pull out Mr. Queasy, a plush doll he got in his room when packing for the adventure, from his cheeseburger backpack.

The Gems are clearly frantic since Steven only had one job, but they don't mind his mistake and brush off his imperfections. They say it's worth a shot and Steven puts Mr. Queasy where the Moon Goddess Statue was supposed to go. A beam of light goes from Mr. Queasy directly to the moon, and for a moment, it seems as if the replacement statue is going to work. Mr. Queasy begins to levitate and starts yelling as if in pain. The doll then explodes, and along with it comes the destruction of the Lunar Sea Spire, and ends as it sinks to the bottom of the ocean.

Miraculously, Steven and the Gems survive. Again, the Gems don't seem to be upset by this and revive a consistent theme from this show: not being perfect is okay. The Lunar Sea Spire floods and the Gems one by one pop up from underwater. Steven apologizes that the spire sunk, but Pearl and Amethyst cheer him up saying that 50% of his ideas worked. Not long after that, the raft that went over the edge of a waterfall earlier pops up and they get on it to head back home. Amethyst and Pearl start chanting "cheeseburger backpack" over and over again. Garnet however, mentions that it's going to be a three-hour paddle to get home. The episode ends with Steven asking the others "Anyone want a wet bagel?" which is Steven's next great idea to help get them back home.

Characters

 * Steven
 * Pearl
 * Garnet
 * Amethyst
 * Jamie (debut)
 * Crystal Shrimp (debut)
 * Barbara Miller (mentioned)
 * Holo-Pearl (debut)

Objects

 * Cheeseburger Backpack (debut)
 * Moon Goddess Statue (debut)
 * Mr. Queasy
 * Bagel Sandwich (debut)
 * Inflatable Raft (debut)

Locations

 * Beach City
 * Crystal Temple
 * Beach House
 * Lunar Sea Spire

Songs

 * Hey Mr. Postman

Instrumental Songs

 * Water Damage
 * Atop the Sea Spire

Trivia

 * Pearl shows her ability to project holographic images from her gemstone for the first time.
 * This is the first episode where the main setting isn't Beach City, as most of the episode took place at the Lunar Sea Spire.
 * Virgin Media (UK) offers this episode and "Laser Light Cannon" on their TV Choice service.

Cultural references

 * Several references to the sitcom Full House were made. Jamie bears a striking resemblance to Danny Tanner. Later on at the Lunar Sea Spire, Steven winks and says "You got it, dude!" which is a popular refrain of Michelle Tanner.
 * Steven has what appears to be a Nintendo 64 plugged up to the TV in his room.
 * The name on the jury summons, R. J. Finkle, may be a reference to Ray Finkle, fictional former Miami Dolphins kicker and main antagonist of the film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
 * The Mr. Queasy plush toy has several aspects reminiscent of certain Sesame Street characters and paraphernalia. His voice resembles that of Cookie Monster, while the doll itself is a parody of the Tickle Me Elmo toys.

Continuity

 * Pearl states that the Spire "didn't look like this 100 years ago", implying that the Crystal Gems must be very old. We then learn in the episode "So Many Birthdays" that Crystal Gems are thousands of years old and are biologically immortal.
 * Steven's trip to the spire was actually a test, as revealed in "The Test".

Errors
Note: Time is displayed in [mm:ss]; [00:00] refers to the point after the title card is displayed and before the episode's start.

Plot
[04:53] When Steven swung the T-shirts around the building, he wasn't wearing his backpack, but when he used it to swing across, he's wearing it again.

Design
[01:11] Garnet's star colors are inverted. [04:37] Sapphire's gemstone is in both of Garnet's hands. [04:38] Garnet's middle finger is of the same color as the other ones, instead of black. [04:39] Sapphire's gemstone is upside down in Garnet's palm. [09:26] Garnet's star colors are inverted. [09:30] After Mr. Queasy explodes, Garnet's lips disappear. [09:59] When Steven surfaces after the Sea Spire sinks, and the camera cuts back to Steven after cutting to the Gems surfacing, when Steven says "I broke it", the backpack is missing, and returns only when the camera pans up to show the raft surface.

Videos
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