Adventures in Light Distortion

"We're going into space, and we're not coming back without Greg."

"Adventures in Light Distortion" is the 12th episode of the fourth season of Steven Universe and is the 115th episode overall.

Official Synopsis
Steven and the Gems take off on a search and recovery mission.

Plot
Steven and Garnet warp into the Beach House to be greeted by Pearl and Amethyst. Steven calls for action to catch up to Blue Diamond who took Greg from Earth. The discussion about the event concluded Blue Diamond and Greg's destination to be Pink Diamond's Zoo. The Crystal Gems set off in the Roaming Eye after a safety inspection by Peridot.

During the flight through space, the Crystal Gems encounter the asteroid belt and navigate around it, encountering the Ruby squad members Doc, Navy, and Army on their windscreen before flying off back into space.

Steven asks Pearl how long it will take to reach the Zoo. Pearl reads the panel to see it will take seventy human years. Steven is concerned as Greg is not healthy enough to live that long. Garnet mentions the gravity engine which would bend reality. Pearl claims it would just alter the definition of speed by manipulating space-time and questions how it would affect organic matter. Steven takes the chance of turning into a pancake and activates the gravity engine.

Steven wakes up from a blackout to see the Gems flattened thanks to the ship being calibrated for Rubies. Steven attempts to change the settings to return the Gems to normal but instead causes them to morph into different Gem types. Steven tries to adjust it manually but morphs the Gems into chaotic shapes lacking integrity. Steven eventually causes the system to return an error. He presses the X on the screen and results in the ship traveling faster than light speed.

Steven sees the screen indicate their destination is being approached at an uncomfortable speed. In an effort to stop the ship, Steven pushes himself to touch the screen, initially failing to do so while mourning the situation to succeeding with the acquired determination from his distress.

As everything returns to normal in the ship, the Crystal Gems rejoice. It is then seen in the distance their destination has been reached.

Characters

 * Steven
 * Garnet
 * Pearl
 * Amethyst
 * Peridot
 * Lapis Lazuli (non-speaking)
 * Ruby (Doc) (non-speaking)
 * Ruby (Army) (non-speaking)
 * Ruby (Navy) (non-speaking)
 * Greg Universe (mentioned)
 * Blue Diamond (mentioned)
 * Pink Diamond (mentioned)
 * Connie Maheswaran (mentioned)

Objects

 * Steven's Phone
 * Roaming Eye

Locations

 * Earth
 * Beach City
 * Beach House
 * The Barn
 * Space
 * Pink Diamond's Zoo

Instrumental Songs

 * TBA

Trivia

 * The asteroid belt is a disc of asteroids in the solar system located between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter. It took the Roaming Eye seventeen seconds to collide with the first asteroid from the asteroid belt which from Earth is estimated to be between 179.5 and 329 million kilometers. This can mean the Roaming Eye can travel at an estimate of ten to twenty million kilometers per second post-launching.
 * When the gravity engine distorts space-time after Steven presses the error screen, the Roaming Eye begins to travel faster than the speed of light, defying the special theory of relativity as it takes an infinite amount of energy to equal the speed of light.
 * This episode reveals that Greg is around forty years old.

Cultural References

 * Most of the interior scenes of the Roaming Eye traveling at dangerous speed were inspired from the "Stargate Sequence" scene of the 1968's sci-fi film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Continuity

 * This episode continues the story begun by "Steven's Dream".
 * Three members of the Ruby squad were seen colliding with the Roaming Eye after the events in the asteroid belt, referring to the event where the Ruby squad and Steven were vacuumed into space after the fight in "Back to the Moon".
 * Ronaldo's theory about Homeworld keeping a human zoo from "Rising Tides, Crashing Skies" proved to be correct.

Errors

 * Hilary Florido and Lauren Zuke are mistakenly credited for writing and storyboarding the episode in the title card.

Videos
Adventures in Light Distortion