“ |
We're going into space, and we're not coming back without Greg. |
” |
—Garnet |
"Adventures in Light Distortion" is the 12th episode of the fourth season of Steven Universe, the 115th episode overall, and the second episode in the fifth StevenBomb.
Official Synopsis[]
Steven and the Gems take off on a search and recovery mission.[3]
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. After a short discussion, they conclude Blue Diamond and Greg's destination to be Pink Diamond's Zoo, an insidious establishment where Pink Diamond brought the humans she had captured as trophies of her conquest. The Crystal Gems set off in the Roaming Eye after a safety inspection by Peridot, and Steven is eager to go to the point where he leaves Connie, Lapis, and Peridot with protecting Beach City in their absence. During the flight through space, the Crystal Gems encounter the asteroid belt and navigate around it. Afterward, they encounter the Ruby squad members Doc, Navy, and Army on their windscreen before flying off back into space.
They plan on rescuing them on their way back. Steven asks Pearl how long it will take to reach the Zoo. Pearl reads the panel and determines they will arrive in seventy human years. Steven is concerned as Greg is not healthy enough to live that long. Garnet and Amethyst recall Peridot's mention of the gravity engine and its ability to 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 shortened. Pearl, trying to understand what is happening, explains that they are in a situation where there is no effect of normal laws of physics. Steven notices that they are shortened thanks to the ship being calibrated for Rubies. Then he attempts to change the settings to return the Gems to normal but instead causes them to morph to the sizes of 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 which deactivates the calibration and causes the ship to fly faster.
Steven, pinned back to the pilot seat due to the immense speed, sees the screen indicate their destination is being approached at an alarming speed, threatening to cause a collision. In an effort to stop the ship, Steven pushes himself to touch the screen, initially failing to do so. Then he mourns the situation, claiming he should have never gone to Korea and let Greg be abducted by Blue Diamond.
With the acquired determination from his distress, he finally manages to slow the ship down. As everything returns to normal in the ship, the Crystal Gems rejoice, revealing that the velocity of the ship after the calibration had turned down was larger than the speed of light, tampering with Gems' light forms. It is then seen in the distance their destination has been reached.
Features[]
Characters[]
- Steven Universe
- Garnet
- Pearl
- Amethyst
- Peridot
- Lapis Lazuli (non-speaking)
- Ruby (hologram, gemstone)
- Sapphire (gemstone)
- "Doc" (non-speaking)
- "Army" (non-speaking)
- "Navy" (non-speaking)
- Greg Universe (mentioned)
- Blue Diamond (mentioned)
- Pink Diamond (mentioned)
- Connie Maheswaran (mentioned)
Objects[]
Locations[]
- Solar System
- Earth
- Asteroid belt
- Space
- Unknown ringed planet (debut)
- Pink Diamond's Zoo (debut)
- Unknown ringed planet (debut)
Music[]
Instrumentals[]
- 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.
- However, the real asteroid belt does not have such density (physically impossible), so it may be assumed that the Roaming Eye contacted some other swarm of stellar bodies (possibly created by Homeworld Gems during the occupation of Earth). The presence of Rubies, who could not possibly travel so far with their low initial velocity, seems to support that assumption. Also, when the Roaming Eye is shown with the Earth behind, the velocity of the ship is clearly sublight.
- The Roaming Eye seems to have a panic button installed. This causes the ship to move somewhere faster than light, possibly through the Gravity Engine, exhibiting a G-force on Steven that his Quartz strength could hardly overpower. This movement causes the ship to physically contort, and any Gem's hard light—uncontained or form-uncontrolled—will trail behind the ship, in a nearly-invisible manner, or at least extremely dim.
- 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 by the "Stargate Sequence" scene of the 1968 sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- Steven and the Gems going into gravity warp in the Roaming Eye is very similar to the USS Enterprise entering the wormhole and the crew holding on tight from the 1979 sci-fi film Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
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 on the Moon Base in "Back to the Moon".
- Ronaldo's theory from "Rising Tides, Crashing Skies" about Homeworld keeping a human zoo proved to be correct.
- When Pearl informs Steven they will arrive at the Zoo in about seventy years, her lack of concern regarding Greg's state after such time suggests an unfamiliarity with the average human lifespan. This is first demonstrated in "Space Race", during which Pearl attempts to reassure Greg by telling him she will bring Steven back to Earth in fifty years.
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.
Design[]
- [04:13] While talking about the gravity engine in the Roaming Eye, and Amethyst says "[Peridot] said it bends reality," The Great Diamond Authority symbol has an orange and a yellow triangle where there should be a white and a blue triangle, respectively.
- [TBA] After Steven slows down the ship, when the Crystal Gems return to their original forms, Ruby and Sapphire's gemstones are switched.
Other[]
- [00:00] Hilary Florido and Jesse Zuke are mistakenly credited for writing and storyboarding the episode in the title card. This error was fixed in the televised and iTunes versions.
Transcript
View the episode's transcript here.