This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the location or the soundtrack. |
“ |
If life can thrive here, then so can I. I've just got to hold out until Lars finds me. Until then... we survive. |
” |
—Stevonnie |
"Jungle Moon" is the 12th episode of the fifth season of Steven Universe and the 140th episode overall.[2]
Official Synopsis[]
Stevonnie finds themself alone on an adventure.[3]
Plot[]
Following the space battle against Emerald, Stevonnie crash lands on the nearby jungle world. They try to contact Lars, but the "Star Skipper" is too damaged to do so. Stevonnie adapts to overcome their new strange environment while searching for a way off-world. They hunt food, pick fruit, and drink water from a pond with another alien life form.
At one point, Stevonnie is conflicted about whether to eat a baby bird-like alien since Steven finds it too cute and Connie knows they need protein. An adult alien of the same species (presumably its mother) tries to attacks Stevonnie, so they run and find a hiding place. Stevonnie decides to camp there for the night and falls asleep in a hammock that they set up.
Stevonnie starts to dream, waking up inside what appears to be Connie's house. Connie's mother, Dr. Maheswaran, is on the phone talking about an attack and colonization on the nearby planet. Stevonnie quickly moves in to interact with her. Dr. Maheswaran turns to face Stevonnie, and her eyes are yellow with black diamonds as pupils.
She then turns into an amalgamation of Dr. Maheswaran and Yellow Diamond while the house turns into a moon base. Stevonnie suddenly tries to get Yellow's attention, acting as though they are allies. They quickly get into an argument about why she can't have an army or a fleet and declares that she is just as important as Yellow, hence she is entitled to these things. It is revealed that the dream is actually a past conversation between Yellow and Pink Diamond, represented by Stevonnie. Yellow is enraged by Pink's pestering and snaps at her to start acting like she's important. This ultimately angers Pink, causing her to storm away from Yellow's control desk.
Pink Diamond stops to look at herself in the reflection of the glass and, enraged by her argument with Yellow Diamond, she punches a windowpane and cracks the glass in anger. Stevonnie awakens, realizing that their dreams were actually a memory from the Diamonds and their location is the same building that was in the dream.
Stevonnie heads up into the abandoned control room, realizing that the Diamonds' console could be a potential way to reach Lars. Using the console's activation sequence from their dreams, Stevonnie manages to get a signal out to Lars. Just as they do so, the large bird creature from before appears above the dome and tries to break in. Fortunately, Lars arrives just in time to rescue Stevonnie. Stevonnie quickly glances at the window that Pink had smashed and then goes to be picked up by Lars.
Features[]
Characters[]
- Stevonnie
- Connie Maheswaran (mentioned, talking as Stevonnie)
- Steven Universe (mentioned, talking as Stevonnie)
- Lars Barriga (on-screen)
- Priyanka Maheswaran (dream)
- Yellow Diamond (pictured; dream)
- Pink Diamond (debut; dream)
- Yellow Pearl (pictured)
- Emerald (mentioned)
- Doug Maheswaran (pictured; dream)
- Nephrite-XJ Cut-763 (dream; name shown)
- Alien Creatures (debut)
Objects[]
- Homeworld Dropship (dream)
- Rose's Sword
- Sun Incinerator
- Star Skipper (broken)
- Jungle Moon Base Observation Orb (debut)
Location[]
- Earth (mentioned; dream)
- Maheswaran Residence (dream)
- Moon Base (mentioned)
- Jungle Moon (debut)
- Jungle Moon Base (debut)
Music[]
Instrumental Songs[]
Trivia[]
- This is the only episode where Steven does not make a physical appearance.
- However, he is mentioned, and a fusion involving him does appear.
- As of this episode, every single character in the show has been absent for at least one episode.
- This is the first episode to physically show Pink Diamond, not in a mural or silhouette form.
- This is the first episode where an alien species other than the Gems appear, in this case, the non-sentient fauna and the bird-like aliens on the jungle moon.
- This is the first (and only) episode where Steven's voice actor, Zach Callison, is absent, making every voice actor or actress absent at one point in the series.
- This is also the first time Stevonnie stayed as a fusion for more than a day.
- The parent Bird Blob seems to be capable of a Spin Dash similar to that of Jasper and Amethyst.
- This episode was nominated for the 2018 Primetime Outstanding Short Form Animated Program Emmy Award. Other nominations were "Ring of Fire" (Adventure Time), "Freshly Baked: The Robot Chicken Santa Clause Pot Cookie Freakout Special: Special Edition" (Robot Chicken), "The Self-Indulgent 200th Episode Spectacular! (Teen Titans Go!) and "Hurricane Hal" (We Bare Bears).
- Patrick Bryson was awarded an Emmy juried prize for his background painting in this episode. Announced in advance of the 2018 Creative Arts ceremonies, this is the show's first Emmy award.
Cultural References[]
- The bird-like alien headbutting the window and the line "We've got company" are references to the 2017 film Alien: Covenant.
- It is also a reference to the much older film The Graduate; specifically when the titular protagonist pounds on a window to interrupt a wedding. This reference is compounded by Stevonnie's response, "Hello Bird-blob, my old friend," which is a paraphrasing of the first line of the film's theme song "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel ("Hello Darkness, my old friend").
Continuity[]
- This episode continues right where "Lars of the Stars" had left off.
- Steven, through Stevonnie, mentions that he had dreams about the Diamonds again, the first time being in "Steven's Dream".
- Connie's survival skills carry on from "Gem Hunt".
- As well as some of the items used in said episode, such as her frog mug.
- Stevonnie mentions that the Jungle Moon Base is just like the one orbiting Earth, which was first seen in "It Could've Been Great".
- Yellow Diamond's mural from the moon base orbiting Earth is just like the one in the Jungle Moon Base.
- It also seems to have a mysterious orb on the second floor, like that of the Mapped Room in the Moon Base.
- Steven mentions the events of this episode in "Your Mother and Mine".
- Flashbacks from this episode are shown in "A Single Pale Rose".
Errors[]
- At the end of Lars of the Stars, Lars sees that Star Skipper get hit by a missile and he screams in fear, however, at the beginning of this episode Lars is unaware of the ship shutting down and falling until Stevonnie mentions it to him.
- Stevonnie is shown to have memorized the pattern to Yellow's control panel despite looking away while Yellow was punching the last one in, though they could have memorized the different notes for the buttons.
Videos[]
Transcript
View the episode's transcript here.