Giant Woman

"Giant Woman"
Steven Universe episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 12
Directed by Ki-Yong Bae
Jin-Hee Park
Young-Wha Yoon
Kevin Dart
Ian Jones-Quartey
Written by
  • Joe Johnston
  • Jeff Liu
Featured music
  • "Giant Woman" by Rebecca Sugar
  • "Opal" and "Amalgam" by Aivi Tran and Steven Velma
Production code 1020-010
Original air date February 24, 2014 (2014-02-24)
Running time 11 minutes
Guest actors

"Giant Woman" is the twelfth episode of the first season of the American animated television series Steven Universe. It was written by Joe Johnston and Jeff Liu, with Ki-Yong Bae, Jin-Hee Park and Young-Wha Yoon providing animation direction, Kevin Dart serving as art director and Ian Jones-Quartey providing supervising direction. According to Liu, the episode was worked on nearly a year before premiering. Rebecca Sugar stated the song "Giant Woman", which she performed at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con International, was "humbled by the presence" of Aimee Mann's guest voice. In the United States, the episode originally aired on Cartoon Network on February 24, 2014. The episode was seen by 1.893 million viewers, becoming the most watched episode aired by the network for the week of April 7 to April 13, 2014.

Steven Universe follows the adventures of a young boy named Steven and the three alien warriors Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, who are together known as the Crystal Gems. Their ultimate goal is to protect the Earth from colonization by other members of the Gem species. In the meantime, Steven must try to harness his own magical powers, which were inherited from Rose Quartz, his mother and the past leader of the Crystal Gems, while finding balance between being half-human and half-Gem.

The episode introduces the concept of fusion, which is a process that allows two or more assenting Gems to combine their bodies and personalities into a new Gem with different abilities. When Steven goes on a mission with Pearl and Amethyst, he encourages them to fuse so that they will become a "giant woman" named Opal. However, the two Gems fight and have a difficult time fusing because of their clashing personalities.

Plot

The episode opens to Pearl (Deedee Magno Hall) and Amethyst (Michaela Dietz) playing a game of checkers. After Pearl defeats Amethyst, the two begin to argue with each other. When Steven (Zach Callison) asks what they are fighting over, Pearl explains that she and Amethyst can perform a dance ritual to fuse and form a different Gem, Opal, who takes the form of a being physically larger than either of them. Amethyst interjects when she feels that Pearl misrepresents her style of dance. However, Steven's line of inquiry is interrupted when Garnet (Estelle) returns home from a mission and tells Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven to go to the Sky Spire to get the Heaven Beetle, also asking Steven to keep the peace between Amethyst and Pearl.

At the Sky Spire, Steven continues to ask Pearl and Amethyst about their fusion. He sings the song "Giant Woman" to express his desire to see the two Gems work together. Despite his pestering, Pearl tells him that they will only fuse if there is an emergency. As they are proceeding toward the Heaven Beetle, Amethyst becomes careless and endangers Steven; she is only able to rescue him with Pearl's help. Once they reach the top of the spire, the three discover that the beetle is missing. Suddenly, a large Gem bird attacks them, eating a goat Steven had befriended earlier. Individually, the Gems are unable to fend off the monster. Steven encourages Pearl and Amethyst to fuse, and they try, but fail to do so. Steven is eaten by the bird, and inside its stomach, he finds his goat chewing on the Heaven Beetle. As he is grabbing the beetle from the goat, several arms break through the bird's stomach and pull them out, and it is revealed that Pearl and Amethyst have successfully fused into Opal (Aimee Mann) to save Steven. After Opal defeats the bird, Steven is fearful of the unfamiliar figure, until Opal sings a line from "Giant Woman" to show that she has retained the memories and combined personalities of Pearl and Amethyst.

Opal and Steven return to their hime, and when Garnet asks if the three retrieved the Heaven Beetle, Opal splits apart as Pearl and Amethyst squabble about forgetting the purpose of their mission. However, Steven shows the others that he managed to acquire the beetle as Garnet puts it away in a terrarium and bubbles the terrarium for safekeeping. Garnet then reveals that Steven is also capable of fusing with a Gem.

Production

The episode was written and storyboarded by Joe Johnston and Jeff Liu and directed by Ian Jones-Quartey. Ki-Yong Bae, Jin-Hee Park and Young-Wha Yoon provided animation direction, and Kevin Dart served as art director. According to Liu, the animatic for the fusion dance in "Giant Woman" was produced nearly a year before the episode premiered.[1] The final board, written tenth in production order, was submitted to the network on June 11, 2013, before being approved June 26.[2]

The episode was first announced onto the site's official production blog with an panel of the episode's storyboard.[3] In addition, several promotional pieces were published by Johnston and character designer Colin Howard, encouraging followers to watch.[4][5] Johnston stated the episode was his favorite episode to work on with Liu, but has since been "eclipsed by more recent stuff we've done."[1] Various background art and animation props were released after its premiere, before the full storyboard was made available on Scribd on March 5.[6][7][2]

Music

Aimee Mann, pictured in 2008, voices the character Opal.

The song "Giant Woman" was performed by series creator Rebecca Sugar at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con International, prior to the release of the episode.[8] Sugar stated that the song was "humbled by the presence" of her "absolute musical hero," Aimee Mann, who provided the voice of Opal in the episode.[9]

The episode also features the songs "Opal" and "Amalgam" by the show's music team, Aivi & Surasshu, consisting of pianist Aivi Tran and sound designer Steven Velema.[10][11] The former song was meant to capture how Pearl and Amethyst would sound as a merged entity, with the impression that the result "would be powerful and magnificent".[10] In the show, each character is associated with a different instrument and style of music. Tran and Velema noted that Pearl would straighten out Amethyst's "normal swinging beat", and Amethyst "would push Pearl's classy piano towards a more wild playing style."[10] Both tracks were released onto SoundCloud on February 28 and March 2, 2014, respectively.[10][11]

Reception

Upon its premiere on February 24, 2014, "Giant Woman" was seen by 1.893 million viewers.[12][13] It received a Nielsen rating of 0.36 for adults in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic, meaning that it was seen by 455,000 adults upon its premiere.[13] In addition, it received a Nielsen household rating of 1.2, and was ranked as the most watched episode aired by the network for the week of April 7 to April 13, 2014.[14]

Writing for Cartoon Brew, Kendra Beltran questioned Steven's desire to see Opal, wondering if the fascination was "a symbol for a growing boy going through some changes".[15] She noted the series to usually not "make me laugh out loud", but highlighted Steven's tearful reaction toward Steven Jr. being devoured by a bird as "the moment of the week."[15]

References

  1. 1 2 Liu, Jeff (February 26, 2014). "Some insight from storyboard artist Jeff Liu". Steven Crewniverse Behind-the-Scenes Universe. Burbank, California: Tumblr. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  2. 1 2 Johnston, Joe; Liu, Jeff; Morris, Kat (March 5, 2014). "'Giant Woman' full storyboard". Steven Crewniverse Behind-the-Scenes Universe. Burbank, California: Tumblr. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  3. ↑ Johnston, Joe (February 24, 2014). "Don’t be a sore loser... watch an all-new episode of Steven Universe tonight!". Steven Crewniverse Behind-the-Scenes Universe. Burbank, California: Tumblr. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  4. ↑ Johnston, Joe (February 24, 2014). "(untitled)". Steven Crewniverse Behind-the-Scenes Universe. Burbank, California: Tumblr. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  5. ↑ Howard, Colin (February 25, 2014). "'Giant Woman' go!". Steven Crewniverse Behind-the-Scenes Universe. Burbank, California: Tumblr. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  6. ↑ Dart, Kevin; Bosma, Sam; Michalka, Elle; Lai, Jasmin (February 25, 2014). "A selection of backgrounds from the Steven Universe episode: 'Giant Woman'". Steven Crewniverse Behind-the-Scenes Universe. Burbank, California: Tumblr. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  7. ↑ Dart, Kevin; Hynes, Danny; Howard, Colin; Wang, Angie; Ford, Tiffany; Lai, Jasmin (March 3, 2014). "A selection of character, prop and effect designs from the Steven Universe episode: 'Giant Woman'". Steven Crewniverse Behind-the-Scenes Universe. Burbank, California: Tumblr. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  8. ↑ Davis, Lauren (February 24, 2014). "This Week's TV: The Ice King goes sane and Arrow faces the Clock King". io9. New York City: Gawker Media. Archived from the original on April 25, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  9. ↑ Sugar, Rebecca (February 27, 2014). "'Giant Woman' demo and chords". Steven Crewniverse Behind-the-Scenes Universe. Burbank, California: Tumblr. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Tran, Aivi; Velma, Steven (February 28, 2014). "'Opal' from 'Giant Woman'". Steven Crewniverse Behind-the-Scenes Universe. Burbank, California: Tumblr. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  11. 1 2 Tran, Aivi; Velma, Steven (March 2, 2014). "'Amalgam' Giant Woman'". Steven Crewniverse Behind-the-Scenes Universe. Burbank, California: Tumblr. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Steven Universe Episode: 'Giant Woman'". TV Guide. New York City: CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  13. 1 2 "Monday's Cable Ratings & Broadcast Finals: The Voice Returns on Top in Viewers, Demos". The Futon Critic. Los Angeles: Futon Media. February 24, 2014. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  14. ↑ Pucci, Douglas (March 8, 2014). "Cartoon Network ratings (February 24 – March 2, 2014)". Son of the Bronx. New York City: Blogger. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  15. 1 2 Beltran, Kendra (February 25, 2014). "Steven Universe Recap: 'Giant Woman'". Cartoon Brew. New York City. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.

External links

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