Steven Universe (series)
Steven Universe is an American animated television series created by American animator, screenwriter, producer, director and musician Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It tells the coming-of-age story of a young boy, Steven Universe (voiced by American actor and singer Zach Callison), who lives with the Crystal Gems—magical, mineral-based aliens named Garnet (voiced by British singer, rapper and actress Estelle), Amethyst (voiced by American voice actress Michaela Dietz) and Pearl (voiced by American actress Deedee Magno Hall)—in the fictional town of Beach City. Steven, who is half-Gem, has adventures with his friends and helps the Gems protect the world from their own kind. The pilot was first shown in May 2013 and the series ran for five seasons, from November 2013 to January 2019. The TV film, Steven Universe: The Movie, was released in September 2019 and an epilogue limited series, Steven Universe Future, ran from December 2019 to March 2020.
The themes of the series include love, family and the importance of healthy interpersonal relationships. Sugar based the lead character on her younger brother, Steven, who was an artist for the series. She developed Steven Universe while she was a writer and storyboard artist on Adventure Time, which she left when Cartoon Network commissioned her series for full production. The series is storyboard-driven; the show's storyboard artists were responsible for writing the dialogue and creating the action in addition to drawing the storyboards.
The series developed a broad fanbase and has been critically acclaimed for its design, music, voice acting, characterization, prominence of LGBTQ themes and science fantasy worldbuilding. The series won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Kids & Family Program in 2019, becoming the first animated series to win the award. It also received a Peabody Award for Children's & Youth Programming in 2019. It was nominated for five Emmy Awards and five Annie Awards. Books, comics and video games based on the series have been released.
