This year at NYCC we got to see a lot of brand-new shows and furthermore got to meet up with a lot of the cast and crew of a bunch of these shows including Steven Universe created by Rebecca Sugar (Adventure Time) and directed by Ian Jones-Quartey. Interestingly enough, the Q & A happened before we were able to see the first episode set to air November 4th @ 8pm on Cartoon Network, and as such we almost got a bit of a pre-game into the main event.
Before the start of the presentation a bunch of press were able to take part part in a round table discussion with Rebecca Sugar and Ian Jones-Quartey. I asked Ian how working on Steven Universe compares to working on Venture Brothers and Adventure Time in terms of character development and presentation. He noted that although this is a big world that young Steven is taking part in, the goal for him was to make the characters grounded and disciplined enough that they could be recognized even apart from the world in which they inhabit. That’s a VERY important concept and to be quite honest as he was explaining it to me I couldn’t help but be reminded of Matt Groening (The Simpsons) because Matt has always preached about how characters should be presented. I can’t tell you how many of Groening’s disciples I’ve met that have said ‘Matt always said that the characters you create should be recognizable simply by their stencils’ and he’s right. Take the entire cast of the Simpson family, draw an outline of them, I guarantee you can walk up to anyone on the street and people would be able to recognize Homer’s round physique or Lisa’s star-shaped hair. When watching the pilot of Steven, I couldn’t help but think this could apply here as the four main characters of the series (Steven, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl) all are unique, and could very much stand on their own in future plots and story lines.
I asked show creator Rebecca Sugar what her reaction is to being the first woman show creator for Cartoon Network’s illustrious career. She simply looked at me for like I would say 10 seconds, blinked, and said, ‘I’ve been so busy, I haven’t even thought about it’. And that line is actually a pretty great way to sum up Rebecca in a nutshell. Rebecca’s got this very demure personality where she talks almost in a whisper, and she’s got a rather small physique, but she definitely puts on the widest and may most dimpled smile you’ve ever seen when she talks about the inspiration for the series, “The show is inspired by my brother Steven (of whom is a background designer on the show), and this is his universe”.
Steven Universe premiers on Cartoon Network, Monday November 4th @ 8pm EST, check your local listings.