Retrospect Reviews #2
Hello and welcome to Retrospect Review #2!
I’m working on Steven Universe right now, and I’m about to lay down my theory on why Laser Light Cannon would have been an awesome pilot for the series. This is a long one, so I’m putting in a cut so I don’t spam anyone’s dash
Gem Glow gave us some very simple background information, but not much that is necessary for Laser Light Cannon to function as a story. Laser Light Cannon also establishes the dynamic between the Crystal Gems and Steven, and it gives the audience a simple, one-dimensional idea of each character.
Pearl is the responsible one, the nagging mom of the group. Amethyst is just as childish and immature as Steven, but with power and (seemingly) confidence to back it up. Garnet is the stoic, unknowable leader. Greg is a goofball, a loving but slightly dead-beat dad who takes a rather blase attitude towards the dangers his son faces on a daily basis.
It also establishes the legend of Rose Quartz. In this episode, Rose is the perfect mother. She is a fantasy of the ideal leader and mother, and evidently the powerhouse of the Crystal Gems.
In this picture, she looks regal and collected next to Greg, an idea which he reinforces by wondering what she ever saw in a “dope” like him. In this context, Rose’s use of his favorite catchphrase seems rather quaint.
From the pilot onward, everything we thought we knew about these characters is completely thrown on its head. We find out that Amethyst is insecure in her strength and in her place on the team, and that she is in fact shockingly mature. Pearl is revealed to be a character of amazing depth who uses order and cleanliness to help cope with her traumatic war memories and guilt. Garnet is an emotional, amazing manifestation of the incredible love between two gems, Ruby and Sapphire. Steven is a Crystal Gem in his own right, kind and empathetic and loving. Greg is a hard-working father who raised his son all alone after the death of his partner and who puts all his money and time into making a happy life for Steven.
And the biggest change of all is Rose Quartz, who we discover to be a childish, flawed, loving former tyrant who tried her hardest to change the world and preserve what she thought to be important and what her society deemed undesirable and worthless. Her actions were made with the best of intentions but frequently led to terrible consequences.
The entire series is about the characters and even the audience changing their minds and coming to know each other. In Laser Light Cannon, we have all of the main dynamics established where we didn’t see those in Gem Glow. By Change Your Mind, we have seen all of those dynamics changed through conscious decisions to come to know each other as sentient beings instead of as simplified preconceptions. The final, climactic scene is Steven forcing White Diamond- and all of Homeworld- to change their minds and know him.
It creates a beautiful cycle in the story, a cycle that’s reinforced by other parts in the story. The reappearance of Greg’s catchphrase, now seen not as a quaint homage to Rose’s human lover but as an anthem that Rose/Pink sincerely believed in and loved. The image of the four main Crystal Gems working together to protect their home.
Even the reference to the Red Eye in the rewritten opening theme would have been a wonderful link.
With all of this being said, I still love the series. It just seems to me that so many future plotlines and even the main themes of the series were hinted at in this episode, and as such this episode would have been a perfect starting point for the series. The potential for even more parallels with Change Your Mind would have been deeply satisfying, and I think would have helped to tighten the… well, what I call Overall Story (I’m sure there’s a term for that somewhere but I’m too lazy to look it up right now.) Each episode is a mini-story, as is each season, but the entire show from pilot to finale is also a story and I always like to pay attention to the structure of the Overall Story, and I think here the authors missed a prime opportunity to strengthen the Overall Story.
Notes that didn’t quite fit in my review:
We also get a very subtle hint to Pearl’s mentality toward Steven- She refers to his gem as Rose’s gem.
There’s clear disdain in Pearl’s voice when she refers to Greg- another hint that her particular feelings toward him are perhaps more negative than Garnet’s or Amethyst’s.
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