Steven Universe
I recommend it. Gorgeous visuals, cool sci-fi world-building, and a truly generous spirit. (I've seen through "Jail Break" so far and don't especially want to be spoiled for the remaining episodes.)
I first saw a couple random eps when my son was watching it. (BTW, his former internet nickname just was not fitting him anymore, so let's try Kal for a while, short for Kal-El of course, and see if that catches on. I don't know why Chuckles still works for Chuckles, even though she is now a grouchy amazon who is taller than me, outweighs me by 30 lbs, and will be THIRTEEN next month.) Anyway, the random episodes sort of reminded me of Cleopatra 2525 (in that there were three snarky bad-ass women with different colored costumes) only with an annoying little boy tacked on to make it a kids' show. This intrigued me.
Then I saw someone on DW (probably
melannen?) say that the world-building was cool, so I set out to watch it in order. The whole family is watching it, actually -- three episodes a night over dinner. (I guess this is the part where I confess that we haven't eaten dinner at the dining room table in about four years, other than on holidays or when we have guests over. Instead we sit on the couch and the cozy chairs and watch science shows or cartoons over dinner. Parenting fail, whatever.)
I no longer find Steven annoying, but it did take a while for him to grow on me. I fell for Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst immediately. This is maybe the best cartoon I can think of for having multiple interesting, well-rounded adult female characters (I guess the last season of Korra was also a strong contender for that honor). Though maybe "female" should be in quotes, given that they are actually sentient, shape-shifting minerals, and it's not clear whether among themselves they have either biological sex or cultural gender. But for whatever reason, they have chosen to present themselves as female-appearing humanoids, and so that's how they read to us.
Perhaps my highest praise for the show: it managed to overcome my resistance to the Dead Mom trope. So common in YA media, and so freaking annoying. (Yes, it is true, nothing of any interest whatsoever can ever happen to my family as long as I live! I exist to nullify Story!) This is an area where I particularly don't want to spoil people who might be interested in checking the show out, but suffice it to say that the show does some absolutely fascinating and powerful things with this plot point.
So here endeth my recommendation. Is anyone else watching it?
This entry was originally posted at http://loligo.dreamwidth.org/455711.html.
comments on that entry. Comments on Dreamwidth preferred.
I first saw a couple random eps when my son was watching it. (BTW, his former internet nickname just was not fitting him anymore, so let's try Kal for a while, short for Kal-El of course, and see if that catches on. I don't know why Chuckles still works for Chuckles, even though she is now a grouchy amazon who is taller than me, outweighs me by 30 lbs, and will be THIRTEEN next month.) Anyway, the random episodes sort of reminded me of Cleopatra 2525 (in that there were three snarky bad-ass women with different colored costumes) only with an annoying little boy tacked on to make it a kids' show. This intrigued me.
Then I saw someone on DW (probably
melannen?) say that the world-building was cool, so I set out to watch it in order. The whole family is watching it, actually -- three episodes a night over dinner. (I guess this is the part where I confess that we haven't eaten dinner at the dining room table in about four years, other than on holidays or when we have guests over. Instead we sit on the couch and the cozy chairs and watch science shows or cartoons over dinner. Parenting fail, whatever.)
I no longer find Steven annoying, but it did take a while for him to grow on me. I fell for Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst immediately. This is maybe the best cartoon I can think of for having multiple interesting, well-rounded adult female characters (I guess the last season of Korra was also a strong contender for that honor). Though maybe "female" should be in quotes, given that they are actually sentient, shape-shifting minerals, and it's not clear whether among themselves they have either biological sex or cultural gender. But for whatever reason, they have chosen to present themselves as female-appearing humanoids, and so that's how they read to us.
Perhaps my highest praise for the show: it managed to overcome my resistance to the Dead Mom trope. So common in YA media, and so freaking annoying. (Yes, it is true, nothing of any interest whatsoever can ever happen to my family as long as I live! I exist to nullify Story!) This is an area where I particularly don't want to spoil people who might be interested in checking the show out, but suffice it to say that the show does some absolutely fascinating and powerful things with this plot point.
So here endeth my recommendation. Is anyone else watching it?
This entry was originally posted at http://loligo.dreamwidth.org/455711.html.
comments on that entry. Comments on Dreamwidth preferred.