An alternative viewing order for new Steven Universe viewers.

Spoilers for all of Season 1 of Steven Universe are present below.

Many of you are likely already familiar with the Star Wars Saga’s Machete Order. It’s a famous fan-made viewing order that goes IV, V, II, III, VI, for the purpose of creating better narrative pacing whilst retaining all important plot twists. @briknerd, astralFitz, and Kat Suricata would like to introduce a joint-effort project for Steven Universe in the same vein: Flood Order. It’s a means to get a new fan into the show in the most efficient way possible.

Why?

As we got into Steven Universe ourselves, and tried to introduce it to others, a common theme presented itself: it’s really hard to get someone to sit past the first half of the first season, when it seems like nothing more than yet another Monster Of The Week show with an annoying tagalong kid. We each experienced this on our first watch-throughs, and only pressed on under the assumption that the size of its fandom meant it had to get better. It does, of course, but for a lot of people, “just sit through twenty-six episodes and you’ll understand!” has proven a hard obstruction to vault. Even the show’s creators have stated they consider Ocean Gem season one’s “true” start.

And it’s easy to see why: the introduction of Lapis, introduction of gray morality, Steven’s first true display of competence/fixing a problem he wasn’t responsible for to begin with, the expansion of the show’s setting to space, and rapid-fire development of everyone in the main cast all serve to create one hell of a mystery. It’s when the show truly begins to grow into itself. In short, if one can make it to Mirror Gem/Ocean Gem, then one is very likely to become as much a fan of the show as we are.

One problem: twenty-six eleven-minute episodes take up almost five hours. That’s a lot to ask someone to swallow.

We can do it better. We can do it in only a little over an hour and a half, the same level of commitment as asking someone to watch a movie with you.

Flood Order, Submitted For Your Approval

The first phase of Flood Order consists of just ten episodes, in the following order:

Cheeseburger Backpack Laser Light Cannon Bubble Buddies Steven’s Lion Giant Woman Steven the Sword Fighter Lion 2: The Movie An Indirect Kiss Mirror Gem Ocean Gem

This order defers sixteen episodes, more than half of them, in a mad dash to Lapis. Its purpose, simply stated, is to get a new fan interested in Steven Universe in as little time as possible, and with causing as few impediments to enjoyment as possible.

It:

Removes most of Steven’s most insufferable moments. We all love Steven as a character now, but it’s hard not to see Steven as the least-interesting, least-relevant part of the first half of Season 1. We want to know who the gems are, why the gems are here, what the gems are fighting; we cared very, very little about the seemingly-obnoxious little kid who just messes up their plans. Constantly. In all ten episodes listed here, however, he only provides any truly grating moments in the first two.

We all love Steven as a character now, but it’s hard not to see Steven as the least-interesting, least-relevant part of the first half of Season 1. We want to know who the gems are, why the gems are here, what the gems are fighting; we cared very, very little about the seemingly-obnoxious little kid who just messes up their plans. Constantly. In all ten episodes listed here, however, he only provides any truly grating moments in the first two. Starts on Cheeseburger Backpack, which, despite being the third episode chronologically, is a much better introduction than Gem Glow was. It doesn’t notably feature any member of the cast except for the Crystal Gems, introduces us to their personalities and the means in which they tend to solve problems, features a fascinating and mysterious part of gem lore, and shows us some of Steven’s burgeoning skills. As a start, Gem Glow introduced us to personalities, but was little more than plodding otherwise. No part of gem lore is explored, side characters are introduced to little end, the song present is the only one in the show that feels truly out-of-place among the rest of the soundtrack, and Steven is close to his worst. Laser Light Cannon is a slower and more character-centric piece, with the introduction of Greg and reveal of Rose’s sacrifice, which works well in its intended purposes as the second episode. Bubble Buddies introduces Connie, Sadie, Lars, Onion, and Mr. Smiley to round out many of the supporting characters.

which, despite being the third episode chronologically, is It doesn’t notably feature any member of the cast except for the Crystal Gems, introduces us to their personalities and the means in which they tend to solve problems, features a fascinating and mysterious part of gem lore, and shows us some of Steven’s burgeoning skills. As a start, Gem Glow introduced us to personalities, but was little more than plodding otherwise. No part of gem lore is explored, side characters are introduced to little end, the song present is the only one in the show that feels truly out-of-place among the rest of the soundtrack, and Steven is close to his worst. Laser Light Cannon is a slower and more character-centric piece, with the introduction of Greg and reveal of Rose’s sacrifice, which works well in its intended purposes as the second episode. Bubble Buddies introduces Connie, Sadie, Lars, Onion, and Mr. Smiley to round out many of the supporting characters. Introduces every single character and plot point necessary for Mirror Gem/Ocean Gem: Connie, Greg, Lion, the concept of fusions, the concept of gem regeneration, Steven’s healing ability, all necessary characterization, and mentions at least once every minor character that gets a speaking role. No possible point of confusion exists.

for Mirror Gem/Ocean Gem: Connie, Greg, Lion, the concept of fusions, the concept of gem regeneration, Steven’s healing ability, all necessary characterization, and mentions at least once every minor character that gets a speaking role. No possible point of confusion exists. Paces the show better than in air-date order. There’s a lot of pre-Mirror Gem filler. This problem gets significantly better after Lion 3: Straight To Video, but can be painful for someone to get through on their first watch, before they really care about the characters. Every single episode in Flood Order introduces something or someone the audience is interested in. The first poofing takes place at around the one hour mark in Steven the Sword Fighter, which if it were a movie, would be roughly the right spot for the first serious dramatic death.

There’s a lot of pre-Mirror Gem filler. This problem gets significantly better after Lion 3: Straight To Video, but can be painful for someone to get through on their first watch, before they really care about the characters. Every single episode in Flood Order introduces something or someone the audience is interested in. The first poofing takes place at around the one hour mark in Steven the Sword Fighter, which if it were a movie, would be roughly the right spot for the first serious dramatic death. Removes most moments of plot-necessitated illogical incompetence. Pearl fought a thousand-year war as Rose Quartz’s “Terrifying Renegade”, and in later episodes, is demonstrated to be an incredible fighter, taking down even the three-gem monstrosity that is Sugilite. In Frybo, she is wholly-incapacitated by ketchup. Amethyst, a gem made to be a warrior, contributes almost nothing in any deferred episode despite downright awe-inspiring displays later. All of the above and more: gone or minimized. All the Gems are shown at their most competent, without sacrificing their character depth.

Put simply: it serves to set up the rest of the show and turn a new viewer into a fan in as painless, quick, and intriguing a way as possible. But what do we do with the rest of the episodes, then?

Sorting The Deferred Episodes

So, we’ve deferred sixteen episodes. We need to do something with them.

This is the second phase of Flood Order. We make two lists, as such:

Pacing Episodes

Tiger Millionaire

Lars and the Cool Kids

Rose’s Room

Coach Steven

Joking Victim

Monster Buddies

Cut Episodes

Gem Glow

Together Breakfast

Frybo

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Onion Trade

Beach Party

Steven and the Stevens

Every single episode in the Pacing list has character development and/or plot points that come up later, and will be placed in-between Ocean Gem and Lion 3: Straight To Video (where Flood Order stops changing the show entirely) as thematically appropriate.

Every single episode in the Cut list is… well, cut. None of them have anything of particular relevance to the show’s future episodes. Some of you may be crying heresy at this, but there’s better reasoning than you might think behind the move, including:

Steven being obnoxious. Present in: Gem Glow, Together Breakfast, Frybo, Onion Trade, and Steven and the Stevens.

Present in: Gem Glow, Together Breakfast, Frybo, Onion Trade, and Steven and the Stevens. Offputting moments of random, jarring horror that serve no thematic or developmental purpose. Present in: Frybo, Cat Fingers, So Many Birthdays, Onion Trade, Steven and the Stevens.

Present in: Frybo, Cat Fingers, So Many Birthdays, Onion Trade, Steven and the Stevens. Episodes that serve only to set-up bit characters that either get no development later, or are better-developed later. Present in: Frybo, Onion Trade, Beach Party.

Present in: Frybo, Onion Trade, Beach Party. Self-contained episodes that do little-to-nothing to contribute to the show’s themes, characters, or stories. Present in: Together Breakfast, Serious Steven, Arcade Mania, Steven and the Stevens.

Keep in mind that we aren’t saying that they’re not worth watching… but we’ll come back to that.

Integrating The Pacing Episodes

Phase three? Distributing the Pacing episodes in-between Ocean Gem and Lion 3: Straight To Video without ruffling any of canon’s feathers, while keeping the flow of the show acceptable. There are a few points to consider (some episodes need to remain where they are; House Guest can only work directly following Ocean Gem, for example) to make that work. This is the final result.

Ocean Gem House Guest Rose’s Room Monster Buddies Coach Steven Lars and the Cool Kids Joking Victim Space Race Secret Team Garnet’s Universe Tiger Millionaire Island Adventure Keep Beach City Weird! Fusion Cuisine Watermelon Steven Lion 3: Straight to Video

From there, the series continues in Crewniverse-intended order as per usual. No significant details emerge that cause any continuity errors. Steven has only one irritating moment in the Pacing episodes, endearing him to the viewer far more rapidly. The emotional pacing follows a steady pattern with breathing room allocated, preventing burnout. The filler that’s present is downplayed by being cushioned with long stretches of deep character development. The show, at the end, retains every detail necessary for full enjoyment and understanding. And it’s far easier to get someone into.

If you notice a significant issue with Flood Order, it almost certainly falls into one of the two lists below.

Things That Appear To Be Problems, But Aren’t

Centipeedle isn’t mentioned before Monster Buddies. They constantly fight out-of-nowhere, unexplained monsters, even in Flood Order. “It’s that creature we fought once!” doesn’t sound out-of-place at all in the show’s universe, and certainly not by the time its turn comes around.

They constantly fight out-of-nowhere, unexplained monsters, even in Flood Order. “It’s that creature we fought once!” doesn’t sound out-of-place at all in the show’s universe, and certainly not by the time its turn comes around. They don’t know Centipeedle used to be a gem in the episode. It’s never brought up, not in Ocean Gem or Monster Buddies. There are no lines that contradict the Flood Order-canon of them knowing about it in either episode. Ocean Gem’s reveal is shocking enough without needing Monster Buddies to build it up, and Monster Buddies is only enhanced by its new order; with us knowing about his ability to heal, it actually comes off better, as it seems like a plan that has a chance of working and not just the idealism of a child. The fact that he doesn’t try his healing saliva is explained by Pearl telling him that “not even Rose’s power” could return them to what they were. As his power is Rose’s power, it justifies his lack of attempt.

It’s never brought up, not in Ocean Gem or Monster Buddies. There are no lines that contradict the Flood Order-canon of them knowing about it in either episode. Ocean Gem’s reveal is shocking enough without needing Monster Buddies to build it up, and Monster Buddies is only enhanced by its new order; with us knowing about his ability to heal, it actually comes off better, as it seems like a plan that has a chance of working and not just the idealism of a child. The fact that he doesn’t try his healing saliva is explained by Pearl telling him that “not even Rose’s power” could return them to what they were. As his power is Rose’s power, it justifies his lack of attempt. [Characters] don’t get episodes dedicated to them! This will be most-often claimed about Peedee, Onion, and the Pizza Family.



Peedee has never been developed in the show, not to an important degree, and Frybo’s flaws far outweigh its benefits in giving us the one episode that does include the bit character heavily.



Onion’s most baffling/horrifying moment is present in Onion Trade, yet it does nothing to develop him; ironically, the removal of it makes him a more likeable character later, in Onion Friend.



The Pizza Family’s only important characters are Jenny and Kiki, in terms of the show’s progression, but they don’t actually get developed in Beach Party so much as they simply… show up. Nothing about them or their place in later episodes is weakened by Beach Party’s removal, and it removes a large chunk of plot-required Gem uselessness and bickering.

This will be most-often claimed about Peedee, Onion, and the Pizza Family. Peedee has never been developed in the show, not to an important degree, and Frybo’s flaws far outweigh its benefits in giving us the one episode that does include the bit character heavily. Onion’s most baffling/horrifying moment is present in Onion Trade, yet it does nothing to develop him; ironically, the removal of it makes him a more likeable character later, in Onion Friend. The Pizza Family’s only important characters are Jenny and Kiki, in terms of the show’s progression, but they don’t actually get developed in Beach Party so much as they simply… show up. Nothing about them or their place in later episodes is weakened by Beach Party’s removal, and it removes a large chunk of plot-required Gem uselessness and bickering. Steven’s shield doesn’t get introduced in Gem Glow. Steven has demonstrated numerous defensive powers by the time his shield gets summoned in Ocean Gem, such as the bubble and the healing saliva, in addition to just being generally magic. It’s not a very big shock, and the backstory of the shield gets expanded on later.

Steven has demonstrated numerous defensive powers by the time his shield gets summoned in Ocean Gem, such as the bubble and the healing saliva, in addition to just being generally magic. It’s not a very big shock, and the backstory of the shield gets expanded on later. Some foreshadowing is missing, like the Cookie Cat song and the first depiction of Garnet’s third eye. There are more appearances of Garnet’s eyes before Jail Break, rendering that unimportant. In every other case of some foreshadowing being removed, there’s easily two more pieces to make up for it. This show revels in setting up future twists. There’s no great shortage for a few hints being gone.

There are more appearances of Garnet’s eyes before Jail Break, rendering that unimportant. In every other case of some foreshadowing being removed, there’s easily two more pieces to make up for it. This show revels in setting up future twists. There’s no great shortage for a few hints being gone. The Cut episodes still deserve to be seen, and removing them from the show entirely is wrong. We agree! Find that surprising? Let us ask you something: as someone who is a fan that has watched the entirety of it, what’s this show’s biggest weakness to you? This show goes on hiatus. A lot. A lot a lot. As of the date of this post’s publication, Stevenbomb 4 finished airing only a small time ago, and we’re on an indefinite hiatus… until the next Stevenbomb, which has already been confirmed. This will likely be followed by even more waiting. We all want more of the show!



So, now, imagine you’re someone who was introduced to SU through Flood Order. You get hooked with it, you finish the first season with good pacing and without missing anything important, and you catch up to the latest season[s]. You’re waiting for the new episode with an aching emptiness in your heart where new SU content should be. What do you do, with the knowledge that you’ve missed ten episodes—110 minutes of content!—as a result of the means used to introduce you to the show?



You go back for every single thing you’ve missed, of course! Now, not only do you love SU enough not to be bothered by the Cut episodes’ faults, but you get every single rewatch bonus present within them. You get Garnet’s keytar, you get Gem Glow’s explanations, etc. If one of us may speak as an individual, I found Gem Glow borderline intolerable as an introduction, but I can rewatch today giddily, because I know the significance of everything brought up. You can appreciate how clever Rebecca Sugar and the rest of the Crewniverse were with their planning!



The Cut episodes should be experienced… just not immediately.

We agree! Find that surprising? Let us ask you something: as someone who is a fan that has watched the entirety of it, what’s this show’s biggest weakness to you? This show goes on hiatus. A lot. A lot a lot. As of the date of this post’s publication, Stevenbomb 4 finished airing only a small time ago, and we’re on an indefinite hiatus… until the next Stevenbomb, which has already been confirmed. This will likely be followed by even more waiting. We all want more of the show! So, now, imagine you’re someone who was introduced to SU through Flood Order. You get hooked with it, you finish the first season with good pacing and without missing anything important, and you catch up to the latest season[s]. You’re waiting for the new episode with an aching emptiness in your heart where new SU content should be. What do you do, with the knowledge that you’ve missed ten episodes—110 minutes of content!—as a result of the means used to introduce you to the show? You go back for every single thing you’ve missed, of course! Now, not only do you love SU enough not to be bothered by the Cut episodes’ faults, but you get every single rewatch bonus present within them. You get Garnet’s keytar, you get Gem Glow’s explanations, etc. If one of us may speak as an individual, I found Gem Glow borderline intolerable as an introduction, but I can rewatch today giddily, because I know the significance of everything brought up. You can appreciate how clever Rebecca Sugar and the rest of the Crewniverse were with their planning! The Cut episodes should be experienced… just not immediately. But I like to experience everything all the way through, on my first viewing! If you know for a fact your friends are the same way, then great! Marathon the entirety of the first season with them and enjoy! It’s how all three of us got into the show, and how most of you have as well. We simply feel as though many more could join as part of the fandom with this, if only they had a more accessible means. We’re not saying this is The Definitive Way to get into Steven Universe, just that it’s a viable alternative for those friends of yours who have a limited attention span/limited amounts of time/hype backlash/limited interest/different viewing preferences than you.

This does not, of course, make this order perfect.

Things That Appear To Be Problems, And Are

There are a few genuine issues with Flood Order, much as we have tried to minimize them.

Rose’s Room. Remember when we said there was only one irritating Steven moment in the Pacing episodes? This is it, and it’s jarring. Rose’s Room remains, in our opinion, the single biggest issue with our order, and there’s one unavoidable reason: there’s no good place to put it anymore. It ticks off almost every box we checked for what gets an episode Cut, but it’s far too important not to include. At the same time, that checklist is what prevents it from staying pre-Mirror Gem. It does nothing to entice a new viewer, and without much of the deferred content around it, feels out-of-place no matter where one tries to include it. It’s hard to imagine Steven having such an immature reaction to the Gems after Ocean Gem’s maturing, which we could accommodate only by putting it as close as possible afterwards. It’s made worse because the viewer will likely know they’re out-of-order, too. It can be explained as Steven being stressed by the events of Mirror Gem/Ocean Gem/House Guest, which makes it palatable, but… it’s weird. There’s no way around it.

Remember when we said there was only one irritating Steven moment in the Pacing episodes? This is it, and it’s jarring. Rose’s Room remains, in our opinion, the single biggest issue with our order, and there’s one unavoidable reason: there’s no good place to put it anymore. It ticks off almost every box we checked for what gets an episode Cut, but it’s far too important not to include. At the same time, that checklist is what prevents it from staying pre-Mirror Gem. It does nothing to entice a new viewer, and without much of the deferred content around it, feels out-of-place no matter where one tries to include it. It’s hard to imagine Steven having such an immature reaction to the Gems after Ocean Gem’s maturing, which we could accommodate only by putting it as close as possible afterwards. It’s made worse because the viewer will likely know they’re out-of-order, too. It can be explained as Steven being stressed by the events of Mirror Gem/Ocean Gem/House Guest, which makes it palatable, but… it’s weird. There’s no way around it. Pearl’s outfit changes back and forth between her original look and her regeneration look. Put simply, yeah, there was no way to avoid this whilst rearranging the episodes around Steven the Sword Fighter. As long as they know they’re watching the show a little out-of-order, it should be easily-explainable.

Put simply, yeah, there was no way to avoid this whilst rearranging the episodes around Steven the Sword Fighter. As long as they know they’re watching the show a little out-of-order, it should be easily-explainable. Particularly-adept first-time viewers may be confused by Steven’s voice/the ending theme. Both of these tend to be missed the first time through, but they are present: Steven’s voice slowly deepens in pitch throughout the show, and the ending theme changes at the end of almost every episode. The episodes are all close enough that his voice changes are near-imperceptible unless you’re listening closely, and as it takes until Season 2 for the ending theme to work in lyrics, there’s no part of it that immediately jumps out as being in the wrong order. Still, they are there, they are important details for fan analysis—one of the things this show runs on—and there are undoubtedly some who will catch them. This is reasonably easy to alleviate, however: congratulate them on being smart and observant enough to catch them! They’ll feel good about noticing it. It turns an error into a moment of pride, which is more than worth it.

Both of these tend to be missed the first time through, but they are present: Steven’s voice slowly deepens in pitch throughout the show, and the ending theme changes at the end of almost every episode. The episodes are all close enough that his voice changes are near-imperceptible unless you’re listening closely, and as it takes until Season 2 for the ending theme to work in lyrics, there’s no part of it that immediately jumps out as being in the wrong order. Still, they are there, they are important details for fan analysis—one of the things this show runs on—and there are undoubtedly some who will catch them. This is reasonably easy to alleviate, however: congratulate them on being smart and observant enough to catch them! They’ll feel good about noticing it. It turns an error into a moment of pride, which is more than worth it. Flashbacks in Ocean Gem show monsters they’ll fight in the future. Unavoidable when rearranging episodes around it. The flashbacks are quick enough that, again, most new viewers won’t remember them by the time some come back around in the Pacing episodes, but if they do, the solution is the same as the last entry.

In Summary

Give it a shot, if you remain skeptical. Watch those ten episodes in order, doing your best to do so with “fresh eyes”. It works better than you might be thinking. If you agree, and you have friends who have remained resistant to recruitment that may instead be swayed by “feature-length movie with spin-off TV show”… it may just end up helping you find one more friend to fan-out with.