Steven Universe Season 2 DVD

Hi! I preordered the Season 2 DVD even though I've already seen the episodes many times, because it's good to the physical release.

But there are also other perks.

In this case?

Season 2 is Garnet themed and it comes with a Garnet PLUSH KEYCHAIN.

The box art is adorable inside. Ruby & Sapphire themed.

And the two DVDs look like Ruby's and Sapphire's Gems!

And there's also BONUS MATERIAL, which I am about to examine for you in detail.

First, what does this DVD set consider "Season 2"?

As you might've guessed, a few episodes that are technically Season 1 are on here, like "Say Uncle," "Shirt Club," and "Story for Steven." (A couple Season 2 episodes were on the previous Season 1 set, so it equals out.) The episode order goes on predictably from "Love Letters" onward, and the last episode on the DVD set is "The Answer," meaning it leaves off four Season 2 episodes ("Steven's Birthday," "It Could've Been Great," "Message Received," and "Log Date 7 15 2").

Here's the episode list:

Disc 1:

1. Say Uncle

2. Story For Steven

3. Shirt Club

4. Love Letters

5. Reformed

6. Sworn to the Sword

7. Rising Tides, Crashing Skies

8. Keeping It Together

9. We Need to Talk

10. Chille Tid

11. Cry for Help

12. Keystone Motel

Disc 2:

1. Onion Friend

2. Historical Friction

3. Friend Ship

4. Nightmare Hospital

5. Sadie's Song

6. Catch and Release

7. When It Rains

8. Back to the Barn

9. Too Far

10. The Answer

• The opening menu music is "Something Entirely New."

• The episode selection music is "Do It For Her."

• And on Disc 2, the animatic selection music is "Haven't You Noticed (I'm a Star)."

Yes, 7 animatics are included! Those are when they release early boards animated with voice acting and a few effects.

The included animatics:

1. Sworn to the Sword

2. Keystone Motel

3. The Answer

4. We Need to Talk

5. Onion Friend

6. Catch and Release

7. Love Letters

What's cool for nerds is you can see minor (or sometimes significant) changes from the original plan to the final, and you get to see each artist's raw style! I analyze each below.

Interesting Notes on the Animatics:

Sworn to the Sword:

• There's a board revision saying Steven and Connie should enter the scene separately right at the end of "The Jam Song" when they're singing in harmony, but in the final version they still came in at the same time.

• During the scene when Steven was trying to convince Pearl to let Connie learn sword fighting, he originally said "She's great!" after listing all the experience she has. The line got dropped in the final.

• "Do It for Her" has Deedee and Grace singing their parts but the instrumental is just the ukulele demo.

• Pearl originally very pointedly cleared her throat before taking Connie off to training, like "AHEM, we have important training to do, Connie."

• In the final, there was a notable animation error featuring Amethyst wearing her old outfit for a few frames. That error was not there in the animatic--her shoulder straps were the new style that had just been established in the previous episode, "Reformed."

• When Steven asks the Holo Pearl if she's seen Connie, the line has a "no?" on the end of it in the animatic. "You wouldn't have happened to see Connie, would you? No??"

• There's a board revision note saying to fix Steven and Connie's expressions. I like the revised version.

• And a few grunts and noises that either were there in the animatic and not in the final, or vice versa.

Keystone Motel:

• One of the pickup lines listed in a revision for Greg was "I met a guy on an Internet message board who's selling car awsh brushes for real cheap!" (The typo is part of the note.)

• The original boards had some kind of calendar on the wall in the motel room that did not make it to the final. The window covered by a curtain is there now. The moose art was drawn on, but the final version looks pretty different.

• Greg's phone's sound effect was part of the animatic, but they used a different sound in the final.

• Looks like the animatic labeled their motel room "14" but I just see a featureless placard on the door in the final.

• It's been known for a long time that Rebecca Sugar re-drew some Ruby poses after Charlyne Yi's reads were so over the top, but the difference in style is super obvious in the scenes where Rebecca's boards replaced the originals.

• A pickup line for Charlyne as Ruby was her reaction to Sapphire saying she can't be angry forever: the animatic has Rebecca saying "Wanna bet?" and the notes say Charlyne needs to do this as a pickup, with "Oh yeah?" as an alt.

• A pickup line for Erica Luttrell as Sapphire was also her reaction to Steven saying "Nice to see you again?" Rebecca is on the animatic saying "Nice to see you too."

• Since the voice acting isn't muffled by the water effect while Ruby is underwater, you can really hear what she's saying while she's ranting about Sapphire! In the original, you can tell she says "Why does she always act like I'M being ridiculous, just because SHE--" and then Ruby walks into the water. The subtitles for the episode already revealed that the complete line was "Just because SHE wants to pretend that she doesn't have feelings?" But then Ruby goes on, ranting, "Aw, yeah I don't have any FEELINGS." Sadly the rest of what she says still just sounds like noises, so I don't know if there were words under the bubble sound effect.

• The ice effects around Sapphire while she was sitting on the bed have the same little inconsistency that they did in the final, so this glitch happened at the board level. (The ice first formed on the wall on either side of her head but in the long shot it's disappeared. Later added effects put the ice on the headboard.)

• Interestingly, the line Steven says about peeing in the grass has an alternative offered in the board notes to be recorded as a pickup: "Am I fated to go outside on the grass too?" It's an international dialogue alt for countries that don't want Steven to mention peeing, but the line that mentions pee was used in the US version.

• Another international alternative pickup for Greg is "Well he wasn't a scary person" instead of "well he wasn't an ax murderer."

• Revision notes for the long shot where Ruby is pacing in the evaporated pool say she was supposed to be muttering. The final version does not seem to have any muttering--just footsteps, though the steam requested by the board notes was added.

• A cut back to Greg and Steven about to eat square pizza originally began with a closeup on the van doors opening for some reason. That's not in the final.

• In the diner, Steven had some hopeful star eyes looking at his dad in the booth, but that didn't make it into the final.

• Some very nice piano music was added behind Ruby and Sapphire's reconciliation, but it's different from what was used in the final.

• The line featuring Sapphire saying "You're embarrassing me in front of Steven!" was a pickup line that was added later. Rebecca says it in the animatic instead of Erica. (The note said "You're emabrassing me," cute little typo.)

The Answer:

• The Ruby guards were labeled Ruby, Ruby #3 upon their entrance.

• The original figure standing next to Blue Diamond didn't look enough like an obvious Pearl, so the revision notes asked it to be redrawn.

• Another board revision asks for generic gem cutouts to be reacting to Sapphire and Ruby's fusion. They weren't drawn in the original board.

• Ruby and Sapphire's exchange about how it's Ruby's fault Sapphire is stranded there with Sapphire saying she already saved her--that's indicated as a pickup line. In the animatic, Rebecca is reciting both characters' lines.

• The recording of "Something Entirely New" just has ukulele backing for the instrumental.

• There are several minor requests to change characters' expressions from the boarded versions.

We Need to Talk:

• The album covers in the opening scene are already really detailed even though it's just an animatic. One of them has a typo that was corrected by the final.

• Instead of the song that actually plays in the final, "Strange Magic" by Electric Light Orchestra plays! (There's a verbal reference to ELO in this episode, when Steven claims to have collected "All the Orange Magic Orchestra ones" and Greg tells him to put them in the transcendental space rock pile.)

• The recording for "What Can I Do (For You)" has guitar and drum accompaniment, but it's still not the final version.

• Rebecca's drawings added in are again easy to spot.

• Garnet's explanation of fusion to Greg, up to "literally," was left out of the animatic. It was left for pickup. She then asks Amethyst to give them some privacy and says "Let me tell you something Mr. Universe," but then the rest of the lines for Garnet were left out and had to be picked up later.

• A different song plays during Rose and Greg's dance. Sounds like "Only You" by the Platters.

• There are a couple alternate boards on sticky notes here!

• There's a pickup for Rose: "What do we do now?" was left out of the animatic. So was "How would I know?" while she was hugging Greg and talking.

• There was the silly anime-like doodle that accidentally got used for promo included at the end! (I think it's a Katie Mitroff drawing.)

Onion Friend:

• Most of the canvases of Amethyst in Vidalia's garage weren't drawn in yet in the animatic. One appears to be a blobby person amongst cats.

• An alternate dialogue line for Vidalia for international audiences suggests she say Greg used to be super cute, not super hot.

• A board revision note asks them to use a different picture of Vidalia and Amethyst in their younger days, but it's a proto version of the same image they ended up using.

• A note instructs artists to make sure a bottle on the table says olive oil or soda. I guess so it can't be mistaken for beer.

• An international edit for Amethyst on "Farty Marty" is "Party Marty."

• Background dialogue between Vidalia and Amethyst is much clearer in this version. You can hear Vidalia asking Amethyst if she re when they snuck onto the Mayor's boat and trashed it. She replies, "Yeah, I ."

• An international edit on Amethyst's "Your house is jacked" line is "Your house is broke."

Catch and Release:

• When Peridot first starts breaking down and sitting on the Warp Pad weeping about being stranded, a cute little sympathetic "um~" from Steven is included in this animatic that got cut from the final.

• Another extra line of Peridot dialogue got cut before she listed Steven's crimes while smacking him.

• You can hear the Gems' conversation a little better than in the final during the scene when Steven is trying to get Peridot to let him in the bathroom toward the end.

Love Letters:

• Connie's line when Jamie returned with his love note for Garnet was originally "Oh no, you didn't bring more Sea Pals??" They cut the "Oh no" in the final.

• I think some of the Drama Jamies are Hellen Jo being a weirdo? I'm not an expert on boarder styles but I think that's what this is.

• Garnet's famous "I didn't write that" line had to be done in a pickup. It wasn't in the animatic.

• Details of Barb's knee brace were missing in the animatic. Maybe she wasn't finalized?

• The original recording of Estelle saying "I didn't mean to upset you" sounded much harsher. There was a revision note asking for her to re-record it "gentle." Her further dialogue after she starts telling him he makes a convincing lovesick fool also had a direction to re-record as "warmer and slower."

ANYWAY

This was SO MUCH FUN TO WATCH and I sat there in my sweatpants eating snacks and pausing to take pictures like a nerd all night.

I am very happy with this, and with my fluffy Garnet keychain.