“Lars of the Stars” is the 11th episode of the fifth season of Steven Universe and the 139th episode overall.[2]
Official synopsis
Lars rises to the occasion.[3]
Conspiracy
Steven and Connie are on the front porch of the Crystal Temple, about to receive a care package made by Dante and Martha Barriga for their son Lars Barriga, who is currently stranded in space on Homeworld. Steven and Connie enter the Lion’s Mane and enter a pocket dimension accessed through the Lion’s Mane and Lars’ hair. They both go through the pocket dimension and come out through Lars’ area.
When he emerges from Lars’ hair, he finds that Lars is now wearing a captain’s uniform and appears to be on a spaceship. While Steven, Connie, and Lars are confused, a gem known as an Emerald appears on the spaceship’s big screen. He mocks “Off Colors” angrily, and Lars confidently replies that he’ll “never take them alive”. The four gems that make up the group known as the Off Colors appear to be in command and control of the ship.
It is explained that the Off Colors, led by Lars Barriga, have escaped from Homeworld Kindergarten and are on the run. They stole Emerald’s personal shuttle before crashing it on the planet Upsilon-9, traveled to various planets, posed as Imperial officers during the “Space Jubilee”, and later snuck past sixty-seven elite Citrin guards to steal Emerald’s fastest ship (“Solar Incinerator “) from a docking base on the planet Klavius ​​7.
While Emerald contacts them via ship, Padparadscha (now a “Technical Advisor” under “Captain Lars”) carelessly predicts belatedly that Emerald will discover and contact them. Fluorite (now “Chief Engineer”) inspects the engine. The Rutile Twins (now pilots) ignite the ship’s Nova Thrusters and keep them on course. Rhodonite (now “Chief of Strategic Operations”) informs Lars that everything is clear ahead. After Emerald threatens them, Fluorite tells Lars that all engines are set, and Lars has the Rutile Twins pilot the ship into hyperspeed.
Once safe in hyperspace, Connie is introduced to Off Colors and presents Lars with her care package while Steven fills him in on the events on Earth. Saddened by the fact that Sadie is doing well without him, Lars barely notices when several warning signs start flashing around the ship. It’s only with pep talks from Steven and Connie and their subsequent transformation into Stevonnie that Lars finally regains his confidence.
Sure enough, Emerald quickly catches up with her Imperial warship, the Destiny Destroyer, which has been tracking them through hyperspace using the Sun Incinerator’s unique energy signature. She threatens to destroy them, but Lars calls her bluff, knowing that she will never destroy her favorite ship. As expected, Emerald refuses to fire on the Incinerator, but disables its weapons and shields, then orders her crew to fire on the nova jets so they never get away. To buy time to escape, Lars suggests piloting his personal Star Skipper, and Stevonnie quickly signs up for the mission. Stevonnie is successful in piloting the Skipper and knocking out the destroyer’s main guns. Unfortunately, an explosion from the rocket sends them spiraling towards a nearby planet.
Details
This is the first episode aired in 2018.
A clip from this episode was shown at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con.
This is the first time anyone other than Steven has been voluntarily shown inside Lion’s mane, and the second time overall after Bismuth.
This is the first time Connie and Lars have interacted (on screen) since Connie’s debut in “Bubble Buddies”.
The fact that Steven and Connie have fused shows that since the events of “Kevin Party” they have reconciled enough to bond and (as shown in the following episode) stick around for an extended period of time.
Cultural references
The title of this episode may be a reference to Kirby of the Stars.
Emerald reports that the Off Colors posed as Imperial officers during the Cosmic Jubilee; the role of the Imperial Gem Officers is probably similar to the Imperial Officers of the Galactic Empire in the Star Wars series.
Lars’s outfit resembles that of the titular main character of the manga/anime Space Pirate Captain Harlock by Leiji Matsumoto. His iconic cape is specifically identical to Lars’s.
Additionally, several shots of skulls in Lars’ gear and the Star Skipper hint at the series.
Emerald’s first appearance is also a reference to Harlock’s rival, the pirate Emeraldas. Emerald also has her eye gem in reference to the eye patch worn by Emeraldas.
The warning signs on the walls of the ship that appear are strikingly reminiscent of a similar sequence in the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion and the intro of the game Xenogears.
Upsilon-9, the name of the planet where Lars crashed Emerald’s personal shuttle, may be a nod to the name of “Epsilon-2”, the planet ECV-197 visited in the pilot episode of The Orville.
Rhodonite’s line “a giant battleship is fast approaching” may be a reference to the video game Darius, in which the same line appears whenever an enemy boss approaches.
The Off-Colors act like the crew members of the Enterprise from Star Trek.
Continuity
Steven mentions the events of “Off Colors” and “Lars’ Head”.
Furthermore, Lars is left in the same situation he was left in in said episodes: stuck in space with Off Colors.
Stevonnie mentions the comfort of driving the car, which is a callback to “Beach City Drift”.
Lars’ skull gauges from the episodes “Club of Horrors” and “Tiger Philanthropist” are part of his parents’ care package.
MC Bear Bear also returns from previously mentioned episodes.
Sadie is still the lead singer of the band she started in “Sadie Killer”.
The band is now confirmed to be called “Sadie Killer and the Suspects”.
When the Stevonnies form, they are marked as an experience, a callback to “Alone Together”.
Due to Connie’s previous hair change between “Dewey Wins” and “Kevin Party”, this also makes Stevonnie’s hair shorter than it was in their previous appearances.
Steven reunites with Lars in this episode.
Connie meets the Off-Colored Gems for the first time.
Mistakes
09:23: The Emerald Gem is turned to the left side.
1:50: Fluorite has an extra pair of lines on her face, meaning eight eyes instead of the normal 6.[4]
When Emerald says “Very well, prepare to destroy!”, her eyelashes are missing.
The lighter and darker parts of rhodonite hair exchange places.
There are several spelling errors in the Cartoon Network version of this episode’s end credits:
“Fluorite” is written as “Fourite”.
“Emerald” is spelled “Merald”.
Jinkx Monsoon is credited as “Jinkx Monsoone”.
