Steven the Sword Fighter
| "Steven the Sword Fighter" | |
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| Steven Universe episode | |
Pearl's hologram attacks.
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 16 |
| Directed by |
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| Written by |
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| Featured music | "Dance of Swords" and "Holo Pearl" by Aivi Tran and Steven Velema |
| Production code | 1020-013<ref_name="Michalka et. al 2014b"/> |
| Original air date | April 9, 2014 |
| Running time | 11 minutes |
"Steven the Sword Fighter" is the sixteenth episode of the first season of the American animated television series Steven Universe. It is written by Joe Johnston and Jeff Liu. In the United States, the episode originally aired on Cartoon Network on April 9, 2014, the first new episode to air on the series' new Wednesday time slot. Pianist Aivi Tran and sound designer Steven Velema of the musical group Aivi & Surasshu composed one of the episode's soundtracks to resemble the "broken facsimile" nature of Holo-Pearl. The episode was viewed by 1.098 million viewers, becoming the thirty-sixth most watched episode aired by the network for the week of April 7 to April 13, 2014.
The episode shows Pearl attempting to teach Steven the art of sword-fighting using Holo Pearl, a holographic version of herself. However, during the lessons, Pearl gets injured and retreats into her gem to heal and make a new body to project.
While Steven (Zach Callison), Garnet (Estelle), Amethyst (Michaela Dietz) and Pearl (Deedee Magno) are watching a fictional Japanese movie titled Lonely Blade, Pearl critiques the film's sword fighting techniques and offers to show Steven how it is really done. At her arena give him a proper demonstration, Pearl summons "Holo-Pearl", a holographic version of herself to spar with. After Pearl wins a sparring match with Holo-Pearl, she begins to show Steven the basics of sword-fighting. However, Pearl's lessons bore Steven, making him clamor for Pearl to teach him the signature move from the Lonely Blade movie, much to Pearl's chagrin. While Pearl is distracted talking to Steven, Holo-Pearl impales her sword through Pearl's chest, which causes Pearl to lose her physical form, leaving nothing but her gemstone. Although Steven is distraught at first, Garnet and Amethyst assure him that Pearl has simply retreated into her gem and will return, projecting a new body, once she has healed.
Two weeks pass and Pearl is still inside her gem, healing. Steven decides to use Holo-Pearl as a replacement for the real Pearl. However, Holo-Pearl only knows how to sword fight, seeing everything as a potential opponent. Garnet and Amethyst urge Steven to stop using it and wait for the real Pearl to come back. After Holo-Pearl cuts down the real Pearl's favorite tree, Steven becomes infuriated and tries to drive Holo-Pearl away.
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