Стивън Вселенски is the Bulgarian dub of Steven Universe. Dubbed by Alexandra Audio in Sofia, it premiered on Cartoon Network in Bulgaria and its neighboring countries on August 18, 2014. Since September 2017, episodes of the series began airing only in the late evening/night timeslot.
After the episode "Can't Go Back" aired on July 30, 2018, production of the dub would halt completely, and it would be placed on an uncertain hiatus, supposedly due to Russia's gay propaganda laws (as Russia shares its Cartoon Network feed with Bulgaria). Despite this, reruns of aired episodes would continue to circulate on the channel, until May 31, 2019; reruns later began occurring again from August 1, 2020 to February 28, 2021.
On March 8, 2022, with the release of HBO Max in Bulgaria, previously unaired episodes eventually began surfacing on the service, along with episodes from the rest of the series' run. Only two unaired episodes have yet to be released.
Стивън Вселенски was heavily censored as it aired on Cartoon Network's RSEE feed. In addition to using Turner EMEA's own edits, the broadcast on the channel also removed other scenes, supposedly because the dissemination and promotion of LGBT content is prohibited by law in Russia (which is the main operative behind the edits, not Bulgaria), where same-sex relationships are not recognized. This is in addition to other broadcasting regulations in Russia. As well, the show is given a 6+ rating rather than the 12+ rating used by most programmes on the channel, explaining some of the non-LGBT-related edits. Eventually in 2018, the channel would halt production of the dub itself, and no new episodes after "Can't Go Back" would air on the channel ever again.
The broadcasting area that aired the show on this feed included Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and former Yugoslav nations. Of these, Russia is very notable, as these edits would affect the Russian dub heavily in the same ways and more, and also lead to that dub being on a hiatus, up until September 2022 when HBO Max would begin to release any missing episodes.
On March 8, 2022, with the release of HBO Max in Bulgaria, the unaired episodes of the Bulgarian dub began to see release, including those which never got the chance to air before new episodes were banned from airing. See more information here.
Specific edits[]
It is important to reiterate that some of the following edits had originated from the team of Turner EMEA, thus not being exclusive to the broadcast area of the dub, with others being the edits of the RSEE team.
Pearl snapping a Centipeetle's neck and her entire line, "Steven, until you learn to control the powers in your gem, we'll take care of protecting humanity. Okay?" were cut.
Steven throwing up at the end of the episode was cut.
In "Frybo":
Steven saying "I wear the pants in this relationship!" is cut.
Steven and his squad of clothes' arrival was simplified. It cuts from Pearl uttering "where?" to Steven ordering "attack!" several shots later, excluding Steven's line, "your move, Frybo" and a shot of Frybo charging.
In "Archive Mania":
The arcade game Meat Beat Mania is changed to Beat Mania.
Every instance of Steven saying "Meat Beat Mania" is cut.
In "Island Adventure":
The scene of Steven and Lars hugging was cut.
The scene of Lars and Sadie hugging was cut.
The entire kissing scene between Lars and Sadie was cut.
Some scenes from the fight with the Invisible Gem Monster, including the line, "Use your fish-murdering skills!" were cut.
The scene where Sadie slaps Lars and says, "You kissed me on the mouth!" was cut.
In "Steven the Sword Fighter", the scene where Pearl helplessly drops her sword was cut (also from Steven's flashbacks).
In "Fusion Cuisine", Steven describing Amethyst as a fun mom was cut (he only talks to Pearl and Garnet).
In "Steven's Lion", the part in which Ronaldo spits his soda and says, "Steven's pregnant!?" with Steven's line, "I don't think so", along with the part where Ronaldo says, "I bet you're not even pregnant.", were cut.
In "So Many Birthdays":
The sound of Amethyst throwing up is muted.
Steven's line "that was fun, but a boy on the cusp of manhood can't spend the whole day whackering" was cut.
In "Coach Steven", the part where Steven says, "You can beat up Lars and you don't have to starve to death if Sadie divorces you.", along with Lars' quote, "We're not MARRIED!", were both cut.
In "Alone Together", the scene when Stevonnie dances at The Rave and shakes their rear was cut.
In "Monster Buddies":
Garnet kicking the Centipeetle in the ice cave was cut.
The Centipeetle getting crushed under the stalactite and the closeups of it closing its mouth and its gem dimming were cut.
In "Joking Victim", the shots containing the lyrics, "Take both hands! Push below the diaphragm!" during the Big Donut training videotape were cut, as well as Steven performing the Heimlich maneuver on Lars later in the episode.
In "On the Run":
Amethyst yelling, "I don't care!" was cut for unknown reasons.
The length of the shots of train wheels at the end of the song was reduced (probably for time).
In "Horror Club", Steven saying, "I think you can stop being such a dink to Ronaldo" was cut.
In "Story for Steven":
Rose's line, "... and I really wanna play with you" was cut.
Greg's line, "Ugh, Marty, women are people." was replaced by "Ugh, Marty, but they are humans."
The line, "you want one huge woman, when you could have multiple smaller ones" was translated as "you're losing your mind over the ladies in this small town, but they aren't modern".
In "The Message", Pearl's line, "I can't believe my flipping eyes!", along with Garnet's line, "everyone, listen up!" were cut.
The episode "The Return" aired nearly 2 months after it was supposed to be with the following change: In the scene where Garnet is poofed, her visor and body snapping and breaking was cut, as well as Amethyst and Pearl screaming, moving straight to her "poof" cloud.
In "Jail Break":
Jasper punching Garnet's head was replaced with a white flash.
Garnet breaking Jasper's crash helmet visor was replaced with a white flash.
In "Keeping It Together", the following dialogue was cut:
- If we do, all the entire planet will become...
- Janked.
- Garnet, that mouth!
In "We Need to Talk":
The part of Pearl and Rose's dance was replaced by Greg playing guitar.
The part of Rainbow Quartz's dance where she drops down in front of Greg was also replaced with Greg playing the guitar.
The following dialogue was entirely cut:
- Greg.
- Rose?
- Is this torture?
- The worst.
In "The New Lars", Lars drooling and his eyes rotating as his mind returns is cut.
In "Earthlings":
Smoky Quartz saying "I've got plenty of tricks. Ever see "Sink the dink"?" and repeatedly hitting Jasper with the yo-yo is cut.
The instant where Smoky kicks Jasper in the head is cut.
The parts where the metal rod can be seen sticking out of corrupted Jasper are cut.
In "Know Your Fusion", Smoky Quartz burping at the target has been cut.
In "Gem Harvest", Andy calling Greg a turd has been cut.
In "Three Gems and a Baby", all indications of the diapers being for adults have been removed.
Banned episodes[]
While some episodes were edited down, very few of them were outright skipped or banned from ever airing on the channel due to Russian regulations, and the show's rating of 6+ in Russia. These episodes were unreleased for the longest time. These include:
"The Answer"(Released on HBO Max on March 8, 2022)
"Hit the Diamond"(Released on HBO Max on March 8, 2022)
"Change Your Mind"(Released on HBO Max on April 26, 2022)
Public reception[]
This dub received less criticism for its censorship than its partnering Russian dub, considering that the edits on the channel were not made with Bulgarian supervision and were completely the doing of the Russian team of the RSEE Cartoon Network feed.
Contributing to this as well is how Ruby and Sapphire's relationship remained intact, and was not censored, with the former still remaining a female who uses she/her pronouns, unlike how she is portrayed in the majority of the Russian dub. This is likely due to the fact that there are no laws which censor LGBT content in the media in Bulgaria as compared to Russia,[note 1] although same-sex relationships are not recognized in the country.
Notes[]
The song "We Are the Crystal Gems (Change Your Mind)" used the first intro's lyrics instead of the ones from the second intro.
They also changed the position of the names at the end of the lyrics of the original intro in the Change Your Mind version.
Translations
The following lists character names which were not previously mentioned in the article.
Киселяка / Kiselyaka [The sour one] (Sour Cream)
Лукчо / Lukcho (Onion)
Грозд / Grozd (Cluster)
Стоножкобръмбар / Stonozhkobrambar (Centipeetle)
Дъга Кварц / Daga Kvartz (Rainbow Quartz)
Credits[]
Dubbing credits #1
Dubbing credits #2
References[]
↑Bulgaria passed a law banning 'LGBT propaganda' in schools in 2024, but the law does not cover films and television yet.
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