But first, world-building.

Contact with alien life became a reality the minute the Voyager Record (which was launched into space back in the 70's) was found by an alien planet. This planet contacted the President of the Untied States, asking to hear more sounds like the ones heard on the record. Earth responded by building a radio station and launching it into space. This station–the Woodstock–was operated by a wide variety of aliens from all sorts of planets (Earth included, of course), opening up new job opportunities for some and internships for others. One of those interns was one Rebecca Sugar.

It was here that Sugar found the inspiration for the Steven Universe show. One of the planets represented by the Woodstock was a planet called Signet (and its moons, Zales, Kay and Jared). The inhabitants here are born from gems (rather than being literal gems themselves, as the show would have us believe), and it shows: Garnets are naturally red, Amethysts are purple, Lapis Lazulis are blue, etc. Many are musically talented, but they don't have any mediums on which to record their music on: a trait that Sugar considered developing into a running gag somehow.

Sugar got to work on writing a treatment for a movie based on her time with the Signeticants, but with so many ideas on her mind, a single movie wouldn't do justice. So instead, she turned the movie treatment into a television show, with enough material to last around five or six seasons.

A casting call was announced and conducted on the Woodstock. Many Earthlings and Signeticants tried out for the different roles. Some character names in the script were temporary, like "Tall mom", "Short mom" and "Skinny mom", and would eventually be replaced with the actors' real names by the time production began on the pilot, like Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. Production was all done on Earth: either on location at various ocean-side towns on the DelMarVa peninsula (it's real—look it up), or at the studio in Brooklyn.

ANYWAY…

Today was an outdoor shoot over by the barn, which was built specifically for the show, at an open, grassy field not far from the shore. It was going to be a busy day for the alien actors, because like their show counterparts, many of them were learning about baseball for the first time. Fortunately, the script made the rules of the game easy to understand.

Ruby was nervous from the unusually high amount of lines and techniques given to her for this episode. In addition to playing her usual role as the red hot half of Garnet, she was expected to play five visiting Rubies from Homeworld, whom the Crystal Gems would be playing baseball against. Five new costumes were made for Ruby to switch between throughout the shoot. Each costume has a different gem placement: One over the right eye (nicknamed 'Eyeball'), one on the right shoulder ('Army'), one on the left thigh ('Leggy'), one on the tummy ('Navy') and one in the middle of the chest ('…Doc').

The right eye costume was the first to go on Ruby for the shoot. Immediately, she took a dislike to it, as she kept falling over and bumping into things.

"UGH!" groaned Ruby, as she tried to make her way to the Roaming Eye she would first appear from, "I can't see properly in this! I lost my depth perception."

Fortunately for all, Rebecca Sugar was there that day to keep their spirits high.

"Good," she said, "Use that stress, Ruby. Eyeball is a very grouchy character."

Ruby climbed into the opening of the Roaming Eye.

"Okay, I'm ready!" she declared.

"This is a take, everyone," said the director in his chair, "and…ACTION!"

Ruby went through the motions. Taking Sugar's advice to heart, she used the anger caused by the lack of sight in her right eyer to make a fierce emergence from the Roaming Eye.

"CUT!" yelled the director.

Ruby ran off to the side to switch into the 'Army' costume. Then she ran back into the Roaming Eye to do the entrance again, this time with a karate kick to a flower. Ruby switched into the 'Navy' costume and did the scene in a cuter manner, then the 'Leggy' costume, which was by far the cutest, purest, most harmless Ruby we'll ever meet on the show.

The 'Doc' costume was the weirdest of the bunch, because unlike the other costumes she tried on, this one did nothing to hide her boobs. I mean, it was just a pair of suspenders between the head and the pants! Ruby went over to Sugar to complain.

"This doesn't feel right," she said, "I'm getting drafts in the damndest of places!"

"Hmm…you're right," said Miss Sugar, "This is supposed to be a family show anyway. Gary, the Doc costume needs an extra shirt!"

The costume designer slapped his head: he knew he'd forgotten something. He opened a big blue Rubbermaid box and pulled out a small red shirt that was just Ruby's size. Shutting his eyes, he undid the suspenders and removed the plastic gem from Ruby's bare chest. He put the shirt on Ruby, opened his eyes and pulled the suspenders back in place, taping the plastic gem to her shirt.

"Much better," said the costume designer.

Miss Sugar gave a thumbs up as Ruby returned to her position to do the scene again as 'Doc'.

"Now, where's the Gem the scanners locked on to?" said Ruby in character, as she climbed out of the Roaming Eye for the fifth and final time that day, "Let's fan out and search the area."

"CUT!" said the director, "Print it. We're moving on."

The day, and the episode, had only begun.

The bulk of the episode's script called for multiple Rubies standing next to each other and talking amongst themselves. Each of Ruby's characters were to be shot one at a time, then combined into one clip later, on a computer. For all the other cast member involved, it sure felt weird seeing Ruby talking to thin air. They hoped Ruby, Miss Sugar and the director knew what they were doing.

Ruby, in her 'Doc' costume, stood atop the Roaming Eye, pointing to the (for the time being) invisible Rubies before her.

"We're here to retrieve the leader of the Earth mission," she said, just as they've rehearsed, "Hey, wait a second. It seems like there are more of us…than usual!"

Ruby paused for at least ten seconds, then she pointed at the five spaces where she was told another Ruby would be standing.

"One, two, three, four, five. Never mind…"

"CUT!" called the director.

Ruby switched into her 'Leggy' costume, and stood next to the Roaming Eye.

"ACTION!"

"Yeah, what are we all doing here?" said Ruby.

She stood there saying and doing nothing until the take ended. As Ruby went to switch costumes, a stagehand appeared with a plastic statue in Ruby's likeness, putting it down where Ruby was standing before. When Ruby returned, dressed as 'Navy', she was bewildered. 'What is this thing doing here,' she thought. She knocked on it (Bonk bonk) and flinched.

"Just stand like a foot to the right of the model," the director instructed.

"Ahhh," Ruby did just that.

"ACTION…Playback!"

Nearby, a sound engineer rewound a tape to the beginning of the 'Doc' and 'Leggy' takes for that scene. This served as a guide for when Ruby could start speaking her next lines without fear of overlapping.

"Yeah, what are we all doing here? We're here to retrieve the leader of the Earth mission," said Ruby's voice on the tape.

Now it was her turn.

"There's supposed to be five of us."

There was a long pause before Ruby could hear herself on the tape again. As soon as they stopped rolling, they prepared to do the scene again with Ruby as 'Army', using the same process as before.

"FIVE RUBIES!" Ruby screamed on cue.

The scene was shot two more times with Ruby in her regular and 'Eyeball' costumes, respectively, just standing there. Filming scenes like these made the overall shoot longer than a typical day. Fortunately, there was a fan in the barn that the others could sit in front of until they were needed on the set.

Later in the day, the time came for the scene where the five Rubies would gather together and fuse. An assortment of items, like some rocks, a coat hanger and the plastic Ruby dummy from before were used to help Ruby get in the right positions that matched what Miss Sugar envisioned in her sketches.

In her final, 'Giant Ruby' costume, the camera was placed at a low level, and aimed upward toward the sky to make Ruby look larger than she really is. As before, she yelled her lines into thin air; the gems that would look up at her in the finished episode were to be filmed back at the studio, in front of a green screen. According to the shooting schedule, this would be the last scene for the day. The minute the director declared "That's a wrap," Ruby immediately ran into the barn for a much-deserved turn in front of the fan.

Sapphire appeared behind Ruby and took a seat next to her.

"You did great today," said Sapphire.

"So did you."

"But you did most of the work while we practically stayed off to the sidelines."

"True," Ruby sighed.

Sapphire walked around to the back of the fan, in search of the control dial.

"Does this thing go any faster?"

It did. The fan was now so fast, that when Sapphire sat back down next to Ruby, her hair was almost blown out of its roots. Her two eyes were in plain sight for all to see—the one eye you see on the show is actually a prosthetic that gets rarely used.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the barn door behind them. It was Garnet. Her shades were off, revealing two, bi-colored eyes. (The third eye is a fake as well.)

"Sugar wanted me to tell you that you won't be needed for a while."

Ruby threw uppercuts in sheer delight. Sapphire just smiled. Meanwhile, the rest of the cast and crew packed up the costumes and equipment into the trucks and limos, and sped off into the sunset. It was a long way back to Brooklyn.

Ruby and Sapphire were left behind, but that's okay. The barn set was not far from Bethany Beach, where they had timeshares.

"Can I… spend the night with you?" Ruby asked.

"Thanks," said Sapphire, "But…I have a boyfriend."