"Guardians of the Galaxy" Feature Talkback (Spoilers)

Rate and Comment on this Movie!


  • Total voters
    15

wonderfly

Brand New Day on Toonzone
Staff member
Administrator
Reporter
Joined
Mar 22, 2002
Messages
21,702
Location
Springfield, MO
Thanks for everyone's answers. It just never occurred to me how startling different the Marvel Cosmos would be if you removed the Skrulls and the Shi'Ar (and apparently the Badoon)...makes me wonder who they'll have for a villain in the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Annihilus? Well, he's connected to Fantastic Four as well...The Brood? Nope, they were originally in the X-Men comics...
 

Dudley

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Aug 10, 2003
Messages
29,192
Location
East Coast of USA
I didn't mention this before, but when watching the film something bothered me. Near the end where try to have a shot of Groot waking up in sapling form, and Rocket's watching in the background, it looks like Rocket is missing an arm. Did anyone else notice that?
 

RoryWilliams

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2010
Messages
10,237
Location
The Tardis
Thanks for everyone's answers. It just never occurred to me how startling different the Marvel Cosmos would be if you removed the Skrulls and the Shi'Ar (and apparently the Badoon)...makes me wonder who they'll have for a villain in the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Annihilus? Well, he's connected to Fantastic Four as well...The Brood? Nope, they were originally in the X-Men comics...

Marvel actually has partial rights to the Skrulls. One of the comic prequels to the movie has a scene where Gamora is in a market on Knowhere and someone explicitly mentions Skrull shapeshifters.

As for the Brood and Annihilus, just because they debuted in non-MCU-owned comics doesn't mean they don't have the rights. Remember, the Kree, Ronan, Black Panther, and the Inhumans all originated in Fantastic Four as well. And Department H and Weapon Plus, both of which originated in the X-Men, were name dropped in Agents of SHIELD and The Incredible Hulk.
 

Gold Guy

Two is always better than one
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Dec 14, 2008
Messages
22,085
Location
New York City
Thanks for everyone's answers. It just never occurred to me how startling different the Marvel Cosmos would be if you removed the Skrulls and the Shi'Ar (and apparently the Badoon)...makes me wonder who they'll have for a villain in the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Annihilus? Well, he's connected to Fantastic Four as well...The Brood? Nope, they were originally in the X-Men comics...

One of the villains I wouldn't mind seeing is Michael Korvac, although I actually hope they save him for after Thanos. Hes very powerful. The Guardians and Avengers teamed up to fight him in the comics.
 

Ed Liu

Frog of Thunder
Staff member
Moderator
Reporter
Joined
Sep 6, 2001
Messages
14,282
Location
Princeton Jct, NJ
Finally caught up with the rest of the world and saw the movie this weekend. I think Hot Toys accidentally gave away a plot twist with the announcement of the additional pack-in to their 1/6 Rocket + Groot deluxe set, but otherwise I managed to avoid spoilers for the movie overall. Not that I really think it would have mattered a whole lot -- I thought the whole thing was tremendous fun from start to finish. I had been looking forward to this movie since the first trailer (when I fully realized yes, we're getting a major motion picture with Rocket Raccoon in a prominent role) and definitely was not disappointed.

I will agree that Gamora needed a bit more badass time than the one fight she got with Nebula (arguably her takedown of all the guards in the Kyln counted), but I'd also say a lot of that had to do with the chaotic cutting in all the fight scenes. The best one was the bit where Groot was slamming the soldiers back and forth on a giant branch in the hallway, but the only reason why that worked was that you could see what was happening. All the others were just major flurries of motion that were incomprehensible.

Rocket was amazingly awesome, due to the mix of amazing CGI work and Bradley Cooper's performance. I was reminded of the earliest Pixar movies, where you'd spend the first few minutes going, "Wow, that's really amazing CGI" but stop doing that entirely once you got caught up in the story and the characters (and, on the flip side, how you can watch them now and have the same effect except you go, "Wow, that's really primitive CGI compared to what they can do right now"). The moment when Rocket is drunk and letting all his anger show was incredibly powerful, and something I think a lot of the misfits and outliers in the world can totally identify with. But it never crossed my mind for a second that I was watching a CGI character. I was watching Rocket.

That said, my wife pointed out to me afterwards that it's easier to do that with characters like Rocket or Groot because we have no frame of reference in the way we do for people. If they had tried making, say, Drax into CGI, I don't think it would have worked as well because it would probably have fallen into uncanny valley territory. We can accept Rocket and Groot because, well, sure, I'll accept that's what a 3-foot tall talking raccoon with a bad attitude and a 10-foot tall sentient tree are supposed to look like.

Relating to some of the comments above:

Normally I would chide the flat villains (which I do think Ronan fits into), but given it's a brand new movie that focuses on five brand new characters and their issues, I'm perfectly fine letting the villains step down in order to focus on the protagonists.

I'm OK with Ronan's relative flatness in the movie because it's really not about him. It's about the Guardians and their relationship to each other way more than it is about their conflict with him. Tying to something else I saw again recently, it's the same reason why I don't care that Sabor and Clayton are really thin, narrowly defined characters in Disney's Tarzan. The movie is supposed to be about Tarzan's journey, not about his conflict with those two.

At the very least, I think this is the closest fans will ever get to a FarScape movie. Thought this was a fun sugar rush of a flick, but I still think that the summer flick to beat is DOFP (Bryan Singer, it's good to have you back), but I'm sure I'm in the minority.

The thought that GotG proved Farscape was 15 years ahead of its time crossed my mind as well. At its best, it was pulling the same tricks, though it also had the luxury of working with a much longer time scale than a 2-hour movie can provide.

That scene early on in the film where Ronan hammers the guy's head in, and is talking with Gamora and Nebula, after that scene ended, my wife said "I have no idea what's going on and who all of these characters are." I said "If the movie doesn't explain it, I will later." Anyone else feel they flung people in a bit too deep into Marvel universe references that a casual viewer wouldn't catch?

I asked my wife and her friend afterwards whether they were getting all of it and they both said, "no." Heck, I've been following the Marvel Universe pretty hardcore (though, admittedly, not the Cosmic stuff very much) and I couldn't follow everything that was going on. But, like the shallowness of Ronan, I think that's less important than one thinks. The first Star Wars doesn't waste much time explaining much of anything. You know who the good guys are, you know who the bad guys are, and all the references to the Clone Wars and the Imperial Senate and the Emperor are just window dressing to give you the impression you're working in a larger context, but you don't HAVE to know what's going on there to dig the adventures of Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, and the Droids. The fact that all the references in GotG are to real Marvel stories, characters, and events is nice, and certainly contributes to the richness of the world they're working in, but you don't have to get it all in one sitting to enjoy the movie. To that point, neither my wife nor my friend said that the lack of understanding what was going on affected their enjoyment of the movie at all.

I do think they might have gone a bit overboard in making that background a bit more detailed than it had to be, but I also think that's a growing trend because of the way mass media works these days. The assumption everyone makes is that you'll be able to watch these things repeatedly and in the comfort of home, so you can afford to be more a lot more detailed than movies were in the past. Watching the trailer to The Book of Life, I'm convinced they went as deep and detailed visually as they did because they knew people could freeze-frame that stuff and admire the details afterwards.
 

Yojimbo

Yes, have some.
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jul 13, 2003
Messages
54,913
Location
Shahdaroba
9/25: It appears the home entertainment release is being scheduled for December 9th. Hope it's true, be happy to have it before the end of the year. Wonder if they'll have a One-Shot on this.

EDIT: I got an email update on my pre-order for the Best Buy-Exclusive Steel Book. The release date will be December 9th.

11/1: I was looking through a copy of the Art of book in B&N today and noticed there were two murals in the Morag temple that depicted the Infinity Stones with Death, Entropy, Eternity and Infinity! Wondered who those were supposed to be.

11/18: No, that wasn't Beta Ray Bill in the museum.
https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/534474996848939008
 

Yojimbo

Yes, have some.
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jul 13, 2003
Messages
54,913
Location
Shahdaroba
Revised my list of references and easter eggs after rewatching it. Still have to listen to Gunn's commentary. Dug the Steel Book's Walkman design.

1. The actress who portrays Meredith Quill is Laura Haddock. She previously appeared in Captain America: The First Avenger as 'Autograph Girl'

2. In the comics, Peter Quill's biological father is J'son, king of the Spartoi. Gunn, on the record, stated this will not be the case in the MCU.

3. The symbol of the Spartoi in the comics is the symbol of the Ravagers in the movie.

4. The planet the Orb is found on, Morag, is named after the first leader of the Kree in the comics.

5. On Morag, the odd skeleton Peter Quill looks at might be Kymellian, the alien race Beta Ray Bill belongs to.

6. On Morag, the dog in the hologram is James Gunn's dog

7. The soldiers who serve Ronan are Skaarans, an alien race that plays a prominent role in the Planet Hulk arc in the comics

8. The soldiers were previously going to be Badoon but had to be changed due to rights issues. The Badoon did appear for one panel in an issue of the Thor: The Dark World Prelude.

9. The woman who wakes in the Milano during Peter's escape from Morag is Bereet. In the comics, she is a Krylorian film star and techno-artist who appears a lot in the Incredible Hulk series.

10. The Milano is named after Alyssa Milano, Peter Quill's childhood crush.
https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/494193606794547200

11. In the comics, Yondu Udonta was a founding member of the original Guardians of the Galaxy and an archer.

12. In the comics, Ronan the Accuser was an elite Kree in the military and had the title of "Supreme Accuser"

13. Stan Lee makes his cameo as a Xandarian flirting with a woman. He is spied on by Rocket.

14. Rhommann Dey, portrayed by John C. Reilly, is one of Nova Corps members who inducted Nova/Richard Rider in the comics.

15. Garthan Saal, of the Nova Corps, who is perplexed by Groot during the lineup, went insane after Nebula destroyed Xandar’s population in the comics.

16. When Nova Corps scan captures - their rap sheets come up

Peter Quill had a crime involving a Gramosian duchess. Gramosians are from the comics. He is also listed as having a translator implant on his neck.

17. In early trailers, Gamora is confirmed to be a Zen-Whebori. She is 24 years old, by her species' standards.

18. In early trailers, the species Drax is is marked unknown.

19. Other than Groot, Rocket has another associate - Lylla, his love interest in the comics

20. The Kyln is from the comics, where it served other functions besides as a prison

21. Star-Lord appropriately likens the Orb to the Ark of the Covenant from Indiana Jones and the Maltese Falcon. The Infinity Stone inside the Orb is of similar importance.

22. Lloyd Kaufman has a cameo as one the inmates harassing Gamora.

23. Nathan Fillion, who worked with James Gunn on Slither, makes a cameo as the blue inmate in Klyn who threatened Peter Quill.

24. Gunavian Jelly: The big blue prisoner tells Peter he's going to slather him up in Gunavian Jelly but is interrupted by Groot and Rocket. In the comics, Guna were a reptilian humanoid alien race that originated in Tales of Suspense #55 (July 1964).

25. Thanos and The Other previously appeared in The Avengers. Alexis Denisof reprises his role as the Other.

26. Thanos' rocket throne is from the comics

27. The name of Thanos' sector Sanctuary is a nod to his ship in the comics, Sanctuary II

28. Peter Quill refers to Groot as the Giving Tree, after a Shel Silverstein book

29. Ovette: Drax refers to his late wife as "Ovette." In the comics, she was Yvette Steckley.

30. Camaria: Drax refers to his late daughter as "Camaria." In the comics, Drax had an adoptive daughter named Camille Benally.

31. Rajak: Peter mentions a Rajak girl to Drax when he gets him to stop from executing Gamora in the Kyln shower stall. In the comics, the Rajak were an alien race from Iron Man Volume 3 #24 (January 2000).

32. Peter later refers to Rocket as Ranger Rick, a fictional raccoon from a 60s children's nature magazine.

33. Peter references the painter Jackson Pollack to describe his promiscuous activity aboard the Milano

34. Knowhere shares the same origin in the comics. In the comics, it also becomes the Guardians' base of operations.

35. Peter references Wild West outlaw Billy the Kid, outlaw couple Bonnie & Clyde and actor John Stamos.

36. The scene where Groot gives the girl a flower appears to a Frankenstein homage

37. Peter Quill tells Gamora about the movie Footloose starring Kevin Bacon.

38. Among the Collector's museum are
*Cosmo - a psychic dog from the Soviet Union space race who becomes a Guardian in the comics
*A Chitauri - Soldiers led by Loki in The Avengers
*A Dark Elf - Race seen in Thor: The Dark World
*Howard the Duck
*Adam Warlock's cocoon - Gunn later confirmed he picked the coccoon out of a Marvel handbook not knowing its significance
*Alien parasites that resemble the ones from Gunn's first movie Slither
*I heard there's a Frost Giant, have to rewatch that scene

39. The Infinity Stone in this movie is the Power Gem in the comics.

40. In the comics, the Celestials are a race of mysterious omnipotent aliens who tampered with more than few races, even humans

41. In the Collector's discussion of the Infinity Stones, a Celestial known as Eson the Searcher is briefly seen. The Tesseract and Aether briefly appear as well.

42. The Collector's assistant is named Carina. In the comics, the Collector's daughter was named Carina Walters.

43. Cotati: On Knowhere, the dispatcher that is forced to contact Ronan by Drax made an order for seven cases of Cotati seeds. In the comics, the Cotati were a tree-like telepathic race that originated on the same planet as the Kree, Hala. They first appeared in Avengers #133 (March 1975).

44. Rob Zombie voices the Ravager's navigation system

45. Star-Lord's "12% of a plan" and the Guardians' reaction to 12% appears to be a nod to a similar 12% discussion between Tony Stark and Pepper Potts in The Avengers while they discuss credit for inventing the Stark Tower.

46. The actor on set for Rocket was James Gunn's brother Sean. Sean Gunn also portrays Kraglin, Yondu's right hand man.

47. The gravimetric fields used by the Nova Corps pilots appears to be a nod to the Nova Force

48. Nebula mentions there being other siblings. In the comics, Thanos had a daughter, Rot, with Death and a secret son Thane.
 

rggkjg1

KRYPTONITE NEVERMORE!
Joined
Mar 2, 2002
Messages
7,095
Location
Philly Philly Earth-96
I enjoyed the movie, but I'm more thinking along the lines of "it was just ok" than really really good or amazing. I wanted to see it in the theater only after it was getting all the acclaim/praise, but before all that I wasn't really too interested since I didn't know anything about the Guardians Of The Galaxy. Other than it existed. I was really surprised that there isn't much "comedy" here as I thought there would be (as the promotions make it appear to be more of a comedy, and internet comments of "see, they know how to do humor and make it fun!". Maybe all the comedy is supposed to be assumed/implied because one of the main characters is a talking raccoon? The light/fun tone and humor is more apparent than some other "serious" comic book/super hero movies, but I don't think there is really that much of it to an extent where I cant say Guardians Of The Galaxy and The Dark Knight in the same sentence.

Ultimately I was thinking that maybe the film would change my attitude twards the cosmic/sci-fi Marvel (and DC). I never had an interest in the cosmic/sci-fi aspect of DC or Marvel because I can get cosmic/sci-fi in other media. My attitude pretty much remains the same after seeing the movie, and I wont be venturing off to the cosmic/sci-fi DC or Marvel any time soon (unless I have to - crossover stories, Earth superheroes getting involved with and going to god knows where in the cosmos, etc). Although, the first appearance/origin story of Star-Lord looks brilliant, and something I've wanted to own/read for months now.

My main question now is, is this REALLY a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie? Or is it IMPLIED it's one just because Marvel Studios made it? All the Avengers Marvel movies involve Earth, and Guardians takes place god knows where in the cosmos. If both Avengers and Guardians characters are completely unaware of each other, and their adventures, then for the sake of argument, wouldn't that alone make The Avengers and Guardians be "separate"? Is any of the cosmic Marvel stuff here in Guardians actually going to be in any of the upcoming Avengers films, or is it just all ASSUMED what we see in Guardians will appear somewhere in an Avengers movie (solo or team)?
 

Doguineta

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2010
Messages
2,990
Location
Uruguay
I enjoyed the movie, but I'm more thinking along the lines of "it was just ok" than really really good or amazing. I wanted to see it in the theater only after it was getting all the acclaim/praise, but before all that I wasn't really too interested since I didn't know anything about the Guardians Of The Galaxy. Other than it existed. I was really surprised that there isn't much "comedy" here as I thought there would be (as the promotions make it appear to be more of a comedy, and internet comments of "see, they know how to do humor and make it fun!". Maybe all the comedy is supposed to be assumed/implied because one of the main characters is a talking raccoon? The light/fun tone and humor is more apparent than some other "serious" comic book/super hero movies, but I don't think there is really that much of it to an extent where I cant say Guardians Of The Galaxy and The Dark Knight in the same sentence.

Ultimately I was thinking that maybe the film would change my attitude twards the cosmic/sci-fi Marvel (and DC). I never had an interest in the cosmic/sci-fi aspect of DC or Marvel because I can get cosmic/sci-fi in other media. My attitude pretty much remains the same after seeing the movie, and I wont be venturing off to the cosmic/sci-fi DC or Marvel any time soon (unless I have to - crossover stories, Earth superheroes getting involved with and going to god knows where in the cosmos, etc). Although, the first appearance/origin story of Star-Lord looks brilliant, and something I've wanted to own/read for months now.

My main question now is, is this REALLY a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie? Or is it IMPLIED it's one just because Marvel Studios made it? All the Avengers Marvel movies involve Earth, and Guardians takes place god knows where in the cosmos. If both Avengers and Guardians characters are completely unaware of each other, and their adventures, then for the sake of argument, wouldn't that alone make The Avengers and Guardians be "separate"? Is any of the cosmic Marvel stuff here in Guardians actually going to be in any of the upcoming Avengers films, or is it just all ASSUMED what we see in Guardians will appear somewhere in an Avengers movie (solo or team)?

The movie was about protecting an Infinity Stone from evil hands, and Thanos will use them all in Infinity War, so it's safe to say this is part of the MCU canon.
 

Gold Guy

Two is always better than one
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Dec 14, 2008
Messages
22,085
Location
New York City
My main question now is, is this REALLY a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie? Or is it IMPLIED it's one just because Marvel Studios made it? All the Avengers Marvel movies involve Earth, and Guardians takes place god knows where in the cosmos. If both Avengers and Guardians characters are completely unaware of each other, and their adventures, then for the sake of argument, wouldn't that alone make The Avengers and Guardians be "separate"? Is any of the cosmic Marvel stuff here in Guardians actually going to be in any of the upcoming Avengers films, or is it just all ASSUMED what we see in Guardians will appear somewhere in an Avengers movie (solo or team)?

Yes, it has been confirmed multiple times that this film does indeed take place in the MCU. Gunn, the director, wanted it to be the most "removed" from the rest, though, so the Guardians and the Avengers seemingly won't cross-over until Avengers Infinity Wars.

The main connecting factor here was Thanos, who also appeared in The Avengers film. The film also had cameos from a Chitauri.
 

defunctzombie

1992 not 2002
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jul 9, 2008
Messages
14,182
Location
Dream Land
Is there a reason this isn't on TV yet? I would think they'd be playing the life out of it in an attempt to build up some hype for the sequel, especially since what is it, FX? has become the MCU channel as of late with how many of these movies they're playing.

Although it is a rather violent movie despite all the bubblegum people... Or is the music keeping it off the tube?
 

Greg91

Member
Reporter
Joined
Dec 30, 2013
Messages
1,532
Location
Canada
Is there a reason this isn't on TV yet? I would think they'd be playing the life out of it in an attempt to build up some hype for the sequel, especially since what is it, FX? has become the MCU channel as of late with how many of these movies they're playing.

Although it is a rather violent movie despite all the bubblegum people... Or is the music keeping it off the tube?
It's already been on the air where I live (Canada). The Space channel aired it last year and also aired it as part of a superhero marathon for New Year's Day 2017 with Iron Man, Iron Man 2, X-Men, X2: X-Men United, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Avengers, etc. playing back-to-back.

I guess either American channels like FX are waiting closer to May or maybe it's not being aired. I expected to see Star Wars movies airing before Rogue One released and didn't see much of anything.
 

defunctzombie

1992 not 2002
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jul 9, 2008
Messages
14,182
Location
Dream Land
I guess either American channels like FX are waiting closer to May or maybe it's not being aired. I expected to see Star Wars movies airing before Rogue One released and didn't see much of anything.

That's funny because some of the Turner channels have been running Star Wars nonstop lately down here. But usually when a MCU movie is on, it's Avengers, Captain America, or Iron Man. I've never seen Ant-Man on anything but Starz (premium channel), and Thor and Hulk are usually reserved for football nights when no one is expected to watch. :shrug:
 

Yojimbo

Yes, have some.
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jul 13, 2003
Messages
54,913
Location
Shahdaroba
Is there a reason this isn't on TV yet? I would think they'd be playing the life out of it in an attempt to build up some hype for the sequel, especially since what is it, FX? has become the MCU channel as of late with how many of these movies they're playing.
1/10/17: I think last month FX was playing it and Winter Soldier a lot. But they tend to play the heck out of Avengers.

2/6/18: Gunn revealed part of his original pitch.

3/26: Gunn reveals the alien language during Stan Lee's cameo is Skrull for Excelsior!

12/720: Seyfried reveals she declined Gamora because she thought the movie would fail.
 
Last edited:

Spotlight

Staff online

Who's on Discord?

Latest profile posts

Remember back when people were saying that "Streaming is the (bright) future"?
"I can't wait to eat this baby" - Paramount, presumably looking for tax write-offs
Happy Baseball Opening Day
"I'm probably going to watch Nymphomaniac Part II on Disney+ this weekend" isn't something I didn't think I'd ever say, but here we are.

Featured Posts

Top