The Ringer-Verse - 'Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special' Reactions, Plus James Gunn | Mint Edition

Episode Date: November 27, 2022

Steve and Jomi are joined by Daniel Chin to give their reactions to the newest Marvel studios special presentation starring the Guardians of the Galaxy. They share their thoughts on Drax and Mantis having starring roles, Kevin Bacon’s performance and more (4:08). Then Daniel Chin talks with James Gunn about the process of making this special and what to expect from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (50:49). Hosts: Steve Ahlman and Jomi Adenierian Guest: Daniel Chin Associate Producers: Isaiah Blakely and Jonathan Kermah Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Yossi Salick, and I'm the host of Bansplain, a show where we explain cult bands and iconic artists by going deep into their histories and discographies. We're back with a brand new season at our brand new home, the Ringer podcast network, tackling a whole new batch of artists, from grunge gods to power pop pioneers to new metal legends and many, many more. Listen to new episodes every Thursday, only on Spotify. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tramphia is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject Tramphia, proper training is required.

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Kind of present. Something special he will never forget. What about someone special? What? Over the years, Quill has talked about one person more than any other, a legendary hero who has saved countless lives. We could give him to Quil as a present. And welcome into the Ringerverse.

It's like the podcast feed for all things fandom. Welcome back and happy holidays to mid-ed edition, the once-in-a-while podcast, all about the latest fandom that you can't live without. I'm Steve Alman, senior producer at The Ringer. Joining me today, as always is my co-host. Social coordinator at the ringer, Lord of the Memes, explainer of the Midneck Boys,

and he's still trying to figure out who ate his Zarg nuts. It's Joe Meaddinner on. Here's the thing, Steve, like peanuts, cashews, walnuts I'm not really a fan of, but Zarg nuts, especially the spicy ranch flavor. I'm all in, baby. Preceous commodity during the holidays. You got to have it.

You got to have it. What's a good, what's like that go-to holiday snack that you have? It's not like a meal, but like snack. I don't know. The Christmas cookies? Is it the, what did we have? It's the leftovers from Thanksgiving, my boy. Left.

Okay, that's a long time to have left over. Listen. Hey, man, you got to come to a Nigerian Thanksgiving, my brother. They will send you home good. How long does it last? Oh, I mean, with the jello fries, the ham ham, the mac and cheese, you feel me? You being good. You're being good to at least Tuesday.

At least Tuesday. I won't need to eat for the next week. So those are the best parts. You hear it. All right. Well, that's how we got it. Well, before we get to our exciting show that we got for you this month, a bit of programming reminders.

We're coming to you on a Sunday. Happy weekend, everybody. But on Monday, it's a house of midnight, a special house of midnight with Mal, Joanna, and Van. And they will give you a recap of the 1988 fantasy classic Willow. Jomey, we saw this before. We saw this at Vance House, Van. Buster Cribbon is like, all right, we're going to watch Willow. We're like, I don't know about this, Ben.

Van said, no, this is what you're going to do. You're going to watch what I don't know why you disrespected this movie while we were watching it. Again, you know, I'm from a different time. This movie was, look, it has his charms. You understand what I'm saying? Like, I see why Van in his younger, younger life would absolutely adore this film. You know, things have changed. It's 2022.

You know, there are other things that I could be watching. Absolute tragedy that you disrespect, Pete Val Kilmer, way. And then on Wednesday, Joanna and Van will be giving you their thoughts on the season premiere of the Disney Plus show of same name, Willow 2022. I can't believe we've got, it's a double

Willow week. This is very special. Listen, I'm excited for Willow Wednesdays. I don't know about you. The movie might not, movie may not have been it, but the show, we're going to have to see. I got a feeling this show is going to surprise you. All right? We have no screener gain happenings here. But, you know, there's some surprises along the way.

Let's see. All right. Well, on today's show, on today's Mint Edition, we're looking at the glorious Guardians of the Galaxy holiday special directed by James Gunn. And later, we're going to have a discussion with James Gunn himself on the pod for you today. And who's having that conversation? Pray tell. Well, it's our new co-host for today.

Writer at the Ringer. It's Daniel. Chin, what's up, Daniel? Hey, Steve, Jomey. Thanks for having me, guys. It's a pleasure. DC. Welcome to the show, man.

It's a supreme pleasure and honor. Thank you for coming back from Lindbergh and Associates to, you know, do some file work with us. I'm really excited to talk about this. But before we get to it, we got to have a quick little spoiler warning for everybody that's listening, the friends at home. Quick spoiler warning for everything that is Guardians' lore. That means Guardians of the Galaxy. one, two, oh, and the rest of the entire MCU today,

just in case you were wondering. All right, with all of that said, let's get into it. Just some quick nuts and bolts for everybody. This is a holiday special written directed by James Gunn, starring your favorite Guardians of the Galaxy crew, Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Karen Gillen, Vin Diesel, Dave Batisa, and Palm Kemetif,

and introducing a little-known actor called Kevin Bacon. Guys, the cast is stacked this holiday. season. What did you think about our returning cast of Guardians? It was good to share everybody back together. You know, it's been a minute. Last time we saw the Guardians was in Thor Love and Thunder. You know, they grown. They've changed a little bit.

And you can see in this iteration, it's a little different. You know, we'll talk about group. We'll talk about, we'll talk about Star Lord. But they're very much, they're very much changed. So I'm interested to see, like, I don't think we'll see what happened over that time, but it's cool that they grown up a little bit. It's wonderful to see. And this is being the second Marvel special presentation that we get,

previously Werewolf by Night during the Halloween season, spooky season, and filmed during the shooting of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, mainly persisting of Draxon Mantis, taking a little adventure to capture Kevin Bacon to give him to Peter Quill in the spirit of the holidays so that he can have a better Christmas this year. Guys, let's start with thoughts overall. Daniel, we've been seeing our Guardians sporadically since this time.

What do you think about this new adventure? Was this a good little iteration and adventure for the holiday season? Or was it, you know, a little less to be desired? I thought it was a lot of fun, honestly. Like, this just being the second special presentation, as you said. Like, I think both of them have been, like, really great. And, like, this was just, I don't know, an opportunity to get DRAX and Mantis a chance to shut.

I thought they had really good community chemistry in volume two and like just having both of them here and like doing such a ridiculously over the top like side quest where they're abducting Kevin Bacon. Like I thought it was a nice little chance to, you know, reconnect with the Guardians team before volume three comes out, you know. Jummi, let's hear it. Man, I can only second what Daniel said. I had a done of fun. Like seeing everybody back together was just. really great on my heart. And, you know, the special does a really good job of speaking to what makes Christmas special.

You know, family, friends, being there for each other. It was really awesome. And so I really think that, you know, while watching this, you're going to be all warm in the tummy and feel real special. Like, oh, this is what Christmas is all about. And that's what you want from a Christmas special, right? So, yeah, man, it was cool. It was good.

Let's go with the beginning and start off with talking about this. kind of odd little animated sequence that we get for Peter Quill's first Christmas. I was genuinely scratching my head when I first saw the opening animated ship and then a, I'll say oddly rotoscoped and weird quality animation sequence here. That's his Christmas animation right there, Steve. Yeah, basically Yandu bha humbugging the Christmas spirit that Peter is bringing back with him to space. and what did we think of this little intro of, you know, Yandu being father of the year once again.

Yandu has the grinch to start things off, man. I don't know, any chance to get Yandu back. I was just happy, even if it was just as Michael Rooker's voice for a little bit, you know, him being a little cramaget on Christmas. That's the way that he says sentiment. Is that why? There was no way Yandu was going to be into that on the first pass under no circumstances.

I was not surprised. Well, not to jump too far ahead. but like, is your Christmas made better when you're given firearms? I don't know, man. At like 14? I don't know. Does that make him a better father?

I love that Mantis and Quill don't even acknowledge the fact that he's just giving this kid guns for Christmas too. Mantis is like, oh, that's so sweet. You know, which is like, Yonby, what a guy. We could remember the, you know, fond memories in Guardians volume two when,

you know, that was actually a fond memory that Quill was having as we were looking back on his funeral when like the young Peter Quill was like taking out shooting with Yandu and they were having a good time. So you know, we could imagine that those were some good memories there, but it is a little alarming when, you know, he kicks your Christmas tree down and then also just gives you deadly weapons. And then we come to a interesting sequence on nowhere where the guardians are basically running the show because, spoiler alert, they own it now? Yeah, we find out that they bought it. from the collector, which is a nice little line that they mentioned.

And so when we see them again in May and Guardians volume three, they got a shop to set up, right? They're there. They own it. How does that, you know, fit into the larger MCU agenda? I don't know, but that's an interesting tidbit of information to just drop on us in the first few minutes of the special. Yeah, it's kind of wild too because like I watched it the first time and I totally missed

that line. Like Nebula says it so quickly that it's just like, to me, I had no idea. re-watching and I was like, oh my God, they own this entire, like, they own the entire celestial head of nowhere. That's a huge fact to drop in this, like, seemingly, you know, breezy and light holiday special that will certainly come back to us in Guardians volume three. Do we think that this is probably a bit more consequential for viewing for volume three? I know none of us have seen it before. We don't know any insider information. But is this kind of a little inaccessible for anybody that hasn't seen any guardians thing, let alone just having seen them in Love and Thunder

or Endgame? I mean, you know where I still am on this, man. We're going to go in a guy. We're going to go to Guineas Volume 3, and then they're going to say the same line. Verbatim. Yeah, I was going to say, don't get Joe me started on this train. They're going to, we're going to segue. We're going to get a montage of them forking over units for nowhere, and no one's going

to be the wiser, you know, but if you've seen it, you'd be like, ah, so that's how they bought it from the. the Galaxy holiday special. Yeah. I knew that, you know. I think it's going to be a really interesting thing to see, especially, like, you know, with the first special presentation,

where we'll find night, it's totally self-contained. And this one is like, it's actually building on previous movies. Like, it's building on, you know, the last times we've seen the Guardians.

And like, it's like, let's see if, you know, they're expecting fans to have watched this heading into Volume 3. But I think, I think Jomey's right.

Like, it's probably going to be a line early on where they can explain most of what happened or like there would be not to get too far ahead but like probably some acknowledgement of Mantis and Quildas being brother and sister now but going into that movie without having seen this I'm sure

it would be like what are you talking about what I'm interested to see and I want to get you guys question on this how much you think don't work costs how many units I okay I think that this is actually something that I would love to debate because while the actual

like real estate and property and like enterprise nature of it all, it can seem quite expensive. I bet you that nowhere generates a lot of trouble. I bet it's a lot of risk involved and I think the collector wanted out. I think there's a reason that the collector would have just said, you know what?

I'm giving away nowhere. Where's he going to take all of this stuff, by the way? Like that's a big development that we just wouldn't know. I think that nowhere is probably going to cost something crazy, but they must have scored pretty big in between Love and Thunder and now just to like get the key. to the skull. It's also, you know, it's very much a fixer-upper right now.

After, you know, they probably bought it while still in flames from Thanos, so it's like, I think they probably chose a good time to purchase nowhere, too. But I agree with you. It probably still cost a good amount from the collector.

Yeah, see, that's what I was thinking, like the Danos devastation, you know what I mean? Plus, like, it's just a hassle to keep up with. The collector had to sell low. I'm thinking, like, you know, maybe 11 million units,

you know what I'm saying? 10 million. it's still a celestial head. You know what I mean? You have to have there's a built-in price point there. But considering what it could have gone for, how much money, how much revenue it could generate,

I think they bought low on it, which is great for the guardians. It's a great deal for them. You love to see it, especially in this housing market, right? Right. Well, speaking of which, let's also, you know, examine another buried lead.

Mantis is now Peter Quill's sister. Would have been great. to know at any point during this. Does this like very early section reveal kind of come out of nowhere or was this even like we didn't really get any allusions to this in volume two. We kind of were just plopped at this, you know, seemingly crazy revelation right now. And, you know, Mantis is, you know, apprehensive about telling him because we're just going to, he's just going to worry about the relationship with his dad and that's going to be a problem.

Is this a little misguided? What do we think about this early reveal and this conflict of interest for Mantis? I was a little surprised. I mean, I think like you said, it did kind of feel like it came out of nowhere. I mean, no pun intended. But, like, they, I feel like they kind of ceded in in volume two where she's, like, Mantis is giving her own, like, sad origin story about, you know, being, I think the word she used was larva and ego like picking her up from her planet but like I guess any if she had been any

clear about him being her dad like from then on like it would have been like all right so they're related but so yeah I mean to choose this to be kind of the center and like the emotional stakes of this special I thought was a really interesting choice and I don't know if it was totally earned nah I mean it's one of those things where you can get the subtext in volume two where it's like you know, they're the only people who have any type of connection to ego. So that bonds them, right? And it's kind of like, you know, he was actually my dad, you know, and he raised you. We both have like a, you know, familiar understanding.

So, you know, you'd say like, oh, like adopted sister, you know, like we both have the same father in quotation. So we're close. But this makes it, you know, canonically official official. And while that doesn't like, you know, break the rules or make everything. you know, crazy. It is kind of nice, you know, because like I said, the Christmas thing is all about family, all about coming together. And so it was just like a little note, a little nod to be like, oh, yeah, they are family. They are belated, you know, let's put that in. So, you know, we have that moment of family, which I thought was nice. I thought it was really really nice

and heartwarming to see them like come together like, brother, sister. And it's really the negligence of Mantis not really leaving this information out there until now Guardians have always been about found family, about uniting and, you know, picking the family that you choose and the family that, you know, gets you through really anything.

Quill hasn't really had a family since he was six years old and now he's been able to find this new crew that was going to make him another family again. So like, we'd think that Mantis would be fine with revealing this to Quill in like a, you know, more familial way earlier on, but then the spirit of the holidays comes over and we just got to all feel good about ourselves. So as this is really thing to do, we've got to think about what to get Quill for Christmas because Yon do, kind of a grinch the holiday season, and we go off on a little adventure with Drax and Mantis

to sunny Los Angeles, and we're off to find Kevin Bacon. How did you like this kind of comedic team up between Dave Batista and Palm. Was this a good pairing? Did you like this kind of like small collection of, you know, just really happenstance in Los Angeles to kind of get them off the planet and have a little adventure? What did we think about this? I was locked in. They had great chemistry in, you know, volume two and then a little bit in Infinity War.

So seeing them back together was always going to be fun. I think the, I mean, we could talk about the stuff at the house. That was really funny. But the bits that got me at the beginning were seeing all the adventures out there. And Matt, to see her like Steve to some dude in a Captain America costume, because she has no idea how that works. I was just like, yeah, of course she would. That would never happen.

Clearly she does not recognize America's ass. No, no. Like that's going to come to bite you. It really will. Daniel, like, I can clearly imagine something like this when they're like filming on the Disney lot and they're like, okay, we got like three days. Why don't we just like block off Hollywood Boulevard for a second and like have tracks and Mantis mess around on the walk of fame? Was this fun? Does this add anything? Does it matter?

What are your thoughts? I really liked it honestly. Like I was kind of alluded to this a little before my previous answer. But like I just love the chance to see these two like get a chance to shine. like especially for for palm's mantis i feel like she's always kind of been more of a background character and you know we've what we've seen dracks a lot obviously just since the since volume one but this time we really got to see her like shine and like her just like comedic time and like palm was amazing and this i thought um and they're just such a ridiculous duo like seeing them like party

together and like just like take shots was just like worth it alone you know like that whole entire time in los angeles you know they're just like doing their own thing And it's like, hey, you know, let's just let the two of them have fun. And, like, it was a lot of fun, you know, like, I'm not mad at any of it. Seeing Mantis become Jackson's manager within, like, 15 minutes of coming to L.A. is real. Yeah. It's real. She saw money making an opportunity.

She took her shot. You know what I mean? She said, oh, you, you paying for me? Come up off these bands, brother. Yeah, I'm going to get this cash. And then even after they got out the club and she saw the lady, she was like, he was the prize, like, give me your money. Give me all your money. I'm like, Mantis sees it.

Mantis is outside with it. I understand. Quick side break while we, while we going to the club. Are we drinking with Mantis and Drax? I don't know if I am. I don't know if that's a good hang. I feel like that's going to be,

that's going to get me in trouble at the end of the next. Are you serious? Oh, yeah. Mantis looked like the life of the party. Mantis, let me know what we're going on. You know that. Yeah, but I'm not out of me,

you know what I'm saying? Jackson's at the bar. I'm on the dance floor with Mantis shaking it. You feel me? I'm going to be out there throwing hip everywhere. You understand? That's what it looked fun. I don't know if what y'all was watching,

but that looks like so much fun. I want to be there with Mantis, put the shades on and the club, man. I don't know where Kevin Bacon is, but these hips don't lie. I'm saying. Figuring that out, that's for sure.

I feel like Mantis's reaction to the first shot was somewhat concerning. I hope she, like, is okay. Like, I don't know what type of allergic reaction that was, but the, The two of them, you know, that is quite a tandem. You know, Dax's like, you're not going to get much dancing in, but you got a great drinking buddy there.

I would not try to go shot for shot with Dax, though. Oh, no. And with the mantis, though, like that, I think the two of them together, that's a fantastic hang. I'm saying. Agreed. Fair hang. All right.

Well, in a drunken stupor, we meet a woman that might know where Kevin Bacon lives and dangles a star map in front of them for $40. I don't know if anybody's gone on. on a star tour. But I got a feeling that that woman might have gotten what she had coming to her when she fell for for Mantis' trance.

$40 for a star map and then robbing somebody. I think that's fair for the course for Guardians' lore. Like they'd be doing that on any planet, let alone Earth. Oh, yeah. So I'm not too worried.

Of course. They've done plenty of heist before this. I think this is, you know, we can let this one slide. Yeah. Listen, if she could kind of sleep Thanos, this is going to be lightwork. Oh, yeah. The easiest, the easiest job she's ever pulled right there.

So, and then with that, we're headed to Kevin Bacon's house. But as we hit the Star Map, we get a couple of cameos from some other ones, one of which being John Cena, nice little peacemaker nod there. Do you think they saw him? I think so. Or at least they were like... The two of different colored lines, like, go off to, I feel like kind of suggest that they were stopping in at the houses. Or that they split up?

Yeah, they split up. I don't know. A better ground. I mean, knowing that they would have... seen John Cena. You can't see him. You can't see him because they would have been the first. Okay, that would have been a terrible.

That's a terrible joke. Good thing I didn't make that. Anyway, we get to Kevin Bacon's house. All right. Quick pause from everybody here. Jomey, this is a very important question. Daniel, you're going to be answering the same thing. Oh, boy.

What's your favorite Kevin Bacon movie? Oh, wow. Wow. That's a good question. That's a great. Steve Steve Alman

that's a great question man there is a correct answer here but my favorite

Kevin Bacon movie man so we I think I mentioned on the of the

podcast it's clearly and very much tremors okay here we go that's

that's that's that's I'm done you're saying that because that's the only

movie I can remember seeing Kevin Bacon in at the moment it's because it's a

truly transcended film that works on many different levels. And it's just so credible, so special. If you haven't seen tremors. It's one of the few perfect films that ever exists. It's great. It's fantastic.

Daniel, what about you? Tremors is a great response. I think one of the first movies, at least I saw him in, was Apollo 13. There we go. That one's up pretty harsh from me outside. It's crazy.

It's when he's in the bathroom and he goes, Yahoo! I've seen Apollo 13. I forgot he was in. next. That's a really fun thing to just look through his

IMDB page. Honestly, there were so many movies. I forgot he was in first class. I forgot he was in first class. Yeah, he was his second NCU debut.

Yeah, totally forgot that though. Yeah. Like, I think he was the voice in like Balto. He was a voice in Balto. I was like,

wow. That's one of my. I hadn't thought about that movie in so long, but I love that movie. Kevin Bagman Bacon. Look at the dude. A don't cannot do this. alone. But maybe a wolf can. Fucking classic.

Absolutely classic. No, Tremors is the correct answer. Tremers is actually absolutely the correct answer. But I would have said Apollo 13 as well because that's probably one of the most elite dad picks of a movie that could ever exist. Jomi, I was just going to straight up lie to you and say that he's in the Shawshank Redemption just because I know you haven't seen it yet. I would have been like, yeah. And you'd believe me. You'd believe me. Get busy swimming or get busy dying or get busy digging and get busy dying. Yeah. Exactly. He played just Morgan Freeman.

All right. So we're off to Kevin Bacon's house. How do you think Kevin Bacon did in his second MCU debut, his second Marvel film as himself? I think we have to ask big questions now, right? Kevin Bacon exists in the MCU. Does X-Men first class exist in the MCU? Oh, Lord. You know, like we know footloose does, right?

We know, you know, Apollo 13 probably exists. You know, does frocks? Nixon, does the woodsman, does Mystic River? Prior to the 13 does now too, because they were talking about Jason Vorhees in there, so. Exactly, right? So, hey man, did you see that one X-Men movie with those, those mutants? That was crazy, huh? Kevin Bacon was so great in that movie. What are you talking about, bro? What are the X-Men dog? Like, the mutants exist in real life now. What if Kevin Bacon is the first

person to say X-Men in the MCU? Because what I immediately think is like, oh, okay, so he's not going to be the celebrity cameo in volume three, which is what I thought could have happened. But they wouldn't possibly spoil that twice. No, here's what you do. They said he's coming back for Easter, right? You bring him back there. What's up, guys? Remember me from the Solidary Special?

The Guardians 3 takes place during Easter. No, I think he was, I think he was very much, you know, playing himself, which is, you know, really can be, I feel like can be hard. for him. I mean, Kevin Bacon, you show up, be charming and it works. And it was awesome. You know, he was appropriately scared, but it came down time to be like, you know, all right, I mean, let me be, let me be me. I mean, he was rocking the mic, you know what I mean? Like, I thought Kevin Bacon really, really good job. He was funny. He was, you know, engaging. It was, it was a good performance from somebody who- And apparently he had a blast doing it. Like, multiple interviews of that, he's like, oh, we're having a blast of this. Like, this clearly wasn't a

cash grab. He was not in Anthony Hopkins caching mode here. He was actually on set having fun. I thoroughly believe that. Bacon's got ranged, man. I mean, he was playing a British private in World War II here too, you know, like singing songs out here.

Guys, guys, crazy stupid love. MCU canon. There we go. There we go. And we see him, fun fact, watching a movie called Santa Conquers the Martians, where Martians kidnapped Santa Claus because nobody can give their children presence.

Meaning that I think that the Martians had a Santa Claus and then that might have been a Tim Allen situation where he killed the original Santa or whatever. Jesus Christ. We'll look that up. It's on prime. No free ads, but we find that and then I think that this is probably the funniest sequence in the entire special

where Mantis and Drax are attempting to break into Kevin Bacon's house. Was there any standout moments because I just had one that was like that actually made me laugh out loud? Mantis hopping from wall to wall was legitimately

That's 100% what I was going to say to Bro, like if like I know like they all they figure it out Kevin Bacon like understands But in that moment I would have called the National Guard The SWAT team

MI6 CIA Like everybody get down here It's I'm gonna die Right like oh my goodness Could you imagine that coming at you You have no idea what that is You'd be terrified You'd be scared

as hell, man. Okay, a little... Yeah, but like, okay, think about Earth at this time, conotically in the MCE. First of all, did Kevin Bacon survive the blip?

That's a question right there. Was Kevin Bacon snapped? I'm gonna say no. Actually, you know what? No, I think about that. I mean, we don't know. He probably was. It would have had to age him up a little bit, too,

you know? Some people in his family were missing him for sure. sure if that's the case. But no, it's the fact that like, okay, humanity's had like countless tragedies. Let's just keep New York, the alien invasion of New York in mind.

I don't know if like seeing a crazy antenna woman invade your house, not that you shouldn't be unfazed by it. But they're like, okay, maybe if you see a spaceship over Los Angeles, you're like, oh, well, or something's happening again. Avengers are doing their thing or something. I don't know, Steve. You know, I mean, in the MCU, We know they've seen a lot.

Erisham was in the sky. You know what I mean? An eternal was born out of the sea and it's still there. Here's the thing. That's cool, but I can watch that on, I'm looking at my phone and I see that, you know. I'm on, you know, I'm on Twitter. I'm watching television. If a bug lady came into my house and started jumping off the walls, my brother.

I'm freaking out. There's no other. Like, oh, man, well, the aliens is this now. So this is cool. No, man, I'm losing my mind. Instantaneously, expeditiously. Because them, like, hopping over all the fences, too, like, like, Ferris Bueller style was, like, very, very funny.

Like, just out of, like, they were just full on creatures for some of these things. And just, like, purely ecstatic, like, joy that's, like, coming out of them is so funny. I think, I think they're probably just still drunk. It's still hammered. The thing that actually, that absolutely, like, floored me was when, when Mantis says, do you think you could toss me over the gate? And then Drax immediately tosses her over the gate.

And then she turns and she's like, what are you doing? I don't know why. But when she says that, that just like absolutely killed me. And when Kevin Bacon performs no less, like he does what I would only call a Jason Bourne down his gardening,

down the trees to, like, jump from his balcony, off the trees, lands, runs through the garden, stops, turns around to look to see if they're still following. Just keep going. Like, you're doing amazing Kevin Bacon. Like, I don't understand what you're stopping for. I do love that he stops.

He's just, like, so shook does not know what he's looking at. What was he going to do, honestly, too? Like, they're going to catch him eventually. And it's funny, too, because, like, you think like when they made the call hey Kevin Bacon man we want you to come in and basically pay yourself do you think you hit him with the um William Defoe thing's like I'm not coming back unless I can do my own stunts I want to jump from the window and land on some some holiday furniture and slide down like I'm a secret agent I think I think that

would actually be great it would have killed me if he just like randomly did a front flip off of that balcony and just landed on his feet and nobody said a word they're like yeah Kevin Bacon could do front flip it's a super athletic but even though Will The foe is built different. I think Kevin Bacon is made from similar stuff. That would be nuts. Now, was this a major abuse of Mantis's power to abduct Kevin Bacon against his will? Totally, and I love it.

It's so funny. She just abusing her power is the entire time, and it's like, you know, it's one thing, I guess, to take a little money from the Star Maps person. But abducting Kevin Bacon and I'm taking him to nowhere on Christmas. no less. It's quite a move. But we've seen her really use it a lot over all the MCU movies. So I mean, again, like she almost took out Thanos, you know, put him to sleep for a while.

It really is kind of a cheat code. Like, it really is. Not as in Mantis is overpowered, but like if I could do that, you do it all the time. Oh, 100%. Not for any devious reasons, of course. No, we would make billionaires pay their taxes and, you know, legal, sensible legislations are passed. I think the like that whole sequence from Kevin Baker's house to their fight with the cops in the street was I can't even can't even say without laughing is they drags gets to like you know mantis does her thing with the cops on her end cop car pulls up

drags flips it like like easy like flipping a tortilla just whoop man's like hey you can't kill them like they're not dead They're not dead. They're scared as hell. And Mantis is like, okay, well, that's good. Here, take, take this, this inflatable candy can that we found. This, this will make you at peace. It doesn't look like a man, does it? Cool.

We'll see you. Goodbye. Which is an absurd, absurd. That's nuts. Yeah. And these are the great, like, James Gunnisms that I kind of, like, can see sprinkled throughout where, like, they just stopped to argue for no reason, like, coming back to be like, that candy cane

doesn't look like a man. It does look like a man. I want my little man. Like, like, provides nothing to what's happening in the scene, but it's just really like a fun, dumb argument. And I think James Gunn might be the king of fun, dumb arguments.

They did that a lot in Peacemaker. Yeah, exactly. Like something's happening. And it's like, all right, let's talk about this. And then it really like stretches out for a few minutes. Right. Way too much. Way too much. Also, the very good bit that

Drax is apparently bulletproof and it just tickles him. Yeah, look good for him. You know, we're always wondering what his strength power level. People in space are just bulletproof. Could Quill be bulletproof because of that? Or like,

no. And Jacks is built. Speaking of being built different. Yeah, Drax is built different. That guy is huge. You got to be, even in the comics,

like his old thing is just like being like, basically like space cratos. You know, he lost his family. Which again. Reserected. Which again. We glossed over that great line where she's like,

I took a picture with the god of war. Yeah. Like an actual hilarious. An actual Kratos mentioned here. I also, I still don't know what their legal situation is with actually mentioning Bruce Wayne and Batman, but apparently they can do that.

Good for that. Very funny timing with just James Gunn. Yeah. He's given his two movie notice and is moving on to bigger and better things when he's going to be running DC basically being the Kevin Faggy of that operation. But in, Until then, he's going to get his final playthrough with these two special and his last movie as an MCU director. This episode is brought to by Boris Head.

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And we're back on nowhere, and it's time for the exchanging of the gifts. We didn't talk about this before. We talked about it briefly before we started recording, but ushering out the Kevin Bacon box, and we all love a Kevin Bacon box, is is probably one of the craziest iteration

that you said that yeah Kevin Bacon box yeah dog it's a box of bacon have some decorum boxes that this is a family podcast have you ever had like one of the like they have those ads out on children are listening to this box of meat for like you know 40 bucks box of

box of Kevin Bacon meat meat that's nuts a box of Kevin Bacon meat meat that's nuts Steve all right well don't me made it weird again i didn't make you weird you made it really i'm surprised it hasn't been done already honestly is it promoting promoting balto you know like a thing from pan where where grut says this is this is the bacon box it's nuts anyway speaking of grut uh this might be the most horrifying thing i've ever seen this is the weirdest iteration of grut i've ever seen

my one note for this thing that i can't see that grude again never my life tiniest head and he's like he looks like curb like he's small. He looks like Curb. Yo! He's like he's slow. Jonathan Kirby, you're going to let this stand? Oh no. You're going to let him talk about you like

this? Curr. Jacked. But he's got like this great smile on his thing. Hey, no, no, no. First of all love to Kerm. All love to Kerm. All love to Kerm. I have never listen. Let me, let me, let me, let me, Kerm, listen. You need to get your get back. Man, you're not going to let this man talk about

you on the podcast like this. Here's the ones that I've done. All right. I look like Rachel Maddow. I look like Bo Burnham. Pull it that slide, Kerr. Fight back, curve. Kurt looks like Swole Groot and it's weird.

Steve doubling down right here. Why would you double down on these? That's so nuts. Isaiah, no matter what happens, clip this. clip this save this Curve has to hear this I fought for you my brother

I bled for you don't let Steve talk about you like this I see this is a high compliment he looked like swall Groot you said he looked like Swall Groot yeah don't walk it back now Steve

no he needs his licks he needs his get back that's crazy as a cop If you told me I looked like I would stop this podcast immediately. Steve, I know where you live. I'd have to see you outside. He's literally made of wood.

My God. My God. Listen, Kerm, don't let his words get to you. You're a beautiful, handsome young man. The prime of your life is still ahead of you. I agree with all of these statements. Swole Groot? Do you.

Yes. I had nightmares about Swole Grude. when I saw this episode, my brother? I don't know about that. He just looks like a funk-o pop. Dude, he looks like you took the mountain's body and put a newborn baby's head on it.

It's legitimately terrifying. It's like, yo, there's no way they can run that back for volume three. I'm legitimately scared. Like, that's the one thing. I'm like, y'all, man. Like, it was cool when he was skinny group and the first one, baby group

in volume two, teenage group. in three or in you know end game in Infinity War and Thor 11 Thunder here it looks like a man's been on the sap bro he juicing well no he's only do he's only doing bow flex for like the chest

for like the chest and the torso that's it's too big yeah he's way too big I think it was like two of like the funnier moments for me though honestly was like watching like seeing Swole Groot appear for the first time just like dancing in the background of that opening song

just like looking at Groot like saying like what what happens he's like going crazy think about it think about like what he looks like like in Thor Love and Thunder and what he looks like now that's two different people that's not group that's a scroll frankly that's not what group's supposed to look like bro he's been in the gym he is our secret scroll yeah oh this is the start of secret invasion right here listen they're plugging in secret invasion here two days at the gym no all protein no carb

no sugar, you know what I'm saying? No dairy. Just eat drinking oat milk, eat oatmeal, right? And lifting weights, that's it. He knows he's got to fight Jonathan Majors at some point, clearly. My God, what a terrifying him. It's just my only note. That's my only thing.

It was like a legit jump scare when I saw it the first time. Like when they're doing like the little, they're playing the little Christmas song for Peter and then he comes in frame, I legitimately saying they're like, oh my God. What is that? Like, like,

like, like, like, like, like, like, I was legitimately terrified.

My goodness. No, no, no, I would really love an explanation on the physiology as to why he got so swole. Just like a one line of dialogue.

That's all we need. We're just like, oh man, like he hit the growth spurt or something. Like something, clearly. Like, he wasn't that big in Guardians 1.

Like, come on. I just, I love the deep in voice. Just, I love imagining Vin Diesel, just getting back into the booth, voicing,

uh, Swole Groot for this one too. But it's like it's slightly upticked. So like we could assume he's like in his like early 20s. Yeah, they still call him a kid too at some point. This is like college age route that's been You know what it is?

He on that PGHH. That plant growth hormone is what he is. He's on fertilize. He's on that plant growth hormone, man. He got a chill. Got a chill. It's not good for you. What is in your soil, right? All right. Come on now. All right. Well, a couple of other bits and bobs that we get here. We see

the exchanging of gifts and the holiday spirit Kevin Bacon finally comes around and the Guardians exchanged some gifts and we get some interesting gifts mainly from our one rocket raccoon finally getting his prized bucky arm

what? Okay we have to have a conversation how in God's name did he get that off? Well here's the thing how he's not the one who got it Nebula got it right? Nebula got it yeah

I would love to see the back. Nebula get that. Here's my thinking, right? It's two things. Nebula went to Earth. Nebula saw Bucky. You know, she was like, hey, need that arm. He was like, cool.

I don't know how to take it off. You got to call Wakanda and have them do it. It was like, bet, no problem. I can make it happen. Or seeing this is like next level. Nebula was like, hey, I need a fake. I need a fake Bucky arm. My boy had been asking for it.

I can't really take it. his arm. Do you know who I could call? Probably got the collector on it. It was pretty convincing arm, though. I don't know. It looked good. That's what I'm saying. She went to Bucky, said, hey, can you call your contextual conduct? She had a fake arm. It doesn't have to do nothing. It's got to look the part. You know what I'm saying? But then, like, what they give him, like, you know, like,

would they just give vibranium out? I don't know, man. Let's say for the sake of argument that that actually is Bucky's arm. That's Buggie's real arm that was actually stolen from him. to think that she actually stole that. A, how, B, could it be a Transformers 2 situation where she disguises herself as like a lady and like takes it from him? Nibula's not already a lady.

Well, you know what I mean? Everybody knows who Nebula is. That's what I'm saying. She's a big blue robot person. That's what I'm saying. That's why if she fluttered her with Bucky. I don't know if Bucky's, I don't think Bucke's got enough game for that.

He's been out of the game too long. he was going through some shit too when we saw him. I don't know. He's about to join the Thunderbolts. I don't know what's going on, Bucky. Is it? Yeah. What happened? His arm, that's a precious cargo. What happened to his original arm got ripped off at some point, though, right? In Civil War, my man Tony Stark blew that thing off his body. So what happened to that arm, though? You know, did somebody pick this up? Maybe they just... Well, he gets the vibranium arm when he lives in Wakanda. Right. But so the original one, yeah, it seems pretty valuable still, you know? somebody. I can't imagine the Wakanas are really cool about their, like vibranium ending up, you know, in the hands of some space aliens.

Well, not to, not that we're talking all too much about Wakanda forever, but, you know, they're fine with some people having vibranium, which, you know, sometimes you can't help. It's going to get out there somewhere. You know, maybe Nebula, maybe because, see, they're all, because Aquay was at a, and sure we're at Tony's funeral in endgame. Nabila was also there. You know, hey, how you doing? You know, oh, man, I'm sorry for your loss.

Hey, it's cool. I love your, you know, robotics. Hey, yeah, you know, I do my best. I would love to, you know, study you sometime. Let me get your number. Cool, no problem. Just make a quick phone call. Hey, sherry, I need like a replica on for, but, you know, my boy rock.

She's like, hey, say no more. Come through to the crib. I got you. Right. You know, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, boom. We might know a chatter broker or two that can get you that. Exactly. Slight work.

Shuri, you know, make the call. Easy. Clearly they did that from the Tony Stark funeral group thread. Group threat. That's nuts. Everybody's, everybody's exchanging it. Well, it's like they're not going to do it after, like right after the battle. Yeah.

I don't know if they're going to make an arms deal here at the funeral even. You just not on the end game group chat. Who isn't on the end game group chat and who is? Okay. I know for sure. Group for show not on truth check. Can have kids in there. No.

They, you know, they kicked. They kick Peter out every so often. Peter put it like a meme. Peter would be like, aha, look, I saw this black widow meat. We definitely mute Peter on the great chat for sure.

Right. Nobody responds to Peter. I feel like the only, like Captain America don't even know how to work a cell phone, right, at this point. So my boy, when he get in there, he'd be acting foolish, like,

you know, you can't, that's not what that means, Steve. Like, it's not how that's supposed to go. And like, there's just threads of people correcting him.

You know, Thor, again, he's off world a lot. But when he comes in, his jokes are fire. Right? Like when he when he put a joke in there you just laugh and like phrase. I got a feeling that Thor doesn't really like he, like when he says it, he doesn't know, he thinks that he's joking, but it's really just people kind of laughing at him, maybe not with him. All banner does is, all badder does is hit reacts, like heart, ha, ha, ha, burger emoji, exactly.

Taco emoji. Like you're not really, you feel me? And then last but not least, they had to kick Scarlet Witch out of the group for obvious reasons. It just wasn't, it was his, it was his, like Dr. Strange was like, hey, listen, guys. So here's what, here's about my week has been. They were like, ah, she got to go. I don't even know if any of the guardians are making the cut, honestly. I feel like they were just kind of the kind of the weirdos from space for, I mean, I don't know. Maybe they bonded during the blip, you know?

Yeah. There was some time where Rocket could have been hanging out with crew. I think there, I think everybody's favorite is Rocket despite his like personality problems, you know, there's something about, there's something about, they just can't. He's the place. He's the one that gets things down. Right. There's something about, you know, I mean, he was there the five years, so they know him the best, you know, and Nebula too, right?

But something about Peter's just like, I don't know, man. I don't trust that dude. I mess with the rocket. I messed with the raccoon a little more. You feel me? Yeah. Like, that's just what that is. Like, that's just what that is.

I'm being contacted by signal. Right. Right. Anyway. So, what is the favorite gift outside of Bucky's arm that we got? We got a lot of dioramas. We see a lot of, we see a lot of fun things that we get Cosmo. out here?

I love a good bit because the diorama bit is just so great because it's like, oh look, this happened in the episode. Oh, that also happened. Then you get to the last one with Craglin holding it and it's Craglin holding his diorama in his hand. It's so fun.

It was so awesome. Very much in the spirit of Christmas too, I feel like with the diaramas. I don't know. It was perfect. A quick craft crew that those guys are. I love it. We get Cosmo. Cute little Cosmo. Hmm.

That's all you got to say? This precious, this precious, precious thing? Yes. How about that? I didn't like Cosmo. What about that? What the hell's wrong with you? The Russian space dog.

I love Cosmo. Did not do it for you, Jome? Did you like Cosmo more in the Guardians of the Galaxy game? Is that why? That's probably what it is. Is that why? The Russian accent was. Did the voice throw you?

Yeah. The voice throw you in this one? I was like, ah, man, what's the Russian accent? Because for those who haven't played the Guardians of the Galaxy game, which I think we both recommend, or all three of us would recommend it. Very good. I would absolutely recommend it. Absolutely.

Cosmo sounds like the Russian dude from Rocky 4, where it's like a Cosmo must break you. Like that was it. And then, but this Cosmo sounds like a child, like a cute child. You know, different flavors. It's all fine. Very cute still nonetheless. But different vibe for sure. Very different vibe.

telekinesis as well that's that's that's gonna be interesting to see you play out you know clearly cosmos cosmos got to get in the gym a little bit got to do a little bit more with the telekinesis than that but that's gonna be that's gonna be interesting to see in volume three yeah I mean to see what his

his role is going forward but you know love to see a cute dog no matter what they sound like on screen so you know it was nice it was good to see cosmo yeah you know you're not now that baby grutes being phased out too you gotta add a little more acuteness factor in there. Yeah, it's true. Baby Groot's been phased out. That's true. That's true. No, no longer angsty teen

Groot. Now we just got nightmare fuel. Too much muscle mass group. Exactly. Exactly. All right. Well, before we end our show, we're going to be throwing it to a little known director, little known organizer of the DCEU now. Boy, I bet that's going to be a great job. Director and writer James Gunn with Daniel Chin. Daniel, what do you have to say about this before we get to your wonderful chat with James Gunn. So, yeah, it was a fun little interview. I got to, you know, to ask a couple of questions really to, you know, trying to tease

volume three a little bit. You know, they're obviously usually pretty restricted at these press trumpets. You know, you got all the Disney folks listening in making sure that he doesn't spill any beans there. But, you know, it's a lot of fun to talk about, a very fun, just special before the end. Like, you know, with volume three being the last project ahead of the, you know, it's a lot of fun. of, you know, I mean, I had to, you know, cap off what's been over 10 years now for Guardians of the Galaxy. I think it was a lot of fun to have this special come up and just the chance to talk to

him about it and ask about kind of the way it came together. And I also, you know, snuck in a little question about a flukela Borg asking about another, another Suicide Squad cameo. He loves his cameo. So, love to hear it. Well, with that, without any further ado, Here's James Gunn and Daniel Chin. So just to start things off, this is only the second Marvel Studio's special presentation after Werewolf by Night. And it's the first one that's really an extension from previous films.

How did this project come about in the first place? Well, I mean, it was about many years ago, and I had brought up a holiday special from very early on, probably after Volume 1. But we were in post-production on Volume 2 when I brought it up and set it to Kevin. and Kevin was like, we should actually do that. He brought up to Bob Iger at the time,

and Bob Iger was like, oh, yeah, let's do that for ABC. This is before Disney Plus even existed. And that's where it all started. I wrote it really quickly, and then we shot it simultaneous to Volume 3. Amazing. So how did the process just compare to the work that you've been doing on the feature-length films with Guardians? I mean, in this particular case, it was a lot of fun.

You know, Volume 3 is actually a pretty emotional, movie. So it's, it's, it's heavy in a lot of ways. We still have all of the fun of the guardians, but with a serious story. And so, and, and it's just making a film is a little more painstaking. You know, you got to get all the shots exactly right. Whereas this to us was like a blast. It was almost like our days off. You know, we're doing this wacky, goofy thing. And every few days, we, you know, would shoot volume three and then every few days we'd shoot this. So it was just kind of going back and forth. And it was just a lot of fun to. shoot, you know, and make in general. It's just so goofy and so not serious. It made the stakes

much lower when, you know, when we were doing it. Yeah, totally. And I mean, this is the first time that we've seen the Guardians under your full direction in quite some time. But we've since seen them in Infinity War, end game, most recently in Thor Love and Thunder. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe I've seen in some of your Twitter Q&As that you wrote some of the scenes involving the Guardians and the Avengers films and that you were consulting on Thor 4. So I'm curious, what were those experiences like as you played more of a complementary role, especially as like some major developments obviously happened, like with Gmora's death and other things like that? Well, I knew Gimora's death was going to.

I knew how that was going to play out from beforehand. It wasn't like the Russo brothers didn't just throw that on me. They came and talked about it beforehand and how that was going to affect things. And it worked out pretty well for the story I was planning to tell with volume three from the beginning. So yeah, it was, you know, it's different. I think that one of the reasons why, you know, I wanted to do this story in this way is because basically, you know, Drax, the Destroyer, and Mantis have been really background characters for quite a few movies now. And being able to give them the opportunity to take center stage in all of their anarchic glory was one of the things that excited me about telling

this story, you know. And we didn't have to, you know, we didn't have the pressure of making a, you know, multi-hundreds of millions of dollar movies starring Dax and Mantis. We're able to do it in TV where it's contained. And they're just both so good in the movie that it was fun. And it was also fun because Mantis in Guardians 2, which is the last time we saw her in any real way was the slave of ego and was sort of mistreated. And so she was a much more meek character at that time. This is later when they've been together for years. And we get to see how Mantis and Nebula have, you know, become a part of this group and become a full part of this group. Yeah. I mean, I was actually going to ask about that because they have such incredible comedic chemistry and guardians

too. And it's amazing getting to see them really shine as the stars in this special. especially with Mantis, like this being her biggest chance to shine yet. But like how with her backstory, you know, this was obviously a big development, like how did you choose to really expand on her's backstory in this special in particular? Well, this was always, I mean, her backstory and her relationship to Peter and everything, that was always planned. In fact, we shot scenes that explained that at the end of Guardians 2 that we just, I just cut from the movie.

So that relationship is a part of Guardians 3. going forward. And so this gave me the opportunity to, you know, sneak that in. There's a lot of stuff that were Trojan horsing into Guardian Street by way of the Christmas special, that relationship, but also the fact that they've bought nowhere from the collector. This is where they live. This is their headquarters. The fact that they have a telekinetic dog who is a part of the landscape of nowhere. And these other, you know, those new characters, the relationships, the way in which, Nebula is taken on much more of a leadership role in the group we see from the very beginning, how Craglin is a very important part of the team. So we get to see all of these things in the

Christmas special that then are sort of just taken for granted by the time we get to volume three. And I don't have to spend a lot of time at the beginning of the movie explaining them. Totally, yeah. And speaking of mantics and Drax, I really had to ask about Kevin Bacon. And the fact that Kevin Bacon is being abducted here as the central plot of this movie. So Footloose and Kevin Bacon had obviously been a running joke in the Guardian series since the first movie, but how did you land on that idea about him

like being like the central spot of this? I don't really remember, but it was very early on. So there was the idea for the Christmas special, which I pitched to Kevin. And then I started writing the Christmas special. I wrote the special in like three days. It was very quick.

And when I wrote it, it was just the first thing. I'm like, well, I didn't know how to go about it. And the Kevin Bacon part of it came up almost immediately. And I can't remember how I came up with it or where I came up with it, but it was a part of it from the very beginning of writing and was the thing that sort of excited me. And in fact, when I wrote the first, well, not when I wrote the draft of the screenplay, but when I wrote the treatment, there was a whole other element to the story that was like this action element. And I got to the end of it. I'm like, I'm not interested in any of that. I'm interested in Drax and Mantis chasing down Kevin Bacon and the relationships in these characters. That was a story to me, not this other stuff.

And I was really happy that we went in that direction. It makes it very different for any superhero story of any type, whether in film or television, that it's not really about a bad guy. It just is about the relationships between the characters. And if there is a bad guy, it's Drex and Mantis for Kevin Bacon. Right. So what was that process of actually getting Kevin Bacon involved? Well, Kevin was, you know, Kevin was one of the cast members of my film Super.

Right. So I had known him. I had worked with him and I loved working with Kevin. I love hanging out with Kevin. And so we kept in touch. And I just, you know, called him up and I said, you know, I'm doing this, Guardians of the Galaxy, you know, Christmas special. And he's like, oh, that's crazy.

Okay, that's funny. And I said, you know, and in it, Drax and Mantis. are looking for the perfect gift for Peter Quill. They want to get him something really special. And he goes, okay. And I said, and that gift is you. And then he just laughed his ass off. And he was kind of in from that moment and was a part of it from the very beginning from,

I think, you know, I had written the script, but that was it. That's amazing. So honestly, one of the questions I've been itching to ask from the very beginning is about Groot. It looks like it's been bulking season for Groot. We've seen Groot go through so many stages throughout the years, from the original adult Groot to Baby Groot, Toddler Grute. We got Anxie, Adolescent Grute, Teenage Grude. I'm sure I'm missing some Grude along the way.

But what stage of his development do we find this swole grute, you could call him, in this film? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's also, he started out as Y.A. group, young adult group, right? The collegiate Groot, you know. And I think that, you know, listen, I mean, I think that you can start to see this is a very different Groot than the Groot in the first movie. He really is Groot's progeny. He's not Groot.

Not that he's Groot, just not that Groot. And you get to see that he's developing a little bit differently. He's not a skinny guy. He's a bulky guy. That's his natural body type. He just started to fill out when he got through his teen years. This Groot is a very exuberant Groot. He's very excited about things.

He's got a lot of energy. He's ready to go face. the world, you know, hasn't been disappointed by, you know, his 20s as many people are. I love how consistently Groot is always just such a fan of the music, too, from the opening scene, he's just bopping along with the... Yeah, he's the only one in nowhere who really likes that song. So you mentioned her earlier on, but I also wanted to ask about the debut of, or sort of the debut, of Cosmo the Space Dog, now that she's gotten a voice.

So we got a little tease of her telekinesis powers and training. What can you tell me about this character? And what should fans be looking forward to from her in the upcoming film? Well, I think, you know, I love the character Cosmo from the comics. I love the dog Laika who Cosmo's based upon. And Maria Bacalova was on set with us the whole time playing the character, walking around in her hands and knees. She's amazing, amazing actor and a great person. She was fun to have around and she really embodies that character.

And it has a lot of Maria in her. And so we'll see. She's a basic supporting character that we see throughout volume three. And she has a good friendship mostly with, which you don't see so much in this, but she's a very close friendship with Kraglin. Awesome. And another thing that you mentioned an earlier answer was you were talking about nowhere and how the team had purchased nowhere from the collector,

which seems like a pretty big development that goes by pretty quickly in the beginning. So I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit more about the background here. And I know your answer might be a little bit limited with this, but like how this might play into volume three. Well, but it plays to volume three and that they just, this is where they live now. This is their home. Nowhere is the home of Guardians of the Galaxy. You see they've, they've, you know, have a bunch of refugees now that live with them who come from different parts of the planet who's have their homes destroyed or hurt or whatever. Maybe by Thanos, maybe by other things.

and they have this sort of group of outcasts around them and started their own little society of people in this abandoned giant celestial head. Awesome. Another question I have for you here is, you've had a lot of crossover with actors in your Guardian's films and the more recent Suicide Squad and Peacemaker projects

with Fula Borg being the latest example here. Was getting him involved as simple as asking, hey, do you want to come serve some shots to Drax and Mantis for just? scene here or what was the story behind that it's all it is flu and i are buddies um he was uh we needed somebody to come in and give us a line uh about uh kevin bacon for as a bartender and um and so we shot flula doing that and it was just as easy as saying fluola you want to you want to do this for us and he said yes and so he has his little cameo in the movie serving up some shots i love it

Yeah, to Damanthus, who obviously has a physical reaction, but still enjoy it. Yeah, so I read it somewhere else online that part of the inspiration for this special was actually the Star Wars Christmas special for 1978. And one of the things that I loved with this is just kind of the bookending of the animated segments with Yon. I was wondering if that was part of the inspiration there or just really your overall thoughts about just the general connection. between this and the inspiration you drew from that special yeah i think it was it was a hundred percent about um uh being inspired by the the star wars christmas special which is not known as a great work of art but which i enjoyed when i was a little kid and i like the mixed what i like was the mixed media of it you know the animated with the live action so being able to make the animated part of this you know uh was

cool we rotoscoped the scene so it's done an old ralph back sheet style where we actually shot our actors and then they draw over the actual frames of Michael Rooker playing Yandu. And it's a way to put, you know, Rooker back in something where I know exactly had to see my buddy, you know, and have an excuse to have him hanging around. Also, he needs nowhere his next meal is coming from. So we pay him an hourly wage that's somewhat close to minimum wage and he's able to continue to feed himself. Awesome. Well, we're all happy for it. So I got a last question for you here. Thanks so much again for your time here, James. Absolutely, man. So at Comic-Con, the Guardian's presentation was obviously very emotional for you and the rest of the cast. As you all

discussed the end of the Guardian saga with Volume 3 coming up after having started the journey over 10 years ago, what was it like getting to sneak in one more project before the end here? And also, what should fans really be looking forward to as the grand finale approaches? Well, I think that everything, you know, in terms of speaking in one more project, yeah, that was fun to have a little bit more time to hang out with these people and kind of tie up some loose ends before we get to volume three. I think it was also, you know, I'm really excited about people seeing volume three because it is, you know, the end of this story that we've been telling since the beginning, you know, the story of Peter Quill, of Gomorrah, of especially Rocket, and seeing

where these characters, where these characters go and what happens to them. So I'm really, I feel really good. I've been working a lot on volume three. It's a huge movie. It's been incredibly rewarding so far. And I'm really fortunate to have done it with people I really love and care about across the board. So it's, it's been a great journey for me. And I, and I just want to do best, you know, do my best by the fans and give the audiences the ending of this trilogy. that they truly deserve. And a real trilogy, not one where, like so many times, the third one just seems phoned in, you know?

And I don't want it to be that. It really matters to me that this is the best one. Awesome. Well, I can't wait to see it. And congrats on the special. Thanks again for all your time here, James. Thanks, man. Appreciate it.

And we're back to close with our final thoughts for this wonderful episode. The season of giving is upon us. And guys, I want to say, we're thankful for everybody listening. Thankful for you guys. But are we thankful for this beautiful little holiday special? Final thoughts. Man, this, you don't think about it. This is the last bit of MCU content for the year.

It's true. We're all closed out. It's all shopped up. You know, brought up the walls, get ready for MCU hibernation. And as a cap for the year, I think it does pretty well. Well, it's enjoyable, it's fun. It doesn't take itself too seriously. You don't have to put too much brain meat into it.

It's just a nice little thing to watch over your Thanksgiving break, and I had a blast. I totally agree with that. I think, especially coming off the heels of Werewolf by Night, I think this new, like, beefed-up, Marvel special presentations, like a really cool format to just have a little bit of fun. You know, like, this was very low-stakes, just side quests for the Guardians crew and just a real chance to, like, have some fun with characters around the holiday season, you know. Can't ask for much more than that. And, you know, it is a good little, little teaser. It'll be interesting to see how this kind of plays into volume 3, too.

So I think moving forward with these special presentations to see how they kind of decide, like what they want to choose to do them, like if they want to keep doing more self-contained things like Whirliffe by Night or just kind of extensions of already well-established properties, I think it's going to be really interesting to see moving forward. I would agree. I think this is a fun, nice, breezy time to have. If you're a fan of Guardians, this is obviously a must watch. And, you know, while it doesn't exactly have the lore-busting big reveals,

that's kind of what I think that these Marvel presentations should be. You know, We'rewolf by Night, and along with this, like, it's something that's breezy and fun, short, and a lot lower stakes than things need to be. Like, granted, Werewolf By Night was its own singular contained adventure, And so was this to a degree. But it's also a continuation of something that we've been seeing for years and just getting the band back together for a couple more times before we possibly see them off for the rest of the MCU.

So solid recommend for me and a solid recommend from the rest of Mint Edition. I think what's interesting about it is, you know, he gave James Gunn, what, like 45 minutes and he put like 8,000 songs in there. You know, you know you're getting jam it all. Yeah, you know you're getting that with it. It's just impressive. It's just great work, honestly. because I was like, man, they still sing it.

This is, like, we can get like a 15 album track, just 45 minutes. Give this man, give this man three hours, man. We're going to get a whole, we're going to get a Drake album. You know what I mean? Like 45 songs in this thing, bruh. Well done. Just well done all around. Well, that is going to do it for us this week on Mint Edition.

But don't forget on Monday, it's a house of midnight with Mal Joanna and Van, and they will give you the recap of the 1988 fantasy classic Willow. and the Willow Week continues on Willow Wednesday with Joanna and Van as they give their thoughts on the season premiere of Disney Plus's Willow TV show and our producer, the lovely and snitch-worthy Isaiah Blakely. I love you, Kerm as well, and with additional production

from our Juno Ramgapal. Junior Mintz, we are also very thankful for you in the season of giving. We want to stay tuned for next month as we give you another Mint Edition next month, as well as some great year-end stuff on the ringer verse. Jomey, you got any parting words? I just want to say, thank you all.

We are so thankful for you for you for you for you for listening. Love you. Shout out to Isaiah. And I don't even got a rhyme for Kerm. Kerm, fight back. That's what I got to say. I mean this is a compliment. It's not a compliment.

It's not a Krum is jacked. That's not, that's the rudest thing anybody's ever said in life. and honestly, like, Kerm. Talk to HR, and I appreciate that. I'm serious. You know what I mean?

We love you guys. Thank you for listening. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye. What's the difference between butter and butter made from real California dairy? It's the real California farm families behind it. Real people.

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