Guardians of the Galaxy

[ratcreature]

It finally opened here this week, and it was fun to watch, though slightly confusing, because I'm not familiar at all with Marvel's cosmology and all the alien species running around there and their intergalactic grudges, so it was hard to put the events in any sort of context. Then again, the comics themselves probably don't make much sense in the first place.


So would each of the Groot-fragments grow into a new Groot if nurtured like the one Rocky kept at the end, and that's how its species reproduces (and do the saplings keep previous knowledge and such?), or could Rocky somehow discern the core fragment and just that regrows the same Groot?

And did I get this right, that these space pirates who abducted Peter Quill as a kid were contracted to do that by his alien father, and then didn't follow through with delivery? If yes, how come that the alien didn't confront them at some point? Supposedly it must be fairly powerful when even half its biology is enough to control enormously destructive magical gems and such.

Also there is no way a cassette tape would hold out for 26 years when played this often with a 1980s Walkman. Somehow this bothers me even in the context of a setup this bizarre with gun-toting raccoons, magical gems and stuff. Maybe Peter has some hidden half-alien superpower to subconsciously repair magnetic storage...

Comments

[bluemeridian]

Heh. The tape thing bothered me, too.

[ratcreature]

I think it bothered me because it was highlighted so much, so it was kind of central.

[talitha78]

Also there is no way a cassette tape would hold out for 26 years when played this often with a 1980s Walkman

LOL, yes. Out all of the improbable stuff inherent in a space opera, this was the thing that drove me totally crazy.

[ratcreature]

Heh, good to know I wasn't alone wit that complaint…

[liviapenn]

And did I get this right, that these space pirates who abducted Peter Quill as a kid were contracted to do that by his alien father, and then didn't follow through with delivery? If yes, how come that the alien didn't confront them at some point? Supposedly it must be fairly powerful when even half its biology is enough to control enormously destructive magical gems and such.

I haven't actually read the comics, but from what I have looked up on wikis and stuff, Peter's backstory is very different-- Peter's father J'son is the galactic Emperor's heir, who crashes on Earth and romances Peter's mom and then wipes her memories and leaves (not knowing she's pregnant). So already movieverse!dad is less of a jerk because Meredith remembers who he is and clearly knew he wasn't human.

And then later (?) J'son is framed for murder (?) or something and becomes dishonored, so these other aliens come to earth and kill Peter Quill's mother in order to wipe out J'son's bloodline. (They thought they killed Peter too, but he escaped at the last second.) So adult Peter's quest is to go to space and avenge his mother, and that's how he ends up having space adventures. His father never sent for him, because he didn't know Peter existed. (But they've said that movie Peter's father probably won't be the same person as comics Peter's father anyway.)

So anyway, obviously in the movie verse, something went wrong, and I'm really interested to find out what it was. Like, maybe the Ravagers were hired to pick up Peter, but then Peter's father was imprisoned or attacked and wasn't able to meet up with them, and the Ravagers just assumed he had gone back on their deal (and wasn't going to pay them?) so they just kept him. Or, some third party intercepted them and paid them off to NOT deliver Peter to his father, I don't think they say anything that would contradict that.

[ratcreature]

Comic character backstories - always extra complicated. But yeah, I'm interested to learn what his background in the movieverse is as well. I guess since they set up hints with the tests the other aliens did, the chances that it'll be a topic in the sequel aren't bad.

[tassosss]

I had the same thought about Groot -- what if random people from Xandar pick up cuttings, would they grow Groot again too?

I had a lot of fun with the movie, but so many things to handwave!

[ratcreature]

Yeah. Though otoh if that was true you'd think Rocky would have picked up more than one, because two or three or four Groots on your side in a fight would be even better than just one. Unless the adults are territorial.

[basingstoke]

I mentally told myself that he was repairing it with Magical Space Tech. Same place he got the other tape players for his ship.

[ratcreature]

Or he digitized it ages ago, and made the storage just look like a cassette tape, like retro-USB sticks looking like all sorts of things, and reused the casing of the old Walkman.

[basingstoke]

The second tape played, though.

[ratcreature]

True. Consistent fanwanking is tricky work... Still leaves the option that he left the Walkman tape playing mechanism intact, just added a small digital port/player inside. I bet you could fit an mp3 player inside a 1988 Walkman casing and still have it play cassettes.

[basingstoke]

Hm, you could totally fit the guts of an ipod shuffle inside a cassette. Save more space by the fact that it only has to play about twelve songs in one order.

[ratcreature]

Yeah, that makes more sense than him constantly repairing the tape somehow to nurse it along a quarter of a century. Keeping just the Walkman working while using it as retro cover for whatever the alien equivalent to an iPod is seems more plausible.

[basingstoke]

That makes sense! WE TRIUMPH OVER CANON!

[ratcreature]

Comic fandoms give you the best training for that. *insert Rocky-type montage of the intrepid fan with three dozen Wikipedia/Wikia pages open, plus four websites with assembled universe timelines, while crossreferencing the contradictory movie-canon...*

[weaver]

THE CASSETTE THING SO ANNOYING - I accept this fanwanking though!

Re: Groot, what I have heard is that Groot can choose which fraction of himself to regrow, and gather all of his consciousness in that piece? I haven't read the comics, but this is what I was told when I asked the same question by people who apparently have read them, and I'm willing to buy it. :D

[ratcreature]

With that about Groot in mind someone has to have written the missing scene between right after the crash when Rocky feared Groot would die and gathered up a handful of pieces (presumably to grieve) and later when he picked just one to plant, where Rocky finds one of the pieces starts to grow. Or if Rocky knew of the possibility, him then frantically searching for all pieces at the crash site to track down the right one.

[mirabile-dictu.livejournal.com]

here is no way a cassette tape would hold out for 26 years

That really made me laugh! And yes, you're right. Some magic from the aliens, no doubt, kept it going.

Re the aliens who kidnapped him -- I read somewhere that Peter's dad is a Very Important Person in the universe and that there will eventually be follow-up to that thread. But like you, I wonder where the heck Dad has been all those years.

[ratcreature]

Yeah, it doesn't seem to make much sense for a powerful VIP alien to first order his offspring retrieved, and then not follow up on it when he never turns up. I hope there will be some explanation for it, like he got imprisoned by some even more powerful galactic force or something.