Guardians of the Galaxy (TV Series)

This article is written from the Real World perspective

Guardians of the Galaxy
Beginning date	September 5, 2015
Producers	Alan Fine Dan Buckley Joe Quesada Jeph Loeb Stan Lee Eric Radomski Cort Lane Stephen Wacker Marty Isenberg Harrison Wilcox Steven Melching
Original Channel	Disney XD
Previous Series	Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers

Note: This article describes an ongoing release.

Guardians of the Galaxy is a series from Marvel Animation. It was originally released on September 5th, 2015. It is the first series based on the team and ties in with the concurrently airing series Ultimate Spider-Man and Avengers Assemble as well as the concluded series Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H..

Story

The series focuses on the Guardians of the Galaxy featuring Star-Lord/Peter Quill, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Gamora, and Drax. The newly-formed team finds an unknown object that only responds to Star-Lord's DNA. What follows is a story of redemption and of the importance of friendship as the Guardians seek out the Cosmic Seed, which is capable of recreating the universe. They must find and protect the Seed from those who would abuse it for their own purposes including Thanos, Collector, Grandmaster, Ronan, and Loki.

Will Friedle said of the show's plot "The stories are so unbelievably intricate. It involves so many different characters. I love shows that are like a serial. I'm a fantasy book junky so I'm one of those guys where I like it when it's book one of ten, and they are all 1,000 pages long. With Guardians, can pick up in the middle, but you're going to want to go back to the start."

Background

Marvel Comics editor Steve Wacker suggested that a series based on the Guardians of the Galaxy was in the works. It was discussed at a writing summit for Disney XD's Ultimate Spider-Man. "Now, look, I can't officially confirm that we spent a LOT of time talking about the Guardians of the Galaxy cartoon but wouldn't that HYPOTHETICALLY… be amazing?" Wacker wrote.

An unnamed source for JoBlo reportedly confirmed that a Guardians of the Galaxy series would be produced for a Fall 2015 debut.

The Marvel Animation panel at the San Diego International Comic-Con in 2014 showed test footage from the series. The footage had Rocket Raccoon running from unknown attackers until he encounters Star-Lord. The panel revealed that a Guardians series had been planned since Ultimate Spider-Man.

The same footage was shown at New York Comic Con where it was formally announced that the series was actually in production.

Disney XD senior vice-president of programming and general manager Mark Buhaj said of the seires, "The movie and franchise quickly became a worldwide phenomenon. We're looking forward to working with the great team at Marvel Television to deliver an engaging animated series that fans can enjoy each week."

Head of Marvel Television Jeph Loeb said "This is a very exciting time for the Marvel Animation Studio as we get to explore the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe by developing the first-ever Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy animated series. After starring in the biggest movie of 2014, everyone wants more of Star-Lord and his crew, now they'll get it." [1]

The line-up is to be the same as the live-action 2014 film.

The series contains many elements of the films but is not a direct continuation. The producers were allowed to read the film's scripts, but only after they had completed their work on the series. Eric Radomski, Marvel senior vp and creative director of animation, said "They certainly aren't beholden to what we do. It's going to go wherever James Gunn decides it's going to go. Our stories pull from what we've learned from the movies and a lot of originality on the part of the writers in terms of creating new adventures with the characters."

Cast

Actor	Role
Will Friedle	Star-Lord/Peter Quill
Trevor Devall	Rocket Raccoon
Vanessa Marshall	Gamora
Kevin Michael Richardson	Groot
David Sobolov	Drax the Destroyer
Dave Fennoy	Korath
Isaac Singleton, Jr.	Thanos
Cree Summer	Nebula
James Arnold Taylor	Yondu Cosmo

Episodes

• Guardians of the Galaxy Micro-Episodes
• Guardians of the Galaxy Season One

The ten two-minute shorts will air throughout August 2015. The first episode will be seen in a sneak peak on September 5th while the series will begin regular airings September 26th.

Comic

Similar to the other Marvel Animation series, Guardians will have a tie-in comic book series titled Marvel Universe: Guardians of the Galaxy. The series will be made by Joe Caramagna. He said of the child-friendly comic,

"I love comics, especially super hero comics. If I want them to be around for my kids and my grandkids, we have to find that next generation of fans to keep the lights on for us when we're done. The more they read, the better they’ll read, and if they can read well, they can learn anything. That's why, in my opinion, encouraging our kids to read is the most important thing we can do as parents to prepare them for their future. I know from my own experience that having super heroes in movies and TV is a powerful tool for turning kids into comic book readers. Before I knew there were comic books, I was a fan of the animated series 'Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.' So when I came across the comics, I was so excited! 'You mean there are Spider-Man books I can read? And they come out every month?! And there are hundreds of them?!' It’s not just me, I've spoken to many comic creators of my generation who've had a similar experience with that cartoon. And if you talk to some of the new talent coming in now, they had a similar experience with the X-Men animated series in the 90's. Because of Marvel's great success in movies and TV, we've never had a better opportunity to catch the attention of young people on the outside and invite them in to share our universe. To keep all of this from reading like a dry information dump, I make an extra effort to keep as much of the humor and great character moments that represent the heart and soul of the series as I can. And if I can't, I have to create my own, which means getting to know these characters and their relationships inside and out through watching, re-watching, pausing, rewinding. And as a rule I keep at least one Spider-Man cutaway gag per issue, even though they're mostly not essential to the plot. Because they're great! To keep them reading, the stories have to be fun and accessible, meaning they should be able to pick up any issue of the series and enjoy it without feeling lost."

Video

Test Footage

Teaser

Trailer

The trailer uses Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Swede in the same way the trailers for the Guardians of the Galaxy film did.

External Links

• Marvel
• Internet Movie Database
• Wikipedia