Blank Check — Patreon: Guardians of the Galaxy

Published 2019-05-21; 2:13:17 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David (Patreon)” and the episode “Guardians of the Galaxy”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims. Guests: Sam Rogal (first guest on the commentary 'couch', old friend of Griffin and David, previously banned from the show), Ben Hosley (producer, in the room, vaping and chiming in).

Subject films: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

On the transcript: No speaker labels and heavy cross-talk; most attributions are low confidence. The film starts about 12:39 into the recording and the commentary tracks roughly its runtime; the first 12 minutes are banter and an SNL-cast game.

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Corrected 'Gamora and Drax fight' style details only where speakers said them; the film title years other than 2014 were omitted because they were not stated.
Speaker identity for Peter Serafinowicz and Djimon Hounsou was inferred from garbled transcript names and the cast of the film (Nova Corps officer, Korath), not stated outright in the transcript.
The song title 'Cherry Bomb' is read from the transcript's 'Cherry bum'; 'Hooked on a Feeling' and 'Come and Get Your Love' are never named in the transcript.

Films that came up

Claims (88)

industry (industry): Guardians of the Galaxy → Captain America: The First Avenger. It is the first Marvel origin movie since Captain America, after a run of sequels and Avengers-world films.
“This is the 1st Marvel origin movie since what, Captain America?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:15:22 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Guardians of the Galaxy → Finding Nemo. Like Nemo, it opens with the biggest tragedy (a death) and then moves on, so the audience is with it from the first minutes.
“The Finding Nemo thing, where it's like, if you start with like the eel, the barracuda, like eating all the babies, then you're like with it.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:15:34 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Guardians of the Galaxy → Doctor Strange. Feige's goal of growing the universe: Guardians is the cosmic layer, Doctor Strange the magical one, areas once thought too silly or expensive.
“Like Doctor Strange is like sort of the magical element.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:17:11 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Guardians of the Galaxy → Kevin Feige. Feige set goals to expand the universe into cosmic and magical corners that were thought too silly, big or expensive.
“Like all these areas that people thought you couldn't put in the movies because they were too silly or too big or too expensive.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:17:14 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Guardians of the Galaxy → The Avengers. It is the first Marvel film with a totally new cast since Captain America, so separate from the other MCU films.
“And it's really the 1st one with a totally new cast since capt one.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:18:37 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Chris Pratt → Jurassic World. Pratt's breakout year with Lego Movie and Guardians, plus Parks and Rec goodwill, made him a movie star everyone rooted for.
“like, he had the 1st and 3rd highest grossing films of the year at that point.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:19:24 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Chris Pratt → Zero Dark Thirty. Before stardom he took small dramatic supporting parts in Zero Dark Thirty and Moneyball that made people think he could be a movie star.
“And all those movies where he took the smaller, like, dramatic supporting roles, like, Zero, Dark 30, and...”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:19:41 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): The Avengers → Avengers: Infinity War. Marvel billing is contractual: Evans is second-billed in Avengers 1 and 4, Hemsworth in 2 and 3, and Ruffalo is locked at third.
“But then there's the very specific and unusual arrangement.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:22:27 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Guardians of the Galaxy → Star Trek: The Original Series. Brightly colored aliens echo original Trek, where skin color alone makes a film more interesting.
“I mean, classic like original Star Trek, just like, what are we painted in blue?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:24:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Guardians of the Galaxy → Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Vol. 2 used a brightly blue Yondu and a bright Milano interior to dodge the washed-out look of the first film's color grading.
“He's just smart about working in, like, I'm going to make his skin so bright blue.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:25:17 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Joseph Gordon-Levitt → Guardians of the Galaxy. Gordon-Levitt turned down Star-Lord, which they call a huge mistake.
“Joseph Gordon Levitt was like, no, which is like Dodge Bullet.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:26:18 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Guardians of the Galaxy → Thor: The Dark World. A dark elf in a cage reminds them of Thor 2, though they note the Cree villains are a different race from the Dark Elves.
“These are the same dark elves from the Thorn.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:26:24 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Lee Pace → Captain Marvel. Pace has a brief appearance in Captain Marvel and might be set up as its villain.
“He's in Captain Marvel, though, for like a shot.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:26:32 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Lee Pace → Guardians of the Galaxy. Pace was a long-running Star-Lord contender and then took the villain role Ronan instead, committing to the operatic performance.
“Lee Pace was one of the guys who stayed in the running the whole time.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:26:58 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Bradley Cooper → Joe Pesci. Cooper plays Rocket as a Joe Pesci type, a full character performance rather than the Hangover guy or a wisecracking donkey.
“I'm gonna play this like Joe Pashi.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:29:23 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Bradley Cooper → Lethal Weapon 2. Rocket sounds like Pesci in Lethal Weapon 2.
“He's doing Joe Pesci in like lethal weapon too.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:29:31 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Guardians of the Galaxy → Sonic the Hedgehog (upcoming film). The new Sonic design looks like it copied Rocket's design.
“I also think they copied Rocket's design for the new Sonic.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:32:18 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): James Gunn → The Avengers. Gunn, like Whedon, is both writer and director, and the movies are incubated by the person who will direct them.
“And there's a big difference when the movies are clearly being incubated by the same person who's going to direct them later.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:34:43 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Guardians of the Galaxy → Star Trek: The Original Series. It has a Star Trek vibe, essentially a comedy with 60s Trek aesthetics.
“It's like someone doing a comedy with 60s trek aesthetics.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:35:50 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): James Gunn → Troma films. Gunn came from Troma, where everything is down-and-dirty and kinetic, and brought that poppy energy into Guardians.
“That's the other big thing is that gun was a troma guy.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:36:18 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (people): Zack Snyder → James Gunn. Snyder's Dawn of the Dead is his best movie in retrospect, largely thanks to Gunn's script.
“Which is Zack Snyder's best movie, you realize in retrospect, largely because of how good the gun script is.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:36:54 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): James Gunn → Slither. Before Guardians he had directed only Slither and Super, after saying he was giving up on directing.
“But also, like, so before this, he had just directed Slytherin Super, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:36:59 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): James Gunn → Dawn of the Dead. Gunn wrote Dawn of the Dead and was a well-paid, often uncredited script fixer in the 90s and 2000s.
“Because he was a guy throughout like the 90s and 2000s who was like a very well-paid like script fixer.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:37:07 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Chris Pratt → Captain America: The First Avenger. The beefcake shot of Pratt echoes Chris Evans out of the tank, and Marvel now puts one in every trailer.
“It's Chris Evans coming out of the tank, Captain America.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:37:48 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Guardians of the Galaxy → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. A scummy alien bar full of background characters is like the Star Wars cantina.
“It's like a cantina from Star Wars.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:38:14 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Jason Momoa → Dave Bautista. Marvel reportedly tried to get Momoa for Drax; Momoa passed and Bautista, initially a downgrade, became the MVP.
“it leaked out that they were trying to get Momoa.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:40:52 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Dave Bautista → Blade Runner 2049. Blade Runner 2049 shows how good Bautista has become, underplaying a broken giant.
“I mean, to me, 2049 is the evidence of how good Batista has gotten where it's like underplay this.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:41:18 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Dave Bautista → Dune. Bautista is cast as Beast Rabban in Dune, where they hope he is not wasted as a roaring villain.
“He's really, like, I hope that Dune treats him well.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:41:36 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Dave Bautista → Spectre. Franchises like Bond cast a physical presence like Bautista and then give him nothing to do.
“Bond is sort of like with a with a guy like Batista, they're like, you're lucky to be here.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:42:07 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Alexis Denisof → Guardians of the Galaxy. Denisof, known as Wesley on Buffy and Angel, appears as the Other and is typically kicked around in his roles.
“It's also so funny that Wesley is treated so shittily in both Buffy and Angel.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:44:44 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Zoe Saldana → Avatar. Saldana is in Star Trek, Guardians and Avatar yet is not an outright movie star outside those franchises.
“Gardens of the Galaxy and by Association Marvel and Avatar.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:45:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Zoe Saldana → Colombiana. Colombiana was an effort at giving her a lead role to open a movie, but it wasn't a hit.
“I mean, she had Columbiana, which I do feel like was some effort at giving her like a big leaning role to open a movie”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:45:12 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Guardians of the Galaxy → Avengers: Infinity War. Thanos's 'I'll do it myself' in Infinity War is explained by this film's first-wave contractors who all blow it.
“Yeah, is that he's he's contracted people to get all this shit for him and they all blow it.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:46:35 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Karen Gillan → Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Her physical comedy as the robot-like Nebula carries over to Jumanji, and she is now a major movie star.
“Like, uh, Jumanji as well.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:46:57 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): James Gunn → Kevin Feige. Later Marvel films suffer from Feige demanding coverage; Gunn won arguments to keep gags in one shot, like Groot in the background.
“James Gunn clearly like won his arguments about like, this scene is funnier if it's all one shot and roots in the background and we never cut away.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:47:50 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
industry (industry): James Gunn → Marvel Studios. Marvel doesn't trust directors until they've proven themselves; Gunn wins creative arguments because he makes the action funny and the script already has jokes.
“But the reason why I think gun wins greater control. Well, gun's very good at action sequences is that he makes his action sequences funny.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:50:33 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Peter Serafinowicz → Thor: Ragnarok. He could have popped up in Ragnarok easily given its comedic tone, and he reportedly now likes it.
“He could have popped up in Ragnarok like with ease.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:53:40 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Avengers: Infinity War → Peter Serafinowicz. Infinity War casually blows up Nova, disappointing Serafinowicz who loved shooting there.
“He was bummed when I told him in Infinity War that they like blow up Nova.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:54:02 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Peter Serafinowicz → John Wick. He pops into franchises for a few days (here, John Wick) with just enough screen time to matter without carrying the film.
“But like doing like John Wick for 2 days.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:54:48 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Peter Serafinowicz → Shaun of the Dead. He came out of the Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright cult-sitcom world and appears in Shaun of the Dead.
“And he was in that world that of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright and, you know, Chris Morrison.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:56:17 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Guardians of the Galaxy → Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel provides context for the Nova Corps Cree and a not-yet-crazy Ronan, and Jude Law's Yon-Rogg.
“But the idea in Captain Marvel is he's not crazy yet.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:59:57 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Sean Gunn → Bradley Cooper. Gunn's brother Sean performed Rocket on set on his knees so Cooper's voice work had something to react to and be built on.
“He does all the rocket performance on his knees.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:00:16 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Sean Gunn → Guardians of the Galaxy. Sean Gunn is best known as Kirk from Gilmore Girls, the town weirdo with every job.
“He's Kirk from Gilmer Girls.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:00:23 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Benicio del Toro → Thor: The Dark World. Del Toro's Collector first appears in the Dark World post-credits and has been used little since.
“How much is he in dark world?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:00:57 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Benicio del Toro → Avengers: Infinity War. The Collector is in a scene in Infinity War, with the implication he returns in Endgame.
“But the the implication, I think, is that he'll be back in Endgame.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:01:16 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Jeff Goldblum → Benicio del Toro. Goldblum has said he wants to do more with del Toro in a future Avengers film because their characters are brothers.
“Because they're brothers.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:01:28 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Chris Pratt → The Lego Movie. Pratt's key is being a little boy in a hunk's body, which is what works in The Lego Movie and Guardians.
“The key to Pratt is that he's like a little boy.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:07:43 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Chris Pratt → Jurassic World. Pratt works as a boyish goof in a big body (Lego Movie, this film) and is misused when asked to be serious, as in Jurassic World and Passengers.
“Yeah, well, even Jurassic World is the huge mistake.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:08:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Chris Pratt → Passengers. Passengers is fine when Pratt is just Pratt alone, but he is fundamentally miscast for the story.
“But he's a fundamental miscasting for the story.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:08:11 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Benicio del Toro → The Usual Suspects. Del Toro is like Brando and cannot be directed, as in the Usual Suspects story where he refused to say the line normally.
“He's kind of like Brando where you like can't direct.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:09:29 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Guardians of the Galaxy → Avengers: Age of Ultron. Infinity Stone exposition scenes tend to halt a movie, but this one works because the heroes are chasing the stone.
“I tend to feel like the Infinity Stone scenes always grind the movie to a hold, however shorter long they are.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:10:34 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Guardians of the Galaxy → Suicide Squad. Both are teams of wild cards, but Suicide Squad is unbearable where Guardians works.
“And it's trying to do the same thing where it's like every character's a wild card, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:12:57 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): James Gunn → Suicide Squad. It is bizarre that Gunn kept going on Suicide Squad after returning to Marvel, and they expected Disney to force him to choose.
“I was astonished that Disney wasn't like, if you want Guardians, you have to quit Suicide Squad and let someone else direct your script.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:13:24 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (people): Dave Bautista → Suicide Squad. Bautista is apparently going to be in Gunn's Suicide Squad, showing Gunn loves him.
“Uh, Batista's apparently going to be in the Suicide Squad moment.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:13:44 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Guardians of the Galaxy → The Princess Bride. Drax is like Andre the Giant's Fezzik-style revenge figure, Rocket like Wallace Shawn's Vizzini, Gamora like Robin Wright's Buttercup.
“He's kind of like the character who's like, you killed my...”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:14:00 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Dave Bautista → Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. In the sequel, Drax and Gamora are made different shades of green; in this film Drax is darker and more muted.
“They notably, because Drax and Gamor are both green, they were like, you have to make them different shades, because we don't want all the characters to look the same.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:14:20 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Guardians of the Galaxy → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Rocket is a Han Solo and Chewbacca pairing: Groot is the one only Rocket understands, and Rocket pretends he doesn't care about the group.
“Oh, the way I'm also thinking now, like, how rocket is kind of like Han Solo?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:16:55 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Guardians of the Galaxy → Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. They rank the first film at or near the top of Marvel, and prefer the second slightly because the first has the weaker spotlight on Quill sidelined in two.
“I'm gonna actually, on the record, say, I think this is my favorite Marvel movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:17:34 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 → Guardians of the Galaxy. One host's only problem with the sequel is that Quill feels sidelined.
“I think they sideline Quill too much in two.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:17:49 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (people): Kevin Feige → Nicole Perlman. Perlman, from Marvel's writers program, pushed them to make Guardians and take on space early.
“She gets a lot of credit from Feige and other people for, um, convincing them like, yeah, if you're going to do space, do guardians and do them early.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:19:28 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (people): James Gunn → Nicole Perlman. Gunn did page-one rewrites on Perlman's draft and then worked in his own touches like the mixtape and mom stuff.
“Oh, Gumball accounts pretty much did a page one rewrites.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:20:00 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Chris Pratt → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Quill is the best Han Solo since Han Solo, because he is a likeable rogue inside an ensemble rather than its leader.
“This is sort of the best anyone has done Han Solo since Han Solo.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:22:02 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Jeff Goldblum → Jurassic Park. The Han Solo model of a handsome second lead who never takes full charge also fits Goldblum in Jurassic Park.
“Yeah, I think that Goldblum and Jurassic Park is like an underrated version of that.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:22:19 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Jeff Goldblum → The Lost World: Jurassic Park. The Lost World shows why that second-lead model fails when he becomes the lead.
“And that's why Lost World is not a great idea.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:22:33 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Jeff Goldblum → Independence Day. Independence Day divides plot and character responsibility well in a way similar to the Han Solo ensemble model.
“they were like, Independence Day kind of has that too.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:22:41 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Lee Pace → Aquaman (via the Ocean Master character). Pace's operatic villainy recalls an Ocean Master-style performance.
“It's a little, uh, uh, uh, Ocean Master Army.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:24:24 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (people): Michael Rooker → James Gunn. Gunn loves Rooker and casts friends in the film; Rooker's Yondu turned out to have a real story function rather than a cameo.
“Well, especially you go, like, here's a weird obscure character, and here's the director's friend.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:25:50 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Guardians of the Galaxy → Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The sequel deepens Yondu's relationship with Quill so the first film's scene reads differently in retrospect.
“Knowing what you know about their relationship that you learn in the sequel, you know, colors this scene a little bit more”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:26:31 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Michael Rooker → Oliver Twist (via Fagin). Yondu and the Ravagers are likened to Peter Pan's lost boys and Fagin's gang.
“He's like space Fagan, I would say.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:26:57 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Bradley Cooper → A Star Is Born. Rocket in Guardians is ranked as one of Cooper's best performances, though A Star Is Born is argued higher for being his own face.
“God, this is Cooper's 2nd best performance.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:29:09 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Guardians of the Galaxy → The Breakfast Club. The misfit team facing a deadline plays like the Breakfast Club or a group project nobody did.
“And they're the Breakfast Club, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:30:14 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Avengers: Infinity War → Guardians of the Galaxy. Infinity War's Guardians scenes feel slightly off without Gunn writing and directing them, making them dread Guardians 3 under someone else.
“And also, I mean, watching Infinity War was like, fuck, I don't want to see someone else direct Guardians 3.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:32:25 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Guardians of the Galaxy → Suicide Squad. Guardians' needle drops come from an emotional spine (the mixtape), while Suicide Squad's songs relate too directly to the action.
“Suicide Squad, you feel like every needle drop is trying too hard to relate directly to what's going on.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:33:10 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Guardians of the Galaxy → Hereditary. Cinema scores: horror films like Us and Hereditary draw low scores that don't track quality, with a list of Fs mostly great movies.
“And almost all of them are great movies.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:34:31 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Guardians of the Galaxy → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The prison-break action sequence has clear rules like the Death Star trench-run style 'we got to get through there' setups.
“It's like Death Starship where it's just like, we got to get through there.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:37:28 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Guardians of the Galaxy → Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The sequel doubles down on Yondu's arrow by building its best action sequence around it.
“And then that the 2nd movie doubles down on it with like building its best action sequence around the era.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:42:42 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Guardians of the Galaxy → Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Vol. 2 is the movie that develops Nebula's backstory with Gamora; this film is about Quill and dads in embryo.
“Because 2 is the one that's gonna, you know, is trying to win you over to Nebula.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:43:46 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Guardians of the Galaxy → Inception. The simultaneous multi-location tasks in the climax are parallel action like Inception.
“Like, this is that thrilling like inception shit.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:44:37 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Guardians of the Galaxy → Captain Marvel. The Flarkin cat in Captain Marvel is a version of the Drax metaphor joke, but this film's joke lands better thanks to the cut to his face.
“And you know, you know, the cat in Captain Marvel is like a version of this joke.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:46:06 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): James Gunn → Marvel Studios. Gunn fights the Marvel house style with bright pops of color against an otherwise gray palette; Marvel's usual post sheen is criticized.
“But you do see in this movie gun fighting against the Marvel House style because it's like, this is all so gray.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:49:39 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): The Avengers → Avengers: Age of Ultron. The first Avengers' bright final daylight action is a big plus; Ultron is daylight but gloomy.
“That's another big plus to Avengers, the the 1st one, totally, total daylight stuff.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:53:52 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Guardians of the Galaxy → Fantastic Four (speaker's unmade high-school pitch). The mixtape-as-superstructure idea resembles a speaker's high-school Fantastic Four script built around Jackson 5, played by Reed Richards to annoy Doom.
“It sort of had a similar superstructure with the Peter Quill mixtape in this.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 2:05:47 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Guardians of the Galaxy → Cruel Intentions. Needle-drop costs can sink a song choice, as with Bittersweet Symphony in Cruel Intentions.
“Bittersweet Symphony costs so much because you have to pay the Rolling Stones.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 2:06:15 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Guardians of the Galaxy → Iron Man. It opened to Iron Man-sized numbers, defying fears it was too weird to cross over.
“It opened to like Iron Man numbers.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 2:07:19 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Green Book → Planes: Fire & Rescue. Grosses aside, the August 2014 chart has a bizarre Green Book/Planes: Fire & Rescue joke about Oscar winners.
“it's just it's just weird that people never mentioned when Green Book won this year.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 2:10:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Guardians of the Galaxy → Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Summer 2014's box office was weak, with Winter Soldier and Lego Movie topping the year until Guardians overtook them.
“Lego movie made 257 by Winter Soul.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 2:10:59 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Guardians of the Galaxy → Transformers: Age of Extinction. Guardians became the biggest summer 2014 hit after the previous leader, Transformers 4, was viewed as a disappointment.
“It was Transformers Age of Extinction 245.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 2:11:58 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Guardians of the Galaxy → Howard the Duck. The credits tag with Howard the Duck leads to talk about the comic being better than the Lucas film and Kevin Smith's animated show.
“Not the George Lucas film.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 2:13:19 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Fun items (27)

fun, about Guardians of the Galaxy (opening): See the opening: the death of Quill's mother and abduction come before the Marvel logo, a held-open cold open that the hosts say Marvel doesn't do anymore, and the grandfather's rough night.
“A, I always like when Marvel does that before they do the studio logo.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:16:18 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Guardians of the Galaxy (Quill's coat): Quill's long coat in the Morag opening switches to a short jacket right after because CGI on the long coat was far more expensive, even though the promo art and merchandise kept the long coat.
“And then they realized that it was like exponentially more expensive to do CGI with the lung jacket.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:21:05 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Marvel billing: Billing order is contract math: early signers get guaranteed billing bumps, Evans and Hemsworth swap second place, and Ruffalo's third is locked, the 'Ruffalo billing sandwich'.
“I just like, yeah, that ruffalo sandwich, you and I are obsessed with, the buffalo billing sandwich.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:23:00 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Chris Pratt: Pratt entered the long Star-Lord casting game late as a surprise, after Marvel kept testing and rejecting people.
“And Chris Pratt, like, entered the game pretty late and then got the part.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:26:44 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Karen Gillan: Gillan truly shaved her head for Nebula; at a Doctor Who panel she took off her wig to prove it.
“They were like, wouldn't you have to shave your head and she took off the wig?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:27:40 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Vin Diesel: Footage of Diesel recording Groot lines in every language, on stilts to get into the head of a seven-foot-six tree; he bragged it was a Hollywood first.
“He recorded all his group dialogue wearing stilts because he was like, I want to get in the head of what it's like to be 7 foot six.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:30:12 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Chris Pratt (underwear shot): See the broad-shouldered Pratt-in-underwear shot; women in the theater made noises, and Marvel now puts one beefcake in every trailer.
“Women made noises in my theater at that prat shot.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:37:43 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Lloyd Kaufman: See the cameo of Troma president Lloyd Kaufman in the scummy space-bar/prison scene.
“And here we have Lloyd Kaufman from Trauma, president of Trauma, right there.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:38:18 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Rocket: The real raccoon who was Rocket's visual reference died a few months before; Gunn used to bring him to premieres.
“Gun would always bring him to the premieres like bubbles the monkey.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:39:28 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Dave Bautista: Bautista thought he could act after a direct-to-video film, saw himself on screen, and spent years in acting classes before fighting for Drax.
“I'm a terrible actor and spent years going to like serious acting classes.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:42:37 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Drax: Autism groups embrace Drax's literal mindedness (no metaphors) as one of the best representations in movies.
“Yeah, they said he's one of the best representations of a person who's autistic in movies.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:43:08 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Groot in the background: See the Groot-in-the-background gag during the Collector scene: Gunn keeps it in one shot with Groot never cut away from, which the hosts say a Feige-style coverage approach would have lost.
“Groot absolutely killing it in the background.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:47:22 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Peter Serafinowicz: Serafinowicz lived in Nova for a few months of shooting and was upset when Infinity War casually blew it up; he probably shot about two weeks.
“Because it was so lovely to shoot in Nova.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 0:54:17 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Knowhere: The Collector's city Knowhere is the skull of a dead celestial that people moved into, like fish building a house in the bones of a dead creature or reefs from sunken subway cars.
“It's a giant alien skull.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:01:54 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Vin Diesel: Diesel is rumored to be quietly generous and smart with money; he reportedly paid off a stranger's college debt at a restaurant without taking credit.
“he overheard someone talking about their college debt, and he like paid it off, and didn't even like ask for credit.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:02:49 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Benicio del Toro: Del Toro refused to say his Usual Suspects line normally, which could have gotten him fired; he is the actor you let do what he wants.
“He's like, no, fuck you.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:09:36 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Benicio del Toro: Del Toro shows up looking like he hasn't showered, in a Collector scene the hosts treat as his own eccentricity playing out; see his scene where the Infinity Stone logistics are laid out.
“This scene is finally laying out the logistics of the infinity stuff.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:10:11 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Dave Bautista: Drax had to be painted head to toe; for the sequel makeup houses competed to cut application from six hours to two.
“They were like, it took 6 hours, whichever one of you can get it down to 2 hours gets the job.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:15:50 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Sean Gunn: Sean Gunn performed Rocket on his knees on set and his improv gave the line readings Cooper later matched; the all-standing-up lineup scene was a Sean Gunn improv.
“It was a Sean Gunn improv.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:31:27 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Soundtrack needle drops: Cherry Bomb plays during the prep for the Xandar raid and I Want You Back runs over the Rocket-and-Groot and Quill finale; the hosts say the soundtrack works because the mixtape is the emotional spine.
“And now we're planning... Cherry bum.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:32:50 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Glenn Close: Close took the Nova Prime role on condition that her own hair person did her hair; a joke follows about a Bobby Finger short story.
“She was like, I'll do the movie if my hair guy does my hair.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:35:10 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Groot: See 'We are Groot' at the climax: Groot's last words are subtitled as three separate subtitles, which the hosts praise, and Rocket's reaction depends on this being a different Groot from the baby.
“It's 3 separate subtitles.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:52:04 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Rocket and Groot: See the Rocket-crying-over-Groot scene: full character animation, with Gunn on set, a gentle petting, and no joke undercutting the intimacy (they praise there being no no-homo joke).
“That they don't undercut that with a no-homo joke.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 2:00:07 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Quill's finale: See the end: Quill finally opens Mom's envelope and gets a present; the I Want You Back needle drop stays at the emotional end, and the dance was supposed to be the very end but moved up for audiences.
“The group dancing was supposed to be the end end and they moved it up because audiences, like...”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 2:04:11 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about James Gunn: Gunn filmed himself dancing for the baby Groot dance and the animators based the animation on it.
“He films himself dancing and has them anime based off.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 2:06:44 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Guardians of the Galaxy (box office): Guardians opened August 1, 2014 to an August record of $94 million, topping a weak summer where nothing had passed $300 million, and ended around $333 million domestic.
“Opens August first, 2014, beats the August record, $94 million.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 2:07:00 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Guardians of the Galaxy (credits): See the final tag: Cosmo the Space Dog, Howard the Duck voiced by Seth Green, and a note that the Disneyland Guardians ride sells lots of Cosmo merchandise.
“Do you know they have a ton of Cosmo merchandise at the Guardians ride in Disneyland?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 2:12:48 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Griffin Newman (host): Loves Marvel's cosmic, ragtag-team side and the animated Rocket/Groot heart; affectionate about the sillier comic characters. Dislikes humorless gray franchise filmmaking and bad needle drops. A sucker for a ragtag group, a Trek-style space comedy, and a Han Solo type inside an ensemble. Speaker attribution in this transcript is uncertain.
David Sims (host): Loves rules, systems and well-set-up action (Infinity Stone rules, Gamora's type-A bossiness, clear action goals); a box-office and Marvel-billing obsessive who makes spreadsheets. Respects Lee Pace's operatic villain and Drax. Dislikes Marvel's post-production sheen and the 'house style' gray. Speaker attribution is inferred from the room's teasing and is uncertain.
Sam Rogal (guest): Old friend of the hosts who goes deep on Marvel and fandom; fond of body-and-physique talk, Halloween costumes (Groot, Gravity) and pop culture trivia. Loves Jackson 5 and Fantastic Four fan-fic. Speaker attribution is inferred and uncertain.
Ben Hosley (host): Producer in the room who loves the sad, sweet beats (cries at the Rocket/Groot and 'I Want You Back' ending) and the light-show Infinity Stone scenes. A bit of a vaper and a fashion-bet running joke. Speaker attribution is inferred from others mentioning him.

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong

'Yondu' also rendered 'Gondu'; 'Gunn' also 'gun', 'James Gunnar', 'Gum'
'Beck Bennett', 'Tim Kazarinsky', 'Joe Piscopo', 'Denny Dillon' etc. in the opening are SNL cast names; spelling is plausible
'Kevin Bay' / 'Kevin Baker' (0:57:01 and 0:39:02) likely Kevin Bacon
'Peter Serrano', 'Serifano', 'Arafenowitz', 'Surfeinowitz', 'John Sorale' likely Peter Serafinowicz
'Jaiman Huntsu' / 'Shimon' likely Djimon Hounsou; 'Hansu' also
'Alexis Denisov' likely Alexis Denisof; 'Sean Wallace' likely Wallace Shawn
'Sharif Atkins' is plausibly right but the film role was not stated
'Karen Gillen' is Karen Gillan; 'Weedon' is Whedon; 'Trauma' is Troma; 'Brolo' is Brolin
'Group' is Groot throughout; 'Draxes'/'Drax' consistent; 'Batista' is Bautista; 'Ronan Day' / 'Rohnan' is Corpsman Dey
'Surf and a witch' / 'Which, sir' is a garbled running correction joke about Serafinowicz's name
'Tyler main' (0:41:12) maybe Tyler Mane
'Bobby Finger' plausible; 'Studio 60' references are the show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
'corpse right episode with JD' unclear; possibly an episode title

Blank Check — Patreon: Guardians of the Galaxy

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Films that came up

anecdote (23)

passing (41)

subject (1)

compared (24)

dismissed (4)

recommended (1)

Claims (88)

Fun items (27)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong