# The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** disney-hulu\ **Created:** [November 26, 2022, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567 "2022-11-26T04:20:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/1 "2022-11-26T04:20:40Z")
Pretty funny. As holiday specials based on major science fiction movies go…okay, it was a pretty low bar to cross. I’m a little suprised they made this live action and with the movie cast. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/2 "2022-11-26T04:39:50Z")
Just watched it, and it was pretty fun. My first thought was, that sounds like Rhett Miller, and it was. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/3 "2022-11-26T04:42:37Z")
I enjoyed the hell out of it. Really fun and well paced. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/4 "2022-11-26T05:01:00Z")
That was fun and more emotional than I thought it would be. Also, easiest money Kyra Sedgwick ever made. Mark Hamill is in this for about a second in the background. “Christmas Wrapping” is a great tune to set an epic scene to so I’m glad we finally got that here. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/5 "2022-11-26T06:44:54Z")
I liked the cartoon opening. It faked me out - I thought it was on its way to being in the vein of, “Star Wars Holiday Special.” It wasn’t great, but it was fun. Groot looked like a human in a Groot suit. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/6 "2022-11-26T07:20:41Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > Groot looked like a human in a Groot suit. I’m sure he was. I even considered it might be Vin Diesel in there, but it likely was not. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/7 "2022-11-26T07:43:58Z")
Meh. For all that it could have been, it avoided anything ‘edgy’. They should have brought in Shane Black to write and direct. That guy understands the real meaning of Christmas. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/8 "2022-11-26T09:43:16Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > I liked the cartoon opening. It faked me out Note that it also had the sort of flashy colors opening used on 70s-80s TV specials. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/9 "2022-11-26T09:50:54Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > They should have brought in Shane Black to write and direct. That guy understands the real meaning of Christmas. Well, they _could_ have went with [Mark Evanier](https://www.newsfromme.com/), who wrote the [Wacky Wall Walkers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wacky_WallWalker) Chwismas special. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/xrpxNcu3mes/hqdefault.jpg "Deck The Halls with Wacky Walls") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrpxNcu3mes) ---
**Author:** ![jadielyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jadielyn/32/8808_2.png) [@jadielyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jadielyn)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/10 "2022-11-26T17:27:00Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I’m a little suprised they made this live action and with the movie cast. My understanding is they filmed it at the same time they were filming for Guardians 3, so presumably at least for the Knowhere scenes it was just another few days of shooting with sets already in place (or background CG models, whichever) with the cast on-hand. Wonder if the Earth scenes were filmed afterwards though. > [@DWMarch](#): > > Mark Hamill is in this for about a second in the background. Any chance of a timecode or time-estimate? not that i’d mind watching again for that. Earth or Knowhere? > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Note that it also had the sort of flashy colors opening used on 70s-80s TV specials. They used the same “special presentation” opening for Werewolf by Night, this might be a thing going forward for the Disney+ one-offs (or Marvel One-Shots 2.0, i suppose) I feel sufficiently teased by the lore elements sprinkled into it, since this is also a very minor prologue to Guardians 3. One of those where it’s not essential to see before G3 but if you did it enhances the enjoyment, one presumes. …spoiler-tagging since it’s only been 2 days… So the Collector lives! After Infinity War his continued survival was fairly doubtful given that we only saw the Reality-Stone version of him. Do you suppose he put up a fight with weapon artifacts, such as in the What-If episode? or upon seeing Thanos already had the Power stone decided to nope on out of that given his last brush with it? The Guardians now owning Knowhere and apparently making it into something of a community/interstellar refugee camp. At least they have a home now, which also means something personal to lose besides each other. Wonder what condition it’ll be in by the time Guardians 3 has rolled credits. It was wonderful to see Nebula loosening up (a tiny bit! Dancing even!), just like in Endgame, also that Cosmo the Spacedog is sticking around. Apparently in the comics Cosmo became security chief of the Knowhere community, so there’s that. I am really glad they gave Mantis such a significant part here in driving the plot, quite aside from the daughter revelation I thought her character was the most in need of showing depth and growth with the team. I mean in Vol.1 we got to see the founding characters discover each other and form a bond but in Vol.2 she really only seemed to bond with Drax and IW/Endgame didn’t have the chance to really add much to that. Here she feels more a part of the family (figuratively and literally). I’m generally all-in on the fourth-wall breaks (She-Hulk and Deadpool need a team-up!) but the Rocket break in the tag felt a touch off … It was a good laugh! but for it to make sense for his character it’d have to be non-canon. Not that it’s not funny to imagine a psychotic Rocket bitching out the audience when really stressed out (“And YOU! I HOPE you’re ENJOYING this you lazy rotten–” “Rocket, who in the hell are you talking to??” “THEM!! Those invisible people behind the screen!”) edit: fixed tags ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/11 "2022-11-26T17:31:36Z")
It was … meh. Good for what I would imagine it was aimed to be: a silly G rated holiday special. But then why have the completely unnecessary “I guess all actors aren’t pieces of shit.” line thrown in? You’re going for very G. You want this to be something the parents are happy to be sitting watching without paying much attention to with the preschoolers after the Dog Show got boring or whatever. It didn’t add any humor value that a non-expletive would have brought, heck an alien word that every knew was a stand in for “shit” would have worked better. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/12 "2022-11-26T17:37:50Z")
> [@jadielyn](#): > > I feel sufficiently teased by the lore elements sprinkled into it, since this is also a very minor prologue to Guardians 3. Don’t forget Drax’s cousin was killed by Gobots. That needs to be a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/13 "2022-11-26T17:39:57Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > But then why have the completely unnecessary “I guess all actors aren’t pieces of shit.” line thrown in? You’re going for very G. I noticed that same issue. Completely different from the constant cursing in one of the movies/series explicitly aimed at adults. ---
**Author:** ![jadielyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jadielyn/32/8808_2.png) [@jadielyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jadielyn)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/14 "2022-11-26T18:22:59Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Don’t forget Drax’s cousin was killed by Gobots. That needs to be a movie. I thought he said “robots” although I was tickled to see that reference. A quick google shows the fan-sites appear to confirm the G-word and apparently going all-in on the “they’re MCU canon now!” Ah fanwankery, it’ll never change. 😆 Bet new crossover fanfics are being written this very moment. ---
**Author:** ![jadielyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jadielyn/32/8808_2.png) [@jadielyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jadielyn)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/15 "2022-11-26T19:48:59Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > Mark Hamill is in this for about a second in the background. Oh, according to [this site](https://wegotthiscovered.com/tv/the-mystery-of-mark-hamills-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special-cameo-has-been-solved/) it was a friend of Mark Hamill. It would’ve been cool if true, tho! ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/16 "2022-11-26T23:31:02Z")
I loved it. I did start to feel a little bad for Peter because he got snatched by Yondu before he got to see Home Alone or Nightmare Before Christmas and probably A Christmas Story (it was out, but wasn’t as well known until later airings on cable). I think Peter would have liked those 3. I think Drax and Mantis were channeling a lot of NBC. Very Jack Skellington of them, running around trying to get KB instead of Sandy Claws. I’ve enjoyed most of the new shows and I haven’t really disliked any Phase 4 movie except for the Eternals, but these two one-off holiday specials really just nailed what they were trying to be more than anything else has. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2022, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/17 "2022-11-27T00:02:25Z")
Low production values mixed with tons of stars and cameos, a sappy plot, and music? It is precisely what it says on the tin: a Christmas special. I liked it. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2022, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/18 "2022-11-27T00:19:59Z")
> [@Fair\_Rarity](#): > > Very Jack Skellington of them, running around trying to get KB instead of Sandy Claws. [Santa is in the comics](https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Santa_Claus_(Earth-616)), they could have brought him into the MCU. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2022, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/19 "2022-11-27T18:14:11Z")
> [@jadielyn](#): > > Rocket break in the tag felt a touch off I guess that was a problem, because a few days after watching it my kid asked if Rocket knows he’s in a show. I think that Rocket is a referring to a holiday special being filmed in universe for the Ravagers. A show within a show. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2022, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567/20 "2022-11-27T20:46:05Z")
Don’t overthink it. Sometimes a throwaway gag is just a throwaway gag. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/975567.md?page=2)