Disney XD and Marvel to debut the highly anticipated animated series, ‘Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy,’ with one-hour special on Saturday, September 26 on Disney XD.
In the first episode, “Road to Knowhere,” the newly christened Guardians of the Galaxy come into possession of a dangerous artifact that has Thanos' new lieutenant, Korath, after them. In episode two, “Knowhere to Run,” the Guardians struggle to subdue the suddenly sprung-to-life Celestial head that is the Knowhere space colony, as well as storm Korath's ship to rescue Quill, Gamora and the mysterious CryptoCube that holds the Cosmic Seed.
Leading up to the series premiere, fans were given a sneak peek at the first episode on Saturday, September 5, and were also treated to 10 two-minute shorts delving into the backstory of each of the five main characters throughout the month of August:
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy features themes of redemption and the importance of friendships and family told through a series of riveting sequential story arcs. The series follows the newly formed team that finds a strange artifact keyed only to the DNA of Peter Quill. Upon opening it, Quill unleashes a treasure map leading to a powerful weapon known as the Cosmic Seed, which is capable of giving birth to the next universe. It's up to the Guardians to find, protect and ultimately destroy the Cosmic Seed in order to keep it out of the hands of those who would abuse its power, from galactic big boss Thanos to the conniving brothers the Collector and the Grandmaster, to a resurrected Ronan, to the ultimate trickster, Loki, in order to save the universe.
Featuring the hugely popular characters introduced in the record-breaking Marvel Studios film of the same name, the series stars Will Friedle (Boy Meets World) as the brash adventurer Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Trevor Devall (Johnny Test) as fan-favorite Rocket Raccoon, Vanessa Marshall (Star Wars Rebels) as the enigmatic, expert fighter Gamora, David Sobolov (Transformers: Prime) as the rough-edged warrior Drax the Destroyer, Kevin Michael Richardson (The Cleveland Show) as tree-like humanoid Groot and James Arnold Taylor (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) as leader of the space pirates Yondu and the telepathic dog, Cosmo.
Produced by Marvel Animation, the series' award-winning creative team includes executive producers Alan Fine (Marvel's The Avengers, Iron Man, Thor), Dan Buckley (Marvel's Avengers Assemble, Marvel’s Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.), Joe Quesada (Marvel's Avengers Assemble) and Jeph Loeb (Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.); co-executive producers Stan Lee (Spider-Man), Eric Radomski (Spawn, Marvel's Avengers Assemble), Cort Lane (Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man) and Stephen Wacker (Marvel's Avengers Assembe”); supervising producers Marty Isenberg (Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters) and Harrison Wilcox (Marvel's Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.); consulting producer Steven Melching (Marvel's Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.); and supervising director Leo Riley (TRON: Uprising).
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy joins Marvel's Avengers Assemble, HULK and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. Disney XD's Top 2 original weekend animated series in Total Viewers and target kid and boy demos.
Source: Disney XD
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
