James Gunn Doesn’t Think You Should Worry About Star-Lord’s Walkman

By Brent McKnight | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

GotGYou’re more than likely well aware of this fact, but music plays a huge part in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Star-Lord’s “Awesome Mix Volume 1” is a key emotional piece of the protagonist’s story, and classic songs are used to great effect throughout the film. But it’s also caused a great deal of controversy among the more nitpicky fans out there. See, Peter Quill frequently listens to the tape his mother gave him on a Walkman, and people question how a set of AA batteries have managed to last 26 years in deep space and apparently show no sign of slowing down. If this gives you pause, don’t worry, director James Gunn has an explanation for you.

Even if that backpack Quill is wearing when he’s taken from Earth was stuffed full of nothing but batteries, with the frequency uses his Walkman, his stockpile would be running low. More than that, I would be more concerned about the integrity of that tape. I’ve found old cassettes of mine that were nowhere near that old or that well worn, and lets just say the sound quality is not quite what it once was. But I feel like Gunn’s answer, provided on his Facebook page, works pretty well for both of these issues.

He says:

MORE IMPORTANTLY, I’m getting a lot of questions about the AA batteries in Quill’s Walkman, and how Quill’s Walkman can survive for so long.

GUYS, THEY HAVE THE ALIEN TECHNOLOGY TO TRAVEL FASTER THAN LIGHT BETWEEN PLANETS, I think they can figure out an alternative power source for the Walkman, and they likely also have technology to slow the degradation to the tape and player. This seems obvious to me.

Of all the things to get hung up on in Guardians of the Galaxy, this is a relatively minor quibble. They obviously have power sources of all kinds in this part of the galaxy, so replicating a couple of batteries should be no real hurdle to clear. I get more tripped up by things like Quill’s ability to survive as long as he does in the vacuum of space without his mask when he rescues Gamora, or how every planet seems to have a breathable atmosphere. But we are talking about a movie, one based on comic books, and that prominently features a talking raccoon and an alien tree, so nothing in the logic department bothers me all that much.

If you do have more bones to pick with Guardians, you might want to watch this video from Cinema Sins, which recounts “Everything Wrong With” the film.

As usual, this is reaching (really, the Marvel logo in a Marvel movie is somehow a problem for you?), and it goes on for way, way too long. For every good point they make, like Thanos’ presence not being all that necessary (something Gunn himself recently remarked on), there are dozens that are part of things like character development and the story. Still, there are some funny moments, though at 15 minutes, it does wear out its welcome in short order.