Guardians of the Galaxy is back. But not how you think…

You turn on your favorite streaming service and begin the dreaded search.

What are you going to watch?

You’ve watched everything that smacks your taste buds just right, but you’re hoping that maybe, just maybe, they’ve added something new. You know this search could waste precious minutes, even hours.

You’re looking for something like Guardians of the Galaxy, but you’ve watched GotG1 and GotG2 a millions times. Same with Star Wars, and Mandalorian, both seasons, and you watched it again, because Grogu. But that space western itch still needs scratching. Hard.

The wait is over my geeks.

Give Me More Star-Lord

The old Guardians crew is back together. Well, to be honest, not all of them. But they are old Guardians.

Wastelands: Old Man Star-Lord is a new FREE podcast by Sirius XM. And calling it a podcast is really a disservice. This is a full-blown audio drama (Walkman and headphones sold separately).

Story Premise

Salty Star-Lord is out to prove to everyone around him that he’s still the hero, and Rocket remains faithful to bring him down a peg.

Without giving away too much, Star-Lord and Rocket answer a distress call and end up inheriting a ton of problems, including a quest into a dangerous part of the galaxy. Failure to accomplish this quest will result in—to quote Michael Scott—their capa's getting detated.

Get Out the Walkman

When it comes to the voice acting, it is hard to divorce the protagonist duo of Quill and Rocket from their MCU actors. It just is. That said, the vocal performances of this audio drama are top notch.

The crusty banter between Quill and Rocket, played by Timothy Busfield and Chris Elliott respectively, is painfully believable to the point of laughing out loud. Whether or not they sound like their MCU portrayals, more importantly they've captured the spirit of the characters for sure.

Danny Glover as Red Crotter brings a worn realism to the portrayal, grounding a “C-list” marvel character with an A-list performance.

If the performances are great, then sound effects provide stellar immersion. The creatives behind the FX have done a fantastic job inserting the pew pews of the galaxy into our earholes.

Add a dash of snark, sprinkle some jabbing sarcasm, and a healthy dose of flippant optimism, and that pretty much sums up the tone of the bleak humor and banter.

All Your Star-Lord are Belong to Us

The fact that you can partake of the new adventures without yet another subscription plan added to your monthly bill is a huge plus in my book. I am Groot.

I really enjoyed listening to the first few episodes on Pandora. The story currently has 6 episodes. For those wondering, that’s 166 minutes of new Star-Lord adventures. That’s 41 minutes longer than the first Guardians movie. And, it’s 27 minutes longer than Marry Poppins y’all (yes, MP was a longer film than GotG1).

Is this for everyone? Nope.

Some geeks might be put off by the distinct post-apocalypse space western-ness.

Some geeks out there can only digest visual media.

And understandably, some geeks don’t want to see their Marvel pals get old, but would rather they stay eternally young, fighting on forever in their super thirties.

That’s cool. More for the rest of us.

For those that love audio, can’t get enough GotG, and like grumpy old men yelling at aliens to get off their spaceship, this is for you.

Give your eyes a rest and enjoy some theater of the mind as you cruise the galaxy and navigate the wastelands with Peter Quill and Rocket Racoon.

Here's the official trailer.

The podcast itself can be listened to on just about any podcast app, but here is the Pandora link to the series page.