Space Buddies

Space Buddies
File:Space Buddies.jpg DVD cover art
Directed by	Robert Vince
Produced by	Robert Vince Anna McRoberts
Written by	Robert Vince Anna McRoberts
Based on	Characters by Paul Tamasy Aaron Mendelsohn Kevin DiCicco Robert Vince Anna McRoberts
Starring	Jason Earles Diedrich Bader Lochlyn Munro Bill Fagerbakke Kevin Weisman Ali Hillis C. Ernst Harth Christopher Gauthier Quinn Lord
Music by	Brahm Wenger Gregory Prechel (composer, orchestrator, additional music)
Cinematography	Kamal Derkaoui
Edited by	Kelly Herron
Production company	Keystone Entertainment Key Pix Productions
Distributed by	Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Release dates	February 3, 2009 (2009-02-03)
Running time	84 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$9 million

Space Buddies is a 2009 family comedy film. It is the third film in the Air Buddies series. It was released February 3, 2009. Like Air Buddies and Snow Buddies, this film was released directly on DVD and became the first Air Bud film to be released on Blu-ray.

Plot

The film begins with Buddha (Field Cate) and his owner Sam (Nolan Gould) star-gazing, when Sam makes a wish to touch the moon. The next day is his school field trip to Vision Enterprises, in which students participate in a special viewing of a test launch for the Vision 1 spacecraft. However, Sam leaves Buddha at home to attend the event, so Buddha secretly escapes to meet up with the other buddies; Budderball (Josh Flitter), Rosebud (Liliana Mumy), B-Dawg (Skyler Gisondo), and Mudbud (Henry Hodges), and invites them to join his spectatorship of the test launch. In a quick effort, they hide in the back of the school bus as it drives to the launch site of Vision Enterprises. On a tour with Dr. Finkel (Kevin Weisman), students see an automatic outfitter that Sam almost uses. The dogs, not far behind, come across the machine themselves and use it to equip suits before deciding to view the interior of the Vision 1 outside. At the Vision Enterprises' control center, "Mission Control", Pi (Bill Fagerbakke) confirms the ship is now prepared to launch. The Buddies conveniently place themselves in the seats when they become sealed in. Astro (Ali Hillis), the remote pilot, activates the shuttle, and the Vision 1 propels into the outer atmosphere.

At Mission Control the operators, unaware of the buddies, discover an error; an incompletely filled third tank. Given ten hours until the ship's supply runs out, they scramble to navigate the Vision 1 to the R.R.S.S. (Russian Research Space Station), an old Soviet space station. They contact the cosmonaut living there, Yuri (Diedrich Bader), instructing him to refuel the Vision 1. Upon its docking, the dogs decide to explore, and meet a dog called Spudnick (Jason Earles) under Yuri's care. Yuri is quite content to stay in space, however Spudnick explains he wishes to go home. Yuri finds the dogs in amazement, so he traps them in the kitchen, leaving them to wait. Spudnick returns to save the buddies, but at that point a connected fuel pipe has already started leaking. So all of the puppies rush back to Vision 1 to escape, while Yuri tries to block them. As he bangs on the control switches, however, electricity triggers the leak to combust, and everyone on-board escapes one way or another; Yuri barely manages using an escape vessel.

With dire timing, the Vision 1's course proceeds and it travels to the moon, leaving the puppies in awe. The ship touches down, and they explore the area of landing. Operators at Mission Control find the helmets of spacesuits sending back soft barking, giving awareness that these puppies are roaming around. The revelation is announced on the news, which concerns the buddies' owners as they haven't returned. On the moon, a ferret named Gravity (Amy Sedaris) contacts the buddies through audio at Mission Control (with no indication of her species), and instructs their return to the spacecraft.

As it returns to Earth, Dr. Finkel changes the path to divert the ship into a meteor shower, which prompts the ships built-in dodging system to quickly maneuver its way out of the situation, with a slight error that busts the data antenna to the right by a passing meteor. Budderball is sent outside the Vision 1 to repair the antenna, space walking to recalibrate it. At Mission Control, the adults remain puzzled about the change when Sam accuses Dr. Finkel as the one responsible. However, much to Dr. Finkel's denial, Mission Control's security footage justifies that the desk had Dr. Finkel's presence at the time of change, causing his removal from Vision Enterprises.

Mission Control receives Yuri's distress signal in his escape pod with no action to take, and the Vision 1 enters the atmosphere. Having good condition, it makes contact with the take-off strip safely, and the buddies exit. They meet Gravity in-person, learning she is a ferret. In a field, Yuri crashes and is rescued by a military group.

Pi awards the Buddies titles of "Space Buddies", wings of heroism, and the Buddies reflect on the lessons they learned. Once at home, Buddha gives Sam a moon rock taken from his journey, which fulfills Sam's wish. The film ends as Spudnick returns to his old owner, Sasha.

Cast

• Bill Fagerbakke as Pi
• Diedrich Bader as Yuri
• Kevin Weisman as Dr. Finkle
• Lochlyn Munro as Slats Bentley
• Ali Hillis as Astro Spalding
• Pat Finn as Bill Wolfson
• Nolan Gould as Sam
• Wayne Wilderson as Tad Thompson
• C. Ernst Harth as Guard at the gate to HQ
• Reese Schoeppe as Sasha
• Nico Ghisi as Bartleby
• Quinn Lord as Pete
• Gig Morton as Billy
• Sophia Ludwig as Alice
• Michael Teigan as Deputy Dan

Voice cast

• Skyler Gisondo as B-Dawg
• Field Cate as Buddha
• Liliana Mumy as Rosebud
• Henry Hodges as Mudbud
• Josh Flitter as Budderball
• Amy Sedaris as Gravity, a black-footed ferret
• Jason Earles as Spudnick, a Bull Terrier

Production

The film was shot in these locations:

- Abbotsford Airport, Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada

- Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

- Fort Langley, Langley Township, British Columbia, Canada

- Langley, British Columbia, Canada

- Vancouver Film Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray February 3, 2009.

Sequel

The fourth installment in the Air Buddies series, Santa Buddies was released on November 24, 2009.

External links

• Official website
• Space Buddies at IMDb