Space Buddies

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, the 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 of the Vision One spacecraft. However, Sam has to leave Buddha at home to attend, so Buddha secretly escapes to meet up with the other buddies; Rosebud (Liliana Mumy), Budderball (Josh Flitter), B-Dawg (Skyler Gisondo), and Mudbud (Henry Hodges), and invites them to join his own 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 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 with the Buddies.

At Mission Control the operators, unaware of the buddies, discover 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 disagrees and 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 rescue them, but a connected fuel pipe has already started leaking. The puppies rush back to Vision 1 to escape as 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 to travel 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 news networks, which concerns the buddies' owners as they notice their absence. Meanwhile, a ferret named Gravity (Amy Sedaris) contacts the buddies on the moon 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 perpetrator. 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 him to be quickly removed from the premises.

Mission Control receives Yuri's distress signal in his escape pod, unable to form a response, 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. Finkel
 * 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.