Last week, these three space dogs arrived in my mailbox:

spacedogs.jpg

According to the accompanying press release, these three space dogs are intended to promote the DVD release of Disney’s Space Buddies, and are part of a larger crew of space dogs: “adorable Golden Retriever puppies Rosebud, Buddha, Budderball, B-Dawg, and Mudbud” who “travel to the moon in search of a dream, only to realize that what they want is back on earth.” (Just what is it that they want? Beef jerky? A nap? Their own buttholes? Because I’m pretty sure those are portable.)

The two space dogs on the left are, obviously, the adorable American golden retriever space dogs. One is a girl, which means she has a stupid pink space suit and a bow. The other one is a man, so he has a manly regulation space suit. The third one is Russian.

The Russian space dog is not a golden retriever. He is a less-universally-lovable bull terrier. He wears an ugly orange space suit that’s all hammer-and-sickled out, due to his Soviet stylings. Also, HE HAS NO FUCKING SPACE HELMET.

Just what the fuck do you expect Soviet space dog to DO in space, Disney Corporation!? Breathe deep of the spirit of the proletariat before he blasts off from the Motherland and then just HOLD IT!? Hold it in, space dog! Hold it! What’s that? Sorry, I can’t hear you from inside my handy American-made oxygen globe. Woof.

Lindy West was born an unremarkable female baby in Seattle, Washington. The former Stranger writer covered movies, movie stars, exclamation points, lady stuff, large frightening fish, and much, much more....

25 replies on “Walt Disney Corporation Launches Campaign to Euthanize All Russian Dogs by Suffocation in the Cold Dead Vaccuum of Space”

  1. you strapped the dog into a chair, she tried to lick your face
    then you counted backwards and you launched her into space
    you made no provisions for bringing her back home
    high and all alone
    you can look into the sky you might see a falling star
    if I get one wish I hope that Laika will go far
    I hope she sails on and on across the universe
    finds there some new world where she’ll be safe from man’s experiments
    that don’t have come home parts
    free from being bound by chains or left alone in cars
    wonder if she’ll think about a family back on earth
    Laika Laika

    my dog is an astronaut light years away from home
    she lives up in heaven howling above the moon

    she’s not coming down it takes more than you to keep a good dog on the ground
    she’s not coming back it take more than you to keep a good dog down

    every night I look out my window, I find the faintest star above
    how’d you ever pick a name that you’re never gonna use enough
    why’d you name her if that was your big plan

  2. Having spent a lot of time in largely Buddhist countries including Thailand and Sri Lanka, I can readily say that naming one of the dogs Buddha won’t garner much appreciation for Disney in those places. While not nearly as vociferous as Muslim fundamentalists on the subject of display of the prophet Mohammed it is considered very disrespectful of the Buddha to joke about him or use his image as a decorative object, or place it in such a manner as being lower than the heads of people who approach it.

  3. It’s actually a nod to the Soviets’ superior toughness and shoestring ingenuity. Like that time NASA developed a pressurized pen that could write in microgravity, whereas the Russians used pencils. In this case, while the Americans chased their silly technological solutions (spacesuits), the Soviets just got tough enough to deal with the vacuum on their own.

  4. I LOVE LAIKA!

    That being said, I really don’t think Disney picked the correct target audience for their promotion. Because I can tell you that my 7 year old loves these dogs. Absolutely loves them. No matter how stupid the plot of the movies are, he still thinks they are good.

    And, unlike that piece of crap Marley & Me the dogs don’t die. Well, I’m assuming in this one the Russian space dog doesn’t die either.

    p.s. Confidential to Lindy, I will pay you cold, hard cash, or donate money to a charity of your pick for the boy dog in the helmet.

  5. And @18, Mudbud is the air “buddy” that likes to roll around in the mud, hence his nickname. He was quite disappointed in the Alaskan adventure when rolling around in the snow rendered him clean. The dogs are all golden retrievers, at least I’m pretty sure that’s what they are.

  6. Actually, helmet issues aside, that’s the correct color for a Soviet space suit outer liner, circa 1960’s/early 1970’s.

    They made them day-glo orange so the cosmonaut (who, unlike U.S. astronauts was ejected from the re-entry module and parachuted to the ground) could be more easily spotted by air rescue.

  7. I am sure the golden retriever and Bull terrier breed groups are really pleased by this movie. NOT. here we go again with another dog movie, sure to make the puppy millers churn out more unwanted dogs for stupid people who don’t realize a movie dog does not = a real dog.

  8. My little dog ran away the other day.
    I can’t believe my little dog Lassie ran away.
    She packed her bags, got into a hot air balloon.
    Then my little dog Lassie, she sailed off to the moon.
    (yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah)

    The day.
    The day!
    That was the day that Lassie went to the moon!

    My little dog Lassie packed her bags and went out on to the porch.
    Her golden fur glistened in that sunny blue backdrop of the sky in Kansas.
    Before her stretched magestic wheat fields in that great city of the west.
    Lassie knew that she could serve the youth of America in the stars above.
    (yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah)

    That was the day that Lassie went to the moon.

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