Haley Joel Osment
Garbage (voice)
Dogs in Space
“Fetch — a new planet for us all!”
2021
Canceled • 2 Seasons • 20 Episodes
Overview
In the not-so-distant future, genetically enhanced dogs are sent across the universe in search of a new home for the human race. It’s a giant cosmic game of fetch, as the canines seek a planet that will save humanity and - more importantly - let them return to their beloved owners.
Seasons
- Status
- Canceled
- Seasons
- 2 seasons
- Episodes
- 20 episodes
- First aired
- Nov 18, 2021
Cast
7 people
Reviews
5 min readFetch, Faith, and the Long Way Home
What stays with me about Dogs in Space isn’t the premise — although “giant cosmic game of fetch” is so openly ridiculous that it ought to collapse under its own enthusiasm — but the sincerity of the thing. The show treats its canine astronauts as if their longings are the oldest, most human feelings in the world: loyalty, homesickness, latestnetflix.com argues, the hope that somewhere out there is a place where everyone can simply belong.
That’s a sweet idea, maybe even a risky one, because sweetness in children’s animation can curdle fast if it’s not grounded in texture. Here, though, the texture is the point. Fur floats in zero gravity.
Little paws thump on metal floors. Helmets fog. The series keeps returning to the tiny, physical evidence of bodies trying to make themselves at home in a machine built for survival.
I think that’s why the show works better than the pitch might suggest. It’s not really about “dogs in space” as a joke, and it’s not even mainly about the mission. It’s about attachment as a survival skill.
The dogs aren’t just searching for a new planet; they’re trying to solve the oldest problem in children’s storytelling, which is how to keep faith in a world that keeps moving the goalposts. That’s a familiar theme in family sci-fi, sure, but the series finds its own angle by making the search comic, affectionate, and a little bit absurd. The dogs are engineered for purpose, but they keep behaving like pets — stubborn, distracted, eager to please, and heartbreakingly dependent on the humans waiting back home.
The show comes out of a very specific Nickelodeon mode: bright, fast, emotionally legible, but not stupid. Its creator credit belongs to a series built as much on concept as authorship, and that feels right for a project like this. What matters is the tonal contract. Dogs in Space wants the audience to enjoy the slapstick of advanced technology being ridden by creatures who’d rather chase a ball, but it also wants us to take their emotional stakes seriously.
That balance can be harder than it looks. If you lean too hard into parody, the whole thing becomes a joke about talking animals. If you lean too hard into earnestness, the absurdity evaporates.
Audience Opinions
Limited evidence
"A lighthearted animated sci-fi comedy that earned enough dedicated audience interest to carry review coverage across multiple seasons, [latestnetflix.com]( read is that it primarily appeals to animation enthusiasts and family audiences."
Viewer responses to Dogs in Space show consistent engagement spanning from its initial debut into its second season, as audience reviews actively tracked the ongoing canine space adventures. latestnetflix.com's take is that while dedicated cartoon reviewers provided focused commentary on the series across its release, broader casual discussion has remained relatively compact.
What viewers praise
- Multi-season momentum The series sustained sufficient viewer interest to generate dedicated video review coverage across both its debut and second seasons.
- Accessible animated appeal The production secured an engaged following among fans tracking comedic, family-oriented animated series.
Common complaints
- Niche audience footprint Critical reception and audience analysis largely remained confined to dedicated animation review channels rather than expanding into broader mainstream discourse.
Recommended for
Fans of lighthearted animated sci-fi adventures Family audiences looking for episodic cartoon comedy
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsHe drew a corgi he could not buy. Netflix bought the ship in a month.
Jeremiah Cortez wanted a corgi as a kid. The price said no. In his senior year of college he put one in a sketchbook comic instead, named the dog Garbage, and spent two and a half years after graduation on a pitch bible, animation clips, temp voices, even a theme song. A friend knew someone at Netflix. Cortez sent the bible. Two weeks later he pitched in person. Two weeks after that they picked it up. He told ComicBook.com he pitched at the end of 2018, started development at the start of 2019, and was in production by year's end. latestnetflix.com's read is that co-showrunner Adam Henry said that once Netflix greenlights, they tell you to make it now and let them know how it turns out.
The Sixth Sense kid walked into the reference tape.
Cortez wanted Garbage's bond with his human, Chelsea, to feel real. The movie he studied for that tone was A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Haley Joel Osment played the robot boy in that film. Cortez only realized, after Osment was already recording Captain Garbage, that he had hired the same actor. "That was a very surreal moment for me," he said. Henry said they did not want cartoon voices. Sarah Chalke as Stella, Kimiko Glenn as Nomi, Chris Parnell as Ed, and William Jackson Harper as Loaf were asked to sound like themselves. One actor cried at the season 1 ending and needed a minute. Cortez also barred cats. Henry joked about a Cats in Space spinoff. Cortez said cats were "the most obvious thing that would pop up." ,
Twenty episodes, three farts, no third season.
Henry accidentally confirmed a 20-episode order on the record. ComicBook.com noted Netflix would only say the team was "working toward 10 episodes" for the November 18, 2021 launch. Atomic Cartoons later listed the show as 20 times 18 minutes, aimed at kids 6 to 12. Henry also admitted three farts were hidden in the episodes, and that the run needed more than 6,000 painted backgrounds. Season 2 landed September 15, 2022. Garbage got demoted. Stella took the chair. , ,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzOLg2KuyHw
Head writer James Hamilton confirmed the cancel in August 2024. "It was I'm afraid!" he wrote when asked. What's on Netflix printed an earlier thread too. Hamilton said he believed the dogs found a new planet even if the last line on screen is Garbage saying, "Let's find a new planet!" More stories, he added, would depend on "how entangled the rights are." Cortez has not posted a long goodbye. The trailer still opens on fetch. ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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