YMMV / Dogs in Space

Beware of unmarked spoilers.

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Garbage and Happy seem to have more animosity than "Garbage being a rulebreaker" would merit. Happy suspects Garbage of treason immediately when he promises Kira to never risk the teams' lives again in such a senseless fashion again, while Garbage gets into a fistfight with him during the first season finale. What caused their rivalry to become so bitter?
    • As revealed in Season 2's Freeze Out, Garbage and Happy used to be best friends, only to grow apart when Happy's captaincy evaluation was higher than Garbage's: Happy started to spend more time with other high-testing dogs, eventually telling Garbage he'd never be Captain, and Garbage's attempt to help Happy using the latter's Pavlovian conditioning was taken as sabotage.
  • The Schmoop shapeshifters tell Garbage and the crew that they would rather form a symbiotic relationship with the dogs rather than people because human needs are complicated, while dogs want little. Was Schmoop-Chelsea telling the truth or lying since the shapeshifters are dying out and they need a source of happiness as soon as possible?
  • There are hints that Loaf is anxious as he is because he is a bulldog, a breed known for having many physical birth defects and breathing problems, which is why he enjoys spa day and gives himself motivational pep talks. Granted, Garbage's antics don't help at all so it's a question of having the wrong temperament for the captain. Loaf goes "Aw snap" in the season finale when Kira undoes the transformation, implying he was happier not being sapient.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Garbage's fantasy In which Happy is turned into a regular dog feels a tad much after the events which happened later in the show. Especially when Kira orders him to turn the sapience ray, and Garbage finds that he can't do it, opting to shoot the machine instead.
  • Stella immediately tries to bond with Kira when the Pluto crew finds her alone on the ghost planet The season finale ends with Kira having rendered Stella and everyone on the M.Bark nonsapient. Stella is understandably cold with Kira when the latter receives an honorable discharge and is sent to Earth.
• Inferred Holocaust:
  • The heist episode ends with the entire seed bank destroyed thanks to Garbage's Disaster Dominoes in knocking them all over. Let's hope there is a way to recreate them, otherwise a lot of planets are screwed.
    • And even if they can be recreated it would almost certainly take a huge amount of time to rebuild the ship and recreate the seeds. Some planets won't have that time.
• Jerkass Woobie: Kira qualifies, given her abandonment issues.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains:
  • Happy can come off as much more rude, harsh, and generally evil than the show's actual antagonist and the Monster of the Week Schmoops. He spends most of his screen time being a jerk to Garbage than focusing on the actual mission to find humans a home. He even tries to take down the antagonist after she had been talked down. Justified as the antagonist Is a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
  • Bernie (see Hate Sink) is also this. He comes off as even worst than Happy even though he had one scene.
• Magnificent Bastard: Kira is a dog who developed an intense resentment towards mankind after she ended up stranded on a hostile alien planet while sent on a mission. After getting found and recruited by the Pluto crew, she proves to be a valuable ally and aids the team in several missions. After some time, Kira convinces hero Garbage to abandon M-BARK's mission and instead find a planet just for dogs. Kira then steals a device that can turn the dogs non-sapient; intending to use it to force the M-BARK's denizens to go along with her plan. When Garbage opposes this, Kira launches him, alongside Happy and Jerry, to a nearby planet. Even when the Pluto crew discovers her plans, Kira is able to evade and outsmart them before using the device to take over the space station. She's only stopped when Garbage proves that her owner still loved her, leading her to realize that she was wrong about humans and surrender herself.
• Moe:
  • It's hard not to absolutely coo over how cute Chonies is.
  • Stella cannot resist the allure of her crew being turned into puppies. She tries to pet them while they're sleeping. It doesn't go well.
    • Heck, even the theme song can't help but fawn over how adorable puppy team Pluto is.
  • The entire main cast can be considered this. Special mention to Loaf refusing to leave his post, even when having a Potty Emergency.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • While one could argue that the Schmoops are biologically doomed to turn their symbiotic partners into happiness zombies, they cross it as a whole when leaving their partners to rot in a wasteland while seeking new prey.
  • Chelsea-Schmoop crosses this by physically imprisoning Garbage when he keeps insisting that the Schmoop can coexist with dogs and humans, making him doubt that the real Chelsea is waiting for him. When Garbage tries to escape, the shapeshifters change into doppelgangers of his crew and pin him down, preparing to suck all his life force out in exchange for empty happiness.
  • While her anger over the destruction of the seed bank is understandable, The Elder Shrubdub crosses this when she attempts to exterminate all life on Earth. Or, after failing that, tries to gun down The Pluto and their portal back to The M-Bark out of spite.
• Nightmare Fuel: The Reveal about the Schmoops in "Stay": Stella finds out that if a species partners with them, their life force is sucked out in exchange for eternal happiness, turning the unfortunate individuals into motionless zombies that don't want to be rescued. Stella is so freaked out that she immediately turns around and tells the crew they need to leave.

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