Following the destruction of their ship, a young boy named Willy is separated from his parents with whom he traveled in space. His spare capsule lands on a wild and unexplored planet. With the help of Buck, a survival robot, and Flash, an eight-legged alien thing he befriends, he will have to hold until the arrival of a rescue mission.
The movie contains examples of:
- Alien Sky: The planet Willy lands on has two moons.
- All Animals Are Dogs: Flash behaves just like a domesticated dog.
- Always a Bigger Fish: Willy first meets Flash when he is being chased by three other creatures that are the same size as him, and thus smaller than Willy. Willy easily scares them off. Unfortunately, Willy then finds himself on the receiving end of this trope when the three creatures turn out to be juveniles, and their enormous mother comes to their aid.
- Androcles' Lion: When Willy sees how a large, bug-like creature breaks the horn on its head, he rushes in and helps the creature restore the broken horn by fastening it with a vine. The creature later returns the favor by helping Willy out of a pit (see Darkest Hour below).
- Asteroid Thicket: The ship of Willy and his parents ends up in an asteroid field, which wrecks the ship and forces all on board to use the escape pods.
- A Boy and His X: a boy (Willy) and his alien pet/friend (Flash).
- But Now I Must Go: When rescue finally arrives, Willy can go back to Earth, but naturally has to say goodbye to Flash. He promises Flash to come back and see him someday.
- Bold Explorer: Willy and his parents are space explorers. And while stranded on the alien planet, Willy makes the most of it by using an exploration kit to photograph the local flora and fauna.
- Chekhov's Gun: When Willy first sees the giant bug-like creatures, one has fallen onto its back and can't get up, so it calls his fellow bugs for help by emitting a horn-like sound. Later, when Willy finds himself stuck in a pit, he summons the bug he helped earlier by making a horn and blowing it, imitating the alarm call.
- Chekhov's Skill: At the start of the movie, Willy plays a holographic, interactive video game that requires him to ride a hoverboard and shoot obstacles/enemies with a bow and arrow. Both skills come in great use to him once he is stranded on the planet.
- Clothing Damage: Willy only has the suit he was wearing when his escape pod landed on the planet. After the 10 month time skip, he lost his shoes and the upper part of the suit, and the pants have been ripped to shorts.
- Covers Always Lie: A small one, but the cover for the English dub (see page image) depicts one of the rock monsters with green skin. In the actual movie, they have a pinkish to reddish skin. Also, those purple and pink aliens and flying creatures? Considering how prominently they're featured on the poster you'd think they're important to the plot, while they're actually just background characters.
- Darkest Hour: For Willy, this comes around the one hour mark of the movie; Buck’s battery has been drained, Willy’s attempt to retrieve the spare battery from the escape pod leads to another encounter with the rock beasts during which Flash is injured, and when a remorseful Willy tries to get Flash back to their camp, he ends up falling into a deep pit he can’t get out of even with his grappling hook, and with nobody around to help him. For a moment, the boy gives up hope of ever surviving this, until he figures out a way to make an improvised horn and summon the bug-like creature he helped earlier (see Chekhov's Gun above).
- Deflector Shields:
- The spaceship of Willy and his parents has one, but it is ultimately unable to keep the asteroids out for long.
- Buck can also create one, which comes in use when he has to shield Willy against a storm of gigantic hailstones. Unfortunately, it requires so much power that it ends up draining his battery to the point he has to go into power safe mode.
- Dress-O-Matic: Early in the movie, Willy wakes up and, still wearing his pyjamas, walks onto a pad that triggers a machine which puts him through his morning routine. At the end, he emerges dressed in his regular outfit.
- Escape Pod: The ship that Willy and his parents traveled on has these, and they are forced to use them when their ship is hit by asteroids. The pods come equipped with emergency rations and a personal survival module.
- Find the Cure!: At one point, Willy is poisoned after he pricks his finger on the needles of a plant, and the infection spreads fast, covering his body in blue rash. While Buck scans every plant in the vicinity in hopes of detecting an antidote, Flash, who knows what kind of poison they are dealing with, runs off to fetch another plant that contains the antidote.
- Gigantic Adults, Tiny Babies: When young, Flash is the size of a housecat. Willy can easily pick him up and carry him. Once an adult, he is many times bigger than Willy and the boy can ride on his back.
- Hobbling the Giant: When they finally retrieve Buck’s battery, Willy and Flash use Willy’s grappling hook to take out the rock beasts this way.
- Hover Board: Willy has one on board the spaceship at the start of the movie. His experience with riding one allows him to make an improvised skateboard while on the planet.
- Kids' Wilderness Epic: Maybe not a straight example, but it does contain many of the elements associated with the genre, like the main character being a kid, whose parents are scientists, stranded in the wild, where he faces the difficulties of wilderness survival, befriends a local animal, and survive several death-defying stunts.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: The scene of Willy preparing himself to go after Buck’s spare battery again; he dons a makeshift armor, makes new arrows, and covers his face in warpaint.
- Lizard Folk: Flash has a reptile-like appearance when he grows up.
- MacGuffin: The spare battery for Buck, which is still in the desolated area where the escape pod landed. Said area is full of dangerous rock beasts. Willy has to get the battery when Buick’s first battery is fully drained, since Buck being able to send a distress signal to a passing search probe is Willy's only hope for rescue. The first attempt fails miserably, and it scares Willy out of trying again until a search probe reaches the planet after the 10 month Time Skip. The second attempt succeeds.
- Metamorphosis: We see Flash go through a transformation with help of a cocoon, and he possibly underwent more during the 10 month Time Skip.
- Minimalist Cast: For the majority of the movie, Willy, Buck and Flash are the only main characters. Willy's parents have a supporting role, appearing only at the start and end of the movie.
- No Antagonist: There is no Big Bad or even a one-shot villain of any sort; all the conflicts in the movie come from Willy having to survive on an alien planet, and deal with things like hostile weather, finding enough food, dangerous terrain, and predatory animals that just follow their instincts.
- No Biochemical Barriers: The planet Willy lands on has an atmosphere breathable for humans, and there are plenty of plants and fruits humans can eat. However, the dangers of eating unknown, alien plants are brought up, and Buck scans everything first to determine what is and what is not safe for human consumption. And even then; the food that is safe to eat still tends to have side-effects, like causing Willy to foam from the mouth, or freeze up. The trope also goes the other way; Flash eats one of Willy’s chocolate bars, and suffers no ill effects.
- Random Events Plot: The movie consists of multiple scenes of Willy’s adventures on the planet with the local flora and fauna, with only the overarching theme of Willy having to survive connecting them all.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Buck's eyes briefly turn red when he chases Flash away, deeming the creature to be of no use to them.
- Robinsonade: In Space
- Robot Buddy: Buck for Willy. He was the personal survival module in Willy’s escape pod, and helps the boy survive the first few days, until he is forced to shut down to preserve energy. The end credits show him remaining with Willy and his parents once they make it back to Earth.
- Rock Monster: The desert that Willy’s escape pod crashes in is filled with several giant, quadrupedal beasts with rocklike skin. They are the biggest threat Willy has to face during his time on the planet.
- Scenery Porn: The many scenes of the alien planet and all its wildlife.
- Send in the Search Team: Buck explains to Willy that anytime a space explorer goes missing, search probes are sent across space to try and locate them. Unfortunately, there is no telling when one will reach Willy’s planet, and when one finally does, Willy needs Buck to actually contact this probe and let it know he is there.
- So Proud of You: Said by Buck to Willy when he is reactivated with his spare battery, and realizes how courageous Willy has become in the past 10 months.
- Sticky Situation: The planet contains purple berries, which become a tough glue when squeezed. Buck finds out the hard way when he gets covered with the berries and subsequently gets stuck to a rock. Later, after Willy makes himself a bow and arrow, he arms his arrows with these berries.
- Swiss-Army Weapon: Among the survival kit in the escape pod is a handheld device that contains a toothbrush, a knife, a grappling hook with rope, and a lighter that can be turned up high enough to act as a flamethrower.
- Time Skip: There is a 10 month time skip during which Flash fully matures to his adult form and Willy becomes quite the survival expert.
- Toilet Humor: There is a scene of Willy taking a leak, upon which Flash joins him.
- Took a Level in Badass: Willy over the course of the movie; he learns to survive on his own, makes his own bow and arrow and becomes quite skilled at using them, and becomes notably more athletic and agile. He also finally dares to take the rock beasts head on.
- Transforming Mecha: Buck can transform into a motorcycle.
- TV Head Robot: While Buck has eyes, the rest of his face consists of a small screen on which he can project a mouth.
- Wild Wilderness: A whole planet of it.
- Quicksand Sucks: There is a brief scene of Willy getting stuck in a quicksand like substance. Buck pulls him out before he can sink further than his knees.
