REVIEWED: SEASON 1 (ALL EPISODES) | WHERE TO WATCH: APPLE TV+
Beloved cartoon beagle Snoopy is no stranger to NASA. The historic Apollo Ten mission used ‘Snoopy’ and ‘Charlie Brown’ as call signals, and a fishbowl-wearing variant of Snoopy is NASA’s official safety mascot, with the Silver Snoopy for Safety being one of NASA’s rarest of medals. Which probably explains why charming Peanut’s cartoon, Snoopy in Space feels like one massive advertisement for the American space programme. That and the attached STEM campaign in the US, designed to get kids into engineering and science. Or, to put it another way, this new Peanuts show contains much less child-friendly pathos and self-reflection, instead replacing life lessons with child-friendly science lessons.
The plot, such as it is, is that Snoopy daydreams of going into space. The rest of the Peanuts gang conveniently have a school project involving space. They encourage Snoopy to apply to NASA, and he is promptly rejected. But the kids are given free tickets to Space Center Houston, the tourist trap and educational experience for all the family. Naturally Snoopy and Woodstock sneak into astronaut training, and hi-jinks ensue. Charlie Brown and friends run mission control while the dynamic duo of dog and bird go on increasingly dangerous missions which also happen to highlight current NASA projects such as the International Space Station and Orion. The focus on actual space exploration means that the whole thing is a very grounded sort of whimsy. It’s charming and sweet and crammed with references to NASA, but there are strictly no aliens or obvious references to sci-fi.
The series consists of twelve 8-minute long shorts, all of which follow a similar format – something educational, some slapstick fun, a joke or two, and then some more cunningly disguised space facts. As a format it’s relatively harmless but anyone expecting the child-like nostalgia and melancholy of the ‘60s and ‘70s cartoons will be disappointed here. It looks like the old show, but has more modern approach. The Peanut’s characters take a backseat here; this is about Snoopy. We do get a new character, an AI called CARA, performed by the charming Nicole Byer (of Nailed It fame).
Snoopy In Space is firmly for kids and perhaps space nerds of all ages. The science plus slapstick formula works and is fun. Or to put it another way, The Beagle Has Landed.
