Movie: Decaying Orbit is set in the future when space travel is commonplace and mankind is still warring with itself. The weapon of choice mankind seems to prefer is biological weapons of mass destruction, wisely taking their research into space aboard orbiting space stations to reduce the risk of outbreaks on habited planets. While not really covered especially well, there appear to be two main factions at odds with one another; allowing for an "us versus them" dynamic to be employed, an all too familiar scenario but one that frames the reference points reasonably well. The main focus of these orbital laboratories of death is the creation of deadly viruses and the production of antidotes to them and the types the enemy employs. It looks as if no expense is spared in setting them up and the underlying hint that both cultures spend more on war than anything else is hinted at several times but never quite spelled out; making such employment a solid career path over mundane work planetside.

The movie starts out with the station having some troubles, apparently the cause being a technical malfunction that forces a handful of survivors onto an escape shuttle. For reasons unknown, the station orbits an uninhabited planet and is a distance off from civilization, communications not working either. The shuttle gets out just in time to see the explosion of the station, presumably killing all others aboard, with the minimal food and water aboard obviously not about to keep the five misfits alive for long and the ship unable to take them anywhere of consequence. The idea of sabotage soon rears its ugly head but only after a power struggle between Commander Burton (Darren Schnase) and Kate (Denise Gossett), the ranking military officer who feels he is unfit for leading them to safety as he is a "paper pusher." The others refuse to take sides, including sexy scientist Winnie (Asa Wallander), computer geek loser Rob (Andy Allen), and the mysterious Hermel (David Ross Paterson); Kate winning for the moment as the ball busting bitch with a past (having worked for the other side).

The rest of the movie details how they accuse one another of being the saboteur (with all sorts of minor issues arising because of it), the technical malfunctions that limit their likelihood of survival even more (such as the probability of the virus infecting them all), and the presence of another ship that could be a rescue effort or an enemy combatant out to destroy them. Without spoiling the roller coaster ride for those of you interested, it plays off like a nod to some classic efforts of cinema like Lifeboat, albeit a really cheap version with substandard acting. The writing and directing were both handled by Tim Pyle, an award winning special effects artist making his debut effort via Hogo Film, a new company that might be banking on the name of the established Hugo Awards that many in science fiction hold out as the most notable in the genre. The writing played on some of the types of exchanges you will find as clichéd all over science fiction, just as the characters were modeled in likewise fashion, but the direction was largely competent. The amount of CGI special effects present was a lot higher than most shows made on this type of budget and while far from high end, was decent enough that I hope someone gives Pyle a better budget to continue advancing his career. The acting made shows like Firefly look great and the plot holes from the writing were as wide as the unstated reasons for many of the choices establishing the scenario but it was a cute effort proving Pyle could measure up to many of his peers with decidedly limited resources, the DVD proving to be worth a rating of Recommended for this fan of the genre despite those limits.

Picture: Decaying Orbit was presented in an anamorphic widescreen color using an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 as shot by freshman director Tim Pyle. The CGI effects were about the same as you would see on most console videogames at this point, not bad but not integrated into the live action portions of the show as seamlessly as I would have liked. The lighting was solid and much like television shows of old where the subtleties of shading were secondary in giving texture to the look of the movie, Decaying Orbit should not be confused with the latest blockbuster from Lucas, Spielberg, or other top name in the business but simply a guy on the initial learning curve that shows promise. There were some compression artifacts and the scrubbed cleanliness of the sets seemed to artificial to really denote the situation but these flaws were not deal killers for me as I expected far less when going into the show. Again, if you are someone that demands style over substance, look elsewhere for your sci-fi fix but the cheese factor aside, this looked okay for what it was trying to be.

Sound: The audio was presented in an LPCM 2.0 English, sporting a 1536 Kbps bitrate that was a bit generic but conveyed the sense of the scenes via use of a score that lacked much punch and drive but was similar to the picture in terms of quality. The vocals were hollow and lacked dynamic range (subservient to the score during the action sequences) but like the soft focus of the visuals, it got the job done efficiently without the frills.

Extras: The first extra was the trailer to the movie. Considering how many bigger budget titles don't even bother with making one for such direct-to-video releases, this was a nice surprise and showcased some of the better aspects of the movie fairly well. There was also a deleted scene lasting 1:34 minute long; this time proving to offer up background information about the setting for the movie that detailed the warfare of mankind into space. Why it was cut is a mystery since it provided important information in the form of a voice over laden set of CGI clips of space ships attacking one another. The last extra was a set of bloopers lasting 5 minutes where the cast goofed off and flubbed their lines but also gave me an impression of how few days were needed to capture their performances for the movie.

Final Thoughts: Decaying Orbit was a minimalist effort by freshman director Tim Pyle who used his extensive knowledge of special effects to weave a futuristic tale of warfare and sabotage. The emphasis on human nature using flawed characters that clashed endlessly was a bit forced at times yet fit comfortably into the type of direct-to-video niche that so many fans of cheesy sci-fi seem to enjoy. The extras and special effects were okay with the acting and direction of the movie a bit limited but I still found Decaying Orbit well worth watching a few times. I would have enjoyed an audio commentary to flesh out some of the difficulties faced in making the movie and how things were done but as a popcorn movie to watch with a girlfriend on the couch at night, it had some replay value even with the ending as lopsided as this one provided.