As the film opens, Jessica (Liv Tyler) is just moving in, ready to start her job as the replacement for a co-pilot who either left due to a family illness, a promotion, or both. Within minutes, she realizes her presence is going to be uncomfortable for Captain Glenn (Patrick Wilson), who is not thrilled by the idea of a woman in his workplace, and is concerned about what her presence means for his habit of smoking and drinking Harvey Wallbangers all day. Other key inhabitants include Ted (Matt Bomer) and Misty (Marisa Coughlan), and their bright young daughter, Sunshine (Kylie Rogers), and their friends Steve (Jerry O'Connell) and Donna (Kali Rocha), who have just welcomed a child of their own. Although all of these people tries to appear composed and fulfilled for the benefit of those around them, each one harbors their own secret unhappiness and malaise that all the cool innovations of the groovy future can't quite solve.

Although Space Station 76 is actually a comedy, as the trailer suggests, it's a subtle, dark comedy that rarely manifests itself in big laughs. Its humor is more complex, finding irony and wry amusement in the the ways each character tries to hide their pain, while also never allowing those personal problems to be the butt of the joke. Misty, for instance, goes to see the ship's Dr. Bot for therapy sessions, for which the bot repeatedly prescribes Valium. There's a black humor in her decision to feed "half of one" to Sunshine when her pet hamster chews off the head of one of her newborns, but her struggle to deal with parenthood, or perhaps the entire concept of sympathy, is treated with more than a hint of sadness. A similar compassion is extended to each of the characters, something that is increasingly rare in modern comedy movies. In particular, the character of Glenn stands out, especially in a surprisingly bittersweet scene where he finally visits Dr. Bot, which manages to intertwine his loneliness inside a very funny joke about Dr. Bot itself.

The film was adapted by writer / director Jack Plotnick based on his own play, which was performed in Los Angeles for awhile and was something of a cult hit. The transformation of the material from stage to screen provides the opportunity for a production design team to really go to town envisioning a fun 1970s version of the future, which is surprisingly vivid (both aesthetically and creatively) for its simplicity and is sprinkled with nods to 2001 and Silent Running. On the other hand, the material's dramatic arcs might've seemed more pronounced on the stage; Space Station 76 is interesting in the way it has almost no central conflict. For many, I expect that lack of forward momentum will be a problem, but I enjoyed the film's observational and casual nature. The organic pace of the film allows the characters to feel real within their exaggerated environment, a crucial part of Plotnick's vision.

Completing the ensemble is Liv Tyler, an actor who has flirted with a career in blockbusters, but appears to have made the more interesting choice in the late 2000s to pick her projects more carefully, appearing in a range of interesting and varied projects. Her character Jessica is the tentative heart of Space Station 76, sometimes cold and distant, but oftentimes warm and charismatic, flashing that 1000-watt smile. When she's not piloting the ship (unsuccessfully trying to get Glenn to look at some information left behind by her predecessor), she spends time with Sunshine, who she senses is lonely on a spaceship without any other children to play with. Jessica seems to hope that Sunshine's natural curiosity and optimism will not have to weather the same storms as her own, and hopes to protect her from the cynicism of people like Misty, who decides she dislikes Jessica the moment they meet. Some might be a bit confused as to what the sci-fi concept has to do with the film's story, but it's two-fold. Not only does it enhance the isolation of these lonely people, lost in space, but the film's overall hope for the future is as retro as they come: that maybe the next generation will have things a little better.

The DVD
Sony brings Space Station 76 to DVD with some artwork likely inspired by Struzan's famous Star Wars posters. The oversized heads of Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson, and Matt Bomer hover over a starry purple backdrop, with a faded diagram, a robot, and the space station itself floating alongside them. Based on the main menu, I suspect this is actually a photo that has had some sharpening filters added to it to make it seem more like a drawing, but it looks pretty good. The one-disc release brings the purple around to the back, where a little photographic role call and a short synopsis are included. The disc comes in an eco-friendly Amaray case, and there is no insert.

The Video and Audio
Despite being the progenitor of the format, Sony has begun releasing quite a few indie films on DVD only, and Space Station 76 is one of their most recent victims. Sadly, this is a strong but noticeably lacking 2.39:1 anamorphic widescreen image, which makes the lack of a high def version all the more disappointing. Aliasing is noticeable right upfront on the movie's wire-thin opening credit font, and dark scenes, while free of banding or artifacts, are often plagued with black crush instead. Thankfully, during the brighter scenes, color and clarity improve greatly, but some compression-based edge haloes and other aliasing is visible throughout.

A Dolby Digital 5.1 track fares better than the picture, although I'd have loved to hear what the sound could do with a bit more space to breathe. The soundtrack for Space Station 76 serves up a number of very bold cuts from the era, which really grab the attention in an otherwise low-key mix. There's not much ambience or environmental effects to speak of, mostly just dialogue and more music, so it's smooth sailing from beginning to end. Somewhat tragically, much of the picture space is devoted to what seems like an excessive number of alternate language tracks: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, and Thai are all additionally offered in 5.1, with English captions for the deaf and hard of hearing and English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, and traditional Chinese subtitles to boot. I'm all for making a disc as accessible as possible, but when the studio at hand refuses to put the film out on a format with a disc capacity to support a wide range of languages, I think the subtitles would serve just fine.

The Extras
A minimal amount of extras are included. Three inconsequential deleted scenes (3:31) are included, although the last, a scene with Coughlan and Rogers is pretty funny. This is followed by an amusing outtake reel (7:26), in which Liv Tyler and Patrick Wilson seem to be having a blast. You also get to hear Jack Plotnick's term for "ship is shaking" action.

The one major extra is "Zero Gravity: Making Space Station 76" (12:46). It's a pretty familiar affair, but it's the only "informative" extra on the disc, and it's not very long, and doesn't waste time on the actors explaining their characters, so it's worth a look anyway. It also does a good job of covering the entire production, including the film's production design and visual effects.

Trailers for Roger Corman's Operation Rogue, Sniper: Legacy, The Calling, Grace: The Possession, Home Sweet Hell, and What If play before the main menu, yet another aspect that eats up space on the disc.

Conclusion
Although it's disappointing that Space Station 76 was not released on Blu-ray (as of this writing, not just in the US, but anywhere in the world), especially given the DVD is overstuffed with language options, resulting in a mediocre transfer, that shouldn't discourage people from giving this oddly melancholy space comedy a whirl. It can seem a bit aimless at time, but so are the characters, each expertly performed by a talented cast. Recommended.