The Sci-fi Channel has been responsible for some excellent mini-series: Dune and the sequel Children of Dune come immediately to mind. Deathlands: Homeward Bound is another solid effort on a tight budget by The Sci-fi Channel and is a based on James Axlers series of novels by the same name.

Set in a post-nuclear future Deathlands: Homeward Bound follows Ryan Cawdor (Vincent Spano) and his small band of followers, girlfriend and half mutant Krysty (Jenya Lano), weapon specialist J.B. Dix (Cliff Saunders) and mutant side kick Jak (Nathan Carter) as they travel around the ruined remains of North America rescuing people from mutants and cannibals and just plain trying to survive.

The year is 2068, it is 20 years after Ryan has been betrayed by both his evil brother and step mother (Traci Lords, yes, the porn ‘actress’) who killed his father and brother to take control of the ‘ville’ Front Royal, a place where they reign over peasants living in the surrounding region.

The story picks up with Ryan and company raiding a carny (cannibal) stronghold and finding his loyal servant from 20 years ago, strung up and ready to be eaten but still barely alive. Ryan mercifully puts the servant out of his misery but not before he is informed of how bad life is under the cruel rule of his demented brother and step mother. Ryan decides that he must return to Front Royal and free his people from the oppression they have suffered for so many years.

Deathlands: Homeward Bound is the first and only instalment in what could end up being an on-going series of movies. There is plenty of material to go off given that the paperback series is approaching it’s sixtieth book.

The video presentation on this DVD is given in 1.85:1 aspect ratio and is enhanced for widescreen display devices. The image tends to be over soft for almost the entire length of the movie, beyond the deliberately blurry ‘flashback’ scenes at the beginning. The colours are well reproduced, appearing rich and full throughout, although the red tint used to signify the damage a nuclear war can do to the air is cheap and overdone but does serve to set the atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic action adventure.

The audio tracks for Deathlands is available in a surprisingly good (for a Direct to TV film) Dolby Digital 5.1 mix in English, French and German.

The dialog is always clear and crisp but the action and effects can be a little dull at times giving the surrounds and subwoofer only a small amount of work to perform. Subtitles are available in 11 flavours making this an easily accessible title for all non-English speakers.

As for the extras? What Extras? Nada, nothing, zilch.

I’m a bit of a sucker for post-nuclear movies and while Deathlands isn’t the best example in the genre it does a pretty good job of presenting a possible future with some decent action, some funny one-liners and not too terrible acting making this one worth a watch if you're a fan of The Sci-Fi Channels previous work.