The movie-length pilot of "Salvage 1" concerns a salvage man, an ex-astronaut and a few friends who build a rocket out of junk and launch it to the moon to retrieve gear from one of the Apollo sites to pay off a tax debt. Despite obviously cheap special effects, it does a great job of capturing the excitement of spaceflight, and also has some wonderfully funny moments, such as Harry Broderick (Andy Griffith) phoning the FAA to lodge their flight plan. Highly recommended for space buffs. The weekly series, in which Broderick attempts other salvage operations, was watchable but never re-captured the highs of the pilot telemovie.
13 Reviews
in space
SnoopyStyle11 May 2021
Harry Broderick (Andy Griffith) is a junk dealer who is willing to buy and sell just about anything across the globe. He sees a TV news report and comes up with an idea. He would fly to the moon and retrieve the various scraps left behind by the Apollo missions. He recruits former NASA astronaut Skip Carmichael (Joel Higgins) and rocket fuel scientist Melanie Slozar (Trish Stewart) to create a revolutionary private rocket ship out of a cement mixer. The government would give it the call sign Salvage 1. There's the perfunctory black worker in the group. In the second season, the interfering government agent Klinger goes away and Melanie starts mentoring young orphan Michelle Ryan.
The pilot is a fun movie. The science is crap but the movie is actually good. Andy Griffith is a great TV leading man. The premise is a little silly but good enough for a fun caper. The issue with the show is that it should stay much close to the rocket idea. This should be a series about the trio making a space travel service. They could retrieve valuable asteroids and have tourists go to the moon. The possibilities are endless. A rich benefactor could push for a trip to Mars. NASA should try harder to end the competition from their business. Industrial espionage would definitely try to steal Mel's formula. Instead, the show goes all over the place. The plot gets rather random. The gang literally rescues different horses in two different episodes in two different stories. They're seeding clouds, mining diamonds, and moving an iceberg. There is an alien episode and a robot episode. Granted, I like the robot. The show needs to stay with their revolutionary rocket. It's like somebody invented and owns the internet. Then we watch him do nothing about the internet. Nevertheless, everybody likes Andy and this is a fun short-lived series.
The pilot is a fun movie. The science is crap but the movie is actually good. Andy Griffith is a great TV leading man. The premise is a little silly but good enough for a fun caper. The issue with the show is that it should stay much close to the rocket idea. This should be a series about the trio making a space travel service. They could retrieve valuable asteroids and have tourists go to the moon. The possibilities are endless. A rich benefactor could push for a trip to Mars. NASA should try harder to end the competition from their business. Industrial espionage would definitely try to steal Mel's formula. Instead, the show goes all over the place. The plot gets rather random. The gang literally rescues different horses in two different episodes in two different stories. They're seeding clouds, mining diamonds, and moving an iceberg. There is an alien episode and a robot episode. Granted, I like the robot. The show needs to stay with their revolutionary rocket. It's like somebody invented and owns the internet. Then we watch him do nothing about the internet. Nevertheless, everybody likes Andy and this is a fun short-lived series.
Kind of an ironic homemade companion piece to Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
safenoe19 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Salvage 1 and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century were two sci-fi series released in the same year, 1979. The USA was still in the grip of Jimmy "malaise" Carter and his presidency and they were probably hoping that the space race would resume under someone like Ronald Reagan who would make American strong again or something like that.
Good thing about Salvage 1 was it didn't take itself very seriously. It knew its limitations, and the viewers knew that. I think Salvage 1 is in need of a reboot, and you can picture it along the lines of going to Mars, although the Mars One mission is covering this with their reality TV style program.
Good thing about Salvage 1 was it didn't take itself very seriously. It knew its limitations, and the viewers knew that. I think Salvage 1 is in need of a reboot, and you can picture it along the lines of going to Mars, although the Mars One mission is covering this with their reality TV style program.
A Young Boy's Dream!
cadfile15 March 2003
When I saw this show as a young boy I actually worked on building my own craft to go into space. I thought the show was a great how-to and my friends and I discussed the process during every spare moment.
We even went so far as building a capsule out of 2 by 4s and aluminum foil. We thought we could just have one our parents order the rocket fuel we would need for the engines we didn't have.
Those adventures lasted much longer than the series. The movie pilot was excellent but once it got away from the gimmick it wasn't that good.
We even went so far as building a capsule out of 2 by 4s and aluminum foil. We thought we could just have one our parents order the rocket fuel we would need for the engines we didn't have.
Those adventures lasted much longer than the series. The movie pilot was excellent but once it got away from the gimmick it wasn't that good.
Wonderful show...should have ran much longer
lhuffman_6613 August 2007
This show was a wonderful show. First of all, Andy Griffith. Maybe his shows are too quaint for some...but I loved them. Andy's soft, wise and yet accessible personae is alive and well in this show. Truly he made the show.
But the premise was great too. A home made rocket ship to salvage space junk. What a great idea. The show worked too. I watched this show with my family (I was in Jr HS a the time) and it proved to be a show that we all enjoyed equally. We were, as a family, very disappointed when this show was canceled.
I imagine that it had more to do with budget or keeping main cast members in place than popularity. While the show did not pull down top rating honors...it was the show that my friends and I would always get together and talk about in school.
But the premise was great too. A home made rocket ship to salvage space junk. What a great idea. The show worked too. I watched this show with my family (I was in Jr HS a the time) and it proved to be a show that we all enjoyed equally. We were, as a family, very disappointed when this show was canceled.
I imagine that it had more to do with budget or keeping main cast members in place than popularity. While the show did not pull down top rating honors...it was the show that my friends and I would always get together and talk about in school.
We totally loved this show
marilynnewman10 March 2017
Too bad it was so short lived, another great one bites the dust, along with My world & welcome to it.
I guess, most people just didn't get the humor. My whole family has a very wacko sense of humor. I'm surprised, Star Trek stayed on as long as it did. But it got a 2nd & 3rd & 4th chance. Why not these 2 great shows?
I guess, most people just didn't get the humor. My whole family has a very wacko sense of humor. I'm surprised, Star Trek stayed on as long as it did. But it got a 2nd & 3rd & 4th chance. Why not these 2 great shows?
What a great show!
BandSAboutMovies4 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Originally airing on January 20, 1979, the pilot called Salvage debuted to high ratings. It was an intriguing start to a series. Harry Broderick (Andy Griffith) and his Jettison Scrap and Salvage Co. have a dream, as stated in the show's opening words: "I want to build a spaceship, go to the moon, salvage all the junk that's up there, bring it back and sell it."
Along with former astronaut Addison "Skip" Carmichael and NASA fuel expert Melanie "Mel" Slozar (who have a past history), they create The Vulture, a spaceship made entirely from reclaimed salvage and powered by monohydrazine (Isaac Asimov was the science consultant for this program).
The TV movie was followed by 15 episodes (20 were produced), with the last 4 shows only running decades later. Despite the initial success, ABC put this show up against WKRP in Cincinnati and Little House on the Prarie. That explains why it died a quick death.
I remember loving the initial TV movie and this was discussed often in our home as a series that had so much potential and was stopped too quickly. Luckily, CBS Late Night would replay the original pilot and the two-part episodes "Golden Orbit" and "Hard Water" as movies. CBS Late Night was an amazing, wonderful way to spend the summer as a kid in the 1970's and 80's, as in the pre-digital (and even VCR era) it was the only way to see shows like Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Avengers, Return of the Saint, Thriller and The Prisoner. That said, a 60-minute show would be stretched out and padded with commercials. But we didn't have many options back then!
The CBS Late Night movie also played some really incredible films, like The Fearless Vampire Killers, Trog, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, The World, The Flesh and the Devil, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Frankenstein Created Woman, Dracula, Prince of Darkness, THX 1138, Gargoyles, She Waits, The Bad Seed, Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, Count Yorga, The Victim, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Dr. Phibes Rises Again!, The Bat People, Frogs, edited movies of Columbo, Cannon, Kojak, McMillan and Wife and Banacek, Necromancy, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, House of 1,000 Dolls ("quite possibly the sleaziest AIP movie ever made"), The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (!), Rowan and Martin's The Maltese Bippy, Killdozer, Ruby, Beyond the Door, The Devil's Rain!, the Dr. Strange TV movie, Mitchell, The Initiation of Sarah, Patrick, Ator: The Fighting Eagle, KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park, The Apple (!), It's Alive, It Lives Again, Q: The Winged Serpent, Fulci's The Psychic (!), even supposedly the legendary lost movie The Astrologer (although this list doesn't have that). These ran on free TV, folks. Where anyone could find them. I'm still just freaked out that this was available, way into the late 1980's.
Just watch this and try not to be sad that the world is not as perfect as it once was.
Along with former astronaut Addison "Skip" Carmichael and NASA fuel expert Melanie "Mel" Slozar (who have a past history), they create The Vulture, a spaceship made entirely from reclaimed salvage and powered by monohydrazine (Isaac Asimov was the science consultant for this program).
The TV movie was followed by 15 episodes (20 were produced), with the last 4 shows only running decades later. Despite the initial success, ABC put this show up against WKRP in Cincinnati and Little House on the Prarie. That explains why it died a quick death.
I remember loving the initial TV movie and this was discussed often in our home as a series that had so much potential and was stopped too quickly. Luckily, CBS Late Night would replay the original pilot and the two-part episodes "Golden Orbit" and "Hard Water" as movies. CBS Late Night was an amazing, wonderful way to spend the summer as a kid in the 1970's and 80's, as in the pre-digital (and even VCR era) it was the only way to see shows like Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Avengers, Return of the Saint, Thriller and The Prisoner. That said, a 60-minute show would be stretched out and padded with commercials. But we didn't have many options back then!
The CBS Late Night movie also played some really incredible films, like The Fearless Vampire Killers, Trog, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, The World, The Flesh and the Devil, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Frankenstein Created Woman, Dracula, Prince of Darkness, THX 1138, Gargoyles, She Waits, The Bad Seed, Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, Count Yorga, The Victim, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Dr. Phibes Rises Again!, The Bat People, Frogs, edited movies of Columbo, Cannon, Kojak, McMillan and Wife and Banacek, Necromancy, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, House of 1,000 Dolls ("quite possibly the sleaziest AIP movie ever made"), The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (!), Rowan and Martin's The Maltese Bippy, Killdozer, Ruby, Beyond the Door, The Devil's Rain!, the Dr. Strange TV movie, Mitchell, The Initiation of Sarah, Patrick, Ator: The Fighting Eagle, KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park, The Apple (!), It's Alive, It Lives Again, Q: The Winged Serpent, Fulci's The Psychic (!), even supposedly the legendary lost movie The Astrologer (although this list doesn't have that). These ran on free TV, folks. Where anyone could find them. I'm still just freaked out that this was available, way into the late 1980's.
Just watch this and try not to be sad that the world is not as perfect as it once was.
Great Show
Flt_213 August 2006
I can NOT understand why this Show was cancelled it was the greatest Show on TV at the time.
There had to be a good reason to cancel it.
I remember watching this Program when I was in Military Service in West Germany.
I did not like it when it was cut off.
There has to be some one out there that would know.
I've always liked Andy he can play any part they have.
Don knots would have been good in this show too.
I guess this one was for the Science types.
And Back then the science types were the called nerds.
Great Show
There had to be a good reason to cancel it.
I remember watching this Program when I was in Military Service in West Germany.
I did not like it when it was cut off.
There has to be some one out there that would know.
I've always liked Andy he can play any part they have.
Don knots would have been good in this show too.
I guess this one was for the Science types.
And Back then the science types were the called nerds.
Great Show
Really well done show with a very likable cast
RogerMooreTheBestBond25 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I purchased a set of Salvage 1 about a year ago. The quality is not great, but the show is really good. I like the 3 main leads Andy Griffith, Joel Higgins(right before he Silver Spoons), and Trish Stewart. The pilot has them building a rocket to fly to the moon to pick up salvage. From that point on they salvage different things on the Earth. It's a show I never heard of, but I liked the concept and also Harve Bennett was in charge of the show. He was responsible for the Six Million Dollar Man and some the Star Trek movies. I highly recommend the show.
Great little under-rated movie.
condorschlosser8 August 2022
This was one of those great little things you'd find on TV at that time: a movie that should have been a laugh-filled schlock-fest - but they actually tried to take it seriously. Surprisingly (and thanks largely to Griffith), they manage to pull it off. There was even a short-lived TV Series - but the writers went with the weird storylines rather than the more A-Team adventurey that it was clearly meant to be.
fun creative show....short lived program
GURNEYRAMPART15 May 2003
The pilot dealt with a salvage firm building a space craft to go to the moon made from junk parts. SALVAGE 1 was about a salave firm that would go anywhere, anytime to salvage something....even to the moon to get old apollo program gear. A great idea for a string of tv movies but it ran out of gas as a tv show. Still as a boy it lit the fires of my imagination the way Buster Crabbe serials did in my grandfathers.
Just ridiculous camp starring Andy Griffith
mrn1049 August 2022
It's hilarious watching Andy Griffith and the cast of this show pretend they are flying a literal pile of garbage into space and all over the globe! I remember watching this as a kid and am glad to have found it on Crackle. It's just pure camp fun. Expect nothing and you won't be disappointed.
A great little short lived TV show
Blueghost8 December 2015
So there I am, channel surfing, feeling like much of America at the time and saying to myself "nothing's on..." and droning on about why they don't make more adventure shows, or shows about space, or shows about soldiers fighting for us, or even shows about pirates.
Then comes Salvage-1, and it's fairly entertaining, and creates a niche audience, and suddenly all is right with the world. I don't have to wait for Star Wars to hit the theatres again ... I don't have to wait for 2001 to come to KTVU ... I don't have to keep rewatching Kirk and Spock on my TV ... nor watch Battlestar Galactica with a wry expression because it's really a children's program.
I don't recall too much about the show, other than the very technically inaccurate near shootdown by USAF F-4 Phantoms of Salvage-1 (the pilots counting down to launch a sidewinder? Give me a break), but I do recall enjoying the show for what it was, and am terribly sorry that more shows that reached beyond family and law enforcement weren't made, because people liked them. Read that as usually young folks or older folks who were heavily into science and engineering, and wanted to create a better future for themselves, and mankind.
Such was Salvage-1. It also brought a very healthy recycling theme to America, which was still contending with environmental abuse by some sociopathic corporate board members who had to be reigned in through our national and state level legislature. Salvage-1 was just that; a vessel that salvaged, and brought home things that were broken so they could be remade to work again. That applies to people and animals, not just machines. What healthier message could there be for the TV viewing audience? I really liked this show, and I was sorry it got side tracked in non space-oriented stories, and that it was eventually cancelled. Oh well.
If you see it again, then give it a chance. You might like it.
Then comes Salvage-1, and it's fairly entertaining, and creates a niche audience, and suddenly all is right with the world. I don't have to wait for Star Wars to hit the theatres again ... I don't have to wait for 2001 to come to KTVU ... I don't have to keep rewatching Kirk and Spock on my TV ... nor watch Battlestar Galactica with a wry expression because it's really a children's program.
I don't recall too much about the show, other than the very technically inaccurate near shootdown by USAF F-4 Phantoms of Salvage-1 (the pilots counting down to launch a sidewinder? Give me a break), but I do recall enjoying the show for what it was, and am terribly sorry that more shows that reached beyond family and law enforcement weren't made, because people liked them. Read that as usually young folks or older folks who were heavily into science and engineering, and wanted to create a better future for themselves, and mankind.
Such was Salvage-1. It also brought a very healthy recycling theme to America, which was still contending with environmental abuse by some sociopathic corporate board members who had to be reigned in through our national and state level legislature. Salvage-1 was just that; a vessel that salvaged, and brought home things that were broken so they could be remade to work again. That applies to people and animals, not just machines. What healthier message could there be for the TV viewing audience? I really liked this show, and I was sorry it got side tracked in non space-oriented stories, and that it was eventually cancelled. Oh well.
If you see it again, then give it a chance. You might like it.
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