User Reviews

I came of age in the 90s, and this show reminded me of the type of low budget action sci-fi shows you could catch on weekend afternoons. I'm also a big Starship Troopers fan, having watched all of the movies and also read the book. So it's safe to say I'm right in the wheelhouse as far as demographics for a show like this.

This show is not designed to be very good. It is however designed to be entertaining, and honestly it struggles with that at times.

The armor, helmets, and props are superb. Like really badass looking. The soundtrack is spot on awesome. And the intro with all the artwork is the best part of the show.

The acting is what we all expect. I love some overreacted "I'm from Buenos Aires, and I say kill'em all!" lines, but there was nothing like that bravado. Cardboard thin characters are fine by me too, but there was just too much boring dialogue. I think it's really a writing issue. Takeda did a decent job displaying PTSD and grief though.

Overall if you're a sicko like me who enjoyed the Starship Troopers sequels, you probably can slog through this. It's not very good though. And I do feel for fans of the Necrospace books. I had never heard of them before, but after watching this I can tell there's a good concept in there, but this wasn't the series that could display it. In fact I'll probably pick up those books to find out, so thanks for the book recommendation Mr. Van Dien!

Salvage Marines - campy, cheesy, and don't the forget sub-par acting. In addition the special effects are absolutely horrendous. It seriously looks like they contracted out the effects to someone who is using Adobe After Effects for the first time.

But did I enjoy it? Yeah, mostly. With Van Dien in the lead role it can feel like an alternate universe Starship Troopers at times. If you want to enjoy it as well then I really suggest you don't take this show too seriously. It is a fun experience if you don't get bogged down in its flaws. Just laugh it off and enjoy the ride.

The worst part by far is that you have to watch it on an ad-riddled streaming service that subjects you to 3 minutes of ads every 10 minutes. And it is the same annoying ads every single time. So be prepared to pop out your headphones and scroll through your favorite social media multiple times an episode. This isn't the show's fault, of course, but it does lead to a more negative viewing experience which can impact your opinion of the show.

I gotta tell you, this was the last straw for Crackle. That platform had so much potential when it first launched, but after terrible series after terrible series, THIS ONE really makes it known that Crackle does not care about quality entertainment. I honestly just can't believe that this is the standard they have aligned themselves with. Let's give this show the benefit of the doubt, let's compare the effects to a hit scifi show of the 90's, Sliders, and still Salvage Marines doesn't even compare. This show is an embarrassment to Crackle and just scifi shows in general. The show runner and director should have been fired, plain and simple. My only hope is that the budget for the entire series was under 200k, otherwise someone is REALLY BAD at filmmaking.

Came across this on Crackle, they were hyping it up, I told my roommates I got something good to watch... and I have been apologizes ever since. CRACKLE! HOW ON EARTH DID YOU THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?! To explain to you how bad this series was, we turned it into a drinking came, but that couldn't even save this pile of crap. Even the Starship Troopers guy couldnt save this, he was terrible in this too. Whoever made this should be emailing everyone who got swindled into watching this terrible terrible show and apologize. The acting was bad, the special effects were bad, the studios were bad, the costumes were bad, there was NOTHING good about this! My roommates will NEVER let me live this down.

TIME TO CANCEL CRACKLE!

What a total waste of time. First I HATED all 28 commercials per episode you are forced to watch. Second, the acting was awful and the story line was even worse. Do not waste a second of your life watching this. Horrible ending too!!!

I personally really connected with book series, but this show representing the book is a whole lotta trash. Terrible actors? Check. Sets made of cardboard? Check. Terrible special effects? Check. This would be bad if it was released in the early 90's. How was this ok'd and allowed to air? I hope Crackle didn't pay any money for this. With all the amazing series out there, this is what you come limping to the starting line with? Wow. This would have at least be somewhat enjoyable if it was a satire comedy, but the cast tries so hard to act cool and badass, but it's just a joke all around. This whole show is a complete joke.

As I said many times before: 90s sci-fi shows are the best. 90s stylish CGI are the best. 60s-90s sci-fi novels and stories are the best. I would rather watch raw sci-fi attempts like Salvage Marines than modern (>2017) big budget movies and big streaming shows. I hope there will be Season 2 and Season 3. If you can't win with quality, you Can win with quantity. Too bad projects like this give up without a fight usually. There is something really sad about 1 season long unfinished sci-fi shows. You can still save this ship. Just make Season 2, please! And make it better. Invest in better sets, ship models and give actors more repetitions. Cut the CGI budget, you can add it anytime in the future.

I love cheesy sci-fi, so this is right up my alley. The books are better though, because your imagination is way better than the effects on display here...

However, the combat scenes are pretty laughable. I kept thinking of the shootout scenes from Police Squad, if you've ever seen it, where the people shooting at each other are 5 feet apart from each other and not hitting each other, lol.

It reminds me off all those sci-fi shows that flooded the marketplace in the 90's. Which is fine, because I liked all those shows and they knew they were catering to people like me.

So, I liked it. Yes, it's cheesy, but it's fun.

And Casper rules!

I have been a long time fan of the books, so you can assume I was massively excited to hear about a live action show. Well, ITS TERRIBLE AND I AM FURIOUS! This looks like it was directed by someone who has no understanding of filmmaking. The acting is beyond terrible, especially the two leads, I can see why Casper Van Dien hasn't acted in anything worth a damn in 30 years. The brunette is also just terrible, is this her first acting role? Was this a student project? Why are the effects 90s level bad? Was the budget for the whole show 10k? I'm left with so many angry questions. I just hope these books get remade by a team of filmmakers that actually know how to make quality work.

UTTER FAILURE!

PS I made this account just for this review, that's how disappointed I am in this series.

Honestly, this story is pretty cool. The shows biggest draw back is production. While it does amazing things with what they got, production wise it's on par with some quality YouTube content. Where this story shines is the characters, and the background history. Each character is familiar to other stories so it's easy to fall into the cast, but the main character has enough reason and flaws to ground you in emotion and purpose. Acting obviously could be better, but still good for what it is. Overall there are top level movies and shows that have so much more to work with and fall much shorter than Salvage Marines. Major bonus so far is that I haven't seen any cringe tweerking.

I am an avid SCIFI fan and love the corny Robocop/Total Recall/Starship Troopers era, so when I saw this pop up, I thought oh this could be a fun 90's throwback. This was a mistake. There is nothing in this series that shows me any of the people involved have any experience in filmmaking. Maybe this was everyones first time making a film? I don't know, but it was a huge waste of time. If you are reading this review, avoid this series and the makers of it, you will thank me later. And lastly, shame on you Casper, I expected better, Starship Troopers was so cool, but Salvage Marines was a dumpster fire.

Horrible acting, worse script and editing and efx that remind me of those ultra low budget direct to vhs releases. Sad part is this had the potential to be a great series. Someone lost a lot of money on this series.

From "action scenes" where they can't hit one another with fully automatic fire from five feet away (worse aim than stormtroopers-if you can believe that), to corny script and acting that is reminiscent of a grade school acting class....this series has it all! The filmmaker was high, or incompetent- maybe both- as the cinematic quality is, well non existent. I mean they can't deliver a single line with anything in the same galaxy as authenticity.

This show is obviously made on a shoestring budget, which maybe mostly used on actors' salary, and not on CGI. I agree that it wakes some memories from (then not so cheap) 90's SF series.

But earlier this year there was another cheap SF show, 'The Ark', and I must say I found 'Salvage Marines' more entertaining, though I am surely no friend of any military, para, or legit.

There are a also lot of similar (non-SF) shows focussing on troopers or platoons and their problems, amongst other the questionable legitimacy of their fight.

I did not find the acting as bad as stated here by others, nor the script, in general, as condemnable. For sure, both are not legendary, but at least the acting is solid. Sometimes the direction seems to be a bit helpless, but there is seemingly a strong determination to hold a certain level of consistency.

Or, I was just in the mood to watch something not.highbrow, that tries to deliver a simple story and some basic insight. Yes, mercenaries are still humans...and yes, they die for money...and yes, if "government" is replaced by "corporation" or vice versa, it's all the same, humans fighting against humans for advantages that do not reach the fighters, who risk their lives.

I hope, CvD got a bit of a salary out there (he doesn't seem old enough to retire) and give this little show 5 stars.