Salvage 1
GenreScience fiction
CreatorMike Lloyd Ross
Starring
Theme music composerWalter Scharf
ComposerJack Hayes
Ken Harrison
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Num seasons2
Num episodes20 (4 unaired)
Executive producerHarve Bennett
Harris Katleman
ProducerMike Lloyd Ross
Ralph Sariego
Craig Schiller
CameraSingle-camera
Runtime60 minutes
CompanyBennett/Katleman Productions
Columbia Pictures Television
ChannelABC
First airedJanuary 20, 1979
Last airedDecember 9, 1979
RelatedSalvage

Salvage 1 is an American science fiction series that was broadcast for 16 episodes (of the 20 produced) on ABC during 1979. The series was based on the pilot film, Salvage, broadcast in early 1979.[1]

Premise

Salvage operator Harry Broderick buys and sells scrap as well as electronics, aircraft and other equipment. Harry constantly has grandiose schemes to make money, sometimes not completely honestly. In the pilot, his dream is to recover equipment left on the Moon during Apollo Program missions[2] for he believes the salvage value will make it a worthwhile venture.[3] In the show's opening title narration, Harry states:

"I wanna build a spaceship, go to the Moon, salvage all the junk that's up there, bring it back, sell it."[4]

He recruits former astronaut Skip Carmichael, who had departed from NASA because his revolutionary but unorthodox space flight theory was considered too risky. Skip leads Harry to Mel Slozar, a genius fuel and explosives expert who had been working as a pyrotechnics expert in the motion picture industry. Mel has formulated an extremely powerful but dangerous monopropellant, monohydrazine, that would enable not only single-stage-to-orbit but single-stage-to-the-Moon and back. FBI agent Jack Klinger is sent to investigate Mel's purchase of large amounts of explosive chemicals. They build a space vehicle named the Vulture and Skip and Mel voyage to the Moon, salvage the equipment and return.

The remainder of the series has the group embarking on various moneymaking ventures that Harry conceives, few of which involve the Vulture despite its prominence in the opening titles.

The Vulture

Harry built a spaceship dubbed the Vulture, made from reclaimed salvage and former NASA parts. A cement mixer, a gasoline tanker trailer, and several surplus rocket engines (bought at auction when the space program was in a slump) became the homemade spaceship.[3] After the pilot, the Vulture was rarely used. One of its engines was destroyed in the second-season premiere and it was never used again in subsequent episodes.

Cast

Jacqueline Scott played Lorene, the office manager at Jettison (who was also Harry's ex-wife) in the pilot, but the character was eliminated in the series.

Episodes

Season 1 (1979)

The first season ranked 48th out of 114 shows that season with an average 17.7/26 rating/share.[5]

Season 2 (1979)

Six episodes of the second season were produced before ABC cancelled the series.[6] Only the two-part season opener was broadcast. The last four episodes were shown in 1990 on Nostalgia Television,[7] and overseas in the UK in some ITV regions in 1981.[8][9]

Production

Science fiction author Isaac Asimov was the show's scientific adviser.[a]

Merchandise

Estes Rockets made a prototype of a model rocket version of the Vulture. It was never brought to market.[10]

See also

The Astronaut Farmer (2006 film)

Notes

  1. ^ Appeared only in closing credits of some Salvage 1 episodes after the pilot. Asimov also states in his autobiography, I, Asimov, that he served as an advisor for a few Salvage 1 episodes[11]

References

  1. ^ Maltin, Leonard, Leonard Maltin’s TV movies and Video Guide, 1991 Edition, page 993, Plume, 1990
  2. ^ Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows 1946 – Present, 7th Edition, Ballantine Books, 1999, page 883.
  3. ^ Casey, Paul I. & Dorsey, Andrea M., APOLLO:A Decade of Achievement, page 6, Js Blume Publishing, 2013
  4. ^ Andy Griffith in 'Salvage', The Los Angeles Times, January 20, 1979, page 31
  5. ^ "Rounding up the ratings for 'the season'". Broadcasting. June 18, 1979. p. 58. – via World Radio History: Radio Music Electronics Publications. 48. Salvage t (ABC) 17.7 26
  6. ^ de Vise, Daniel, Andy and Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show, page 216, Simon & Schuster, 2016
  7. ^ "Salvage episodes". SnowCrest.net. Archived July 4, 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ^ 24-Hour TV and Radio Guide, Lincolnshire Echo (Lincolnshire, England), May 20, 1981, page 6
  9. ^ Britain’s best viewing guide - Midlands ITV, Daily Mirror (London, England), May 7, 1981, page 18
  10. ^ "Article & photos of Vulture Model Rocket". Yahoo! GeoCities. Archived September 15, 2004 at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ^ Asimov, Isaac (1994). I, Asimov: A Memoir. New York, NY: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group. pp. 367–68. ISBN 978-0385417013.