Private Rocket

March 25, 2006 1:50 PM

This so reminded me of ...... Salvage (1979) (TV) Andy Griffith stars as a junkyard owner who builds a space ship from his scrap pile in order to retrieve valuable parts left on the moon by American Astronauts. Please discuss..................
posted by lee (25 comments total)

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posted by Mikey-San at 2:14 PM on March 25, 2006

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posted by maxreax at 2:28 PM on March 25, 2006

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posted by Astro Zombie at 2:37 PM on March 25, 2006

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posted by stavrogin at 2:40 PM on March 25, 2006

... ?
posted by Drexen at 2:45 PM on March 25, 2006

-. ... - --- ... -- ..- .-.- ....
posted by moonbird at 2:45 PM on March 25, 2006

dot-dot-dot
posted by alteredcarbon at 2:47 PM on March 25, 2006

I would be more than happy to discuss this particular subject.
posted by mcsweetie at 2:51 PM on March 25, 2006

Relevant to my interests !!!!!!!!!!!! !
posted by jenovus at 3:08 PM on March 25, 2006

Countdown to yet another MeTa thread in 5, 4 3...
posted by Effigy2000 at 3:23 PM on March 25, 2006

Well, it was an intresting story that could have used a lot more links to back it up.

Oh, I mean
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posted by delmoi at 3:41 PM on March 25, 2006

Milk is too important to be wasted on the likes of soup.
posted by furtive at 3:52 PM on March 25, 2006

Hell, I remember this show, and liked it. For some reason, I seem to recall it was scheduled at a time when it wasn't always possible to see it though.

I have a vivid memory of Griffith's character, speaking to a judge or somebody in the "Hard Water" episode, trying to convince him not to allow a competitor to attempt to salvage the iceberg.

If he did, averred Griffith, "you're courting disaster!"

I've always since appreciated that turn of phrase - to court disaster - and have used it occasionally, for example in referring to voting for candidates that have already been proven to be dangerously incompetent, grossly unqualified and...

Ahem. Anyway, a good show.
posted by darkstar at 4:54 PM on March 25, 2006

I'm going to go ahead and use this thread to coin the term: MEGALLIPSIS.
posted by iloveit at 5:16 PM on March 25, 2006

Was this the same show where they strapped a rocket to an iceberg and sent it to Southern California to solve a water crisis? I sorta remember that from somewhere.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 8:54 PM on March 25, 2006

RTFA and the answer is mine...
posted by kuujjuarapik at 8:56 PM on March 25, 2006

Um, the 90s were the era of commercial exploitation of the (then-believed-huge) satellite launch business (which faltered when the satphone market collapsed). Where the heck were you?

I'm happy if this guy gets his business going, but it's nothing compared to what Rotary Rocket could have been. That would have been a crewed vehicle.
posted by dhartung at 10:32 PM on March 25, 2006

Megallipisis...awesome. You guys need to read Steve Martin's Pure Drivel. In particular, Times Roman Font Declares Shortage of Periods ... Then perhaps you will understand the genius of the ellipsis ...
posted by lee at 1:51 AM on March 26, 2006

kuujju, yes - that was the double episode "Hard Water" I was referring to.

As I recall, Broderick had been planning to do the salvage scheme himself, by attaching their rocket thrusters to the iceberg to maneuver it. But they then found out (from some crusty retired sub captain) that there was some kind of undercurrent that would grab the iceberg and take it into shipping lanes.

When he backed out of the plan, a cocky competitor took on the project using (I think) tugboats. Hence Broderick's comment about "if you do business with that man, you're courting disaster."

I won't ruin anything by telling you that disaster strikes and the good guys are called in to save the day using those rocket engines.

Gosh, at least that's my memory of the episode. I only saw it once and this was 27 years ago. I guess it made an impression...
posted by darkstar at 2:15 AM on March 26, 2006

The description of the second ep of Hard Water from that site does NOT accord with my recollection.
posted by darkstar at 2:18 AM on March 26, 2006

We need video damn it
posted by lee at 9:45 AM on March 26, 2006

Agreed!
posted by darkstar at 11:15 AM on March 26, 2006

awesome. There's a paper model of the junkbucket ship, even. How weird to have utterly forgotten TV memories scraped up. Say, didn't this air around the same time "Quark" did? Man, what was up? Star Wars fallout, I guess?
posted by mwhybark at 2:03 PM on March 26, 2006

Did somebody say 'The American Astronaut'?
posted by mk1gti at 8:01 PM on March 26, 2006

What hit me, looking at the page about 'Salvage'?

I can still remember the opening theme.

I need to find a RealAudio-to-nonstupidformat conversion program so I can get the theme from that site.
posted by mephron at 9:13 AM on March 27, 2006