When the Billy Bob Thornton movie The Astronaut Farmer came out, a lot of us were amazed how the plot sounded similar to Salvage 1, a TV movie and later short-lived series on ABC that starred Andy Griffith as the owner of a scrap and salvage company who builds a spaceship and goes to the moon. I don't think this show has been seen that much since the late 70s, but TVShowsOnDVD is hearing from a source that Sony is going to release the show (the pilot movie and all the episodes, including 4 never shown on ABC) some time in 2008.
But that's not the only DVD news that TV fans are going to be interested in...
Long before Stephen Collins was a holy man raising a bunch of kids on 7th Heaven, he was an Indiana Jones-ish adventurer on the short-lived ABC show Tales of the Gold Monkey. Collins played Jake Cutter, a pilot in the 1930s who found himself in various precarious situations around the world involving gold statues, Nazis, spies, and beautiful women. A source says that Universal is going to release a complete series set right around the time that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comes out, in May of next year.
I was 16 or 17 when the show came on, and I think I was rather disappointed in it (probably from seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark around 100 times the year before). But I'd like to see it again. It had a good cast and was a rather different type of TV show: an action-adventure period piece. I would definitely buy both of these sets.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-22-2007 @ 3:56PM
Mark Rabinowitz said...
Excellent! I remember loving both of these shows, but then again, I was 10 when Salvage 1 was on and 13 during Tales of the Gold Monkey. I seem to remember the latter being somewhat like Brisco County Jr., but it was 25 years ago....
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10-22-2007 @ 4:31PM
Akbar Fazil said...
Tales of the Gold Monkey? Awesome. Im sure it will have not aged well, but it will be great to see the show again.
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10-22-2007 @ 4:53PM
Jack said...
Tales of the Gold Monkey? Sweet. I saw a VHS-quality copy of the pilot recently, and it was the first time I'd seen the show in color. When I was a kid I watched the show on a 19-inch black and white TV!
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10-22-2007 @ 5:17PM
lucyfan62 said...
SALVAGE 1?!?! SWEET! I loved this show and tried to explain it to a friend who is 10 years younger than me at about the time ASTRONAUT FARMER was out. I'm so glad this is getting a DVD release! Not so much a fan of GOLD MONKEY, but I know some who are. This is great news all around!
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10-22-2007 @ 5:41PM
Morjana Coffman said...
I watched both series when they aired back in the good 'ol days.
Would love to see Tales of the Gold Monkey again on DVD.
Morjana
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10-22-2007 @ 5:47PM
Oreo said...
Did he ever make it to the moon on Salvage 1?
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10-22-2007 @ 5:51PM
Lenny said...
He made it to the moon in the movie/pilot.
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10-22-2007 @ 6:06PM
Cincinnati Mike said...
Right, they made it to the moon in the pilot--which was the whole problem. Where do you go from there? Nothing that came after was remotely as interesting.
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10-22-2007 @ 7:50PM
Bart Smith said...
I was really hoping for KAREN SISCO.
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10-22-2007 @ 10:50PM
LC said...
"I seem to remember the latter being somewhat like Brisco County Jr., but it was 25 years ago...."
It was more like Indiana Jones. Adventurer/fortune hunter set during WWII.
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10-23-2007 @ 9:23AM
Galley said...
Salvage 1 on DVD? Did Hell just freeze over?
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10-23-2007 @ 1:41PM
kevjohn said...
I semi-sorta remember Tales of the Gold Monkey. That was one of 2 Indiana Jones clones to hit the airwaves around the same time. I think the other one starred Bruce Boxleitner. Can't remember the title to that one. But I would have been like 10 when these came on. I drank alot in those days.
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10-24-2007 @ 4:54AM
Brent McKee said...
The Bruce Boxleitner one wsa "Bring'em Back Alive" about the great white hunter Frank Buck.
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