Jana of the Jungle
A female Tarzan searches for her lost father in South America.
Jana of the Jungle is an American animated television series created by Doug Wildey and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It aired on NBC from September 9 to December 2, 1978, as a half-hour segment of The Godzilla Power Hour and later The Godzilla Super 90.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Adventure
- Creator
- Doug Wildey
- Director
- Ray Patterson; Carl Urbano
- Executive producers
- William Hanna; Joseph Barbera
- Voices
- B.J. Ward
- Michael Bell
- Ted Cassidy
- Theme music
- Hoyt Curtin
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
Facts from the source article.
Overview
Jana, voiced by B.J. Ward, is a blonde-haired woman who wears an animal-skin dress and a necklace that doubles as a throwable weapon, producing a high-pitched sound. Her yell, a variation of Tarzan's, summons animals such as Croco the crocodile, Kachi the monkey, Peechu birds, Nacto the bat, and Slithor the snake. She is aided by Ghost, a white jaguar, and Tico, a water opossum. Human allies include Dr. Ben Cooper, a wildlife biologist voiced by Michael Bell, who maintains the preserve Jana's father started, and Montaro, voiced by Ted Cassidy, a descendant of a lost warrior tribe wielding the Staff of Power, which can cause earthquake shockwaves. Montaro rescued Jana from the boating accident.
Production
According to animator Will Meugniot, the series began as an animated version of Sheena, Queen of the Jungle by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger. Doug Wildey stated that Hanna-Barbera developed the Sheena series under the impression the character was in the public domain, but rights holders demanded a large payment, forcing a salvage pitch. Wildey hastily created Jana of the Jungle, possibly inspired by Jann of the Jungle, a 1950s Atlas Comics series he worked on. NBC downplayed the series during broadcast to appeal to a male demographic.
Broadcast history
Jana of the Jungle aired as part of The Godzilla Power Hour from September 9 to October 28, 1978, on NBC Saturdays at 9:30-10:30 AM. When the program expanded to 90 minutes as The Godzilla Super 90 on November 4, 1978, the remaining five episodes aired until December 2. All 13 episodes were produced in 1978. The character made a cameo in Yogi's Space Race in 1978. The series resurfaced on USA Cartoon Express in January 1984, with its last recorded airing on March 22, 1991. It has not aired on American television since at least 1994. It is one of few Hanna-Barbera series never shown on Cartoon Network or Boomerang, though the episode "The Cordillera Volcano" was briefly available on WB's Hanna-Barbera online stream.
More in 1970s American Animated Television Series
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