Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle

Did You Know?

• The opening-credits narration begins: 'The jungle: Here I was born: and here my parents died when I was but an infant.'
• Kala, the she-ape who adopted Tarzan, is only seen in the series' intro.

Storyline

The series is considered one of the most faithful screen adaptations of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan, incorporating several lost cities from the novels. The animation was rotoscoped based on the work of Burne Hogarth, Burroughs's favorite Tarzan artist. Tarzan is portrayed as intelligent and well-spoken, with his sidekick N'kima the monkey, as in the novels. The show uses much of Burroughs's Mangani language, though some animal terms were likely invented for the series.

Characters

Tarzan, voiced by Robert Ridgely when speaking and by Danton Burroughs for the Tarzan yell, is the main protagonist. His monkey companion N'kima provides vocal effects by an uncredited Lou Scheimer. Tarzan has a golden-furred, dark-maned lion named Jad-bal-ja, and friendly African forest elephants called Tantor. Queen Nemone, ruler of Zandor, was voiced by Joan Gerber in her first appearance and Hettie Lynn Hurtes in her third; her prime minister Tomos was voiced by Alan Oppenheimer. Belthar is Queen Nemone's pet lion. Phobeg, the strongest man in Zandor and a Royal Guard, was voiced by Ted Cassidy in his first appearance and Alan Oppenheimer in his third; he later becomes a secret ally of Tarzan and has a son named Tiborgh. Jane Porter, voiced by Linda Gary, appears only once in the series. The Mangani are intelligent great apes with their own language, including named individuals Terkoz and Tor. The Bolmangani are gorilla-men who enslave animals; the Donlumangani are short humanoid primates called Ice People; and the Monkey People are part human, part monkey. Most animals are referred to by Mangani-language names such as Argus (giant eagle), Bazansi (spider), Bolgani (gorilla), Borta (warthog), and Buto (black rhinoceros).

Episode list

The series ran for 36 episodes across four seasons. Season one had 16 half-hour installments starting September 11, 1976. The next year, six more episodes joined The New Adventures of Batman to form The Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour. Season three added six episodes to the ninety-minute Tarzan and the Super 7. The final season contributed eight episodes to that show’s second run. Later, reruns aired as The Tarzan/Lone Ranger Adventure Hour and The Tarzan/Lone Ranger/Zorro Adventure Hour.

Home media

The Edgar Rice Burroughs company, not Universal Television, controls the rights to this series. Warner Home Video put out a single DVD episode, Tarzan and the Colossus of Zome, on Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Volume 1. The complete first season arrived on DVD on June 14, 2016, marking its 40th anniversary.