Tarzan (1966 TV series)

Tarzan is a series that aired on NBC from 1966 to 1968. The series portrayed Tarzan (played by Ron Ely) as a well-educated character who had grown tired of civilization, and returned to the jungle where he had been raised. The first five episodes (1-4 and 7 in transmission order) were filmed in Brazil; the production then relocated to Mexico. The series was set in a fictional newly independent African nation.

This series retained many of the trappings of the film series, included the "Tarzan yell" and Cheeta, but excluded Jane as part of the "new look" for the fabled apeman that executive producer Sy Weintraub had introduced in previous motion pictures starring Gordon Scott, Jock Mahoney, and Mike Henry. CBS aired repeat episodes of the program during the summer of 1969.

Cast

 * Ron Ely as Tarzan
 * Manuel Padilla, Jr. as Jai
 * Alan Caillou as Jason Flood (episodes 1-4, 7)
 * Rockne Tarkington as Rao (episodes 1-4, 7)

Recurring appearances
Maurice Evans guest starred as retired Brigadier Sir Basil Bertram, hero of the Battle of the Bulge, in four episodes. Julie Harris guest starred as missionary Charity Jones in four episodes. Chips Rafferty appeared as Dutch Jensen in two episodes.

Syndication
After being seen intermittently in syndication and on cable in the years after its network run, as of 2016, the series airs on the Heroes & Icons network Saturday mornings. It lasted until September 2018.

On June 4–5, 2016, the Decades TV network ran a marathon of the series. On September 9, 2016, Decades celebrated Tarzan's fiftieth anniversary repeating a few choice episodes.

Home media
On March 13, 2012, Warner Bros. released Tarzan: Season 1, Part 1 & Tarzan: Season 1, Part 2 on DVD in region 1 via their Warner Archive Collection manufacture-on-demand service. The second season was released complete on September 17, 2013.

Opening Scene

 * Iguazu Falls, in the opening scene. This series had two separate musical themes as featured in Season One. "Tarzan's March" by far being the overall favorite but was not featured in Season Two for the opening scene or the end credits. Over both seasons, the show had three different theme tunes.

"Tarzan's March" music originally composed by "Sydney Lee & Walter Greene" which gained additional fame and was covered by several artists including "Al Hirt & His Orchestra", "Marty Manning & The Cheetahs" & even "Lawrence Welk & His Orchestra". The UK group Madness also covered the title song, adding some spoken parts and performing it in a Ska arrangement, this song was included on their first album, One Step Beyond.

In Popular Culture
The British company Airfix marketed a series of HO-00 (1/72nd) scale plastic figures of the characters based on the series.