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Series / Tarzán (1991)

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Tarzan and Jane
Tarzán is a French-Canadian-Mexican series that ran from 1991 to 1994, based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan. The series was created for the syndication market and produced 75 episodes over 3 seasons. The show starred Wolf Larson as Tarzan and Lydie Denier as Jane, as the two deal with the day-to-day adventures of the jungle. The stories also tended to feature environmental messages about awareness of endangered species and the dangers of pollution.

Not to be confused with the 1966-1968 series of the same name. See the other TV series based on Tarzan: Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, Tarzan: The Epic Adventures and The Legend of Tarzan.


This series provides examples of:

  • Adaptational Dye-Job: In the original novels, Tarzan's hair is black. Here, he is portrayed with blond hair, causing him to resemble imitation characters such as Ka-Zar, Kaanga and Ki-gor. Likewise, Jane has brown hair rather than blonde.
  • Adaptational Heroism: All for a character who does not make a physical appearance. Kerchak did not kill Tarzan's father, instead both of his parents died in a plane crash, also he is spoken of more admirably by Tarzan, referring to him as the one who taught him his cry and while he did have his rages, he never sought revenge when Tarzan stabbed him in Kala's defense.
  • Adaptational Name Change: In Tarzan and the Movie Star, an actor comes to the jungle to research his role as a man who gets shipwrecked and learns how to survive from a lion. It sounds similar to the premise of the film from Tarzan and the Lion Man, but the actor is not named Stanley Obroski, nor is he an Identical Stranger for Tarzan. His name is Nicholas Dimato.
  • Adaptational Nationality: Jane is American in the original novels. Here, she's French. Bizarrely, this did not come with an Adaptational Name Change, since neither "Jane" nor "Porter" are French names.
  • Adaptational Villainy: Jack Travers, the closest equivalent to William Cecil Clayton, attempted things like murder and even animal trafficking.
  • Age Lift: Tarzan's parents died when he was a little boy rather than when he was a year old like in Tarzan of the Apes. Likewise, he is now 28 or 29 when he first meets Jane, rather than 18.
  • Butt-Monkey: Roger is usually the butt of the jokes for comical effect, although this is lessened in season 3.
  • Christmas Episode: Season 1's "Tarzan's Christmas"
  • Canon Foreigner: One that happens to also be The Ghost: Jane's sister mentioned in "Tarzan's Christmas". The original character is an only child.
  • Clip Show: Season 1's "Tarzan and the Eye of the Hurricane." The clips are presented as flashbacks, induced by Roger's attempt as a memoir that takes credit for all the heroic deeds Tarzan has actually done (the flashbacks serve as corrections to Roger's writing).
  • Comic-Book Time: Putting the dates together given in the various journal entries at the beginning of each episode, the series would span decades in real life, but the episode Tarzan and Jane states that Jane and Roger have only been in the jungle for a year.
  • Declaration of Protection: Tarzan gives one in Tarzan and the Primitive Urge declaring that he will let neither animals or people die when displace Titi flies cause an outbreak of sleeping sickness with the government likewise putting smaller animals in danger with a decision to spray the entire area in retaliation.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: "Tarzan and the Rock Star" is all about Star Riley, a famous rock star, finding herself trapped in the jungle during a storm. She acts spoiled and bitchy until Tarzan helps humble her and she finally becomes nicer to everyone.
  • Earthy Barefoot Character: (Subverted) Tarzan is normally depicted as an this in his other encarnations. He even played the Prefers Going Barefoot trope completely strait in the 1951 radio drama, but in this television series, he opts for a pair of moccasin boots. Sheena (Another iconic jungle barefooter) would do the same in her own short lived television series shortly after this.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Averted. Gordon Shaw attempts to pass himself as a man with standards in Tarzan the Hunted, frowning upon the use of automatic rifles with telescopic sights while considering the bow more than equal. Tarzan shatters this lie to pieces by pointing out it is not equal unless the person has no weapon. This lie gets shattered even more when Shaw tells Tarzan of his intentions to hunt him with the latter having no weapons.
  • "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Many episodes, especially in season 2, end with the main cast laughing at Roger's screw-ups.
  • Evil Poacher: Three examples with Cordell Winslow, Bruno Valletti and Jack Travers. Winslow and Valletti are both implied to be commercial poachers with the black market coming up in relation to the latter and Winslow also participating in artifact theft while with Travers, whose plots vary from episode to episode, has only dabbled in wildlife trafficking, specifically in the episode Tarzan and the Savage Storm.
  • Evil Twin: Shown in the episode "Tarzan and the Evil Twin", where Dan's deadbeat twin brother Joseph appears, pretending to be Dan.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Poacher and artifact thief Cordell Winslow wears one over his left eye. Truth in Television as poachers, regardless of what kind they are, can lose an eye or a limb.
  • Faint in Shock: Jane in "Tarzan and the Test of Friendship" after he saves her from falling from a tree.
  • The Ghost: The great apes who raised Tarzan never appear. Kala is stated to be dead and Kerchak is likewise spoken of in past tense.
  • Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Season One's Tarzan, the Hunted featuring original television Tarzan Ron Ely in a Remake Cameo as the Villain of the Week where hunter Gordon Shaw sets his sights on Tarzan of the Apes.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The majority of episodes are titled "Tarzan and the..."
  • I Should Write a Book About This: Played for Laughs (slightly) Jane describes her and Tarzan's romance in "Tarzan and the Ring of Romance," and claims "if you wrote a story about us, nobody would believe it."
  • Misplaced Wildlife: Cougars appear as native African fauna as do scarlet macaws and emerald tree boas. It should be noted that the show was filmed in Mexico.
  • Out of Character Is Serious Business: In Tarzan and the Orphan, Tarzan stops speaking in third person when he talks about how he came to be adopted by the apes, referring to himself as "I" or his parents as "my parents".
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Roger.
  • Recycled Premise: Much like Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, this series featured an episode featuring a woman raised by lions.
  • Setting Update: Rather than being set in any of the decades the book were set in, the series is set in the then modern day.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: In "Tarzan and the Test of Friendship," Tarzan gives Jane the gift of a sarong. He's surprised to see how beautiful she looks in it.
  • Token Minority: Simon, later replaced by Jack in season 2 and Dan in season 3. It wasn't until Season 3 where it was established they were all meant to be the same character when Simon's godson Carlos from the first season episode Tarzan Tames the Bronx reappeared, only to be identified as Dan's.
  • Vine Swing: Tarzan's usual mode of transportation.
  • Whole Episode Flashback: The season 2 episode "Tarzan Meets Jane" takes place almost entirely in a flashback to when Jane and Roger first came to the jungle and met Tarzan. The episode is framed as All Just a Dream for Jane, suffering from a snake bite.
  • Will They or Won't They?: The series doesn't outright make the two leads a couple, unlike other adaptions of the characters. Romantic attractions are made explicitly clear, but the episode "Tarzan and the Ring of Romance" establishes that Tarzan will only become Jane's mate if she stays with him in the jungle forever and she hesitates to make such a commitment.

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