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Two Worlds. One Family

The Legend of Tarzan (September 3, 2001 — February 5, 2003) is a spin-off TV series to Disney's Tarzan, which aired on UPN's Disney's One Too block. It takes place after the events of the film; Jane and Tarzan live in the jungle as husband and wife, along with his gorilla troop and her scientist father. The three humans now reside in the treehouse built by Tarzan's parents. They encounter all sort of perils, from wild animals to natural disasters to various people visiting the jungle.

It adapted several characters and locations from other original Tarzan books and Edgar Rice Burroughs material like Queen La and the Lost City of Opar, and the hidden dinosaur world of Pellucidar. An episode even brought Burroughs himself into the action.

Not to be confused with the 2016 live-action Tarzan movie of the same name.


Tropes:

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    A-F 
  • Absent-Minded Professor: Prof. Porter.
    (listening on his self-built radio, trying to get a cricket match, as Jane had taken over the comms system from a war airplane) "Jane? What are you doing at the cricket finals?"
  • Adaptation Distillation: Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote a lot of Tarzan books (25!), so elements of several were occasionally combined into single stories:
    • Queen La (a recurring antagonist in both the books and the show) is in control of an army of Leopard Men, who are very loosely based on the villains of Tarzan and the Leopard Men - although, the novel's characters were cannibalistic humans, not literal leopard-men.
    • In the book, Kerchak is the villainous leader of the apes (not gorillas like in the Disney version but fictional "Mangani") who challenges Tarzan and loses, while Tublat is Kala's benevolent mate who resents Tarzan, but doesn't outright hate him. The original movie combined the two (keeping Kerchak as the leader of the tribe, but also filling Tublat's role as Kala's mate who passively dislikes Tarzan), so the series has a character named Tublat who fills the original Kerchak's role.
  • Adaptational Villainy:
    • Professor Philander wasn't a villain in the original books, but was Porter's colleague and friend. Whereas in the show, he's the exact opposite.
    • Also, Tublat, who was Tarzan's distant and unfriendly father figure in the book, was turned into an Ax-Crazy Killer Gorilla who is a menace to Tarzan's troop. He essentially switches personalities with Kerchak, who was portrayed a brutal and violent ape in the book and a stern and mistrusting, but honorable silverback in the movie.
  • Affectionate Parody:
    • Hugo and Hooft are parodies of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, respectively. The first episode in which they appear is an homage to the Road to ... movies.
    • Averted in "Tarzan and the Rough Rider", which features an appearance by Theodore Roosevelt of all people. Tarzan is the one who inspires him to create the US National Park System so that everyone can enjoy the natural world, since most of humanity spend their lives in the city or the agricultural countryside.
  • All Animals Are Dogs: The baby leopard in "The Lost Cub" wags its tail and licks Jane's face.
  • Always a Bigger Fish: A Velociraptor from Pellucidar make short work on a Leopard, an apex predator that Tarzan had to tangle time to time.
  • Ambiguously Brown: French Foreign Legion Commander Jean Staquait and a number of his men are notably more tanned than the other resident Frenchman Durmont and have pointer facial features. Given that the unit they're in obviously prides itself on foreign recruits as well the series making it clear more humans around the world have an interest in the jungle, it's possible they are of North African or Middle Eastern descent.
  • Ambiguous Gender: We never learn whether the leopard cub in "The Lost Cub" is male or female - Tantor is sure it's a girl, but Terk and Jane refer to it as "he".
  • Ambiguous Situation: It is never made clear what the leopard population was after La turned a group of them into her Leopard-Men. It could have been returned to normal when the Leopard Men were returned to their natural forms or it could have been expanded.
  • Anachronism Stew: Dialogue (e.g. a reference to Charles Darwin as a living person) and the comet scene in the movie suggest that the film was set in 1882, but in this show 'Dumont's Trading Post' is established in 1912, Teddy Roosevelt shows up after his presidency (1901-09) note  and is running in the 1912 election and "Tarzan and the Flying Ace" is implied to be taking place during World War I. Meanwhile Jane is able to identify Velociraptor, a dinosaur genus described in 1923. It's the easiest to assume that the series retconned the original movie's time period to the 1910s, which is when the original book was writtennote .
  • Angry Guard Dog: Some of them are guarding Cape Doom.
  • Animal Eyes: Queen La, being an evil leopard queen, has leopard-like eyes.
  • Animal Motifs:
    • Gorillas for Tarzan, as he was raised by gorillas, often walks on his knuckles like a gorilla, and tends to do a Primal Chest-Pound.
    • Leopards for Queen La, who commands an army of leopardmen, has a leopard-headed staff, decorates her palace with leopard skins and has cold, leopard-like eyes.
  • Animals Not to Scale: Many of the animals that Tarzan fights are often bigger than they would be in real life, mainly due to Rule of Scary.
    • While most of the gorillas are of accurate size, Tublat is usually shown towering over Tarzan or any other human character, even when he’s on all four. In reality, silverback gorillas are usually around 5.5 feet tall when standing upright.
    • Booto, the leader of the rhino herd, is only slightly smaller than Tantor, an elephant.
    • Depending on the episode, leopards might be as big as tigers. This is most notable in “Tarzan and the Lost Cub”, which opens with Tarzan fighting an absurdly huge leopard on top of a waterfall.
    • The jackals in "The Race Against Time" are as big as wolves.
  • Animal Religion: The gorillas believe in a protective savior called Mangani, an albino gorilla guardian, while the elephants believe in the All-Seeing Elephant. The two differ in several respects; Mangani inhabits a physical form and resurrects dead animals, while the All-Seeing Elephant is a spirit and protects elephants from fatal accidents.
  • Animal Talk: Subverted. Only gorillas, elephants and some monkeys seem to be talking in a language the audience hears as English. Baboons, leopards, rhinos, dinosaurs, and other animals communicate with growls, grunts and roars. The only three people who Speak Fluent Animal are Tarzan, Jane and Professor Porter, but the latter two understand only gorillas and elephants.
  • Animation Bump: "Tarzan and the British Invasion" has noticeably more fluid animation than other episodes.
  • Answer Cut: In "Tarzan and the Lost Cub" after Jane finds the lost leopard cub when she was washing the laundry at the river.
    Jane: Oh, who could resist an adorable little leopard cub like you?
    (Cut to Tarzan battling a ferocious leopard)
  • Anti-Hero: Renard Dumont is a Pragmatic Anti Hero who helps Tarzan and his friends just as often as causes trouble for them, depending on which is more profitable for him.
  • Anti-Villain: The Leopard Men. As Jane discovered in "Leopard Men Rebellion", it was Queen La that transformed them from normal leopards into her humanoid henchmen. They kidnap Jane so that she becomes their queen and frees them.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: Being a man of science, Professor Porter tends to be more concerned with finding scientific explanations to more mystical occurrences. Nevermind that he regularly converses with apes and an elephant, and has encountered thought-to-be-extinct dinosaurs. The trope is subverted in "The All-Seeing Elephant." After doubting the concept of such a being, he is reminded of how he doubted the all-too real Mangani.
    • Talking Animals and living dinosaurs are, at least, not supernatural. On the other hand, there's also an evil sorceress with an army of leopardmen...
  • American Accents: The actress Joan has a thick New York accent (and the director sighs with relief that movies don't have sound yet).
  • Arch-Enemy: Professor Philander with Professor Porter. Ironic, since in the original books the two were colleagues and friends.
  • Arrow Catch: Tarzan does this while possessed by Queen La in "The Return of La."
  • Artistic License – Biology: Partly carried over from the original film.
    • Leopards in this series are often seen moving around and hunting in packs, whereas real leopards are solitary animals. They are also portrayed with solid spots, instead of rosettes. Made especially worse since the original film had none of these inaccuracies with Sabornote .
    • Female elephants are depicted without tusks, but real female African elephants have tusks like the males.
    • Snakes cannot hear music, so the Snake Charmer skills in "Tarzan and the New Wave" wouldn't work in Real Life.
    • Pythons are depicted with fangs, which only venomous snakes possess.
    • When gorillas do their Primal Chest-Pound, they do it with clenched fists instead of open hands like real gorillas. This is jarring considering the movie got it right.
    • Hippos are portrayed swimming in "Poisoned River - Part 1". Real hippos actually cannot swim but walk underwater instead, which is another thing the movie got right. At least they are correctly portrayed as extremely aggressive here, unlike the movie.
    • Hook-lipped rhinos (more commonly known as black rhinos) are often shown in moving in crashes, when they are solitary in real life; it's square-lipped rhinos (aka white rhinos) that form crashes. Again, the movie got this right.
  • Artistic License – Paleontology:
    • The Velociraptor from Pellucidar are man-sized, scaly and pack hunting in the vein of Jurassic Park, and they somehow wound up an underground world underneath Africa, despite only being known from central Asia. On the plus side, they have long, narrow snouts and are quite slender like the real Velociraptor as opposed to resembling bulky Deinonychus, and can climb trees while using their foot.
    • Pellucidar is also the home of a flock of Geosternbergia/Pteranodon sternbergi which perch on tree branches like birds, with bat-like wings that are folded above their shoulders. At least they seem to have pycnofibres (i.e hair-like body cover) like real pterosaurs.
    • The fauna of Pellucidar also includes Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops, both of which are strictly American genera.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The episode "Tarzan and the Giant Beetles" features rampaging giant beetles.
  • Avenging the Villain: One episode, "The Gauntlet of Vengeance" is about the sister of Clayton (the movie's Big Bad) tormenting Tarzan to avenge her brother. Only after Tarzan almost dies for her does she understand that her brother died because of his own greed and cruelty, and abandons her quest for revenge.
  • Bad "Bad Acting": "Tarzan and the Silver Screen" has several examples from the visiting actors. Tarzan even gets into the act with some Hulk Speak during the conclusion. A cameraman states his relief that films are silent.
  • Bad Boss: Queen La. Especially in her debut episode, where she has a habit of disintegrating minions for no reason whatsoever other than they happen to be there when she's in a bad mood. One of the episodes deals with her Leopardmen getting fed up and revolting. Of course, she disintegrates those who were disloyal once she regains control.
  • Been There, Shaped History: According to this series, his encounter with Tarzan is what inspired Theodore Roosevelt to "give people wide open spaces" and create national parks in the USA (which is a bit of a paradox, since Roosevelt visits Tarzan after his presidency, and he created the national parks during it).
  • Beware the Silly Ones: Out of the entire Rogues Gallery; the savage Tublat, the rogue Mabaya, the powerful Queen La and the ruthless Colonel Staquait, it's Professor Philander who comes the closest to killing Tarzan. It's only by the grace of Mangani, the Silver Ape with healing powers being in a cage near him, that Tarzan survives.
  • Big Beautiful Woman: Hazel, one of Jane's English friends, is chubbier but equally pretty as the others. She also has a bit of a flirty personality.
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: The eponymous insects in "Tarzan and the Giant Beetles", turned elephant-sized due to an accident when Terk and Tantor mess with Professor Porter's lab equipment.
  • Big Damn Heroes: When doesn't Tarzan do this?
  • The Boxing Episode: Invoked in "Tarzan and One Punch Mullargan". Subverted, since Tarzan and One Punch never actually get to fight.
  • Butt Sticker: A running gag with Tantor sitting on Terk. For example, in the episode "Tarzan and the City of Opar", after Terk gets Tantor unstuck from a doorway in Opar, he crashes into a wall and crushes Terk.
  • Cat Folk: Leopardmen. Turns out they're just ordinary leopards, turned into a humanoid form by Queen La's magic.
  • Cats Are Mean: Although not as dangerous and active as Sabor was, leopards are a general menace to the cast, and Tarzan knows better than to cross them.
    • There are also the reoccuring antagonists Sheeta and Noru, a pair of panthers that ambush and battle Tarzan on occasion.
    • And let's not forget about Queen La, an evil sorceress with leopard motifs, and an army of Leopardman minions.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: While already applying to him, this trait is played up even more when Tarzan accidentally K.O's the world boxing champion One Punch Mullargan (an obvious expy of the first world boxing champion John L Sullivan). A lifetime living in the jungle has bestowed Tarzan with an almost superhuman level of strength.
  • Character Development: The episode "British Invasion" has Jane realise how much she has changed for the better since leaving England. And when her friends reappear again in "New Wave", Greenlie had previously been the most superficial and spoiled of the girls but has now fallen in love with a man her friends disapprove of and has become a lot more competent.
  • Character Name and the Noun Phrase: All episodes are titled "Tarzan and the X". It's probably an allusion to the original book series, which also followed this naming pattern.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Played with in "Tarzan and the Jungle Madness." Tarzan and Jane return from vacation to find the animals have gone crazy. The two assume it's because of the strange new flowers growing all over the jungle, but that's just misdirection. The "madness" is happening because the animals hear ringing coming from Dumont's new communications tower, which Tarzan and Jane saw upon their return from vacation.
  • Chekhov's Skill: In "Tublat's Revenge", it is mentioned early on in the episode that gorillas can't swim. This becomes crucial in Tarzan's fight against Tublat, where Tarzan tricks the rogue ape into following him into an Inevitable Waterfall.
    Tarzan: "I can't protect the family. I am not even an ape. But I can swim!"
  • Clip Show: "Tarzan and the Visitor" contains lots of footage from previous episodes, where various characters (such as Philander, Dumont, Hugo and Hooft) tell Edgar Rice Burroughs about the way they met Tarzan.
  • Combat Tentacles: A tentacle monster lives in the sewers of Opar, which attacks Tarzan and the leader of the rebelling Leopard Men.
  • Comedic Underwear Exposure: In "The British Invasion", Jane and her friends Eleanor, Greenley and Hazel remove their dresses to walk or run more easily in the jungle, and they're all in their white pantalets.
  • Compilation Movie: Tarzan & Jane. Three then-unaired episodes ("British Invasion," "The Volcanic Diamond Mine" and "The Flying Ace") were used with a framing story about Tarzan and Jane's wedding anniversary.
  • Convection, Schmonvection: "The Volcanic Diamond Mine" turns it up to eleven: it involves Tarzan and his companions Lava Surfing! Jane immediately hangs a lampshade on it, quickly Hand Waved by the Professor.
    Jane: Should that even be possible?
    Prof. Porter: Who cares, as long as it's working!
  • Cool Old Guy: Professor Porter might be absent-minded, but he's a brave man and a loving father.
  • Cowardly Lion: Tantor, an enormous elephant who is afraid of pretty much everything.
  • Cruel Elephant: Mabaya, the rogue elephant who constantly tries to crush and gore everything he sees. This is in stark contrast to Tantor and the other elephants.
  • Cub Cues Protective Parent:
    • When Manu, the baby baboon gets in danger (such as being attacked by a leopard cub in "The Lost Cub"), his family will surely come for his aid.
    • One Punch Mullargan, to provoke Tarzan into a fight, menaces a piglet. He gets attacked by a whole sounder of boars.
  • Cuteness Proximity: Almost every character softens up to the leopard cub in "Tarzan and the Lost Cub" due to its cuteness, even those who first consider him a potentially dangerous predator.
  • Darker and Edgier: Somewhat compared to the original movie. The characters in the series deal with much more hostile and dangerous threats compared to the movie (which only had two prominent antagonists, a Super-Persistent Predator leopard and an Egomaniac Hunter) - from dinosaurs and evil sorceresses to even their own animal friends at one point.
  • Darkest Africa: The setting of the show. The continent of Africa is still unexplored, and the jungle is full of savage beasts. However, during the show gradually more and more people arrive to Africa, especially given that the show now clearly takes place in the early 20th instead of the late 19th century, meaning that final stages of Africa's colonization are underway.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Terk retains this personality trait from the movie.
  • Death World: With its methane geysers and vicious prehistoric wildlife, Pellucidar is this to the modern animals. Tarzan flat-out refuses to take Archimedes and Jane there in "The Hidden World" because of how dangerous it is.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Colonel Staquait wants to hang Hugo and Hooft for disobedience.
  • Distressed Dude:
    • Gobu in "The Enemy Within". Tarzan and Terk rescue him from a clan of hyenas and then from Tublat.
    • Henry in the beginning of "The New Wave", where Tarzan saves him and his female companions from a Threatening Shark. By the end of the episode he Took a Level in Badass.
  • Doesn't Like Guns: Tarzan, so much that guns are his Berserk Button. Justified, considering Kerchak's death in the movie.
  • Doomy Dooms of Doom: Cape Doom.
  • Do You Want to Haggle?: As a greedy businessman, Renard Dumont will often end up haggling with any visitor from the civilized world.
  • Duck!: An amusing variant in "Tarzan and the Flying Ace" (the third part of Tarzan & Jane), in which an aircraft is crashing and swoops down over Tarzan and Jane, prompting the former to ask "What is that?" and the latter to exclaim "Duck!" before dropping to the ground and dragging Tarzan with her. Afterward, Tarzan (who was evidently unfamiliar with the term) simply comments "Big duck."
  • Eagle Land: Hugo and Hooft and President Theodore Roosevelt. Both are examples of the Mixed Flavor type III. Hugo and Hooft are the first Americans shown in the series and they are presented as boorish, shady grifters prone to laziness, vulgar behavior, scamming and gambling, and all around incompetence, but are good people at heart who abhor doing physical harm to innocent people and try to help those who give them aid. Roosevelt is a Boisterous Bruiser who treats his time in Africa as a safari to hunt down animals and reacts with disdain towards any complaints to his sense of adventure, but is a decent man at heart who believes in individual freedoms and will refrain from any wanton animal death dealing if asked.
  • Earthy Barefoot Character: Since the show is set in the jungle, it's hardly surprising that many of the human characters go barefoot. While Tarzan never wore shoes in the first place (aside from whenever he wore the suit his human father left behind), Jane never wears shoes anymore either in the series (except on certain occasions), having adapted to the jungle setting and emulating Tarzan by leaving her feet bare. Professor Porter still mostly wears his original English clothes.
  • E = MC Hammer: At the beginning of the episode "Tarzan and the Missing Link", Philander has a sheet of paper with a "great scientific formula" that will restore his reputation in the world of science. The paper says E=mc3.
  • End of an Age: The apes and even human natives to the jungle are quietly realizing this, as more human traders and colonists begin arriving to the jungle. In fact, technology more familiar to modern day viewers begins to show up in droves, especially since the setting has updated to take place somewhere around World War I if Series Finale Tarzan and the Flying Ace is anything to go by.
  • Engagement Challenge: The plot of the episode "Eagle's Feather" centers around this. Tarzan's Waziri friend Wasuli intends to marry her fiancée, but being the son of the chief he has to show his strength and courage as the future leader of the tribe by climbing a mountain nearby with Tarzan and bringing back an eagle's feather before the sunset. He succeeds despite being delayed by his rival Muviro.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Clayton, the villain of the original movie, has a sister who wants to kill Tarzan to avenge her beloved brother.
  • Evil Brit: While she's obviously not British, Queen La seems to have the accent.
    • Played straight in "Tarzan and the Return of La", where she briefly possessed Jane.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: In "The Face from the Past", Zutho believes he has Tarzan in his pocket for a fire-related accident he can always blackmail him for, lest he tell Kala. But towards the end, before Zutho can cash in on his favor proper, Jane has arranged for Tarzan to come clean to Kala face to face. What's her reaction to learning Tarzan indeed started a fire that nearly destroyed the jungle? Well, she is disappointed he didn't tell the truth sooner, but given it was a long time ago, she forgives him. Zutho, on the other hand, fumes how a little Disappointed in You is all that Tarzan gets, as opposed to either being yelled at or spanked. Not only does this reflect how Zutho doesn't understand the depth of love Kala has for Tarzan, but also how stuck in his immature mindset he is.
  • Exit, Pursued by a Bear:
    • Nicholas Rokoff exits pursued by a trio of leopards.
    • At the end of "Tarzan and the Missing Link" the two British thugs exit pursued by Mabaya, the rogue elephant.
  • Expy:
    • Tublat. While qualities of Book!Tublat were used to soften up Kerchak, qualities of Book!Kerchak were used to create the villainous Tublat.
    • Also, Nikolas Rokoff in the show is less of the Rokoff from the original Tarzan books and much more like General Zaroff from the famous short story "The Most Dangerous Game".
    • Robert Canler, in the meanwhile, is actually closer to the original book's William Cecil Clayton than to its Robert Canler, who had a very small and shallow role.
  • Fangs Are Evil: Technically all gorillas have fangs, but Tublat's are much larger and more prominent than the rest of the cast. Justified in the case of Terk or Kala, since female gorillas have smaller fangs than males. Not so much in the case of Moyo or Kerchak.
  • Fat and Skinny: Hugo and Hooft, as their character designs are based on Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.
  • Fate Worse than Death: According to Colonel Staquait, being imprisoned in Cape Doom is one.
  • "Fawlty Towers" Plot: Much of the plot of the episode "Tarzan and the Giant Beetles" is about Terk and Tantor trying to cover up the fact that they accidentally created the titular giant beetles.
  • Femininity Failure: An episode has Terk, the feisty, tomboyish gorilla, wanting to be feminine to attract another gorilla. She realizes by the end that it's completely unnecessary.
  • Find the Cure!:
    • Tarzan was poisoned by a spider in "The Race Against Time", and Jane and Terk had to work together to get a flower which was needed to make the antidote.
    • In "The Gauntlet of Vengeance", Clayton's sister poisoned Tarzan and offered him a Sadistic Choice: save his friends, whom her valet had kidnapped, or go after an antidote she had hidden on top of a mountain. Subverted, as she still possessed the antidote.
    • Also occurs in "The Outbreak", although more accurately it's Find Ingredients for the Cure.
  • Fire-Forged Friends:
    • Tarzan and Basuli.
    • Also Jane and Terk.
  • Fish out of Water: Jane is far more comfortable in the jungle than she seems to have ever been in London.
  • Fluffy the Terrible: One episode had Terk and Tantor trying to name a leopard cub. Terk likes "Fluffy" and "Doodles" while Tantor likes "Bobo". The end up deciding on "Commodore Fluffy Paws".
  • Foreshadowing: Throughout the series' run several characters from America and Europe wind up coming across their patch of jungle and begin making a sort of shanty town and port. When there wound up being practically a town now, an episode ended with Kala silently worrying that their jungle may be lost to the new humans forever.
  • Foil:
    • One case is the contrast between Renard Dumont and Jean Staquait. Both of them fall into the French Jerk category, but under different stereotypes. Dumont is vain, materialistic and haughty, but ultimately capable of doing the right thing consistently even if he has to be pushed. Staquait falls into the darker stereotype of the French Foreign Legion officers being particularly brutal and leading a borderline psychotic army.
    • Both Queen La and Jane are beautiful women with a penchant for revealing clothing and Tarzan's heart. Jane however, comes from industrialized Britain, is a normal human, kind and manages to embrace living in harmony with the Jungle. Queen La however is an Atlantean from an ancient society, a villainess, a magic user and would rather bend the jungle to her will. Appearance wise, Jane has light skin and brown hair, while Queen La is a dark-skinned blond.
  • Forgiveness: Even after Lady Waltham tries to kill Tarzan and his friends for the revenge of her brother Clayton, Tarzan still saves her from being killed by a pack of leopards. Realizing that someone like Tarzan could never have killed her brother, she ended her vendetta towards Tarzan.
  • Forced Transformation: One of Queen La's powers. She uses it on Dumont to turn him into a gibbon.
  • Formally-Named Pet: The final name for the leopard cub that Terk and Tantor agree on is "Commodore Fluffy Paws".
  • French Jerk:
    • Renard Dumont, and while he wasn't a villain, he was a Selfish Neutral character always looking to make a quick buck. He does things right from time to time though, particularly in episodes like "Tarzan and the Prison Break".
    • Colonel Jean Staquait, on the other hand, is outright evil.
  • Frenemy: The Baboons, who usually attack Tarzan and his friends when they enter their territory, but sometimes team up with Tarzan.
  • Friend Versus Lover: In "Tarzan and the Rift", between Terk and Dania, with Tantor as the third party.
  • Full-Boar Action: One Punch Mullargan provokes a sounder of wild boars into attacking him, to lure Tarzan into fighting him. Tarzan has to rescue One Punch, Joe and Max from the angered boars.
  • Fur Bikini:
    • Jane wears a midriff-baring one as a swimsuit in "Tarzan and the Lost Cub". Her usual outfit in the show is much more modest.
    • Also, Queen La's outfit resembles this combined with a cape.

    G-L 
  • Geeky Turn-On: See below.
  • Gentle Giant Sauropod: The sauropods of Pellucidar are the only large dinosaurs that are shown to be passive.
  • Gentle Gorilla: Almost every gorilla character are portrayed as gentle and heroic, with the sole exception being Tublat the Killer Gorilla. Mangani, the Silver Ape, is even a Healer Gorilla.
  • Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Tantor, of all characters, does this to Terk in "Tarzan and the Beast from Below", when the thought of facing a raptor from Pellucidar drives her into a babbling wreck.
    Tantor: TERK! SNAP OUT OF IT! (applies multiple slaps to Terk with his trunk)
    Terk: ...Hey! Watcha do that for?! You're just as scared as me!
    Tantor: Yeah! But when my friends are counting on me, I face my fears! And right now, Tarzan's counting on you!
  • Girl of the Week: Tantor gets a girlfriend called Dania in "Tarzan and the Rift". They break up because she and Terk cannot get along. Terk also gets a boyfriend named Gobu in "Tarzan and the Enemy Within". He disappears in the following episodes. It's implied that he remained the leader of his own family, while Terk remained with Tarzan.
  • God Is Good: The All-Seeing Elephant, a deity worshiped by elephants, is shown to be benevolent. Mangani, the silver ape is also a benevolent Nature Spirit, wandering the jungle and healing injured animals.
  • God Save Us from the Queen!: La, the Queen of Opar, is an Evil Sorceress.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Colonel Staquait sports an evil scar over his eye.
  • Goofy Print Underwear: In "The New Wave", Eleanor finds a pair of boxer shorts with red polka dots, belonging to Professor Porter, in the jungle after a tidal wave washes them away.
  • Grand Theft Me: In "Tarzan and the Return of La," Queen La possesses Jane. Crosses with Gender Bender when she possesses Tarzan due to a Batman Gambit he pulls.
  • Great White Hunter: Theodore Roosevelt, just like in Real Life. He almost shoots Tantor, but is quick to apologize when he learns that the elephant is Tarzan's friend, and he emphasizes that he hunts for science, not for sport. When Tarzan calls him on it, he explains that most humans can't just walk up and talk to animals like Tarzan does, they have to study everything the hard way. When Tarzan asks why they can't just do that, it inspires Roosevelt to create the National Park system in the U.S. While it's not quite the level of nature harmony Tarzan lived in, it did create sanctuaries for wildlife and allowed countless tourists to see them in their natural habitat.
  • Green Aesop: Three episodes (one of them is technically a double episode) deal with environmental issues. In "Tarzan and the Outbreak", a group of loggers release a dangerous virus that was dormant in the soil. In "Tarzan and the Seeds of Destruction", Jane plants a vine which almost destroys the jungle's ecosystem. And in "Tarzan and the Poisoned River", a group of miners release poison in a river.
    • "Tarzan and The Outbreak" is notable because it tries to show that the people who cut down forests aren't doing it because they hate trees or because they're greedy monsters, they do it because they have families to feed, and there are demands for wood that has to be filled some way. It's a good deal more grey than this kind of story is usually presented.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Muviro a member of the Waziri tribe is revealed to have always ressented Basuli in "Tarzan and the Eagle's Feather", being envious of Basuli being groomed to be the future chieftain and wanting to marry the most beautiful girl of the tribe, having done everything to sabotage Basuli's quest to retrieve an eagle feather so he could take Basuli's place as chieftain and marry his love in his stead.
  • Heinous Hyena: In the beginning of "Enemy Within", Tarzan and Terk save Gobu from a clan of spotted hyenas who took him down.
  • Hellhole Prison: Cape Doom in "Tarzan and the Prison Break". It's likely based on Devil's Island, a French prison colony infamous for its cruel treatment. It lasted little over a century before being closed in 1953.
  • Here We Go Again!: The plot of "One Punch Mulligan" is started by Tarzan trying out boxing gloves out of curiosity and accidentally punching the titular antagonist out cold. At the end, Terk does the same thing.
  • Historical Domain Character: Theodore Roosevelt shows up in the episode "Tarzan and the Rough Rider", as the former president of the USA. The episode presumably takes place during the Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition, when Roosevelt visited Africa to hunt animals for the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian Institution.
  • Honor Before Reason:
    • In "Tarzan and the Challenger," Tarzan only loses the leadership challenge because he saved Moyo from a deadly fall. Tarzan nonetheless concedes because he agreed to the rules.
    • When Tublat gets captured by poachers, the gorillas celebrate that they're finally free of his reign of terror. Tarzan, however, thought the way wasn't right and decides to rescue him, even when others try to convince him that things will be way better off if they simply leave Tublat to his fate.
  • Honorable Elephant: Besides Tantor, most of the other elephants are good guys. Mabaya, however, is a notable aversion.
  • How Unscientific!: The original film's setting, while featuring Talking Animals and a hero capable of physically impossible actions, was more or less realistic. This carries on to the series... up to the episode "Tarzan and the City of Opar", which suddenly introduces magic in the form Queen La.
  • Hulk Speak: Averted with Tarzan. Lampshaded in "Tarzan and the Silver Screen", where the actor playing the Nature Hero in the Show Within a Show is supposed to talk like this, which really confuses Tarzan.
  • I Resemble That Remark!: Terk in "Tarzan and the Outbreak" when she is against helping the loggers get cured of the deadly disease they caught.
    Terk: I don't mean to sound cold or nothing, but that's their problem!
  • I Warned You: When Terk and Jane are briefly cornered by the raptor in "Tarzan and the Beast from Below".
    Terk: I hate to say I told you so...
    Jane: Then please don't.
    Terk: But it's the only thing I can look forward to!
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: All episodes follow the name structure "Tarzan and the X", probably as a nod to the original book series which had the same naming pattern.
  • The Imp: Tublat has a monkey sidekick that acts like this in "Tarzan and the Enemy Within".
  • Improbable Taxonomy Skills: Jane Porter is able to identify a (typically grossly inaccurate and quite oversized) velociraptor at a glance. Worse still is the fact that she isn't a paleontologist of any sort and in fact, the series takes place before velociraptors were scientifically described and named, and many decades before they were recognized in popular public consciousness.
  • Incidental Villain: Dumont. He's not particularly mean, he's just selfish and greedy, and has little respect towards nature.
  • Insistent Terminology: In "Tarzan and the Silver Ape", Philander has to regularly remind his henchmen that Mangani is not a monkey.
  • "It" Is Dehumanizing: In "Tarzan and the Lost Cub", Tarzan refers to the leopard cub as "it" when he thinks the cub means danger to his family. It makes him similar to Kerchak in the movie, and both Jane and Kala call him out on it.
  • Jerkass: Professor Philander is a Glory Hound who doesn't shy away from immoral actions, or even murder, to advance his scientific reputation. His behavior really aggravates Professor Porter (and the feeling is mutual).
  • Jerkass Has a Point: In "Tarzan and the Challenger", Tarzan concedes Moyo's claim that his spending time with Jane did put the family in danger. Considering that Hista nearly ate a baby gorilla and would have killed Moyo had Tarzan not showed up, Moyo had a right to be angry, and his concern for the family was justified. However, as Kala points out, Tarzan can't be everywhere - he had no idea there was a giant, gorilla-eating snake abroad until that very day. In addition, as far as she's concerned, Jane is also a member of their family, and Moyo just needs to see that.
  • Jerk Jock: One Punch Mullargan is a macho boxing champion who is really bothered by Tarzan physically outdoing him.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
    • Renard Dumont is eventually shown to be one of these. He originally appeared as just a straight up French Jerk who tried to compete with Tarzan over Jane's affections, but eventually realized that Jane loved Tarzan more than anything, and even helped free him from Cape Doom.
    • Moyo from “Tarzan and the Challenger”. Despite his gruff exterior and blunt manner of speaking, his foremost thoughts are for the family’s well-being, which Tarzan recognises. He becomes less harsh and more accepting by the end of the episode, acknowledging Jane as part of the family and stepping down as leader.
  • Killer Gorilla: Tublat, the brutal, violent silverback exiled from Tarzan's family is a perfectly straight example.
  • King of Beasts: Referenced. In her debut episode, Queen La describes Tarzan (who even has the title "The King of the Jungle") as having the strength of ten lions, after seeing him effortlessly defeat several of her Leopardmen.
  • The Legend of X
  • Legion of Lost Souls: Hugo and Hooft served in the French Foreign Legion before they deserted. Lt. Colonel Staquait, a commander from the Legion, is in pursuit of them, wanting to execute them for disobedience.
  • Lemony Narrator: "Tarzan and One Punch Mullargan" is narrated in this fashion by Max. He's admittedly in awe of Tarzan, but he's also quick to mock Mullargan.
  • Let's Get Dangerous!:
    • Jane and Professor Porter, despite being fancy British citizens who didn't fully adapt to jungle life, get into action and save the other characters several times.
    • Tantor may be cowardly, but when he overcomes his fear to protect his friends, he shows what an enormous African Elephant is capable of.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Somewhat justified, in that over half of the main characters don't really wear clothing, and it's rather difficult for the other two to get their hands on new clothes in the middle of the jungle. Lampshaded when Dumont opens his store. Jane complains about having only one change of clothing, then comes back from Dumont's with an elephant load of Paris fashions. Though her main outfit remains the same, occasionally she changes into others afterwards.
  • Living Dinosaurs: Shown in some episodes living Beneath the Earth, probably a Call-Back to other Burroughs' works like the Pellucidar series.
  • Loincloth: Tarzan's primary outfit. Occasionally Professor Porter will switch into it too, when he wants to blend in with the gorillas.
  • Loveable Rogue: Hugo and Hooft. While they don't have a problem with scamming their friends, they really are good-natured. For example, in "Tarzan and the Prison Break", they have the chance to abandon Tarzan after escaping prison (he broke in to try and rescue them, and got imprisoned himself), but instead they return to save him from being executed. Also, the reason they're fugitives in the first place is because they refused to obey Colonel Staquait when he ordered them to burn down a village of innocent civilians.

    M-R 
  • Magical Realism: The show is set in the African jungle during the ninteenth/twentieth century, but also features a lost city ruled by a sorceress who peforms actual magic. Then there's also the presence of two deities - the Physical God Mangani and the spirit-like All-Seeing Elephant, revered by the gorillas and elephants respectively.
  • Maniac Monkeys: The baboons often attack intruders who enter their territory, especially when their baby, Manu, appears to be in danger.
  • Manly Facial Hair: One Punch Mulligan, a heavyweight boxing champion, sports a twirly mustache typically associated with circus strongmen.
  • Mischief-Making Monkey: Manu, the baby baboon who stole Jane's drawing in the movie, returns to cause trouble in this show.
  • Misplaced Wildlife: Mostly averted, the animals in the show are what you'd encounter in an African jungle. However, there are some exceptions:
    • Tarzan fights a pack of jackals in the pilot episode, and a clan of spotted hyenas in another. While both animals are found in Africa, they live on the open plains, not in the dense jungle. Other episodes had giraffes, zebras, black rhinos and what looked like a lioness (though it's probably an Off-Model leopard), which are also native to Africa but live in open grasslands rather than jungles.
    • There is the odd mention of alligators (though they could be misidentified crocodiles) or howler monkeys (which look and sound nothing like real howlers; granted, the character calling them howlers isn't very bright), and some of the background birds are blue-and-yellow macaws, all native to the American continent.
    • The ring-tailed lemurs from the original movie (native to Madagascar) also appear in the background.
    • In one episode, Queen La turns Dumont into a gibbon, a primate native to Asia.
    • None of the dinosaurs in Pellucidar are African species (not even the famous ones like Spinosaurusnote ). Apatosaurus, Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus, for instance, are from North America and Velociraptor is a Mongolian genus. The token pterosaur used is the also North American Geosternbergia, which should be living near seas instead of inland. The closest we get to averting this is when a brachiosaurid sauropod is seen and this depends on whether the writers were aware of the fact that the African Giraffatitan is distinct from the North American Brachiosaurus.
    • In "The Hidden World", Porter mentions he dug up a Tyrannosaurus femur in Syria. As mentioned above, Tyrannosaurus lived in North America.
  • Monster Is a Mommy: The Tyrannosaurus rex in "The Hidden World". Subverted, since after Jane gives the baby T. rex back to her, she still keeps attacking the heroes. It is a predator after all.
  • Mrs. Robinson: Despite her youthful appearance, Queen La is this towards Tarzan. Did we mention that despite the fact that he's married to Jane (Who happens to be the same age), he's only 18 years old[1] in comparison to La's unknown age due to her immortality.
  • Ms. Fanservice:
    • Jane to a degree. The clothes she usually wears are a short-sleeved shirt and a tied-up skirt (and no shoes), which would look disheveled and revealing to mainstream Victorian society. And occasionally she switches to a Fur Bikini.
    • Queen La, with her stripperific outfit and seductive behavior towards Tarzan.
  • Mundane Made Awesome: Once La is defeated for good, the Waziri elder Usula makes use of her staff as a croquet mallet.
  • Music Soothes the Savage Beast: Overlapping with Snake Charmer: Henry, Greenley's nerdy boyfriend plays the oboe to calm down a black mamba and save Eleanor from it.
  • My God, What Have I Done?:
    • Clayton's sister has this reaction when she realizes that Tarzan isn't the monster she thought he was and that she's been doing the truly monstrous things in seeking her revenge.
    • Moyo quotes this trope almost verbatim when the family ends up trapped in a tar pit and at the mercy of Hista thanks to his impatient leadership.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • "Mangani", the name of the mystical silver ape in this show, is the name of the species that raised Tarzan in the books.
    • "Tarzan and Tublat's Revenge" has Kerchak and Tublat speak a snippet of the Mangani language from the books.
      Kerchak: Kagoda?!note 
      Tublat: ...Kagoda.
    • Also, to allude to La's Atlantean origins in the novels, the animators decided to give her dark skin and white hair, like the characters in Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
    • Tarzan and co.'s brief adoption of a leopard cub could be considered a slight nod to Jad-bal-Jah, an orphaned lion Tarzan raises in the Burroughs novels, the 70's cartoon, Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, and the short-lived Marvel Comics run.
    • Tarzan has a brief confrontation with a Triceratops in "The Hidden World", which may be a reference to the novels Tarzan the Terrible and Tarzan at the Earth's Core.
    • Jane's friend Hazel asked if Tarzan has any cousins. In Tarzan of the Apes, Jane was accompanied by his cousin William Cecil Clayton.
  • Naked People Are Funny: Professor Porter losing his clothes is something of a Running Gag, always Played for Laughs. The apes are always shocked to see him that way, which is a bit of Fridge Logic when you realize they aren't wearing clothes themselves. Terk gives that a Hand Wave, saying that apes are beautiful so they don't need to cover themselves, unlike Porter.
  • Nature Hero: As always, Tarzan is the loincloth-wearing, vine-swinging hero.
  • Nature Spirit: Mangani, the Silver Ape. While his true nature is never explained, he appears to be a benevolent creature with magical healing powers that walks the jungle and helps those in need. However, it is possible to capture and cage him.
  • Nerd Glasses: Henry, Greenley's nerdy, sensitive boyfriend wears a pair in "Tarzan and the New Wave".
  • Never My Fault: Professor Philander always blames Professor Porter for his own misfortunes.
  • Never Smile at a Crocodile: Crocodiles often show up as adversaries to Tarzan.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In "Leopard Men Rebellion" Tarzan helps Queen La get her staff back off the leopard men when they kidnap Jane. Turns out they kidnapped her to make her their queen so she could free them.
  • Nubile Savage: Tarzan is a male example: a handsome, well-toned young man who is inexplicably clean-shaved.
  • Obvious Stunt Double: There's an episode in which a director is filming a movie about a wild man raised by monkeys in the very jungle the protagonists live in. Since the actor playing the wild man is lousy at filming the action scenes, Tarzan ends up roped into being his stunt double. Not only do Tarzan and the actor look nothing alike, but their outfits are different.
  • Only in It for the Money: Robert Canler's explanation for betraying Britain to Imperial Germany.
  • Only Shop in Town: Renard Dumont's trading post. Dumont shamelessly takes advantage of this; for example, he charges outrageous prices for the catering of a film crew.
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: La has a British accent but some American pronunciations seep through, particularly with the way she says Tarzan's name.
  • Panthera Awesome: The two panthers Sheeta and Noru, and Queen La and her Leopardman minions.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: The disguise Tantor wears as a giant female beetle is not very convincing. However it works because he was sprayed with beetle pheromones.
  • Pass the Popcorn: Terk and Tantor are often just bystanders. Very interested bystanders.
    Terk: Aww! It was just gettin' good!
  • Pimped-Out Dress: Jane wears her yellow dress in four episodes: "Tarzan and the Silver Screen," "Tarzan and One Punch Mullargan," "Tarzan and the Prison Break," and "Tarzan and the British Invasion," while she wears her blue dress in "Tarzan and the Trading Post," and "Tarzan and the Eagle's Feather."
  • Predators Are Mean: Most predatory animals are portrayed this way, although it is less that they are evil and more that they are just dangerous to the cast.
  • Prehistoric Monster: Many of the dinosaurs of Pellucidar are oversized, hyper-aggressive, and far more dangerous than the predators in the African jungle, with some exceptions such as sauropods and ornithomimids. When one Velociraptor escapes the hidden world, it easily makes prey of a leopard.
  • The Prima Donna: Stanley, the actor from "Tarzan and the Silver Screen" is a male example. He insists on being the star of the movie and doing his own stunts, and is very jealous at Tarzan upstaging him. He goes as far as burning all the film footage with Tarzan's stunts.
  • Primal Chest-Pound: Tarzan does it in the opening credits, as well as on various occasions in the show. Other characters such as Kerchak, Tublat, Moyo and even Professor Porter do it too (the first three are all silverback gorillas, and the Professor is pretending to be Tarzan thanks to one of Philander's ploys when he does this).
  • Quicksand Sucks: Quicksand and tar pits occasionally appear as hazards for Tarzan and his friends.
  • Raptor Attack: As inspired by Jurassic Park. The raptors found in Pellucidar are far larger than real velociraptors (their size actually exceeding that of the Deinonychus, edging closer to Utahraptor territory) and stronger (they easily overpower Tarzan and a single one of them makes prey of a leopard). They are also featherless and their necks are incredibly long. It could however be argued that all these features were evolved over millions of years in Pellucidar. The series takes place before the first Velociraptor fossil was found and named, and yet Jane seemed to know what they are called at a glance. On the other hand, their skulls are correctly shaped for Velociraptor and they are even portrayed climbing trees.
  • Real After All: Implied at the end "The All-Seeing Elephant". After a lightning strike knocks down a tree and helps Tantor reunite with his friends, they looks up to see an elephantine shape in the clouds, looking down upon them. The heavy implication is that the All-Seeing Elephant is real and was helping the gang out throughout the episode.
  • Returning Big Bad:
    • Nuru and Sheeta the Panthers
    • Queen La
    • Lt. Col. Staquait
    • Samuel T. Philander
    • Mabaya the rogue elephant
    • Tublat
    • The Dinosaurs of Pelucidar
    • Niels and Merkus
  • Recursive Canon: Similar to The Little Mermaid TV series, an episode focuses around Edgar Rice Burroughs as a struggling author traveling to Africa searching for inspiration for a book after reading a news story about Tarzan.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Mabaya the rogue elephant has red, pupil-less eyes, and is a mindless brute who attacks everything that moves. The Triceratops of Pellucidar is also red-eyed, befitting its raging behaviour.
  • Red Right Hand: Tublat's right foot, which has one toe missing.
  • Refuse to Rescue the Disliked: In "The Caged Fury", Tarzan initially is happy that Tublat got captured by Niels and Merkus, as this way the jungle is finally free from the murderous ape. But then, after he sees the two ruffians torture the ape and hears them saying that they'll kill him if he's no longer interesting for the audience, he changes his mind, thinking that it's a fate too horrible even for Tublat, and decides to rescue him. Terk heavily disagrees with Tarzan, but reluctantly helps him anyway.
  • Remember the New Guy?: Tublat's monkey sidekick Bungie only appears in the second of Tublat's three episodes.
  • Replacement Flat Character: Jabari is essentially young Tantor (even sharing the same voice actor). Tantor sees the similarities immediately and bonds with him.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Snakes (normal-sized or gigantic), crocodiles, and dinosaurs (or at least theropods and ceratopsians) are always hostile to Tarzan and his friends.
  • Rhino Rampage: Rhinoceroses occasionally appear as adversaries for Tarzan, like in the episode "Tarzan and the Trading Post".
  • The Rival:
    • Basuli to Tarzan. In Basuli's first appearance, it was more volatile, but a team-up saw them iron out their differences to a far more friendly rivalry.
    • Professor Philander to Professor Porter are academic rivals.
    • Kerchak and Tublat fight over the leadership of the gorilla tribe in a flashback scene.
    • Moyo to Tarzan in "Tarzan and the Challenger", as he challenges him for the leadership of the gorilla tribe. Doubles as The Native Rival.
  • Rogues Gallery: The most recurring foes are Tublat, Professor Philander and Queen La. Other villains appearing in more than one episode are Mabaya the rogue elephant, Sheeta and Nuru the black panthers, Niels and Merkus the diamond miners, and Colonel Staquait. The latter appears along with Tublat and La in the Rogues Gallery montage part of the show's intro.

    S-Y 
  • Save the Villain:
    • Tarzan saves Tublat from a pair of poachers, then the very same poachers from Tublat, in the episode "Caged Fury".
    • He also saves Queen La from a leopard in "The Leopard Man Rebellion" and Lady Waltham from leopards.
    • While more of a Hero Antagonist than a villain, Tarzan saves Moyo when they are duelling, even though it leads to Tarzan losing the duel and having to leave the gorilla tribe.
  • Scary Stinging Swarm: A bee swarm attacks Terk and Tantor in "Tarzan and the All-Seeing Elephant".
  • Scenery Censor: Used whenever Professor Porter loses his Loincloth.
  • Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Colonel Staquait is a member of the French military and thus a man of law, but he is more than willing to abuse his power. He would execute Hugo and Hooft for mere disobedience, and would do the same to Tarzan when he tries to escape Cape Doom, without any trial or order from the Magistrate.
    Staquait: What are you doing here?
    Jane: Stopping you from breaking the law, Colonel!
    Staquait: Ridiculous! I am the law!
  • Series Finale: The Flying Ace was the final episode aired and while it isn't a grand conclusion, its central plot indicates World War I has begun, the actual war itself featuring a "flying ace" itself, albeit a German one. That said the British flying ace in this episode is implied to be working for the Central Powers as a double agent.
  • Setting Update: The original movie took place in the late 1800's, but the appearance of President Theodore Roosevelt (post Presidency), film reels and WWI era planes implies the setting is now in the 1910's, the same decade the original Tarzan book was written. The finale The Flying Ace outright seems to confirm WWI is taking place by the end of the show.
  • Shout-Out:
    • In "The All Seeing Elephant" Tantor falls off a cliff and thanks to trees gets launched into the air. At one point Tarzan and Jane see him fly by and Jane comments:
  • Shown Their Work:
    • Unlike in the film, hippopotamuses are often portrayed as adversaries for Tarzan, because of the fact hippos are aggressive brutes in real life.
    • Zig-Zagged with Hista the python in "The Challenger", as he is depicted with heat-seeking vision. Indeed, some species of pythons do have a specialized heat-sensing organ (called the "pit organ"), but it is not really "vision" but rather a sensory system completely independent from their eyes.
    • In "Tublat's Revenge", it's a major plot point that gorillas, unlike humans, cannot swim. Humans are indeed the only hominids capable of swimming.
    • For all the inaccuracies made in "The Hidden World", they at least got long-snouted, slender Velociraptor and fuzzy pterosaurs right. Plus, "The Beast From Below" shows the raptors can climb trees while using their footclaws as hooks.
    • When Tantor drinks, he sucks up water with his trunk and squirts it into his mouth rather than just drink with his trunk as commonly shown in cartoon elephants.
    • The dead scorpion Jane shows to Tarzan in "The Rogue Elephant" is drawn with eight legs, rather than six as in most scorpions in cartoons.
  • Signature Roar: Tarzan often lets out his iconic yell in the show.
  • Single-Target Sexuality: The first episode with La shows that Tarzan is pretty much Jane-sexual, as he is immune to La's attempts to seduce him. This is actually conistent with the original books.
  • Skyward Scream: Tublat lets out one everytime Tarzan beats him in the end.
  • Slipknot Ponytail: Jane keeps her hair partially tied up but sometimes it comes fully down in an action situation. Also happens to her friend Eleanor in "British Invasion".
  • Stiff Upper Lip/British Stuffiness: Every English person in the show is this.
  • Stock Animal Diet: Tantor occasionally mentions his fondness of peanuts (which are native to South America). Averted with the gorillas; while they sometimes eat bananas, their diet includes a high diversity of fruit, and their favourite tid-bit seems to be termites.note 
  • Stripperific:
    • Queen La dresses in a very revealing outfit, and Tarzan wears nothing but a Loincloth.
    • Jane wears a Fur Bikini as a swimsuit in "Tarzan and the Lost Cub". She also wears La's clothes in two episodes.
  • Styrofoam Rocks: Used in-universe in an episode involving movie filming. Tarzan freaks out when he sees a seemingly helpless actress about to be crushed by an avalanche, and rushes to save her. However, the actors show him after the scene that the boulders were actually fake ones that are incredibly light.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Some of the deadly situations in some of the episodes have quite realistic consequences.
    • In Tarzan and the Race Against Time, Tarzan is bitten by a highly venomous species of spider. While he initially shrugs it off, the spider's venom eventually begins to overwhelm him, and by the end of the episode he was extremely close to death. A grim reminder that not even someone as strong as Tarzan can just miraculously survive close encounters with the jungle's most dangerous creatures without running into serious trouble.
    • Similarly, in Tublat's Revenge, Tarzan tries to take on Tublat in a physical fight. However, despite the fact that Tarzan is much faster and stronger than most average men, he is still only a normal human, while Tublat is an enormous and hulking brute of an ape who is at least three times his size and weight. Despite his best efforts, Tarzan proves to be no match against him.
  • Temper-Ceratops: In "The Hidden World", Tarzan lands onto the head of a Triceratops while confronting a pair of raptors. The infuriated Triceratops lets out a loud roar that scares off the raptors and charges after Tarzan, before the crew drive it off by igniting a methane geyser. This is clearly a reference to the Gyors (prehistoric Triceratops) from Tarzan at the Earth's Core, as well as the Gryfs (modern descendants of Triceratops) from Tarzan the Terrible.
  • Temple of Doom: The Lost City of Opar, ruled by an Evil Sorceress, guarded by magical leopard-men, and having a monster with Combat Tentacles in its sewers.
  • Terrible Ticking: In one episode, Tarzan's animal friends go crazy, complete with the Madness Mantra "Stop the ringing!" Turns out the local trading post had installed a long-range radio tower, and something in the equipment was generating an ultrasonic noise that was doing this to Tantor, Terk, and the rest. The humans couldn't hear it, but it was driving the animals nuts for miles.
  • Terrifying Tyrannosaur: "The Hidden World" has a Tyrannosaurus that relentlessly chases after the crew when the Professor takes one of her eggs. Tarzan can only distract her and briefly ensnares her by tying her to a tree, which she escapes easily. Even after they return her young, she still goes them with said young joining in.
  • Those Two Guys: Besides Terk and Tantor, the comic relief duo of the original film, there is also Flynt and Mungo for the gorillas and Hugo and Hooft for the humans.
  • Threatening Shark: Tarzan fights off one of these in "Tarzan and the New Wave".
  • Throwing Down the Gauntlet: Apparently throwing mud at your opponent's face is the Rhino equivalent.
  • Translation Convention: Tantor and Terk are shown as speaking English with each other and with Tarzan, Jane, and Professor Porter, but several episodes make it very clear that Tarzan et. al. speak their languages. In one episode, Jane has difficulties because her Baboon is a bit rusty.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Professor Porter and genuine Earl Grey tea, as befits an Englishman. One episode has him attempting to create a substitute from jungle flora, to no avail.
  • Unanthropomorphic Transformation: A positive example where this is a good thing, relatively speaking. When Tarzan and Jane are able to break the spell of Queen La over her minions the Leopard Men, they turn not into normal humans, but back into actual leopards. That this probably lead to a large increase in the local leopard population (predators of the gorillas) was never addressed.
  • Ungrateful Bastard:
    • Tublat, after Tarzan saved him from poachers in "Caged Fury". Of course Tarzan was never expecting a "thanks" from him.
    • One-Punch Mulligan demands that Tarzan owes him a rematch rather than thank him for saving him from a sounder of giant forest hogs (that One-Punch provoked in the first place). Tarzan coldly tells him that he owes him nothing, after lassoing him with a vine.
  • Uplifted Animal: The Leopardmen are revealed to be these.
  • Victorious Roar: In "Tublat's Revenge", when Tublat throws Tarzan down a cliff, he roars victoriously, pounding his chest, which then turns into an Evil Laugh. Then, at the end of the episode, when Tarzan pulls Tublat down a waterfall, then emerges from the water victoriously, he lets out his Signature Roar while also pounding his chest, pretty much mirroring the previous scene.
  • Villainesses Want Heroes: Queen La to Tarzan, who believes Tarzan is the only man worthy of being her mate.
  • Villain of the Week: While the series had a few recurring villains, some were one-off antagonists such as:
    • McTeague
    • The Giant Beatles
    • Hista the Giant Python
    • Nikolas Rokoff, ironic considering his literary counterpart appeared in two books
    • "One Punch" Mulligan
    • Lady Waltham
  • Vine Swing: Tarzan does it a lot, as usual.
  • Violently Protective Girlfriend: Jane towards Tarzan, believe it or not.
  • "What Do They Fear?" Episode: Subverted. Jane spends the entirety of "Tarzan and the Rogue Elephant" trying to find something which scares Tarzan. In the end he freaks out over her powderpuff, however the last scene reveals that he pretended to be scared so she would stop trying to scare him.
  • Who's on First?: "Tarzan and the Rogue Elephant" has a misunderstanding between Tantor and Tarzan in this vein. Tarzan doesn't know that Tantor thinks he's gone rouge and Tantor doesn't know that Tarzan just fought Mabaya. So when Tarzan declares he'll do "whatever it takes" to keep the elephants and gorillas safe, Tantor assumes he's talking about him.
    Tantor: ...excuse me.
    (Tantor screams and runs from the clearing, much to Tarzan's bewilderment)
  • Why Isn't It Attacking?: The mother leopard in "The Lost Cub".
  • Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Queen La pulls one not once, but twice. In "The Leopard Man Rebellion", she begs Tarzan to save her from a vicious leopard and then help her defeat the rebelling leopard men - but it's all a trick to reclaim her power. In "The Return of La", it's also a Literal Metaphor: her spirit, which can hop from body to body via touching, possesses the body of a wounded antelope, and when Jane comes to aid the animal, she moves over into her.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Terk in "The Outbreak" insists that the loggers would continue bulldozing the jungle even after Tarzan and the others help them. She is proven wrong when they decide to stop logging and settle for planting instead, especially since said logging unleashed a deadly disease that infected them and their boss's daughter and destroyed all but one flower that was needed for the cure.
  • Yandere: Queen La, who wants to either make Tarzan her mate, or kill him.
  • Younger Than They Look: Tarzan[2] and Jane are only 18 years old during the events of the movie and sequel series.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Spoken word-by-word to Gobu by Tublat. Fortunately, Tarzan and the rest of the gorillas can save him from Tublat's wrath.
  • You Just Ruined the Shot: In "Tarzan and the Silver Screen" Tarzan saves a woman from a rockslide, only to discover it was actually a shot for a jungle film and the actor who was supposed to save her reveals the "rocks" are just hollow props. Tarzan's incredible acrobatics do impress the director though and he's hired as the films stuntman, to the displeasure of The Prima Donna leading man.
  • Your Size May Vary: Tublat is a very big gorilla, but his size compared to Tarzan seems to be a bit inconsistent.

 
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Jane kidnapped and tied up

In Season 1 Episode 26 "Lost Treasure" Jane is kidnapped and tied up

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Main / DamselInDistress

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