page_title: Tarzan
section_title: Television
hierarchical_section_title: Tarzan / Tarzan in other media / Television
caption_attribution_description: English: Travis Fimmel at the 2015 San Diego Comic Con International in San Diego, California.
context_page_description: Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan first appeared in the novel Tarzan of the Apes, and subsequently in 25 sequels, several authorized books by other authors, and innumerable works in other media, both authorized and unauthorized.
  The film version of Tarzan as the noble savage, as acted by Johnny Weissmuller, does not reflect the original character in the novels, who is gracious and highly sophisticated.
context_section_description: Television later emerged as a primary vehicle bringing the character to the public. From the mid-1950s, all the extant sound Tarzan films became staples of Saturday morning television aimed at young and teenaged viewers. In 1958, movie Tarzan Gordon Scott filmed three episodes for a prospective television series. The program did not sell, but a different live action Tarzan series produced by Sy Weintraub and starring Ron Ely ran on NBC from 1966 to 1968. This depiction of Tarzan is a well-educated bachelor who grew tired of urban civilization and is in his native African jungle once again.
  Tarzan was voiced by Robert Ridgely in the animated series from Filmation, titled Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1976–1977), as well as in the anthology programs that followed: 
  Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour (1977–1978);
  Tarzan and the Super 7 (1978–1980);
  The Tarzan/Lone Ranger Adventure Hour (1980–1981); and
  The Tarzan/Lone Ranger/Zorro Adventure Hour (1981–1982).
  Joe Lara starred in the title role in Tarzan in Manhattan (1989), an offbeat TV movie, and later returned in a completely different interpretation, titled Tarzan: The Epic Adventures (1996), a new live-action series.
  In between the two productions with Lara, Tarzán (1991–1994), a half-hour syndicated series in which Tarzan is portrayed as a blond environmentalist, with Jane turned into a French ecologist.
  Disney’s animated series The Legend of Tarzan (2001–2003) was a spin-off of the animated Disney film from 1999.
  The latest television series was the short-lived live-action Tarzan (2003), which starred male model Travis Fimmel and updated the setting to contemporary New York City, with Jane as a police detective, played by Sarah Wayne Callies. The series was cancelled after only eight episodes.
  Saturday Night Live featured recurring sketches with the speech-impaired trio of "Tonto, Tarzan, and Frankenstein's Monster". In these sketches, Tarzan is portrayed by Kevin Nealon.
caption: Australian Travis Fimmel (pictured 2015) briefly portrayed Tarzan on television
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